DISINTERESTEDNESS was a leading feature in the character of Luther; superior to all selfish considerations, he left the honors and emoluments of this world to those who delighted in them. The poverty of this great man did not arise from wanting the means of acquiring riches, for few men have had it in their power more easily to obtain them. The Elector of Saxony offered him the produce of a mine at Soeberg; but he nobly refused it, “lest,” said he, “I should tempt the devil, who is lord of these subterraneous treasures, to tempt.” The enemies of Luther were no strangers to his contempt for gold. When one of the popes asked a certain cardinal why they did not stop that man’s mouth with silver and gold, his Eminence replied, “That German beast regards not money!” It may easily be supposed that the liberality of such a man would often exceed his means. A poor student once telling him of his poverty, he desired his wife to give him a sum of money; and when she informed him they had none left, he immediately seized a cup of some value, which accidentally stood within his reach, and giving it to the poor man, bade him go and sell it, and keep the money to supply his wants. In one of his epistles, Luther says, “I have received one hundred guilders from Tauberheim; and Schartts has given me fifty; so that I begin to fear lest God should reward me in this life. But I will not be satisfied with it. What have I to do with so much money? I gave half of it to P. Priorus, and made the man glad.”