He felt more and more that the new Churches then being established lacked inward stability, and that the principle on which they were built was wanting in unity, cohesion and permanence. Neither for the protection of the faith nor for the maintenance of an independent system of Church government were the necessary provisions forthcoming. Indeed, owing to the very nature of his undertaking, it was impossible that such could be effectually supplied; thus a vision of coming disunion, particularly in the domain of doctrine, unrolled itself before his eyes; this was one of the factors which saddened him. As early as the ‘thirties we find him giving vent to his fears of an ever-increasing disintegration. In the ‘forties they almost assume the character of definite prophecies. In the Table-Talk of 1538, which was noted down by the Deacon Lauterbach, he seeks comfort in the thought that every fresh revival of religion had been accompanied by quarrels due to false brethren, by heresies and decay; it was true that now “the morning star had arisen” owing to his preaching, but he feared “that this light would not endure for long, not for more than fifty years”; the Word of God would “again decline for want of able ministers of the Word.”[602] “There will come want and spiritual famine”; “many new interpretations will arise, and the Bible will no longer hold. Owing to the sects that will spring up I would rather I had not printed my books.”[603] “I fear that the best is already over and that now the sects will follow.”[604] The pen was growing heavy to his fingers; there “will be no end to the writings,” he says; “I have outlived three frightful storms, Münzer, the Sacramentarians and the Anabaptists; these are over, but now others will come.” “I wish not to live any longer since no peace is to be hoped for.”[605] “The Evangel is endangered by the sectarians, the revolutionary peasants and the belly servers, just as once the Roman empire was at Rome.”[606]