The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 143

is condemned therein.... I rejoice in having to bear such ills for the
best of causes. Already I feel greater liberty in my heart; for at last
I know that the pope is antichrist, and that his throne is that of Satan
himself.”—D’Aubigne, b. 6, ch. 9.
Yet the mandate of Rome was not without effect. Prison, torture,
and sword were weapons potent to enforce obedience. The weak and
superstitious trembled before the decree of the pope; and while there
was general sympathy for Luther, many felt that life was too dear to be
risked in the cause of reform. Everything seemed to indicate that the
Reformer’s work was about to close.
But Luther was fearless still. Rome had hurled her anathemas against
him, and the world looked on, nothing doubting that he would perish or
be forced to yield. But with terrible power he flung back upon herself
the sentence of condemnation and publicly declared his determination
to abandon her forever. In the presence of a crowd of students, doctors,
and citizens of all ranks Luther burned the pope’s bull, with the canon
laws, the decretals, and certain writings sustaining the papal power. “My
enemies have been able, by burning my books,” he said, “to injure the
cause of truth in the minds of the common people, and destroy their
souls; for this reason I consumed their books in return. A serious
struggle has just begun. Hitherto I have been only playing with the pope.
I began this work in God’s name; it will be ended without me, and by
His might.”—Ibid., b. 6, ch. 10.
To the reproaches of his enemies who taunted him with the weakness
of his cause, Luther answered: “Who knows if God has not chosen and
called me, and if they ought not to fear that, by despising me, they
despise God Himself? Moses was alone at the departure from Egypt;
Elijah was alone in the reign of King Ahab; Isaiah alone in Jerusalem;
Ezekiel alone in Babylon.... God never selected as a prophet either the
high priest or any other great personage; but ordinarily He chose low and
despised men, once even

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