Luther wants to write against Ambrosius Catharinus. He sends books and all kinds of news.
Printed in Aurifaber, Vol. I, p. 312; in De Wette, Vol. I, p. 569 and in Erlanger Briefwechsel, Vol. Ill, p. 104.
To Wenceslaus Link, general vicar of the hermits of St. Augustine.
JEsus.
Dear God, what a great mishmash of this quite insipid Thomist Catharinus! 7) I will answer him with little, at most four sheets. These German books you will give in my name to the apothecary Stephan Hoff, and to him, I
6) Heinrich Schmiedberg, chancellor of Bishop Philip of Naumburg and Freisingen, bequeathed a hundred florins to Luther before he died at Eilenburg on November 5, 1520. Compare No. 467 in this volume. - Fabian" is Fabian von Feilitzsch, electoral councilor.
7) See St. Louis edition; Vol. XVIII, Introduction, p. 46.
please you to say thanks for the gift sent to me. I would have written to him, but since I am busy, I could hardly write this. With another messenger I sent you the Psalter; now you do not need these German books.
The postilla about Advent is ready, but the printer did not want to publish it, because he fears that the profit might be taken away from him first. The prince has written to me from Worms so that I may know that the matter is not yet in the nest of the papists. The bull posted in Leipzig has been soiled with excrement and torn up, likewise in Torgau; but the same thing has happened in Döbeln, with the signature: "The nest is here, the birds have flown out." Emser's book 1) was nailed to the public post in Magdeburg, which is called "Gack" 2) or "the pillory", with two rods or brooms attached here and there, and the inscription added: This place is worthy of such a book. Besides, there is nothing new with us. You pray for me. March 7, 1521.
Martin Luther, Augustinian.