On the Restraint of the First Electors of Saxony in Adopting and Establishing Luther's Doctrine, Volume 2

to be disapproved for the reason that the illustrious Seckendorf has already long since turned over the same stone with much praise? Would the praiseworthy work of Friedrich Wilhelm Kraft, now an ornament of the Danzigers, have been unworthy, by which in the dissertation that he has already delivered at Göttingen, written with such erudition and elegance, he maintained that Luther, against the sale of indulgences, by no means disputed out of envy, even though the same Triumvirate had already treated the same place here and there? Rather, I establish that they will be doing something worthwhile who, as often as adversaries reweave their old and long-since-scattered webs, think it is permitted—indeed, fitting—for themselves and for others to repeat a question, once and again disputed, by defending it. Yet, so that I do not appear to you to have responded in anger, I will refer you to those things which were brought forward in § VIII and VIIII. For my purpose looks to this: not that I bring forth something new, but that I provide a small academic specimen and, at the same time, in some way satisfy the piety with which I embrace the dignity of the Saxons and of such great Princes. Furthermore, you should weigh with yourself that the excellent men I have praised have indeed examined the question, which we are now to treat more fully and with deliberate effort, in various places, though briefly, and have merely indicated the sources for answering the accusations of Maimbourg or Arnold, to be pursued more studiously by others. Finally, if I wish to admit the truth, I will tell you in your ear that the same scruple that was thrown at me by you vexed me myself in the beginning, and nearly—