The Confutation was written in the name of the Emperor. This is
indicated by the title: "Roman Imperial Confutation,
_Roemisch-Kaiserliche Konfutation._" (_C. R._ 21, 189.) And according to
his declaration of July 5, demanding that the Lutherans acknowledge him
as judge, the Emperor, immediately before the reading, announced: The
Confutation contained his faith and his verdict on the Confession of the
Lutherans; he demanded that they accept it; should they refuse to do so,
he would prove himself the warden and protector of the Church. In the
Epilog the Emperor gave expression to the following thoughts: From this
Confutation he saw that the Evangelicals "in many articles agree with
the Universal and also the Roman Church, and reject and condemn many
wicked teachings current among the common people of the German nation."
He therefore did not doubt that, having heard his answer to their
Confession, they would square themselves also in the remaining points,
and return to what, by common consent, had hitherto been held by all
true believers. Should they fail to heed his admonition, they must
consider that he would be compelled to reveal and demean himself in this
matter in such manner as "by reason of his office, according to his
conscience, behooved the supreme warden and protector of the Holy
Christian Church." (27, 228.) Immediately after the reading, Frederick,
Duke of the Palatinate, declared in the name of the Emperor that the
Confutation was the Emperor's answer to the Lutherans, the verdict he
rendered against their Confession; and they were now called upon to
relinquish the articles of their Confession that were refuted in the
Confutation, and to return to the Roman Church in unity of faith. (See
the reports of Brenz, Melanchthon, and the delegates from Nuernberg, _C.
R._ 2, 245. 250. 253.) Thus the Emperor, who had promised to have the
deliberations carried on in love and kindness, demanded blind
submission, and closed his demand with a threat. His manifesto was
Protestant; his actions remained Papistical. In the estimation of the
Romanists, the Emperor, by condescending to an extended reply to the
Lutheran Confession, had done more than his duty, and much more than
they had considered expedient. Now they rejoiced, believing that
everything they wished for had been accomplished, and that there was no
other way open for the Lutherans than to submit, voluntarily or by
compulsion.
Naturally the attitude of the Emperor was a great disappointment to the
Lutherans, and it caused much alarm and fear among them. From the very
beginning they had declared themselves ready in the interest of peace,
to do whatever they could "with God and conscience." And this remained
their position to the very last. They dreaded war, and were determined
to leave no stone unturned towards avoiding this calamity. In this
interest even Philip of Hesse was prepared to go to the very limits of
possibility. Melanchthon wrote: "The Landgrave deports himself with much
restraint. He has openly declared to me that in order to preserve peace,
he would accept even sterner conditions, as long as he did not thereby
disgrace the Gospel." (_C. R._ 2, 254.) But a denial of God, conscience,
and the Gospel was precisely what the Emperor expected. Hence the
Lutherans refer to his demands as cruel, impossible of fulfilment, and
as a breach of promise. Outraged by the Emperor's procedure, and fearing
for his own safety, the Landgrave secretly left the Diet on August 6.
War seemed inevitable to many. The reading of the Confutation had
shattered the last hopes of the Lutherans for a peaceful settlement.
They said so to each other, and wrote it to those at home, though not
all of them in the lachrymose tone of the vacillating Melanchthon, who,
filled with a thousand fears was temporarily more qualified for
depriving others of their courage than for inspiring courage. (Plitt,
24.)