I saw the priests of the parish church coming; I saw the golden-chained and bearded ritters of the schloss; I saw also the venerable burgomaster. Dr. Martin was turning quietly away. Men were as yet too amazed to question him. A little firmer were those strong lips; a little deeper seemed the glint in his eyes: but he was calm, apparently triumphant. “Dear Doctor,” I said, “you should be satisfied. You have awakened the dragon. Now if you are St. George, you will slay him.” “I shall try, God helping me.” That was all he said; again however, his hand went out, and again we clasped, I think even harder than before. “You are a brave man, Dr. Martin,” I said, “and may the heaven you know so well give you full courage.” But here Carlstadt and another professor swept up to him with long faces, and hurried him thence, deep in talk; nor did I see him again that day. * * * * * And so it began. A windy street, a few long strips of paper, twelve firmly planted nails, a group of feather-brained students,--the deed brave and holy that was to shake the world. The commonplace act of a peasant-born monk protesting against what he deemed a wrong. “Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.” But how could I know it then? For the moment I was sorely troubled in heart, having seen a brave and honest man do what I deemed a hopelessly imprudent thing. * * * * * That night began a sound in Wittenberg that was never to cease, while Leo at Rome and all his cardinals must needs hold council long and late--the clang of the printing press spreading Dr. Luther’s theses to all the world. Written in Latin they were speedily turned into German. They went in every merchant’s bale, every pedlar’s pack, north, south, east, west. In fourteen days they were in every corner of Germany; in a month they had gone to the ends of Christendom; “as though,” said a chronicler of that which came to pass, “the angels were the postmen.” And everywhere men learned and men ignorant talked thereof, some applauding, some condemning, but all attending. My prediction that the theses would prove a spark in the ecclesiastical magazine was verified sooner than I had dreamed.