Illustrations of the life of Martin Luther - THE BIBLE

PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS READING – DOCTOR JODOCUS, SURNAMED OF EISENACH, RECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY, PROFESSOR, AND SUBSEQUENTLY LUTHER'S OPPONENT, DIED 1519 † – MARTIN LUTHER, ABOUT TWENTY YEARS OF AGE, ENGAGED HITHERTO IN THE STUDY OP THE CLASSICS, PHILOSOPHERS, AND
SCHOOLMEN – GEORGE SPALATIN, A FRIEND OF LUTHER'S, AFTERWARDS CHAPLAIN TO THE ELECTOR OF SAXONY, AND TUTOR TO HIS SON JOHN FREDERICK – ALEXIS AND ANOTHER STUDENT.

*) From a drawing taken on the spot. †The presence of Jodocus, Spalatin, and Alexis, is not an historical fact, but the artist exercises his right in supposing it.

MRTIN LUTHER had been studying for two years at Erfurt University, when one morning, after his usual prayer ("to pray well", he said, "is the best half of work"), he had gone to church, and thence, according to custom, had repaired to the university library, where he used to spend the time he did not devote to the lectures of the professors. He had a passion for books, and desired to know the good ones, says Mathesius. But books were rare then, and it was only in the library that the young student could allay his thirst.

Martin Luther, having entered the hall, went to the shelves, took down a book, laid it on a table, took another, and after thus opening several volumes, placed his hands on a large Latin folio. He opened it and read the title . . . BIBLIA SACRA . . . "Ha!" he exclaimed, with surprise, "here is a book I have never seen in my life! I did not even know of its existence!" He sat down at the table, round which some of his friends were gathered, and turned over the volume. . . He knew nothing of the Holy Scriptures beyond the fragments of the Epistles and Gospels read in the churches. What was his surprise at seeing many chapters and books of which he had never heard! With joy unutterable he scans these pages from God. . . He stops at the Old Testament, with which he is less familiar than the New, and is attracted by a touching history, that reminds him of his pious mother, it was the story of Hannah and the infant Samuel. He reads: I have lent this child to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall he lent to the Lord. "And I, too", he thinks, "desire to be lent to the Lord!" He reads on: And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour with the Lord. And he adds: "Would that I too could grow in Thy favour to serve Thee as long as I live!" A new world opened before him. . . He felt that inexpressible charm which his translation was one day to impart to his countrymen, A hidden treasure was suddenly laid before his eyes: he held in his trembling hands all the words of heaven. . . The Bible! the Bible! . . . Martin Luther had found the Bible. . . Tears started to his eyes, and those around looked at him with astonishment.

Yet he must quit the library: the clocks of Erfurt have struck the hour of lecture. Martin would have desired to read the book of Samuel through; but duty called him away. He closed the precious volume with a sigh, and exclaimed from his heart: "God, most merciful, hear my prayer, and give me the grace one day to possess that book!" He rose, restored the Biblia Sacra to its shelf, with a silent promise to return to it, and hastened to the lectures.

Martin Luther immediately spoke of his great discovery to his friends. From that hour the Word of God became the mainspring of his life, the object of his studies, the strength of his heart, and the dearest of his pleasures. One day, when a law- student was presented to him, who, not troubling himself about the theories of the jurists, kept to the fundamental documents of jurisprudence, and carefully studied the Institutiones juris, Luther observed: "He who knows the text of the law thoroughly will never go wrong. We must do the same, study the text of the Bible, and not busy ourselves so much with systems and commentaries. At the spring-head we find the purest water, and we see better with our own eyes than with another's." – "The Bible", he said one day, "is at the head of all science, and should sit as a queen over all our schools and universities."

The Holy Scriptures, the authority of God in his Word, became the principle from which proceeded the great revival of the church. This same Martin Luther said, in 1519, after the famous Leipsic discussion: "We cannot constrain a Christian to believe anything, except by Holy Scripture, which is the divine law." In 1521, before the diet of Worms, he wrote to Charles V.: "I am ready to accept your judgment, without any reserve, save only the Word of God, which must be set above all." And somewhat later, speaking of the mysteries of the faith, he exclaimed: "I have seen nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing, but because God says it, I will believe that it is so, and obey his Word!"

Thus speaks Martin Luther of the Holy Scriptures which he had discovered in the Erfurt library. With pious hand he uplifts them and presents them boldly to his age. Before them, human traditions fall as Dagon before the ark of the Lord; and the light from on high, which darts from its sacred pages, enlightens those sitting in darkness, and leads them in the way of peace.

All the Reformation was contained in that Bible.