July 14, 1529.
To the noble and well-born Lord, Lord Albrecht, Count of Mansfeld 2c., my gracious Lord.
Grace and peace in Christ. My lord, here is a short answer to the articles of the clergy at Einbeck. However, I would like that E. G. faithfully stop at both dukes of Brunswick, namely at the bishop of Paderborn, and Duke Philipsen 2c., and first neatly inquired whether such writing of the article would be ordered or approved by the whole clergy, and where it would be located, so that their (?) E. G. would insist on it. insist on it, and played with them according to their own words, which they put in the sixth at the end, since I have added a hand, and in Latin thus reads: Ignorant adhuc veram rationem missae, qui sic de ea nugantur, qui igitur privatam missam rejiciunt, novos, ob rem nihili, tumultus excitant, quia de lana caprina rixantur. Hereby they confess that they themselves think nothing of the mass, and speak as the arch-enemies of the sacrament, and like the swarmers of the mass.
1) Thus with De Wette. The current spelling is: "Eimbeck".
mer, because they say that the quarrel is about the angle fair, as about a trivial thing, just as if two quarreled about a goatskin, whether it was wool or hair. They are fighting for the corner mass, and say themselves that it is a trivial thing and goats' wool; I want to teach them to know this goats' fur, and to make hair out of the wool, so that another time, when they are asked about the reason for their faith, they will answer God and their sovereigns in all seriousness; For since they do not regard the corner mass as anything, they should only no longer defend it, nor enjoy it, but be pronounced as the mocking knaves of the land, and it does no harm that the said princes should do so against them, least of all to frighten them. The ass is too comfortable, they hold the mass for bread and wine, think that everyone is so rude, one could not notice it. E.G. will know how to behave. Hereby commanded by God, amen. July 14, 1529.
E. G.
Martinus Luther.