Luther thanks for a gift he received. From the Turkish War and as in the previous letter) from the pernicious native Turks.
Handwritten in Aurifaber, Vol. III, p. 344. Printed in Schütze, Vol. I, p. 172 and in De Wette, Vol. V, p. 408.
To the highly famous man, Mr. Justus Jonas, Doctor of Theology, Provost at Wittenberg, the extremely faithful messenger of Christ to Halle, his superior in the Lord.
Grace and peace! I have received two St. Martin's geese (martinicos), my dear Jonas, which are very fat, thoroughly fat and exceedingly fat, and we give you thanks. But what is it that you have such abundance? Do you have to hall banquets of the Aethiopians or tables of the sun god? But of these things at another time.
I do not have the news about the Turks that you want. There was a tremendous rumor that the Emperor Carl had gained by force a port on the African coast called Species in the battle against Barbarossa, the pirate of the Turk. Soon another rumor followed (I fear that it is more reliable) that Andreas Doria had lost the Emperor's army by the power of Barbarossa. God have mercy on us. I fear that everything that is done against the Turk will be in vain, as long as we worship the cruel and true Turks who are kings among us, namely the avarice, the usury, the hopefulness, the appalling licentiousness in shameful deeds, the tyranny, disloyalty and wickedness of the noble powers (niphlim [Gen. 6, 4.]), then the utterly satanic contempt of the word, and the ingratitude, and the mockery of the blood shed for nils. To what end can it be that we undertake to destroy the bodily
Letters from the year 1541. no. 2856. 2857. 2858.
and momentary (momentaneos) Turks, while we worship and adore those spiritual and eternal Turks (whom I have named) within our houses? Since these are raging, Germany has long been more ravaged before God than it could be by the Turks, as it is said in Genesis 6:11: "The earth was ruined," although it was then in its highest bloom, through the tyranny of the children of God, who did everything they wanted. So it happens also now: the earth is corrupted by incurable vices and must be corrupted next by the last conflagration, amen. Wolf Heinz 1) has answered nothing about the Bible, which I, as a gift to him, have with me, as I have written. Remind him that he may answer. Farewell. On the day before Martinmas [Nov. 10] 1541.
Your Martin Luther.
No. 2857.
To Eberhard Brisger, pastor in Altenburg.
Luther speaks courage to him in his illness.
Handwritten in Gotha, Cod. chart. 451, fol. 185. 4. and in Aurifaber, vol. III, p. 347. Printed in Schütze, vol. I, p. 174 and in De Wette, vol. V, p. 410. We have followed almost throughout the readings of the manuscripts, which seem to us to be better.
Grace and peace! I have learned, my dear Brisger, about your illness and that of your wife, and at the same time 2) also about the doctors' verdict. But you will pray an Our Father against all this. For I, who at that time, when I was ill, did not pray that my life would be prolonged, have lived and still live, against and above the doctors' verdicts. For D. Augustin and others thought and said so often that I was dead and buried, so that I care little about their judgments as far as death is concerned, unless other things come along. Your bloodstains have happened to many others, and especially to our magistrate Christoph Groß, even before marriage, and others.
1) Organist in Halle.
2) We have adopted the reading of the manuscripts: simul, instead of secundum in the editions.
3) Prospecting.
No. 2858.