How great the bitterness of the clergy at the freedom of religion granted in the hitherto strictly Lutheran country by Struensee must have been, is proved more clearly by the fact, that even the celebrated theologian and converter, Dr. Münter, joined in their cry. "Godless men ruled over us," he said from the pulpit of the palace chapel, "and openly defied God. They, to whom nothing was sacred, either in heaven or on earth, despised, ridiculed, and mocked the creed to which we belong. They, doubtless, were meditating violent measures, in order to secure themselves for ever. But thanks be to God, that He did not yield us up as a prey to their teeth: that He overthrew their faithless and blood-thirsty schemes (for they could not have been otherwise), and gave us tranquillity and peace again, at the moment when murder and rebellion were close at hand. Our king, to whom access was entirely precluded; for whose sacred person we often felt anxious, because we knew in what hands he was; our king is once more ours: we are again his people."[48] It was in all probability this sermon which caused Münter to be selected to hear Struensee's last confessions and attempt his conversion. Still, almost immediately after the catastrophe, there were respectable authors who dared unhesitatingly to oppose the zealotry of the clergy, although this was accompanied by double danger at the time. "Religion," so wrote one of them, "is employed as a cloak, for the purpose of deceiving the nation about the events that have occurred. The bought voices of clergymen who deserve punishment, mix up with praises of the Supreme Being the evident lies of calumny. Struensee was to be held up as a regicide, and the deluded people were expected to thank Heaven for saving the king from a peril which had never existed." But what could these isolated protests effect against the fanatical fury of the priests in a time of universal excitement, when not only the new governing party gave their protection to the worst zealotry, but even other respected men took the part of the revolution in word and writing? Among all these men, none carried matters so far as the well-known historian, Suhm, who was chamberlain to the queen dowager. He published an open letter to the king, whose contents are an everlasting brand on the name of an otherwise esteemed literary man:--