written to a good friend in Saxony. *).
What does not concern a congregation of God and the Christian church should not be revealed or made public, that is, made common, and shouted out everywhere like a toothbreaker. For a private matter may well be concealed and suppressed, and go up and down in its place like the wrath of a house, and not strike out at the roof above. But where it happens, it is evil, which comes from the devil, who has never been good from the beginning. And are
those who do it, his children, even if they introduce God and his word and use them as a cover of shame, as all our adversaries have done. My advice is, let it be, and learn to endure, and keep your mouth shut, so that the noble herb patience may be recognized. May the Lord of peace be with you, and your anger will pass away.
Martinus Luther,
Your old man, who has experienced a lot of the thing.
*) In the Hallische Theil, p. 475, this little writing is printed, and it is noted there that it was found printed on the answer of Erhardi Landolf to the preface of the defamatory letter of Catharinen Zetlin, 1558. From there it has passed into the Leipziger, vol. XXII, p. 426, and into the Erlanger, vol. 64, p. 346.
786 Erl. 64, 346-348. Luther's historical and philological writings. W. XIV. 1358 f. 787