George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 10

‘ [76] fire,’ said he, ‘is the right cure for heresy, then the

Chap. II.}

fagot-burners are the most learned doctors on earth. Nor need we study any more: he that has brute force on his side may burn his adversary at the stake.’¹ ‘I will preach the truth, speak the truth, write the truth, but will force the truth on no one; for faith must be accepted willingly and without compulsion.’²

By reason, too, he desired to restrain arbitrary power. His words are: ‘Where a ruler indulges the conceit that he is a prince, not for the sake of his subjects, but for the sake of his beautiful golden hair, he belongs among the heathen.’³ ‘A Christian prince is not a person for himself, but a servant for others.’ ‘The prince must think, “I belong to the land and the people, and will therefore serve them with my office.” ’

On the right of private judgment, Luther said:

If the emperor or the princes should command me and say: ‘Thus and thus you ought to believe;’ then I speak: ‘Dear emperor, dear princes, your demand is too high;’ they say: ‘ Yes, you must be obedient to us, for we are the higher powers.’ Then I answer: ‘Yes, you are lords over this temporal life, but not over the eternal life;’ they speak further: ‘Yes, peace and unity must be preserved; therefore you must believe as the emperor and princes believe.’ —What do I hear? The Turk might as well say: ‘Listen, Roman emperor, listen, princes; you ought to believe as the Turks believe for the sake of peace and unity; for what holds good for the one holds ’