From his imprisonment in Loevestein, Grotius made a written justification of his position "as to my views on the power of the Christian authorities in ecclesiastical matters, I refer to my...booklet "De Pietate Ordinum Hollandiae" and especially to an unpublished book "De Imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra", where I have treated the matter in more detail...I may summarize my feelings thus: that the [civil authorities should scrutinize God's Word so thoroughly as to be certain to impose nothing which is against it; if they act in this way, they shall in good conscience have control of the public churches and public worship – but without persecuting those who err from the right way." Because this stripped Church officials of any power some of their members (such as Johannes Althusius in a letter to Lubbertus) declared Grotius' ideas diabolical.