July 11, 1523.
1. grace and peace in Christ. Esteemed and worthy, dear lords and friends in Christ. I have previously admonished your love in Latin by Scripture in a brotherly and Christian manner, after it has been revealed by the grace of God through the Gospel, how many things contrary to the right worship of God are certainly going on in your church, as yours, without a doubt, thoroughly understands that the Lord wants to do that such abominations may be attacked and changed in honor of the Gospel.
The Lutherans told me: "Because there is no dean among you at this time, you cannot do anything about it, but want to postpone it until the future dean: "But now that the Lutherans have a dean, I will come another time with German writing and ask most kindly and humbly that the Lutherans will do something about it.
I take Christ our Lord as a witness to my conscience, that I do this for no other reason than that my conscience urges me to do it, and some of you know it well, for I also fear that we will not give the slightest cause for God's word to be so weak with us and bear so little fruit, that we will look on your nature and idolatrous abominations and, as Moses said to the children of Israel, leave thorns in our eyes and a thorn in our sides. It would be well to be patient and to stand still, if it were human infirmities; but now it strives against the righteous teachings of Christ and the faith, truly, my dearest sirs, you can no longer be silent and suffer. It has been tolerated long enough for the sake of the weak and ignorant;
What we tolerate longer will come upon us and weigh us down with foreign sins.
Your love also knows well that it is not to be answered that the Elector commands or does not command to do or to change. I am now speaking to your conscience; what is the Elector's business in such matters? You know what St. Peter says Apost. 5, 29: Oportet Deo magis obedire, quam hominibus, and St. Paul Gal. 1, 8: Si angelus e coelo aliud Evangelium vobis an- nunciaverit, anathema sit.
(5) So also E. L. cannot say that they do not understand, as some pieces are manifestly contrary to the gospel. Now that you are with us in one city and in one gathering, and, what is more, have the Christian name, we are compelled to admonish you, and if you do not obey, to deny you the Christian name and to utter your whole name. I, for my part, know nothing to forbid you, except that I shall henceforth plead against you, as I have pleaded for you hitherto.
6) And stand on it, because you have a Christian name and do not want to be Gentiles, that one day my prayer will gain strength, so that you will have to be inside, which is called Deut. 32, 36] 1): Deus judicabit populum suum. Et iterum [2 ©or. 13, 3.]: Christus non est in vobis infirmus, sed potens in vobis. Yearly it is to take Christ's name, and not want to be Christians; because he is a zealot and can well suffer from the
1) Both De Wette and the Erlangen edition reprinted this and the following Bible quotation from Walch, who erroneously had "Psalm 9, 9." and "2 Cor. 12, 9.".
This letter is found in the Eisleben Collection, vol. I, p. 172; in the Altenburger, vol. II, p. 355" in the Leipziger, vol. XVIII, p. 495; in the Erlanger, vol. 53, p. 178 and in De Wette, vol. II, p. 354. After the latter, we reproduce the text using the improvements given in Burthardt, Luthers Briefwechsel, p. 62.
1180 Erl. 53, 17S f. 139. letter to the canons of Wittemberg. W. XIX, 1439-1441. 1181
Strangers are blasphemed and reviled, but he soon seeks out his own, after which they disobey. [1 Petr. 4, 17.]
7 Because I wish E. L. the best, I ask you for God's sake that E. L. may let my faithful exhortation have the appearance of Christ exhorting you through me, of which I have no doubt and am certain; for I ever gladly want to serve E. L. in the Gospel. Where
I must nevertheless prefer the gospel to E.L. and earn thanks and grace here and ingratitude and disgrace from you. I hereby entrust E. L. to the grace of Christ, who may enlighten, remind and strengthen E. L. to do what is pleasing to His good will, amen. On the Saturday after St. Kilian's Day, during Vespers, Anno 1523.
Martinus Luther, D.