We have narrated the horrible episode of Munster, and we have exhibited it like one of those placards which we have sometimes met with in the Alps, nailed to a post near an abyss, on which were to be read such words as these,--'Traveller, beware! any one approaching falls and rolls over, and hurled from rock to rock, is dashed to pieces and killed, the sad victim of his rashness.' TRIUMPH IN DEATH. (The night of the _18th February, 1546_, at Eisleben.) Luther had throughout his life refused the aid of the secular arm, as his desire was that the truth should triumph only by the power of God. However, in 1546, in spite of his efforts, war was on the point of breaking out, and it was the will of God that his servant should be spared this painful spectacle. The Counts of Mansfeld, within whose territories he was born, having become involved in a quarrel with their subjects and with several Lords of the neighborhood, had recourse to the mediation of the reformer. The old man--he was now sixty-three--was subject to frequent attacks of giddiness, but he never spared himself. He therefore set out, in answer to the call, and reached the territory of the Counts on the 28th of January, accompanied by his friend the theologian Jonas, who had been with him at the Diet of Worms, and by his two sons, Martin and Paul, the former now fifteen, and the latter thirteen, years of age. He was respectfully received by the Counts of Mansfeld, attended by a hundred and twelve horsemen. He entered that town of Eisleben in which he was born, and in which he was about to die. That same evening he was very unwell and was near fainting. Nevertheless, he took courage and, applying himself zealously to the task, preached four times, attended twenty conferences, received the sacrament twice, and ordained two ministers. Every evening Jonas and Michael Coelius, pastor of Mansfeld, came to wish him good-night. 'Doctor Jonas, and you Master Michael,' he said to them, 'entreat of the Lord to save his church, for the Council of Trent is in great wrath.'