' He will
say, Whatever happens, I must obey God, and not man. The Lord is on
my side, therefore I will not fear what man can do to me.
And what is the seed which remains in that man, and keeps him from
playing the coward? Christ himself, the seed and Son of God. If he
believes in the living Christ; if he believes that Christ is really
his master, his teacher, who is watching over him, training him,
from his cradle to his grave;--if he believes that Christ is
dwelling in him, that whatever wish to do right he has comes from
Christ, whatever sense of honour and honesty he has comes from
Christ; then it will seem to him a dreadful thing to lie, to play
the hypocrite, or the coward; to sin against his own better
feelings. It will be sinning against Christ himself.
Remember the great Martin Luther, when he stood on one side, a poor
monk standing up for the Bible and the Gospel, and against him were
arrayed the Pope and the Emperor, cardinals, bishops, and almost all
the princes in Europe; and his friends wanted him to hold his
tongue, or to say Yes and No at once; in short, to smooth over the
matter in some way.--What conceit, said many, of one poor monk
standing up against all the world; and what folly, too! He would
certainly be burnt alive. But Luther could not hold his tongue.
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