ourselves and abandon our plans, if [thereby] we can glorify and promote God's honor, name, and Word.
All of these will be obstructed if there is no peace; perhaps even the opposite [of peace] might arise, so that we might be hindered in [the promotion of] the gospel by war or lack of peace, or even might be robbed of it.
Christ our Lord, to whose glory this article [concerning the king] will be donated, will in turn glorify Your Electoral Grace, as he promises. Thus in Romans 12 [:18] St. Paul speaks out, and teaches that we
Christians ought to live in peace with every man, as much as it depends upon us. This means that we ought to abandon our right for the sake of peace, so that we do not suffer. For peace is more important than that which is legal; in fact, the laws are established for the sake of peace.
If—God forbid—the treaty should not come about because of this article [concerning the king] then the final outcome would be that a war would develop from this situation, whether the Emperor remains in the country or not, etc.18 Without doubt, Your Electoral Grace would also be one of the causes of such a war. It would be an unbearable burden for [Your Grace's] conscience if afterwards Mr. Remorse appeared and bit, saying: "Oh, why didn't I abandon my right and accept the peace, so that such great misfortune and grief would not have arisen?" Certainly it might happen that because of such a war the Empire would be torn apart and exposed to the Turk, and thus both the gospel and everything else would perish.
We also see that foreign kings are not faithful, and we have often experienced how effectively the cities control their citizens in time of a crisis; at present the people of Zürich are a good example of this.19
I know that God is strongly opposed to such alliances, and he also sees to it that they do not stand firm; the prophets are full of examples of this.20 For alliances are nothing but thoughts and plans of man, undertaken in human cleverness, without God's Word or order. Therefore it is not possible that these alliances stand finn when the need arises, and do not falter. Here is Scripture, [where we read]: "All men are liars."21 That is, they do not come [to one's] aid, but falter. Therefore Isaiah calls Egypt a "broken reed of a staff," which will pierce the hand of him who leans on it.22 We have a divine cause, which God alone will and ought to protect, as he has faithfully done till now; the thoughts of men certainly will not do it.
May Your Electoral Grace accept this, my humble judgment, with a benevolent attitude toward me; for I, too, mean well, God knows it, and I hope not to have spoken with smooth lips but an evil heart.23
For doing his own good will, may the gracious Father enlighten and strengthen Your Electoral Grace.
Your Electoral Grace's humbly dedicated To Mrs. Martin Luther [Torgau,] February 27, 1532 On February 19 Luther and Jonas1 visited Elector John2 in Torgau3 for the purpose of consoling the Elector, who was suffering from something similar to gangrene in one of his feet.4 For reasons which cannot be established with certainty, Luther's return was delayed.5 In the tollowing letter Luther informs his wife that he hopes to return "tomorrow or the next day." He also assures his wife that he is sleeping well. Then he briefly tells of the Elector's health, which seems to be improving. The major portion of the letter deals with Luther's famulus,6 John Rischmann, who was about to leave him. Luther urges his wife to find the means necessary for an appropriate farewell gift, even though he also expresses the opinion that the Common Chest should give such a present to Rischmann in his behalf. As an afterthought Luther asks his wife to tell Nicholas Hausmann to be content with the quarters provided to him. Luther also promises to report in person on a dinner he attended. In closing he asks his wife to give a kiss to their son John for him, to continue to urge the family to pray, and to have some presents ready for him to give to the children upon his return.
Text in German: WA, Br 6, 270–271.7
To my dearly beloved8 mistress of the house, Catherine Luther:9