The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 153

At Erfurt, Luther was received with honor. 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
endeavored 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 as if spellbound. The bread of life was broken
to those starving souls. Christ was lifted up before them as above popes,
legates, emperors, and kings. Luther made no reference to his own
perilous position. He did not seek to make himself the object of thought
or sympathy. In the contemplation of Christ he had lost sight of self.
He hid behind the Man of Calvary, seeking only to present Jesus as the
sinner’s Redeemer.

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