The Spanish guards were mentally stacking faggots around the lonely
little figure in the middle of the room. Princes, nobles, and the Holy
Roman Emperor leaned forward to catch his words.
“Since Your Majesty and Your Lordships want a direct reply, I will
answer without horns or teeth,” he began quietly.
The spectators looked at each other significantly, then back to the
earnest friar. Confidence was returning and his voice carried plainly to
all corners of the room.
“Unless convinced by the testimony of Scripture or right reason—for I
trust neither the pope nor councils inasmuch as they have often erred
and contradicted one another—I am bound in conscience, held captive by
the Word of God in the Scriptures I have quoted. I neither can nor will
recant anything, for it is neither right nor safe to act against
conscience. God help me! Amen.”
There was silence for an instant. Then pandemonium broke loose. The
interrogator tried to restore order but the emperor walked out and the
meeting adjourned. Luther was escorted back to his rooms by the admiring
populace. Nobles who had been on the fringe now openly praised the
courageous preacher and vowed their support. During the night warning
notices were surreptitiously posted on the doors of his enemies.
Charles summoned the electors and princes the following day to decide
what should be done. His own impulse to condemn Luther right away was
restrained because he needed the good will of the Germans in other
measures coming before the diet. A plan was evolved whereby a select
group of theologians would call on Luther and try to effect a
reconciliation through persuasion. The discussion always bogged down
when Luther insisted he must be persuaded on the basis of Scripture.
Having received a twenty-one-day safe-conduct Luther set out for
Wittenberg on April 26. The diet closed officially on May 25, and the
next day, following a rump session of prejudiced nobles, the emperor
signed the Edict of Worms. According to it, Luther was the devil himself
in a monk’s habit. He was to be seized on sight and turned over to the
emperor—an outlaw of the church and the state.