The chancellor having refused to undertake what was the Reformer's own task, was preparing to retire. "Stay!" said the monk to him. _Chancellor._--"What then is to be done?" _Confessor._--"Let Luther deny that he is the author of the Captivity of Babylon." _Chancellor._--"But the papal bull condemns all his other works." _Confessor._--"It is because of his obstinacy. If he retracts his book, the pope, in the plenitude of his power, can easily restore him to favour. What hopes may we not cherish now that we have so excellent an emperor!..." Perceiving that these words made some impression on the chancellor, the monk hastened to add--"Luther always insists on arguing from the Bible. The Bible! ... it is like wax, and may be stretched and bent at pleasure. I undertake to find in the Bible opinions still more extraordinary than those of Luther. He is mistaken when he converts all the sayings of Jesus into commandments." Then, wishing to work also on the fears of the chancellor, he added, "What would happen if to-day or to-morrow the Emperor were to try the effect of arms?... Think of it." He then allowed Pontanus to retire. [Sidenote: PONTANUS AND GLAPIO.] The confessor prepared new snares. "After living ten years with him," said Erasmus, "we should not know him." "What an excellent book that of Luther's on 'Christian Liberty,'" said he to the chancellor when he saw him a few days after--"what wisdom! what talent! what intellect! it is just the style in which a true scholar ought to write. Let unexceptionable persons be chosen on either side, and let the pope and Luther refer to their judgment. No doubt Luther has the best of it on several articles.[400] I will speak to the emperor himself on the subject. Believe me, I do not say these things to you on my own suggestion. I have told the emperor that God will chastise him, as well as all the princes, if the Church, which is the spouse of Jesus Christ, is not washed from all the stains by which she is polluted. I have added that God himself had raised up Luther, and had ordered him to rebuke men sharply, using him as a rod to punish the sins of the world."[401] [400] Es sey nicht zu zweifeln dass Lutherus in vielen Artickeln werde den Sieg davon tragen . . . . (Seckend., p. 319.) [401] Dass Gott diesen Mann gesandt, . . . . dass er eine Geissel seye um der Sünden willen. (Weimar Archiv.--Seckend., p. 320.) The chancellor hearing these words, (they convey the impressions of the time, and show what was then thought of Luther even by his opponents,) thought it right to express his astonishment that more respect was not shown to his master. "Deliberations on this subject," said he, "are daily carried on before the emperor, and the Elector is not invited to them. It seems strange that the emperor, who owes him some gratitude, excludes him from his counsels."