The Elector sends a letter from the King of France concerning religion and a copy of some articles that Luther and Melanchthon should have admitted (see St. Louis edition, vol. XVII, 262, no. 1275), which should have been sent from France to England and were spread out there. Now the Elector demands a reservation about the former, but with respect to the articles, that a rebuttal be issued against it.
The original concept is in the Weimar Archives, Reg. O, p. 149, Litt. FFF. 6 Printed by Burkhardt, p. 336.
U[nsern] G[ruß] before. Venerable and reverend, dear devotees and faithful! We have now received a copy of a letter which the King of France is supposed to have sent out for the sake of our Christian religion. But because we
Letters from the year 1539" No. 2600. 2601. 2602.
We do not know for certain, after the persecution has stopped here in France for a while, whether this has been ordered by the king or otherwise practiced by the clergy, to the detriment of the true Christian religion and the gospel and to the disgust of the people, we have nevertheless, in our gracious opinion, not wanted to refrain from informing you of this, so that you may also know how it actually is and whether this has reached you, so that you may inform us. Thus, through our advisors and skilful people, whom we now had in England, several articles have been brought to us, which are also said to have been sent from France to England quite deceitfully and dangerously 1), of which we are also sending you copies. Since such articles seem to us as if one wanted to obscure our Christian confession in some articles and make people's noses wet with them, we graciously request that you, Magister Philipp, consider such articles with your Doctor Martin on your own occasion, overlook such articles, and think about how the things meant and sought by them can be countered and averted by a suitable writing in Latin, so that the adversary's list and evil practices for the preservation of divine truth may be prevented with God's grace. We did not want to restrain you in your gracious opinion and are inclined to you with grace. Date Weimar, Thursday after Martinmas [Nov. 13] 1539.
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