to restrain, who both will disturb the Church with godless dogmas,
and will overthrow the entire ecclesiastical government, which we are
very greatly desirous of maintaining.

Therefore, most excellent Emperor Charles for the sake of the glory
of Christ, which we have no doubt that you desire to praise and
magnify, we beseech you not to assent to the violent counsels of our
adversaries, but to seek other honorable ways of so establishing
harmony that godly consciences are not burdened, that no cruelty is
exercised against innocent men, as we have hitherto seen, and that
sound doctrine is not suppressed in the Church. To God most of all
you owe the duty [as far as this is possible to man] to maintain
sound doctrine and hand it down to posterity, and to defend those who
teach what is right. For God demands this when He honors kings with
His own name and calls them gods, saying, Ps. 82, 6: I have said, Ye
are gods, namely, that they should attend to the preservation and
propagation of divine things, i.e., the Gospel of Christ, on the
earth, and, as the vicars of God, should defend the life and safety
of the innocent [true Christian teachers and preachers].




Part 27


Article XXII (X): _Of Both Kinds in the Lord's Supper._

It cannot be doubted that it is godly and in accordance with the
institution of Christ and the words of Paul to use both parts in the