The man who was thus agitating the mighty of the earth was the only one who seemed to be at peace. The news from Worms were alarming. Even Luther's friends were frightened. "Nothing now is left us but our wishes and our prayers," wrote Melancthon to Spalatin. "Oh! if God would deign to ransom the safety of the Christian people by my blood."[437] But Luther was a stranger to fear. Shutting himself up in his peaceful cell, he sat down to meditate, applying to himself the words of Mary, the mother of our Lord, when she exclaimed, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he that is mighty has done for me great things, and holy is His name. He has shown strength with his arm; he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree."[438] The following are some of the thoughts which filled Luther's heart.... "'He that is mighty,' says Mary. Oh! how great boldness on the part of a young girl! With a single word she strikes all the strong with languor, all the mighty with feebleness, all the wise with folly, and all those whose name is glorious on the earth with ignominy, and lays at the feet of God all strength, all power, all wisdom, all glory.[439] 'His arm,' continues she, and she thus appeals to that power by which he acts of himself, and without the agency of his creatures—a mysterious power operating in secrecy and in silence, until his purpose is accomplished. Hence destruction comes before any one is aware of its approach; hence elevation, when no one is thinking of it. He leaves his children in oppression and feebleness, so that each of them says to himself, 'We are all lost!' Then, however, they are most strong. For it is where the power of man ends that the power of God begins. Only let faith wait upon Him.... And, on the other hand, God permits his adversaries to increase their power and grandeur. He withdraws from them the aid of his strength, and leaves them to be inflated with their own.[440] He leaves them void of his eternal wisdom, and lets them fill themselves with their wisdom of a day. And while they rise up in the greatness of their might, the arm of the Lord keeps back, and their work ... vanishes like a soap bubble when it bursts in the air."
It was on the 10th of March, at the moment when his name was filling the imperial city with alarm, that Luther finished this exposition of the Magnificat.
WILL A SAFE-CONDUCT BE GIVEN?
He was not allowed to remain tranquil in his retreat. Spalatin, in conformity to the orders of the Elector, sent him a note of the articles of which it was proposed to demand a retractation from him. A retractation after the refusal at Augsburg![441]... "Fear not," he wrote to Spalatin, "that I will retract a single syllable, since their only argument is to insist that my writings are opposed to the rites of what they call the Church. If the Emperor Charles summon me merely for the purpose of retracting, I will answer him that I will remain here; and it will be just the same thing as if I had been to Worms and come back again. But if, on the contrary, the emperor chooses to summon me in order that I may be put to death, I am ready to repair at his call; for, with the help of Christ, I will not desert his word on the battle-field. I know it: these bloody men will never rest till they have deprived me of life. Oh, that none but papists would become guilty of my blood!"
CHAP. V.
Will a Safe-conduct be given?—Safe-conduct—Will Luther go?—Holy Thursday at Rome—The Pope and Luther.
At length the emperor decided. The appearance of Luther before the Diet seemed the only thing fitted to bring this affair which occupied the whole empire, to some kind of termination. Charles V resolved to cite him, but without giving him a safe-conduct. Here Frederick again began to act as his protector. Every body saw the danger which threatened the Reformer. Luther's friends, says Cochlœus, were afraid that he would be delivered up to the pope, or that the emperor himself would put him to death as unworthy, on account of his obstinate heresy, that any faith should be kept with him.[442] On this subject there was a long and keen debate among the princes.[443] Struck, at last, with the general agitation then prevailing almost throughout the whole population of Germany, and afraid that, as Luther passed along, some sudden tumult or dangerous sedition might break forth,[444] (doubtless in favour of the Reformer,) the princes deemed it wise to calm men's minds on his account, and not only the emperor, but also the Elector of Saxony, Duke George, and the Landgrave of Hesse, through whose states he had to pass, each gave him a safe-conduct.
On the 6th March, 1521, Charles V signed the following summons addressed to Luther:—
"Charles, by the grace of God, elected Roman Emperor, always Augustus, etc., etc.
THE SAFE-CONDUCT.
"Honourable, dear, and pious! We, and the States of the Holy Empire, having resolved to make an inquest touching the doctrine and the books which you have published for some time past have given you, to come here and return to a place of safety, our safe-conduct and that of the empire here subjoined. Our sincere desire is that you immediately prepare for this journey, in order that, in the space of twenty-one days mentioned in our safe-conduct you may be here certainly, and without fail. Have no apprehension of either injustice or violence. We will firmly enforce our safe-conduct under-written, and we expect that you will answer to our call. In so doing you will follow our serious advice.
"Given at our imperial city of Worms, the sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord, 1521, and in the second of our reign.
"Charles.
"By order of my Lord the Emperor, with his own hand, Albert, Cardinal of Mentz, Arch-chancellor. Nicolas Zwyl."