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." [437] Utinam Deus redimat nostro sanguino salutem Christiani populi. (Corp. Ref. i, p. 362.) [438] Luke, i, 46-55. [439] _Magnificat._ L. Op. Wittemberg, Deutsch. Ausg. iii, p. 11, etc. [440] Er zieht seine Krafft heraus und laesst sic von eigener Krafft sich aufblasen. (L. Op. Wittemb. Deutsch. Ausg. iii, pp. 11, etc.) 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. [Sidenote: WILL A SAFE-CONDUCT BE GIVEN?]