Thank God, Brother Martin is reviving again. He has been on the very
borders of the grave.
Whether it was the scorching heat through which we have been travelling,
or the malaria, which affected us with catarrh one night when we slept
with our windows open, or whether the angry monks in the Benedictine
Abbey mixed some poison with our food, I know not; but we had scarcely
reached this place when he became seriously ill.
As I watched beside him I learned something of the anguish he passed
through at our convent at Erfurt. The remembrance of his sins and the
terrors of God's judgment rushed on his mind, weakened by suffering. At
times he recognized that it was the hand of the evil one which was
keeping him down. "The devil," he would say, "is the accuser of the
brethren, not Christ. Thou, Lord Jesus, art my forgiving Saviour!" And
then he would rise above the floods. Again his mind would bewilder
itself with the unfathomable--the origin of evil, the relation of our
free will to God's almighty will.
Then I ventured to recall to him the words of Dr. Staupitz he had
repeated to me: "Behold the wounds of Jesus Christ, and then thou shall
see the counsel of God clearly shining forth. We cannot comprehend God
out of Jesus Christ. In Christ you will find what God is, and what he
requires. You will find him nowhere else, whether in heaven or on
earth."
It was strange to find myself, untried recruit that I am, thus
attempting to give refreshment to such a veteran and victor as Brother
Martin; but when the strongest are brought into single combats such as
these, which must be single, a feeble hand may bring a draught of cold
water to revive the hero between the pauses of the fight.
The victory, however, can only be won by the combatant himself; and at
length Brother Martin fought his way through once more, and as so often
happens, just when the fight seemed hottest. It was with an old weapon
he overcame--"_The just shall live by faith._"
Once more the words which have helped him so often, which so frequently
he has repeated on this journey, came with power to his mind. Again he
looked to the crucified Saviour; again he believed in him triumphant and
ready to forgive on the throne of grace; and again his spirit was in the
light.
His strength also soon began to return; and in a few days we are to be
in Rome.