Luther reports his return, recounts a joke speech by Mutianus, and pleads for a maltreated wife.
The original is in Cod. Seidel, at Dresden. Printed by Schütze, vol. III, p. 225; by De Wette, vol. V, p. 757 and in the Erlangen edition, vol. 56, p. 143; everywhere the first half in Latin. Completely German in Walch, vol. XXI, 1553.
"To the venerable in God Father and Lord, Lord Nicolao, Bishop of Naumburg, our gracious Lord." Grace and peace in the Lord! Finally I came home, venerable Father in Christ, on the 18th day of August, so full of stones that even today I am not free from all of them. Although I do not have many pains as before, I still suffer from an unbearable thirst. Enough of that. But listen to a nice joke. When I told Joachim 4) in Leipzig about the Mainz Satan, how he ordered that from the roof of the tower these words should come out
4) Camerarius.
should be torn out: Soli Deo gloria [Glory to GOtte alone], he said, that Mutianus of Gotha had thus joked: it was an idolatrous saying. For we confess that the sun (Solem) is God, since we give it glory like God, namely: Glory to the sun (Gloria sit Soli) or the sun shall have glory like God. You see, therefore, with how beautiful subtlety the Mainzer can be defended, who did not want that the honor of God is attached to the sun, which is a created light.
Also, venerable sir, we, D. Pomer and I, ask E. G. to hear the good Mrs. Elsabeth Ruckers, quae est soror Dominae Christianissae swelche is the sister of Mrs. Christian's goldsmiths, herself with her husband, who tractirt her very badly. Is said to be now at Naumburg, and to have sued the wife hard against E. G.. Although I know that E. G.'s captain and the chancellor can well do so, but because she desires to hear things from E. G., E. G. may do what they want or like. The good woman is known to all of us and also has good credentials.
Alias plura. Nam adhuc surn ex calculis lan
guidus et lassis viribus. Gratia Dei tecum, vir Dei [More at another time. For I am still weary from the stone and exhausted in strength. The grace of God be with you, man of God]. August 19, MDXLV. T. D.
deditus Martinus Luther, D.
No. 3254.
To the pastor and the council of Zwickau, together with the other theologians.
Luther and his colleagues order a stricter investigation of a marriage matter. - Further information on this matter can be found in the objection issued on December 16.
According to a copy in the Weimar Archives, Reg. O, pag. 614, in Burkhardt, p. 477.
God's grace through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Savior, before. Worthy, honorable, wise, favorable lords and friends! Your dignity and wisdom we submit to know, that we have the scriptures, concerning
the cantor 1) and the pirrethcremerin, both sent by you, Father, and the cantor's father, have read and diligently considered. And although we cannot know the reason for the matter, we find two things in the narration that cause great suspicion and have saddened us greatly. The first, that the cantor, after forbidden company, was disobedient, and nevertheless had 2) for and for his usual walk into the house. Secondly, that he at one time stayed together with the shopkeeper in a booth the whole night. Now it would have been fair that punishment had been taken against these offences long ago, and since the cantor then still intended to take the grocer's daughter in marriage, and because of the previous suspicion to worry that such would be a forbidden mixture, you, Mr. Pastor, have done right that you worked on it, so that the wedding would be postponed. For God has forbidden incest and punishes it with great severity, as Moses and many other histories testify. But so that this matter comes to an end, this is our council: that an honorable council of Zwickau actually investigates this article, whether the said cantor has been and stayed in the shopkeeper's house (puden) for one night. And if this has happened, since the suspicion is very strong that he has slept with the shopkeeper, we cannot advise otherwise than that this engagement, which followed, is void, and that honestas publica, [public respectability] moves us not to permit a marriage with the daughter in such suspicion. If, however, it is not found that the cantor has been in the house together with the shopkeeper during the night, and the cantor insists that he has never touched the mother, then, after Christian admonition, the cantor shall be allowed to marry the daughter in Zwickau and live there. We have considered this concern of ours and our council to attribute it to both you, Mr. Pastor, and to an honorable council, and mean that an honorable council should carry out the investigation and inquisition, which know how to keep due measure in this respect.
1) Matthew Weissmann.
2) "Nevertheless" put by us instead of: "accordingly".
be. Both are very burdensome: to pollute the city with blood shame, and to infame someone with such a great vice for no reason. Therefore, let an honorable council act carefully in this matter. The almighty God, [the] Father of our Savior JEsu Christ, preserve you. Date Wittenberg, September 6, Anno 1545. Martinus Luther, D.
Joannes Bugenhagen, Pommer, D. Georgius Major, D.
Philip Melanchthon.
No. 3255.
Permission certificate for the rulers of the common box at Kirchhain (Lower Lusatia).
Luther, Bugenhagen, and the commissioners of the Consistory give the heads of the common treasury and the envoys of the council permission to sell some silverware belonging to the church and to use the proceeds.
The original, with the seals of Luther, Bugenhagen and the Consistory, was in the possession of Valentin Ernst Löscher. Printed in the Fortgesetzten Sammlung Von Alten und Neuen TheoIogischen Sachen, 1729, p. 18, and 1740, p. 507. From the former volume in Seidemann, Lutherbriefe, p. 77 f.; from the latter in Friedr. Siegemund Keil, Luthers merkw. Lebens-Umstände etc. Vierter Theil. Leipzig, 1764. 4. p. 248. - Burkhardt, p. 478, has an inaccurate regest. He seems to have only read through Seidemann's description of the contents and did not understand it correctly.
We, Martin Luther and Johannes Bugenhagen, Pomeranians, doctors of the Holy Scriptures, as visitators, and the appointed commissioners of the Consistorii at Wittenberg hereby publicly certify: After the rulers of the common treasury, in addition to the deputies of the council, have come to us at Kirchhain, have indicated and reported to us how they have in stock some silver work for the church, the value of which extends approximately to fifty guilders, which they intend to sell, and to use the purchase money for the ball and improvement of the churches, parish and school buildings, and have therefore asked us to allow them to do so and to grant them a concession: As we have considered that their undertaking is Christian and useful and necessary for the preservation of their churches and their servants, we have therefore allowed and granted them, touched Sil
We have also given them this open document, sealed with our customary petitions (pitzschaftenn) and the consistorial seal, to certify our authorization. Done at Wittenberg, Monday after Egidii Anno etc. 45 (xlv).
Martinus Luther, D.
Johannes Bugenhagen, Pommer, D.
No. 3256.