Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/547

 in the examination. Meantime, there were so many intrigues against us, and every hour revealed so much deceit and fraud, that we more than once saw our whole work on the point of being shattered, for the Lutherans were universally credited with the purpose of inducing Luther at this examination to recant certain points objectionable to the imperialists, but to maintain all his charges against the Pope. Thereby public opinion would be won back to Luther, for it had been much alienated by his shameless repudiation of the Council of Con- stance. Obedience to the will of the Emperor was left out of consideration. In these annoying circumstances we were comforted by the dependable stand of the Emperor, and by the fact that his declaration had already been sent to the Pope, so that he would be severely blamed for violating it.

But God lent us his help by another event also. On the twenty-fourth of this month a meeting was held in the resi- dence of the Archbishop of Trier, attended by the Elector of Brandenburg in the name of all the electors, and by the Bishops of Augsburg and Brandenburg in the name of the clergy, and by Duke George of Saxony and the Margrave of Baden in the name of the lay princes, and by some other deputies from the cities. Martin Luther was introduced,^ and after the Chancellor of Baden^ in the name of the Empire had exhorted him for more than an hour and had pointed out to him the dangerous results for him of his obstinate refusal, Luther finally declared with great emphasis that he would not recant one tittle of his writings, as he would thereby act against his conscience. According to the report of the Arch- bishop of Trier the conduct of the princes during this examina- tion was splendid. It is remarkable that even Duke George, who formerly on various occasions had expressed himself recklessly against the clergy and had caused some scandal by an opinion on confession, now did his full duty. The Chan- cellor, who spoke German, acted like a wise man and a Catholic

^Between six and seven in the morning, see further Luther's own account, infra, May 3, no. 471.

'Jerome Vehus, born 1483, studied at Pforxheim, matriculated at Freiburf 1503, chancellor of Margrave Philip of Baden. He was an Erasmtan, opposed to the Reformation. Enders, iii. i34f.

�� �