To an unnamed person. January 11, 1543.
1. grace and peace in the Lord. My dear wife Margarita! Your brother John has told me how the evil spirit weighs down your heart that such an evil word has come out of your mouth. I wanted the devil to get all those who have advised my etc. that he should afflict you and make you feel as if you had to be eternal.
2 Dear Margarita, since you feel and confess that it is the evil spirit who has torn out such a word from you, and that it is also his evil inspiration, you should know that everything he has inspired is a lie. For "he is a liar, and the father of lies," John 8:44; for surely it is not of Christ that ye should be of the devil, seeing he died for this cause, that they which are under the power of the devil should be delivered from him. Therefore do to him thus, spit upon the devil, and say, If I have sinned, I have sinned, and am sorry, but I will not despair because of it; for Christ hath borne all my sin, and taken it away, yea, to the whole world, when it confesseth its sin, and amendeth itself, and believeth on Christ, who commanded to "preach repentance and remission of sins in his name among all nations," Luc. 24:47.
And how would I do if I had committed murder, adultery etc., even crucified Christ Himself; yet it is forgiven according to His prayer on the cross: "Father, forgive them" etc. I owe it to myself to believe this, and I am also absolved; therefore, devil, always get thee away.
4 Therefore, dear Margarita, do not believe your thoughts, nor the devil's, but believe us preachers, whom God has commanded to instruct souls, to teach souls, and to teach souls.
As he says, Matth. 16, 19. Joh. 20, 23.: "What you loose shall be loosed", you should believe this and not doubt it at all. Now we, the preachers, absolve you in Christ's name and by His command, not only from this one sin, but from all the sins that are inherent in you from Adam, which are so great and so many that God does not want us to see them all and feel them right in this life, because we could not bear them; much less (does He want to) impute them to us, if we believe in Him.
Therefore be content and confident. Your sins are forgiven you; so rely boldly on them, do not turn to your thoughts, but listen only to what your pastors and preachers say to you from God's word, do not despise their word and comfort. For it is Christ himself who speaks to you through them, as he says: "He who hears you hears me," Luc. 10:16. Believe this, and the devil will depart and cease. But if you are still weak in faith, say, "I would like to believe more strongly, and I know that such things are true and to be believed. Even if I do not believe it enough, I still know that it is the truth. This also means believing for righteousness and salvation, as Christ says, Matt. 5:6: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness."
6 Christ, the dear Lord, who was given for our sins and raised for our righteousness," Rom. 4:25, "put your heart at ease and strengthen it in the right faith. Because of sins there is no need. Thursday after Epiphany, Anno 1543.
1758 n. ss, 197-iss. III. Main st. - 0. from the father-our esp. 6. request. W. x. 2v6o-2oss. 1759