Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/41

 loving heart. . . . Farewell, sweet father and brother, and pray for me.

Brother Martin Luther, Augustinian.

13. LUTHER TO CONRAD MUTIANUS RUFUS AT GOTHA,

Enders, i. 34. Gotha, May 29, 1516.

Luther was now on a journey through the various cloisters of his district. While at Gotha, he thought best to excuse himself for not calling on Mutian, whose opinion of his sermon the year before he had heard from Lang, who seems, moreover, to have introduced them.

Greeting in the Lord. The reasons, most learned and kindest Mutian, why I have neither visited you nor invited you to visit me, are first the hurry of my trip and the pressure of my business, and secondly the great opinion and true reverence I have for you. For our mutual friendship is too recent for me to dare to bring down to my mediocrity your excellence as it is in my eyes and in fact.

But now I would not leave you unsaluted, for I felt it my duty to do so, even though I feel shame for my ignorance and unrhetoric, if I may use the word. Affection for you conquered and this rustic Corydon, this barbarian Martin accustomed only to cry out among geese, salutes you, a man of the deepest and most exquisite learning. But I know, I am sure or at least I assume, that Mutian prefers the heart to the tongue and the pen, and my heart is sufficiently learned in only being your friend. Farewell, farewell, excellent father in the Lord Jesus, and be mindful of me.

Brother Martin Luther, Vicar.

P. S. — I would like you to know that Father John Lang, whom you know as a Grecian and Latinist, and, what is more, a man of sincere heart, has recently been instituted by me as prior of the convent of Erfurt. Favor him before men and pray for him to God. Farewell, in haste, as you see.

14. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. Enders, i. 44. Wittenberg, June 30, 1516.

Greeting in the Lord. I wrote you from Sangershausen, excellent father, that if you have any brother of undisciplined mind you should send him there for punishment. I am writ-

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