The small events of the day
might indeed affect him and annoy him. He was excitable, and easily
moved to tears, but on any great emergency, after he had overcome his
early nervous excitement, such as, for instance, embarrassed him when
he first appeared before the Diet at Worms--then he showed wonderful
calmness and self-command. He knew no fear. Indeed, his lion's nature
found satisfaction in the most dangerous situations. The danger of
death into which he sometimes fell, the malicious ambushes of his
enemies, seemed to him at that time hardly worthy of mention. The
reason for this superhuman heroism, as one may call it, was again his
close personal relation to his God. He had long periods in which he
wished, with a cheerful smile, for martyrdom in the service of truth
and of his God. Terrible struggles were still before him, but those in
which men opposed him did not seem to deserve this name. He had
defeated the devil himself again and again for years. He even
overcame the fear and torment of hell, which did its utmost to cloud
his reason. Such a man might perhaps be killed, but he could hardly be
conquered.
The period of the struggle which now follows, from the beginning of
the indulgences controversy until his departure from the Wartburg--the
time of his greatest victories and of his tremendous popularity--is
perhaps best known; but it seems to us that even here his nature has
never yet been correctly judged.
Nothing is more remarkable at this period than the manner in which
Luther became gradually estranged from the Church of Rome.
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