Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/116

 power of kingSy and the obstinate agreement of the uni- versities. Forsooth you will hardly ever easily break this thick and triple cord of the cacodemon. There is need of an Alex- ander, to cut it, like the Gordian knot, with his sword; to loose it by genius or reason is hard. Simple but pious men stand at the beck and call of the fictitious Church. The wiser heads fear her tyranny. And especially we theologians, who sell the greatest of all things, the holy knowledge of Christ, give up Christ for our pride, and, inveighing against all the stains on religion, under the pretext of piety take care to lose nothing by it. Wherefore, lest your splendid attempt should turn out vain, I pray you use a little artifice, by which you may fix your hook in the reader before he suspects that a hook has been baited for him.

Thus the apostles urged nothing suddenly, nothing openly, but always preserved decorum and courtesy. With what strategy does Paul approach in the Epistle to the Romans! What does he not do to keep their favor? He simulates one thing and dissimulates another, he winds in and out, he displays his rich burden from afar, again he conceals it, in short, he weighs his words so that he may never arouse hatred or disgust.

The Acts of the Apostles are full of examples of his method. Thus in a tumult St. Paul answers like a turncoat: he does not say, "I do not speak against the law," but "Of the resur- rection I am called in question,"^ thus with wonderful pru- dence diverting attention from the observance of the law. Thus great things are safely accomplished by oblique methods. Thus I wish that you might always keep some window open by which you might escape when you are harassed in debate.

Recently I received Prierias* foolish pamphlet against your Theses, If you answer him I hope it will be prudently and according to the true example of Christ in the gospel. Speak expressly of religion in its inception and growth, of the cus- toms of the ancients, the reason of old error, and the various decrees of the popes and councils, so that your argument gain credence as though drawn from the fountain of truth. You can more frequently discredit single abuses by ridicule

^Acts, xxiii. 6.

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