[701] Als were der Papst selbst gegenwärtiggewest. (Brück, Apol. 62.) [702] Se alcuni......perseverassero in questa diabolica via quella S. M. potrà mettere la mano al ferro e al foco et _radicitus extirpare_ questa venenata pianta. (Instructio data Cæsari a reverendissimo Campeggi in dieta Augustana, 1530.) [Sidenote: TWO MIRACLES.] Thus the jurisprudence of Rome consisted, according to a prophecy uttered against the city which _is seated on seven hills_, in adorning itself with pearls that it had stolen, and in becoming drunk with the blood of the saints.[703] [703] Revelation xvii. and xviii. While Charles was thus urged on with blind fury by the diet and the Pope, the Protestant princes, restrained by a mute indignation, did not open their mouths,[704] and hence they seemed to betray a weakness of which the Emperor was eager to profit. But there was also strength concealed under this weakness. "It only remains for us," exclaimed Melancthon, "to embrace our Saviour's knees." In this they laboured earnestly. Melancthon begged for Luther's prayers; Brenz for those of his own church: a general cry of distress and of faith ran through Evangelical Germany. "You shall have sheep," said Brenz, "if you will send us sheep: you know what I mean."[705] The sheep that were to be offered in sacrifice were the prayers of the saints. [704] Tacita indignatio. (Corp. Ref. ii. p. 254.) [705] Habebitis oves, si oves ad nos mittatis: intelligitis quæ volo. (Corp. Ref. ii. p. 246.) [Sidenote: THE EMPEROR'S MENACE.] The Church was not wanting to itself. "Assembled every day," wrote certain cities to the Electors, "we beg for you strength, grace, and victory,--victory full of joy." But the man of prayer and faith was especially Luther. A calm and sublime courage, in which firmness shines at the side of joy--a courage that rises and exults in proportion as the danger increases--is what Luther's letters at this time present in every line. The most poetical images are pale beside those energetic expressions which issue in a boiling torrent from the Reformer's soul. "I have recently witnessed two miracles," wrote he on the 5th August to Chancellor Brück; "this is the first. As I was at my window, I saw the stars, and the sky, and that vast and magnificent firmament in which the Lord has placed them. I could nowhere discover the columns on which the Master has supported this immense vault, and yet the heavens did not fall...... "And here is the second. I beheld thick clouds hanging above us like a vast sea. I could neither perceive ground on which they reposed, nor cords by which they were suspended; and yet they did not fall upon us, but saluted us rapidly and fled away.