them by whom they have been unrighteouslyslaughtered.
What pleasure the angelshad in these two souls !
How eagerlythe fire freed them from this sinful life to open the door into everlasting glory!
God be praisedto all eternitythat we have lived to see holymartyrs.
We up here have not yet been esteemed worthy to become such a preciousoffering to Christ,althoughmany of us have not been without persecution, and are still enduringit.
Therefore, well beloved, let us be joyfulin Christ, and render thanks for this great miracle which He has begun to work among us.
Pray for us, and for one another,that we may reach out a helpinghand to each other,and let all cleave with one mind to Head, who will strengthenyou with His grace, and perfect you to the honour of His holyname, to whom be praise from all of us, to alleternity.Amen.
A peculiarly beautiful letter.
Grace and peace in Christ Most gracious sir. Vincent Wernsdorfer has persuaded me, a stranger, to write expressing my Christian sympathy with you in your trial.
I trust your Excellency will graciously appreciate the motives which prompt me.
He tells mc how, since the departureof your dear consort to God, you have constantly occupiedyourself with good works, particularly masses, vigils, etc., for the repose of her soul, thereby showingyour love and loyaltyto one who, through her life,certainly merited it ; and he begged me to write you
" a request I could not refuse,as it was meant for your You must recall Job's words, Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away
; blessed be the name of the Thus must you sing to your lovingGod, who firstbestowed such a faithfulwife upon you, and has now
His before He gave her,and she is stillHis, even as we all are " now that He has taken her.
Therefore,althoughthis is a great grief, that His own, stillthe heart can find sweeter consolation in His most perfectwill than in all His gifts
" so to fulfilHis will is somethinghigherthan to possess the best and noblest wife.
Although one cannot feel this to be so, stillfaith does perceiveit.
God giveyou grace to be joyful, and acquiescein the rich exchange you have made, having now, instead of a tender lovingwife,the will of a tender lovingGod
Oh how blessed would we be if we could go on, making such exchangeswith And we could do this if we understood how.
God meets us daily, but we are not ready to welcome I would beg of you, gracioussir,to cease from masses, vigils, and dailyprayers for her soul.
It is sufficient if your Excellency pray once or twice for her,for we are told that if we believe we shall receive what we pray for.
Otherwise, if we alwaysask for one thing,it is a sign we do not believe God, and thus anger Him more throughunbelieving prayer.
I particularly beg you would leave off the vigils and masses for the soul,for it is most displeasing to God, there beingneither reality nor faith in them, but a mere mummery.
Oh, peoplemust pray otherwise if theywish anything from God ridicules such vigils God did not institute the mass for the dead, but as a sacrament for the Hving,and it is a dreadful thingfor man to presume, without God's permission, to turn a sacrament for the livinginto a sacrifice for the dead.
Beware of becominga partner in this terrible error, which the priests and monks have instituted for the sake of their bellies.
Christian must do nothingthat God has not commanded, and there is no command as to such masses and vigils, but it is solelytheir own invention, which bringsin money, without helpingeither livingor dead.
Excellencycan inform yourself as to all these thingsby applyingto the before-mentioned Wernsdorfer, who has a deep interest in you, impellingme to write you.
Christ illuminate and strengthenyou in Christian faith and love towards your neighbours.Your Excellency's obedient Luther asks if Francis
Lambert would be likely to find a living in Strassburg.
Althoughthis letter may be useless, my beloved Gerbel,I must write,as Strassburg at present.
Frenchman with us justnow, Lambert, who was a preacheramong the apostolicMinorites,as they call them, and he has taken a wife here, and thinks he would be better off nearer
France,and will not be advised,being so full of his own affairs.
I believe there are many with you not too prosperous, who feel more inclined to come here, than we have people wishingto go to you.
But if I am to have any peace I must do him this favour.
Therefore pray say if there is any prospect of him earningsufficientto live upon.
He is alreadypretty well versed in the Bible,althoughnot up to our He hopes later to put my writingsinto French in order to make money on Prince often presents him with silver money, and this year he has fleeced him of fortyducats.
If you do not reply,neither of us shall have any peace.
I suffer from such people who, throughme, become a burden to my good friends.
May you live prosperouslywith your wife. regardedas a cloak for evil.
But there is One who will speedily judge them.
Farewell,and pray for me.
Hymn-Book appeared.Peasants' War.
Luther more distressed by this,and the disturbances caused in Wittenberg by the fanatics, than by Charles Worms should be enforced.
Augustinianmonk, Thorn, suffered a martyr's death in the Netherlands.
Christ,who is with you, my dear brother,bears witness within me that you need no comfort from me.
He suffers,and isglorified ; He is captive and reigns; He suffers violence,and yet triumphsboth in and with you, having made you justand holy,through the knowledge of Himself, which is hidden from the world, but which He has so richlybestowed upon you.
Thereby you are not only strengthenedinwardlyby Spiritin your affliction, but by the example of the two brothers,Heinrich and Both you and they have been a great comfort to me, and a sweet savour to all Christendom, and a glorious ornament to the gospel of Lord did not permit you to perishwith them
Perhaps He spared you that He might do some mighty work through you.
This encourages me much, that the faithful Saviour has not only permittedme to come to the knowledge of His truth,but has allowed me to see
His grace flourishing so gloriously in you three.
I might deem this a misfortune,for it was I who first broughtthis teaching " for confessing which these two were burned, and you now sit in captivity
" to the lightof day.
I fear I shall not be counted worthy to suffer such tribulation as you three for Nevertheless,I shall comfort myselfthus
" that your bonds are my bonds, your prisonmy prison,and your fire my fire.
I shall preach,and openlyconfess,before the godlessworld, princesand angels,the Word for which these two were burned and you sit in captivity, and because of which I both suffer and rejoice with you.
Jesus, who has begun the good work in you, will perform it until the day of His gloriousappearing.But pray for me, as I do for you, and remember you do not suffer alone,but I will be with him in trouble
; he shall call upon me, and I will set him on high,because he hath known my name,'*suffers with you.
In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer,I have overcome the world."
Satan, but turn your eyes to the Be firmlyrooted upon the pure faith,and never doubt that we shall be justified and sanctified through the preciousblood of Christ,the spotless
Our works can as littlemake the man righteous, as they can be mistaken for Christ's blood " neither can they condemn us or laysin to our charge.
God be praised, in our Elector's land we have peace.
Bavaria and the Bishop of Trier cause many to be slain,and banish some.
There are other bishopsand princeswho are not bloodhounds,although theyworry their peoplethroughthreats, and do them much injury. So Christ is againdespisedof the people,whose member you now are, through the holy calling of our
Father in heaven, and may He perfectthis call in you, to His honour and glory. Amen.
All our peoplegreet you, especially Jacob Praep5situs, and the brethren from They commend themselves to your prayers.
Luther complainsof the unrulyCarlstadt.
Wolfgang has told me of the sad separationcase.