About the contract concerning the burgrave of Halle.
From the original in the Helmstädt University Library in Schütze, Vol. I, p. 222 and in De Wette, Vol. V, p. 496.
To the highly famous man, Mr. Justus Jonas, Doctor of Theology, Provost, and Messenger of the Word at Halle in Saxony, his superior.
Grace and peace! At the moment, my dear Jonas, when I had closed the other letter, your son Jonas entered with your sad and lamenting letter. What should I do, my dear Jonas? Yesterday I sent the messenger to Brunswick, who will not find the Prince there. For I am told today that he has gone away and is on his way to Humboldt.
1) Added by us.
2) Duke Henry of Brunswick.
Letters from the year 1542. no. 2946. 2947. 2948.
melsheim in Thuringia, where the children and the Princess 2c. are. We hope that D. Beneken 1) will be there today. I hope that the contract for the purchase has not yet been concluded; if it is concluded, I hope that this is done under conditions that are not harmful to Halle. For the gospel he will not lift after peace is granted; but I will hear it from Beneke, and I would do something else if I knew what. Your Hallensians, I pray, may also write, cry out, and send to the prince himself. If there should be no other remedy, then at least the crocodile must be killed by prayers. But I cannot persuade myself that the people of Halle were handed over to the crocodile so unprotected (nude), because the matter of Schönitzen (Schaniz) 2) is still pending. May the Lord hear our prayers and grant us salutary counsel and help in these matters. Fare well in the Lord. On the fifth of September, 1542. Martin Luther, D.
No. 2947.
To Marcus Crodel, school teacher in Torgau.
Luther quickly sends for his son Johannes from Torgau so that he can see his dying sister Magdalena once again.
Handwritten in Aurifaber, vol. III, p. 381. Printed in Schütze, vol. I, p. 223 and in De Wette, vol. V, p. 497.
Grace and peace, my dear Marcus Crodel! I beg you to conceal from my son John what I am writing to you. My daughter Magdalena is almost in her last days, and will shortly go away to her right father in heaven, if God has not decided otherwise. But she has such a longing to see her brother that I have been forced to send the carriage; they were very fond of each other, whether she might recover through his arrival. I do what I can so that I do not later feel that I have neglected something,
1) Seidemann in De Wette, Vol. VI, p. 645, points this to Brück.
2) Cf. "Luther's writing against the Bishop of Magdeburg, Cardinal Albrecht, concerning the innocently hanged Hans Schenitz. St. Louis edition, vol. XIX, 1888.
torment. Therefore, you may order him to hurry here in this chariot, disguising the cause. He will soon return when she has either fallen asleep in the Lord or risen again. Be well in the Lord. You will tell him that there is something that should be given to him secretly. For the rest, everything is fine. September 6, 1542.
Your Martin Luther.
No. 2948.