[Sidenote: Invitation To Eck And Cochlaeus.]
The bishops were growing alarmed; they saw Roman Catholicism ready to perish, and there was not a man, either of their own number or among the priests, who was competent to defend it. Addressing themselves, therefore, to one of their devoted adherents named Henry Gerkens, they said to him—‘Go into Germany to Doctor Eck or to Cochlaeus, those illustrious champions of the papacy, and by the most urgent entreaties and the most liberal promises induce them to come, one or other of them, or if possible both, to Denmark, for two or three years, in order to confute, to perplex, and to plague the heretical teachers by sermons, disputations, and writings. We do not know where these valiant combatants are to be found; but go to Cologne, and there you will learn. To facilitate the accomplishment of your mission, here is a letter of recommendation addressed to every ecclesiastic and every lay member of the Roman church; together with special letters to each of those great doctors.’[272]
Gerkins set out in May, 1527, and began his search for the two men who were to save Roman Catholicism in Denmark. Eck was first found. There was something tempting in the occasion to a man so vain as he was; for the letter written to him contained flattery of the most exaggerated kind. The salvation of the Scandinavian church, said the bishops, depended solely on him; but the famous doctor thought that he was too much wanted in Germany to be able to leave it. The Danish delegate next went to Cochlaeus. He felt flattered by the part which was offered him; but he thought it prudent to consult Erasmus. The latter replied that Denmark was a very long way off; that the nation, as he had been informed, was very barbarous; and that all he could say was that this was a matter which concerned not men, but Jesus Christ.[273] Cochlaeus, like Eck, refused to go.