About Luther's state of health. About the Elector's burgrave in Halle. About the election of a syndicus for Halle and the filling of the parish in Herzberg.
Handwritten in Aurifaber. From the original in Schütze, Vol. I, p. 146 and in De Wette, Vol. V, p. 359.
Mr. Justus Jonas, Doctor of Sacred Theology.
Grace and peace! First of all, I think I have easily obtained this from you, my dear Jonas, that you bear it with equanimity when I answer you either too slowly or too seldom. I certainly don't have such a solid health that I could read or talk for an hour safely and strenuously. I have already often failed to do so, since I am exceedingly eager to talk, write, and read anew; so great was the strength of the illness, whatever it may have been. And even now I do not hear completely, as before. God will do what is good. For the rest, thank God, I am quite well.
Regarding the burgrave's feud 1) you yourself sufficiently indicate that it is written to you from the court. It is not doubtful that the prince will not sell anything, so great is the constancy, only that he will henceforth take nothing for himself in the rule of Halle that does not concern the burgrave's dower. For who should advise him to do so? since we teach that to each his own is due 2). And it is a great thing that the gates of hell are forced by this title and the shadow of the burgraviate alone to suffer you, Jonas, the enemy of Satan and the Cardinal, in their midst, for which thanks must be given to Christ, the Lord over all lords (Dominatori). Therefore, you will tell those anxious people not to worry about the sale of this title; God, who calls to that which is not that it is [Rom. 4, 17.] will also call forth from this little title great things that are not that they are, making everything out of nothing.
1) This refers to the burgraviate of Magdeburg and Halle, which had been given to the Dukes of Saxony by imperial enfeoffment ages ago. Duke Heinrich von Braunschweig, however, claimed in his Streitschrift Wider den Churfürsten (St. Louiser Ausg., Vol. XVII, 1287, § 152 ff.) that the enfeoffment was null and void, but the Archbishop of Mainz seems to have regarded the claims as well-founded, since he was intent on buying his rights from the Elector.
2) Instead of sua suis we have assumed sua cuique.
Letters from the year 1541. no. 2791. 2792. 2793.
The rest of what you demand, I would also have done of my own free will and with great pleasure, indeed I am compelled to do it out of a sense of duty, that I pray for the church in Halle, and also for Balthasar. May God make him alive, as we all desire.
As a syndicus who is to be procured for you, Schneidewein seems to me to be appointed. For with regard to the others, I have neither hope nor desire. If Schneidewein, if he is appointed, should not come (which I do not believe), then I think of Doctor Rosenecker. But why do you, who are a lawyer, consult me in these matters? About the church at Seida (Zidoniensi) and the deacon at Herzberg hear this: Since the pastor at Seida must be removed, and the one at Herzberg seems too young to the commissioners, Pommer is inclined and inclined to call him here to Wittenberg to the office of a captain, if he wants, which, as it seems to me, is more honorable, and will be more of a disgrace to those people, to speak in a carnal way. Whatever may be, all desire that he be provided for in an honorable manner. Fare well in Christ, and be of good cheer. Greet, I pray thee, from me reverently the venerable gray hairs of the gray head of Doctor Middensis 1) and all that is covered by these godly hairs. Everything is well in your house.
1) Middensis; in contrast, in the letter to Jonas of July 16, at the end: Mildensis. The latter name is found in the Album, x>. 56 f.
2) A copy in Cod. Dessav. A has as date: Dorn. Vozem Gokontidadis, which is either a joke by the copyist or by Luther himself (Seidemann in De Wette, vol. VI, p. 521, note 2).
No. 2792.