We find in a catechism of that time that the proverbs of
Cato and the _Mimi Publiani_ constitute an authorized appendix.
A practical infidelity, bearing the name of Epicureanism, prevailed even
before the war; and it became more decided and injurious as the war
progressed. The highest idea of religion was adherence to creed. Princes
who even thought themselves devoted and earnest, had no experimental
knowledge of regeneration; and in this, as we have shown, they were but
little surpassed by the clergy themselves. Orthodoxy was the aim and
pride of those religionists. Hear the dying testimony of John Christian
Koenig, in 1664: "My dear Confessor, since I observe that the good Lord
is about to take me out of this world, I want it understood that I
remain unchanged and firm to the Augsburg Confession; I will live by it
and die true to it. It is well known that I have directed my teaching
according to its truths. _I die the avowed enemy of all innovation and
Syncretistic error!_"
The licentiousness of life, not less than of faith, was deplorable in
the German courts.
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