nt that they feared he would be taken seriously ill. In a most
violent manner Melanchthon charged the delegation with treacherously
conspiring with Flacius to ensnare him. However, appeased by Paul Eber,
he finally consented to reply in writing on the morrow, January 22. In
his answer Melanchthon declared: For thirty years he had borne the heavy
burdens of the Church and encountered most insidious conflicts; they
therefore ought now to have had compassion with him instead of
assaulting him alone; it was being fulfilled what Sturm had once told
him on leaving: We shall meet again to crucify you. Sparing Flacius,
they had presented articles with the sole purpose of forcing him and
others to cut their own throats. As to the articles themselves,
Melanchthon objected to the third, because, he said, it falsely charged
him and others with having taught and defended errors regarding
justification. He declined Article VII because the publication there
required was unnecessary, since it might easily be learned from his many
writings what he had taught in the matter there referred to. (Preger 2,
38. 40.)

Fearing that the Lower Saxon mediators might yield and make concessions
detrimental to the truth, Flacius and his adherents (Wigand,
Baumgartner, Judex, Albert Christiani, P. Arbiter, H. Brenz, Antonius
Otto) assembled in Coswig, a place not very far from Wittenberg. In a
letter, dated January 21, 1557, they admonished the Saxon mediators not
to yield anything contrary to the divine truth but firmly to insist on
the elimination of the errors connected with the Interim (_ut id iugulum
recte iuguletis_). Flacius also requested Count of Ungnad first to meet
them in Coswig, and then go to Wittenberg in order to assist in winning
Melanchthon for his peace proposals. In the letter to the Count, Flacius
remarked: he feared that the mediators were administering to Melanchthon
"sweet rather than wholesome and strong medicine." (Preger 2, 42.) In a
similar manner Pastor Michael Stiefel was urged to go to Wittenberg to
influence Melanchthon. At the same time Judex was sent to implore the
Saxon delegates not to discontinue their efforts, and adopt no
resolution before submitting it also to them [the Magdeburgers] for
consideration. No news having arrived by Saturday, January 23, an
additional letter was dispatched to Wittenberg, written in the same
spirit of anxiety, and urging the mediators to stand firm, not to yield,
and to continue their