_Written by request, for the four-hundredth anniversary of his birth._
"Martin Luther! deathless name, Noblest on the scroll of Fame, Solitary monk,--that shook All the world by God's own book; Antichrist's Davidian foe, Strong to lay Goliath low, Thee, in thy four-hundredth year, Gladly we remember here.
"How, without thy forceful mind, Now had fared all human kind,-- Curst and scorch'd and chain'd by Rome, In each heart of hearth and home? But for thee, and thy grand hour, German light, and British power, With Columbia's faith and hope, All were crush'd beneath the Pope!
"God be thank'd for this bright morn, When Eisleben's babe was born! For the pious peasant's son, Liberty's great fight hath won,-- When at Wittenberg he stood All alone for God and good, And his Bible flew unfurl'd, Flag of freedom to the world!"
The Reverend E. Bullinger set this to excellent music; and it was translated for Continental use into German, French, Swedish, and Hungarian in the same metre.
As quite a cognate subject here shall be added my ballad on Wycliffe, also written by request:--
"Distant beacon on the night Full five centuries ago,-- Harbinger of Luther's light, Now four hundred years aglow,-- Priest of Lutterworth we see All of Luther-worth in thee!
"Lo, the wondrous parallel,-- Both gave Bibles to their land; While, the rage of Rome to quell, Princes stood on either hand, John of Gaunt, and Saxon John, Cheered each bold confessor on.
"Both are rescuers of souls, Cleansing those Augæan styes-- Superstition's hiding holes, Nunneries and monkeries; Both gave liberty to men, Bearding lions in their den!
"Wycliffe, Luther! glorious pair, Great Twin Brethren of mankind; Conscience was your guide and care, Purifying heart and mind; Both before your judges stood, 'Here I stand, for God and good.'
"Each had liv'd a martyr's life, Still protesting for the faith; Yet amid that fiery strife, Each escap'd the martyr's death; Rescued from the fangs of Rome, Both died peacefully at home."
A few last words as to sundry life-experiences. Whether we notice it or not, we are guided and guarded and led on through many changes and chances to the gates of death in a marvellously predestined manner; if we pray about everything, we shall see and know that, as Pope says,