LUTHER’S preaching at Wittemberg soon drew crowded audiences. The deep seriousness that characterized his sermons, the joy wherewith his knowledge of the Gospel filled his heart, gave to his eloquent words an authority, a fervor, and an unction which none of his predecessors had displayed. When the crowds thronged the old chapel so as to make the building unsafe, the town council of Wittemberg chose Luther as their preacher, and henceforth he preached in the town church. His doctrines and his manner astonished his hearers, who came in increasing crowds to listen to him. But this tide of prosperity was interrupted for a time.
A dispute had arisen between seven of the Augustine monasteries and the vicar-general, which was referred to Rome, and Luther was chosen to represent the case there. He did not stay long in Rome, but what he saw and heard taught him lessons of the greatest importance. Up till that visit monastic prejudices swayed his mind, and the Pope was still “his Holiness” in his estimation.
Starting on his journey, he crossed the Alps, and descended into the fertile plains of Lombardy. Step by step new objects of wonder met his gaze, and scandals of which he had never dreamed engaged his attention. The poor German monk, who travelled afoot and alone, was received at the rich monastery of the Benedictines. The luxuries of the table and the gorgeous appointments of the whole place were such that he was quite scandalized. The rent-roll of this religious house was thirty-six thousand ducats, equal to £20,000 of English money at that date, and not less than £120,000 at the present value of money. One-third was spent in eating and drinking, one third in other requirements of the monks, and the remainder on the repair and enlargement of the monastery. He was confounded by what he saw of luxury and pride, but held his peace until Friday came, when he saw the table loaded with luxuries, and animal food in abundance. He resolved to speak out. “The Church forbids these things,” said he. They were indignant at his censure. Suspecting that he would report their excesses in the pontifical city, they thought the surest way was to make away with their troublesome guest. The porter warned him that he ran serious risks if he stayed longer. He made his escape from this epicurean monastery, and went to Bologna, where he was taken ill, it has been supposed as the result of poison, but perhaps it was owing rather to the change of diet from the herrings and bread of Germany to the luxurious fare of the Benedictines. In his illness he became a prey for a time to great lowness of spirits. To die far away from his beloved Germany, in a foreign land, and under the burning sky of Italy, was bad enough: but he was troubled on account of his sins, and he trembled at the judgments of God: but when he was at the lowest, his faith revived, and the words that had struck him so forcibly at Wittemberg, “The just shall live by faith,” shed a heavenly light upon his soul, and he was restored to the joy of Salvation, and soon to his wonted health and strength.
~~~
GOD the Creator should have been glorified on this earth by the human beings He had made, but man fell, and dishonored God. But as we follow our Lord’s prophetic words, we see a new region on high, wherein the glory of the Incarnation, the Cross, the Resurrection and Ascension of the Christ bring fresh and new luster to both the Father and the Son, and the light of the glory which God the Father shed upon the Son, a Man in heaven, sheds back its brilliancy upon the Father Himself.