February 1, 1524.
To the venerable man in the Lord, M. Georg Spalatin, evangelist at the court of Saxony, currently in Nuremberg at the Imperial Diet, his superior.
Grace and peace. I have received Cochlaeus' two books 2) with your letter, my dear Spalatin; but I also hope that my letter, which has been delayed for so long, has been delivered to you by Lucas. At
I am not very concerned about the Imperial Diet, because I know what Satan is. The Argula [of Staufen] 3) may the Lord Christ keep, and triumphire, Amen, Would God that the Imperial Assembly would at least direct its concern to that which serves the common good,
3) Argula von Staufen, married to a Franconian nobleman of Grunbach, appeared as a writer for the cause of the Gospel, for which reason she fell out of favor with Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria, in whose service her husband stood at Dietfurt in the Upper Palatinate, and had to leave the country in 1523. (De Wette, Vol. II, 208; the relevant literature is given in Burkhardt, Luthers Briefwechsel, p. 48).
*) This letter is found in Latin in Aurifaber, Vol. II, toi. 321 d and in De Wette, vol. Ill, p. 148. According to the latter we have translated.
**) Not 1527, which Walch and De Wette offer. Cf. Seidemann at De Wette, vol. VI, 623.
†) This letter is found in Latin in the Ooä. len. u; k. 183; then in Aurifaber, vol. II, 182 d and in De Wette, vol. II, p. 473. According to the latter we have translated.
UM the cause of the gospel, they would already have enough to do. It is not necessary to answer Cochlaeus, because we are busy with other better things, and many such books are daily destroyed by themselves.
My prior has requested through me that you help us with the prince so that we are freed. Our interest, as I have written to you before, 1) has not been paid for two years now. Our blank 2) drives us and sues us, and the rentmaster at Wittenberg grumbles about the grain, which was lent or sold to us by order of the prince, ruthlessly enough about us (while [us] the interest was not paid). Is this why we are here, that we pay all the people, 3) no one pays us? This is strange; Christ will also put an end to these things.
1) On October 16 and November 6, 1523. Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 866 and 870.
2) Licentiate Christoph Blank received twenty gulden annually from the monastery.
3) In the original (Burkhardt p. 69) penäeainus and penäeat instead of penckamus and penüat. kenäeo stands also otherwise instead of penäo, e.g. klin. 21, 109.
Otherwise, everything is going well in the Lord, except that we have great floods and strong winds, more and more every day. The gospel is beginning in Latvia and is progressing well, especially among those in Riga who recently sent letters and a delegate to me; Christ is so wonderful. Finally, a bishop has given glory to Christ and is preaching the evangelical doctrine in Prussia, namely in Samland, whom Johann Brismann cares for and teaches, and whom we have sent there without a habit, so that Prussia may also begin to bid farewell to Satan's kingdom. I think you have already heard what happened in Breslau and Thurgau in Switzerland. If only the foolish princes and bishops would once recognize that it is not Luther, a null man, but the almighty Christ who works this and is condemned by them, if they should be otherwise worthy to recognize such. Fare well and pray for me. Wittenberg, February 1, 1524.
Martin Luther.