Luther exhorts him to be conciliatory.
From the collection of Caspar Sagittarius in Jena at Schütze, vol. II, p. 293; at Strobel-Ranner, p. 224 and at De Wette, vol. IV, p. 483 s. German in Walch, vol. XXI, 1467. as a letter, addressed to Wenc. Link addressed, in Cod. Helmst. 94 Bibl. Guelph. Walch has the year 1539.
Grace and peace in Christ Jesus, who is our true peace! I have read both your former letter and afterwards your writing, which has been delivered to your counsel, dearest brother in the Lord. I have also read the letters and writings of the other part, and Christ, my honor, is my witness, with how great pain this discord of yours torments me in this exceedingly miserable time of aggravation and spite, under which we, completely overwhelmed, lie prostrate. But as far as I understand from all your letters and writings, they do not seem to do enough for you, nor you for them. What now? If neither of you thinks that you can be overcome by the other, do you want to quarrel forever and keep biting each other without end, to the great annoyance of many godly people? Since you do this for the sake of Christ
Letters from 1533. no. 2006. 2007.
namely, you who, overcome by your conscience, cannot give way to them, 1) are worthy of forgiveness; again, those who claim that they are overcome by their conscience are also worthy of forgiveness - therefore let this forgiveness be granted to one another and bear one another's burdens according to the law of Christ, and in this way put an end to the discord, that you on both sides henceforth keep silent in public about this question, until it is subdued in itself in time. In the meantime, you may keep this opinion within yourself, and, as before, not find yourself weighed down in your church by the use of public absolution; again, those may keep their opinion within themselves, and, as before, use this absolution, until, after the minds have been calmed and the former peace has been established, a determination can be made on this matter without offense to the minds. You cannot order or do anything good when the minds are so agitated, and it can easily happen that you make a beam out of a splinter if you continue to engage in disputes. Perhaps you will all also cause a great disturbance among yourselves, to the delight of Satan and his, which will be very difficult to settle afterwards. For you seem to me, according to your special talent and erudition, to be able to discuss many things excellently, but there are people on both sides who do not do enough for me either. We are human beings and can easily be deceived by our flesh if we do not listen to one another and depart from our senses. You know well enough what the end could be. Therefore, for Christ's sake, since it now seems to us that your quarrel can have no other end nor measure, I beg you to deign to drop this question that has been raised, and that you withdraw from the war against each other, as I have advised above, and that in the meantime, leaving matters unchanged and publicly silent about them, you press on to what you teach together. If you follow this advice, which I believe to be Christ's counsel, He will grant grace and the Lord's blessing.
1) Instead we have assumed potes.
I believe that you believe how high I place you in my mind. I am sure that you believe how high I place you in my mind, how worthy are the gifts of God that you have, otherwise I would not act so seriously and diligently in this matter. Therefore, again, my dear brother in our common Lord, do not despise my faithful heart toward you, and strive with me that this spark among you be dampened so that it does not grow into a conflagration by which we might be seized at the same time. Our Lord, our consolation, Christ Jesus rule and guide your hearts in his love and patience, amen. October 8, Anno 1533.
Your Martin Luther.
No 2007.