For a moment Luther felt troubled; his eye was off the blessed Lord; he was thinking of the many great princes before whom he had to stand; his faith grew weak; he was like Peter when he looked at the waves in place of the Person of Christ; he felt as if he would sink. In this state of soul he fell on his face and groaned deep thoughts which could not be uttered. It was the Spirit making intercession for him. A friend hearing his distress, listened, and was privileged to hear the broken cries of a broken heart ascending to the throne of God.
"O Almighty and Everlasting God! How terrible is this world! Behold, it openeth its mouth to swallow me up, and I have so little trust in Thee!... How weak is the flesh, and Satan how strong! If it is only in the strength of this world that I must put my trust, all is over!... My last hour is come; my condemnation has been pronounced!... O God! O God!... O God! Do Thou help me against all the wisdom of the world! Do this; Thou shouldest do this.... Thou alone... for this is not my work, but Thine. I have nothing to do here, nothing to contend for with these great ones of the world! I should desire to see my days flow on peaceful and happy. But the cause is Thine.... And it is a righteous and eternal cause. O Lord! help me! Faithful and unchangeable God! in no man do I place my trust. It would be vain! All that is of man is uncertain; all that cometh of man fails.... O God! my God! hearest Thou me not?... Thou hidest Thyself! Thou hast chosen me for this work. I know it well!... Act, then, O God!... Stand at my side, for the sake of Thy well-beloved Jesus Christ, who is my defense, my shield, and my strong tower."
After a short time of silent struggling with the Lord, he again broke out in those short, deep, broken utterances, which must be experienced before they can be understood. It is the breaking of the bones of carnal confidence and self-importance; this is being broken down in the presence of God
"Lord! where stayest Thou?... O my God! where art Thou?... Come! Come! I am ready!... I am ready to lay down my life for Thy truth.... patient as a lamb. For it is the cause of justice—it is Thine!... I will never separate Thyself from me, neither now nor through eternity!... And though the world should be filled with devils.... though my body, which is still the work of Thy hands, should be slain, be stretched upon the pavement, should be cut in pieces.... reduced to ashes.... my soul is Thine?... Yes! Thy word is my assurance of it. My soul belongs to Thee! It shall abide forever with Thee.... Amen.... O God! help me!... Amen."
This prayer explains the state of Luther's mind and the character of his communion with God, better far than any description from the pen of his biographer. Here the living God is qualifying His servant for His work by giving him to taste the bitterness of death. (2 Cor. 4:7-127But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12So then death worketh in us, but life in you. (2 Corinthians 4:7‑12).) Luther was but emerging from the darkness of superstition; he had not fully learned the blessed truth of death and resurrection, of his oneness with Christ, of his acceptance in the Beloved. But his nearness to God, the power of his prayer, and the reality of his communion, refresh our hearts after an interval of three hundred years.