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Rh author of an account of Schwenkfeld, his tenets and the history of the reformation under Schwenkfeld up to the second half of the Seventeenth Century. Several copies of this chronicle are extant in manuscript in America. It includes an account of the measures adopted by the magistracies of Liegnitz and Jauer at the instigation of the Lutheran clergy, for the coercion of the Schwenkfelders. The chronicler records with great particularity the reproach and persecution suffered by his contemporaries George Heydrich, the hymn-writer, and Balthaser Jäkkel, both of whom publicly opposed the baptism of the children of Schwenkfelder parents. Heydrich was deprived of his property in Harpersdorf, was twice made to endure extreme hunger and twice received a cudgeling. He was three times imprisoned at Liegnitz. During his final imprisonment (1654-1656) he contracted an illness of which he died shortly after his release. Martin John, the subject of this sketch, also passed about nine months in prison at this time at Jauer, for having conducted religious services.

Although the chronicle in question furnishes many facts of the life of Martin John, Jr., it does not contain a connected narrative of his career. However, from this and other sources it appears that he was a man of considerable learning and an ardent believer in Schwenkfeld's conception of Christian living. As a chronicler, he rendered significant service; and he always lamented the fact that through the persecution of the preceding century as well as by reason of the long war, a great amount of historical matter and printed literature had been lost and destroyed. He died in 1707 at the advanced age of 83 years. Soon after, and while the hymn-collection of Caspar Weiss was being compiled, his hymns came to light and forty were immediately admitted to the collection. All the editions of the Schwenkfelder hymn-book contain hymns by Martin John. The Saur edition contains thirty. As far as we know there has not been found a collection of his hymns that purports to be complete; and hence a full account of his activity as a hymn-writer must be deferred until additional information concerning him has been