Page 5 - 07 Luther's Separation from Rome

At school, where he was sent at an early age,

Luther was treated with harshness and even

violence. So great was the poverty of his

parents that upon going from home to school

in another town he was for a time obliged to

obtain his food by singing from door to door,

and he often suffered from hunger. The

gloomy, superstitious ideas of religion then

prevailing filled him with fear. He would lie

down at night with a sorrowful heart, looking

forward with trembling to the dark future

and in constant terror at the thought of God

as a stern, unrelenting judge, a cruel tyrant,

rather than a kind heavenly Father.

Yet under so many and so great

discouragements Luther pressed resolutely

forward toward the high standard of moral

and intellectual excellence which attracted

his soul. He thirsted for knowledge, and the