The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Page 113

The European Union in Prophecy
multitude whose hearts had been touched by the gospel, bade him farewell with
weeping. Thus the Reformer and his companions set out from Wittenberg.
On the journey they saw that the minds of the people were oppressed by gloomy
forebodings. At some towns no honours were proffered them. As they stopped for the
night, a friendly priest expressed his fears by holding up before Luther the portrait of
an Italian reformer who had suffered martyrdom. The next day they learned that
Luther's writings had been condemned at Worms. Imperial messengers were
proclaiming the emperor's decree and calling upon the people to bring the proscribed
works to the magistrates. The herald, fearing for Luther's safety at the council, and
thinking that already his resolution might be shaken, asked if he still wished to go
forward. He answered: "Although interdicted in every city, I shall go on."-- Ibid., b. 7,
ch. 7.
At Erfurt, Luther was received with honour. Surrounded by admiring crowds,
he passed through the streets that he had often traversed with his beggar's wallet.
He visited his convent cell, and thought upon the struggles through which the light
now flooding Germany had been shed upon his soul. He was urged to preach. This he
had been forbidden to do, but the herald granted him permission, and the friar who
had once been made the drudge of the convent, now entered the pulpit. To a crowded
assembly he spoke from the words of Christ, "Peace be unto you." "Philosophers,
doctors, and writers," he said, "have endeavoured to teach men the way to obtain
everlasting life, and they have not succeeded. I will now tell it to you: . . . God has
raised one Man from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ, that He might destroy death,
extirpate sin, and shut the gates of hell. This is the work of salvation. . . . Christ has
vanquished! this is the joyful news; and we are saved by His work, and not by our
own. . . . Our Lord Jesus Christ said, 'Peace be unto you; behold My hands;' that is to
say, Behold, O man! it is I, I alone, who have taken away thy sin, and ransomed thee;
and now thou hast peace, saith the Lord."
He continued, showing that true faith will be manifested by a holy life. "Since
God has saved us, let us so order our works that they may be acceptable to Him. Art
thou rich? let thy goods administer to the necessities of the poor. Art thou poor? let
thy services be acceptable to the rich. If thy labor is useful to thyself alone, the service
that thou pretendest to render unto God is a lie."-- Ibid., b. 7, ch. 7. The people listened
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