AAf-rzA . d un der tho eye of rfCtoW^wS' of Christ, he would t "f gCng faith, which far off '■& th6 n cold and mildewed. When he ba4g_° W_iaht of the sacred city, con ''<*£ as "'tad been by tho blood of ! iW^J^martyrs, he flung himself on his ; i**f,tai_ of emotion. His emotion '•'■•• 'W*." frnfreeratohisdisappointmont. He BjadehunexußK ft splelKlic i cour t, good 1 *°«hd_Ser and careful political adminis ■..ottW« rdor «e found art on its highest .initio,- ?"lory. But it was Pagan .. ptonacle 01 rl ° rigt i an . The talk of society B*1. ?i«»nder the Sixth and thoßorgian **ol. mS, the reigning Pontiff, was MSff^Jntr from the Venetian wars, iasll t. had led a storming party in person Irf*lu Wh of a besieged city. The to*o , f the Cardinals were a public jest. ffloir wmsolf heard an officiating priest at *_ hSJI tbou remainest." The yery and .frhristian" was a synonym of a fool. '!?"".. narhaps an imperfect judge of what P-oCK% he remained in the city • he T .InF.h But the impression left «*.' BHr"-as'8 H r"-as' indelible. " I would not," "Wi!PjLrward, " for a hundred thousand ■■ be,?' d hive missed the sight of Rome. I L ;«^haftS«ghtel_e,tSatldidthe,Pope • "fturned to Wittenberg, convinced u Jv that Pope- and Cardinals were no Ps?__i__te parts of the Church of Christ, SuSnothingofthesjiiritofarebel • b Wm and he flung himself into his work _i&Enthusiasm. His sermons became T 'Ji He preached with nn energy of m -!tinn upon sin and atonement; on £_n w-Xsness, and the. mercy and Se of the Almighty ; his impassioned drawn fresh, through his own heart, rrfeEpi lesof St. Paul. His look, banner his "demonic eyes," brilliant K with a yellow rim round the iris like .lion's, were startling and impressive. ' ' People said " this monk had strange ideas Rlector heard him once and took ;"JL The Elector's chaplain and secre . .£Jy spalatin, became his intimate friend. The incidents of his life are all related • ' „ith clear brevity by Horr Kosthn. In S article I must confine myself to the *£•«_epochs. From 1512 to 1517 he re- SSS-SSjrt Wittenberg, little dream . CtaZ was to bo tlie leader of a Ritual revolution It was enough for tim if he could walk uprightly along the . Kns of bi6 own private duty. The impulse I: S him, as with all great men, came from WVoD- Juli"B was ,ono- Leo thc Tentll succeeded him; and the cultivated Pon tiff desired to signalise his reign _>* building the grandest church in the world. Money was needed, and he opened his spiritual treasury. ]fe had no belief himself in the ' soec-ficvalue of his treasures; but others l^d and were willing to pay for them. "Christianity," ho observed, "was a profit able fable." His subjects throughout the world were daily committing sins which involved penance before they could bo par doned. Penances in this life were rarely adequate, and had to bo compensated by indefinite ages of purgatory. Purgatory was an unpleasant prospect. The Pope had at his disposal the superfluous merits of extraordinary saints, wliich could be applied to the payment of the average niuiars' debts, if the average sinners chose to purchase them; and commissioners i wel e appointed for a general sale of Indulgences (as thoy were called) throughout Catholic Europe. The com missioner for Germany was Albert, Arch bishop of Mayence, Cardinal and Prince of tiie Empire, a youth of twenty-seven, a ■ patron of the fino arts like His Holiness— fcose, luxurious, and sensual—a rather worse specimen than usual of the average great churchmen of the age. KBstlin gives a picture of him, a thick-lipped heavy face, \ with dull eyes, a long dropping nose, and I the corners of tho mouth turned con- F temptuously up. Tho Popo had mado him pay lavishly for the Pallium when ho was admitted to tho archbishopric. Ho had i borrowed 30,000 gulden from the Fuggers A at Augsburg, tho Rothschilds of the ■ sixteenth century. Leo in return hail .'-•.' granted him the contract for the In ' ' diligences on favourable terms. The > ' - Cardinal was to collect the monoy ; half of it was to be remitted from Rome ; half was ' to go to the repayment of tho loan. It was - abusiness transaction, conducted with the A most innocent frankness. Cardinal Albort B could not wholly be relied upon. An agent AA of the Fuggers accompanied each of the IF sub-commissioners, who carried round tho ; wares, to receive their share of tho profit. , A Dominican monk named Tetzel was ap ; pointed to collect in Saxony, and he was as ■accomplished as a modern auctioneer. Ho -entered the towns in procession, companies Fof priests bearing candles and banners, "choristers chanting and ringing bells. At /the churches a red cross was set upon the _.'_!___, a silk banner floating from it with I the Papal arms, and a great iron dish nt the • foot to receive the equivalents for the myriads of years of the penal fire of Tarta- I irus. Eloquent preachers invited all offen . ders, the worst especially, robbers, mur derers, and adulterers, to avail themselves -Of the opportunity; insisted upon tho 1 efficacy of the remedy; and threatened with excommunication any wretch who I dared to question it. .tv ~ In a world where printed books were be f inning to circulate, in a generation which ad been reading Erasmus and the /,' "Epistolre Obscurorum Viyorum," this proceeding was a high flight of inso lence. Superstition had ceased to be a delusion, and had passed into conscious I hypocrisy. The Elector Frederick re ■ mohstrnted. Among the laity there waa I a general murmur of scorn or anger; 'ai-.1 Luther wrote privately to several bishops to entreat their interference; hut none i would move, and Tetzel wascoming near to ■ ■■■■_■ Wittenberg. Luther determined to force F the question before public opinion. It was H common in universities, when there were points unsettled in morals or theology, for fa - any member who pleased to set up proposi ■ tions for open disputation, to propound an opinion, and offer to maintain it against all comers. The challenger did not commit ' himself to the adoption of the opinion an his own person. He undertook to defend it in I argument, that the opposite side might be I ' heard. Availing himself of the ordinary I practice, on October 31st, 1517, the most I memorable day in modern European history, I Luther, being then thirty-four years old, fixed ninety-five theses on the door of I • Wittenberg Church, .ailing in question the » Papal theory of Indulgences, and the Pope's right to sell them. In itself there was . nothing unusual in such a step. No council of the Church had defined or ratified the A doctrine of Indulgences. The subject was '■-. a matter of general conversation, and if the, a sale of Indulgences could be defended, anl A opportunity was made for setting uneasy: minds at rest. The question, however, was one which could not be set at rest. In a z. fortnight the theses were flying everywhere, ,;. translated into vernacular German. Tetzel condescended only to answer that the Pope was infallible. John Eck, a professor at Ingolstadt, to whom Luther had sent a copy in expectation of sympathy, thundered §5; against him as a Hussite and a heretic. |F Louder and louder the controversy raged. F The witches' caldron had boiled, and the F foul lees of popular superstition and priestly F abuses came rushing to the surface. Luther

himself was frightened at the storm which he had raised. He wrote humbly to Pope Leo, trusting his cause in. his hands. Leo was at first amused : " Brother Martin," he said, "has a fair wit; it is only a quarrel of onvious monks." When the theses were in his hands, and he saw that the matter was serious, he said more impatiently : " A drunken German haß written them—when he is sober he will be of another mind." But the agitation only grew tho wilder. Almost a year passed, and Leo found that he must despatch a Legate (Cardinal Caietanus) into Germany to quiet matters. Along with him he wrote an anxious letter to tlie Emperor Maximilian, with another to the Elector requiring him to deliver "the child of iniquity" into the Legate's hands, and threatening an interdict if he was disobeyed. A Diet of the Empire was summoned to meet at Augsburg in August, 1518. Caiotanus was present, and Luther was required to attend. The Elector Frederick was a prudent, ex perienced prince, who had no desire to quarrel with the See of Rome ; but he had seen into the infamy of tho Indulgences, and did not mean to hand over one of his subjects to tho summary process with which the Pope would have closed the contro versy. The old Emperor Maximilian was a wise man too. He was German to the heart, and tho Germans had no love for Italian supremacy. Pregnant sayings are reported by Luther of Maximilian : "There are three kings in Europe," he once ob served, " the Emperor, the King of France, and the King of England. lam a king of kings. If I give au order'to the princes of tho Empire, they obey if they please; if thoy do not please, they disobey. The King of Franco is a King of asses. He orders what he pleases, and they obey like asses. The King of England is King of a loyal nation. They obey him in heart and mind as faithful subjects." A secretary had embezzled 3,000 gulden. Maximilian sent for him, and asked what should be done to a confidential servant who had robbed his master. The secretary recommendod the gallows. "Nay, nay," the Emperor said, and tapped him on the shoulder, " I cannot spare you yet."

Luther was told that he must appear. He looked for nothing but death, and he thought of the shame which he would bring upon hia parents. He had to walk from Wittenberg, and he had no money. At Nuremberg he borrowed a coat of a friend that he might present himself in such high company with decency. Ho arrived at Augsburg on the 7th of October. The Legate would have seized him at once ; but Maximilian had sent a safe-conduct for him, and Germany was not prepared to allow a second treachery like that whioh had sent Huss to the stake. The princes of the Diet were out of humour, too, for Caietanus had been demanding money from them, and thoy had replied with a list of grievances—com plaints of Annates, first fruits, and Pro visions, familiar to the students of English Reformation history. Tho Legate saw that he must temporise with the troublesome monk. Luther was told that if he would retract he would be recommended to the Pope, and might look for high promotion. Caietunui himself then sent for him. Had tlie. Cardinal been moderate, Luther after ward said that he was prepared to yield in much. He was still young, and diffident, and modest; and it was a great tiling for a peasant's son to stand alone again., the ruling powers. But tho Legate was scornful, lie oould not realise that this insignificant object beforo him was a spark of living fire, which might set the world blazing. He told Luther briefly that he must retract his theses. Luther said he could not without some answer to them. Caietan would not hear of argument. "Think you," he said, "that tho Pope cares for the opinions of Germany ? Think you that tlie princes will tako up arms for you ? No indeed. And where will you be then!" "Under Heaven," Luther answered. He wrote to tho Legato after ward that perhaps he had been too violent. H the Bale of Indulgences was stopped, he promised to bo silent. Cnietan repliod only with a scheme for laying hold on him in spite of his safe-conduct. Beint; warned of his danger, he escaped at night through a postern, and rode off with a guide, "in a monk's gown and unbreoched," home to Wittenberg. The Legate wrote fiercely to the Elector. Luther offered lo leave Saxony and seek an asylum in Paris. But Frederick replied that the monk had dono right in refusing to retract till the theses had been argued. He was uneasy ; he was no theologian ; but he had a sound instinct that tho In dulgences were no better than a scandalous robbery. Luther for tho presont should remain where he was.

Luther did remain, and was not idle. Ho published an account of his interview with tho Legate. He wrote a tract on the Papal supremacy and appealed to a general council. Tho Popo found that he must still negotiate. Ho had for a chamberlain a Saxon noble, Karl Von Miltitz, a born subject of the Elector. He sent Miltitz to Frederick with " the Golden Rose," the highest com pliment which the Court of Rome could pay, with the politest of letters. He had heard with surprise, he said, that a child of per dition was preaching heresy in his do minions. He had tho utmost confidence that his beloved son and the magistrates of the electorate would put this offspring of Satan to silence. Miltitz arrived in tho middle of the winter 1518-19. He dis covered, to his astonishment, that three fourths of Germany was on Luther's side. So fast the flame had spread that an army of 25,000 men would not be able to carry him off by force. He sought an interview with Luther, at which Spalatin, the Elector's chaplain, was present. He sobbed and implored; kisses, tears crocodile's tears—were tried in profusion. Luther was ready to submit his case to a synod of German bishops, and wrote again respectfully to the Pope declining to retract, but hoping thatthe Holy. See would no longer persist in a .ourse which was creating scandal through Germany.

Perhaps if Maximilian had lived the Pope would have seen his way to some concession, for Maximilian, it was certain, would never sanction violent courses; but in January, 1519, Maximilian died, and Charles the Fifth succeeded him. Charles was then but twenty years old; the Elector Frede rick's influencehadturned thescale in favour of Maximilian's grandson. There were hopes then that a young prince coming fresh to the throne in the bitter throes of a new era might set himself at the head of a national German reformation, and regrets since have been wasted on the disappointment. Regrets for "what might havo been" are proverbially idle. Great movements which are unresisted flow violently on, and waste themselves in extravagance and destruction ; and revolu tions which are to mark a step in the advance of mankind need always the dis cipline of opposition till the baser parts are beaten out of them. like the two horses which in Plato's fable draw the chariot of the soul through the vaults of heaven, two principles work side by side in evolving the progress of humanity—the principle of liberty and the principle of authority. Liberty unchecked rushes into anarchy and license; authority, if it has no antagonism to fear, stagnates into torpor, or degenerates into tyranny. Luther represented the new . life which was beginning; Charles tbe

Fifth represented the institutions of 1,500 years, which, if corrupt in some parts of Europe, in others had not lost their old vitality, and wore bearing fruit still in brave and noble forms of human nature. Charles was Emperor of the Germany of Luther, but he was also tho King of the Spain of Saint Ignatius. Tho Spaniards were as earnestly and piously Catholic as tho Germans were about to become Evangelicals. Charles was in his religion Spanish. Simple, brave, devout, un affected, and wise beyond his years, he believed in the faith which he had in herited. Somo minds aro so constructed as to fly eagerly after new ideas, and the latest born appears tho truest; other minds look on speculative novelties as the ephemeral productions of vanity or restless ness, and hold to the creeds which have been tested by experience, and to the profession in which their fathers havo lived and died. Both of those modes of thought aro good and honourable in themselves, both aro essential to tho development of truth ; yet they rarely co-exist in any single person. By nature and instinct Charles tho Fifth belonged to the side of authority; and interest, and indeed necessity, combined to hold him to it. In Germany he was king of kings, but of kings over whom, unless he was supported by the Diet, his authority was a shadow. In Spain he was absolute sovereign ; and if he had gone with the Re formers against the Pope, he would have lost the hearts of his hereditary subjects. Luther was not to find a friend in Charles ; but he was to find a noble enemy, whose lofty qualities ho always honoured and ad mired.

Afier tho failure of Miltitz, the Princes of tho empire had to decide upon their course. In the summer of 1519, there was an in tellectual tournamentat Leipzig, beforeDuke George of Saxony. Luther was the cham pion on one side, John Eck, of Ingolstadt, on the other. Wo have a description of Luther by a friend who saw him on this oc casion : he was of middlo height, so lean from study aud anxiety that his bones could be counted. He had vast knowledge, com mand of Scripturo, fair acquaintance with Greek and Hebrew ; his manner was good ; his speech pregnant with matter; in society he was lively, pleasant, and amusing. On his feet, he stood remarkably firm, body bent rather back than forward, the face thrown up, and the eyes flashing like a lion's.

Eck was less favourably drawn—with a face liko a butcher's and a voico like a town crier's; a hesitation in speech which provoked a play upon his name, as bein>' the eck, eck, eck of a jackdaw. Eel. called Luther a disciple of John Huss ; and Luther defended Huss. Luthor had appealed to a genoral council. Eck reminded him that the Council of Constance had condemned Huss, and so forced him to say that coun cils might make mistake... Paiwil supremacy was next fought over. Did Christ found it? Could it bo proved from the New Testament? Duke George thought Eck had tho best of tho encounter. Leipzig Catholic gossip had a story that Luther's mother had confessed that Mar tin's father had been the devil. But Luthor remainod tho favourite of Germany. His tracts circulated in hundreds of thou sands. Ulrich von Hutton and Franz von Sickongen offered him an asylum if he had to leave tho electorate. Ho published an address to tho German nation, denouncing tho Papacy as a usurpation, which rang like the blast of n trumpet. Ho sent a copy to the Elector, who replied with a basket of game. - Eck, meanwliilo, who thought tho victory had been his, was despatched by Duke George to Romo to urge the I'opo to action. Charles had signified his own intended at titude by ordering Luther's v, ritings to be burn, in tho Low Countries. I'otx. Loo thus encouraged, on the 16th of June, 1520, issued his famous Bull against " tho wild boar who had broken into tho Lord's vine yard." Forty-ono of Luther's propositions were selected and specially condemned ; and Eck was sent back with it to Gormany, with orders if the wild boar was still itnpenitent, to call in the secular arm. Erasmus, who had been watching thestorm from a distance, ill contented, but not without clear know ledge where tho right lay, sent word that no good wastobelooked for from tho young Em poror. Luthor, who had mado uphis mind to death as tho immediate outlook for him, was perfectly fearless. The Pope could but kill his body, and ho cared only for his soul nnd tho truth. Tho Pope had now condemned formally what Luther conceived to be written in tlie plainest words in Scripture. Tho Papal chair, therefore, was "Satan's sent," and tho occupant of it was plainly Antichrist. At tho Elector's request he wrote to Leo onco more, but he told him, in not conciliatory language, that the See of Rome was worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. When Eck arrived in December, on his commission, Luther ventured the last step, fr.m which there could be no retreat. The Pope had condemned Luther's writing., to the fire. On the 10th of December, Luther solemnly burnt at Wittenberg a copy of tho Papal Decretals. "Because," he said, "thou hast troubled the Lord's saints, let eternal fire consume thoe." The students of the university sang tho Te Deum round the pile, and completed the sacrifice with flinging into the flames tho Bull which had been brought by Eck. Luther trembled, he said, before tho daring deed was accomplished, but when it was done ho was better pleased than with any act of his life. A storm had now burst, he said, which would not end till the day of judg ment. The prophecy was true in a senso deeper than Luther intended. The intellectual conflict which is still raging is tho yet uncompleted outcome of that defiance of established authority. Fa' and wide the news flew. Pamphlets, poems, satires showered from the printing-presses. As in the dawn of Christianity, house was set a«-ain|t house, and fathers against their sons° and daughters. At Rome tho frightened courtiers told each other that the monk of Wittenberg was coming with 70,000 barbarians to sack the Holy City, like another Attila.

The Pope replied with excommunicating Luther and all his adherents, and laying the country which harboured him under the threatened interdict. Tbe Elector gave no sign ; all eyes were looking to tho young Emperor. An Imperial Diet was called, to meet at Worms in 1521, at which Charles was to bepresent in person, and there Luther was to come and answer for himself. The Elector remembered the fate of John Huss at Constance. Charles undertook for Luther's safety; but a safe-conduct had not saved Huss, and Popes could dispense with promise. Luther himself had little hope, but also no fear. "I will go," he said, " if I am to bo carried sick in my bed. I am called of the Lord whon the Kaiser calls me. I trust only that the Emperor of Germany will not begin his reign with shedding innocent blood. I would rather be murdered by the Romans."

The Diet met on the 21st of January. The Princes assembled. Tlie young Em peror came for the first time face to face with them, with a fixed purpose to support the insulted majesty of the spiritual sovereign of Christendom. His first de mand was that Luther should be arrested at Wittenberg, and that his patrons should be declared traitors. Seven days followed of shanp debate. The Elector Frederick dared to say that " he found nothing in the

Creed about the Roman Church, but only the Catholic Christian Church." "This monk makes work," he said ; " some of us would crucify him, and I think he will hardly escape ; but what if he rises again the third slay ?" The princes of the em pire naturally enough did not like rebels against lawful authority ; but the Elector was resolute, and it was decided that Luther should not be condemned without a hearing. The Pope as such had few friends among them—even Duke George himself insisted that many things needed mending.

Kaspar Sturm, the Imperial herald, was sent to Wittenberg to command Luther's attendance, under pain of being declared a heretic. The Emperor granted a safe conduct, and twenty-one days were allowed. On the second of April, the Tuesday after Easter, Luther set out on his momentous journey. He travelled in a cart with three of his friends, tho herald riding in front in his coat of arms. If he had been anxious about his fate he would have avoided dis plays upon the road, which would be con strued into defiance. But Luther let things take their chance, as if it had been a mero ordinary occasion. The Emperor had not waited for his appearance to order his books to bo burnt. When he reached Erfurt on tho way, the sentence had just been proclaimed. The herald asked him if he still meant to go on.. "I will go," ho said, " if there are as many devils in Worms as there are tiles upon tho house-teps. Though they burnt Hubs, they could not burn the truth." Thc Erfurt students, in retaliation, had thiown tho Bull into the water. Tho Hector and the heads of tho University gave Luther a formal reception as an old and honoured member; he preached at his old convent, and ho preached again at Gotha and at Eisenach. Cnietan had Brotested against the appearance in the let of an excommunicated heretic. The Popo himself had desired that tho safe-con duct should not be respected, and the bishops had said that it was unnecessary. Manoeuvres were used to delay him on the road till tho timo allowed had expired. But there was a fierce sense of fairness in the lay members of tho Diet, which it was dangerous to outrage Franz von Sickin gon hinted that if thoro was foul play it might go hard with Cardinal Caietan—and Von Sickingen was a man of his word in such matters. On the 10th of April, at ten in tho morning, tho cart entered Worms, bringing Luther in his monk'sdress, followed and attended by a crowd of cavaliers. Tho town'speoplo were all out to see tho jierson with whoso namo Germany was ringing. As tho cart passed through the gates the warder on the walls blew a blast upon his trumpet. Tho Elector had provided a resi dence. As ho alighted, ono who bore him no goodwill noted tho "demonic eyes" with which ho glanced about him. That evening a few nobles called to see him who had boon loud in their complaints of church men's exactions at the Diet. Of tho princes, ono only came, an ardent noble-minded youth, of small iniluenco as yot, but of high-spirited purpose, Philip, Landgravo of Hcsso. Instinct, moro than knowledge, drew him to Luther's side.

" Dear Doctor," hosaid, " if you arc right, tho Lord God stand by you." Luthor needed God to stand by him, for in all that groat gathering ho could count on few assured friends. Tho princes of the empire were resolved that lie should have fair play, but thoy were little inclined so far to favour a disturber of tho peace. Tho Diet sat in tho Bishop's palace, and tho next evening Luther appeared. Tho presence in which he found himself would havo tried the nerves of tho bravest of men : the Emperor, sternly hostile, with his retinue of Spanish priests and nobles ; tho archbishops and bishops all of opinion that tho stake was tho only fitting placo for so insolent a heretic; tho dukes and barons, whoso stern eyes were little likely to reveal their sympathy, if sympathy any of them felt. Ono of them only, Goorge of Fronds burg, had touched Luthor on the shoulder as ho passed through thc ante-room. "Littlo monk, little monk," ho said, " thou hast work before thee that I, and many a man whoso trade is war, never faced tho like of. If thy heart is right, and thy cause good, goon in Coirs name. He will not torsnko thee." A pilo of books stood on a table when he was brought forward. An otliccr of tho court read the titles, asked if ho acknow ledged them, and whether he was ready to retract them.

Luther was nervous, not without cause. Ho answered in a low voico that tho books were his. To tho other question ho could not reply nt once. He demanded timo. His first nppoaranco had not left a favour able impression ; ho was allowed a night to consider.

Tho next morning, April IS, ho had recovered himself; ho camo in fresh, courageous, and collected. His old enemy, Eck, was this time tho spokesman against him, and asked what he was prepared to do.

He said firmly that his writings wcro of threo kinds ; some on simplo Gospel truth, which all admitted, and which of courso ho could not retract; somo against Papal laws and customs, which had tried tho con sciences of Christians, and had been used ns excuses to oppress and spoil tho Germnn pooplo. If lie retracted the.«o lie would cover himself with shame. In a third sort ho had attacked particular persons, and perhaps had boon too violont. Even bore he declined to retract simply, but would not admit his fault if fault could bo proved.

Ho gavo his answer in a clear strong voice, in Latin first, and thon in German. There was a pause; and thon Eck said that ho had spoken disrespectfully, his heresies had been already condemned at tho Council of Constanco; lot him retract on thoso special points, nnd ho should have consider ation for tho rest. Ho required a plain Yes or No from him, "without horns." The taunt roused his blood. His full brave self was in his reply. "I will give you an answer," he said, " which has neither horns nor teeth. Popes have erred, and councils have orrod. Prove to me out of Scripture that I am wrong, and I submit. Till then my conscience binds mo. Hore I stand. I can do no moro. God help me. Amen."

I All day long thc storm raged. Night had fallen, and torches were lighted in the hall before the sitting closed. Luther was dis missed at last; it was supposed, and per haps intended, that he was to be taken to a dungeon. But tho hearts of tho lay members of the Diet had been touched by the courage which ho had shown. They would not permit n hand to be laid upon him. Duke Erick of Brunswick handed to him a tankard of beer which he had himself half drained. When ho had reached his lodging again, he flung up his hands. " I am through!" he cried, "lam through ! If I had a thousand heads, they should be struck off ono by one beforo 1 would retract." The same evening tho Elector Frederick sent for him, and told him that he had done well and bravely. But though he had escaped so'far, he was not acquitted. Charles conceived that he could be now dealt with as an obstinate heretic. At the next session (the day fol lowing), he informed the Diet that ho would send Luther home to Wittenberg, thore to be punished as tho Church required. The utmost that his friends could obtain was that further efforts should be made. Tho

Archbishop of Treves was allowed to tell him that if ho would acknowledge the infallibility of councils he might bo permitted to doubt the infallibility of the Pope. But Luther stood simply upon Scripture. There, and there only, was in fallibility. The Elector ordered him home at once, till the Diet should decide upon his fate ; and he was directed to bo silent on the way, with significant reference to his Erfurt sermon. A majority in the Diet, it was now clear, would pronounce for his death.! If he was sentenced by the Great Council of the Empire, the Elector would be no longer able openly to protect him. It was decided that he should dis appear, and disappear so completely that no trace of him should be discernible. On his way back through the Thuringian Forest, three or four miles from Altenstein, a party of armed men started out of the wood, set upon his carriage, seized and carried him off to Wartburg Castle. There he remained, passing by the name of the Rittcr Goorge, and supposed to be some captive knight. The secret was so well kept that even the Elector's brother was ignorant of his hiding place. Luther was as completely lost as if tho earth had swallowed him. Some said that he was with Von Sickiiigen; others that lie had been murdered. Authentic tidings of him there were none. On tho Bth of May the Edict of Worms was issued, placing him under the ban of the empire; but he had become " as tho air invulnerable," and the face of the world had changed before he came back to it.

The appearance of Luther beforo the Diet on this occasion is one of the finest, perhaps it is the very finest, scone in human history. Many a man has encountered death bravely for a cause which he knows to be just, when he is sustained by tho sympathy of thousands, of whom ho is at the moment the champion and the representative. But t is one thing to suffer, nnd another to encounter face to face and single-handed the array of spiritual and temporal authori ties which are ruling supremo. Luther's very cause was yet unshaped and undeter mined, and tho minds of those who had ndmirod and followed him were hanging ia suspense for the issue of his trial. High placcd men of noble birth aro sustained by pride of blood and ancestry, and the sense that thoy aro the equals of those whom thoy defy. At Worms there was on one side a solitary, low-born, peasant monk, and on tho other the Legate of the dreaded power which had broken the spirit of Kings and Emperors—sustained and per sonally supported by tho Imperial Majesty itself aud the assembled princes of Gormany, before whom tho poor poasantry had been taught to tremble as beings of another naturo from themselves. Well might George of Frendsburg _ay that no knight among thorn all had ever faced a peril which could equal this.

Tho victory was won, The wavering hearts took courage. Tho Evangelical revoltspidik liko an epidemic. The Papacy was liko an idol, powerful only as long as it was feared. Luther had thrown his spear at it, and tho enchantment was broken. The idol was but painted wood, which men and boys might now mock and jibe at. Never again had Charles another chance of crushing tho Reformation. Franco fell out with him on one sido, and for the rest of his lifo gavo him but brief intervals of breath ing time. Tho Turks hung over Austria like a thunder-cloud, terrified Ferdinard in Vienna, nnd swarmed over tho Mediterra nean in their pirate galleys. Charles was an earnest Catholic; but he was a statesman also, too wise to add to his difficulties by making war on heresy. What some call Providence and others nccidont had ho ordered Europe that, the tree which Luther had planted was allowed to grow till it was too strongly rooted to be overthrown.

Luther's abduction and residenco at Wartburg is the most picturesque incident in his life. He dropped his monk's gown, and was dressed like a gentleman: ho let his beard grow and woro a sword. In the castlo ho was treated as a distinguished guest. Within the walls he was free to go where he liked. He rode in tho forest with nn attendant, and as tho summer camo on walked about and gathered strawberries. In August there was a two days' hunt, at which, as Rittor George, he attended, and made his reflections on it. "We caught a few hares nnd partridges," ho said "a worthy occupa tion for idle people." In the "nets and dogs "ho saw tlie devil entangling or pur suing human souls. A hunted hare ran to his feet; he sheltered it for a moment, but tho hounds tore it in pieces. "So," he said, "rages the Popo and Satan to destroy thoso whom 1 would save." Tho devil, he bclioved, haunted his own rooms. That he threw his ink-bottle at the devil, is unauthentic; but there were noises in his boxes and closets which, ho nover doubted, came from his great enemy. When he heard the sounds, ho made jokes at them, and they censed. "Tho devil," he .aid, " will bear anything hotter than to be laughed at."

Tho revolution, deprived of its leader, ran wild meanwhile. An account of tho scene at Worms, with Luther's speeches, and woodcut illustrations, was printed on broadsheets nnd circulated in hundreds of thousands of copies. Tho people wero liko schoolboys left without a master. Convents nnd monasteries dissolved by themselves; monks nnd nuns began to marry : there was nothing else for tho nuns to do, turned, as they wero, adrift without provision. Tlio Massin most of the churches in'Saxony was changed into a communion. But without Luther it was all chaos, and no order could bo taken. So great was the need of him that in December ho [went to Wittenberg in disguise ; but it was not yet safe for him to remain there. He had to retreat to his castlo again, and in that compelled retreat ho bestowed on Germany tlie greatest of all the gifts whioh ho was able to offer. Ho began to translate tho Bible into clear vernacular German. Tho Bible to him was the solo infallible authority, where overy Christian for himself could find the truth and tho road to salva tion if he faithfullv and piously looked for it. He had probably commenced thc work at tho beginningof his stay at tho castle. In the spring of 1522 tho New Testament was completed. Inthemiddle of March, theEm peror's hands now being fully occupied, tho Elector sent him word that ho need not con ceal himself any longer ; and ho returned finally to his home and his friends.

Tho New Testament was printed in November of that year, and became at once a household book in Germany. The con trast visible to the simplest eyes between the tawdy splendid Papacy and Christ and the Apostles, settled for over the determina tion of tho German people to havo done witb the old idolatry. Tho Old Testament was taken in hand at once, and in two years half of it was roughly finished. Luther him self, confident now that a special Providence was with him, showered out controversial pamphlets, not caring any longer to measure his words. Adrian VI., Clement VII., clamoured for the execution of tho Edict of Worms. The Emperor, from a distance, denounced the now Mahomet. But they spoke to deaf ears. The Diet answered only with lists of grievances, and a demand for a free Council, to bo held in Germany itself.

(To be. concluded next week.)

STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT, NOVEMBER 10, 1883

3