e preserved by death, past errors atoned for by a glorious
expiation, and the censure of posterity disarmed by the magnitude of
the sacrifice.

The Reformer continued firm as a rock. About the end of August he wrote
to Conrad Som of Ulm, after giving some notice of the appearance of the
comet: "I stand unshaken prepared for everything, seeking my help in
God." He heard without alarm, how people in one place were terrified by
monstrous births, and how in another reports were afloat concerning
portentous signs, a shield and banner seen in the sky; ships manned by
spirit-warriors crossing Lake Luzern; and the shooting of guns by
night, that wakened from slumber the neighbors on the Reuss. Ulric
Meier, _vogt_ of Schenkenberg, wrote to him a long letter, telling how
the inhabitants of an entire parish, he himself, the preachers and a
proprietor of that district, had seen blood ooze from the earth, after
a stormy night, more dreadful than any he had ever before witnessed; he
gave him this accurate information, so that he might not believe, if
others should tell him yet worse things; and had written moreover to
the government of Bern. Whether God had spoken, or whether it was
delusion or magic, may perhaps be discovered hereafter. But why should
stories like these, which undoubtedly produced a fearful commotion in
the trembling multitude, daunt him, who was fixed in his faith, his
action, his purpose--reconciled even to the assurance of an early
death? One thing alone could cause him pain--the thought of leaving
behind his wife and children, a growing family, destined perchance to
feel the consequences of every change of fortune. He desired for them
an easier life, than he had led; that they might not sink before their
time beneath a load of trouble and toil. "Spare your young folks," he
wrote to Berchtold Haller and Megander of Bern; "they, who are now
fairer than milk, redder than roses, should not stalk along pale,
withered, bloodless, with corpselike faces, slain in their bloom by the
unnatural severity of excessive toil? My shoulders are not granted to
you all. I trust in God, such times will not last forever. Spare
yourselves also. The future needs you; for what will remain, if all the
good die?"

In such a mood he beheld the last effort of Zurich. It was the 9th of
September, 1531. From all quarters came in reports of warlike
preparations and movements in the Five Cantons. Schwyz and Uri at last
consented to join the