THE SACK OF ROME
clouds before it, through which in moments of quiet there is revealed a gentle landscape where flowers grow and heartfelt, passionate song is heard. Even as a baccalaureate Luther had tormented himself with doubts as he lay abed seriously ill. How can I find God? How can I reconcile myself with Him since I am a servant guilty of sin and He is the heavenly Judge and Avenger? Then it seemed to him that in one's own blood there is more truth than has ever been written down. He does not govern himself in accordance with the counsel given in books, but forces the books to harmonize with himself. Where the letter opposes him with unbending legality, he flings all the wrath of his language at it. He is a man of will and of feeling who will suffer no hair-splitting to affect the God of a simple-minded human being. He bases his faith in the Lord of the world upon the universal need of the human heart. He derides and despises reason in the things of religion. With heroic self-sufficiency, he places his confidence in the voice that speaks from within. He thunders at the cunning of those who would seek God in thought, and understands Him through a faith possessing religious force as One who is exalted above all that is human. Study, brooding and the discipline have not quieted his inner torment; no measure of good works has sufficed to bring him peace; all the good will expended on service and obedience has not redeemed him from wondering whether God has been merciful to him, the repentant sinner; and so there remains only despair or else the conviction that God Himself has visited upon man everything that is native to him, including sin and that evil lust which renders him so despicable. Have I been elected to an eternal happiness which I cannot earn with my poor human power? Shall I ever be worthy to appear before the Eyes of God? Who can stand in the Presence of Him, the Holy One? With all his temperament Luther clings as firmly to God as his body does to the chains of concupiscence. Now that he has reached the years of maturity this uncontrollably sensual peasant son who has fettered himself with irrevocable vows, feels the power of the flesh strike like fire from within. He is terrified lest He who is Divine and Holy, knowing his wicked urges, will judge and punish them.
Among the books from which he had formerly sought help were some which had been written two hundred years earlier by men akin
MARTIN
