Because of that is the product of the sentiments uttered centuries ago by the word of God. Just when it seemed that this voice was dying out, Luther arose and spoke. His words changed the configuration of a continent and made religious liberty a possibility. He called for the little book. He opened it. He read it. He gave it to mankind. He made the open Bible his unfurled banner. its influence upon his own soul, he burst the fetters of superstition, cleared, as with eagle wing, through the mists of error, attained to the azure height of God's revealed truth and made it possible for humanity to walk in the light. This work is of God. Salvation is from God. Man is the agent; Christ, the author. The work is to go on until truth shall triumph over error, and God shall rule on earth as in heaven. 7. The source of his power was in prayer. A constant reader of the word of God, he did not, says D'Aubigne, pass a day without devoting at least three hours to prayer. These hours of devotion were selected from those most favorable to study. One day, as Diedrich approached the reformer's chamber, he heard his voice and remained motionless, holding his breath, a few steps from the door. Luther was praying, and his prayer was full of adoration, fear and hope, as when a man speaks to a friend or a father. "I know that thou art our Father and our God," said the reformer, alone in his chamber, "and thou wilt scatter the persecutors of thy children, for thou art thyself endangered with us. this matter is thine, and it is only by thy constraint that we have put our hands unto it. Defend us then, O Father." In this way he lived in Christ. Today we see that there is no investment like that which we obtain when we give ourselves to Christ. The assurance is for all, "Because I live, ye shall live also." Christ is the life in us and for us. Blessed be his name! All He could not get away. At Luther's death was peaceful. He died in Eisleben. This he wanted to do. This God allowed him to do. He had been to Mansfield to settle a difficulty between friends. He had been hindered. The storm came on. The streams rose. last he started for home. He reached Eisleben, where he played the flute when a boy, where Madam live. He was taken with a chill. him. He had fought his fight. Cotta lived, where he began to He was ready for the crown. He longed to go and cried: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, thou faithful God." Then he rested quietly and closed his eyes. A friend asked him: "Beloved father, will you die faithful to Christ and to the doctrine you have preached?” He answered, distinctly, "Yes," and never spoke again. So he went home to God. He was buried in Wittenberg. Living, he was the plague of the pope. Dying, his influence as a totality went forth to all the world. Tell the truth about Romanism. Fidelity to truth is to destroy popery. There is a judgment throne in this world as in the next. Nothing bad can for a long time maintain the reputation of being good. The church of Rome is in utter antagonism to the spirit of the age. Repudiated at home, it will be despised abroad. To the great republic it comes to disrupt and destroy. Let its history be read and its policy scanned and studied, and its machinations will yet be opposed and thwarted. The American people are patient as they are brave; they will yet see the truth, and then they will tell and act it, and Romanism will die. This land is to furnish its grave, for the cry is now being heard, "Give me the little book." The book received giveth light, and the light of the word of God is the death of popery. As in the days of Luther, when, in Switzerland and in England as in Germany, men were turning unto God, let us pray that Romanists may everywhere come to Christ, and find, with us, peace in believing and joy in the Holy Ghost A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not." Matt. 11:20. A Romish fetter is worn by New York. Can it be broken? If broken in New York, it can be done anywhere and elsewhere, and there is hope of freeing this continent from the dominant control of a power that seeks to undermine the foundations of republican government, break up the public school system, and block the wheels of the car of salvation. Thousands are ready to surrender New York to Rome. They claim that it is in vain to fight the Lady of the Tiber on the banks of the Hudson. Hence, while money is freely given to establish home rule in Ireland, native Americans surrender home rule in New York and accept Roman Catholic rule instead, forgetful that it entails wasteful expenditures, restraints of liberty, and the dooming of uncounted multitudes to the dominion of superstition and the loss of all that brightens life and blesses the soul. The No city on the continent has enjoyed the privileges or shared the opportunities of New York. Enthroned on an island, with open roadways by water to Europe and to the center of the continent; with her net-work of railways stretching to every part of the oceanwashed republic, laying at her feet the products of every clime, without dissent and without question she holds the proud pre-eminence of being the most powerful city of the new world. queen of the realm of commerce, she might be the dictator in politics and the influential factor in religion, were it not that she wears the Romish fetter. A deep and unaccountable sleep has fallen upon the people. If religion were a farce; if prophecies concerning Tyre and Sidon had never been fulfilled; and if God's judgments were not sure to be meted out to cities that squander their trusts and ignore their responsibilities, they who walk the battlements of Zion might be silent. But God is not dead. Judgment is to be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet. This we know. Hence the peril for watchman and for people, unless repentance shall precede righteousness. The cry is: "How shall the Christian church reach the masses?" Surely not by closing the doors of the sanctuary against them, as is being done in New York. Romanism is a tabooed subject in the pulpit, and its discussion is repudiated by the masses of the people. Great cities have great opportunities, and grave responsibilities accompany the great opportunities. New York began well. Founded by the lovers of God's word, for a long time her citizens resisted the incursions of Romanism, and stood stoutly for the faith revealed in the word of God. At last, Romanists were welcomed as the hewers of wood and the drawers of water. They lived apart from Christians. They worshiped idols and bowed down to false. gods, but did this under the ægis of religious liberty, as if that excused Christians from proclaiming to them the gospel. The trouble is that the Christians of New York have never felt, and do not now feel, that they have anything to do with the religion of Romanists. If Romanists choose to go to hell or to purgatory, the Christian churches feel that they are not responsible. They may deprecate it, and mourn their foolishness; but they will not warn them of danger, expose their errors or proclaim to them the truth. They treat Romanism as if it were a thousand miles away, and as if its aggressive power had not captured the citadel of hope and broken down the ramparts of truth. New York is in the grasp of Rome and infidelity. It is there with the consent of the Christian people who clamor for a "simple gospel," and call peace prosperity, and a withholding of the truth, with the commendation of the friends of error, an evidence of growth in public favor. The education of the Christian people of New York has been neglected. The rule of commerce has objected to the rule of Christ. A pulpit with the lips of the ministry padlocked in regard to all living questions, and pews where the occupants may be assured of enjoying a service unmolested either by politics or by anything offensive or disturbing in religion, is regarded with peculiar favor by the majority of professing Christians. New York has not been captured by brave deeds on the part of |