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for redress. All shame is laid aside, and one object alone incessantly
pursued: money! evermore money! so that the very men whose duty
it is to teach the truth, utter nothing but falsehoods, and are not only
tolerated but rewarded; because the greater their lies, the greater
are their gains. This is the foul source from which so many corrupt
streams flow out on every side. Profligacy and avarice go hand in
hand. Alas! it is the scandal caused by the clergy that plunges so
many poor souls into everlasting perdition. A thorough reform must
be effected.”
A more able and forcible denunciation of the papal abuses could
not have been made by Luther himself; and the fact that the speaker
was a determined enemy of the Reformer, gave greater influence to
his words.
Had the eyes of the assembly been opened, they would have
beheld angels of God in the midst of them, shedding beams of
light athwart the darkness of error, and opening minds and hearts
to the reception of truth. It was the power of the God of truth and
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wisdom that controlled even the adversaries of the Reformation, and
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thus prepared the way for the great work about to be accomplished.
Martin Luther was not present; but the voice of One greater than
Luther had been heard in that assembly.
The council now demanded the Reformer’s appearance before
them. Notwithstanding the entreaties, protests, and threats of Ale-
ander, the emperor at last consented, and Luther was summoned to
appear before the Diet. With the summons was issued a safe-con-
duct, insuring his return to a place of security. These were borne to
Wittemberg by a herald, who was commissioned to conduct him to
Worms.
The friends of Luther were terrified and distressed. Knowing
the prejudice and enmity against him, they feared that even his
safe-conduct would not be respected, and they entreated him not to
imperil his life. He replied: “The papists have little desire to see me
at Worms, but they long for my condemnation and death. It matters
not. Pray not for me, but for the word of God.... Christ will give
me his Spirit to overcome these ministers of Satan. I despise them
while I live; I will triumph over them by my death. They are busy at
Worms about compelling me to recant. My recantation shall be this:
I said formerly that the pope was Christ’s vicar; now I say that he is
the adversary of the Lord, and the apostle of the devil.”
Luther was not to make his perilous journey alone. Besides
the imperial messenger, three of his firmest friends determined to
accompany him. A multitude of students and citizens, to whom the
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gospel was precious, bade him farewell with weeping, as he departed.
Thus the Reformer and his companions set out from Wittemberg.
On the journey they saw that the minds of the people were
oppressed by gloomy forebodings. At some towns no honors were
proffered them. As they stopped for the night, a friendly priest
expressed his fears by holding up before Luther the portrait of an
Italian reformer who had suffered martyrdom for the truth’s sake.
The next day they learned that Luther’s writings had been condemned
at Worms. Imperial messengers were proclaiming the emperor’s
decree, and urging all men to bring the proscribed works to the
magistrates. The herald, in alarm, asked the Reformer if he still
wished to go forward. He answered, “I will go on, though I should
be put under interdict in every town.”
Luther Before the Diet
81
At Erfurth, Luther was received with honor. Surrounded by
admiring crowds, he entered the city where, in his earlier years, he
had often begged a morsel of bread. He was urged to preach. This
he had been forbidden to do; but the herald gave his consent, and
the monk whose duty it once was to unclose the gates and sweep
the aisles, now ascended the pulpit, while the people listened to
his words as if spell-bound. The bread of life was broken to those
starving souls. Christ was lifted up before them as above popes,
legates, emperors, and kings. Luther made no reference to his own
perilous position. He did not seek to make himself the object of
thought or sympathy. In the contemplation of Christ, he had lost
sight of self. He hid behind the Man of Calvary, seeking only to
present Jesus as the si
As the Reformer proceeded on his journey, he was everywhere
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regarded with great interest. An eager multitude thronged about him;
and friendly voices warned him of the purpose of the Romanists.
“You will be burned alive,” said they, “and your body reduced to
ashes, as was that of John Huss.” Luther answered, “Though they
should kindle a fire all the way from Worms to Wittemberg, whose
flames should rise up to heaven, I would go through it in the name
of the Lord, and stand before them; I would enter the jaws of this
behemoth, and break his teeth, confessing the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The news of his approach to Worms created great commotion.
His friends trembled for his safety; his enemies feared for the success
of their cause. Strenuous efforts were made to dissuade him from
entering the city. The papists urged him to repair to the castle of
a friendly knight, where, they declared, all difficulties could be
amicably adjusted. The advocates of truth endeavored to excite his
fears by describing the dangers that threatened him. All their efforts
failed. Luther, still unshaken, declared, “Though there should be as
many devils at Worms as there are tiles on its roofs, I would enter.”
Upon his arrival at Worms, the crowd that flocked to the gates
to welcome him was even greater than at the public entry of the
emperor himself. The excitement was intense, and from the midst
of the throng a shrill and plaintive voice chanted a funeral dirge, as
a warning to Luther of the fate that awaited him. “God will be my
defense,” said he, as he alighted from his carriage.
The emperor immediately convoked his council to consider what
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course should be pursued toward Luther. One of the bishops, a
rigid papist, declared: “We have long consulted on this matter.
Let your majesty get rid of this man at once. Did not Sigismund
bring John Huss to the stake? We are under no obligation either to
give or to observe the safe-conduct of a heretic.” “Not so,” said the
emperor; “we must keep our promise.” It was therefore decided that
the Reformer should be heard.
All the city were eager to see this remarkable man, and he had
enjoyed but a few hours’ rest when noblemen, knights, priests, and
citizens gathered about him. Even his enemies marked his firm,