had addressed to the wife of the
court-preacher in order to avoid suspicion. By mistake the letter was
delivered to the wife of the court-preacher Lysthenius [born 1532;
studied in Wittenberg; became court-preacher of Elector August in 1572
and later on his confessor; opposed Crypto-Calvinism; was dismissed 1590
by Chancellor Crell; 1591 restored to his position in Dresden, died
1596]. After opening the letter and finding it to be written in Latin,
she gave it to her husband, who, in turn, delivered it to the Elector.
In it Peucer requested Schuetze dexterously to slip into the hands of
Anna, the wife of the Elector, a Calvinistic prayer-book which he had
sent with the letter. Peucer added: "If first we have Mother Anna on our
side, there will be no difficulty in winning His Lordship [her husband]
too."

Additional implicating material was discovered when Augustus now
confiscated the correspondence of Peucer, Schuetze, Stoessel, and
Cracow. The letters found revealed the consummate perfidy, dishonesty,
cunning, and treachery of the men who had been the trusted advisers of
the Elector, who had enjoyed his implicit confidence, and who by their
falsehoods had caused him to persecute hundreds of innocent and faithful
Lutheran ministers. The fact was clearly established that these
Philippists had been systematically plotting to Calvinize Saxony. The
very arguments with which Luther's doctrine of the Lord's Supper and the
Person of Christ might best be refuted were enumerated in these letters.
However, when asked by the Elector whether they were Calvinists, these
self-convicted deceivers are said to have answered that "they would not
see the face of God in eternity if in any point they were addicted to
the doctrines of the Sacramentarians or deviated in the least from Dr.
Luther's teaching." (Walther, 56.) The leaders of the conspiracy were
incarcerated. Cracow died in prison, 1575; Stoessel, 1576. It was as
late as 1586 that Peucer regained his liberty, Schuetze in 1589.

216. Lutheranism Restored.

In all the churches of Saxony thanksgiving services were held to praise
God for the final triumph of genuine Lutheranism. A memorial coin
celebrating the victory over the Crypto-Calvinists, bearing the date
1574, was struck at Torgau. The obverse exhibits Elector August handing
a book to Elector John George of Brandenburg. The inscription above
reads: "_Conserva Apud Nos Verbum Tuum, Domine_. Preserve Thy Word among
Us, O Lor