Hosea, and for this had to seize every fragmentof time and every brightmoment.
The difficulty of translating Bucer and his friends pleaseme, for, as I have said,theywho dishonour the Son of God will be brought to shame.
If you hear anythingmore of From the desert, where the daws have long ago finished their diet before you had well begun your negotiations.
Briick was more learned in the Scriptures than all the theological doctors,althoughonlya lawyer.
Grace and peace in Christ !
Highly esteemed lord and sir I have written several times to you and others,as if I fancied I experienced more of God*s helpand consolation than was afforded to his
I was impelledto do this through the depressioninto which some of our friends had sunk, as if God had forgotten them.
He cannot do so unless He forgetHimself first.
Can a woman forgether suckingchild,that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Yea, she may forget, yet will I not forgetthee."
I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands."
Lately,I saw two wonders.
I looked out of the window I saw the stars shiningin God's beautifully vaulted heavens, and yet there were no visible pillars supportingthis firmament,and stillthe heavens fellnot.
Now there are always some who search for those pillars to grasp them, and, failing in their quest,theygo about in fear and trembling,as if the heaven must fall because they cannot grasp the said pillars.If theycould, then all would be right,theyfancy.
I beheld great clouds hovering over us, borne down by their great weight,like unto a mighty ocean, and yet I saw no foundation upon which they rested and no shore which bounded them, and still they did not fall,but, greeting us stiffly, fled on apace.
But when they had vanished, a rainbow feeblylit up earth and sky, till it too disappearedlike a mist among the clouds, making us fear as much for the foundation as for the water
-charged clouds above.
But in very deed this almost invisible mist supported the heavily charged clouds and protected us.
So there are some who pay more attention to, and are more afraid of the waters and the dark clouds than give heed to the tiny bow of promise.
They would like to feel the fine mist, and because they cannot they fear a second flood.
I write in this jocularway to your Excellence, and yet it is no jest,for I am much pleased to hear how courageous you are, and what a deep interest you take in all that concerns us.
I hoped we would have been able at least to maintain worldly peace, but God's thoughts are far above our thoughts, and this is well, for He hears us, and does above all we can ask for.
He to hear us when we plead that the Emperor might grant peace, then it might redound to the Emperor's honour, and not to Himself will procure peace, so that He alone may have the glory.
These bloody men have not done half the mischief they intended, and have not yet reached their homes.
Our rainbow is weak and faint,but we shall see who conquers.
Excellency will pardon my garrulity, and comfort Magister Philip and the others.
Christ will comfort and support our most gracious lord, to Whom be praiseto all eternity.
His loving faithfulness.