"Son, be of good cheer, for thy sins are forgiven thee."
To which Brandt replied:—
"Yes; they are all cast into the depths of the sea."
The king's bailiff, Etats-rath Ortwed, now read the sentence; and when he had finished, the executioner advanced to receive the count's coat of arms. He asked Brandt whether it was his escutcheon, to which the other replied by a nod; he then swung it in the air, and broke it with the words:—
"This is not done in vain, but as a just punishment."
After the clergyman had read Brandt those things from the ritual which are usual on such occasions, Hee asked him whether, in addition to his other sins, he repented of his great crime of high treason? Brandt answered in the affirmative, and then added:—
"I pray God, the king, and the country, for forgiveness, and only wish that God may bless the king and the whole land for the sake of Christ's blood."
After these words the clergyman gave him the benediction, and, taking him by the hand, delivered him over to justice. When the executioner approached to assist Brandt in undressing, the latter said to him with firmness, though not without mildness, "Stand off, and do not presume to touch me!" He quickly let his pelisse fall, took off his hat, and himself removed his coat and waistcoat. After previously feeling in all the pockets, which he doubtless did out of habit, he also began to bare the right arm, from which the hand was to be cut off, but the executioner now advanced, and helped him to bare the whole arm as well as his neck.[19] After this, Brandt knelt down, and laid his head on one block and his hand on another. When the victim had thus offered himself for the execution of the sentence, the clergyman reminded him of the posture of the Saviour in the garden of Gethsemane, with his face on the ground, to which Brandt, lying on the block, replied in a loud voice:—
"The blood of Christ intercedeth for me."