(Regest.)
Luther sends a concern written by Melanchthon about the sacrament dispute, which he regrets, but which he declares he cannot do anything to resolve against his conscience.
1) This shows that the date of this letter is not December 17, but December 16.
Letters from the year 1534. No. 2094 a to 2097.
Printed by Rommel, Philipp der Großmüthige. From it in Krafft, Theol. Arbeiten des rhein. wissenschaftlichen Predigervereins, vol. II, p. 99. The above regest in Kolde, Analecta, p. 201, with the note: "Krafft rightly notes that afterwards the objection printed in De Wette, IV, 570 (the preceding number) comes from Melanchthon." We are of the opposite opinion, and hold that this misgiving bears in a pronounced way the nature of Luther. Would Melanchthon ever have dared to say "that the body of Christ is gnawed with the teeth"? The concern mentioned in our letter might be the one found in Corp. Ref., Vol. II, 800, which Bretschneider says Melanchthon wrote before his trip to Cassel. Bretschneider places the time of Melanchthon's departure "approximately on December 12" (Corp. Ref., Vol. II, 807), whereas we learn from a letter of Spalatin to the Elector of Dec. 26, 1534 (Kolde, Analecta, p. 202), that "right at the hour when Philip rode out and met me [Spalatin], God gave Luther the third daughter, on Thursday after St. Lucius [Dec. 17], and the following day she was baptized.
No. 2095.