grace sufficiently abroad, of which he knows very little.
The human is to him of more importancethan the divine.
Althoughunwillingto judge him, I warn you not to read blindlywhat he writes.
For we live in perilous times, and every one who is a good Greek scholar is not a true Hieronymus, with his five languages, cannot approach Augustinewith his one tongue, although Erasmus views all this from a different standpoint.Those who ascribe something to man's freedom of will regardthose thingsdifferently from those who know only God's free grace.
From our desert Wittenberg.
(Lindner'sSelected Letters.) Luther's modesty as to his own classicalattainments.
To beginwith, best of friends,I must thank you for Staupitz's pamphlet,but I am quiteashamed that the honoured father should circulate my insignificant writings among you.
Truly 1 did not write them for the cultured Nurnbergers, but for our rough Saxons, for whom religious instruction must be broken into infinite particles.
I never could furnish anythingwhich would find favour with men so versed in classicalliterature, and how much less in your eyes, seeing my sole endeavour is to bringmyselfdown to the capacity of the common people. Therefore, pray keep what
I write from the learned I took great pains,according to your instructions, to write a friendly letter to Eck, avoidingeverythingdisagreeable.
I do not know if he has received it.
I send you these theses or propositions, and through you to Link, or to any one who may like such trifles.
If I do not deceive myself; they are not St. Augustine,which are far more sublime and superiorto those of Cicero,even as Augustine,or rather Christ,is exalted above
These propositions are a standingreproach to the ignoranceof those who consider them paradoxes (very strikingones),rather than look upon them as orthodox
(that is, in accordance with the pure doctrine of the Church universal), not to speak of those who are shameless enough to malign them as errors, a class of people who neither read
St. Paul's Epistles, or, at least,read them without comprehending them, thus leading themselves and others astray.
To modest men who do not quitesee through them they appear wonderful,and I regardthem as fundamental truths in their primitivepurity.
God who causes lightto arise out of the darkness.
I presume our father vicar is not with you.
We hope he may come to us.
Reuter has departedthis temporal life.
God givehim eternal life.
Amsdorf and all friends greet you.
Luther boasts that true theologyis flourishing in Wittenberg.
Our theologyand that of St. Augustine,by the grace of God, is making rapid progress in our university.
Aristotle is continuingto fall from his throne, and his end is only a matter of time ; and all objectto hearing lectures on the text-books of the Sentences,and no one need expect an audience who does not expound this theology, viz. that of the St. Augustine, or some other of the honoured
Farewell, and pray for me.
Goldschmidt, who is here, sends greeting.
See that you, with the father confessor and his friend, come about nine o'clock.
Christopher, the ambassador, is with you, bringhim also,for I have givenorders to invite him.
Farewell,but see that you procure wine for us, as you are aware that you are coming from the court to the cloister, and not from the cloisterto the court.
ChristophScheurl,my greeting.Although I have no pretext for writing to such an excellent man as you, stillI think the fact of having recentlyacquiredsuch a warm, upright friend is reason enough for doing so.
And even should one, once in a while,have to complainof getting no letters,surelyeven this silence would merit a few jocularlines,and how much more a regularcorrespondenceto maintain the friendship, not to say rivet it closer.
Even the holy Hieronymus begged his friend that he would at least write to say he knew of nothingto write about.
I determined to talk nonsense, rather than be silent.
God, how seldom does this Brother Martin, who has been falsely called a great theologian, take up the pen without prating
But it seems as if I would write a book instead of a letter.
My objectin addressing you was to show how highlyI esteemed you, and not to cause you to express a similar opinionof me, but onlyto convince you that you might trust me as you would yourself.
It justoccurs to me, that in sendingme the writings of our Vicar-General through Ulrich Pindar,^I owed you two ducats ; I have partlysold them, and given some to the esteemed friends of this good man.
1 Probablythe famous professor of medicine,who flourished at I gave, accordingto your directions, to the poor, viz. to myself and my brother monks.
God's dear earth, I know of no one poorer than myself. I now beg you to send me a guldenmore of those writings, and I shall remit the money when
There are still many who wish them.
At the same time, I send you my singular propositions, which seem quiteunreasonable to many.
You can direct the attention of our learned and thoughtful I may know what faults he finds in them.
All your friends here, of whom Hieronymus are the dearest, send greetings, also Peter the Barber, whom you honour with your friendship.Farewell,and pray for me.
On this day Luther nailed the ninety-five theses on the door of the Wittenberg, being the first time he opposed the Albrecht,Archbishopof Magdeburg and Mayence, Markgrave of Brandenburg,his esteemed lord and shepherd in Christ.
The grace of God be with him.
Highness graciouslypermit me, the least and most unworthy of men, to address you.
Jesusis my witness that I have longhesitated, on account of my unworthiness, to carry out what I now boldlydo, moved thereto by a sense of the duty I owe you, right reverend father.
Grace look graciouslyon me, dust and ashes, and respond to my longingfor your ecclesiasticalapproval.
Highness'sconsent, the Indulgencefor the rebuilding of Rome is being carried through the land.
I do not complain so much of the loud cry of the preacherof I have not heard, but regret the false meaning, which the simplefolk attach to it,the poor souls believing that when they have purchased such letters they have secured their salvation,also,that the moment the money tinglesin the box souls are delivered from purgatory, and that all sins will be forgiventhrougha letter of Indulgence, even that of reviling the blessed
Mother of God, were any one blasphemousenough to do so.
And, lastly, that through these Indulgencesthe man is freed from all penalties Thus are those souls which have been committed to your care, dear father,beingled in the pathsof death, and for them you will be required to render an account.
For the merits of no bishopcan secure the salvation of the souls entrusted to him which is not always assured through the grace of God, the apostleadmonishingus
" to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling," and, that the way which leads to life is so narrow, that the Lord, through the prophets
Zechariah, likens those who attain to eternal life to brands plucked from the burning,and above all, the Lord pointsto the difficulty of redemption. Therefore,
I could be silent no longer.
How then can you, through false promisesof Indulgences, which do not promote the salvation or sanctification of their souls,lead the people into carnal security,by declaringthem free from the painfulconsequences of their wrong-doingwith which the Church was wont to punishtheir sins ?
For deeds of pietyand love are infinitely better than Indulgences, and yet the bishopsdo not preach these so earnestly, althoughit is their principalduty to proclaim the love of Christ to their people. Christ has nowhere commanded
Indulgences to be preached, but the Gospel.
So to what danger does a bishop expose himself, who instead of havingthe Gospelproclaimed among the people, dooms it to silence,while the cry of Indulgences resounds through the land
Christ not say to them, "Ye strained at a gnat, and swallowed a camel In addition, reverend father, it has gone abroad under your name, but doubtless without your knowledge. that this Indulgenceis the priceless giftof God, whereby the man may be reconciled to God, and escape the fires of purgatory, and that those who purchasethe Indulgences have no need of repentance.
I do, rightreverend father,than beg your Highnesscarefully to look into this matter, and do away with this little book of instructions, and command those preachers to adoptanother styleof preaching, else another may arise and refute them, by writing another book in answer to the previousone, to the confusion of your
Highness,the very idea of which alarms me greatly.I hope that your Serene Highnessmay graciously deignto accept the faithful service which your insignificant servant, with true devotion,would render you.
Lord keep you to alleternity.Amen.
Wittenberg, the nightbefore Grace, perhapsyou would glance at my enclosed theses,that you may see the opinionon the Indulgencesis a very varied one, while those who proclaimthem fancy they cannot be disputed. Your unworthy son,
Augustiniarij set apart as I had decided,dear Spalatin, to tell no one of the dialoguewith Erasmus, my sole reason being that it was so delightful, so full of humour, so clever,and,
I would almost say, woven togetherin such an Erasmuslike manner, that the reader is tempted to laugh and enjoy the failings in the Church of Christ,which ought rather to grieveall Christians,and be borne before the But seeingyou pleadso earnestly to see it,here it is,and after perusingit,return it to me.
Prince has promisedme a robe,so I would like to know to whom he has entrusted the matter.