priests do not desire peace, nor do theyeven wish to enjoy their own in peace.
A letter of consolation.
Grace and peace in Christ,who is our consolation and our very own, even as we are *' for whether we live or die,"as " we are the Lord's."
We have heard,my excellent Osiander,that you have againbeen visited by a cross, and a twofold cross, throughthe deaths of your dear wife and beloved daughter. I, too, know from the death of my dearest child how great must be your grief.I often marvel that I am unable to forget the loss of my
Lenchen, althoughI know she is in the regionsabove,in the new life, saved and redeemed, and that God has therebygiven me a true token of His love in having,duringmy life,taken my flesh and blood to But this love of which I speak is only natural love,which, althoughgood and natural,must still be crucified with us, so that the graciouswill of His dear Son, throughwhom and by whom allthingsexist,freelygave
His life, unto the death.
I write all this to testify that we are partakersin your trial, even as God has made you true and faithful participants of our faith and doctrine.
Thus you must yieldup your Isaac as a burnt-offering, for a sweet savour to ; not your daughternor your wife,for these live and are happy in the Lord, but that natural strong and imperiouslove which asserts itself too powerfully in us.
Farewell,and believe that we love you.
Luther wrote this letter while in great suffering.
Many thanks, my honoured father, for the present of neither sleptnor rested the whole of last night, the pain caused by Satan's executioner was so intense.
I am good for nothingto-day,and the pain has not yet gone ; for,this thorn in my flesh stillliesconcealed in my body,but not without letting itselfbe felt.
I shall get rid of it,for I abhor this agony.
Nevertheless,if it be the will of the good I should departamid such pain,He will givegrace to bear it,and if not to pass away pleasantly, stillto die cheerfully.
I live I shall see that the painter, Cranach, exchangesthis indecent paintingfor a more becomingone.
1 had commenced the second part of the book against the Papacy,and also the pamphletagainst the Sacramentarians when, behold,I am seized by my illness.
God that the Pope and all the Cardinals had a taste of what I suffer,so that they may learn that they are human.
Luther desires him to inquireabout a youth who was wooing his niece in Wittenberg.
July 5, M45My beloved brother in the Lord, there is a certain youth here,my Anton, who calls himself Peuchter, from beyond Dresden.
This individual has made up to the widow of Magdalena, and has won her with grand-soundingwords, so that it looks as if under the pretext of marriagehe was after her little bit of money.
Since hearingthis I have been very uneasy, for it seems to me as if this unknown and very young fellow (undertwenty)is preparing a pitfall for me
; for,without consulting us, or producinga testimonial from his parents or guardians,he is tryingto delude the poor foolish woman.
Therefore,I beseech you, find out about his parents and guardians, and what are their means, and especially if theyknow what he is after.
For he may have written that he has the run of my house and my consent.
Tell them this is a lie,for we shall oppose it with all our might.
For this proposalwould suit neither the one nor the other ; and I would like the parents to recall their son before I am driven to harder measures, for my office will not permitthat he,without his parents'knowledge,should enter the married state in this church,much less with my niece,as years ago
I condemned the lawyersin a similar case.
Therefore write me minutely. For I shall prevent this marriageunder the pretext that up till now he has not got his father's consent, and therebysets my authority at naught. And thus
I shall elude the devil,who wishes to make me and my church a laughing-stock.Farewell, and do as Luther writes respectingprivate engagements, and the partakingof the sacrament.
Lange,grace and peace in I am very much pleasedwith your views on private engagements, not only because you are on our side,but because your university,^ which is in highrepute, shares our opinions, which must be a trial to the Papists, who were not aware of the side your school took,and may now fancy others are of the same way of thinking.Be courageous for the truth,for this is the path to heaven.
Regardingthe other questionyou are right. Those who aspireto be Christians should confess, at least once in the year, that theybelongto Christ,althoughall through lifetheyshould do so.
But they who excuse themselves by sayingtheyfeel no need of it,therebyshow theyhave conceived a nausea of the grace of God and of the heavenly manna, beingspiritually dead,and are longingfor the foods of Egypt,and therefore cannot be considered longer. Those againwho as a pretext for not communicating adduce the prolongedwar, these also cannot be exonerated,because at any moment they may become the prey of death
; and what would theythen do in the face of death Would war and disputesnot be placedin the background?
For the soul meantime cannot be leftwithout faith,without Christ, and without the ; therefore such pretexts as war, etc., would not hold valid then.
Thus theydeny Christ and the faith,for throughwar and disputesall these thingsare hindered.
I also have had much dissension with the Papists, as well as with the lawyershere,for a year past, and have appealedto the Elector,but this has not preventedme, nay, it has rather caused me, to partake oftener of the sacrament.
You have now my opinion.
But you, with your gifts, know much better how to act in this matter than May you be blessed in Christ, and pray for me, a dyingsack of worms
Luther writes about a gatheringof ecclesiasticsat Trent and an embassyto the Grace and peace in the Lord I am not at alldisquieted, most honoured in Christ,at what has taken place.All say no attention must be paid to dreams, and the Scriptures teach thisalso,unless one be a prophet(Numbers chap.xii.).
But this sacristan is no prophet,and Prince's statue in wood in Lukas's house before it was erected in It is no wonder it fell,but rather a marvel that it has stood so long. Every one said it would fall next day,even without wind, so badlywas it put together.
Trent that twentythree bishops and three cardinals are there,and are so idle that they know not what to do.
Bishopof Mayence, the knave of knaves,has sent an under-bishop, alongwith a certain I know not whether he means to ridicule them or us by this laughableembassy,such a great man to send such people to so many distinguished men.
But the Council is worthyof such an abortion.
Their courage will ooze away when God's wrath descends upon them.
Pope,the Emperor, Francis,and Ferdinand have sent a gorgeous embassyto the Sultan laden with preciousgiftsto sue for peace, and the best of it is each has discarded his paternal costume and donned longcoats such as the Turks wear, in order not to be an offence in his eyes.
It is said they sailed from These are the peoplewho hitherto decried the Christianity, and under this pretext extorted money and roused their lands againstthe
Satan has,throughno end of devices, robbed the people through indulgencesand exhausted the world.
.^^ Nay, they are rather the devil's demons.
I hope this is a joyful signof the end of the world.
So longas theyworship the Turk we shall pray to the true God, who will hear us and humiliate the Turk, alongwith themselves,through His gloriousappearing. Amen.
Luther writes askinghis wife to sell his house,and retire to Grace and peace, dear Hans will give you all the details of our journey; but as I am not yet sure whether
I shall not keep him with me, then Ferdinand will give you all the particulars.
Schonfeldt entertained us most hospitably at Scherle still more royallyat Leipsic.
I would gladlyarrange not to return to Wittenberg. My heart is so cooled towards the placethat I do not care to live there any longer,so I would like you to sell garden, land, house,and courtyard; and then
I shall restore the largehouse to my most graciouslord,and it would be your best plan to retire to