The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1883, Page 27

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 24

Luther at the Diet of Worms.

The scene from Luther's life, represented by
our picture, is called by a well known English
writer ‘“‘the greatest scene in modern Eurupean
History.”” The world’s pomp and power sits
there, on this hand; on that, stands up for
God’s truth, one man, the poor miner Hans
Luther’s son.

The Diet was held in the year 1521, in the
city of Worms. When Luther was ordered to
appear at the Diet, some of his friends tried to
keep him from going there, fearing that his
enemies would put him to death as they had
put others to death who had preached the Gos-
pel. Luther, however, put
his trust in God and said he
would go and appear in the
name of the Lord, even ‘‘if
his enemies built a fire which
should extend from Witten-
berg to Worms and reach to
the heavens.’? And when,
near the city of Worms, a
letter from one of his friends
was handed him, in which
that friend earnestly warned
him not to enter the city, he
boldly said, ‘‘If there were at
Worms as many devils as
there are tiles on the roofs,
yet would I go in.’”’ And he
did go in.

After having received the
Emperor's order to appear be-
fore the Diet at 4 o'clock in
the afternoon of the 17th of
April, Luther, in a long and
fervent prayer, sought the
help of God, whose truth he
was to’confess. He was then
led to the hall where the Diet
was assembled. When he
was about to enter, an old General laid his
hand on Luther’s shoulder and said, ‘‘My poor
monk, my poor monk, you have now a march
and a struggle to go through such as neither
I nor many other captains have seen the like
in our hardest battles. But if you have the
truth and are sure of it, go forward in God’s

name, and fear nothing; God will not forsake
you!’’? Luther entered the hall and now
stood before the mighty men of the earth.
There sat the mighty Emperor, and the princes,
and the dukes, and the pope’s messenger, .and
others of high rank. There Luther stood, the
miner’s son, the poor monk, calm and full of
peace, mighty in the Lord, the messenger of
God’s eternal Truth. About five thousand
people were gathered in front of the hall and
at the windows.
. Luther was first asked whether the books,
which lay near by, had been written by him.
After the titles of the books had been read, he
said the books were his. On being asked
whether he would retract what he had written,
he desired time to consider the question, since

|

it was a question of faith involving his own| turned the bird was gone. He asked, ‘‘Where
salvation and the authority of God’s Word. |is my bird?”” Charlie replied that he did not
Time was granted him until the next day. know anything about it. ‘‘But,” said the

At 4 o'clock, on the afternoon of the follow-| gentleman, ‘Charlie, that bird was in the cage
ing day, Luther was again brought before the j when I went out. Now tell me all about it;
Diet to give answer to the question whether he| where is it?”’ Charlie declared that he knew
would retract what he had written. In a} nothing about it; that the cage door was open,
speech, which lasted two hours, he set forth| and he guessed the bird had flown out. ‘The
the doctrines contained in his books. He then} lawyer called out, “Starling, where are you?”
with great firmness gave this answer: ‘‘Unless|'The bird spoke right out of the boy’s pocket,
Iam convinced by the testimony of the Word | and said just as plain as it could, ‘‘Here 1 am!’’
of God, or by clear and overpowering reasons, | Ab, what a fix that boy wasin! He had stolen
as I cannot submit my faith to the pope nor to| the bird, had hid it, as he supposed, in a safe
the councils, which have often erred and ant place, and had told two lies to conceal his
tradicted themselves, and as I am bound in| guilt, and now came a voice from his own pocket

conscience by God’s Word, I can not and will
not retract anything, for it is neither safe nor
right to do anything against conscience.’’ And
then, with great force, he added those memor-
able words: ‘‘Hrere I stanp; I cANNOT DO

OTHERWISE; GoD HELP ME! A3IEN.”’

The powerful speech, so full of faith, made
a deep impression, and many were gained for
the truth. The pope’s people, however, were
raving mad and asked the Emperor to take
back the promise of safe conduct which *he had
given Luther. But the Emperor would not
break his promise and told Luther to go back
home, protected by his safe conduct, within 21
days.

“Here | am!’

A lawyer had a cage hanging on the wall in
his office in which was a starling. He had
taught the little fellow to answer when he
called it. A boy named Charlie came in one
morning. The lawyer left the boy there while
he went out for a few minutes. When he re-

which told the story of his
own guilt. It was testimony
that all the world would be-
lieve. The boy had nothing
to say. The bird was a living
witness that he was a thief
and a liar.

We have not all of us a
starling, hut we have a con-
science—not in our pocket,
but in a more secure place—
in our soul; and that tells the
story of our guilt. As the bird
answered when the lawyer
called it, so when God speaks
our conscience will reply, and
give such testimony as we can-
not deny or explain away.

—s oa o-oo

The Irishman and his Bible.

Old Mike once gave a Ro-
man Catholic priest a good hit
when he tried to dispute with
him about his Bible reading.

‘‘The Bible,” said the priest,
‘tis for the clergy and not for
such as you, Mike.’

Mike: But I have read in my Bible: ‘‘Thou
shalt read it to thy children,” and the priests
have no children. :

Priest: But, Mike, you do not understand
the Bible at all; and it is not in your place to
understand it.

Mike: Quite right, your reverence, what I
do not understand can surely do me no harm;
and what I do understand does me exceedingly
much good.

Priest: You are right, Mike,-but the church
will teach you. The church will give you the
milk of the Word. ‘

Mike: And where else does the church get
the milk than from the Bible? So I would
rather keep that cow myself.

q+ +o oe oe -

Drarn.—An aged Christian woman, living
in the poor-house, while conversing with a
minister, showed signs of much joy. As a
reason for it, she said, ‘‘O sir! I was just
thinking what a change it will be from the poor-
house to heaven!”