Ad omnes Germaniae ecclesias reformatas, piorum, qui sub Zvingliani et Calviniani nominis invidia, vim & iniuriam patiuntur, apologia

are so occupied with such matters that they are little or not at all concerned with instructing the people in the faith and the principles of Christian doctrine, with comforting the afflicted who labor under the cross, or with correcting and restraining the license of crimes that spread publicly. They persuade themselves that they have performed their duty well if they rave against those who are far away with monstrous abuse, and render all who dissent from them suspicious and hateful to the rude and simple common folk through refined insults. Nor, content with this, do they—with an authority greater than that of the Pope—proscribe unheard-of things, and strike those excluded from the fellowship of the Church with a terrible anathema.

The expected Synod. These things are truly unworthy of Christian men, whom the Spirit of Christ should have long ago accustomed to gentleness. Likewise, for many who—in order to serve God more freely and not without great loss of their own fortunes—left behind superstitions and crossed over to the Reformed Churches, these things have long been harsh and grave to hear. Yet, they have partly overcome this trouble with Christian patience, and partly hoped that this great evil might be met by convening a legitimate Synod through Christian princes. In such a meeting, not only would the ministers of the Churches of Germany, who are now almost entirely divided into factions, come together, but also pious and learned men from the churches of other nations, such as France, England, Scotland, Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary.