Indirectly Melanchthon himself admits the correctness of Luther's criticism. True, when after the presentation of the Confession he thought of the angry Papists, he trembled fearing that he had written too severely. June 26 he wrote to his most intimate friend, Camerarius: "Far from thinking that I have written milder than was proper, I rather strongly fear (_mirum in modum_) that some have taken offense at our freedom. For Valdes, the Emperor's secretary, saw it before its presentation and gave it as his opinion that from beginning to end it was sharper than the opponents would be able to endure." (_C. R._ 2, 140.) On the same day he wrote to Luther: "According to my judgment, the Confession is severe enough. For you will see that I have depicted the monks sufficiently." (141.) In two letters to Camerarius, however, written on May 21 and June 19, respectively, hence before the efforts at toning down the Confession were completed, Melanchthon expressed the opinion that the Confession could not have been written "in terms more gentle and mild, _mitior et lenior._" (2, 57.) No doubt, Melanchthon also had in mind his far-reaching irenics at Augsburg, when he wrote in the Preface to the Apology of the Augsburg Confession: "It has always been my custom in these controversies to retain, so far as I was at all able, the form of the customarily received doctrine, in order that at some time concord might the more readily be effected. Nor, indeed, am I now departing far from this custom, although I could justly lead away the men of this age still farther from the opinions of the adversaries." (101, 11.) Evidently, Melanchthon means to emphasize that in the Augustana he had been conservative criticizing only when compelled to do so for conscience' sake. 26. Luther Praising Confession and Confessors. Luther's criticism did not in the least dampen his joy over the glorious victory at Augsburg nor lessen his praise of the splendid confession there made. In the above-mentioned letter of June 27 he identifies himself fully and entirely with the Augustana and demands that Melanchthon, too, consider it an expression of his own faith, and not merely of Luther's faith. July 3 he wrote to Melanchthon: "Yesterday I reread carefully your entire Apology, and it pleases me extremely (_vehementer_)." (St. L. 16, 913; Enders, 8, 79.) July 6 he wrote a letter to Cordatus in which he speaks of the Augustana as "altogether a most beautiful confession, _plane pulcherrima confessio._" At the same time he expresses his great delight over the victory won at Augsburg, applying to the Confession Ps. 119, 46: "I will speak of Thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed,"--a text which ever since has remained the motto, appearing on all of its subsequent manuscripts and printed copies.