here was something chivalrous, I
could almost say adventurous, in his whole personality, in his whole way
of beginning and prosecuting an enterprise. He put upon whatever he did
the stamp of an almost inconceivable greatness--of an almost
overwhelming force. His mere word was half a battle, his deed was a
whole one. He was one of those mighty souls which, like certain trees,
can only bloom in a storm. His whole great, rich, marvellous life has
always seemed to me like an epic with its battles and its final victory.
Such a spirit must of necessity make room for itself, and decisively
assert itself in history, in whatever direction its activity may be
turned, under whatever circumstances and at whatever time it enters upon
its career. The time when Luther came was one of those great historical
epochs when the world-serpent sheds its skin and reappears in
rejuvenated shape.... A great man, even the very greatest, is always the
son of his age--only he is the eldest son; he is the deputy and executor
of the age. The age is his, and he administers its substance according
to his judgment. He finds the scattered elements to his hand, but
usually tangled up and struggling in chaotic disorder. To gather and
arrange them into a creation, to direct them toward a definite goal, ...
this is his greatness; this is his creative powers.... In this ... sense
Luther created his age."[34]

[34] Esaias Tegner's Samlade Skrifter, vol. v., pp. 6, 7, 9, and 10.

Dr. Brandes has anticipated me in calling attention to the fact that the
orator's characterization of Luther, though highly interesting, is
one-sided. But as his admirable monograph on Tegner is not accessible to
English readers, I feel justified in repeating his argument in
abbreviated form. There is a great uniformity, he says, in substance, in
all Tegner's heroes. They are all men of action--bold, strong,
adventurous heroes, such as boys delight in. They have a striking family
resemblance. With the change of a few attributes Tegner applies his
characterization of Luther to such a widely differing personality as
King Gustavus III. of Sweden, a frivolous, theatrical, Frenchified,
infidel monarch. And Gustavus Adolphus and Charles XII. are forced into
the same livery, in spite of their diversity of structure, because
Tegner admired them all, and had practically but one type which appeared
to his frank, open, and somewhat boyish fancy wholly worthy of
admiration.[35]

[35] Ge