March 8, 1544.
Newly translated from the Latin.
To the venerable brother in the Lord, M. Georg Spalatin, pastor of the congregation in Altenburg, and exceedingly faithful and loud superintendent of the congregations of his diocese in Meissen, grace and peace in Christ, our God and Savior.
It pleases me, dear Spalatin, and I do not doubt that it pleases God and all who seek God, that you have collected the most important 1) sayings and deeds of the saints of God. For this is not only to shut the mouths of those who speak unjustly against us and disparage us, as if we were sowing new opinions and doctrines, but also to strengthen our consciences, which are instructed by a cloud of so many testimonies and examples of the ancients, who kept, said, did, and suffered the same things as we do. For although each one's faith in the Word of God must be sufficient for him to stand in battle against the gates of hell, even for himself alone, yet a godly heart, since beside the willing spirit there is also the weak flesh, is not a little or slightly moved when it sees that so many centuries, so many examples, so many excellent men before him and around him have been like him, and always the same thing has happened through them, which we have learned from Scripture and recognize in ourselves through daily experience. It is true that there are many things about the holy
1) So De Wette. Seckendorf: xuriora.
Rom. 7:19 f.: "The good that I want I do not do, but the evil that I do not want I do. So I do not do the same, but the sin that dwells in me" etc. I am silent about the lies that are interspersed in their histories by ungodly servants of the devil; but when it has come to the death struggle and confession with them, we see how pure and constant they testify to their faith. What could Ambrose have said more godly and braver than this, since in his last battle against sin, death, the wrath of God and hell, he addressed this word to the priests in the greatest confidence: I have not lived in such a way that I should be ashamed to live among you; but neither am I afraid to die, because we have a good Lord. This word was also praised by St. Augustine in his death struggle, as Possidonius tells in his legend. And Augustine also consoled himself with this word of his own against conscience (which is the cruelest servant of death) and said: "I will be afraid, but not ashamed, because I will remember the wounds of Christ. I will remember the wounds of Christ. Who does not see that with such words the holy men testify to faith in Christ, which, though bare (nudam) and alone, is firm and victorious against death and sin? For although they hold that
their lives and deeds are blameless (as is proper and must be), they nevertheless rely before God solely on His mercy and goodness, keep silent about merits, and want to be found in the wounds of Christ like a dove in the holes in the rock (but the rock is Christ). We therefore do right and well if we first cleanse the sayings and deeds of the saints from the lies that do not belong to them, then rightly divide the word and carefully test it by the rule or likeness of faith, as the apostle teaches [1 Thess. 5:21]: "Test everything, and keep what is good." What need would this reminder have been if all the sayings and deeds of the saints were to be taken for articles of faith without examination? Their profession was not the same as that of the apostles and prophets. They were saints, but men, and their willing spirit had to suffer not only from the weak, but also from the resisting flesh. Where they therefore speak and we
If the saints of God are under the dominion of the Spirit, their words and works must be collected as gospel fragments, since these were wrought in them by the Lord Christ, and are in fact the Lord Christ's own works; but where they speak and act in opposition to the flesh, they are not to be condemned, but excused or borne, for our very consolation, because we see that the saints of God were like us weak men, and that each one had his weakness in his sinful flesh. For this reason, dear Spalatin, I wanted your book to be published. But henceforth you will refrain from such great (I would say false, if I were not aware of your sincerity) praises of me. I know that I am nothing. Fare well in the Lord and pray for me that I may blessedly depart from the body of death and this sinful flesh, Amen. March 8, 1544.