g was already
Calvinized. Calvinistic books appeared and were popular. Even the work
of a Jesuit against the book of Jacob Andreae on the Majesty of the
Person of Christ was published at Wittenberg. The same was done with a
treatise of Beza, although, in order to deceive the public, the
title-page gave Geneva as the place of publication. Hans Lufft, the
Wittenberg printer, later declared that during this time he did not know
how to dispose of the books of Luther which he still had in stock, but
that, if he had printed twenty or thirty times as many Calvinistic
books, he would have sold all of them very rapidly.

Even Providence seemed to bless and favor the plans of the plotters. For
when on March 3, 1573, Duke John William, the patron and protector of
the faithful Lutherans, died, Elector August became the guardian of his
two sons. And fanaticized by his advisers, the Elector, immediately upon
taking hold of the government in Ducal Saxony, banished Wigand,
Hesshusius, Caspar Melissander [born 1540; 1571 professor of theology in
Jena; 1578 superintendent in Altenburg; died 1591] Rosinus [born 1520;
1559 superintendent in Weimar 1574 superintendent in Regensburg; died
1586], Gernhard, court-preacher in Weimar, and more than 100 preachers
and teachers of Ducal Saxony. The reason for this cruel procedure was
their refusal to adopt the _Corpus Philippicum_, and because they
declined to promise silence with respect to the Philippists.

214. "Exegesis Perspicua."

In 1573, the Calvinization of Electoral and Ducal Saxony was,
apparently, an accomplished fact. But the very next year marked the
ignominious downfall and the unmasking of the dishonest Philippists. For
in this year appeared the infamous _Exegesis_, which finally opened the
eyes of Elector August. Its complete title ran: "_Exegesis Perspicua et
ferme Integra Controversiae de Sacra Coena_--Perspicuous and Almost
Complete Explanation of the Controversy Concerning the Holy Supper." The
contents and make-up of the book as well as the secret methods adopted
for its circulation clearly revealed that its purpose was to deal a
final blow to Lutheranism in order to banish it forever from Saxony.
Neither the author, nor the publisher, nor the place and date of
publication were anywhere indicated in the book. The paper bore Geneva
mark and the lettering was French. The _prima facie_ impression was that
it came from abroad.

Before long, however, it was established that the