There were some difficulties about this cure, for the devil in the maiden insulted the clergyman during his sermon, and gave him the lie. In vain also did a Roman Catholic priest endeavour to conjure the devil from her, who treated him with scorn and despised his holy exorcism. The power, however, of evangelical prayer compelled Satan to depart; the maiden became vigorous and sound, after her recovery knew nothing of the past, but continued to be, as servant maid, a useful member of the community.[69] Such were the ideas of German Catholics and Protestants. Nothing shows more strikingly the power which Luther personally exercised, than the influence he gained over his bitterest opponents. The Roman Catholic dogmas, it is true, withstood his assaults, and between the new bulwarks of faith which he had thrown up, and the closed fortress of the old Church, there raged for a century a furious war. But his mode of thought, his language, and above all the special character of his spiritual life, influenced the German Catholic Church of his day as well as the Protestant, in a way which was both peculiar and one-sided. The rude formalism of her indulgence trade and pious brotherhoods, did not entirely disappear; but he gave a new tendency to her inward spirit. Earnest study, acute thought, dialectic skill, and what was of more value, a greater moral depth, became the necessary requisites of the Roman Catholic champions. They learnt to preach and compose their controversial writings in Luther's language and method, even appropriated the strong abusive expressions of the great heretic, and sought to imitate felicitously the popular humour to which Luther owed not a little of his success. The words of the evangelical songs, the titles and contents of Lutheran works were always parodied. Perhaps the internal resemblance is nowhere more striking than among the most talented of the Ingoldstadt University. Andrea, Scherer, and their friends might but for the difference of their dogmas, and above all personal, hate, as well be Lutherans as Roman Catholics. Thus there arose between the ecclesiastics of both confessions a sometimes laughable, but frequently a disgusting contention to drive the devil out of the possessed. If a possessed person became in question where the two Churches were in collision, each endeavoured to show the power of their faith by healing the patient; the evangelical by the prayers of the clergy and parishioners, the Roman Catholics by exorcism; the soul which was saved brought glory on the fortunate Church. Among the numerous accounts which we find of suchlike exorcisms, the following, which proceeds from the Roman Catholic camp in the neighbourhood of Ingoldstadt, is remarkable from its detailed narration and interesting psychological features. It was published shortly after the event, in a pamphlet, with the title, 'A terrible but quite true history, which took place between Hans Geisslbrecht, citizen at Spalt, and his wife