Luther stands out as the most powerful figure of the Reformation. Protestant churches of every denomination owe to him their inception, not so much on points of dogma, as because the success of his revolt made theirs possible. Luther was afflicted with epilepsy and at times from other disabilities, the exact nature of which I have been unable to ascertain. Like so many other renowned invalids, we are struck with the amount of work he accomplished. During the last ten years of his life he suffered from continuous ill health, yet he spent them in incessant labor. He was preaching with vehemence and fervor on February 19, 1546, when suddenly he said, quietly, “This and much more is to be said about the Gospel; but I am too weak and will close here.” Four days later he was dead.

Calvin suffered constant bodily pain, yet he was a man of incessant activity and of supreme courage. At one time, not only the council but the people of Geneva revolted against his authority; a riot was imminent. Calvin at once set out alone for the council-chamber where he was greeted with yells and threats of death. Advancing slowly into their midst he bared his breast, saying: “If you will have blood, strike here!” Not an arm moved and, turning his back on his enemies, he slowly mounted the stairs to the tribune.

John Knox began his career as a Catholic priest and we have so little knowledge of his early life that we are ignorant as to what occasioned the startling change in his views. After his accession to the ranks of Protestantism he had at first no idea of preaching but confined himself to instructing his friends’ children. His friends, however, recognized his capacity and on his refusing “to run where God had not called him,” they planned a solemn appeal to Knox from the pulpit to accept “the public office and charge of preaching.” At the close of this exhortation Knox burst into tears and shut himself in his chamber, “in heaviness, for many days.” The call had at last found a leader of men. Yet it was an invitation to danger and to death. Shortly afterwards St. Andrews was attacked by the French fleet and Knox was among the prisoners taken. He was thrown into a galley and for nineteen months remained in irons and subject to the lash. When he was finally released, he was a man almost forty-five years old and completely broken in health, by reason of the hardships and cruelty to which he had been subjected. Yet his career was only just beginning. “To Knox more than to any other man Scotland owes her religion and individuality.” He was of great political importance and one of the most powerful enemies of Maria Stuart. As an historian he occupies an important place. His “History of the Reformation in Scotland” is a remarkable book. It was said of him “he neither flattered nor feared any flesh.” He was an inspired preacher. Elizabeth’s very critical ambassador wrote from Edinburgh that “this one man was able in one hour to put more life in us than five hundred trumpets.”

Richard Baxter was diseased from head to foot; nevertheless, he became celebrated as the most eminent of the English Protestant schoolmen. He was also of political importance and instrumental in bringing about the Restoration of Charles II.