(Regest.)
The landgrave sends him the translation of a shameful poem that came from Italy on Luther's supposed death. 1) - Luther answered on March 21.
Printed in Rommel's Urkundenband, p. 168. The above regest in Burkhardt, p. 464.
No. 3195.
To Martin Gilbert, pastor in Marienberg.
Luther exhorts him to overcome the difficulties of his office with patience.
Printed in Litt. Wochenblatt, II, 313; in Strobel-Ranner, p. 349 and in De Wette, Vol. V, p. 726.
I pray to the eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to govern your preaching ministry. The character of the deacon seems to me to be a good one; I have admonished him that he may preserve the harmony of the church. We must, my dear Gilbert, bear the difficulties which our ministries entail with moderate equanimity, and expect help from Christ. Now that the violets are coming out, let them remind you of our situation, because you sometimes walk along the fence of your gardens. We shall
1) This document is included in the Nachlese, No. XVII, attached to this volume.
2) with a sweet smell of doctrine we shall fill the church; and his garment is purple, which is the color of afflictions, but inside is another flower, golden and yellow, signifying that faith does not wither. Let us do our duty and ask God to govern the outcome, as He promised, that those who abide in Him will bear abundant fruit. There is still silence about the meeting in the city of Worms. The emperor is held back by illness in the Netherlands. Farewell. March 14, 1545.
No. 3196.