and thither I will go in the name of the Lord, though as many devils as there are tiles on the houses were there combined against me.”

When Luther arrived at Worms, greater crowds than had appeared at the emperor's public entry assembled to behold him. At his appearance before the diet he behaved with great decency and firmness. When called upon to recant his opinions, Luther replied, in a truly exalted manner, 66 Except I can be convinced by clear reasoning, or by proofs taken from the Holy Scriptures, I neither can nor will recant, because it is neither safe nor advisable to do any thing which is against my conscience. Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; so help me God! Amen!" Luther persisting in this answer, he was dismissed from the assembly under a strong escort, and was permitted by the emperor to return from Worms.

Luther, after this, in 1534, translated the Bible into the German language, wrote many works, and laboured with unwearied zeal in propagating the doctrines of the reformation. He had during his life the pleasure of seeing vast numbers of the people adopting his sentiments, and the reformed religion firmly established in many parts of Europe.

"Luther died February the 18th, A. D. 1546, at Eisleben, where he was born. The Almighty, who had protected him against so many dangers, saved him by a seasonable death from the tempest which was gathering, and ready to break forth against his followers. When he felt his strength declining, he made his last will, which is preserved in its original state at Wittemburg, and concludes as follows: I had my reason to omit in my last will the usual legal formalities, and I hope I shall be credited more than a notary; for I am well known in the world, since God, the Father of all mercy, has intrusted me, an unworthy sinner, with the gospel of his Son, and enabled me to this day to preach it with truth, faithfulness, and perseverance; and many persons in the world have been converted by my ministry, and think me a doctor of truth, notwithstanding the ban

of the pope, the emperor, and the wrath of many kings, princes, parsons, yea, and of all the devils. Why then should I not be credited in a matter so insignificant ; particularly since my handwriting is well known, and sufficient, if it can be said, this is written by Dr. Martin Luther, the notary of God, and witness of his gospel?'

"Though he felt great pain during his last illness, his native intrepidity did not forsake him; he conversed with his friends to the last about the happiness of the future world, and of meeting again hereafter. When the pain began to increase, and death approached, he called for Justus Jonas, who had accompanied him from Halle to Eisleben, who heard him repeat three times these words: Father, into thy hand I give my spirit' -and say the following prayer: O, my heavenly Father, who art the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou God of all comfort, I thank thee for having revealed to me thy dear Son Jesus Christ, on whom I believe, whom I have preached and professed, loved and praised, but who is despised and persecuted by the pope and all the wicked. I pray to thee, Lord Jesus Christ, let my soul be recommended to thee. O my heavenly Father, though I must leave this body of clay, and depart this life, I know for certain that I shall remain for ever with thee, and that no one shall pluck me out of thy hand.' When marks of approaching death appeared in his face, Jonas asked him, Reverend father, do you die in Christ, and upon the doctrine which you have preached?' Having answered with a loud voice, 'Yes' he fell into a soft sleep, and expired."

53. ZUINGLIUS, THE SWISS REFORMER.

ULRIC ZUINGLIUS was the son of a peasant of the Swiss valley of Tockenburgh, and was born January 1st, 1483. He was destined for the church, and was sent successively to Basil, Bern, and Vienna, where he acquired the meagre literature usual in the fifteenth cen

tury. After four years' residence at Basil, he was or dained by the bishop of Constance, on being chosen by the burghers of Glaris as their pastor. From this epoch commenced his religious knowledge. It occurred to him, still in the darkness of popery, that to be master of the true doctrines of Christianity, he should look for them in the first instance, not in the writings of the doctors, nor in the decrees of councils, but in the Scriptures themselves.

With the force of his clear and sincere mind turned to the great subjects of Christianity, he must have been in a constant advance to a more vigorous conviction of the errors of the popish system; and the time must arrive when that conviction would declare itself. But the piety of Zuinglius was the direct reverse of the desire of exciting popular passion. The first appeal of the Swiss reformer was to his ecclesiastical superiors. His addresses to the bishop of Constance and the cardinal of Sion pointed out, for their correction, the errors which it was in their power safely to extinguish; but which could not, without public danger, be left to be extinguished by the people.

The period had arrived when profound study, continued interchange of opinion with the leading philosophers and divines of his country, and holy convictions, matured during many years, had fitted Zuinglius for the solemn and public commencement of his work of immortality.

For this perilous effort, which required the heroism of the age of the martyrs, the great reformer chose a prominent occasion. The history of the convent of Einsiedlen was a striking compound of the wild legend and fantastic miracle of the dark ages. In the ninth century a monk of noble family, probably disturbed by some memory of the furious excesses of the time, determined to hide himself from human eyes in the most lonely depths of Switzerland.

The spot which he chose was even then called “The Gloomy Forest." Here he built a chapel and a hermitage, and after a solitude of twenty-six years, closed

his career under the daggers of a banditti. A miracle sanctified his death. Two crows, his only associates in the wilderness, flew on the track of the murderers, screaming round them, until, in the market-place of Zurich, the popular suspicion was fixed on the robbers, and the crime was finally confessed and avenged.

Once every seven years the consecration of this chapel was solemnized with great pomp. The event itself had been fixed in the papal history, by a bull of Leo VIII., and the details had been preserved for posterity in a volume entitled "De Secretis Secretorum.'

On the festival of this "Consecration of the Angels,' Zuinglius ascended the pulpit. The concourse was immense, from the whole range of Switzerland, and every ear was turned to catch the panegyric of the "Mighty Mother" and the "Host of Glory" that had descended to pour the oil of holiness on that selected spot of the world. But a mightier strength, that was to break the power of the idol, was there. With the sincerity and the zeal of a new apostle to the Gentiles, Zuinglius thundered on them.

"Blind are ye," exclaimed he, "in seeking thus to please the God of earth and heaven. Believe not that the Eternal, He whom the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain, dwells especially here.. Whatever region of the world you may inhabit, there he is beside you; he surrounds you, he grants your prayers if they deserve to be granted. It is not by useless vows, by long pilgrimages, by offerings to senseless images, that you can obtain the favour of God-that you can resist temptation-repress guilty desiresshun injustice-relieve the unfortunate or console the afflicted. Those alone are the works that please the Lord.

66

Alas, alas! I know our own crime. It is we, the ministers of the altar-we who ought to be the salt of the earth-who have plunged the ignorant and credulous multitude into error. To accumulate treasures for our avarice, we raised vain and worthless practices to the rank of good works, until the people neglect the