Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/303

 hurt of the Order, you know that our profession is made odious in the eyes of all, and the habit and name of the Augustinians is so hateful, that we are, as it were, insulted as worthless by the apostolic see. We must appear to the pub- lic the more slack, in that having been the only mendicant order never accused nor suspected of heresy, we are now, like heretics, forced to flee the face of men. The thing ought to be the more intolerable to us as it seems to touch our most innocent Pope Leo X., to whom our profession owes as much as it could owe to any mortal. On account of the innumer- able benefits he has conferred on us it is our interest not to cross him, but to please him and to be humble and, if neces- sary, pour out our blood and lay down our lives a hundred times a day. . ..

We have heard that great men are turning their attention to this affair, and that the ax is laid at the root. We have been credibly informed that a bull is being drawn up against a nimiber of the writings of the said Martin, in which, how- ever, our Supreme Lord, out of respect to our profession, has not decreed that either the name of the Order of St Augustine or that of Martin Luther should be wiped out, from which we can see how kind, gentle and benevolent to the Augustinian family Pope Leo shows himself, who, though he has been provoked for four years, can hardly be induced to defend himself, not to mention taking vengeance. He rather covers up the offence of the man, dreading our com- mon confounding, and only expecting improvement. . . . Wherefore we conjure you by the bond of charity for these reasons to use all your power, care, industry and diligence to make Martin abstain from speaking against the Holy Roman Church and indulgences, that he may not, relying on his own genius, begin to move against her whom the Lord founded upon a firm rock, but that he may cease from publishing books and keep silence when he sees that daily more danger- ous offences arise, and that he may remember those words of Christ: "Woe unto that man through whom the offence Cometh."*. ..

Wherefore we write you praying by your piety and pro-

^Matthew, xtuL 7.

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