Doubtless a house or two is infected, but the atmosphere is not yet poisoned. For since Tuesday there has neither been a corpse nor a sick person.
But as the dog-daysare at hand and the young boys are frightened, I have allowed them to go out walking, to tranquillise their minds tillwe see how thingsturn out.
I notice that the young folks like to hear this outcry about the pestilence, for some are tired of sitting on the hard benches
; some think theyget cramp from the books,while others declare scurvy is secreted among the pens and paper.
And there are those who devour their mothers' letters, which makes them home-sick and longfor the fatherland,and perhapsthere are many more weaknesses than
I am able to recount.
If parents and guardiansdo not try to stem the tide of these evils,perhapswe shall not be able to get pastors and schoolmasters,till at lengthswine and dogs will be the best animals remainingto us, towards which end the Papistsare steadily working.
He has hitherto done, alongwith the Christian authorities, with grace and mercy, to His honour and the annoyance of Satan,so that you may know what stringent remedies to applyto this sickness.
Grace not to forgetmy poor Augsburg peoplesent an embassyto Wittenberg to prove their desire for unanimityin the matter of the sacrament.
Grace and peace in Christ !
I would like you to learn with what pleasureI received your letter, dear brethren, from the livingletters,viz.
Caspar Huber, rather than from these dead letters,for nothinghas been a greater joy to me in the course of Reformation than to see an end of the lamentable division,and at length to hope for an entire agreement.
Gereon tells me, and your letter forces me to believe this, so that my wound, viz. my distrust, is so far healed that not even a scar remains.
I beseech you, throughChrist,who has begun such a work in you, to persevere in this fruit of the Spirit.Doubtless you will manifest such heartfelt Christian love towards us, which shall be respondedto on our part with true love and fidelity, and laynothingupon us which we cannot joyfully accept.
When this concord is ratified, I shall singwith tears, *'Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant departin peace I shall leave peace to the Church, God's house, and the punishmentof the devil,etc.
Christ perfect this work among you, so that my joy may be full, and I may look forward,after so many crosses, to a joyful dyinghour.
Rabe for having spoken at Luther's table of the unjustfate of Hans Repentance and forgiveness of sins,Most Prince and graciousLord
I address this letter to you, not in the hope that anythingadvantageouswill come of it,but to relieve my conscience before God and the world, in case my silence should be construed into acquiescence of the injustice perpetrated.Ludwig Rabe allowed me to read the letter in which your
Grace threatens and forbids him againspeakingof the glorified As he is my boarder and sits at my table,I can testify, and doubtless your
Highnessis also aware, that this is not true, so I can only conclude that your Grace is stabbingme through a fence,beingangry at what good peoplehear talked of ; for I can testify that Ludwig
Rabe sits at my table like a maiden, and often speaks more good of his