The Importance of the Scriptures to Believers

D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation contains this little gem, showing that in so many ways believers in the sixteenth century were no different from believers today --

"Luther's writings were read in the cities, towns, and even villages; at night by the fireside the schoolmaster would often read them aloud to an attentive audience. Some of the hearers were affected by their perusal; they would take up the scriptures to clear away their doubts. and were struck with surprise at the astonishing contrast between the Christianity of the Bible and their own" (emphasis mine).