As he walked through the city and gazed on the ruins of the beautiful temples and other buildings which were once the wonder of the world, he felt sad: "Ah," he said to himself, "the Rome of Scipio and Cæsar is but a corpse." No doubt he longed for and prayed for the time when Christ "the light of the world" should be faithfully preached in that city, which lay "dead in trespasses and sins." But besides the ruins of ancient heathen Rome, there were others of a very different kind which engaged his attention. Side by side with those of the old Roman heroes were to be seen the burial places of the martyrs who had been put to death by Nero and other pagan emperors. As Luther stood by their graves, he thought how much more real glory was connected with their sad death than with all the splendid pomp and show of their persecuting enemies. If they could have spoken to him from heaven, they would have said, "Our light affliction, which was but for a moment, was not worthy to be compared to the eternal weight of glory which we now enjoy." There were other thoughts about Rome which comforted Luther, even when he felt most sad and lonely. He remembered that it was to the saints that were at Rome in St. Paul's time that he wrote the Epistle which contained those precious words so dear to his heart, "The just shall live by faith;" and that though the Apostle was once a prisoner at Rome, yet out of that prison the Lord had delivered him. We may be sure that these thoughts greatly comforted the heart of poor Luther as he wandered through the city. وو The Pope at that time was Julius II. Luther said mass several times while at Rome. He did not then know that the celebration of mass was idolatry. Long afterwards, in speaking of it, he said, "The mass is the greatest blaspheming of God, and the highest idolatry upon earth." The word mass comes from the Hebrew word "Moasim," which means a collecting of alms or tax for the sake of priests or other people; and so, when the French king hears mass, he gives a French crown to the priest, which he lays upon a book brought and held before him. The mass ought to be abolished. It is a dishonest kind of trading and gain to celebrate mass for twopence, or to sell it for one penny or three-halfpence. At another time he said, "The mass is an abominable idolatry, making Christ to have died in vain, seeing they pretend thereby to make full satisfaction for sins with mere works." Luther, as we have said, did not perceive all this evil at once. God was opening his eyes by degrees to behold the true light shining in His Word, and the more that light brightened, the more clearly it discovered to him the errors of that Church which he once thought perfectly holy. In the belief that the mass was an acceptable service to God, Luther performed it in a solemn and reverent manner, and was shocked by the careless way in which the Romish clergy went through the service; often making them call out impatiently, "Make haste, make haste!" when they thought he was too slow. "I performed mass," says Luther, "at Rome, and also saw it performed by others, but in such a manner that I never think of it without the utmost horror." A monkish poet himself, in remarking upon the iniquity of the Pope's pretended holy city, could not help saying, "If you would live righteously, keep clear of Rome." Although this visit to Rome was in many respects a sad one, yet Luther afterwards said, he would not "have missed it for a hundred thousand florins." We have already said that it was by little and little that the whole truth of the Gospel was apprehended by Luther. He had yet much to learn, and it was very long before he could quite give up the idea that he could in some way help to save his soul. We should not, therefore, be much surprised to learn that, while at Rome, he was found one day on his knees and hands, ascending what is called Pilate's staircase, imagining that by this difficult and painful exercise he was doing a work pleasing to God. Slowly he climbed those steps, which, they told him, had been miraculously brought from Jerusalem; but he had not made much progress, when he thought he heard a voice like thunder speaking within him, and repeating the well-known words, "The just shall live by faith." Luther started from his knees in terror and shame at his superstition and folly, and rushed from the place. This was now the third time that those words had struck upon his ear as the voice of an angel of God. In speaking of them afterwards, he said, "Surely this text of the Apostle Paul was to me as the very gate of heaven." We have seen that, before Luther visited Rome, he imagined that city to be the most holy spot upon the face of the earth. He also thought that the Pope, who calls himself the head of the Church, was the most holy man in the world. More than that, he believed him to be infallible; that in the decisions he pronounced as Pope he could not err. It was well, then, that Luther should find out this falsehood. Many years afterwards, he thus expressed his opinion of the Pope and his cardinals. "Pope, cardinals, bishops, not a soul of them has read the Bible. 'Tis a book unknown to them. They are a pack of wretches resting secure in their power, and of accomplishing never for a moment thinking God's will." Again, he says, "The Pope puts himself powerfully against Christ, but he must be destroyed." And again, "The Pope does nothing but pervert and abuse all God has ordained and commanded." What a sad description of the character of any man, and especially of one who pretended to be infallible-to be "as God." And, as we might expect, such men could not be happy. Conscience must sometimes have whispered that God would yet bring them to judgment; and then, where would their souls go? And so we find the popes were continually afraid of being poisoned. Of one of them, Clement VII., who was a fearfully wicked man, we read that, "Every day, after he had dined or supped, his cupbearer and cooks were imprisoned for two hours, and then, if no symptoms of poison manifested themselves in their master, they were released." "What a miserable life," observed Luther, when this was told him. "'Tis ex actly what Moses has described:-' In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! For the fear of their heart wherewith thou shalt fear"" (Deut. xxviii. 67). "Thy works, not mine, O Christ, Speak gladness to this heart; They tell me all is done; They bid my fear depart. To whom, save Thee, For sin atone, |
