ogians.... Even a
thousand Wittenberg schools ought certainly not to be valued so highly
by pious men that, in order to preserve them unimpaired, they would
rather suffer the world to be deprived of the light of the Gospel.
_Certe non tanti mille Wittenbergenses scholae piis esse debent, ut
propter earum incolumitatem velint pati orbem terrarum Evangelii luce
privari._" (232.) In a letter to Melanchthon, written in the beginning
of 1549, Brenz said: "If therefore the Church and pious ministers cannot
be preserved in any other way than by bringing reproach upon the pious
doctrine, then let us commend them to Christ, the Son of God; He will
take care of them; and in the mean time let us patiently bear our
banishment and wait for the Lord." (_C. R._ 7, 290.)

June 30, 1530, Luther had written to Melanchthon, who was then in
Augsburg: "You want to govern things according to your philosophy; you
torment yourself and do not see that this matter is not within your
power and wisdom.... If we fall, Christ, that is to say, the Ruler of
the world, falls with us; and even though He should fall, I would rather
fall with Christ than stand with the Emperor." This passage is contained
in one of the letters of Luther which Flacius published 1548 in order to
dispel Melanchthon's timidity, rouse his Lutheran consciousness, and
cure him of his vain and most dangerous disposition to save the Church
by human wisdom and shrewdness, instead of, as Luther believed, solely
by a bold confession of the truth of God's Word.

141. Theological Attitude of Flacius Sanctioned.

The theological position which Flacius and his fellow-combatants
occupied over against the Adiaphorists was embodied in the Tenth Article
of the _Formula of Concord,_ and thus endorsed by the Lutheran Church as
a whole. Frank says concerning this most excellent article which our
Church owes to the faithfulness of the Anti-Melanchthonians, notably
Flacius: "The theses which received churchly recognition in the _Formula
of Concord_ were those of Flacius." The entire matter, too, concerning
the adiaphora had been discussed so thoroughly and correctly that the
subsequent formulation and recognition of the Tenth Article caused but
little difficulties. (Frank 4, 3f.)

Even Melanchthon, though refusing to confess that he was guilty of any
doctrinal deviations, finally yielded to the arguments of his opponents
and admitted that they were right in teaching as they did regarding the
a