From the Diet of Worms to the Augsburg Confession - James Aitken Wylie

and married. The Reformation breaking forth, his
mind opened to the glow of the truth, and then it
was that his poetic imagination, invigorated and
sanctified, burst out in holy song, which resounded
through Germany, and helped to prepare the minds
of men for the mighty revolution that was going
forward. "The spiritual songs of Hans Sachs," says
D'Aubigne, "and his Bible in verse, were a
powerful help to this great work.
It would perhaps be hard to decide who did the
most for it–the Prince-Elector of Saxony,
administrator of the Empire, or the Nuremberg
shoemaker!"
Here, too, and about the same period, lived
Peter Vischer, the sculptor and caster in bronze;
Adam Craft, the sculptor, whose "seven pillars" are
still to be seen in the Church of; St. Claire; Veit
Stoss, the carver in wood; and many besides, quick
of eye and cunning of hand, whose names have
perished, now live in their works alone, which not
only served as models to the men of their own age,
but have stimulated the ingenuity and improved the
89