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Protest of the Princes
109
and it has been accepted by millions in succeeding generations as
the expression of their faith.
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God’s faithful builders were not toiling alone. While “principal-
ities and powers and wicked spirits in high places” were leagued
against them, the Lord did not forsake his people. Could their eyes
have been opened, they would have seen as marked evidence of
divine presence and aid as was granted to a prophet of old. When
Elisha’s servant pointed his master to the hostile army surrounding
them, and cutting off all opportunity for escape, the prophet prayed,
“Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” [
2 Kings 6:17
.]
And, lo, the mountain was filled with chariots and horses of fire,
the army of Heaven stationed to protect the man of God. Thus did
angels guard the workers in the cause of the Reformation. God had
commanded his servants to build, and no opposing force could drive
them from the walls.
From the secret place of prayer came the power that shook the
world in the Great Reformation. There, with holy calmness, the
servants of the Lord set their feet upon the rock of his promises.
During the struggle at Augsburg, Luther did not fail to devote three
hours each day to prayer; and these were taken from that portion of
the day most favorable to study. In the privacy of his chamber he was
heard to pour out his soul before God in words full of adoration, fear,
and hope, as if speaking to a friend. “I know that thou art our Father
and our God,” he said, “and that thou wilt scatter the persecutors
of thy children; for thou art thyself endangered with us. All this
matter is thine, and it is only by thy constraint that we have put our
hands to it. Defend us then, O Father!” To Melancthon, who was
crushed under the burden of anxiety and fear, he wrote: “Grace and
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peace in Christ! In Christ, I say, and not in the world, Amen! I hate
with exceeding hatred those extreme cares which consume you. If
the cause is unjust, abandon it; if the cause is just, why should we
belie the promises of Him who commands us to sleep without fear?”
“Christ will not be wanting to the work of justice and truth. He lives,
he reigns; what fear, then, can we have?”
God did listen to the cries of his servants. He gave to princes and
ministers grace and courage to maintain the truth against the rulers
of the darkness of this world. Saith the Lord, “Behold, I lay in Zion
a chief corner-stone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him