Luther comments on the princes' advertisement to him (No. 2796), is very indignant about the emperor, and hopes for an early end of the Diet.
Handwritten in Aurifaber, vol. III, p. 351. From the original in Schütze, vol. I, p. 150 and in De Wette, vol. V, p. 371.
sent would come to me, but they have come and received my answer with joy; they have added the brother [of Prince John of Anhalt] George, the provost.1) But it is certain that those neither understand the intention of those who sent them, nor my answer. For they assumed that I should approve the toleration in those ten articles from both sides. I hope that this poisonous plot of the Mainz Satan is destroyed. Our Elector was annoyed that they had attacked me alone, bypassing him. He hurried over together with Brück, and they shaped my answer in their own way by adding a few words. It is to be wondered at how suspicious he is of the proceedings of the entire imperial party: he hardly allows the justification to be presented in words other than those in the Confession, and it pleases me to hear this.
1) The envoys were: Prince Johann von Anhalt, Matthias von Schulenburg and Alesius Scotus.
stability. But you will see everything, or Scotus will report everything. I hope that you will return shortly. For you have been there in vain, and have had everything to do with these shameful people. The prince has given D. Caspar permission to return, if you wish; the end of this convention will be here, unless the Turk forces something else. The murderers will also cause greater unrest than before and more severe plagues. For 25 have been deputized anew against our prince, some of whom are imprisoned in Leuchtenburg Castle. They openly testify against the Mainzian monster, this ruin of Germany. If the emperor does not punish Heinzen and Mainzen seriously, it is possible that he, too, will become suspicious and lose obedience and reverence, that is, the rule over Germany. For what is his so atrocious and pernicious hypocrisy aiming at but the arousal of a revolt among the common people or an open war? For the people will finally not be able to stand this inactivity of the emperor and the princes in the face of such great misfortune. In fact, I have completely grown to hate the emperor, who, trusting in our praises and prayers, sins against us all the more cruelly. And I will, if I can, act against him as much as I have acted for him. For he pretends that he cannot take any matter in hand unless that of religion is settled first, - why does he not also let the Turk destroy everything first? Why does he not let the Turks destroy everything first? "I think the priests all want to be put to death," without our wanting it, because the rumor breaks out that they are the authors and servants of the pope in carrying out arsons, after the Mainzer, their head, is lost. May the Lord grant that there will be no uproar, that the Macedonian will fulfill the other part of the Schmalkaldic dream, amen. Everything is well in your house. The son Philip has recently happily escaped Satan's persecutions, which you will hear orally. Other things, if there are any, you may have heard from others. Given on the day of the solar equinox [June 22] 1541.
Your Martin Luther, D.
No. 2803.