followers will also be obligedto be silent, even should the stones cry out.
Therefore,that no evil may befall your I do not wish, I shall leave your Grace's land in God's name, and will go wherever the everlasting and merciful
God directs, and shall submit to His divine will, lettingHim do with me as I bless and greet your Grace, in deep humility, committing you to the merciful God, and thankingyou with all my heart for the benefits you have bestowed upon me.
And wherever my dwelling-place may be, I shall never to all eternityforgetyour Grace's goodness to me, or cease to pray earnestlyfor your
Highness'ssalvation and prosperity.At present I am fullof joyand gratitude to God, that His dear Son counted a poor sinner like me worthy to suffer tribulation and persecutionfor
His good and sacred cause.
Grace to all eternity.Amen.
Grace's unworthychaplain, The great German humanist,who was the first to spreadthe knowledgeof Hebrew in Germany.
Lord be with you, my valiant hero I praise the mercy of God, which dwells in you, my learned and esteemed sir,throughwhich you have at lengthstopped the mouths of those who spoke againstyou.
Certainly you are an instrument of Divine Providence, althoughyou may not know it.
But those who have the cause of sacred learning at heart have for long earnestlydesired one such as you, and God's purposes were very different from what your actions would have led people to suppose they were.
I was one of those who greatlydesired to be with you, but the opportunity never presenteditself. Still I have been ever with you, with my wishes and prayers, but what was not possible for the young comrade has been granted in rich measure to his successor.
I am now beingattacked by the Behemoth, who are anxious to avenge upon me the disgracetheyhave suffered at your hands.
I am forced to encounter them with much feebler weapons of wit and learning, but with as much courage and delight as you.
They will have no dealings with me, so determined are theyonly to use force against me.
I can lose nothing; for I have nothing. However, the horns of these animals have rather lost effect through your courage.
God has achieved this throughyou " that the lord of the Sophists has found that the righteousness of God must be met with gentleness, so that Germany, throughthe teachingof the Scriptures, which, alas,for so many hundred years has been smothered and suppressed, has againbegun to breathe.
But it is presumptuous of me discussing matters so confidentially with such as you.
I am so devoted to you " both for yourselfand your books.
PhilipMelanchthon, whom I am proud to call my dearest friend,who persuadedme to write, sayingyou would not take it amiss, however poor the productionmight be.
So blame him if you do not perceive that it is written to prove my devotion to you.
Farewell,my much honoured master. now sent his chamberlain,Karl von Miltitz, to gain over Luther,and they met in Spalatin's house in Altenburg.
Holiness also sent the Frederick by Miltitz, who persuadedLuther to write a conciliatory letter to the Pope.
Luther narrates negotiations with von Miltitz,whom the Pope had sent to convert this son of Satan.