f the Lord in
the circumgestation and adoration of the bread which their critics [the
Lutheran opponents of the Interimists, by their doctrine concerning the
Lord's Supper] strengthened and that they might thank God for the
purification of the temple from the Romish idol Maozim, Dan. 11, 38.
(Tschackert, 510.) Frank remarks: "One must see this passage black on
white in order to believe the Wittenbergers really capable of
stultifying themselves in such an incredible manner. It is a
monstrosity, a defense unworthy of an honest man, let alone an
Evangelical Christian." (4, 61. 113.)

The weak and insincere arguments of the Adiaphorists were thoroughly and
convincingly refuted by their opponents. To the assertion of the
Wittenbergers that the dispute was concerning mere unimportant
ceremonies which were neither commanded nor prohibited by God, Flacius
and Gallus replied (in their answer to the question of the ministers of
Meissen whether they should leave their charges rather than don the
_Chorrock, lineam vestem induere_) that even with respect to such
seemingly most trifling adiaphora as the cope (_Chorrock, vestis alba_)
one must not overlook what is attached to it. "We do not believe," they
said, "that the robber will let the traveler keep his money, although
first he only asks for his coat or similar things, at the same time,
however, not obscurely hinting that, after having taken these, he will
also demand the rest. We certainly do not doubt that you yourselves, as
well as all men endowed with a sound mind, believe that, since the
beginning is always hardest, these small beginnings of changes are at
present demanded only that a door may be opened for all the other
impieties that are to follow--_quod tantum ideo parva ista mutationum
initia iam proponantur, ut quia principia semper sunt dificillima per ea
aditus reliquis omnibus secuturis impietatibus patefiat._"
(Schluesselburg 13, 644.)

The Adiaphorists pretended that they had consented to the Interim in the
interest of the weak, who were unable to bear persecution. But the
Lutherans answered that weak Christians could not be strengthened in
their faith by teaching and persuading them to deny it and that the
enemies and persecutors of the Gospel could certainly not be regarded as
weak. (Frank 4, 78.) The protestations of the Adiaphorists that they had
made the changes in ceremonies with the very best of intentions were
answered by Flacius in _De Veris et Falsis Ad