Theology of Luther in Its Historical Development and Inner Harmony

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The life of Martin Luther was one so unique in its personal characteristics and so full of dramatic interest that we are prone to rest content with the contemplation of its outward aspects, and too seldom st0p to trace the course of the full, deep current of religious thought that lay beneath it. Here and there in his career certain definite religious convictions are recognized by all as controlling his conduct and prompting his fearless utterances. The world knows what were the truths for which he stood at Worms and Marburg. But it is the task of the painstaking scholar to note the germination of the great initial conceptions which gave direction and form to all the subsequent thought of the Reformer, and to mark the natural stages of development by which this seed-thought grew until it covered the whole field of theological truth.