16 4
ESSAYS ON LIBERTY
subjects to be divided by the preaching of opposite doc.. trines. The Catholics have no right to complain, for they do not prove the truth of their doctrine from Scripture, and therefore do not conscientiously believe it." 1 He \vould tolerate them only if they acknowledged them- selves, like the Jews, enemies of Christ and of the Emperor, and consented to exist as outcasts of society.2 " Heretics," he said, "are not to be disputed with, but to be condemned unheard, and whilst they perish by fire, the faithful ought to pursue the evil to its source, and bathe their hands in the blood of the Catholic bishops, and of the Pope, who is a devil in disguise." 3 The persecuting principles which \vere involved in Luther's system, but which he cared neither to develop, to apply, nor to defend, were formed into a definite theory by the colder genius of Melanchthon. Destitute of Luther's confidence in his own strength, and in the infallible success of his doctrine, he clung more eagerly to the hope of achieving victory by the use of physical force. Like his master he too hesitated at first, and opposed the use of severe measures against the Zwickau prophets; but when he saw the development of that early germ of dissent, and the gradual dissolution of Lutheran unity, he repented of his ill-timed clemency.4 He was not deterred from asserting the duty of persecution by the risk of putting arms into the hands of the enemies of the Refor- mation. He acknowledged the danger, but he denied the right. Catholic powers, he deemed, might justly perse- cute, but they could only persecute error. They must apply the same criterion which the Lutherans applied,
1 c c Sie aber verachten die Schrift muthwilliglich, darum wären sie billig aus der einigen U rsach zu stillen, oder Dicht zu lei den " (De Weue, iii, 90). 2 cc Wollen sie aber wie die ]uden seyn, Dicht Christen heissen, noch Kaisers Glieder, sondern sich lassen Christus und Kaisers Feinde nennen, wie die ]uden ; wohlan, so wollen wir's auch leiden, dass sie in ihren Synagogen, wie die Juden, verschlossen lästern, so lang sie wollen It (De Wette, iv. 94)'
- Riffel, KirchellgeschichÜ, ii. 9; Table-Talk, iii. 175,
4 .. Ego ab initio, cum primum caepi nosse Ciconiam et Ciconiae factionem, unde hoc totum genus Anabaptistarum exortum est, fui stulte clemens, Sentie- bant enim et alii haereticos non esse ferro opprimendos, Et tunc dux Fridericus vehementer iratus erat Ciconiae: ac nisi a nobis tectus esset, fuisset de homine furioso et perdite malo sumtum supplicium. Nunc me ejus clementiae non parum poenitet. . . . Brentius nimis clemens est" (Bretschneider, ii. 17. Feb, 1530).
