Let us pray for our princes.For I doubt not, if a war broke out, that our Centaur en would do as the " afterthey had squeezedeverything out of our princes, theywould sellthem for money.
This is the maxim of those in power.
They will sacrifice nothingfor the They onlywish to enrich themselves, and under the pretext,or by means of the opportunity which war affords, swallow up everything.
" in the devil's name ; hell will giveyou enoughof this.
Jesus,and hear the sighs of Thy Church Hasten Thy appearing, for the evilsare comingto a height.I have written thisin order to write something.Farewell, and teach your church to hasten the day of the Lord throughtheir prayers.
God will listento the sighing for the day of redemption.All the signsforetellthis.
Diet of Speyer met on Elector came with a brilliantretinue, and was received with great respect by Charles V.,who requiredhelpagainstthe French,as Ferdinand did against the Turk.
Protestants tried to gainfavourable terms for themselves.
The questionof secret marriageengagements came up thisyear.
The worry this caused,and the renewed disputes on the Sacrament with the Swiss, made Luther ill. He said he would leave Wittenberg, but by his birthday
Melanchthon wrote joyfully to Dietrich that he,Cruciger,Bugenhagen, Jonas, etc.,had dined with him,and lovingly discussed Church matters.
Wittenberglawyersratify CasparBeier's secret marriage engagement.
Grace and peace and my poor paternoster!
I humbly desire to inform your Grace that secret engagements are again comnion here. Many young people are here from many lands,so that the maidens have become very bold, and pursue the students into their rooms, offeringthem their love
I hear some parents are orderingtheir sons home, declaringthat we hang women about their necks,deprivingthem of their sons, and thus givethis fine school of learning a bad name.
Grace had ordered secret engagements to be done away with.
I sat securely here, I was shocked by a verdict of our Consistorium upon a privateengagement.
I was moved to preach a powerfulsermon againstthem on the followingSabbath,sayingwe must adhere to the old paths,which from time immemorial have been inculcated in the Holy Scriptures and among the heathen,as well as among ourselves,viz. that parents shall dispose of their children without any previousengagement, which is an invention of the Pope, at the devil's instigation, to undermine the God-givenauthority of the parents, robbingthem of their children,to their deep grief, instead of said children honouringthem according to This would have happened to Philipand his wife had
I not preachedthis sermon.
They would have pined for their son, who had been led astray by evil companionstillhe secretly and solemnly engagedhimself,and I had difficulty in settinghim free.
I also recall the case of Herzog Philipwith his son Starstedel's daughter,of which your Grace knows, and something similar nearlyhappened in my house.
Now, as these secret vows are certainly the work of the devil and the Papacy to undermine God's command to prevent them enteringinto a happy marriage,
I shall not suffer this church of Christ,of which I am pastor, and of which I must render account to God, the Holy Ghost, to tolerate them.
I have proclaimedfrom the pulpitthat a child cannot become engaged himself; and that if he do, it is no engagement, and a father must not acquiesce therein,now that we know what is the originof all this misery. Therefore
I humbly request that your Grace would once more, for God's sake, exercise your authority with the princely powers againstPope and devil,so that we may be in a better position to drive out of our church