But you will, perhaps, answer, really they must have been _strange_ beings to have _asserted_, that _God's infallible_ Church had fallen, and _not_ to have been able, or at least to have _forgotten, to prove_ such a bold assertion. Do you know, I was just thinking the same; and, therefore, I beg to introduce a few of these beings to your notice: and I know _none_, that has a greater claim to our first notice, than Martin Luther, _both_ for the _originality_ of his spiritual doctrines, and for the _sublimity_ of the _celestial_ revelations, with which he was honoured. And _mind_, had not Luther and his disciples, left the most _incontestible_ testimony of what I am about to advance, it would really have outraged and defied _all credibility_. Well, then, know, and _never forget_, that Martin Luther, the first luminary of the Reformation, had a conference _with the devil_, in which Martin assures us, that he was convinced by the _devil's powerful_ argumentation, that the Popish Mass was a heap of idolatry. The following are the words of this angel of _light_ on this subject: "Being awakened at midnight, the devil began to dispute with me, according to his custom. "Listen to me, Master Doctor," said he: "do you consider that, for fifteen years, you have said mass almost every day? What, if all this while, you have been guilty of idolatry, and, instead of adoring the body and blood of Christ, have adored only bread and wine?" I answered him, that I was a priest lawfully ordained by the bishop; and that having, from a principle of obedience, discharged my ministry with a sincere intention of consecrating, I saw no reason to doubt the validity of the consecration. "True," replied Satan; "but in the Churches of Turks and Heathens, is not everything done in an orderly manner, and in the spirit of obedience? Does that authorize their worship as orthodox, and perfectly correct? What, if your ordination were null, and your consecration as vain and useless as that of Turkish priests, in the exercise of their ministry, or of the false prophets under Jeroboam?" Here (adds Luther) I was seized with a violent sweat, and my heart began to beat in a strange manner. The devil is very artful in adjusting his reasoning, and he also pushes his arguments with great force; he has a voice, strong and rough, and is so pressing in his objections, one after another, as scarcely to allow you time to breathe. Hence, I can conceive, how it has repeatedly happened, that persons have, in the morning, been found dead in their beds. In the first place, he may suffocate them; he may also, by his method of disputing, cause such a trouble in the soul as to render her unable to make any further resistance, and thus she may be compelled instantly to leave the body; which has nearly been my own case, more than once."