742 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 15380.
Dr. Déllinger delivered the lectures from which this extract is taken, after his quarrel with Vatican Romanism, in the museum at Munich, February, 1872. They were stenographically reported in the ‘‘ Kéllner- Zeitung,” translated into English by Oxenham (London, 1872), and from English into French by Madame Hyacinthe-Loyson (La réunion des églises, Paris, 1880), and at last published by the author (1888).
This testimony is of special importance, owing to the acknowledged learning and ability of Dollinger as a Roman Catholic historian, and author of an elaborate work against the Reformation (1848, 3 vols.), consisting mostly of contemporaneous testimonies. He is thoroughly at home in the writings of the Reformers, and prepared a biographical sketch of Luther,! in which he severely criticises him for his opinions and conduct towards the Catholic Church, but does full justice to his intellectual greatness. He says, p. 51, ‘‘ If we justly call him a great man, who, endowed with mighty powers and gifts, accomplishes great things, who, as a bold legislator in the realm of mind, makes millions subservient to his system, then the peasant’s son of Mohra must be counted among the great, yea, the greatest men. This also is true, that he was a sympathizing friend, free of avarice and love of money, and ready to help others.”
Dollinger was excommunicated for his opposition to the Vatican decree of infallibility (1870), but still remains a Catholic, and could not become a Protestant without retracting his work on the Reformation. He would, however, write a very different work now, and present the Reformation as a blessing rather than a calamity to Germany, in the light of the events which have passed since 1870. In one of his Akademische Vortrdage, the first volume of which has just reached me (Nordlingen, 1888, p. 76), he makes the significant confession, that for many years the events in Germany from 1517 to 1552 were to him an unsolved riddle, and an object of sorrow and grief, seeing then only the result of division of the church and the nation into hostile camps; but that a closer study of the medieval history of Rome and Germany, and the events of the last years, have given him a better understanding and more hopeful view of the renewed and reunited German nation as a noble instrument in the hands of Providence. This is as far as he can go from his standpoint.
§ 125. Hin feste Burg ist unser Gott.
I conclude this volume with Luther’s immortal hymn, which is the best expression of his character, and reveals
1 Luther, eine Skizze, Freiburg-i.-B., 1851. I have a copy with notes, which the old Catholic Bishop Reinkens, a pupil of Ddllinger, kindly gave me in Bonn, 1886. It appeared in the first edition of Wetzer and Welte’s Kirchen-Lexikon, vol. VI. 651 spp.
§ 125. EIN FESTE BURG IST UNSER GOTT. 743
the secret of his strength as well as the moving power of the Reformation.!
A tower of strength? our God is still, Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott, A good defense* and weapon ; Ein’ gute Wehr’ und Waffen. He helps us free from all the ill Er hilft uns frei aus aller Noth, That us hath overtaken. Die uns jetzt hat betroffen. Our old, mortal foe* Der alt’ bose Feind, Now aims his fell blow, Mit Ernst er’s jetzt meint; Great might and deep guile Gross’ Macht und viel List, His horrid coat-of-mail ; § Sein grausam Riistung ist, On earth is no one like him.® Auf Erd’ ist nicht sein’s Gleichen.
By might of ours can naught be done:? Mit unsrer Macht ist nichts gethan, Our fate were soon decided. Wir sind gar bald verloren : But for us fights the champion,® Es streit’t fiir uns der rechte Mann, By God himself provided. Den Gott hat selbst erkoren. ' Who is this, ask ye? Fragst du, wer Der ist? Jesus Christ! ’Tis he! Er heisst Jesus Christ, Lord of Sabaoth, Der Herr Zebaoth, True God and Saviour both, Und ist kein andrer Gott; Omnipotent in battle.® . Das Feld muss Er behalten.
Did devils fill the earth and air,!° Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel wir’ All eager to devour us, Und wollt uns gar verschlingen, Our steadfast hearts need feel no care, So fiirchten wir uns nicht zu sehr, Lest they should overpower us. Es soll uns doch gelingen. The grim Prince of hell, Der Fiirst dieser Welt, With rage though he swell, Wie sau’r er sich stellt,
Hurts us not a whit, Because his doom is writ: A little word can rout him.
Thut er uns doch nichts; Das macht, er ist gericht’t; Ein Wortlein kann ihn fallen.
1 The translation was made by my esteemed friend, Professor Thomas Conrad Porter, D.D., of Easton, Penn., several years ago, but finished in February, 1888, and is almost equal to that of Thomas Carlyle in its reproduction of the rugged force of the original, and surpasses it in rhythmic accuracy. Comp. 468, 502, sq.
2 Carlyle: ‘‘ A safe stronghold.”
4 «ς« The ancient prince of hell.” —C.
5 « Strong mail of craft and power He weareth in this hour.” — C,
“Τὴ grim armor dight, Much guile and great might. apes a ῥσολλθον"
6 «On earth is not his fellow.” —C.
7 «By force of arms we nothing can.” —C.
8 ἐς The proper man.” —C. 9. «« Shall conquer in the battle.” —C.,
10 «« And were this world all devils over.” —C. 11 «« slay.” —C,
8 «¢ A trusty shield.”—C.