On his flight through Moravia, Speratus was request- ed by the abbot of the Dominican convent at Iglau to accept the position of preacher to the convent church. He accepted, but, to the great surprise of his patron, at once began to preach the Gospel, and with a success that won the town-councillors and citizens in a body to his support. A public pledge of protection and support was given him in the town-hall, while the abbot and his monks were preparing to begin violent measures of repression. His activity rapidly extended his influence over the whole of Moravia, and gave him intimate as- sociation with all tlie leaders in the Evangelical move- ment throughout Bohemia and Moravia. It is notice- able that he was unable to agree with the Bohemians in regard to the Lord's supper, and that he sought coun- sel and instruction from Luther with reference to this and other points of doctrine. In the meantime the ab- bot of Iglau had laid a complaint against Speratus be- fore the bishop of Olmutz, who was confessor to the in- experienced king Louis and a determined enemy of the Reformation. The result was that Speratus was thrown into prison without having been allowed a trial, and was kept there until the intercession of powerful friends, among them margraves Albert and (Jeorge of Branden- burg, supported by the fear of a popular rising, which the attempt to burn Speratus at the stake would have caused throughout IMoravia, induced the king to order his liberation, though coupled with a positive prohibi- tion of a renewal of his ministry at Iglau. Ills late parishioners furnished him with testimonials setting forth his character and usefulness while their pastor, and allowed him to depart. He went to Wittenberg, and became the assistant of Luther in literary labors. Among the labors performed by him in this ])eriod was the iiarlicipation with Luther in the first collection of (icrman ICvangelical hymns, which appeared in 1524, and included tliree liymns of his own {Ks ist das IJeil uns konimen her ; llilf Gott, wie ist der Menschen Noth ; In Cott (/Inidy irh, dass er hut, etc.).
In the year 1524 the margrave Albert extended to Speratus a call to Konigsberg, which he accepted after as- certaining that no likelihood of his being able to return to Iglau existed. I le brought wit b him Luther's recom- mendation as a "dignus vir et nuilta ]>erpessus," and at once joined Briesmann, the earliest Reformer of Prussia, in carrying forward the work of Protestantism. He re- mained twenty-seven years, during six of which he was court-preacher at Konigsberg, after which he became bishop of I'oincrania. While at Kiiiiigsberg he was di-
SPERATUS
925
SPHINX
rected in March, 1 526, to participate in the introduction of the new system of Church government devised by the clergy and adopted by the legislative body in De- cember, 15"25. He also contributed materially towards the improvement of the liturgical part of public wor- ship by composing hymns for use by the congregation, and in some instances accompanying them with orig- inal melodies. A collection in the library of Konigs- berg contains, under his name, three hymns with melo- dies, and two separate collections of hj-mns without music (see Schneider, M. Luther's Ueisiliche Lieder, p. xxvi).
A vacancy among the bishops occurred in 1529 by the death of the bishop of Pomerania, and duke Albert gave the post to Speratus. He undertook to adminis- ter his office with zeal and energy, but found that he had uncommon difficulties to encounter. The diocese was almost a moral wilderness, where the thorns and thistles of a former heathenism were yet unsubdued. Lawlessness prevailed, and Anabaptist and Sacramenta- rian sectaries abounded. \n view of this state of affairs, he endeavored first to perfect the constitution and or- ganize the life of the Church. Archipresbyterial svn- ods in harmony with the visitation of 1529 were estab- lished, and soon afterwards provincial synods endowed with judicial functions. In 1530 Speratus assisted in the preparation of a Church book, designed to afford the clergy a guide to the administration of their office, and a compend of Evangelical doctrine. Personal visitation of the churches followed, and in 1540 a new Church dis- cipline, the plan of which originated with Speratus, was promulgated by the government. Circulars and ad- dresses to his clergy urged a constant inculcation of the leading truths of Christianity and a zealous administra- tion of discipline, even to the extent of compelling the attendance on divine service of the people, whose igno- rance and boorishness in many instances rendered them incapable of appreciating any other kind of influence. The greatest need of the work was a supply of compe- tent preachers of the Word, which he endeavored to provide as he was able. In all his activity he showed himself more concerned to promote the practical welfare of the people than to contend for abstractions in doc- trine. When the Augsburg Confession was made au- thoritative by duke Albert, he directed the clergj' to preach in harmony with its teachings, and threatened to visit any departure from its tenets with expulsion from the Church; which measures were regarded as nocessarj-- because of the low degree of Evangelical knowledge attained to by many of the clergy, and be- cause of the constantly widening influence of the Ana- baptists and Sacramentarians. Martin Cellarius had gone to Prussia as early as 1525, and Schwenkfeld (q.v.) endeavored to introduce his views from about the same period. Speratus became involved in controversies with the followers of the latter from the time of his entrance on the duties of the episcopacy. In 1531 he held a synod by direction from the duke, at which he met the leaders 'of the sectarian movement among his clergj', and endeavored to turn them from their errors, but in vain. A second colloquy ended with like results, and tlie principal sectaries were deposed from the ministry. In time the duke himself was infected with their spirit, and it required all the energy- and influence of Luther, INIelancthon, and Jonas, combined with the efforts of Speratus, to prevent him from turning away from ortho- dox truth. The constant immigration of fugitive Hol- landers perpetuated the Anabaptist troubles down to and be\-ond the close of Speratus's life. He wrote his book Ad Batdvos Vagantes against them in 1534. Through- out these conflicts he approved himself a decided adhe- rent of Luther.