See St. Louis edition, vol. XIX, 643. - About the timing of this letter, the Seidemann at De Wette, vol. VI, p.235, "After mid-November 1539," see the detailed exposition, St. Louis edition, vol. XIX, introduction, p. 32 f. Compare also Köstlin, M. Luther (3rd), vol. II, p.669 ad p.373, note 1. Even the first printing has the date 1535 (Erl. Ausg., vol. 65, p. 96).
No. 2187.
To Bernhard, pastor in Dinkelsbühl.
Luther's advice on how to deal with a possessed woman and others.
Handwritten at Wolfenbüttel in Cod. Helmst. 107 and in Aurifaber, vol. III. Printed in Schütze, vol. II, p. 359 and in De Wette, vol. IV, p. 645, German in Walch, vol. XXI, 1433.
To Bernhard, the loud priest in the church at Dinkelsbühl (DunkelspuIensi).
Grace and peace in the Lord! The brother in the Lord has given me your letter.
5) In the text (unintelligible): 1 Corinth. I. c. 13. - A small disputation on the passage we have placed is found in the St. Louis edition, vol. XIX, 1459.
Letters from the year 1535. No. 2187. 2188.
I brought you a question about a certain woman who is plagued by the devil, my dear pastor, and although I am forced to write very briefly, since I am burdened with such a large amount of business, I still wanted to answer you, because this Theobald Diedelhuber was supposed to be the letter carrier, if only to recommend him to you.
First, your congregation must do this with you, that they may pray hard and stand firm in faith against Satan, even though he resists stubbornly. We suffered a very bad devil in these parts for about ten years, but we finally subdued him through perseverance with continued prayer and unquestioning faith. The same will happen to you if you continue to despise that mocking and hopeful spirit in Christ again, and do not cease 1) to pray. I have subdued many spirits in many places by this advice, because the prayer of the church finally has the upper hand. Therefore, you too will not doubt that if you pray truly and persistently, that spirit will be humbled.
The second is this, that you take careful care that there is not some fraud in that woman, by which you are all mocked. For I too, through my own experience (not to mention what I have read in books), have found such frauds, so that afterwards my simplicity brought me great reproach. For this spirit takes pleasure in it (as he used to do from the beginning), if he can make Adam a fool through a woman, if he cannot make him an ungodly, although he desires this much more. Summa, whatever it may be, whether in this woman or in others you mention, whether it be an incubus, a succubus 2) and disguised [disguised] in all monstrous shapes, we still know that it is the devil. Therefore, we must not carelessly accept either his poems or deeds, nor even his searches and ghosts, but fight against him in faith and prayer. He lives whom he crucified. But again
1) Instead of cessare will read cessate.
2) "Buhlteufel." See St. Louis edition, Vol. I, 447, § 33 ff.
No. 2188.