March 9, 1545.
To the Serene and Highborn Prince and Lord, Lord George, Bishop of Merseburg, Provost of Magdeburg, Prince of Anhalt, Count of Ascanien and Lord of Bernburg, his most gracious lord, grace and peace in Christ!
The dear man, Mag. Georg Held, who has fallen asleep in Christ, has thus blessed us, most gracious Prince and Lord, with our great pain and longing for him. Oh, dear God, at this very time, when we are most in need of many pious, holy men, by whose prayers, counsel and help we should be comforted and refreshed, you take them, of whom there is only a small number, away from us one by one! Now we know, dear God, that this prayer of Mag. George, his deeds and intentions, have been pleasing and pleasant to you, as the one who warmly loved your dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, honored him with the highest diligence and meant your church with all faithfulness. I myself, at least, have often rejoiced in his prayer; his consolation has been so sweet and wholesome to me that I have often gained a strong confidence in God through it. Much more, I can think, E. F. G. will have received a deep painful wound over his departure, because he was with and around E. F. G. for such a long time, his presence and fellowship were sweet, comforting and räthlich to her.
(2) For his own part, he has done well, when he is gathered to his fathers and people, of whom he finds more and more pious than he has left here. But we suffer greatly, who are still living in this horrible Sodoma and Babylon, yes, rather are martyred and killed daily by the devil and his members, and have to see that such pious Lots and Daniels are taken away from us, which consolation and advice we need more and more now at the time, in which from day to day more and more the godless nature prevails.
the fewer they become every day. But God's good counsel we are to put up with, even to worship; who, as is His way, when He intends something great that no man should hope for, He first makes everything so completely impossible that everyone doubts that anything should come of it, as it is written in 1 Sam. 2:6: "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive; He leadeth into hell, and bringeth out again."
3 But this he does, that he may discipline us, and awaken and confirm our faith, hope, and love toward him, that we may learn to esteem his invisible things, which are eternal, more than the visible things, which are temporal; and so believing in hope, when there is nothing to hope for, hold fast to him, as he that calleth unto him which is not, that he may be. For how can a man hope for that which he sees? [But if he hopes for that which he does not see, he waits for it through patience.] After that also, that "love may become strong as death, and zeal firm as hell," Hell 8:6, when he takes away from us his best gifts [as pious, holy people], which we love and value, and shows himself in all things against us as an altogether unkind, unmerciful God; then especially when he thinks the best of us, as a kind, gracious father, and cares for us. Thus, the old man must be killed and the sinful body destroyed.
4 Therefore, F.F.G. comforts himself according to the rich measure of knowledge by which F.F.G. is given to know God the Father and His Son, and the works of His hands, which are wonderful and unknown to the world. We want to pray with earnestness that the Father of mercy and God of all comfort will strengthen F. F. G. and strengthen him by his Spirit until this work appears and comes, for which he calls us to wait in such tribulations. "For not from the heart," says Jeremiah, Klagl. 3, 33, "does not afflict men.
and sorrowful." And Augustine also adds a fine comforting word: "The Lord," he says, "would not let anything bad happen if he did not want to create something good out of it.
(5) We are still living in the flesh and therefore do not know what we should pray for, that is, we do not understand what is good for us and what is best. But God, who is "able to do abundantly above all that we ask or understand," Eph. 3:20, "cares for us, and is able and willing to give more and greater things than our narrow and straitened heart can desire or think of. But he cannot give such things, for he first takes away the very things that - as we make ourselves believe - we cannot do without, or indeed cannot do without without great harm and danger to us.
(6) Scripture is full of examples of this. Adam and Eve were drunk with joy from the great hope they had for their first son Cain, Gen. 4:1 ff. Not long after that, when they were deprived of both sons, Abel and Cain, all hope fell away at once, so that they could not think otherwise that their descendants would be finished. But God, who raises the dead and creates everything out of nothing, gave them another seed after a hundred years, which is a very short time, yes, hardly a moment before Him, but they both seemed to be eternal. There they again received comfort that Chri
stus, the seed that was supposed to crush the head of the serpent, Gen. 3, 16, was supposed to arise from their descendants. So also Abraham thought much of Ishmael, Gen. 17, 18., Isaac of Esau, 27, 4., Jacob of Reuben. But these dear fathers of all hope had to be lost and die, if a new and eternal hope should arise instead of the temporal one.
(7) Thus, at this last miserable time, all consolation and hope, as it can be seen, is also taken from us. But we hope in the living God that he will put an end to the misery and suffering. We will not lack this, for God is faithful and almighty, who promises and will do it.
Therefore we [as Christians, not as those who have no hope] want to mourn and lament with measure over our dear Mag. Georg Held, who no longer has the light, as Sirach says, Cap. 22, 10, no longer has it; not for his own sake, but for ours. For his light is now multiplied and has risen up rightly for eternity, until our light goes out here with him and is completed there, through him who is our light and life, amen. Herewith E. F. G. be well. Date 9 March 1545.
E. F. G. most obedient