7 . A Revolution Begins
Foremost among those who were called to lead the church from the darkness of popery into the light of a purer faith , stood Martin Luther . Zealous , ardent , and devoted , knowing no fear but the fear of God , and acknowledging no foundation for religious faith but the Holy Scriptures , Luther was the man for his time ; through him God accomplished a great work for the reformation of the church and the enlightenment of the world . Like the first heralds of the gospel , Luther sprang from the ranks of poverty . His early years were spent in the humble home of a German peasant . By daily toil as a miner his father earned the means for his education . He intended him for a lawyer ; but God purposed to make him a builder in the great temple that was rising so slowly through the centuries . Hardship , privation , and severe discipline were the school in which Infinite Wisdom prepared Luther for the important mission of his life .
Luther ' s father was a man of strong and active mind and great force of character , honest , resolute , and straightforward . He was true to his convictions of duty , let the consequences be what they might . His sterling good sense led him to regard the monastic system with distrust . He was highly displeased when Luther , without his consent , entered a monastery ; and it was two years before the father was reconciled to his son , and even then his opinions remained the same . Luther ' s parents bestowed great care upon the education and training of their children . They endeavored to instruct them in the knowledge of God and the practice of Christian virtues . The father ' s prayer often ascended in the hearing of his son that the child might remember the name of the Lord and one day aid in the advancement of His truth . Every advantage for moral or intellectual culture which their life of toil permitted them to enjoy was eagerly improved by these parents . Their efforts were earnest and persevering to prepare their children for a life of piety and usefulness . With their firmness and strength of character they sometimes exercised too great severity ; but the Reformer himself , though conscious that in some respects they had erred , found in their discipline more to approve than to condemn .
At school , where he was sent at an early age , Luther was treated with harshness and even violence . So great was the poverty of his parents that upon going from home to school in another town he was for a time obliged to obtain his food by singing from door to door , and he often suffered from hunger . The gloomy , superstitious ideas of religion then prevailing filled him with fear . He would lie down at night with a sorrowful heart , looking forward with trembling to the dark future and in constant terror at the thought of God as a stern , unrelenting judge , a cruel tyrant , rather than a kind heavenly Father . Yet under so many and so great discouragements Luther pressed resolutely forward toward the high standard of moral and intellectual excellence which attracted his soul . He thirsted for knowledge , and the earnest and
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