To an unnamed person. October 6, 1534.
Grace and peace in Christ! Honorable, favorable, dear friend. Your dear brother has told me how you should be almost distressed and suffer from sadness. He will tell you what I have said to him.
But, dear Matthias, do not follow your own thoughts in this, but listen to what other people tell you. For God has commanded that one man should comfort another, and also wants the afflicted to believe such comfort as his own voice. For thus he speaks through St. Paul: "Comfort the fainthearted." And Isaiah 40:8: "Comfort, comfort my people, and speak kindly unto them."
And elsewhere: "It is not my will that a man should be sorrowful, but cheerfully ye shall serve me, and offer no sacrifice in sorrow"; as all this Moses and the prophets preach often and much. Wherefore he also commanded that we should not sorrow, but that we should commit our sorrows unto him, because he would take care of us, as St. Peter, 1 Ep. 5:7, teaches from the 55th Psalm, v. 23.
Because God wants one to comfort the other and each to believe the comfort, let go of your thoughts and know that the devil is plaguing you with them; they are not your thoughts, but the devil's thoughts, who cannot suffer us to have a happy thought.
Hear therefore what we say unto you in the name of God, that ye should rejoice in Christ, who is your gracious Lord and Savior, and that ye should let him take care of you, as he certainly will take care of you, though ye have not yet what ye would have. He is still alive; and provide for yourselves the best to him, which pleases him, as the Scripture says, as the best sacrifice. For there is no sacrifice more sweet and acceptable than a glad heart that rejoices in the Lord.
Therefore, if you are sad and want to get out of hand, say: "Come on! I must strike a song for our Lord Christ on the shelf - be it Te Deum laudamus or Benedictus etc. - because the Scripture teaches me that he likes to hear joyful singing and playing of strings. And take fresh hold of the claves (keys) and sing until the thoughts pass away, as David and Elisaeus did. If the devil comes again and gives you a sorrow and sad thoughts, then defend yourself freshly and say: Out! Devil, I must now sing and play to my Lord Christ.
Therefore, you must learn to stand against him and not allow him to make you think. For where you let one in, he will have ten thoughts before he overpowers you. Therefore nothing is better than to strike the first one on the snout: and as that husband did, when his wife began to gnaw and bite, he took the whistle from under his belt and whistled confidently; at last she grew so tired that she left him alone. So you also reach into the shelf; or take good companions and sing before it, until you learn to mock him.
For if you could believe that such thoughts are of the devil, you would already have won. But since you are still weak in faith, obey us, who know it by God's grace, and hold on to our staff until you learn to walk by yourselves. And if good people comfort you, my dear Matthias, learn to believe that God says such things to you; follow and do not doubt that it is certainly God's word, who comforts you through men according to His command.
And the same Lord, who has commanded me, and I must do this out of obedience to God, give you to believe all this and speak all this into your heart, Amen. Wittenberg, Wednesday after Francisci, Anno 1534.