[363] Ut de quæstionibus quas audiisset moveri, aliquid diligenter conscriptum curaret. Ibid. p. 94. [Sidenote: PHILIP OF HESSE--NOBLE PROSELYTES.] Melancthon drew up with his usual talent an _Abridgment of the Revived Doctrine of Christianity_;[364] a forcible and concise treatise, that made a decided impression on the landgrave's mind. Shortly after his return from the tournament at Heidelberg, this prince, without joining the free cities, published an edict by which, in opposition to the league of Ratisbon, he ordered the Gospel to be preached in all its purity. He embraced it himself with the energy peculiar to his character. "Rather would I give up my body and life, my subjects and my states," said he, "than the Word of God." A Minorite friar, named Ferber, perceiving this prince's leaning towards the Reformation, wrote him a letter full of reproach, in which he conjured him to remain faithful to Rome. "I will remain faithful to the old doctrine," replied Philip, "but such as it is contained in Scripture." He then proved very forcibly that man is justified solely by faith. Astonishment kept the monk silent.[365] The landgrave was commonly styled "Melancthon's disciple."[366] [364] Epitome renovatæ ecclesiasticæ doctrinæ. [365] Seckendorf, p. 738. [366] Princeps ille discipulus Philippi fuit a quibusdam appellatus. Camer. p. 95. Other princes followed in the same direction. The elector-palatine refused to lend himself to any persecution; the Duke of Luneburg, nephew to the Elector of Saxony, began to reform his own states; and the King of Denmark gave orders that in Sleswick and Holstein every one should be free to serve God as his conscience suggested. [Sidenote: THE GRAND-MASTER OF THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS.]