Luther Before the Diet
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Luther was soon commanded by the authority of the emperor to
return home, and he knew that this notice would be speedily followed
by his condemnation. Threatening clouds overhung his path; but as he
departed from Worms, his heart was filled with joy and praise. “The
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devil himself,” said he, “guarded the pope’s citadel; but Christ has
made a wide breach in it, and Satan was constrained to confess that
the Lord is mightier than he.”—D’Aubigne, b. 7, ch. 11.
After his departure, still desirous that his firmness should not be
mistaken for rebellion, Luther wrote to the emperor. “God, who is
the searcher of hearts, is my witness,” he said, “that I am ready most
earnestly to obey your majesty, in honor or in dishonor, in life or in
death, and with no exception save the word of God, by which man
lives. In all the affairs of this present life, my fidelity shall be unshaken,
for here to lose or to gain is of no consequence to salvation. But when
eternal interests are concerned, God wills not that man should submit
unto man. For such submission in spiritual matters is a real worship,
and ought to be rendered solely to the Creator.”—Ibid., b. 7, ch. 11.
On the journey from Worms, Luther’s reception was even more
flattering than during his progress thither. Princely ecclesiastics wel-
comed the excommunicated monk, and civil rulers honored the man
whom the emperor had denounced. He was urged to preach, and,
notwithstanding the imperial prohibition, he again entered the pulpit.
“I never pledged myself to chain up the word of God,” he said, “nor
will I.”—Martyn 1:420.
He had not been long absent from Worms, when the papists pre-
vailed upon the emperor to issue an edict against him. In this decree
Luther was denounced as “Satan himself under the form of a man
and dressed in a monk’s frock.”—D’Aubigne, b. 7, ch. 11. It was
commanded that as soon as his safe-conduct should expire, measures
be taken to stop his work. All persons were forbidden to harbor him,
to give him food or drink, or by word or act, in public or private, to aid
or abet him. He was to be seized wherever he might be, and delivered
to the authorities. His adherents also were to be imprisoned and their
property confiscated. His writings were to be destroyed, and, finally,
all who should dare to act contrary to this decree were included in its
condemnation. The elector of Saxony and the princes most friendly
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to Luther had left Worms soon after his departure, and the emperor’s