On the morning of Friday (26th April) the Reformer's friends and several nobles met at his lodgings.[574] They were gratified at seeing the Christian constancy which he had opposed to Charles and the empire, and to recognise in him the features of the ancient portrait:
"Justum ac tenacem propositi virum, Non civium ardor prava jubentium, Non vultus instantis tyranni, Mente quatit solida...."[575]
They wished once more, perhaps for ever, to bid adieu to this intrepid monk. Luther took a frugal meal. Now he must take leave of his friends, and flee far from them under a sky surcharged with storms. He wished to pass this solemn moment in the presence of God. He lifted up his soul and blessed those who were around him.[576] Ten in the morning having struck, Luther quitted the hotel with the friends who had accompanied him to Worms. Twenty gentlemen on horseback surrounded his carriage. A great crowd accompanied him beyond the walls. The imperial herald, Sturm, rejoined him some time after at Oppenheim, and the following day they reached Frankfort.
JOURNEY FROM WORMS. LUTHER TO CRANACH.
CHAP. XI.
Luther's Departure—Journey from Worms—Luther to Cranach—Luther to Charles V—Luther with the Abbot of Hirschfeld—The Curate of Eisenach—Several Princes leave the Diet—Charles signs Luther's Condemnation—The Edict of Worms—Luther with his parents—Luther attacked and carried off—The ways of God—Wartburg—Luther a Prisoner.
Luther having thus escaped from these walls of Worms, which threatened to become his tomb, his whole heart gave glory to God. "The devil himself," said he, "guarded the citadel of the pope. But Christ has made a large breach in it; and Satan has been forced to confess that the Lord is mightier than he."[577]
"The day of the Diet of Worms," says the pious Mathesius, the disciple and friend of Luther, "is one of the greatest and most glorious days given to the world before its final close."[578] The battle fought at Worms re-echoed far and wide, and while the sound travelled over Christendom, from the regions of the North to the mountains of Switzerland, and the cities of England, France, and Italy, many ardently took up the mighty weapon of the Word of God.
Luther, having arrived at Frankfort, on the evening of Saturday, (27th April,) took advantage next day of a moment of leisure, the first he had had for a long time, to write a note, in a style at once playful and energetic, to his friend, Lucas Cranach, the celebrated painter, at Wittemberg. "Your servant, dear compeer Lucas," said he to him, "I thought his majesty would assemble at Worms some fifty doctors to confute the monk off hand. But not at all. Are these books yours? Yes. Will you retract them? No. Ah well! get you gone! Such was the whole story. O blind Germans, how like children we act in allowing ourselves to be played upon and duped by Rome!... The Jews must for once have their chant, Yo! Yo! Yo! But our passover also will come, and then we will sing Hallelujah![579]... There must be silence and suffering for a short time. Jesus Christ says, 'A little while and ye shall not see me, and again a little while and ye shall see me.' (John, xvi, 16.) I hope it will be so with me. I commend you altogether to the Eternal. May He through Christ protect us against the attacks of the wolves and dragons of Rome. Amen."