Luther gives him advice on how to behave in a dispute with certain opponents. 1)
The original is in Gotha in Cod. chart. B. N. 20, whose facsimile Seidemann received only after the printing of the text (from De Wette's Nachlaß), vol. VI, p. 425 f.. The variants are given on p. 632, note I; we have used the same.
Luther to his dear Valerius.
Hail! I have received your letter, my esteemed husband, about your duel with which you fight against the new superstition, but which goes further than that Christ himself could finally suffer it. I praise your faithfulness and effort, and I detest the impudent sacrilege. But I beg you to be wise. First, do not doubt that this is a very harmful error, since it teaches the hearts of men to trust in clothes, even in rags, and not in God; second, that these people are the most insolent of all. For although the preachers are impudent in other respects, they are also cunning, and know how to evade time and place, namely by
1) It seems that it is a funeral in monastic garments, which was performed by Dominicans (praedicatores == preacher monks). This is also indicated by Luther's remark (above in the margin of the original on the left): "The abbot Panormitanus de Seoult: t c ilatum says: The monasticism is abolished by death, therefore no one can be a monk after death. Therefore, the putting on of such a habit after death is of use for a certain devotion (deuocionem). - But what this devotion is, or how it is useful, he does not express."
have learned through their evil. But this kind of people, not yet marked by any public shameful deed, hardened by unbelievable clumsiness, takes it all in, and as it is commonly said, "They are full of wine." Therefore I beseech thee, deal not against them with violence and noise, but with contempt and ridicule. For you are not dealing with men, but with sticks and blocks. I also suffer their nonsense to this day. But as they feel nothing, so they also understand nothing. Therefore, strive with prayer and faith against God for your own (congregation,]2) to which you are assigned as a teacher in the Word. For if God does not help, moved by our faith and prayer, we struggle in vain with these pebbles. Be well and pray for me. I am writing under a great deal of business, and would gladly write more if I could. Wittenberg.
No. 3331.
Without year and day.