Of a Diaconus whom Jonas seeks; of the bad behavior of a messenger; of Rath's love for the Gospel in Halle; of the Turkish War.
Manuscript in Aurifaber, vol. III, p. 328 (as from 1541). From the collection of Caspar Sagittarius at Jena in Schütze, Vol. III, p. 247 and in De Wette, Vol. V, p. 442.
Grace and peace! With regard to the son-in-law of the provost at Kemberg 1) I cannot do enough for your wishes, my dear Jonas, therefore you must look for another first Diaconus (protodiaconus). But I wrote to you yesterday in anger about the abusive messenger, and even now the anger is not yet gone; therefore I remind you again that you must not send such messengers to me, or I will see to it that he is dragged to prison with his neck tied and rewarded for his virtues. Be mindful that this is said to you. For I will not suffer an infernal messenger to revile in another's house, that is, in my own, and to think that I, that is, my family, is subservient to him. He may, of course, revile and command as much as he likes, but in his Hanse and his own, not to Luther, or his house and his own. "Otherwise I will let him tear out his tongue at the back of his throat." How, then, do servants and rags (centones) also think that they are rulers?
By the way, what you write about the Senate is very pleasing, that it loves the word; I heard it with pleasure and give thanks to the Lord, who will continue the work he has begun. I know nothing of a warlike armament against the Turk; it seems the Turk unfern Centauren a zero 2) to be. For at a court, I do not know which one (I think it is ours), they say, this boastful speech was made: the Turk has not yet seen any men of war. And M. Philippus told me that he had heard from some Poles in Regensburg that Margrave Joachim the Elder, the father of the present one, had boasted with these words: the Turk had so far fought against red boots (that's how he called the Poles and Hungarians), but when he would have started to fight against greased boots, then he would realize what kind of people they were. God likes to hear these boasts (as you know) and gives them His blessing.
1) Bartholomäus Bernhardt from Feldkirchen. His son-in-law was M. Matthias Wankel from Hammelburg (see No. 2670).
2) Instead of infra, we assumed with Aurifaber (cifra).
new blessing. The summa is this: God has thrown us into the midst of these great braggarts, and compels us to act with them and pray for them, at the same time also to suffer what happens or will happen, for the sake of the Word, which He wanted to reign so abundantly and powerfully in us; "otherwise I would also know what to do in this. We are people like Atlas, the saviors and victors over the world, the devil and hell, only that the world does not understand this, just as it is not worthy of it. Let us therefore be strong and carry ourselves. "It will not be otherwise." One does it who is not praised, another is praised who does not. Thus the world does not know that it exists through the strength of others, namely, the church, and thinks that the church exists through its strength and the strength of the world.
Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honoros [This I wrote, another gained the honor]. Fare well in the Lord you confess. In haste (as I use to do). On Friday after Reminiscere [March 10], that is on the day of the equinox. 3) Greet your wife and all yours and ours, also in the name of my mistress Käthe, who ordered me to do so when I wrote.
Your Mart. Luther.
No. 2893.