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The Great Controversy 1888
Again he declared: “What I am doing will not be effected by the
prudence of man, but by the counsel of God. If the work be of God,
who shall stop it? If it be not, who shall forward it? Not my will, not
theirs, not ours, but thy will, holy Father who art in Heaven!”
Though Luther had been moved by the Spirit of God to begin his
work, he was not to carry it forward without severe conflicts. The
reproaches of his enemies, their misrepresentation of his purposes, and
their unjust and malicious reflections upon his character and motives,
came in upon him like an overwhelming flood; and they were not
without effect. He had felt confident that the leaders of the people, both
in the church and in the schools, would gladly unite with him in efforts
for reform. Words of encouragement from those on high position had
inspired him with joy and hope. Already in anticipation he had seen a
brighter day dawning for the church. But encouragement had changed
to reproach and condemnation. Many dignitaries, both of Church and
State, were convicted of the truthfulness of his theses; but they soon
saw that the acceptance of these truths would involve great changes.
To enlighten and reform the people would be virtually to undermine
the authority of Rome, to stop thousands of streams now flowing
into her treasury, and thus greatly to curtail the extravagance and
luxury of the papal leaders. Furthermore, to teach the people to think
and act as responsible beings, looking to Christ alone for salvation,
would overthrow the pontiff’s throne, and eventually destroy their own
authority. For this reason they refused the knowledge tendered them
of God, and arrayed themselves against Christ and the truth by their
opposition to the man whom he had sent to enlighten them.
Luther trembled as he looked upon himself,—one man opposed
to the mightiest powers of earth. He sometimes doubted whether he
had indeed been led of God to set himself against the authority of the
church. “Who was I,” he writes, “to oppose the majesty of the pope,
before whom the kings of the earth and the whole world trembled?”
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“No one can know what I suffered in those first two years, and into
what dejection and even despair I was often plunged.” But he was not
left to become utterly disheartened. When human support failed, he
looked to God alone, and learned that he could lean in perfect safety
upon that all-powerful arm.
To a friend of the Reformation Luther wrote: “We cannot attain
to the understanding of Scripture either by study or by strength of