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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 4
to seize Luther and his adherents, and deliver them up to suffer the
vengeance of Rome.
Here is displayed the true spirit of popery. Not a trace of Chris-
tian principle, or even of common justice, is to be seen in the whole
document. Luther was at a great distance from Rome; he had had
no opportunity to explain or defend his position; yet before his case
had been investigated, he was summarily pronounced a heretic, and
in the same day, exhorted, accused, judged, and condemned; and
all this by the self-styled holy father, the only supreme, infallible
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authority in Church or State!
Augsburg had been fixed upon as the place of trial, and the
Reformer set out on foot to perform the journey thither. Serious fears
were entertained in his behalf. Threats had been made openly that he
would be waylaid and murdered on the way, and his friends begged
him not to venture. They even entreated him to leave Wittemberg
for a time, and find safety with those who would gladly protect him.
But he would not leave the position where God had placed him.
He must continue faithfully to maintain the truth, notwithstanding
the storms that were beating upon him. His language was: “I am
like Jeremiah, a man of strife and contention; but the more they
increase their threatenings, the more they multiply my joy.... They
have already torn to pieces my honor and my good name. All I have
left is my wretched body; let them have it; they will then shorten my
life by a few hours. But as to my soul, they shall not have that. He
who resolves to bear the word of Christ to the world, must expect
death at every hour.”
The tidings of Luther’s arrival at Augsburg gave great satisfaction
to the papal legate. The troublesome heretic who was exciting the
attention of the whole world seemed now in the power of Rome,
and the legate determined that he should not leave the city as he
had entered. The Reformer had failed to provide himself with a
safe-conduct. His friends urged him not to appear before the legate
without one, and they themselves undertook to procure it from the
emperor. The legate intended to force Luther, if possible, to retract,
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or, failing in this, to cause him to be conveyed to Rome, to share the
fate of Huss and Jerome. Therefore through his agents he endeavored
to induce Luther to appear without a safe-conduct, trusting himself
to his mercy. This the Reformer firmly declined to do. Not until he