, 1602.) A laborer whom his
wife had hired became drunk and committed murder; at once the rumor was
spread that Luther kept a murderer as his servant. (21b, 2225.) What he
writes is represented as having been inspired by envy, pride,
bitterness, yea, by Satan himself; those, however, who write against him
are regarded as being inspired by the Holy Ghost. (18, 2005.) He
observes that beggars become rich, obtain favors from princes and kings,
remunerative positions, honors, and bishoprics by turning against him.
(18, 2005.) Some attribute the election of Adrian VI as Pope to Luther
(this Pope was believed to favor reforms: he did not last long); and
Luther expects that he is helping Dr. Schmid to become a cardinal
because he is opposing him. (19, 1347.) Dunces become doctors, knaves
become saints, and the most besotted characters are glorified when they
try their vile mouths and pens against Luther. (19, 1347.) The easiest
way for any man to become a canonized saint even during his lifetime,
though he were a person of the stripe of a Nero or Caligula, is by
hating Luther. (18, 2005.) On the cover of the pamphlet containing his
Sermon on the Sacrament Luther ordered a picture consisting of two
monstrances printed; this was promptly explained to mean that he had
adopted the Bohemian errors, for Hus had administered the Lord's Supper
in both kinds. (19, 457.) Some pretended that they could see two geese
in this picture; the meaning was plain: one of them signified Hus (Hus
in Bohemian means goose), the other, Luther. (19, 458.)

Luther would not have been human if incidents like these had not caused
him pain. Occasionally he would give vent to his grief, but his manly
courage, too, would soon assert itself, and he would expose the
hollowness, insincerity, and futility of the lying tales that were
spread about him. At a public meeting in Campo Flore he was cursed,
sentenced to death, and burned in effigy. (21a, 174.) He has read
offensive reports about himself, and puts them down with the calm
declaration: There is not a man that writes against Luther without
having to resort to horrible and manifest lies. (19, 583.) He is sure
that he has not had an opponent who in an argument would stick to the
point; they all had to evade the issue. (22, 658.) Shameful falsehoods
are canvassed about him at the court of King Ferdinand (15, 2623);
Luther comforts himself with the reflection that others have suffered
the same vilification bef