Come, then, and resume Thine influence over a heart which in vain-endeavors to fly from Thee; and which its own disgusts recall to Thee in spite of itself; come to be its Redeemer, its Peace, its Light, and pay more regard to its wretchedness than to its crimes. Amen."

XIV.

MARTIN LUTHER.

MARTIN LUTHER'S PRAYER AT THE DIET

OF

WORMS, AND PRAYER FOR THE LIFE OF MELANCTHON. 1483-1546.

"We have overcome! we have overcome!" exclaimed Luther, coming out of a retired room where he had been engaged in prayer, and standing with shining face and eyes lifted heavenward, in the presence of his family.

It was the darkest period of the Reformation. But immediately came the welcome tidings that the Emperor Charles V. had issued a proclamation of religious toleration in Germany. This unknown triumph of the cause seemed to have been communicated to Luther in prayer.

The prayers of Luther are one of the strong features of his private life. One of the most remarkable of these is that when summoned before the Diet of Worms.

On entering that city, where a magnificent monument of the reformer now stands, more than two thousand persons accompanied him to his quarters. The peril of his situation excited the deepest sympathy of his friends, and called forth their most earnest prayers.

The diet was a most powerful and brilliant assembly, consisting of the emperor, princes and dignities of the church and state. Before it on April 18th, 1521, Luther made the worldrenowned declaration: "Here I stand: I cannot do otherwise God help me."

Says D'Aubigne: "On the morning of this seventeenth of April, he was for a few minutes in deep exercise of mind. God's face seemed to be veiled, and his faith forsook him; his enemies seemed to multiply before him, and his imagination was overcome by the aspect of his dangers.

"His soul was like a ship driven by a violent tempest, rocked from side to side, one