Luther writes to him about a pastor and excuses the visitators with the fact that things are bad at the court in Dresden.
Handwritten in Cod. Goth. 402, fol. 185. 4. and in Aurifaber, vol. III, p. 294. Printed in Welleri Opp. omnia, tom. I, p. 207; in Schelhorns Ergötzlichsten, vol. I, p. 625; in Schütze, vol. III, p. 195; in Strobel- Ranner, p. 284 and in De Wette, vol. V, p. 273 f.
To the excellent man, Hieronymus Weller, Doctor of Theology, his brother who is exceedingly dear to the Lord.
Mercy and peace! What you desire, my dear Jerome, I do, and so I write to your senate. But what you write about the priest, I have read with sadness, but I ask you that you speak and write about him, as much as you can, all good, the evil that you hear, only excuse for a short time. For you do not know how strangely everything is done at the court in Dresden, about whose sullenness I am so upset.
1) Walch reports the opposite.
I have written a not at all modest letter to a certain man who has great power in the same, yes, that I have refused to do, say and write anything further for that cause. Surely it is not the fault of the visitators if something is not done quite right (as far as I can see), but of this pack of wise people who make themselves believe that they have not ten Solomons but a hundred gods in their heads. With how deep a hatred I tend to hate this kind of people, you know that, 2) and you cannot love them either, I know that. Therefore, if those poor visitators miss something, I pray that you and yours will postpone your judgment until the day of inspection comes, which will be shortly. Fare well in the Lord and greet the senators and all of us. I and my Käthe (who has returned from the dead) wish you happiness as a new father, and your wife as a new mother. God keep and increase this blessing, Amen. Tuesday (after) Judica (March 16) 1540.
Your Martin Luther.
No. 2636. 21 March 1540.
Albrecht, Duke of Prussia, to Luther.
(Regest.)
The duke recommends the sons of Georg von Kunheim and Christoph von Portugal, who are going to Wittenberg.
A regest can be found in I. Voigt, "Mittheilung aus der Correspondenz des Herzogs Albrecht mit Luther" 2c., Königsberg 1841, p. 11 and in Kolde, Xnaleota, p. 347.
No. 2637.
(Wittenberg.) Between March 21 and 27, l 540.