cities, too, signed
the Augsburg Confession.

Thus the seed which Luther sowed had grown wonderfully. June 25, 1530,
is properly regarded as the real birthday of the Lutheran Church. From
this day on she stands before all the world as a body united by a public
confession and separate from the Roman Church. The lone, but courageous
confessor of Worms saw himself surrounded with a stately host of true
Christian heroes, who were not afraid to place their names under his
Confession, although they knew that it might cost them goods and blood,
life and limb. When the Emperor, after entering Augsburg, stubbornly
demanded that the Lutherans cease preaching, Margrave George of
Brandenburg finally declared: "Rather than deny my God and suffer the
Word of God to be taken from me, I will kneel down and have my head
struck off." (_C. R._ 2, 115.) That characterizes the pious and heroic
frame of mind of all who signed the Augustana in 1530 In a letter, of
June 18, to Luther, Jonas relates how the Catholic princes and estates
knelt down to receive the blessing of Campegius when the latter entered
the city, but that the Elector remained standing and declared: "To God
alone shall knees be bowed; _In Deo flectenda sunt genua._" (Kolde,
_Analecta,_ 135.) When Melanchthon called the Elector's attention to the
possible consequences of his signing the Augsburg Confession, the latter
answered that he would do what was right, without concerning himself
about his electoral dignity; he would confess his Lord, whose cross he
prized higher than all the power of the world.

Brenz wrote: "Our princes are most steadfast in confessing the Gospel,
and surely, when I consider their great steadfastness, there comes over
me no small feeling of shame because we poor beggars [theologians] are
filled with fear of the Imperial Majesty." (_C. R._ 2, 125.) Luther
praises Elector John for having suffered a bitter death at the Diet of
Augsburg. There, says Luther, he had to swallow all kinds of nasty soups
and poison with which the devil served him; at Augsburg he publicly,
before all the world, confessed Christ's death and resurrection, and
hazarded property and people, yea, his own body and life; and because of
the confession which he made we shall honor him as a Christian. (St. L.
12, 2078 f.) And not only the Lutheran Church, but all Protestant
Christendom, aye, the entire world has every reason to revere and hold
sacred the memory of the heroes who boldly