The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

the Confession. Around the picture are thrown connected Gothic
ornaments; in the upper arch of which Luther is prostrate in prayer. At its
base an angel holds in either hand the coat of arms of Luther and
Melanchthon, with an intertwining band, on which are traced the words
from Luther's favorite Psalm: "I shall not die, but live, and declare the
works of the Lord." From the highest point, not without significance, rises
the cross, and here this part appropriately ends.
The Reformation in its results.
The Church thus fairly brought to a full self-consciousness, the
FIFTH part, presents us, in four characteristic pictures, the results. In the
first, Luther, with all his co-laborers, Christian and Jewish, around him,
labors on that translation of which even a Jesuit historian speaks thus:
Translation of the Bible.
"Luther's translation of the Bible is a noble monument of literature, a
vast enterprise which seemed to require more than the life of man; but
which Luther accomplished in a few years. The poetic soul finds in this
translation evidences of genius, and expressions as natural, beautiful and
melodious as in the original languages. Luther's translation sometimes
renders the primitive phrase with touching simplicity, invests itself with
sublimity and magnificence, and receives all the modifications which he
wishes to impart to it. It is simple in the recital of the patriarch, glowing in
the predictions of the prophets, familiar in the Gospels, and colloquial in
the Epistles. The imagery of the original is rendered with undeviating
fidelity; the translation occasionally approaches the text. We must not then
be astonished at the enthusiasm which Saxony felt at the appearance of
Luther's version. Both Catholics and Protestants regarded it an honor done
to their ancient idiom." 12 In the picture, Luther stands between
Bugenhagen and Melanchthon; Jonas, Forstensius, Creuziger, and the
Rabbins are engaged in the effort to solve some difficulty that has risen.
The Catechism
The second result is shown in a scene in a school-room, in which the
Catechism has just been introduced. Luther sits in the midst of the children
teaching them the first Article of the Creed. Jonas is distributing the
12 Audin’s Luther, chap. xxiv.