This is the detailed answer to the letter No. 2964, dated Nov. 26, 1542, which Luther had received very late. Luther apologizes for the long delay of his answer, testifies his heartfelt joy about her faith, and then answers her letter point by point.
In Hummel's N. Bibl. von seltenen Büchern, Vol. I, p. 239; from the Thomassische Sammlung zu Halle in Schütze, Vol. III, p. 210; in Strobel-Ranner, p. 310 and in De Wette, Vol. V, p. 564 f.
To the ill Christo highly venerable men, the brothers of the churches of Venice, Vicenza and Treviso, his highly esteemed lords.
God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered Himself as a sacrifice for our
1) Flacius (De Wette), so notorious afterward.
Give you much grace and mercy and peace, auras. Dear and extremely dear brothers! Your letter, which is dated November 26, 2), has been handed over to me quite late, but M. Veit Dietrich, who used to be my very familiar table companion, is not to blame for this. Rather, it is all my fault that I am answering you so late. About six months have passed since you wrote to me. But I do not want to occupy you with empty words of apology; only this one thing I want to testify, that in the past days, when I should have answered you, I was so weak that I hoped the hour of my departure was at hand. That is why I handed over your letter to the Lord Philip, so that he might give you an answer for me. As he was about to do this, although he was overwhelmed with business, behold, he was suddenly summoned by the Archbishop of Cologne, the Elector, to plant the gospel of Christ in that region and to establish the churches. 3) These he found, as he writes, 4) completely shapeless and ill manifest corruption both in doctrine and in manners. In the meantime, since God willed that I be called back from the grave, even though I am still weak and overwhelmed with many letters and things, I have taken your letter in hand again, and find such and such great goods among you, which the Lord has given you according to His grace, that I am almost ashamed of myself, who have been practiced in the word of God for so many years, since I recognize that I am so unequal to you in virtue and spirit. For I recognize sufficiently that you attribute to me what 5) you attribute to me according to your love and kindness. By the way, I am in fact far inferior than you think and judge. I am a sinful man, unclean and in the flesh, as Paul also complains [Rom. 7,18. ff.], of little faith and lukewarm spirit of life, in that I hardly keep the law of my members in check. It would like the law of God in the inward
2) In the text: calendis Decembribus. VI" is omitted. Cf. no. 2964.
3) On April 17, Melanchthon left for Cologne. See No. 3009.
4) On May 19. See No. 3017a.
5) Instead of quas we have assumed quae.
Letters from the year 1543. No. 3021.
People love God with all their strength and die of love. But [1 Petr. 2, 9.] "He has called me out of such great darkness to His marvelous light," and placed me, so unfit and quite unskilled, in such a great office. Yet I rejoice greatly and wish you happiness with all my heart, but I praise God, the Father of all grace and blessing, that He, whether through the writings of ours or others, has made known to you His salvation and this unspeakable mystery of Jesus Christ His Son. For I consider that you have not been able to obtain much from my writings, since I have seldom written in Latin. For I am, as our saying goes, a German (Teutonicus) preacher and an unlearned (illiteratus) teacher. But wheresoever ye may have it, it is of little account; of God ye have all things with us, and are much better than I, thanks be to God, and glory be to God, amen. Therefore it happened that I almost abstained from answering you, since I saw nothing worthy to answer those whom the Lord had previously endowed with such great gifts of His Spirit. For what do you lack in spiritual goods through Christ, who know and confess Christ, the Son of God, who hunger and thirst so ardently for righteousness, who suffer so blessedly persecutions for the sake of Christ, who hate the enemies of Christ and the Antichrist so completely? Who of us could have hoped that such a thing could either happen in our lives in Italy itself, or that it would one day happen within the own borders of the kingdom of Antichrist, who would not suffer us who are outside the borders of the world? But by these examples we are taught by Him who commanded us to hope and to ask, who is mighty to act above our asking and understanding, and will no doubt accomplish the work He has begun, to the end, for His glory and our blessedness. But in order that I might not deceive your hope and grieve your spirit, I have wished to cast off shame and trust in the benevolence of your love, and to rewrite this little and unlearned as an answer to you. How this
Whatever the nature of your child may be, receive it graciously, not according to its merit or worthiness, but according to your sincere kindness.
First of all, that you ask that the princes of our community write for you to your senate, we have certainly done this diligently and with good will until now. But because the distance of the places causes a delay, and the endless burden of business by which the princes are occupied both abroad and at home, we have not yet done so much as we would like. May God grant that it will happen soon. There is no doubt about the willingness and good will, if only it could be done faster because of the errand by the courts.
I can easily believe you about the wise men and the false prophets (prophetastris), who run without being sent. These pestilences of Satan have also caused us much more trouble than even the Antichrist; even now not all of them are at rest, although their powers are not a little broken by Christ. But only we are not better than our fathers. [1 Cor. 11:19:] "There must be brethren among you, that they which are righteous may be made manifest," and (so says Peter [2 Ep. 2:1]) "as there were false prophets among that people, so shall there be false teachers among you." There must be a Judas Iscarioth standing out, let alone mingling with.
With one part, or with a certain part of one party of the Sacramentarians, a treaty has been reached; Christ grant that it may be a firm and lasting one. Among these are those at Basel, Strasbourg and Ulm, where admittedly the old leaven has not yet been completely swept out of the large group, but the clergy and the doctrine seem to be unharmed and healthy. For Bucer gives a companion to Philip in the church at Cologne, which would not be tolerated, nor would Philip suffer if he were thought to be dishonest. But in Switzerland especially the Zurichers and their neighbors remain enemies of the sacrament and use common bread and common wine, to the exclusion of the body and blood of Christ. There are, of course, men who have taught
Letters from the year 1543. No. 3021.
are in all languages, but they have a different spirit than us; they are drunken people with whom one must avoid contact. For our opinion (as you write) is not unknown to you. We hold that in the sacrament not only bread and wine are offered, but truly the body and blood of Christ, not only to the worthy and faithful, but also to the unworthy and ungodly, as Paul teaches and the whole church has held until now and has kept until now. About transubstantiation we reject the useless and sophistical disputation, and do not care whether someone else wants to believe it or not. But with those who are now reconciled, there was discord before, because they deceived us with cunning and crafty words: that in the sacrament the body and blood of Christ are presented with the bread and wine, 1) but with the understanding that the mouth receives the bread and wine, but the body and blood are not received by the mouth, but by the faith or spirit of the believer in the heart, and this they interpreted in such a way that between us and them there seemed to have been only a dispute over words or a kind of quibbling, so that a union might be established all the more easily. But we have so escaped this transubstantiation and deception that we have to admit that even the mouth of an ungodly man receives the body and the blood when he receives the bread and the wine. For what need is there of that spiritual partaking of the body and blood of a sacrament, since it is also partaken of in this manner in baptism, yea, in any word offered, even without mention of the body and blood. Christ speaks of this in John 6:53: "If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you," that is, if you do not believe that I became man for you, suffered, and shed my blood. Therefore, you also must watch lest a false prophet creep in with this deception and secretly introduce himself to you.
But from a defense of the reconciliation, which was brought out by Magister Philippus
1) Instead of monstrari we have assumed rninistrari.
2) I know absolutely nothing about it, nor have I seen it; I will carefully inquire about it from outsiders (exteros). You have my opinion, which I as a German have testified in more than one book, (as it seems to me) openly and clearly.
By the way, our churches are also calm: pure doctrine, right use of the sacraments, everywhere learned and faithful shepherds, thanks be to God; but in the fruit of the word and the works there is not the same fruitfulness and heat. The people are cold, and many abuse the freedom of the Spirit to the lukewarmness and security of the flesh, and we cannot eradicate this abuse from within our borders. Christ multiply his spirit among you. The Lord JEsus Christ better and complete all things, and hasten the day of our redemption. The world, the Turk, the Jews, the Pope rage by blaspheming the name of the Lord, by desolating His kingdom, by ridiculing His will, since in the meantime they enjoy the daily bread almost alone 3) and the members of Christ are killed. But he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world; he triumphs and will triumph in you to the end. He comforts you with his Holy Spirit, in whom he has called you to the fellowship of his body. We will not cease to give thanks for you, and we do not doubt that this will be done by you again.
What is written at the end about the dishonesty of the booksellers, we hear with sadness, and if I could also do something in this matter, I would gladly do it. If you would now deal with M. Veit Dietrich about this, he could send through the Nurembergers all the books that you always wanted, if you would let a list or register reach him. I hope that you have the loci communes of Philip, likewise the letter to the Romans, the Daniel 2c. For of my writings almost none are in Latin, except the interpretations on Galatians.
2) In their letter they say: Bucer had written to them that a treatise on reconciliation (de conciliatione apologia) had been published by Melanchthon, which they had eagerly awaited until then. Seckendorf, Hist. Luth. lib. III, pag. 402a.
3) De Wette suggests to read instead of: soll: securi. We have deleted the comma after soll and placed it after ferme; thus no further change is necessary.
Letters from the year 1543. No. 3021. 3022. 3023.
brief, with the exception of those that are from others; German things are of no use to you.
Herewith be in the best and holiest command of the Lord, and greet all the brethren in the Lord reverently, and commend me to their prayers, that the Lord may take away my soul at a good hour. I am weary of life; I have lived long enough and have seen greater things than anyone could have hoped for in the beginning, since I treated indulgences much more reverently than was fair. Praise be to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone performs miracles, Amen. Given at Wittenberg, June 13, 1543.
Your Martin Luther.
No. 3022.