"I think if God gives us a staff, Else, he _intends_ us to lean on it."
"And when he takes it away," said Eva, "I think He is sure to give us
his own hand instead! I think what grieves God is, when we use his gifts
for what he did _not_ intend them to be; as if, for instance, we were to
_plant_ our staff, instead of _leaning_ on it; or to set it up as an
image and adore it, instead of resting on it and adoring God. _Then_, I
suppose, we might have to learn that our idol was not in itself a
support, or a living thing at all, but only a piece of lifeless wood."
"Yes," said Thekla decidedly, "when God gives us friends, I believe he
means us to love them as much as we can. And when he gives us happiness,
I am sure he means us to enjoy it as much as we can. And when he gives
soldiers a good general, he means them to trust and follow him. And when
he gives us back Dr. Luther and Cousin Eva," she added, drawing Eva's
hand from her work and covering it with kisses, "I am quite sure he
means us to welcome them with all our hearts, and feel that we can never
make enough of them. O Else," she added, smiling, "you will never, I am
afraid, be set quite free from the old fetters. Every now and then we
shall hear them clanking about you, like the chains of the family ghost
of the Gersdorfs. You will never quite believe, dear good sister, that
God is not better pleased with you when you are sad than when you are
happy."
"He is often nearest," said Eva softly, "when we are sad." And Thekla's
lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears as she replied in a
different tone,--
"I think I know that too, Cousin Eva."
Poor child, she has often had to prove it. Her heart must often ache
when she thinks of the perilous position of Bertrand de Crequi among his
hostile kindred in Flanders. And it is therefore she cannot bear a
shadow of a doubt to be thrown on the certainty of their re-union.
The evangelical doctrine is enthusiastically welcomed at Antwerp and
other cities of the Low Countries. But, on the other hand, the civil and
ecclesiastical authorities oppose it vehemently, and threaten
persecution.
_May_, 1522.
Dr. Luther has had an interview with Mark Stuebner, the schoolmaster
Cellarius, and others of the Zwickau prophets and their disciples. He
told them plainly that he believed their violent, self-willed, fanatical
proceedings were suggested, not by the Holy Spirit of love and truth,
but by the spirit of lies and malice. Yet he is said to have listened to
them with quietness. Cellarius, they say, foamed and gnashed his teeth
with rage, but Stuebner showed more self-restraint.
However, the prophets have all left Wittemberg, and quiet is restored.
A calm has come down on the place, and on every home in it--the calm of
order and subjection instead of the restlessness of self-will. And all
has been accomplished through the presence and the words of the man whom
God has sent to be our leader, and whom we acknowledge. Not one act of
violence has been done since he came. He would suffer no constraint
either on the consciences of the disciples of the "prophets," or on
those of the old superstition. He relies, as we all do, on the effect of
the translation of the Bible into German, which is now quietly and
rapidly advancing.
Every week the doctors meet in the Augustinian Convent, now all but
empty, to examine the work done, and to consult about the difficult
passages. When once this is accomplished, they believe God will speak
through those divine pages direct to all men's hearts, and preachers and
doctors may retire to their lowly subordinate places.