Árdís - 01.01.1954, Page 8

6
ÁRDÍS
Martin Luther
Delivered. at the Convention of the Lutheran Women’s League
At Selkirk, Manitoba, May 28th, 1954.
By MRS. LILIA EYLANDS
Madame President, Dear Friends:
Since the recent showing of the popular film, “Martin Luther”,
seen by many of you no doubt, it has occurred to me that most of
us are sadly lacking in knowledge of the characteristics and accom-
plishments of this great man. We as Lutherans should indeed know
more than the average person about the founder of the Protestant
Faith, particularly of the Lutheran denomination, and I have there-
fore chosen to discuss with you, briefly, the highlights of his
career.
Among the great benefactors of the world, Martin Luther is
one of the most illustrious. He headed the Protestant Reformation.
This movement is interlinked with the literature, religion, educa-
tion, prosperity and the political history of Europe—during the
first half of the 16th Century, and it is the most important and
interesting of all modern historical changes. To be sure, the way
was prepared for him by a host of brilliant men in different coun-
tries who detested the corruptions they lamented but could not
remove. Luther was just the man for this work, sprung from the
people, poor, popular, religious by nature, practical and believing
in the future and in God. Such was the great leader of this eman-
cipating movement. Yet it is said that he possessed other qualities
generally not considered an asset to character, but which in his
case fitted him to lead—for he was bold, brusque and not polished,
sometimes even rude and abusive. Had he been more polished,
more fastidious, more scrupulous and modest—he would have been
discouraged and shrunk from his tasks. But he loved the storms of
battle and impersonated revolutionary ideas, for he was a man of
action as well as of thought.
Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, Germany, November 10,
1483—the son of a poor peasant. He was religious as a child, and
while at school he went from house to house singing hymns for a