To Nicolaus Hausmann. March 22, 1521.
To the venerable brother in Christ, Mr. Nicolaus Hausmann, the faithful servant of Christ in Schneeberg, his most beloved brother in the Lord, salvation and comfort in the Lord.
I have received your writing, my dear Lord Nicolaus, in which you indicate to me,
that you have been appointed to the pastorate of Zwickau; seek advice and comfort from me, a despised man, whom the whole world considers an apostate and a damned heretic.
You know what a very dangerous and terrible time it is now, namely the time of flight, which Christ proclaimed in Matth. 24, 20,
1608 v" 1.677^879. 5) A preacher must attack etc. false teaching etc. W. x, iMo-iM. 1609
since they neither want nor are able to suffer sound doctrine, and in the place of pious, faithful shepherds there have arisen terrible wolves, Apost. 20:29, that we have no consolation now, but to pray the Lord with all our hearts, that we too may either escape this misery or stand firm in these evil days.
Every day I experience more and more how far and deep Satan's evil empire has broken into the church, so that when I look at its wretched and miserable shape, I must be frightened by it from the bottom of my heart. Yes, I have become so sure of the matter, praise God, that where a pastor does not oppose the pope and bishops with all his strength, does not challenge their human teachings and commandments with pure doctrine, and contradicts them, he remains alive or dead, then he cannot be saved. This will perhaps be a new, strange and alien thing for you to hear. Certainly it is as I say, and if you cannot grasp this, you are not capable of my counsel and comfort, much less of being improved by it.
I find it in the Scriptures, and I am certain, praise God, that the pope with his own is Christ's adversary, as St. Paul calls him, 2 Thess. 2:4. For this reason, no one is able to helpfully preside over a parish or a preaching ministry, so let him make every effort to turn away the sheep from this wolf and chase him away, that is, to show by word that he is a wolf and an enemy of Christ,
is not a shepherd of his sheep, Joh. 10, 11. ff. What a sin this is, with what great clamor it is proclaimed today as division, heresy and infinite ruin of the spiritual state, is in the day.
How then shall we do unto him? There is no other way or path to salvation in this last evil time of perdition, except as I have said. Therefore, my dear Nicolaus, if this comfort and advice of mine is evil, it will certainly be most grievous to me who gave it; therefore I also place the matter entirely in your free will, that what you want to do here, you begin it at your peril.
If you accept the parish office, you must contradict the pope's and the bishops' statutes and doctrines of the devil and die as their enemy. But if you do not accept it, then you are Christ's enemy. At the same time, there can be no right, pure, united faith in Christ and the pope's and his spiritless strings, lies and deceptions. In all this I will not tell you anything, but advise you as I would have advised me. You should either not have taken my advice on this or kindly accept and tolerate what I have divinely advised. Otherwise I know, God is my witness, not to advise. Herewith I bid you farewell. At Wittenberg, March 21, 1521.
Your
Martin Luther, Augustinian.