oclaim to them God's righteous
judgment on such hardened hearts. Not only publicly from the pulpit,
but also a few hours before his blessed departure, he had thus
lamented: 'Ah! thou poor Doellstedt! it will go ill with thee after my
decease!' Thereupon he turned, with the assistance of the attendants,
towards the church, and raised his weary head, struggling ineffectually
with death, as if he wished once more, from the corner of his room, to
see the church, in the service of which his life had been passed, and
said: 'Ah! thou dear, dear church! How will it fare with thee after my
death? They will sweep thee up with a besom.'"

His prophecy was fulfilled. The village in 1636 had to liquidate war
damages to the amount 5500 of gulden, and between 1627 and 1637 it
amounted altogether to 29,595 gulden, so that the inhabitants by
degrees disappeared and the place remained quite desolate; in 1636
there were only two married couples in the village. In the year 1641,
after Banner and, again in the winter, the French had been quartered in
it, half an acre of corn was sown, and there were four couples dwelling
there. By the zealous care of Duke Ernest the Good, of Gotha, the
deserted villages in his country were comparatively quickly occupied by
men. In 1650, therefore, the jubilee and peace festival could be
solemnized in Doellstedt. The description of it is given, as it is
recorded in the church books, by the then Pastor Truemper.

"On the 19th of August, at four o'clock in the morning, we, together
with our coadjutors and some of the householders of Gotha, mounted our
tower, and celebrated with music our morning prayer. Towards six
o'clock, as happened the preceding day at one o'clock; they began to
ring the bells for a quarter of an hour, and again, for the same length
of time, at half after seven. Meanwhile, the whole population, man and
woman, young and old, except those who assisted at the ringing,
assembled before the gate: 1st, the women-folk stood on one side;
before them was a figure of Peace, which the noble maidens had dressed
up beautifully, in a lovely green silk dress and other decorations; on
her head was placed a beautiful green wreath intermingled with gold
spangles, and in her hand a green branch. 2nd. On the other side
towards the village stood the men, and in front of them Justice in a
beautiful white garment, with a green wreath round her head, and
bearing in her hands a naked sword and gold scales. 3rd. T