only monk, then or now, that
felt this call which human nature issues by the ordination of the
Creator? Rome can inflict celibacy even on priests that look like
stall-fed oxen, but she cannot unsex men. Mohammedans are less inhuman
to their eunuchs. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that Luther
complains of this matter as something that disturbs him. It vexed his
pure mind, and he fought against it as not many monks of his day have
done, by fasting, prayer, and hard work. Yes, hard work! The remarks of
Luther about his physical condition are simply twisted from their true
import when Luther is represented as a victim of fleshly lust and a
habitual debauchee. Luther's Catholic critics fail to mention that
during his brief stay at the Wartburg Luther not only translated the
greater part of the New Testament, but also wrote about a dozen
treatises, some of them of considerable size, and that of his
correspondence during this period about fifty letters are still
preserved. Surely, a fairly respectable record for a lazy man!

Catholic writers also declare Luther spiritually unfit for translating
the Bible. They say that all the time that Luther spent at the Wartburg
he was haunted by the devil. He would hear strange noises and see weird
shadows flit before him. He felt that he had come under the sway of the
powers of darkness. This, we are assured, was because he had risen in
rebellion against the divine power of the papacy. The Holy Father whom
he had attacked was being avenged upon Luther by an accusing conscience.
Luther was given a foretaste of the terrors that await the reprobate. He
had become an incipient demoniac. The inference which we are to draw
from this delightful description is this: Could such an abandoned wretch
as Luther was during the exile at the Wartburg be favored with the holy
calm and composure and the heavenly light which any person must possess
who sets out upon the arduous task of telling men in their own tongue
what God has said to them in a foreign tongue?

There is hardly a period in Luther's life that is entirely free from
spiritual affliction. In this respect Luther shares the common lot of
godly men in responsible positions in Church or State during critical
times. Moreover, Luther with all Christians believed in a personal and
incessantly active devil. Luther's devil was not the denatured
metaphysical and scientific devil of modern times, which meets us in the
form of the principle of nega