796 L U T 
bers of the church ; and it even pointed out many of the 
corruptions againft which Luther had remonftrated with 
the greateft vehemence. It was, however, intended only 
as a farce, and as inch Luther treated it; and, to ridicule 
it more ftrongly, he wrote a ffiort treatife on the fubjedl, 
to which was prefixed a caricature, reprefenting the pope 
feated on a high throne, and fome cardinals.about him 
with foxes’ tails, with which they were brufhing oft’ the 
dufton all fides. Luther publilhed, about the fame time, 
“ A Confutation of the pretended Grant of Conftantine 
to Sylvefter biftiop of Rome ; and alfo fome Letters of 
John Hufs, written from his Prifon at Conftance, to the 
Bohemians.” 
At this time alfo an event of great advantage to 
the reformation took place in the death of George duke 
of Saxony ; for his brother Henry, on whom the fuccef- 
iion devolved, was as zealoufly attached to the proteftant 
religion as his predecefl'or had been to popery : and no 
fooner was he in poffeffion of his new dominions, than, 
difregarding a claufe in George’s will, by which he be¬ 
queathed all his territories to the emperor if his brother 
iliould attempt any innovation in religion, he immediately 
invited Luther and fome other proteftant divines to Leip- 
fic. By their advice and affiitance, he foon overturned 
the whole fyftem of popifli rites and doctrines, and efta- 
blilhed the full exercife of the reformed religion, with the 
univerfal applaufe of his fubjedfs, who had long wiftied 
for this change. By this revolution, the whole of Saxony 
■was brought within the proteftant pale. 
From this time till the latter end •of the year 1544, 
the emperor was fo entirely occupied with his wars 
againft the Turks, and Francis I. king of France, that 
he found it neceffary not only to connive at the pro¬ 
ceedings of the Proteftants, and the progrefs which 
their opinions daily made, but to court their favour by 
repeated a<Sls of indulgence. At length, however, in the 
year 1545, he came to a refolution to terminate the de¬ 
bates about religion by the force of arms. This refolu¬ 
tion he carefully concealed, till the preparations which he 
had privately made for carrying it into effeift: were far ad¬ 
vanced 5 when the proteftant princes received certain in¬ 
formation, from the king of England, and through other 
channels, of his hoftile defigns againft them, and of the 
confederacy for the deftruftion ot their caufe into which 
he had entered with the pope. The greater number of 
them, therefore, after communicating their intelligence 
and fentiments to each other, determined on taking the 
the proper meafures for their own defence; and the elec¬ 
tor of Saxony, and the landgrave of Heffe, to prevent be¬ 
ing furprifed and overwhelmed unawares by a fuperior 
force, with wonderful rapidity railed a formidable army. 
While this terrible ftorm was riling, Luther was faved, 
by a feafonable death, from feeling or beholding its de- 
ftruflive rage. For fome time before that event he felt his 
ftrength declining, his conftitution being worn out by a 
prodigious multiplicity of bufinefs, added to the labour of 
difcharging his minifteriai function with unremitting di¬ 
ligence, to the fatigue of conftant ftudy, befides the com- 
pofition of works as voluminous as if he had enjoyed un¬ 
interrupted leifure and retirement. However, in the be¬ 
ginning of the year 1546, he was able to pay a vilit to his 
native country, accompanied by Melan<fthon,and returned 
in fafety to Wittemberg. Soon afterwards he was induced 
to pay a fecond to Eylleben, on the invitation of the counts 
of Mansfeldt, in order to compofe a diffenfion which had 
arifen among them refpefting the boundaries of their ter¬ 
ritories. Though he had not been accuftomed to meddle 
in fuch affairs, yet, as he was born at Eylleben, which was 
dependant on thofe counts, he could not refule the fervice 
which he might be able to render, by his advice or autho¬ 
rity, in accommodating their differences. On this occafion, 
he met with a fplendid reception from the counts ; and af¬ 
terwards made ufeofhis belt endeavours to fettle the mat¬ 
ters in difpute, and fometimes preached in the church, 
where he like wile adminiltered the lacrament. While he was 
HER. 
thus engaged, he was feized with a violent inflammation 
in the ftomach, which threatened a fpeedy and fatal iffue. 
In this fituation, his natural intrepidity did not forfake 
him; and his laft converlation with his friends, on the 
day preceding that of his death, was concerning the hap- 
pinefs referved for good men in a future life, of which 
he fpoke with the fervour and delight natural to one who 
expected and wiftied to enter foon upon the enjoyment of 
it. On the morning of the 18th of February, 1546, being 
awakened from lleep by his diforder, and perceiving his 
end approaching, he commended his fpirit into the hands 
of God, and quietly departed this life, in the fixty-third 
year of his age. The account of his death filled the Ro¬ 
man-catholic party with exceftive as well as indecent joy, 
and damped the fpirit of all his followers; neither party 
fufficiently conlidering that his dodrines were now fo 
firmly' rooted, as to be in a condition to fiourilh indepen¬ 
dently of the hand which had planted them. The counts 
of Mansfeldt were defirous that he might be buried in their 
territories ; but, by the exprefs order of the elector of Sax¬ 
ony, his remains were conveyed to Wittemberg, where 
they were interred with more extraordinary pomp than 
was perhaps ever difplayed at the funeral of any private 
perfon ; princes, counts, nobles, and Undents, without 
number, attending the proceftion. Innumerable were the 
falfehoods invented by the papitts concerning the manner 
of his death ; and innumerable were the calumnies which 
they propagated concerning his principles and condudl. 
In Bayle the reader may meet with an ample collection and 
refutation of thefe weak efforts of malignity. He has re¬ 
lated, however, an anecdote of the emperor Charles V. 
which del'erves to be mentioned in honour of the generous 
treatment which he ftiowed to the memory of our reformer. 
While, in the year 1547, his troops were quartered in Wit¬ 
temberg, a foldier gave Luther’s effigy in the church of 
the caitle two ftabs with a dagger; and the Spaniards •were 
very urgent with him to caule the monument of the pre¬ 
tended herefiarch to be demolilhed, and his bones to be 
dug up and burnt. But the emperor inftantly forbade 
that any infult fliould be offered to his tomb or remains, 
upon pain of death : “ I have nothing farther to do with 
Luther,” he nobly Laid; “and he is henceforth fubjeft to 
another Judge, whofe jurifdiftion it is not lawful for me 
to ufurp. 1 make not war with the dead, but with the 
living, who are ftill in arms againft me.” 
We cannot bring this article to a clofe, without refer- 
ing to the teftimonies of the learned and the wife refpefl- 
ing the character of Luther, who introduced, not into 
Germany only, but into the world, a new and raoft im¬ 
portant era, and whofe name can never be forgotten while 
any thing of principle remains that is deferving of remem¬ 
brance. It muft not be overlooked, that the grand and 
leading doffrine of Lutheranifrn, and that on which the 
permanent foundation of the reformed religion was laid, is 
the right of private judgment in matters of religion. To 
this, as we have feen, he was at all times ready to devote 
his talents, his character, and his life; and, fays the bio¬ 
grapher of Leo X. “ the great and imperiffiable merit of 
the reformer conlifts in his having demonftrated it by fuch 
arguments, as neither the efforts of his adverfaries, nor 
his own fubfequent conduct, have been able either to con¬ 
fute or invalidate.” In palling judgment upon the cha¬ 
racters of men, fays Robertfon, we ought to try them by 
the principles and maxims of their own age, and not by 
thole of another; for, although virtue and vice are at all 
times the fame, manners and cuftoms are continually va¬ 
rying. Some parts of Luther’s behaviour, which to us 
appear mod culpable, gave no difgull to his contempo¬ 
raries. It was even by lome of thole qualities, which we 
are now apt to blame, that he was fitted for accomplilh- 
ing the great work in which he embarked. See Knox, 
vol. xi. p. 843. 
Luther himfelf was fenfible of defeats, which he pathe¬ 
tically acknowledges in an addrefs to the reader of his 
works: “ I intreat you,” fays he, “ to read my writings 
® with 
