, an examination will have to be held,
to which you as well as others will be cited." Major protested that he
was not addicted to any false doctrine. Luther answered: "It is by your
silence and cloaking that you cast suspicion upon yourself. If you
believe as you declare in my presence, then speak so also in the church,
in public lectures, in sermons, and in private conversations, and
strengthen your brethren, and lead the erring back to the right path,
and contradict the contumacious spirits; otherwise your confession is
sham pure and simple, and worth nothing. Whoever really regards his
doctrine, faith and confession as true, right, and certain cannot remain
in the same stall with such as teach, or adhere to, false doctrine; nor
can he keep on giving friendly words to Satan and his minions. A teacher
who remains silent when errors are taught, and nevertheless pretends to
be a true teacher, is worse than an open fanatic and by his hypocrisy
does greater damage than a heretic. Nor can he be trusted. He is a wolf
and a fox, a hireling and a servant of his belly, and ready to despise
and to sacrifice doctrine, Word, faith, Sacrament, churches, and
schools. He is either a secret bedfellow of the enemies or a skeptic and
a weathervane, waiting to see whether Christ or the devil will prove
victorious; or he has no convictions of his own whatever, and is not
worthy to be called a pupil, let alone a teacher; nor does he want to
offend anybody, or say a word in favor of Christ, or hurt the devil and
the world." (Walther, 39f.)

121. Unfortunate Issue of Smalcald War.

All too soon the predictions of Luther, and the fears expressed by
Melanchthon and others, were realized. June 26, 1546, four months after
Luther's death, Pope and Emperor entered into a secret agreement to
compel the Protestants by force of arms to acknowledge the decrees of
the Council of Trent, and to return to the bosom of the Roman Church.
The covenant provided that, "in the name of God and with the help and
assistance of His Papal Holiness, His Imperial Majesty should prepare
himself for war, and equip himself with soldiers and everything
pertaining to warfare against those who objected to the Council, against
the Smalcald League, and against all who were addicted to the false
belief and error in Germany, and that he do so with all his power and
might in order to bring them back to the old [papal] faith and to the
obedience of the Holy See." The Pope promis