“God bless you, good Dame,” spoke Luther clearly, as he rolled past her. And for the first time I saw that his cheeks were wet with tears. * * * * * As we fared on that journey it was a marvel how the people of every class and clan ran out to us. They came to meet Dr. Martin outside the gates of their cities “to gaze upon the wonderful man,” said the friendly chronicler, “who was so bold as to set himself against the Pope and all who in opposition to Christ look upon the Pope as a god.” At Leipzig, despite the memories of Eck’s disputation, the magistrates received us right honorably. At Naumburg, on the third, we had another great concourse. A lusty band of young men, wandering students, apprentices, young petty nobles all came out to us, singing one of Hutten’s latest battle songs:-- “Take up your own, your righteous cause O nation brave and strong, Will ye not listen to my words, And help avenge this wrong? The die is cast And I stand fast, Whatever be my fate: The cards I’ll play As best I may, And then the end await. “Although the cunning priests I know Their snares for me have laid, The man who knows his cause is good Needs not to be dismayed. I’ll play the game, And all the same E’en though they seek my life: Brave nobles all, On you I call, Join Hutten in the strife!” Swinging verses these, well fitted to make the blood spring faster, but brave songs are not the whole of the battle. At this same Naumburg I was present when a certain priest came to Dr. Luther at the inn, bearing a picture of Savonarola, the prophet-martyr of Florence, but my master looked at it unmoved. “It is Satan,” spoke he, “who seeks by these terrors to hinder the confession of the truth in the assembly of the princes.” “Not so,” answered the friendly priest; “stand fast in the truth thou hast confessed, and thy God will not forsake thee.” At Erfurt, where Luther had been so long a humble student and friar, he was met on the confines of the city territory by forty horsemen led by the great Magister Crotus himself, and men laughed at their fears and listened. As we approached Eisenach, to our great dismay a fit of sickness overtook the dear Doctor one evening. An anxious and prayerful night it was for his friends, but a skilful bleeding, a cordial, and a sound sleep made our master hale again. Thankfully we pressed forward.