The Elector asks them to give up their concerns in the Brunswick matter.
A concept with many corrections is found in the Weimar Archives, Reg. H, fol. 1122. Printed by Burkhardt, p. 433.
Our greeting before. Venerable and Reverend, dear devotees and faithful! We do not wish to leave it undisclosed to you in gracious confidence that the Roman Imperial Maj. Majesty, our most gracious Lord, has replied to our cousin, the Landgrave, and to us, as well as to the other Estates related to us, to a letter recently sent by all of us to Her Majesty, Duke Henry of Brunswick, Duke Henry of Brunswick, among other things, that Her Majesty had ordered our cousin, H. Moritz of Saxony, to take action with her beloved ones, us and them, concerning the land of Brunswick, of which we, Her Majesty's cousin, had the gracious opinion, and that Her Majesty did not want to see anything better,
3) Magnifice consolatoria exempla et sententiae ex vitis et passionibus sanctorum et aliorum summorum virorum brevissime collectae. Viteb. 1544.8.
4) "we" put by us instead of: "like".
Letters from the year 1543. No. 3066. 3067.
because that the same matter would be laid down without further disruption, 1) would further hear.
Now perhaps the Imperial Maj. Maj. may order that Her Majesty request and seek to have Brunswick or his sons come to the land again for a settlement or payment of the war costs and conditions, and also for a peace assurance, or that the land be placed in our third hand and sequestered until Her Maj. has further interrogation and action. And although for many reasons the Landgrave and us, and especially other of our kinsmen, should be highly concerned to let the said von Braunschweig or his children come again to touched land, because they do not hold of the place 2), If they commit themselves, we are particularly concerned about this, even if otherwise acceptable conditions are proposed to us by all sides, which should also be sufficiently assured, if the land is to be ceded or sequestered, that Majesty will not want to act on it. Maj. will not want to act on it, nor will he of Brunswick be inclined to do so for his and his children's sake, that they should be bound and also sufficiently assured that they should let the Christian religion established by us and our kinsmen in the country remain unbroken and undisturbed. If we and our reported kinsmen should agree to some amicable means or even to pre-touched sequestration, and the poor people of the country are basically given and pushed back into the papacy by our cooperation, we do not know, nor can we consider, whether it will be in our conscience to accept means and conditions, and yet let this, as the most important one, go and pass unsettled and uninsured, since we can preserve the same point in value. Thus, again, it is well to be remembered where things are not done in kindness, and Kai. Maj. will defend Brunswick, and will also want to encourage him to take action to ensure that things do not go wrong without a long, arduous war and hardship. Therefore, our most gracious request to you is that you move among yourselves what we may or may not do in this matter, first of all, for the sake of religion and conscience, and what you will consider in this regard, that you may give us reasons and sayings.
1) Burkhardt: "would like".
2) "From the place" will probably mean: from hour. Perhaps would like to be read: "ir word".
We are pleased to inform you of the good causes of the Holy Scriptures by your rewriting, and we have not left it unreported to you; you also do us a special favor, and we are graciously inclined to you. Date Weimar, Sunday after Andreä [Dec. 2] 1543.
We are also sending you an imprint of the form in which a procession has been set up and held in Cologne by the priests, and also written out in an article, and as we note, it was caused by the mayor Arnold von Sigen, whom you, Magister Philippus, will know well, for the sake of His Majesty the Archbishop and his electoral freedoms. Maj., and contrary to the archbishop and his royal liberties. So we do not know how to reassure you of our gracious opinion that we have received many more plausible reports as if the matters between King's Majesty and the French had been settled this time. Maj. and the French has not resulted in any reconciliation this time, and Maj. intends to hurry to the Imperial Diet, which is not to be held at Speier because of his death. Therefore, may God have mercy on him, so that something fruitful and effective may be decided and carried out against the Turks, and in his gracious opinion, we do not want to leave you without notice of this, to ask the Almighty for gracious welfare and to exhort the people to do so.
No. 3067.
To the Elector Johann Friedrich.
The original is in Weimar, Reg. O, p. 124. W 26. Printed in the Leipzig Supplement, p. 103, no. 194; in Walch, vol. XXI, 485; in De Wette, vol. V, p. 605 and in the Erlangen edition, vol. 56, p. 69.
To the most illustrious, highborn prince and lord, Mr. Johann Friedrich, Duke of Saxony, Archmarshal and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, Landgrave of Thuringia, Margrave of Meissen and Burgrave of Magdeburg. R. Reichs Erzmarschall und Churfürst, Landgrave in Thuringia, Margrave of Meissen and Burgrave of Magdeburg, my most gracious Lord.
G. u. F. in the Lord and my poor Pater noster. Most illustrious, highborn prince, most gracious lord! The Aurogalli's death has left the Lection in the Greek language, so perhaps some will accept it; but I humbly ask that E. C. F. G. lend and order it to M. Lucas Edenberger, not only because he has to
Letters from the year 1543. no. 3067. 3068. 3069.
(which probably others feel more in such a nature), but that he is well known to E. C. F. G. and to all of us, that he is faithful and diligent, also serious about the pure doctrine, all of which is necessary for the one who is to read Ebräisch. For there are many Ebraists who are more rabbinical than Christian, and yet the truth is that whoever does not seek or see Christ in the Bible and the Ebraic language sees nothing, and speaks like the blind man of color. Now, M. Lucas is a true theologian, and capable of teaching in the Hebrew language, and is also deserving of E. C. F. G.; who knows the others who have recently come here and have not yet proven themselves? E. C. F. G. would graciously listen to such my humble request. I do not ask falsely nor without cause. Herewith commanded to the dear God, who will help E. C. F. G. and all pious princes and lords in such difficult times, when the devil thinks so beautifully and wickedly 1) that God will defend him, Amen. Monday after St. Andrew [Dec. 3] 1543.
E. C. F. G.
subservient
Mart. Luther.
No. 3068.
December 6, 1543.