About Christmas 1526. **)
1. grace and peace in the Lord. You preach to me, my dear Wenceslaus, that Christ is set for a fall and resurrection. Thus one sermon follows another. The King of England (to whom, on the advice of the King of Denmark, I wrote a submissive and humble letter in good hope and out of a sincere and honest heart) answered me so hostilely that it almost seems as if he is glad of the opportunity to take revenge on me, just as Duke George did. So weak and feeble, yes, so base is the mind of these tyrants, which is better suited for the common rabble: but thanks be to the Lord Christ, and to me the joy that I am sufficiently smelled, because their God, Satan, is contemptible to me along with them.
I am pleased that you have promised to send me seeds for the spring. So send as much as you can. For I am waiting for it with great desire. If I can serve you again in anything, only command and believe that I will do it. For Satan rages with his members,
I will only laugh and enjoy the gardens, that is, the blessings of the Creator, and enjoy them to His glory.
Since there is no art or fine way of life among us barbarians, I have begun the art of woodturning with Wolfgang, my servant. We are sending you a gold nail here and ask you to kindly send us some instruments for hollowing and turning, and at the same time two or three so-called "screws", about which some wood turner will gladly give you information. We have some instruments, but we are looking for some more delicate ones after the pattern of your artistic Nuremberg. This you will do-if you lay out more, it will be reimbursed to you, for I believe that such things are given much more cheaply with you, if it is not too burdensome for you-so that, if the world does not want to give us our sustenance for the sake of the Word, we may learn to earn our bread with manual labor, and serve the unworthy and ungrateful according to the example of our Father in heaven. The grace of God be with you. Given in the year 1525 [1526].