At this time the Protestants began to appeal to the masses of the nation through religious literature, published in the vernacular. The works of Andrew Samuel appeared in the Polish language, and other heretical books, likewise in the language of the people, were freely imported and circulated. Moreover, there were now within the country men who wrote in the spirit of the Reformation in Polish, and had their writings printed. Nicholas Rey, the father of Polish literature, published his first satirical work in 1543. It consisted of a conversation, in which a gentleman, a bailiff, and a priest participated, and in which the author severely rebuked the cupidity of the clergy and the folly of the people for regarding their payment of tithes as the essence of morality and religion and for relying on that for their salvation, while at the same time he pointed out the essential character of faith. The same year there appeared anonymously from the press in Cracow the first Polish catechism published in Poland, in which the new reform doctrines were taught, and which contained also some of Rey’s verses. Other of Rey’s writings followed in 1545, 1546, and 1549. In all of these the writer championed the new doctrines, at first cautiously, but later quite frankly. In 1544 John Seklucyan published his Confession of Faith, and somewhat later his Polish translation of the four Gospels appeared[106] in Königsberg. This new kind of appeal of the reformers to the people caused the king to issue from Brześć in Lithuania, July 10, 1544, a threatening mandate to the starostas, stirring them up to vigilance and to a strict enforcement of the law. Whoever dared to import, sell, buy, possess, or read such books was to be punished by death.[107] This mandate was the last of the repressive measures issued by the old king against the Reformation. Owing to his age and without doubt also to a growing conviction of the futility of an attempt to stem the tide of ideas and convictions, especially in the realm of religion, he ceased to combat the movement with edicts and mandates. In this period of relative quiet the reform forces gathered new strength and courage for their great activity in the following reign.[108] This inactivity on the part of the king gave rise to rumors among the opponents of the Reformation that the king was favoring the spreading heresy. These rumors were given color by the king’s Order to the Starostas, issued in Cracow, August 9, 1546, to forbid Polish citizens in the king’s name to take part on either side in the religious war which had broken out in Germany at this time.[109] This order was issued by the king in spite of the fact that Paul III, in a letter, dated July 3, 1546, had urged Sigismund I to take an active part in that war on the side of the forces defending the cause of the church.[110]