by the aged and excellent Elector
Frederick, stood the Castle of Lindburg. It was one of those feudal
piles of the Middle Ages, impregnable to the engines of ancient warfare,
but which were destined to crumble before the iron shots with which
cannon assailed them, as the system they represented was compelled to
succumb to the light of that truth which the Gospel was then diffusing
over the greater part of Europe.

Ulrich, Count von Lindburg, or the Knight of Lindburg, as he was often
called, sat in a room in his Castle, with his arm resting on a table and
a book before him, at which, however, his eyes seldom glanced; his looks
were thoughtful and full of care. He had engaged in much hard fighting
in his younger days, and now all he wished for was rest and quiet,
though the state of the times gave him but little hope of enjoying them.
In his own mind, too, he was troubled about many things. Four years
before the time at which he is introduced to the reader, he had visited
Worms, during the time the Diet, summoned by the Emperor Charles the
Fifth, was sitting, and was among those who found their way into the
great hall where the Emperor and the chief princes, bishops, and nobles
of the land were sitting, when Dr Martin Luther, replied to the
chancellor of Treves, the orator of the Diet, who demanded whether he
would retract the opinions put forth in numerous books he had published
and sermons he had preached.

"Since your most serene majesty and your high mightinesses require from
me a clear, simple, and precise answer, I will give you one, and it is
this: I cannot submit my fate either to the Pope or to the councils,
because it is clear as the day that they have frequently erred and
contradicted each other. Unless, therefore, I am convinced by the
testimony of Scripture or by the clearest reasoning, unless I am
persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they thus
render my conscience bound by the Word of God, _I cannot and will not
retract_, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his
conscience." And then, looking round on that assembly before which he
stood, and which held his life in its hands, he said, "HERE I STAND, I
CAN DO NO OTHER. MAY GOD HELP ME! AMEN!"

The assembly were thunderstruck. Many of the princes found it difficult
to conceal their admiration; even the emperor exclaimed, "This monk
speaks with an intrepid heart and unshaken courage." Truly he did.
This is the w