About the end of July 1523.
Martin Luther wishes the godly reader grace and peace. Behold, I beseech thee, dearest reader, how exceedingly true has become that which Christ says [Luc. 18:8], "When the Son of man shall come, thinkest thou that he also shall find faith on the earth?"
Behold, here are so many kinds (to say nothing of subspecies and individuals) of sects, each of which, out of its own frenzy, invents a special way to salvation without Christ and against Christ. Dear, what would they leave on
*The Franciscan Francis Lambert from Avignon in France had left the Minorite monastery in Avignon in the spring of 1522, where he had been a monk for twenty years. To escape the persecutions of his brothers, he had taken the name John Serremus. He first went to Switzerland, met Zwingli in Zurich and Pèrecanus in Basel. He had met Capito in Mainz or Cologne,
Earth from Christ or from faith? You would like to say that the flood of sin under Noah was only a joke, if you look at these pours of water, clouds and thunderstorms of the hypocrites. But among these pernicious sects (perditiones) the many-headed and many-footed 1) and many-colored pestilence of the minoritic sect rightly gets the first place, in which they do not (as they boast) hold up to us the example of Franciscus, but with lies and fictitious pretenses drag the greatest part of the world with them to ruin, so that when the gospel begins to make an attack against the whole chaos of these larvae, it should rightly make the first and greatest one against them. This burden has now
1) Walch and the Erlanger: many-fluid.
He has taken upon himself the knowledge of St. Francis Lambert, who, since he knows them intimately and by heart, can reveal their secrets beautifully, which he learned from them to his great detriment, and now, through Christ's mercy, like an earlobe 2) from the mouth of the wolf [Amos 3:12], is torn out of their ruin. Therefore read carefully, and see that Christ is not angry in Luther alone, but also in many more arid vessels that are his, and takes vengeance on the scarlet-clothed 3) and drunken harlot [Revelation 17:4-6.], the mother of fornication, and at the same time pray with us that he may accomplish what he has begun in us. Amen. Wittenberg 1523.
2) In the old translation: "as at the outermost earlobe".
3) In the old translation: "painted" (purpurata).
to whom Agrippa von Nettesheim had recommended him, and came to Eisenach in November 1522. (Erlanger Br.-W., Vol. IV, p. 38 f.) From there he wrote several letters to Luther, in which he asked him for assistance. Luther repeatedly interceded for him with the Elector through Spalatin, who then also gave him support several times, after good testimonies about his righteousness had arrived from abroad, and Luther himself had gotten to know him personally and had spoken favorably about him. From Eisenach, Lambert had gone to Wittenberg (against Luther's wishes), and we find him there on January 22, 1523 (Erlanger Br.-W., Vol. IV, p. 65), expecting to earn his keep as a lector at the high school. But on August 3, Luther wrote to Spalatin (Erl. Br.-W., vol. IV, p. 200) that Lambert was complaining about the ingratitude of his audience, who paid him nothing. He read about Hosea in front of a large audience, about the Gospel of Luke and about the Song of Songs. In a letter to the Elector on November 2, he wrote that he had been interpreting Lucas for six months and had received only fifteen groschen from all his listeners together. As early as mid-August 1523, he was therefore considering leaving Wittenberg for Zurich, hoping to make a better living in the vicinity of France. But his departure was delayed. On December 4, Luther wrote for his sake to Nie. Gerbe! in Strasbourg to get him a position there, but, as it seems, in vain. It was not until mid-February 1524 that he left Wittenberg for Metz, where he had been called to preach. But already after eight days he had to give way before the papal clergy, and then turned to Strasbourg, where he remained until October 1526. In 1527 he came to the newly established University of Marburg. His straitened circumstances, however, had not prevented him from marrying a maid servant in Wittenberg as early as July 13, 1523. (Cf. Luther's letter to Spalatin of June 24, 1523, Erl. Br.-W., vol. IV, p. 168 f.) The booklet to which Luther has written our preface seems to have been begun not long after his first arrival in Wittenberg, for his preface is dated: IVittsrabsrMs Msnss Martio 1523. It appeared under the title: Christianissimi Doc. Martini Lutheri, et Annemundi Cocti Equitis Galli, pro sequentibus commentariis Epistolae: Evangelici in Minoritarum Eegulam Commentarii, Quibus palam fit, quid tam de illa, quam de aliis Monachorum Regulis et constitutionibus sentiendum sit. In Epistola, quae a libri capite est, multarum sectarum perditionis Catalogum invenies. Francisco Lamberto Gallo Theologo authore. 62 octavo leaves. Without place and year. In 1524, a German translation appeared under the title: "Inhalt. Des aller Christelichsten Doctor Martin Luthers vund Annemund Cocti des Adels vß Gallia zwen Sendbrieff zü lob diesem volgenden büchlin. - A Gospel description of the Barefoot Rule, which reveals not only what is to be kept from its rules, but also from other Munich rules and statutes. Therein also many sects of corruption are described. - By the godly Franciscum Lamprecht of Gallia. M.D.xxiiij." 40 quarto leaves. At the end: "In the year M.D.xxiiij. Am achten tag des Mertzen." We assume that this edition was published in Strasbourg, and that the clumsy, un-German, and in part also erroneous translation may have been made by the author himself during the first period of his stay in Strasbourg. Walch, Vorrede zum 14. Bande, p. 23, also mentions an octavo edition published in Strasbourg in 1525, which the author himself must have produced. - Seidemann places [De Wette, Vol. VI, p. 41), because Lambert's preface is dated March, also Luther's preface in the same time. But since Coctus' letter already mentions the burning of the two martyrs in Brussels on July I, 1523, this letter cannot have been written before the end of July. Likewise, Luther's preface was not written until the beginning of the printing. The same is found in Latin in Aurifaber's collection of letters, tom. II, tot. 228 5; in De Wette, vol. VI, p. 41 and in the Erlanger, opp. var. aiL., tova. VII, p. 499. German in Walch and in the Erlanger Ausgabe, vol. 63, p. 248, in the above-mentioned translation (which is certainly not by Luther, therefore should not have been included in the Erlanger Ausgabe); in a translation made by Greifs in the Leipziger Ausgabe, vol. XXII, appendix, p. 81. We have retranslated according to Seidemann - De Wette.