The Apology, as it was then called, was completed on the 11th May; and the Elector sent it to Luther, begging him to mark what ought to be changed. "I have said what I thought most useful," added Melancthon, who feared that his friend would find the confession too weak; "for Eck ceases not to circulate against us the most diabolical calumnies, and I have endeavoured to oppose an antidote to his poisons."[383] [383] Quia Eckius addidit διαβολικωτἁτασ διαβοιἁς contra nos.--(Corp. Ref. p. 45.) Luther replied to the Elector on the 15th May: "I have read Magister Philip's Apology; I like it well enough, I have no corrections to make. Besides, that would hardly suit me, for I cannot walk so meekly and so silently. May Christ our Lord grant that this work may produce much and great fruit." Each day, however, the Elector's councillors and theologians, in concert with Melancthon, improved the confession, and endeavoured to render it such that the charmed diet should, in its own despite, hear it to the very end.[384] [384] In Apologia quotidie multa mutamus.--(Ibid. p. 60.) [Sidenote: LUTHER'S SINAI.] While the struggle was thus preparing at Augsburg, Luther at Coburg, on the summit of the hill, "on his Sinai," as he called it, raised his hands like Moses towards heaven.[385] He was the real general of the spiritual war that was then waging; his letters ceased not to bear to the combatants the directions which they needed, and numerous pamphlets issuing from his stronghold, like discharges of musketry, spread confusion in the enemy's camp. [385] Mathesius Predigten, p. 92. The place where he had been left was, by its solitude, favourable to study and to meditation.[386] "I shall make a Zion of this Sinai," said he on the 22d April, "and I shall build here three tabernacles; one to the Psalms, one to the Prophets, and one----to Esop!" This last word is a startling one. The association belongs neither to the language nor the spirit of the Apostles. It is true that Esop was not to be his principal study: the fables were soon laid aside, and truth alone engaged Luther. "I shall weep, I shall pray, I shall never be silent," wrote he, "until I know that my cry has been heard in heaven."[387] [386] Longe amænissimus et studiis commodissimus.--(L. Epp. iv. p. 2.) [387] Orabo igitur et plorabo, non quieturus donec, &c.--(L. Epp. iv. p. 2.) Besides, by way of relaxation, he had something better than Esop; he had those domestic joys whose precious treasures the Reformation had opened to the ministers of the Word. It was at this time he wrote that charming letter to his infant son, in which he describes a delightful garden where children dressed in gold are sporting about, picking up apples, pears, cherries, and plums; they sing, dance, and enjoy themselves, and ride pretty little horses, with golden bridles and silver saddles.[388]