Luther’s Separation from Rome
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perish or be forced to yield. But with terrible power he flung back
upon herself the sentence of condemnation, and publicly declared his
determination to abandon her forever. In the presence of a crowd of
students, doctors, and citizens of all ranks, Luther burned the pope’s
bull, with the canon laws, the decretals, and certain writings sustaining
the papal power. “My enemies have been able by burning my books,”
he said, “to injure the cause of truth in the minds of some, and to
destroy souls; for this reason I consume their books in return. A
serious struggle has just commenced. Hitherto I have been playing
with the pope; now I wage open war. I began this work in God’s name;
it will be ended without me, and by his might.”
To the reproaches of his enemies, who taunted him with the weak-
ness of his cause, Luther answered: “Who knows if God has not chosen
and called me to perform this needed work, and if these babblers ought
not to fear that by despising me, they despise God himself? They say I
am alone; no, for Jehovah is with me. In their sense, Moses was alone
at the departure from Egypt; Elijah was alone in the reign of King
Ahab; Isaiah was alone in Jerusalem; Ezekiel was alone in Babylon.
Hear this, O Rome: God never selected as a prophet either the high
priest or any great personage; but rather, he chose low and despised
men, once even the shepherd Amos. In every age the saints have been
compelled to rebuke kings, princes, recreant priests, and wise men at
the peril of their lives.” “I do not say that I also am a prophet; but I do
say that they ought to fear precisely because I am alone, while on the
side of the oppressor are numbers, caste, wealth, and mocking letters.
Yes, I am alone; but I stand serene, because side by side with me is the
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Word of God; and with all their boasted numbers, this, the greatest of
powers, is not with them.”
Yet it was not without a terrible struggle with himself that Luther
decided upon a final separation from the church. It was about this time
that he wrote: “I feel more and more every day how difficult it is to lay
aside the scruples which one has imbibed in childhood. Oh, how much
pain it cost me, though I had the Scriptures on my side, to justify it to
myself that I should dare to make a stand alone against the pope, and
hold him forth as antichrist! What have the tribulations of my heart
not been! How many times have I asked myself with bitterness that
question which was so frequent on the lips of the papist: “Art thou
alone wise? Can every one else be mistaken? How will it be, if, after