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From Here to Forever
Crafty ecclesiastics, seeing their gains endangered, were enraged.
The Reformer had bitter accusers to meet. “Who does not know,”
he responded, “that a man rarely puts forth any new idea without
... being accused of exciting quarrels? ... Why were Christ and
all the martyrs put to death? Because ... they advanced novelties
without having first humbly taken counsel of the oracles of the
ancient opinions.
The reproaches of Luther’s enemies, their misrepresentation of
his purposes, and their malicious reflections on his character came
in upon him like a flood. He had felt confident that the leaders
would gladly unite with him in reform. In anticipation he had seen a
brighter day dawning for the church.
But encouragement had changed to reproach. Many dignitaries
of church and state soon saw that the acceptance of these truths
would virtually undermine the authority of Rome, stop thousands
of streams now flowing into her treasury, and thus curtail the luxury
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of the papal leaders. To teach the people to look to Christ alone
for salvation would overthrow the pontiff’s throne and eventually
destroy their own authority. Thus they arrayed themselves against
Christ and the truth by opposition to the man He sent to enlighten
them.
Luther trembled as he looked upon himself—one man opposed
to the mighty powers of earth. “Who was I,” he writes, “to oppose
the majesty of the pope, before whom ... the kings of the earth and
the whole world trembled? ... No one can know what my heart
suffered during these first two years and into what despondency, I
may say into what despair, I was sunk.
But when human support
failed, he looked to God alone. He could lean in safety upon that
all-powerful arm.
To a friend Luther wrote: “Your first duty is to begin by prayer.
... Hope for nothing from your own labors, from your own under-
standing: trust solely in God, and in the influence of His Spirit.
Here is a lesson of importance to those who feel that God has called
them to present to others solemn truths for this time. In the conflict
13
Ibid., bk. 3, ch. 6.
14
Ibid., bk. 3, ch. 6.
15
Ibid., bk. 3, ch. 7.