Luther encourages him to take courage in the cause of the Gospel; about his writing against Duke Henry of Brunswick; about his severe head and ear ailment.
Manuscript in Aurifaber, vol. III, p. 322 and in Cod. Goth. Printed by Schütze, vol. III, p. 198 and by De Wette, vol. V, p. 341. Only the first half by Buddeus, p. 271 and German by Walch, vol. XXI, 1309.
To the Lord Philip Melanchthon, the disciple and messenger of Christ at Regensburg.
Grace and peace! We have now received your second letters, my dear Philip, and although your broken 4) right hand grieves me, I believe neither your nor my premonitions. 5) Our affairs are not directed by chance, but by a certain counsel, not by ours, that is, in such a fortunate way, 6) but by God's alone. The word runs, prayer is fervent, hope endures, faith triumphs, so that we must grasp it with our hands, and if we were not flesh, we could sleep and sit still, namely, remembering that word of Moses [Ex. 14:14.]: "You will be still, the LORD will fight for you." 7) For even if we wanted to be extremely vigilant in counseling, saying and doing everything else, if God did not fight for us, we would have watched in vain; but if He 8) fights, who will fight for us?
4) As it turned out later, a dislocation had taken place. Cf. no. 2770.
5) omina is De Wette's assumption instead of: omnia.
6) These words are somewhat dark. The text is pretty much in a mess here; modo is missing in Cod. Goth.; nostro is missing in Aurifaber.
7) With the Cod. Goth. and the Vulgate we have read pugnabit instead of pugnat.
8) Instead of vere, we have assumed vero.
whom we do not sleep in vain. And it is certain that he fights and gradually and step by step descends from his throne to the eagerly awaited judgment. There are many, exceedingly great signs which convince me of this.
In your homes, by the grace of God, it is well. Do not be afraid, be strong and joyful, do not worry about anything. The Lord is near. The Heinzen (Henrici), the bishops and even the Turk, even Satan himself, they may do everything they can. We are children of the kingdom, who worship and await the Savior, who has been eaten and killed anew by these Heinces, 1).
I have read over my book against that devil Mezentius again, and wonder what may have happened to me that I have been so moderate. I attribute this to the condition of my head, which has not suffered that my mind has been carried away by a more unreserved and powerful impetuosity. But he may come again only if the Lord wills. But it pleases me that I have acted a little in the matter of the church. My health has improved. From what you prophesied that it was a river of the head, I have indeed realized what a river of the head is. For so much mucus, flow and secretion has gone out of the throat and nose that I wonder very much how an already old head, broken by work, could carry these monstrosities inside, and not rather at every hour flux of strokes, dizziness, falling sickness and the like have suddenly thrown me down. Yes, on the Palm Day the rivers, which had come into the left ear, turned into pus by collected forces, attacked my head, yes, my life, in such a way that I said before unbearable pain under an outburst of tears (which does not easily happen with me, although they flowed less than I wanted) to the Lord: Either this must stop, or I must stop. For two days this very fierce battle of nature could not be endured, but on the
1) Here Buddeus and Walch conclude with the wrong date: "Den 21. April."
No. 2770.