meeting at Worms to give an account of his writings. Before the assembly Luther once again insisted that only biblical authority would sway him. “My conscience is captive to the Word of God,” he told the court. “I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither honest nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.” Charles V was not impressed. He declared Luther an outlaw. “This devil in the habit of a monk,” his pronouncement said, “has brought together ancient errors into one stinking puddle, and has invented new ones.”
