critical power; but because the language, taken as a whole, is unparalleled for earnest dignity, brevity, and enthusiastic zeal. Connoisseurs can, I doubt not, point to much which has been recently done for the critical elucidation of the sacred writings, and for the exposition of inaccuracies in Luther's version; yet, though frequent attempts have been made to supplant it by translations, termed better and more faithful and refined, what has invariably been the result? The modern discoveries are carefully registered in the theological systems of neologists, but Luther's book has remained the book of the people, because the national taste and spirit have scorned to assume a garb, more fashionable, but less venerable and dignified. This translation of the Bible of course may, I repeat it, be justly regarded as the corner-stone of the High German language, since, having been placed into the hands both of the cultivated and of the uncultivated classes, the people would be addressed in no other language than that, thus perpetually before them. Even the catholics themselves, who denied the authority of that translation, were constrained to address their countrymen in the language of Luther, if they wished to be understood; and this is the more surprising, from the circumstance that, in the south of Germany, where the catholic continued the ruling religion, the Suabian dialect prevailed;- a dialect, in which so many splendid productions had been composed during the middle ages, and had become dear to the people. But it was not by the

translation of the Bible alone that Luther gave such decisive authority to the High German language, which could hardly have been moulded into a peculiarly national form, by a version from two foreign languages-the Hebrew and the Greek. It was by his numerous sermons, pamphlets, and controversial writings, which overspread all Germany in so short a time, that he strengthened and secured the influence which the translation of the Bible had obtained, not only on the moral and religious, but also on the intellectual and literary, cultivation of the people. Wherever Luther appears as an author, we see in him always the man of the people, bearing the banner of truth. Every word of his, which we read, we find has resulted, not from a calculating mind, or a deeply-laid plan, but from unpremeditated zeal. It is a lightning kindled by the heavenly beams of truth, and works electrically on the simple and artless mind. Luther says, not what he will, but what he His words are impelled by internal necessity. He had been agitated by the throes of spiritual temptation, and through the strife of strong experience had attained to true and fervid piety. From such a man the state of his fellow-men could not remain concealed; and his knowledge of the human heart prompted a style which overturned all barriers of superstition, doubt, and disbelief. He cast" the kindling spark of eternal truth into the soul of man,” and his words, after the lapse of centuries, have now the same effect on him who reads them. From

must.

Luther's glance no recesses of the human heart are concealed. He seeks every where the evil spirit, that lurks within the soul and strives to disturb its peace, and every where he combats it successfully.

It has been urged, as a matter of reproach against Luther, that he was too rude and coarse in argument and invective: and it has been further insinuated, that he is hardly suited to the refinement of our times. He always, indeed, calls vice by its right name. If masked, he lays it bare, and holds it forth in full and undisguised deformity: if it attempts to shrink into concealment, he drags it into light, and chastises it before the world. But is not this the most effectual mode of combating evil, and one which, in itself, proves the true courage and spiritual health of the victorious combatant? It is one among the symptoms of a sickly and nervous age-of an overrefined mind and false cultivation-that the limits of propriety are so described, that many evil propensities may not be attacked, because the fashionable custom forbids the designation of vice by its own detested name. I much doubt if Luther, were he living now, would allow himself to be deterred, by the remonstrances of any German critic, from viewing immorality in its true colours, or from expressing his horror of it and this is the true spiritual decency, the attribute of heroic souls, which Luther possessed in a higher degree than the fastidious critics of modern times can probably conceive. As a spiritual physician, he cauterized the wound he wished to cure; and to

may

the endless cavillers for verbal formalities he would exclaim, "If you think it no shame to do that which is indecent, I think it right to reprehend it sharply." I further observe, that Luther acted and spoke in the sixteenth century, when immorality had not yet sheltered itself behind a false decorum, and when ladies, who would have shrunk from vice, could hear a pair of breeches named without a shudder. I here repeat-what has been observed in the early part of these lectures-that the language of a period is always the mirror of its morals and general character: and as well might we require that the words of Chaucer should be the same with those of Moore, as that Luther's ideas and views should be measured by the standard of modern refinement. I do not, however, deny that Luther, in his zeal for the good cause, may have said a severe word, more, perhaps, than was absolutely requisite. With his vivacity, fulness of spirit and fancy, and wonderful powers of language, occasional ebullitions must almost necessarily have occurred. Of himself he would have said, Homo sum, et nihil humani a me alienum esse puto; for a

humbler character has never existed.

The prose of Luther is impressive, profound, seldom florid, and never set off with imagery,-powerful and fiery, but always restrained by reason. He invariably speaks from a full heart, and thus penetrates the inmost recesses of the soul. The great charm of his language may be inferred from his having escaped the common fate of his contemporaries, who are now

perused by the historian and critic, but neglected by the people. Who now reads the works of Zwinglius, Erasmus, Melanchthon, and Calvin? But Luther is still the favourite author among his countrymen. His numerous writings continue to appear, from time to time, in fresh editions, and are eagerly perused by young and old, by high and low. And this, gentlemen, is the proof of the divine spirit in man, that it leaves traces which endure through all eternity.

One of our modern critics has asserted, that Luther was, properly speaking, no poet. If poetry be " a mirror of divine things, the more pure, and at the same time, more various, the more it is unsullied by earthly desires and calculated tendency," then Luther is a truly great poet, according to this view of poetry, taken by De la Motte Fouqué. I know of no poetical canon which ascribes the bays to him alone who has written an epos or drama, according to the rules of Aristotle. It is true, that with Luther, poetry and the other arts served but as the foil, on which the truly divine sense manifested itself in a more splendid lustre. The tendency of his mental existence was so wholly directed to the glorification of faith, and of life in God, that this seemed to him the sole subject worthy of his muse. Hence his lyrical

pieces belong to that class of poetry called psalms, of which he is the father and founder. We can boast of no religious poet, who has surpassed him. The first requisites for a religious lyrist are truth and