ready,and tillthese shameless money-makers,the printers, cease lookingsolelyto their own interest, no more shall be sent.
Philiphas sent me three sheets of I am much pleased. I wish Carlstadt would write in a more polishedway againstcelibacy, for I fear he will affront us.
If he were only better adaptedfor the praiseworthywork he has undertaken ; for our opponents slander the very best that can be written,so we must be careful not to bringdiscredit on the Word, for we are a spectacle unto the world, as Perhaps I am mixing myself in thingsthat do not concern me
; but what can be more dangerousthan to incite people to matrimony?
I would like the question of matrimony left free accordingto Christ's command, but I am powerlessin the matter.
Do not trouble yourself as to my bearingmy exile patiently.It is all one to me where I am, if I am not a burden to these people,but I fancyI live here at the expense of the Prince, or I should not remain an hour longerif I thoughtI were consuming this good man's substance,althoughhe suppliesmy wants abundandy. Try to shed lighton this,for he always declares it comes out of the I am so constituted that I worry incessantly for fear of burdening any one.
I followed the chase for two days last week, to get a taste of the pleasureswhich fine gentlemenlove so well.
We caughttwo hares and a few poor roes.
Truly a worthy occupationfor idle people!
Amid the nets and the dogs I pondered over theological matters.
I could not but feel sad at the deep mysterieswhich layconcealed beneath the gay scene.
For, does not the devil with his dogs, those godlessteachers,bishops,etc., thus pursue and take captiveinnocent creatures
" those poor believing souls ; but worse is stillto come.
I had managed to save a poor hare, and hid it under my coat, but the dogs discovered it,and bit its leg throughthe coat, and choked it,so we found it dead.
Satan, despitemy efforts, try to ruin saved souls.
I have had enough of this kind of hunting,and think it finer to slay bears and wolves, and godlesscreatures such as these.
Court you learn to hunt for souls,so that one day you may find yourselfin " a pieceof game which it gave Christ,the best huntsman, much trouble to catch and keep.
I have changed my mind and send the rest of the postils.But let them be printedon good paper, with Lotter's letters, for it will be a largebook, and I'llspread it over the four quartersof the year, so that it may not be too heavy.
But it must not be as I wish,but as you can arrange there.
" will ever be ready.
Farewell,and pray for me.
With this letter Luther sends an exposition of the 37th Psalm.
To the poor little company of Christians at Wittenberg, Luther sends grace and peace from St. Paul,who preachedin many places, and now sat as a prisonerin
Rome, never ceased to pray for those who had been converted through his means, and to comfort them by his writings, to which his Epistlesbear ample testimony. Followinghis example,I cannot refrain from anxietyon your behalf (seeingit is partlythrough me, poor creature, that it has been revealed to you) that wolves may follow me into the sheepfold. And although,by the grace of God, many have taken my place,which might make such anxietyunnecessary, yet I cannot overcome it.
We are not worthy (Iespecially, alas)to suffer anything for the truth,let alone havinghatred, shame, reproach, envy, and all manner of ignominy heaped upon us by the Papists. Had
God not withstood them, those bloodthirsty murderers of souls would have swallowed us