Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/342

 aside my office of teaching and preaching the Word, at any rate I shall be free in the way I teach it. Loaded with enough sins I will not add this unpardonable one, that, when I am made a minister of the Word, I should fail in my ministry and be found guilty of impious silence, of neglecting the truth, and of thousands of lost souls. Let that cardinal boast that his Church does not need defence; why then, does he defend it?

I am entirely satisfied that the most illustrious elector should keep himself apart from my cause as he has hitherto done, and that he should thrust me out to be taught or con- victed. But as he cannot be my instructor, let him not be my judge or executioner until I have been duly sentenced. He sees that he cannot punish anyone, Jew or Turk, without a cause being known, which, in this case, they have not even touched upon. Do the Romans wish that he should obey God rather than man, and oppress one of whose guilt or innocence he is not sure? He could not do so with a safe conscience, nor can his conscience be prompted to such an act by any divine command.

Let them punish Prierias, Eck, Cajetan and others, who for their own glory causelessly started this tragedy for the Ro- man Church. I am innocent. What I have done and do, I am obliged to do, always ready to keep silence provided only they do not bid the gospel truth to keep silence. They will obtain everything from me, and I will offer everything of my own accord, if they will allow the way of salvation to be free to Christians. This is all I ask from them in return; noth- ing else. What could be more honest? I do not seek a car- dinal's hat, nor gold, nor whatever else Rome now prizes.

If I do not obtain this request, let them deprive me of my cure of souls, and let me live and die in some desert comer. Miserable man that I am, I am forced to teach against my will, and at the same time suffer for doing so, when others teach of their own free will and are honored for it. My mind is simply not able to fear threats nor to prize promises. Do they want me really to be affected by fear and hope, or only to pretend to be?

You have my opinion. I hope the most illustrious elector

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