Page 56 - 07 Luther's Separation from Rome

opponents, burning with a desire for revenge,

urged the pope to take decisive measures

against him. It was decreed that his doctrines

should be immediately condemned. Sixty

days were granted the Reformer and his

adherents, after which, if they did not recant,

they were all to be excommunicated.

That was a terrible crisis for the Reformation.

For centuries Rome's sentence of

excommunication had struck terror to

powerful monarchs; it had filled mighty

empires with woe and desolation. Those

upon whom its condemnation fell were

universally regarded with dread and horror;

they were cut off from intercourse with their

fellows and treated as outlaws, to be hunted

to extermination. Luther was not blind to the

tempest about to burst upon him; but he

stood firm, trusting in Christ to be his