Luther Before the Diet
123
many great and learned men are among us! How much more power
is on our side!” These are the arguments that have a telling influence
upon the world, but they are no more conclusive now than in the days
of the reformer.
The Reformation did not, as many suppose, end with Luther. It is
to be continued to the close of this world’s history. Luther had a great
work to do in reflecting to others the light which God had permitted
to shine upon him; yet he did not receive all the light which was to
be given to the world. From that time to this, new light has been
[149]
continually shining upon the Scriptures, and new truths have been
constantly unfolding.
The legate’s address made a deep impression upon the Diet. There
was no Luther present, with the clear and convincing truths of God’s
Word, to vanquish the papal champion. No attempt was made to defend
the reformer. There was manifest a general disposition not only to
condemn him and the doctrines which he taught, but if possible to
uproot the heresy. Rome had enjoyed the most favorable opportunity
to defend her cause. All that she could say in her own vindication
had been said. But the apparent victory was the signal of defeat.
Henceforth the contrast between truth and error would be more clearly
seen, as they should take the field in open warfare. Never from that
day would Rome stand as secure as she had stood.
While most of the members of the Diet would not have hesitated
to yield up Luther to the vengeance of Rome, many of them saw and
deplored the existing depravity in the church, and desired a suppression
of the abuses suffered by the German people in consequence of the
corruption and greed of the hierarchy. The legate had presented the
papal rule in the most favorable light. Now the Lord moved upon a
member of the Diet to give a true delineation of the effects of papal
tyranny. With noble firmness, Duke George of Saxony stood up in that
princely assembly, and specified with terrible exactness the deceptions
and abominations of popery, and their dire results. In closing he said:—
“These are but a few of the abuses which cry out against Rome
for redress. All shame is laid aside, and one object alone incessantly
pursued: money! evermore money! so that the very men whose duty
it is to teach the truth, utter nothing but falsehoods, and are not only
tolerated but rewarded; because the greater their lies, the greater are
their gains. This is the foul source from which so many corrupt streams