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

Herder.
The distinctive characteristics of Göthe and Herder displayed
themselves in the difference of their feelings towards Luther. “What
seemed to Göthe narrow and partial, Herder called noble and
philanthropic; while, on the contrary, what Herder admired as the
infinitude of a great idea, revealing itself to man in various godlike
emanations--in the valor of the hero, the wisdom of the legislator, the
inspiration of the poet, or the events of a world--this sort of elevation
moved Göthe so little, that such characters as Luther and Coriolanus
excited in him a sort of uncomfortable feeling, which could be satisfactorily
explained only on the hypothesis that their natures stood in a mysterious
sort of opposition to his. Göthe's genius and disposition were for the
beautiful; Herder's for the sublime."
Herder has given, in his writings, the most unmistakable evidence of
his admiration of Luther. There is no author whom he cites so frequently,
so largely, and so admiringly, as Luther. "Luther has long been
recognized as teacher of the German nation, nay, as co-reformer of all of
Europe that is this day enlightened. He was a great man and a great patriot.
Even nations that do not embrace the principles of his religion enjoy the
fruits of his Reformation. Like a true Hercules, he grappled with that
spiritual despotism which abrogates or buries all free, sound thought, and
gave back to whole nations the use of reason, and in that very sphere
where it is hardest to restore it--in spiritual things. The power of his
speech and of his honest spirit united itself with sciences, which -revived
from him and with him; associated itself with the yearnings of the best
thinkers in all conditions, who, in some things, had very different views
from his own, and thus formed for the first time a popular literary public in
Germany and the neighboring countries. Now men read what never had
been read; now men learned to read who had never learned before.
Schools and academies were founded, German hymns were sung, and
preaching in the German language ceased to be rare. The people obtained
the Bible, possessed at the very least the Catechism; numerous sects of
Anabaptists and other errorists arose, many of which, each in its own way,
contributed to the