The original is in the Königsberg Archives. Printed by Faber, p. 69; from the Wernsdorf Collection at Wittenberg by Schütze, vol. I, p. 291 and by De Wette, vol.V, p. 610. German by Walch, vol. XXI, 1515.
To the highly famous man, Mr. Justus Jonas, Doctor of Theology, Provost at Wittenberg, Christ's messenger in the church at Halle, his superior in the Lord.
Grace and peace! I have received your letter, my dear Jonas, at the same time as the Roman copy about Luther, who was condemned 25 years ago. What do you think has been written, said, done and undertaken in any way in the meantime to our death and destruction? What are they still sending out today? And their raging against us is equal to their eternal fire, as the Scripture predicts, because even in hell they will not cease to hate and blaspheme the Son of God. Praise be to God, who has separated us from their community through His holy and blessed profession.
What you write about the Emperor's affairs, the same we have, and nothing else, namely that the Frenchman fled with his troops and refused to fight. But I suspect that he had recourse to the advice and cunning of Fabius Maximus and the door.
We must be careful not to use a wedge that wearies the enemy by procrastination, and not to fight unless there is some prospect of victory where necessity does not compel it. Meanwhile, we are exhausted by the cost and by weariness.
But I do not know whether you have heard this beautiful thing. It is said that the emperor said to the Duke of Jülich: "I have spent more money on your captains than on the whole war. The Duke of Orange, who is full of Nassau, is said to have said the same thing to him: "Oh, dear sir, what do you want to get with the Emperor? your captains give him more than the whole war. I beg you, what will finally happen to princes and kings through this appalling disloyalty and treachery? With gold, not with the sword, the wars are waged. They take pay from their princes and gifts from the enemy. By this bravery the Frenchman is said to have gained Luxembourg, since the French leader promised and paid the imperial twenty thousand ducats that he should surrender defeated and hand over the city. Who does not suspect that Ferdinand, with the same luck, has now fought for the third time in Hungary? Yes, it is said that Andrew of Doria had a secret agreement with Barbarossa on the sea and said: "Let us be friends with each other; why should we destroy each other? O heroic and more than heroic valor to wear out kings and princes and nations! For what will the poor common people keep at last, since they are forced to fill these gullets insatiable for gold? We will also feel this infernal rapacity in our purse in a short time.
Finally, it is written that the Turk raged in Weissenburg (? Alba regali), 1) slaughtering three thousand citizens, and also old men, and likewise the preachers, so that the heaps of corpses were higher than the walls. Satan fears and feels the day of his judgment beforehand. What do you think he thinks about us? He rages,
1) Walch: "in imperial Albania".
because he has only little time. The Lord protect his own, or rather, he governs them at the same time with us through his joyful spirit, so that we, may we live or be slain, bravely laugh at the raging of that [evil spirit].
No. 3073.