Response to No. 2346: Joy over Luther's improvement. The Emperor's ambassador has not yet received an answer, nor has the Pope's nuncio. The Duke of
1) Therefore N. Ericeus tells in the Sylvula, pag. 202 d: "Testament of Luther, which he made to the pope". When the doctor at Schmalkalden was so seriously ill that no hope of life remained, and he now departed, he said this to the brothers as his last words: If the pope throws off his crown and descends from the chair and the primacy, and confesses that he has erred and corrupted the church, then we will accept him into our church. Otherwise he will always be the Antichrist to us. (Seidemann.)
Würtemberg admired Luther's courage that he had dared to leave in the face of such a serious illness and was even thinking of leaving because he had been ill for eight days. Melanchthon was extremely saddened, especially because no help could have been procured for Luther there, and he had also noticed that mistakes had been made in the medical treatment 2c.
Transcript in Cod. Mehn. III, p. 66 d. Printed in Select. epist., p. 31; Epist. lib. I, p. 28 (edit. Lond., Iib. I, ep. 22) and in Corp. ref., vol. III, 299.
To D. Martin Luther.
Hail! With all my heart I give thanks to God, the Father of mercies, and to our Lord Jesus Christ, our High Priest, who represents us and has compassion on our weaknesses, that he has begun to alleviate the danger of the great sickness. For I rejoice with all my heart, both for your sake and for the sake of the commonwealth, that you have come back to life, and this joy is made greater by the fact that we have seen an example by which God has clearly testified that He graciously looks upon this church of ours. Here, all the princes and other good men's faces and meetings were brighter after your letter was brought, indicating hope for life. They recognize that through your ministry the light of the gospel has been brought to light again, and realize that they owe this to you, but at the same time they foresee how great harm the church would receive if you were snatched away from us. Therefore, it is the wish of all of them that you remain with us for a long time, and they thank God for having called you back to life, as it were, in the midst of death. And I hope that this joy is pleasing to GOtte, and thanksgiving, because by many persons grace is gratefully acknowledged against us in many ways [2 Cor. 1, 11.].
I pray to God through our Lord Jesus Christ to restore you completely and make you well. Here the deliberations are not yet finished about the answer to be given to the emperor's orator to his disputation, which he has made in an exceedingly harsh manner about the earlier answer. Therefore, the papal nuncio has also not yet received an answer. The Duke of Würtemberg praises the greatness of your courage that you have dared to set out on the journey in such an illness and have escaped from this cave. He says that he will follow your example, for he has been ill for more than eight days and has decided to leave tomorrow. Christ grant that I may see you shortly unharmed and restored to good health.
1) I have been in the greatest [soul] sufferings 2) and these were increased by the bad circumstance (indignitas) that we could not provide you with help in this place. I was also tormented by several medical mistakes, by which, as I perceived, the illness was increased. Therefore, it is impossible to say how much suffering I have been plagued with. I am not yet completely freed from worry. But if it was urinary compulsion due to constipation, I hope that all danger has already been averted, but if due to the mass (mole) of the stone, I still hope that it will diminish, and you will have, by God's grace, a wise and reliable physician, and I wish that God will assist him. Farewell. At Schmalkalden 1537.
No. 2351.