hes
out unfalteringly upon eternal realities, and which is ever the chief
factor in all God's heroes of every age. He dwelt in constant nearness
and communion with the Eternal Spirit, which reigns in the heavens and
raises the willing and obedient into blessed instruments of itself for
the actualizing of ends and ideals beyond and above the common course
of things. With his feet ever planted on the promises, he could lay
his hands upon the Throne, and thus was lifted into a sublimity of
energy, endurance, and command which made him one of the phenomenal
wonders of humanity. He was a very Samson in spiritual vigor, and
another Hannah's son in the strength and victory of his prayers.

Dr. Calvin E. Stowe says: "There was probably never created a more
powerful human being, a more gigantic, full-proportioned MAN, in the
highest sense of the term. All that belongs to human nature, all that
goes to constitute a MAN, had a strongly-marked development in him. He
was a _model man_, one that might be shown to other beings in other
parts of the universe as a specimen of collective manhood in its
maturest growth."

As the guide and master of one of the greatest revolutions of time we
look in vain for any one with whom to compare him, and as a
revolutionary orator and preacher he had no equal. Richter says, "His
words are half-battles." Melanchthon likens them to thunderbolts. He
was at once a Peter and a Paul, a Socrates and an AEsop, a Chrysostom
and a Savonarola, a Shakespeare and a Whitefield, all condensed in
one.

FOOTNOTES:

[22] Froude supplemented.

HIS ALLEGED COARSENESS.

Some blame him for not using kid gloves in handling the ferocious
bulls, bears, and he-goats with whom he had to do. But what,
otherwise, would have become of the Reformation? His age was savage,
and the men he had to meet were savage, and the matters at stake
touched the very life of the world. What would a Chesterfield or an
Addison have been in such a contest? Erasmus said he had horns, and
knew how to use them, but that Germany needed just such a master. He
understood the situation. "These gnarled logs," said he, "will not
split without iron wedges and heavy malls. The air will not clear
without lightning and thunder."[23]

But if he was rough betimes, he could be as gentle and tender as a
maiden, and true to himself in both. He could fight monsters all day,
and in the evening take his lute, gaze at the stars, sing psalms, and
muse upon