age,
it is at least certain that his unfeigned piety and saintly life had
acquired for him a high place in the respect of his countrymen, while
the name of Nicholas von der Flue, or Nicholas of the Rock, from the
spot where he dwelt, was honored far and wide through the cantons.

News of the fierce dissensions of the Diet of Stantz spread rapidly
through the different valleys about the lake of the forest cantons;
every hour it was expected that the assembly would break up in violence,
and the deputies hurry home to prepare the different cantons for a
terrible internal struggle. Every appearance warranted this opinion. The
priest of Stantz, Heinrich Imgrund, was one of those who most sincerely
mourned this state of things. One day, when matters were at the worst,
and the danger appeared most imminent, the worthy man took his
walking-staff, and proceeded to the Melchthal. It was in winter, the
last week of December, and the old priest made his way over the snow and
ice to the hermitage of the pious Nicholas of the Flue. There he
hastened to lay before the good man the state of things in Stantz, and
the dangers that threatened their common country. The hermit, unlike
many of his recluse brethren, had not lost all interest in the higher
events of the world to which he belonged, and he determined that every
means in his power should be employed to avert the impending evil. Early
on the morning of December 22d, 1481, the venerable man, now far
advanced in life, left his little cell on the rock, and bent his way
towards Stantz, and we may well believe that, as he went on his
patriotic errand, earnest prayers were offered by him in behalf of his
misguided countrymen.

Arrived at Stantz, he proceeded immediately to the hall where the Diet
was in session. While yet without the walls, the stormy uproar and
fierce discord of the assembly reached his ears. Hurrying his steps, the
old man entered the hall. He had scarcely crossed the threshold, when
his venerable figure, aged face, and hoary locks, attracted general
attention; in another instant he was known to be Nicholas of the Rock.
As if by instinctive impulse, the whole assembly rose to their feet.
Seizing the moment of their respectful attention, the venerable man
addressed them in earnest, fervent tones. There were those in the Diet
to whom his voice was not strange; men, who in former years had known
him as the soldier and the patriot, while to all within the walls his
cha