The rich living, the lack
of activity, and the fresh mountain air into which the theologian was
transported, had their effect upon soul and body. He had already
brought from Worms a physical infirmity, now there were added hours of
gloomy melancholy which made him unfit for work.
On two successive days he joined hunting parties, but his heart was
with the few hares and partridges which were driven into the net by
the troop of men and dogs. "Innocent creatures! The papists persecute
in the same way!" To save the life of a little hare he had wrapped him
in the sleeve of his coat. The dogs came and crushed the animal's
bones within the protecting coat. "Thus Satan rages against the souls
that I seek to save." Luther had reason for protecting himself and his
friends from Satan. He had rejected all the authority of the Church;
now he stood terribly alone; nothing was left to him but his last
resort--the Scriptures. The ancient Church had represented
Christianity in continual development. The faith had been kept in a
fluid state by a living tradition which ran parallel with the
Scriptures, by the Councils, by the Papal decrees; and they had
adapted themselves, like a facile stream, to the sharp corners of
national character, to the urgent needs of each age. It is true that
this noble idea of a perpetually living organism had not been
preserved in its original purity. The best part of its life had
vanished; empty cocoons were being preserved. The old democratic
church had been transformed into the irresponsible sovereignty of a
few, had been stained with all the vices of an unconscientious
aristocracy, and was already in striking opposition to reason and
popular feeling.
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