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

wisdom to devise a plan for Luther's preservation. Frederick had caused it to
be intimated to the Reformer while still at Worms, that his liberty might be
sacrificed for a time to secure his own safety and that of the Reformation; yet
no hint had been given as to the manner in which this might be
accomplished. With the co-operation of true friends, the elector's purpose
was carried out, and with so much tact and skill that Luther was effectually
hidden from friends and foes. In fact, both his seizure and his concealment
were so involved in mystery that even Frederick himself for a long time
knew not whither he had been conducted. This ignorance was not without
design; so long as the elector knew nothing of Luther's whereabouts, he
could reveal nothing. He had assured himself that the Reformer was safe, and
with this knowledge he was content.
Spring, summer, and autumn passed, and winter came, and Luther still
remained a prisoner. Aleander and his partisans rejoiced that the light of the
gospel seemed about to be extinguished. But instead of this, Luther was but
filling his lamp from the unfailing storehouse of truth, to shine forth in due
time with brighter radiance.
It was not merely to secure his own safety that Luther was, in the
providence of God, withdrawn from the stage of public life. Infinite Wisdom
overruled all circumstances and events for the accomplishment of his deep
designs. It is not the will of God that his work should bear the impress of one
man. There were other workers who in Luther's absence must be called to the
front, to give character to the Reformation, that it might develop
proportionately.
Furthermore, in every reformatory movement, there is danger that it will
receive the stamp of the human rather than the divine. As men rejoice in the
freedom which the truth brings them, they are inclined to exalt those whom
God has employed to break the chains of error and superstition. These
leaders are honored, extolled, and reverenced, and if they are not truly
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