luth

[French.] A name given to the leatherback. Luther-an, a. & s. [See def.] A. As adj .: Of or belonging to Martin Luther or the church he founded. B. As subst. ( pl .): A name said to have been first applied in contempt by Dr. Eck, or Eckius, to the followers of Martin Luther, Ludir, or Lother. pine, pit, sire, sir, marine; gō, pot, IMG:content-0783.png:[ocr errors] IMG:content-0784.png:[blocks in formation] Luther was born at Eisleben, in Saxony, sixteen rapid. According to the reports of the denominamilos N. W. of Halle, his father Hans Luther being tion for 1898, published in the "Church Almanac, a miner and worker in metals. Martın lost an the statistics of the church in the United States and intimate companion by suduen death in 1505; he Canada for that year present the following totals: was deeply impre ed with the importance of relig- Four general bodies and fourteen independent ion, and became an Augustine eremite, at Erfurth. In 1508 he was made Prote or of Philosophy in the University of Wittenberg, recently founded by the Elector, Frederick the Wise, and which ultimately was incorporated in 1817 with that of Halle. In 1510 he had to visit Rome on the busine of his order. In 1512 he became Doctor of Divinity. In 1517, Pope Leo X., having followed the example of his predece or in sanctioning the sale of indul gences with the view of raising money nominally for the rebuilding of St. Peter's, Rome, and for supporting a league of the Christian powers against the Turks, Luther came into collision with Tetzel, the agent for the traffic at Wittenberg and the adjacent regions. [INDULGENCES.] On October 31, 1517, a day so important that with it the middle ages are generally held to have closed and modern times begun, he affixed ninety-five theses against indulgences to the cathedral church of Wittenberg. [REFORMATION.] At first Luther's variance was only with the subordinate agents, but gradually it pa ed into hostility to Leo, and when, in reply to a bull i ued against him on June 15, 1520, he, on December 10, burnt the Papal bull with the decretals and canons, his breach with the papacy was complete. More than one previous effort had been made to reconcile him to the Church, but in vain; and finally Charles V. was exhorted to make an example of him as an obstinate heretic. He was therefore summoned to appear before the Diet of Worms, and did so on synods, embracing sixty-two synodical organizations. The sixty-two synods number 6.208 ministers, 10,169 congregations, and 1,489,874 communicant members, with a total family membership of more than 6,000,000.