"To those who threaten me I have no answer to give, unless it be the remark of Reuchlin, 'The poor man has nothing to fear, for he has nothing to lose.'[489] I have neither money nor goods, and I ask none. If I once possessed some honour and some reputation, let him that has begun to strip me of them finish his work. I have nothing left but this miserable body, enfeebled by so many trials; let them kill it by force or fraud, to the glory of God. In this way they will, perhaps, shorten my life an hour or two. Enough for me to have a precious Redeemer, a powerful Priest, Jesus Christ the Lord! I will praise him while I have a breath of life; and if none will praise him with me, how can I help it?" [489] "Qui pauper est nihil timet, nihil potest perdere." (Ibid., p. 118.) These words enable us to read Luther's heart. While he was thus looking with confidence towards Rome, Rome had thoughts of vengeance towards him. On the 3rd of April, Cardinal Raphael De Rovere had written to the Elector Frederick in the pope's name, stating that suspicions were entertained of his faith, and that he ought to beware of protecting Luther. "Cardinal Raphael," says Luther, "would have had great pleasure in seeing me burned by Duke Frederick."[490] Thus Rome began to whet her arms against Luther, and the first blow which she aimed at him was through the mind of his protector. If she succeeded in destroying the shelter under which the monk of Wittemberg was reposing, he would become an easy prey. [490] Luth. Op. (W.) xv, p. 339. The German princes attached much importance to their reputation as Christian princes. The slightest suspicion of heresy filled them with alarm, and the court of Rome had shrewdly availed itself of this feeling. Frederick, moreover, had always been attached to the religion of his fathers, and Raphael's letter made a very strong impression on his mind. But it was a principle with the Elector not to act hastily in any thing. He knew that truth was not always on the side of the strongest. The transactions of the empire with Rome had taught him to distrust the selfish views of that court; and he was aware that in order to be a Christian prince, it was not necessary to be the pope's slave. "He was not," says Melancthon, "one of those profane spirits who wish to stifle all changes in their first beginnings.[491] Frederick resigned himself to God. He carefully read the writings which were published, and what he judged true he allowed no one to destroy."[492] He had power to do so. Supreme in his own States, he was respected in the empire at least as highly as the emperor himself. [491] "Nec profana judicia sequens quæ tenera initia omnium mutationum celerrime opprimi jubent." (Melanc. Vita Luth.) [492] "Deo cessit, et ea quæ vera esse judicavit, deleri non voluit." (Ibid.)