Luther exhorted him to gladly wear the princely trappings associated with his office.
Handwritten in Aurifaber, Vol. III, p. 458. Printed in Schütze, Vol. I, p. 244 and in De Wette, Vol. V, p. 523.
Grace and peace! I have not written for a long time, my dear Amsdorf, because I always hoped that I would come to you once. Now that you write that the people of Meissen are disturbed and angry that their hope has deceived them in Wolfenbüttel, by which they indicate that they agree with the furious works of that man: so may God find them, and he will find them as he found this one, and even the harmful people will not escape his judgment. Dear one, do not let it grieve you that you are forced to suffer the splendor of a court and a prince; you are not to blame for it. And God knows your heart, which highly detests such splendor and splendor. But remember the exceedingly godly Queen Esther, who against her will wore the crown of the kingdom of the Persians, calling it a showpiece and a stained garment; but for the sake of the king and the kingdom she wore it. And Christ did not ask for the splendor on Palm Day, but suffered it; meanwhile he himself was poor and constantly killed and crucified. But the glory was God's. So you also do right, and you are completely crucified to Christ and killed with him, since you call that courtly splendor and splendor your prison. That means, in fact, to use this world as if you did not need it, and only to serve God under this guise. This is not what the papists and the wicked do, for whom these trappings are not prisons.
No. 2978.