In Germany from the Leipsic Disputation to the Diet at Worms - James Aitken Wylie

Chapter 6
Luther Before
the Diet at Worms
NEXT morning–Wednesday, the 17th of April–
at eight o'clock, the hereditary Marshal of the
Empire, Ulrich von Pappenheim, cited Luther to
appear, at four of the afternoon, before his Imperial
Majesty and the States of the Empire. An important
crisis, not only in the life of Luther, but also in the
history of that Reformation which he had so
recently inaugurated, was fast approaching, and the
Reformer prepared himself to meet it with all the
earnestness that marked his deeply religious nature.
He remained all forenoon within doors, spending
most of the time in prayer. His supplications and
the moans that accompanied them were audible
outside his chamber door. From kneeling before
the throne of the Eternal God, with whom lay the
issues of the coming strife, Luther rose up to stand
before the throne of Charles. At four the Marshal
of the Empire, accompanied by a herald, returned,
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