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one has the right to grant liberty to practice such abominations, and all liberties are thereby lost.

After you pastors and preachers have diligently and dutifully issued such warning, and neither master nor subjects will do anything about it, then let us (as Christ says) shake the dust from our shoes and say: we are innocent of your blood. For I can see and have often had the experience how lenient and merciful the reversed world is; where it should be stern, and again is stern where it should be lenient and merciful. The Prince of this world rules like King Ahab, II Kings, 20. In like manner they may now want to be lenient with the Jews, these blood-thirsty enemies of our Christian and human name, to earn heaven therewith. But for the Jews to hold in captivity, plague, torture and inflict all misery on us poor Christians with all such devilish cruelties as described above,—that we should suffer and is considered a good, Christian indeed, especially where there is money which they have stolen from us.

What are we poor preachers to do meanwhile?

First, we want to believe that our Lord Jesus is truthful when He says of such Jews who do not accept Him, but crucified Him: “You are vipers and

—53—