But to do anything effectual toward
such a recovery it was pre-eminently required that the Reformer
himself should first be brought to an experimental knowledge of what
was to be witnessed and taught.
On two different theatres, therefore, the Reformation had to be
wrought out: first, in the Reformer's own soul, and then on the field
of the world outside of him.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] The maiden name of Margaret Luther, the mother of Martin, was
_Margaret Ziegler_. There has been a traditional belief that her name
was Margaret Lindeman. The mistake originated in confounding Luther's
grandmother, whose name was _Lindeman_, with Luther's mother, whose
name was _Ziegler_. Prof. Julius Koestlin, in his _Life of Luther_,
after a thorough examination of original records and documents, gives
this explanation.
WHAT THE REFORMATION WAS.
It is hard to take in the depth and magnitude of what is called The
Great Reformation. It stands out in history like a range of Himalayan
mountains, whose roots reach down into the heart of the world and
whose summits pierce beyond the clouds.
To Bossuet and Voltaire it was a mere squabble of the monks; to others
it was the cupidity of secular sovereigns and lay nobility grasping
for the power, estates, and riches of the Church. Some treat of it as
a simple reaction against religious scandals, with no great depths of
principle or meaning except to illustrate the recuperative power of
human society to cure itself of oppressive ills.
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