Signs of the Times, Book 1 - Ellen G. White

that good men trembled for the morality of the rising generation. With
iniquity prevailing in the high places of the church, it seemed inevitable that
the world would soon become as wicked as were the antediluvians or the
inhabitants of Sodom.
The gospel was withheld from the people. It was regarded as a crime to
own or read the Scriptures. Even the higher classes found it difficult to
obtain a glimpse of the word of God. Satan well knew that if the people were
permitted to read and interpret the Bible for themselves, his deceptions
would speedily lose their power. Hence it was his studied effort to shut the
Scriptures away from the people, and to prevent their minds from becoming
enlightened by the truths of the gospel. But a day of religious light and
freedom was about to dawn upon the world, and all the efforts of Satan and
his hosts were powerless to prevent its coming.
Foremost among those who were called for God to break the chains of
popery, and lead the church into the light of a purer faith, stood Martin
Luther. Though, like others in his time, he did not see every point of faith as
clearly as we see it today, yet he earnestly desired to know the will of God,
and joyfully received the truth as it was made plain to his understanding.
Zealous, ardent, devoted, knowing no fear but the fear of God, and
acknowledging no foundation for religious faith but the Scriptures of truth,
Luther was the man for his time; and through him God accomplished a great
work for the emancipation of the church, and the enlightenment of the world.
Like the first heralds of the gospel, Luther sprung from the ranks of
poverty. His father earned by daily toil as a miner the means to educate his
son. He intended him for a lawyer; but God designed to make him a builder
upon the great temple rising so slowly through the centuries.
Luther's father was a man of strong and active mind, and great force of
character, honest, resolute and straightforward. His life was characterized by
1412