Reply to the above letter. Although we have included a registry of this letter in No. 1887, we nevertheless let the complete text follow here, so that the reader can verify the correctness of the statement that this letter is the answer to Luther's letter, which was addressed to the Duke in February or early March, but not, as was stated in Kolde's registry, to the letter of August 24, 1531.
A copy is in the Königsberg Archives, Fol. Counts and Lords, x>. 368. Printed in Erl. Briefw., vol. IX, p. 165.
Our favorable greetings and gracious will beforehand. Respectable and highly learned, especially dear! We have received your manuscript, 1) sent by this messenger, safely three weeks ago, and have taken the contents sufficiently. But the fact that the messenger held off with an answer is due to the fact that he arrived in time, that the next day we hurriedly traveled to our friendly dear brother and brother-in-law Margrave Georgen 2) and Duke Friedrichen zur Lignitz on our business and stayed with their loved ones for a while, and would have been inclined to write you a lot; so the haste of the messenger has deceived us, and the excuse that you delayed us somewhat with your reply due to weakness would have been unnecessary, but your
1) This letter accompanying the print (No. 1878a) is missing.
2) Margrave George of Brandenburg was in Silesia around that time.
We are truly sorry for your weakness and the fact that your head does not want to suffer much, considering that you need to work a lot now. May the eternally gracious God, for the glory, honor, and praise of His sole Word of salvation, and for the salvation of our souls, grant you a strong, healthy head, so that you may work much.
We are graciously grateful for your effort and diligence in sending us the preacher, and we graciously request that you do not delay in doing so, and that you use your diligence so that a skilled, learned man may be brought to Riga in honor of the divine word, for much of the place is interested in this.
As far as the Deutschmeister 3) is concerned, we would like it to be peaceful and quiet. But since everything is in God's hands, we want to surrender it to him, who will order and do well with us according to his divine will, for since we have him as a comfort and support, the people are little or not at all to be feared, and although an eight 4) is written and spoken of, we still do not have a thorough semblance of it at present. Therefore, do not let us complain to you, even if the eight, because we are not under royal jurisdiction with these lands and people in any imperial matter, may bind us in our conscience, to share your faithful advice.
Good peace from the Imperial Diet 5) would be highly necessary to us, but as a human being we doubt that little will come of it, in view of the dwindling, dangerous runs and low confidence, which are now everywhere in sight, and which one places with the other, unless the Turk gives better means than the rod. For we can, in your gracious opinion
3) Walther von Kronberg. After the secularization of Prussia, the non-German members of the Order elected him as German Master and administrator of the office of Grand Master in Prussia. The emperor had confirmed him on January 18, 1527, solemnly enfeoffed him at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg, and on Nov. 14, 1530, issued a punitive mandate against Albrecht, demanding that he cede the land of Prussia to Kronberg or appear before the Court of Appeals within 90 days and state his reasons why he was not obligated to make this cession. Albrecht had his liege lord, King Sigismund of Poland, forbid him to obey the emperor's mandate, and sent a letter of justification consisting of 214 articles against Kronberg's accusations to the estates of the empire. (Erl. Briefw.)
4) The emperor did not care about Duke Albrecht's letter of vindication, but pronounced the imperial ban on him on Jan. 19, 1532, which, however, had no effect in Prussia. (Erl. Briefw.)
5) Namely, the upcoming Imperial Diet in Regensburg.
We cannot hide the fact that we let ourselves be told and the Turkish ambassadors said that it was credible that the Turk would certainly come with great power and would by no means fail to appear. And for the sake of your brother-in-law, 1) we would not have needed to thank him, for he ordered us to do everything for your sake and wanted to keep him in faithful command.
Finally, we thank you for your advice, which you have given us in the printing of the Gospel of John sixteen, with special grace, and although we are well satisfied with your writing, and our preachers, before Poliander, by the help of God, are doing things this way, that there is no doubt or error in our minds, nevertheless, since you are working on it without any interpretation, do not fail to prevent much error, and let it come to our hands. On the other hand, we want to prove ourselves to you in such a way that you will feel that we do not want to forget or be found ungrateful for your service and the good that may be done to us by you, and that we are excused for not writing by our own hand, since it may not have happened this time due to haste and business. Dated Königsberg, April 6, 1532.
No. 1888a.