He gently put her
aside, saying cheerfully, "Is not this house as nigh heaven as my
own?"--to which she contemptuously rejoined: "Tilly vally
--tilly vally!"
More's daughter, Margaret Roper, on the contrary, encouraged her
father to stand firm in his principles, and dutifully consoled and
cheered him during his long confinement. Deprived of pen-and-ink,
he wrote his letters to her with a piece of coal, saying in one of
them: "If I were to declare in writing how much pleasure your
daughterly loving letters gave me, a PECK OF COALS would not
suffice to make the pens." More was a martyr to veracity: he
would not swear a false oath; and he perished because he was
sincere. When his head had been struck off, it was placed on
London Bridge, in accordance with the barbarous practice of the
times. Margaret Roper had the courage to ask for the head to be
taken down and given to her, and, carrying her affection for her
father beyond the grave, she desired that it might be buried with
her when she died; and long after, when Margaret Roper's tomb was
opened, the precious relic was observed lying on the dust of what
had been her bosom.
Martin Luther was not called upon to lay down his life for his
faith; but, from the day that he declared himself against the
Pope, he daily ran the risk of losing it. At the beginning of his
great struggle, he stood almost entirely alone.
Pages:
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181