The fires were kept constantly supplied with human fuel by monks, who knew the art of burning reformers better than that of arguing with them.

The scaffold was the most conclusive of syllogisms, and used upon all occasions.

Still the people remained unconvinced.
Thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert.
A fresh edict renewed and sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private or public.

At the same time, the violent personal altercation between Luther and Erasmus, upon predestination, together with the bitter dispute between Luther and Zwingli concerning the real presence, did more to impede the progress of the Reformation than ban or edict, sword or fire.

The spirit of humanity hung her head, finding that the bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones, seeing that dissenters, in their turn, were sometimes as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication.