Recommendation of a displaced person. Political news and domestic affairs.
Handwritten in Aurifaber, vol. III, p. 282. Printed in Schütze, vol. III, p. 92 and in De Wette, vol. V, p. 162 f.
Grace and peace in Christ! This young man, Philip Pomelanus from Gandau, expelled for the sake of the Word, my dear Jacob, has come here; his simple nature and his respectability have moved us all. And if his language was not useless among our people 2) we would not have let him go. But to feed people who are strong and able to work elsewhere is not suitable, nor is it a duty to bear our burdens, let alone" those that we are weak.
I) "eisenmalicht" == rust stained.
2s Instead of mutilis, we assumed inutilis. The former does not exist.
People from all over the world are oppressed. Therefore, it seemed good to us to commend him to you, whether he might be of use among your countrymen through the ministry of the tongue or serve very many neighbors. Fare well in the Lord and greet all of our people.
You not only know more news than we do, but you also have it. For it is said that the emperor and the Burgundians are undertaking a war against Geldern (? Gelras), and that he has already sent twenty thousand Spaniards there by sea. In our country there is now a serious conflict between the Landgrave of Hesse and the Duke of Brunswick, 3) for which a meeting is already being held in Frankfurt, between hope and fear, only that the consideration of the church in our country hopes for peace. "The clergy are really doing too much, the sack will have to tear in the end. Greetings to you, my Lord Kätha, and to your pathchen, my daughter Margaretha, who has learned to sing beautifully the words of Matth. 11: "Come to me, all of you" and other things more. You have chosen these as your pathchen, and I also command them to you. Certainly I am decreasing in strength, and yet the struggles, heresies and temptations do not cease, nor do they diminish, so that if I were a demant, I would finally be forced to collapse under the burden, which I hope will happen soon by the grace of Christ. And for this hour of mine, I pray, will you also pray. On the day before Peter was raised to the chair (Cathedrati), that is, before Peter was made a mockery by the pope [21 Feb.] 1539. Yours, Martin Luther.
But listen, my master Käthe has ordered me to joke with you. We are in doubt here whether your sea has dried up. For after the permission to eat meat dishes came through the gospel, there have never been fewer of your fish here, namely, salted fish, such as herring, haddock, 4) plaice, and salmon, so that we are now in doubt as to whether your sea is dry.
3) The landgrave had intercepted the duke's secretary with letters to the Elector of Mainz. See Seckendorf, Hist. Luth., lib. III, p. 294, § 69 (De Wette).
4) This is our assumption, since truscopiscium is not found in our lexicons. Perhaps it is a word formed by Luther "dry fish" (stick fish), like the schollensium that follows.
Letters from the year 1539. No. 2509. 2510. 2511.
no longer by the freedom of the gospel, but by the necessity of hunger, to be forced to eat meat dishes, with such a great lack of salt fish, unless perhaps all salt fish together with the fish fear the wrath of the pope, the God on earth, and finally even the seas flee his lightning, after he is despised on the land.
No. 2510.