1. example of the constancy of the Christians under the emperor Juliano.
2. another example of consistency.
3. what Christ requires of us.
4. what follows faith.
5. denial of the word.
6. every Christian is guilty of confessing Christ.
7. of the confession of the gospel and constancy of Duke John, Elector of Saxony.
8. Duke Henry, Elector of Saxony, Confession, of the Gospel and Beständigkert.
9. how God cares for the confessors of the gospel and graciously averts all danger.
10th John, Elector of Saxony, Dream-
1. an example of consistency.
(Cordatus No. 1655.)
Through God's word and the article of justification, sadness must be dispelled. One reads an example in church history that Julianus, in order to test the constancy of his Christian soldiers, ordered them to be beheaded. When they were brought in, they hold a youth among them who asked that he be beheaded first. As he was now happily offering his neck to the executioner, it was ordered that he be set free. When he stood up, he said:
Oh, have I not been worthy to die for the sake of my. Christ's sake? Thus sadness is overcome and even the terror of death.
2. example of constancy.
A schoolmaster in England punished a man who taught many ungodly things in writing, in a subtle, modest and friendly manner: he was then accused by the preacher before the king and led to torture. But when he was admonished by the king that he would revoke and recant what he had said and written
He would not do it, but held the little bush with the rod in front of his nose (which is a sign among them that one who carries it is condemned and damned to death): Oh, what a lovely little bush, he said, you are to me! And he turned to the king and said, "After God I have no one better than you, and I would gladly be obedient to you, if it were not against God. 5, 29: "One must be more obedient to God than to men". So he was executed. Oh that we could also be so constant when it comes to this! said D. M. Luther. And he said further: "If the authorities themselves are enemies and against the word of God, then we give way, sell and leave everything, flee from one city to another; as Christ commanded: for the sake of the Gospel one should neither make a noise nor resist, but one should suffer everything.
3. what Christ requires of us.
(Contained in Cap. 7, §100.)
4. what follows faith.
If you believe, you speak and cannot be silent: if you speak, you suffer and are afflicted: if you suffer, you are comforted. So faith, confession, and the holy cross belong to each other, and are proper to a godly man.
(The following Cordatus No. 1432. 1433.)
A Christian is said to have the greatest strength in the greatest weakness, the greatest wisdom in the greatest foolishness, and just as he is another in feeling, so he is entirely another in faith. 1)
With good works we give interest to God, through faith we receive the inheritance.
5. denial of the word.
A priest in our principality took a wife in marriage; then, when he was tired of the wife, he left her and went back to the principality, to the lands of Duke George. When his magistrate heard of this, he sought him out and put him in prison. Therefore
1) Instead of ü<1si is to be read üäs. Meaning: The Christian feels weakness and foolishness, strength and wisdom he believes.
M. Spalatinus D. M. Luthern, what should be done with him? He answered: If the captain did not want to behead him, he would like to hang him; one would be as much as the other.
Anno 38, on the 5th of September, D. J. Sch[urfs] was remembered, who in the beginning had been quite favorable to the Gospel, but now he had been so taken in and persuaded by his canon and Drecket that he had become a great cavilator and blasphemer; so that he disliked the whole church, with all its servants, for the sake of digamy and ordinances, that the church servants were again freed, illegitimate, and not ordained, as the canons set. Then said D. M. L.: I am sorry for the good friend that he is so blind, and gives more to human laws than to God's word and authority. Seven years ago I prophesied about him in the presence of M. Philippi: "This man (I said) will fall and will hardly come back. This prophecy of mine has come true, and is now coming true, not without great heartache. Well, I had to get used to the cases; for the Lord Christ does not do otherwise, who makes disunity among father and children, among husband and wife. So we must take it for granted that the fault is not ours.
6. every Christian is guilty of confessing Christ.
Every Christian, especially those who publicly hold office in Christendom, should be ready for himself at all times, so that he can stand where it is necessary to confess his Lord Christ and to represent his faith, and always be prepared against the world, devils, mobs, and whatever he is able to muster. But no one will do this soon, unless he is so sure of the doctrine that even if I myself become a fool (since God is for me) and recant, or deny my doctrine, he will not step away from it; but say: Even if Luther himself, or an angel from heaven, teaches otherwise, he is maligned, Gal. 1, 8. 9.
7. the confession of the gospel, and the constancy of duke John, prince elector
to Saxony.
(Contained in Cap. 45, § 72.)
2) I.e.: now catches the eye, stands out.
8 Duke Henry of Saxony's Confession of the Gospel and its Consistency.
D. M. Luther said that Duke Henry of Saxony, Elector Moritz and Augusti father, would have been a pious and constant prince. For when our Lord God attacked Duke Georgen, his brother, and punished him so that his sons all died in marriage, for he (Anno 1537, on 18. Januarii, his eldest son, Duke Hans, died, and Anno 1539, on 24. Februarii, Duke Frederick, the other son, died): he had sent to his brother, H[Duke] Henry, to Freiberg and had him informed that if he wanted to leave the gospel, he would make him heir to his hands and people, otherwise he would give the land to the emperor and other people in the will. To this H[archduke] Heinrich answered: By Mary! (which was S. F. G.'s proverb) before I would do this and deny my Christ, I would rather go out of the country with my daughter begging on a stick. He remained steadfast to God's word and shortly thereafter inherited the Meissen land. His brother, Duke George, had to be his faithful guardian and acquire and save wealth for him, and make him a rich prince. Thus God honors those who honor and confess him. And when Duke George's body was led to Meissen for burial, and Duke Henry followed the body as it was driven over the bridge at Meissen, he sang the responsory De divo Martino: Martinus hic pauper, coelum dives ingreditur.
At another time, M. Luther said: "When this praiseworthy, pious prince was to die, and much had been said to him about the Lord Christ, and he asked whether he also wanted to die on him, he would have answered: I think so, I will not be able to get a better procurator than this one.
9. how God cares for the confessors of the gospel and graciously averts all danger.
D. M. Luther told how in 1539 the papists had great practices and war armor.
against the protesting estates had intended to exterminate them; so that Duke George of Saxony had said: his brother, Duke Henry, should not rely on the Elector of Saxony and his alliance, because they would see where they would stay on Pentecost. And after Emperor Carl had ordered a meeting of the princes at Frankfurt am Main, where peace was to be negotiated, and Duke Joh. Frederick, Elector of Saxony; Count Palatine Frederick, Elector; Margrave Joachim, Elector of Brandenburg; Landgrave Philip of Hesse, and other princes; and the imperial majesty also sent their councillors of the places; since they only led the protesting estates around with their noses for the sake of peace (for around Bremen and Lüneburg nine thousand choice good warriors converged, who were to be used against them. However, the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse had the same men discussed with them by Mr. Bernhard von Mila, a knight, and had them drawn to them, and had given them money in hand. This happened by God's miraculous providence, so that the servants who had been appointed against the Protestants had to be their protectors):
Suddenly and unawares, Duke George of Saxony died in Frankfurt on that day. When this great link was torn from the chain, all the armor remained. And said D. Luther said: "Thank you, merciful God, that you are awake when we sleep. For in this no one but our Lord God may be praised. The Christians' prayer has been our wall, that they have prayed the Psalm: Domine, dissipa gentes, quae bella volunt. God will give them war enough.
10th Elector Hansen's dream in Saxony.
(Cordatus No. 1228.)
The dream of our Elector, which he had at Augsburg, is now beginning to come true. For the mountain he saw falling on Duke G[eorg] was the emperor. This has now collapsed and therefore H[erzog] G[eorg] now humbles himself before our prince.