are able to go along bodily, we know that we are obliged to move out to war spiritually with our earnest prayers, to join with the dear Emperor Charles5 and his soldiers, and to help fight under his banner against Satan and his adherents. God grant that this may be the time when Michael, the sovereign of God's people, will arise and deliver his people, as Daniel 12 [:1]6 prophesies.
Thus, above all else, I wish and I pray God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, to give the devout Emperor, all the sovereigns, and all those who are now to fight against the Turks, first of all, a courageous heart that relies cheerfully on God's help. May God graciously keep them from depending, under any circumstances, on their own power and strength, as the Turks do, for such reliance would be disastrous.
May he rather make them sing with David, "I shall not trust in my sword";7 and again, "Lord, thou art the one that gives victory unto kings";8 and again, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God"9—and whatever more verses there are in the Psalter.
This is what David did when he killed Goliath and said, "You come to me trusting in your sword and spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord," etc.; I Samuel 17 [:45]. It is said that the Turkish emperor, when moving out [to war], swore by his sword, which is his god.10 May God help now that this idol [of the Turkish emperor] may become for him a filthy object of ridicule because of his folly, pride, and presumption. Amen.
Second, I beg our people not to place their reliance on the Turk's being altogether wrong and God's enemy while we are innocent and righteous in comparison with the Turk—for such presumption is also vain—but rather to fight in the fear of God, and in reliance on his grace alone. For we, too, are unrighteous in God's sight. Some [on our side] have shed much innocent blood, have persecuted, despised, and disobeyed God's Word, so that under no circumstances are we to take our stand on either our own righteousness or the unrighteousness of the Turks. For the miserable devil is God's enemy, too, and does us great injustice and wrong; in comparison with the devil we are innocent; nevertheless we must not boast of our innocence and the superiority of our claims, but must fight against him in all fear and humility and depend solely on God's help. This is what David, too, did in his fight against Goliath; he did not boast of his claims, but with God's help he fought and said, "You have blasphemed that God in whom
I put my trust."11 In like manner we must pray to God, not to avenge our innocence on the Turk, but [rather] to avenge and glorify his name through the Turk,12 that great blasphemer, and meanwhile graciously to forget our sins.
Third, I hope and pray that in such a war our people by no means seek honor, glory, land, booty, etc., but only the glory of God and of his name, together with the. defense of poor Christians and subjects. For the glory should and will be God's alone. As sinners and unworthy people we deserve nothing but shame, dishonor, and even death, as Your Sovereign Grace knows better than I can write. But since Your
Sovereign Grace has so earnestly requested spiritual instruction, I have wished to set down this brief opinion to be of service to Your Sovereign Grace. I have no doubt that if Your Sovereign Grace inculcates such sentiments in others, so that the war is conducted on a high plane, the devil and all his angels will be too weak for our soldiers, and the Turks will encounter men who are different from those whom they have fought before, when both sides were insolent and fought without God, which has always harmed God's people more than their enemies.
May Your Sovereign Grace now go forth in God's name, and may the same God send his angel Michael to accompany Your Sovereign Grace and help all of you to gain a glorious victory and return home to the praise and honor of God. Amen. Our Pater noster shall follow after you and go along with you, and, if it pleases God, [our prayers] will await Your Sovereign Grace in the battlefield, that they may be found there.
May it please Your Sovereign Grace graciously to accept these lines, [which] I have written in haste.
Herewith I commend [Your Grace] to God. Amen.
Your Sovereign Grace's willing [servant], To Nicholas von Amsdorf1