the Colloquium in
Altenburg (held from October 21, 1568, to March, 1569, between the
theologians of Thuringia and those of Electoral Saxony), would unite in
a public declaration against his teaching. Wigand whose warning Flacius
had disregarded at Weimar, wrote to Gallus: Flacius has forfeited the
right to request that nothing be published against him, because he
himself has already spread his views in print. And before long Wigand
began to denounce publicly the Flacian doctrine as "new and prolific
monsters, _monstra nova et fecunda._"

172. Publications Pro and Con.

According to Preger the first decided opposition to the Flacian teaching
came from Moerlin and Chemnitz, in Brunswick, to whom Flacius had also
submitted his tract for approval. Chemnitz closed his criticism by
saying: It is enough if we are able to retain what Luther has won
(_parta tueri_), let us abandon all desires to go beyond (_ulterius
quaerere_) and to improve upon him. (Preger 2, 328.) Moerlin
characterized Flacius as a vain man, and dangerous in many respects.
Flacius answered in an objective manner, betraying no irritation
whatever. (332.) In a letter of August 10, 1568, Hesshusius, who now had
read the tract more carefully charged Flacius with teaching that Satan
was a creator of substance, and before long refused to treat with him
any further. In September of the same year Flacius published his _Gnothi
seauton_ against the attacks of the Synergists and Philippists, notably
Christopher Lasius [who studied at Strassburg and Wittenberg, was active
in Goerlitz, Greussen, Spandau, Kuestrin, Cottbus, and Senftenberg,
wrote _Praelibationes Dogmatis Flaciani de Prodigiosa Hominis
Conversione;_ died 1572]. In the same year Hesshusius prepared his
_Analysis,_ which was approved by Gallus and the Jena theologians.

Realizing that all his former friends had broken with him entirely,
Flacius, in January 1570, _published_ his _Demonstrations Concerning the
Essence of the Image of God and the Devil,_ in which he attacked his
opponents, but without mentioning their names. His request for a private
discussion was bluntly rejected by the Jena theologians. Wigand, in his
_Propositions on Sin_ of May 5, 1570, was the first publicly to attack
Flacius by name. About the same time Moerlin's _Themata de Imagine Dei_
and Chemnitz's _Resolutio_ appeared. The former was directed "against
the impious and absurd proposition that sin is a substance", the latter,
again