The Protestant Reformation in the popular mind
dates from the nailing of Luther's ninety-five theses
to the door of the Wittenburg chapel. In fact the

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celebration of the Quadri-centennial by Protestantism
last year centered about that date. True enough on
October 31, 1517, began the violent eruption which
was to wrench a new freedom from the autocratic
power of a sterile but arrc^nt ecclesiasticism. But
without the Renaissance there could have been no
Reformation. He who studies the movements of
Luther and his coadjutors as they stand in unqualified
opposition to the unscrupulous power of Rome, but
fails to trace the silent forces which lead up to lliat
hour, has not reckoned with the great spiritual forces
always at work in the world.
It is not my object to cite a parallel between
the Protestant Reformation and the present world sit-
uation. In spite of the hoary adage to the contrary,
I do not believe that history repeats itself. Cause and
effect follow each other, but history is progressive.
There are always new elements entering in, and there-
fore advanced results being obtained in the develop-
ment of history. I maintain that the new order
whose existence will be dated from the Great War has
ito roots in the new learning of the last fifty years
preceding the outbreak of the present conflict.
