21. The dispute amounted to nothing except that it widened the breach between the See of Rome and the Reformer. The latter, while preparing for his discussion with Eckius, had his {215} suspicions aroused that the pope was the very anti-Christ of the New Testament. At the conclusion of the debate, George, Duke of Saxony, said to the disputants, privately, "Whether the pope exists by divine or by human right, he is, however, the pope;" and that remark doubtless expressed the sentiments of the papist party. 22. Luther Condemned and Excommunicated.--Eckius hastened to Rome after the discussion at Leipsic [Lip-sik], where, with the assistance of other enemies of Luther, among them Cardinal Cajetan, he urged Leo X to condemn him and his works. This Leo did by issuing a bull, in which forty-one of his tenets were pronounced heretical; his writings condemned to the flames, and he himself commanded to confess his faults within sixty days, beg the forgiveness of the pope or be excommunicated from the church. 23. This bull of condemnation Luther burned; together with a copy of the pontifical canon law, in the presence of a vast multitude. (See note 6, end of section.) By this act he meant to withdraw from the church of Rome, that the excommunication which was expected to follow might be robbed of its force. About a month later--4th of January, 1521--the second bull of Leo was issued in which the Reformer was expelled from the Catholic church for his heresies and for violating the majesty of the pontiff. (See note 7, end of section.) 24. Luther Before the Diet at Worms.--After issuing his bull of excommunication, Leo X called upon the emperor of Germany, Charles V, to vindicate his title to "Advocate and Defender of the Church," by inflicting due punishment on that "rebellious member, Martin Luther." Charles, however, was under deep obligations to Frederic, the Wise, Elector of Saxony, for his election by the states of Germany to the imperial dignity; and Frederic, being a warm friend of Luther's and favorable in the main to his doctrines, advised the emperor {216} to take no action against the Reformer until he had given him a hearing. This course Charles resolved to follow, and therefore summoned Luther to appear before the diet which assembled at Worms in 1521.[14] 25. Before this august body the Reformer appeared to make answer to the two questions: First, if the books which he had written, the titles of which were read to him, were his; second, if he was prepared to retract those books and their contents, or if he persisted in the opinions he had advanced in them. He acknowledged the books to be his, and in a speech of some length he explained his motives in writing his books, and refused to retract them. He thus concluded his speech: