To a parish priest. Sept. 1, 1544.
1. God's grace and peace in the Lord. I do not know, my dear Lord N., what to write to you and what to write about; With all my heart I would like, if there were time, to write you something of new good tales, in which you would have joy and pleasure, as one of my dearest friends, whom I consider to be the most distinguished, of whom I also know for certain, and have also experienced by deed, that you have always been, are and will remain a faithful, true lover of our doctrine, true lover of our doctrine, that is, of the Word, which is God's and the Virgin Mary's Son, whom you have also always recognized, preached and confessed together with us with all faithfulness and right earnestness, purely, without all falsehood, but not without great hatred and envy of the godless, blind, wicked, false world, which cannot do otherwise.
He himself says, Matth. 24,9. 5,12.: "You must be hated by all nations for my name's sake; but be glad and confident - says the same word of the Father - you will be well rewarded in heaven.
This is now our fruit, our reward, our honor, in which we are satisfied, yes, for the richest and most glorious retribution respect and accept for our little and temporal, yes, which hardly lasts a moment, effort and labor, which we bear and direct, our Lord Christ's grace and good deed to spread, and if it were already a hundred years, and the world would be so furious again, what would it be then? What is the world with all its raging, blustering and fierce anger? Yes, what is its prince and god?
1794 L. 56,109TH; 54,130TH III. Main st. - 0. of the Father-Our esp. 7. ple. W. X, 2104-2106. 1795
They are to be counted as smoke and water bubbles compared to the Lord, who is with us, whom we serve, and who works and is powerful through his word, which he puts into the mouths of us who are weak, earthly vessels. These are good tales, joyful, constant new tales, which are true and certain and remain for eternity; we should comfort ourselves and rejoice in them and wait for them with patience. But you know this better than I can tell you or write.
I am truly sorry that you feel weak and complain that your body's strength is diminishing more and more, and I earnestly pray to the Lord that he will strengthen you and keep you alive longer for his glory and for his flock, which he has commanded you to feed, to improve, and also for the good and comfort of your wife and child. I can believe that the evil nature of the N. will try and exercise your patience, for you are heartily desirous of counsel and help, at the loss of all welfare, yes, even of your life. But how shall we do to him? We should boast, says St. Paul, Rom. 5,3, even of the tribulations, and as the common saying goes: Mitte vadere, sicut vadit, quia vult vadere, sicut vadit: Let it go as it goes; it will not go otherwise than it goes.
4 Our honor and glory is in this, that we have made the sun of our doctrine shine bright and clear to the ungodly, ungrateful world, without all clouds of gloom and darkness, by Christ's grace, according to the example of
of our Father in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, even though the sun, our doctrine, is his, not ours, what wonder is it that the false, hardened world, which is in trouble, does not sit or stand, hating and persecuting the householder, who hated and persecuted the householder himself? Ah, we live in the devil's kingdom ab extra (from without), therefore we shall not see nor hear any good thing ab extra. But we live in the blessed kingdom of Christ ab intra (from within), there we see, but through a mirror in a dark word, as St. Paul speaks, 1 Cor. 13,12, the exuberant, inexpressible riches of God's grace and glory. It says: Dominare in medio inimicorum tuorum (reign in the midst of your enemies), Ps. 110,2. He shall have a kingdom and reign, which cannot happen without glory, and yet reign in the midst of enemies, which cannot happen without blasphemy, persecution, shame and disgrace.
Therefore, in the name of the Lord, let us break, penetrate and tear through honor and dishonor, through evil report and good report, through hatred and love, through friends and enemies, until we come into the blessed kingdom of our dear Father, which Christ the Lord has prepared for us from the foundation of the world, where we alone shall find friends, amen. Be at ease in the Lord, whom you faithfully pray for me.
Given at Wittenberg, September 1, 1544.