# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1855 05 08_S147
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

147

him, he has already found his Judge; I make war with the living and not with the dead." Yes, the life in a Lutheran city, which he now for once got to see close at hand, and indeed in a time of the deepest distress and affliction, made such an impression upon him that he cried out in astonishment: "It is quite different in the Evangelical land and among Evangelical people than I had imagined."

To the Elector he allowed to spend eight days with his own people; then he had to follow his train as a prisoner. Yet he was treated gently. He was served by his own people, and he himself remarked: "My friends have forsaken me, but my enemies do me all good."

His old friend, the painter Lucas Cranach, voluntarily shared his captivity.

The Capture of Philip of Hesse.

What now was the other head of the League, Landgrave Philip of Hesse, to expect? Where was the power with which he was to withstand the so mighty Emperor? The Smalcaldic troops had already been scattered before the battle of Mühlberg; only in Lower Saxony had the brave Count of Mansfeld a small, brave band of troops, with which he fell upon Duke Eric of Brunswick at Drattenburg on one bank of the Weser and beat him, while the Imperial Colonel Wrisberg on the other bank robbed and plundered. The foot soldiers indeed showed their cheerful courage by singing: "We have the field, Wrisberg the gold, we have the land, Wrisberg the shame." But what could be accomplished with this small band? Moreover, the Emperor had been made secure against foreign enemies by the death of his fiercest opponent, King Francis of France. Henry VIII of England also had died shortly before, and so he could turn with undivided power against Philip. The latter recognized well from the terrible fate of the Elector what awaited him. To forestall this, he turned to his son-in-law Maurice and to Elector Joachim of Brandenburg, and since these gave him hope of a fair settlement, he rode to Leipzig himself, with the consent of his Estates, after he had promised them beforehand that he would enter into no terms against religion, against honor, and against John Frederick. Here, however, he learned that the negotiators had made themselves too great a hope of the Emperor's grace. He was to surrender at discretion, have all his fortresses razed, with the exception of Kassel and Ziegenhain, deliver up his artillery and munitions, set free the imprisoned Duke of Brunswick and his son, pay besides 150,000 gulden, and enter into still other conditions, which he declared inhuman. Full of indignation and pride he rejected this settlement and rode back from Leipzig to Kassel. Christopher von Ebeleben, Maurice's counselor and magistrate at Weissenfels, accompanied him. Silently they rode side by side. At last the Landgrave broke the silence: "I have pity," said he, "on my subjects; if I only knew that the surrender to the Emperor's grace and disgrace meant nothing more than a prostration and begging pardon, since other princes and cities have done the same, I would not refuse it, upon proper assurance." Soon after: "Although I love my fortresses, yet before I would let the land be ruined I would rather suffer that some of them be razed." At last: "Although it is shameful that I should give up my artillery and munitions, yet to avert the ruin of my land, if I am not wholly deprived of it, I will surrender the rest to the Emperor." Herr von Ebeleben replied that he would carry this declaration to Elector Maurice, and give the Landgrave an answer at once, he should meanwhile keep quiet. He soon brought him back the capitulation, which indeed contained the same articles as the earlier, yet with the remark of the Elector that his surrender was not to result either in bodily punishment or in any imprisonment; also with regard to religion reassuring pledges were given him, and all this upon a written promise thereof on the part of the Imperial Chancellor, the Bishop of Arras. Yes, the Electors pledged themselves that if anything contrary to this should be done to him, they would, on the demand of his son, give themselves up in person into custody.

Upon this assurance the Landgrave went to Halle to the Emperor. But already on the following day he perceived with what crafty people he had to do. In the document of capitulation which he was to sign, the addition had been inserted that the interpretation of the articles should rest with His Imperial Majesty alone. Further, that the Landgrave should submit to the decrees of the Council of Trent. In vain the Landgrave protested and refused to sign. But they pressed him all the more, the Emperor was waiting for him, he should see to it that by such delay the Emperor should not resolve upon still harder things. Thus hard pressed the Landgrave signed, yet in such a way that as to religion he agreed to nothing further than that he consented to a general free Christian council for the reformation of the spiritual and temporal estate, of the head and the members. And now the shameful proceeding went forward, as with the Prince of Württemberg, for the Emperor had quite set his mind on humbling the princes of the Empire to the lowest. The Landgrave was led into a large hall; there the Emperor sat upon a throne, surrounded by many German and foreign princes, counts and envoys of various lands and cities. Among them Henry of Brunswick and several who had once trembled before the Hessian lion, now looked down with triumph upon the subdued and humbled prince. Before the Emperor the Landgrave knelt upon one knee, behind him his Chancellor Günderodt, who read aloud the Landgrave's petition for pardon. As the latter could not suppress a smile, the Emperor cried to him with raised finger: Wol ick soll di lachen lehren. Thereupon the Vice-Chancellor Seld read the Emperor's pardon. The Landgrave, who now thought that all was ended with this, gave thanks, and waited for the Emperor to bid him rise. As this did not follow, he rose even unbidden, and withdrew with his friends, heartily glad that the hardest walk he had ever taken in his life was past. He went with the Electors to the Duke of Alba, who had invited them to supper. And here the most terrible thing was still before him. As he was about to leave with his friends and go to the inn, it was announced to him that he was the Duke's prisoner. The Electors were no less dismayed than he himself; they reassured him, however, that it must be a mere misunderstanding, which would be cleared up by morning, and both remained the night with him in his room, which was at once occupied by a strong Spanish guard. But the misunderstanding did not clear up; the Emperor declared he had never given the assurance, nor had it ever been his meaning that the Landgrave should not be punished with any, but only that he should not be punished with eternal imprisonment. The Bishop of Arras even mocked the Landgrave besides, and said he could go home again if he was not satisfied with the capitulation. For this, to be sure, the Landgrave was at once ready, but now he was reminded that he was under the ban and outlawed. The two Electors were beside themselves with anger; they declared to Duke Alba that such a proceeding among honest Germans was nothing other than a shameful piece of knavery, indeed Joachim in the altercation drew his sword to split the head of the wretched Bishop of Arras, for the abominable deceit he had played. But what did it avail? The lion had fallen into the hunter's net. Not without resistance he was put on a wagon, and had now to follow the Emperor with the Elector as a prisoner. Günderodt and Ebeleben died of grief; also his faithful consort, after she had made many vain attempts to beg him free from the Emperor.

(To be continued.)

(Sent in by Pastor Röbbelen.)

The Revelation of St. John.

The Twelfth Chapter.

Continuation.

From the 7th verse on, the 1260 days are now further described:
1. how in heaven the abomination of the papacy was condemned, vv. 7—12.
2. how on earth the Church was persecuted by Antichrist and yet preserved, vv. 13—17.

In point of time, therefore, what follows coincides with the first ten verses of the preceding chapter.

As the inhabitants of a city threatened by enemies first put their possessions in safekeeping and hide everything that is not able to fight in hiding places, but then march out against the enemy, so God has first upon the res-