Before all else—grace and peace in Christ, our Lord! My dear Friend! I think that by this time you will have learned that your dear son, John Zink, whom you sent here to study with us, was overtaken by a severe illness and, although nothing was spared in the way of care, attention, and medicine, the disease became too powerful and took your son away, carrying him off to heaven, to our Lord Jesus Christ. We were all very fond of the boy; he was especially dear to me—so that I made use of him many an evening for singing in my house3—because he was quiet, well-behaved, and especially diligent in his studies.
Accordingly we all are deeply grieved by his death. We would have been very happy to have him saved, and to keep him with us, had this been at all possible. But he was even dearer to God, who desired to have him.
As is natural,4 your son's death, and the report of it, will distress and grieve your heart and that of your wife, since you are his parents. I do not blame you for this, for all of us—I in particular—are stricken with sorrow. Yet I exhort you now rather to thank God for having given you such a good, devout son, and for having considered you worthy of investing your money and efforts so well. Let this be your best comfort
(as it is ours), that he fell asleep (rather than departed) so peacefully5 and softly, and with such a fine testimony of faith on his lips and in full possession of his rational faculties6 that we all marveled. There can be as little doubt that he is with God, his true Father, in eternal blessedness, as there can be doubt that the Christian faith is true. For such a beautiful Christian end cannot fail to lead heavenward.7
In addition, you should also consider how grateful you ought to be, and how much comfort you ought to derive from this, that he (unlike many others) did not perish in a dangerous and pitiful way. Even if he had lived a long time, you could not, with your efforts, have helped him to anything higher than some sort of office or service. Now, however, he is in a place which he would not wish to exchange for all the world, not even for a moment. Grieve in such a way, therefore, as to console yourselves even more. For you have not lost him, but have sent him on ahead of you to be kept in everlasting blessedness. St. Paul says:8 "You should not mourn over the departed, or those who have fallen asleep, as the heathen do," etc.
I am confident that Master9 Veit,10 your son's tutor, will write down for you some of the beautiful words which your son uttered before his death, and they will please and comfort you.11 I, however, have not wished to omit writing these lines to you, out of love for the devout boy, so that you may have a reliable witness of what happened to him.
Christ, our Lord and Comforter, allow me to commend you to his grace. Amen.
In the evening of April 22, 1532 DOCTOR MARTIN LUTHER, written with my own hand although now I, too, am weak To Nicholas von Amsdorf1
[Wittenberg,] June 13, 1532 Excusing his silence on the basis of his own recent poor health, Luther first expresses his hope that Christ may restore von Amsdorf's health. Then he communicates news and rumors: a new attack against the Empire by the Turks is imminent; the Pope and the King of France refuse to aid the Emperor in the fight against the Turks; the mobilization against the Turks might make necessary an early closing of the Diet of Regensburg and the termination of the peace negotiations between the Emperor and "our" party;
Karlstadt has gone to Friesland in search of a refuge and of suitable work. In closing Luther expresses his hope that Christ's will may be done, and commends von Amsdorf to Christ's grace.
On Nicholas von Amsdorf, see LW 48, 218.
Text in Latin: WA, Br 6, 318–319.
Grace and Peace in Christ This has been the reason for the fact that I have not written to you,2 my Amsdorf: the condition of my head
—which gradually improves because of your prayers, for I have definitely despaired of [my] natural strength. I hear that you, too, are ill, and I do not like to hear this. May Christ restore you also and preserve you a long time for us.