Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/336

 I beg and admonish you in God the Lord, in case the elec- tor or any other government should expel you rather than dis- obediently endure arbitrary spiritual punishment for you, that you should not let such desertion trouble you, nor be- take yourself to the Bohemians, from whom in former times certain learned men obtained much contradiction and offence, and thus increased the disfavor in which they were held. For I, and, I believe, a hundred gentlemen whom I can bring to- gether, will keep you safe and protect you against your op- ponents, until your opinions have been canvassed and ex- amined by a common Christian council or by impartial learned judges, and you yourself better instructed; for you yourself have agreed to submit in such a case. As you are one to whom, though unknown, I am minded to show service and friendship, I did not wish to conceal the above from you, for you to comfort yourself with.

Sylvester von Schaumberg.

270. LUTHER TO GEORGE KUNZELT, PASTOR AT

EILENBURG. Enders, ii. 418. WrrrENBERG, June 15, 1520.

Nothing is known of Kunzelt, except that a little later (December 10, 1520^ Enders, iii. 19), he requested permission to go away to study for eight years, on the ground that he had been so much ordered about by his superiors that he deserved a little leisure.

Greeting. You inquire, venerable Father, as to my practice in beginning and ending a sermon ; my usage is not the com- mon one. Omitting wordy prologues I briefly say: "Invoke the divine grace, and say an inward Ave Maria or Paternos- ter, that the word of God may be fruitful to us and God ac- cept us."^ Then I read the text, without announcing the topic. Then* I explain or propound doctrines from it. At the end I say: "Enough of this," or, "More another time," or, "Having said this, we will pray God for his grace to en- able us to do it," or thus : "God help us do it." Then most briefly: "Let us commend to God the spiritual and temporal estates, particularly so and so, for whom and for all, as we ought, we will recite the Lord's prayer in common" After

^The words in italics are German. •Reading "Deinde" for "Davidem."

�� �