Luther does not want to write the letter to the pope that he promised Miltitzen, because Eck has arrived with the bull of excommunication. He leaves it undecided whether he should ask the Elector to obtain an imperial edict for him and his books. News from Venice. Of the "Babylonian captivity" and a writing by Carlstadt; of Eck's reception in Leipzig; of the Archbishop of Mainz; of Matthew Adrian.
The original of this letter is in the Anhaltisches Gesammt-Archiv, Printed by Aurifaber, Vol. I, p. 283b; by De Wette, Vol. I, p. 491 and in the Erlanger Briefwechsel, Vol.II,p.486.
1) The General Chapter of the Augustinians was held in Eisleben on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday after Bartholomew [August 26-28].
2) No. 339 in this volume.
3) In Walch's old edition: "in Italian".
4) Jakob Probst.
5) This was just an empty rumor.
6) The confessor of the Elector, died April 15, 1522.
To the learned and godly man, Georg Spalatin, Christ's servant, his friend in the Lord.
JEsus.
Hail! I have received many letters from you, my dear Spalatin, and I am surprised that the one through which I answered yours from Buttstedt has not yet reached you. 7) For the later ones did not concern anything else than that one, namely from the fathers' sending to me from Eisleben; but I still hope that it will have reached you in the meantime. For Carl has requested that I write privately to the Roman pope and apologize for not having attacked his person. I have not yet done so, nor will I do so now, since Eck, as one has heard, has prepared bulls and curses for me at Leipzig. 8) It is still not known what he intends to do.
It has seemed good to many that I should ask our prince to issue me an imperial edict that no one should condemn me unless I am overcome by Scripture, nor forbid my books. You may see whether it is advisable; I do not care much about it, because I do not like that my books are so much copied, and would like to destroy them all at once, because they are without order and unsmoothed, although I wish that the things themselves are known to all. But not everyone can gather gold from the dung, nor is it necessary, since better writings and the holy books are available. I would like it much more if we could either multiply the living books, that is, the preachers, or ensure that they are read to the people; in this regard, I am sending you what has been sent to me from Italy.
If our prince wanted to come here, I believe that he could hardly do a work that would be more worthy of him. For if the common people in Italy were to take hold of this, perhaps our cause would stand all the stronger. Who knows if God will not awaken them and give us
7) Compare No. 13 in this appendix.
8) In the Erlanger abhuc instead of aclkue; probably a misprint, because no variant is given.
Keep our prince for his own sake, that he may work through him for his word? Therefore, see what you can promote here for Christ's cause. The one who writes from Venice is a brother of Lazarus Spengler, 1) who sent this copy to me from Nuremberg.
The book of the captivity of the church 2) will go out on Saturday [Oct. 6] and be sent to you. Carlstadt has also made his decision, 3) and is sounding the horns against the Roman pope. At this hour it is reported to me that Eck is quite uncertain in Leipzig and very much despised, and is mocked in many notes posted everywhere, and he finds a far different shape of things and a different attitude in Leipzig than he had hoped; for things are not as they were a year ago. 4) Yes, he has changed his lodgings and is staying in the Dominican monastery; it is publicly said that he will not escape the persecutions, nor will he return to Ingolstadt. 5) I did not want him to be killed, although I wish that his plots would come to nothing. May the Lord do what is good in his eyes.
5) There is nothing new in our country but the Prussian war. 6) The bishop of Mainz publicly orders that the books of Hütten and those that have appeared against the pope be stopped; thereby he will bring evil upon his head. Hütten sets out with tremendous anger against the Roman pope, 7) and attacks the cause with weapons and writings. Our Adrian, I do not know by what furor he is driven, 8) rages violently against me; perhaps he seeks an occasion to leave. I have done nothing to the man; he is attacking
1) Georg Spengler, a respected merchant in Venice; Scheurl, Briefbuch, vol. II, p. 60. He died March 21, 1529.
2) "Of the Babylonian Captivity of the Church," St. Louis Edition, vol. XIX, 5 ff.
3) Compare St. Louis edition, vol. XX, Introduction, p. 5a f.
4) Compare Miltitzen's letter to the Elector of October 3, 1520, No. 340 in this volume.
5) He finally escaped at night from Leipzig to Freiberg.
6) This is the war of the Teutonic Knights' Grand Master Albrecht against the King of Poland, to whom he refused the oath of fealty.
7) Compare No. 13,? 3 in this appendix.
8) He held to Eck. Cf. Seidemann, "Beiträge," p. 39, note.
my sermons, ready to teach me the gospel, while he does not understand his Moses. We interpret his nonsense in many ways; but let it go, time will reveal it. Fare well in the Lord. On the day before Franciscus [October 3] 1520. Martin Luther, Augustinian.