Worms; to answer the charge made against him of heresy, he determined to
answer in person. Those about him told him that he would lose his life
if he went, and they urged him to fly. "No," said he, "I will repair
thither, though I should find there thrice as many devils as there are
tiles upon the housetops!" Warned against the bitter enmity of a certain
Duke George, he said--"I will go there, though for nine whole days
running it rained Duke Georges."

Luther was as good as his word; and he set forth upon his perilous
journey. When he came in sight of the old bell-towers of Worms, he
stood up in his chariot and sang, "EIN FESTE BURG IST UNSER GOTT."--the
'Marseillaise' of the Reformation--the words and music of which he is
said to have improvised only two days before. Shortly before the meeting
of the Diet, an old soldier, George Freundesberg, put his hand upon
Luther's shoulder, and said to him: "Good monk, good monk, take heed
what thou doest; thou art going into a harder fight than any of us have
ever yet been in." But Luther's only answer to the veteran was, that he
had "determined to stand upon the Bible and his conscience."

Luther's courageous defence before the Diet is on record, and forms one
of the most glorious pages in history. When finally urged by the Emperor
to retract, he said firmly: "Sire, unless I am convinced of my error by
the testimony of Scripture, or by manifest evidence, I cannot and will
not retract, for we must never act contrary to our conscience. Such is
my profession of faith, and you must expect none other from me. HIER
STEHE ICH: ICH KANN NICHT ANDERS: GOTT HELFE MIR!" [14Here stand I: I
cannot do otherwise: God help me!]. He had to do his duty--to obey
the orders of a Power higher than that of kings; and he did it at all
hazards.

Afterwards, when hard pressed by his enemies at Augsburg, Luther said
that "if he had five hundred heads, he would lose them all rather than
recant his article concerning faith." Like all courageous men, his
strength only seemed to grow in proportion to the difficulties he had to
encounter and overcome. "There is no man in Germany," said Hutten, "who
more utterly despises death than does Luther." And to his moral courage,
perhaps more than to that of any other single man, do we owe the
liberation of modern thought, and the vindication of the great rights of
the human understanding.

The honourable and brave man does not fear death compared with ignominy.
I