To an unnamed prince. 1531.
Grace and peace from God in Christ, our Lord and Savior. Sublime, high-born Prince! I have heard through N. how E. F. G. are almost highly distressed and, as far as I can think, not from one cause alone; as it is then customary that no misfortune is alone, and I well experience in myself where the devil finds causes, gladly climbs over the fence where it is lowest, and where it is wet before, pours in more and gladly makes a fire or a deluge out of a challenge than out of a spark.
Therefore, my humble request and admonition is that E. F. G. should resist his own thoughts, which are not entirely his own, but are certainly inflated by the devil, as much as possible. Our Lord is not as angry as we let ourselves think and feel, but tries us whether we want to suffer something brave in his honor? because he himself has innocently taken upon himself such incomprehensible suffering for our sin; and all this from the most gracious heart of his Father, our dear God.
Such suffering of his dear Son is so great that if we thought about it, because he did it for our sake, we should make our suffering small, and where his suffering is gall, we should make it small.
and vinegar, ours should hardly have been a good wine and malmsey. For he is our gracious God, of whom we have a pledge, namely his Son, presented through baptism, sacrament and gospel, so that we should not nor can we doubt his grace; let it also be as God wills.
What does it matter if we lose body and life, father and mother, brothers, kingdom, principality, honor and power and everything that can be called, on earth, if we only have the grace that God is our father, his son our brother, his heaven and creature our inheritance and all angels and saints our brothers, cousins and sisters? We hardly lose a penny here, if we lose everything, and keep there, not kingdom, nor heaven, nor earth, but God Himself and eternal life.
I therefore ask the same God the Father to write all these things, as they are abundantly recorded in the Scriptures, into E. F. G.'s heart through His dear Holy Spirit and to make him remember them constantly and much more deeply than E. F. G.'s own life and what may be dear to him on earth. F. G.'s heart through his dear Holy Spirit and let him constantly remember it and go much deeper into his heart than E. F. G.'s own life and what may be dear to E. F. G. on earth.
I am writing this because I hope that E. F. G. will not have any special complaints.
or temptation of the devil, that is, from sins or conscience, but only from external things that do not concern the conscience. Therefore let us ever thank God that we have a good conscience in Christ toward God, because it far surpasses all that may be called physical and temporal suffering. We will never do or suffer so much for ourselves, much less for God, as He has done and suffered for us.
Thus E. F. G. know that to our Lord God is the highest service, pleasure and the best sacrifice, if one resists such heavy sad thoughts and does not give them room; but rather takes comfort in His grace, because all misfortune under heaven, on earth and in hell can frighten us; as He then says, Ps. 147, 11: "God is pleased with those who fear Him and wait for Him".
trust in His goodness." And again, Ps. 51:19: "God's sacrifices are a grieved spirit," that is, a wretched heart; and pray, Ps. 50:15, not to keep temptation and calamity in the heart, but to cast them from him and flee to him and call upon him.
For thus the words are, "Call upon me in trouble, and I will help thee, and thou shalt thank me." Say not thus, Behold the trouble; but turn hither, and call upon me, and there shall be no trouble afterward. For God is above all distress. For He wills that His grace should comfort us more than all misfortune can grieve us; as St. Paul says, Phil. 3 (?): "Peace and comfort, which ye have in God, shall overcome all things. Hereby commanded to God etc.
E. F. G. subservient
Martinus Luther.