CHAPTER XXV. IN THE NARROWER CIRCLE OF THE PROFESSION

AND FAMILY. LUTHER’S BETTER FEATURES _pages_ 228-283

1. THE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR, THE PREACHER, THE PASTOR.

Relations with the Wittenberg students; esteem in which Luther was held by them; he warns them against consorting with evil women. The Preacher and Catechist; the force and practical bearing of Luther’s sermons; his instructions to others how best to preach; his discourses at home; the notes of his sermons; what he says of Our Lady when preaching on the Magnificat; his staunch fidelity to the great doctrines of Christianity and his attachment to Holy Scripture; the fine qualities of his German as evinced in his translations and elsewhere. The spiritual guide; his concern for discipline; his circular letters; his strictures on certain legends; his efforts to re-introduce a new form of confession and to further the cause of Church-music _pages_ 228-257

2. EMOTIONAL CHARACTER AND INTELLECTUAL GIFTS.

The place of feeling in Luther’s life; an interview with Cochlæus; his powerful fancy and still more powerful will; his huge capacity for work _pages_ 257-261

3. INTERCOURSE WITH FRIENDS. THE INTERIOR OF THE FORMER AUGUSTINIAN MONASTERY.

The better side of the Table-Talk; his friends and pupils on his kindly ways; his disinterestedness, love of simplicity, his generosity, his courage when plague threatened; his occasional belittling of his own powers; his prayer and his trust in God; his lack of any real organising talent. Luther’s family life; his allusions to his wife; his care for his children _pages_ 261-283