Luther warns him against attending banquets because many poison murders occur. A tale of poisoners.
Handwritten in Cod. Goth. 185. 4. and in Aurifaber, vol. III, p. 324. Printed in Schütze, vol. I, p.(238) and in De Wette, vol. V, p. 345.
Grace and peace! Today, April 20, I received your letter, my dear Philip, which you wrote on April 14, reporting quite good and cheerful things about the very good will of Carl. GOD
6) In the editions: "him".
7) The meaning is: "that shall annoy the emperor". The editions offer: "the" instead of "the". Melanchthon had written this (in No. 2770): Audio stomachatum esse imperatorem.
Letters from the year 1541. no. 2774. 2775.
Accomplish what he has begun, and do not cease to persecute those light-shy bats until the sun of justice rises, which will publicly condemn them, Amen.
I have so often forgotten to warn you to beware of banquets. In the meantime, the atrocities of poisoners have become frequent here. In Erfurt, spices and spicy medicines mixed with poison have been discovered in trade. In Altenburg, 12 people took poison from spices at the same table and died; the same happened in Jena and elsewhere. The devil sends his poisoners. I wonder what it is with the great ones that they are not vigilant in the face of such great raging of Satan. Henceforth, nothing will be safe to buy or use. Yes, I will tell a story that Jakob Walch, the clerk of our court, told yesterday. In a certain town, I don't know which, two men came, apparently clergymen (religiosos), as if they were looking for the service of the words in our churches. Each of them had his little box, 1) which, as often as they went out, they ordered the innkeeper to keep most diligently. At last the innkeeper, moved by this excessive care, began to be curious (sciturire) as to what was in these boxes, and after one after the other had been opened, he found that they were full of small hosts with which the laity communicated, And perhaps suspecting no evil, as if to mock their viaticum, he took one of them and mixed it with the food that was to be served to them at breakfast, in order to provoke laughter. But those died immediately at the table after they had enjoyed the food. This may be a fairy tale, but it is certain that poisoners roam about. Therefore, we are very concerned for you, but we comfort ourselves with the words [Ps. 91:11]: "He has commanded His angels over you," 2c., and He will do it [Matth. 10:26], "so that nothing is hidden that will not be revealed," as He did with Mezentius, the child of the devil.
1) Instead of sicam (dagger) we adopted arcam and soon following arcis instead of sicus.
Everything is fine here, thank God. D. Jonas preaches in these holy Easter holidays in Halle, where the castle is foaming with rage, but the people and the council like to see it. I sit still under Moses unclean by the river of the ear and think at times of life, at times of death. May the will of the Lord be done, amen. Fare well in the Lord for ever and ever. April 20, 1541.
Martin Luther.
No. 2775.