To Valentin Hausmann in Freiberg. 1532.
First letter dated February 19, 1532.
Grace and peace. My dear Lord and friend! Your brother, He Nicolaus (pastor in Zwickau), has been with me now, showing how you are not yet free from the temptation of terror and unbelief; but as I also wrote before, my faithful advice is that you accept such distemper as laid out by God for your good, as St. Paul had to carry his stake in his flesh; and thank God that you may feel such unbelief and terror, for out of it you will be able to feel the same. Paul had to bear his stake in his flesh; and thank God that you may feel such unbelief and terror, for from this you will be the more urged to pray and seek shelter, and to say with the gospel, Marc. 9, 24: "Lord, strengthen my faith."
How many are there who are less faithful?
have? But they do not feel it and remain in it. But because God makes you feel it, it is a good sign that He finally wants to help you out; the more you feel it, the closer it is to recovery. Just keep God quiet, he will do it well. Hereby God bless, Amen. Given at Wittenberg, Monday after Invocavit, Anno 1532.
Second letter of June 24, 1532.
Grace and peace in Christ our Lord. My dear Valten, I have heard your discomfort because of the terror, but you should not worry very much about it, because God is wonderful in us, that we always seem evil and harmful, which is nevertheless very useful to us.
1754 A-54.308.; SS, 12. III. Main st. - 0. of the Father-Our esp. 6th petition. W. X, 2055-2059. 1755
whether we do not understand it. Who knows what might have become of you, if God had not thus restrained you and kept you in His fear. Therefore, you should by no means be impatient if you do not soon have such strong faith. St. Paul says, Rom. 14, 1. and 15, 1. that the weak believers are not rejected. He is not such a father who throws away sick and unclean children; otherwise he would not keep any. Therefore you should say, "Dear Father, if it pleases you to discipline me in this way, I will gladly have it; your will be done, so grant me patience.
Secondly, I do not know how you oppose it; for you should call upon God and pray; especially at the time when you feel that it is coming, you should fall down on your knees and call to heaven; and if the law does not taste good to you and seems to you to be in vain and too cold, do not desist from it; make a strong push and pray the stronger, the more it seems lost to you. For you must learn to fight here, and not stand still and watch or suffer what the terror pretends, until it ceases from him.
Otherwise, the longer it goes on, the stronger it becomes. You must pray with force and cry out against it, also cry out the Lord's Prayer with bright words. For it is above all to be taken into your heart that you do not doubt that it is from the devil; for God wants to have resisted, and therefore imposes such that he wants to hear and help strong prayer.
Third, if you cannot pray well, read something from the Psalms or New Testament in a clear voice and listen to it. For you must be accustomed in such times that you do not drag yourselves along with misfortune according to your own thoughts without God's word, that you want to wait for it to measure itself; but remember that you hear the prayer and God's word louder at the same time. Even though you should not cease to do so outside of this time, if you can pray against it, it will, if God wills it, become better in time. For without God's word the enemy is too strong for us, but he cannot stand prayer and God's word. Hereby be commanded to God, Amen. Given on the day of St. John the Baptist, Anno 1532.
Martinus Luther.