Once the main obstacle had been removed by Luther’s death, Bucer, who was very confident of his own abilities, again mooted the idea of a great council. In the same letter to Landgrave Philip of Hesse in which he refers to the death of Luther, “the father and teacher of us all,” which had occurred shortly before, he exhorts the Landgrave more emphatically than ever to co-operate, so that “first of all a general synod may be held of our co-religionists of every estate,” to which all the sovereigns should despatch eminent preachers and councillors—i.e. be formally convened by the secular authorities—and, that, subsequently “particular synods be held in every country of the Churches situated there.”[641] “Short of this the Churches will assuredly fare badly.”[642] The Landgrave was not averse, yet the matter never got any further. The terrible quarrels amongst the theologians in the camp of the new faith after Luther’s decease[643] put any general Protestant council out of the question. We can imagine what such a council would have become, if, in addition to the theologians, the lay element had been represented to the extent demanded at a certain Disputation held at Wittenberg under Luther’s presidency in 1543.[644] From the idea of the whole congregation taking its share in the government of the Church, Luther could never entirely shake himself free. Nevertheless it is probable, that, in spite of this Disputation, he had not really changed his mind as to the impossibility of an Evangelical council. If, with Luther’s, we compare Melanchthon’s attitude towards the question of a Lutheran council we find that the latter’s wish for such a council and his observations about it afforded him plentiful opportunity for voicing his indignation at the religious disruption then rampant.[645]