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Luther Before the Diet
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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 sinner’s Redeemer.
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As the Reformer proceeded on his journey, he was everywhere
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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