The concern is printed in its entirety in Corp. Ref. Vol. III, 738 ff, signed by Luther, Jonas and Bugenhagen. This postscript by Luther's own hand ibid. col. 740 f.; in De Wette, vol. V, p. 251 without date, and likewise in the Erlanger Ausg. vol. 55, p. 269.
One would also like to say to the lords of Meissen: Medice, cura te ipsum. If they now atone for their covenants (which have been and still are vain, diabolical, bloodthirsty ruthlessness), then we want to know how to prove our necessary and defensible covenant against their murderous rampage, that it is quite just and right, regardless of the fact that they think themselves so wise that they can well direct all splinters, forgetting their beam, just as if the Holy Spirit could not hit their wise head even in the mortar. Summa: if they should write against me, Luther, they must need less of such high wisdom, or hear: Brother, are you painted? you are well known.
No. 2553
To Mrs. Catharina Metzler in Breslau.
consolation over the death of her son, who had died as a student in Wittenberg. - Her husband, the Doctor Juris and mayor in Breslau, Johann Metzler, had died on October 2, 1538.
A copy is at the Rathsschulbibliothek in Zwickau. Printed by De Wette-Seidemann, vol. VI, p. 446.
To the honorable, virtuous woman Katharinen Metzlerin, citizen of Bresla, my favorable good friend.
Grace and peace in Christ. Honorable, virtuous, dear wife! I could not refuse to write to you and, as much as God gives, to comfort you in writing, after I had well thought
Letters from the year 1539. No. 2553. 2554. 2555.
that this cross, which God has now laid upon you through the departure of your dear son Kilian, will press you hard and hurt you; as a man should naturally and justly grieve, especially in such close blood and flesh. For God did not create us to feel nothing, or to be stone and wood, but wants us to mourn and lament the dead, otherwise it would be a sign that we have no love, especially for our own, but that it has a measure. For the dear Father tries us by this, whether we also can love and fear him, both in love and sorrow, also whether we can give him back what he has given us, so that he may have cause to give more and better. Therefore, I ask you to recognize the gracious, good will of God and to bear such a cross patiently to please Him, and to think with heartfelt faith what a cross He Himself has borne for you and all of us, compared to which our crosses are nothing or ever so small. You should also be comforted by the fact that your son has become a pious, quiet man, that he has departed from this shameful world in a very Christian and blessed way, that God may very well have wanted to secure and protect him from greater evil. For it is such an evil, dangerous time that we should all say with Elijah and Jonah: "I would rather be dead than live." Let them mourn for whom their children so shamefully perish and go to the devil. This is heartache, as David must suffer for his son Absalon. Your son is with our Lord Christ, in whom he has fallen asleep, and you thank God of grace that he has so graciously taken your child to himself, which is better for him than that he should be highest in the court of emperors and kings. May God, the Father of all comfort, abundantly strengthen your faith with His Spirit, Amen. Thursday after Visitationis Mariä [July 3] 1539. Martinus Luther.