Martin Luther Author:John Rae Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHATTER III. LIFE IN THE MONASTERY. THE ties which bound Luther to the university had been sundered, the sacrifice had been made but no particle of regret fo... more »llowed. His action was directly opposed to the wishes of his father, and he well knew that it would arouse his sternest anger. His friends, one and all, would condemn him, regarding his conduct as the work of one strangely insensible to the true and legitimate advantages of his toilsome study, his exceptional abilities and his enviable position. But Luther, in the face of all this, showed no hesitation. That night he repaired to the Augustinian convent at Erfurt, and craved admission. When his voice was recognized, and his wishes made known, the door was cheerfully opened, and Luther stepped within the portal of the building. This, then, was the haven where he fondly hoped to find peace from the rough storms of the world. This the entrance-gate of that life to which, by a self-imposed vow, his future was to be devoted ! With a calm steady cheerfulness he took the position and the novicate of the monk commenced. Some farewell letters to his friends; the return of thering which he had worn as Master of Arts at the university, together with his gown and other clothing, things that might remind him of the past, henceforth dead to him, and then the new life in that narrow world, whose confines were the walls of the convent. His friends, their first astonishment passed, were clamorous to see him, and urge him to revoke his decision. They came to the place in which the young professor was immured, self-condemned to a living death, but the gate was closed against them. Decision was the strong quality of Luther's mind; when Duty pointed the narrow road, neither entreaty nor menace could constrain him to swerve from i...« less