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himself,” said he, “kept the pope’s citadel; but Christ has made a wide
breach in it, and the devil has been compelled to confess that Christ is
mightier than he.”
After his departure, still desirous that his firmness should not be
mistaken for rebellion, Luther wrote to the emperor. “God is my
witness, who knoweth the thoughts,” he said, “that I am ready with all
my heart to obey your majesty through good or evil report, in life or
death, with no one exception, save the Word of God, by which man
liveth. In all the affairs of this life my fidelity shall be unshaken; for, in
these, loss or gain has nothing to do with salvation. But it is contrary
to the will of God, that man should be subject to man in that which
pertains to eternal life. Subjection in spirituals is a real worship, and
should be rendered only to the Creator.”
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 have never pledged myself to chain up the Word of God,” he said,
“nor will I.”
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 semblance of a man
[168]
in a monk’s hood.” 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 to Luther, had left Worms soon after
his departure, and the emperor’s decree received the sanction of the
Diet. Now the Romanists were jubilant. They considered the fate of
the Reformation sealed.
God had provided a way of escape for his servant in this hour of
peril. A vigilant eye had followed Luther’s movements, and a true
and noble heart had resolved upon his rescue. It was plain that Rome