From almost every village church one can obtain reminiscences of the
sufferings, self-devotion, and perseverance of their pastors. It must
be said, that only the strongest minds came out unscathed in such
times. The endless insecurity, the want of support, the lawless
proceedings of the soldiers and of their own parishioners, made many of
them petty in their ideas, cringing and beggarly. We will give one
example among many. Johanne Elfflein, pastor at Simau after 1632, was
so poor that he was obliged to work as a day labourer, to cut wood in
the forest, to dig and to sow; twice he received either alms from the
poor-box at Coburg, or what was placed there at the baptism of
children. At last the consistory at Coburg sold one of the chalices of
the church to procure bread for him. He considered it an especial piece
of good fortune, when he had once to perform the funeral of a
distinguished noble, for then he got a good old rix-dollar, and a
quarter of corn. When shortly afterwards he confidentially complained
to a neighbour of his want of food, and the latter replied with
desperate resolution, he knew well what he should do in such a case,
then, firm in faith, Magister Elfflein said, "My God will provide means
that I shall not die of hunger; He will cause a rich nobleman to die,
that I may obtain money, and a quarter of corn." He considered it was
ordained by Providence, when soon after, this melancholy event actually
occurred. His situation was so pitiable, that even the rapacious
soldiers, when they sent their lads in the neighbourhood after booty,
emphatically ordered them to leave the pastor at Simau unmolested, as
the poor simpleton had nothing for himself. At last he got another
parish.

At the source of the Itz, where the mountains decline in high terraces
towards the Main, lies the old village of Stelzen, a holy place even in
heathen times. Close to the church, from the corner of a spacious
cavern, overshadowed by primeval beech and lime trees, springs up a
miraculous well; near the well, before the Reformation, stood a chapel
to the Holy Virgin, and many a time did hundreds of counts and
noblemen, with numberless other people, flock together there as
pilgrims. The village was entirely burnt down at Michaelmas, 1632, only
the church, the school, and shepherd's hut remained standing. The
pastor, Nicholas Schubert, wrote to the authorities in the winter as
follows: "I have saved nothing but my eight poor, little, na