Basic HTML Version
Champion of Truth
91
withstand. Some were convinced that a divine influence attended
him; others declared, as had the Pharisees concerning Christ: “He
hath a devil.”
John 10:20
.
On the following day an imperial officer was appointed to con-
duct Luther to the hall of audience. Every avenue was crowded with
spectators eager to look upon the monk who had dared to resist the
pope. An old general, the hero of many battles, said to him kindly:
“Poor monk, thou art now going to make a nobler stand than I or any
other captains have ever made in the bloodiest of our battles. But
if thy cause is just, ... go forward in God’s name, and fear nothing.
God will not forsake thee.
Luther Stands Before the Council
The emperor occupied the throne, surrounded by the most illus-
trious personages in the empire. Martin Luther was now to answer
for his faith. “This appearance was of itself a signal victory over
the papacy. The pope had condemned the man, and he was now
standing before a tribunal which, by the very act, set itself above the
[98]
pope. The pope had laid him under interdict, and cut him off from
all human society; and yet he was summoned in respectful language,
and received before the most august assembly in the world. ... Rome
was already descending from her throne, and it was the voice of a
monk that caused this humiliation.
The lowly-born Reformer seemed awed and embarrassed. Sev-
eral princes approached him, and one whispered: “Fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.” Another said:
“When ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake,
it shall be given you, by the Spirit of your Father, what ye shall say.”
See
Matthew 10:28, 18, 19
.
A deep silence fell upon the crowded assembly. Then an im-
perial officer arose and, pointing to Luther’s writings, demanded
that the Reformer answer two questions—whether he acknowledged
them as his, and whether he proposed to retract the opinions therein
advanced. The titles of the books having been read, Luther, to the
first question, acknowledged the books to be his. “As to the second,”
13
D’Aubigne, bk. 7, ch. 8.
14
Ibid., bk. 7, ch. 8.