for protection to the
new emperor, Charles V. Though he had written, at the suggestion of
Miltitius, a letter to the pope, not indeed of submission, but rather of
exculpation, in language bold and energetic, he was in 1520 formally
condemned by a bull from Rome, which, after enumerating forty-one of his
heretical opinions, denounces against him the vengeance of the church, and
excommunication, if within sixty days he did not make a due submission.
This violent conduct Luther answered by "The Captivity of Babylon," a book
in which he inveighed bitterly against the abuses of Rome; and then,
calling the students of Wittemberg together, he flung into the fire the
offensive decree, which he called the _execrable bull of Antichrist_. In
1521, he was summoned to appear before the emperor at the diet of Worms,
with a promise of protection; and, though his friends dissuaded him, and
told him that, as his opponents had burned his writings, so they would
treat him after the manner of Huss, he declared, with fearless voice, "If
I knew there were as many devils at Worms as tiles on the houses, I would
go." At Worms he was required by Eccius to retract his opinions; but he
declared that, except what he advanced could be proved contrary to
Scripture, he neither could nor would recant. His obstinacy proved
offensive to the emperor; but, as he had promised him his protection, he
permitted him to depart. Charles, nevertheless, published his edict
against him and his adherents, and placed him under the ban of the empire.
Luther, however, remained secure under the protection of the elector, who
had thus effected his deliverance, and in the castle of Wittemberg, which
he denominated his _hermitage_ and his _Palmos_, he held a secret
correspondence with his friends, or composed books in defence of his
opinions. At the end of ten months, when the emperor was departed for
Flanders, he again appeared publicly at Wittemberg, and had the
satisfaction to find that, instead of being checked, his doctrines had
gained ground, and were universally embraced through Germany. In 1522, he
published, in conjunction with Melancthon, a Latin translation of the New
Testament; and the work was read with avidity by the German nation. In
1524, he had to contend with Erasmus, a man who had apparently adopted his
sentiments, though he had not the manliness to acknowledge them; and he
now found in him an able antagonist enlisted in defence of the pope. In
1524, Luth