Now, when I came to Erfurt, I
received intelligence that I was cast and condemned at Worms, yea,
and that in all cities and places thereabout it was published and
spread abroad; insomuch that the herald asked me, whether I meant to
go to Worms, or no?
Although I was somewhat astonished at the news, yet I answered the
herald, and said, although in Worms there were as many devils as
there are tiles on the houses, yet, God willing, I will go thither.
When I came to Oppenheim, in the Palatinate, not far from Worms,
Bucer came unto me, and dissuaded me from entering into the town;
for, said he, Sglapian, the Emperor's confessor, had been with him,
and had entreated him to warn me not to go thither, for I should be
burned; but rather that I should go to a gentleman there near at
hand, Francis Von Sickingen, and remain with him, who willingly
would receive and entertain me. This plot the wicked wretches, said
Luther, had devised against me, to the end I should not appear; for
if I had contracted the time, and staid away three days, then my
safe-conduct had been expired, and then they would have locked the
town-gates, and without hearing, I should have been condemned and
made away. But I went on in all simplicity, and when I saw the
city, I wrote presently to Spalatine, and gave him notice of my
coming, and desired to know where I should be lodged. Then they all
wondered at my coming, which was so far from their expectation; for
they verily thought I would have stayed away, as scared through
their threatenings.
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