Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/482

 the Saxon Elector. Finally the Emperor appointed a com- mission of the Archbishops and Bishops of Salzburg,^ Sion,' Trieste,* Palencia,* Tuy,* the Confessor [Glapion] and three doctors. They were to seek the way to satisfy God and the Pope, to guard the honor and duty of the Emperor, to pacify the princes and quiet the people — if they could ! . ..

408. LUTHER TO CONRAD PELICAN AT BASLE. Enders, iii. 92. WrrrENBERC (end of February), 1521.

I do not understand how it is that you so praise my writ- ings; I fear you are partial. To me, at least, my Psaltery* is an object of disgust, not so much on account of the sense, which I believe to be correct, as on account of its verbosity, lack of order and chaotic arrangement. For it is a book which I am forced to conceive, form, nourish and bring forth all at once, on account of my lack of time and leisure. I have long thought of recalling it. For with the living voice, the hearers get much light and grace, such as this chaos of let- ters neither has nor can receive. If Psalm xi. is not yet printed, please strike out twelve verses at the end of page B, with the three following verses on page C. For you see how sadly I erred about the word TX* For I was then thinking of other things, as I often am. I am, indeed, very busy, preaching twice a day, treating the Psalter, writing Postilla (as they are called), answering my enemies, attacking the bull in Latin and German and defending myself, not to men- tion answering my friends' letters and conversing with those of my household and with accidental visitors. One other thing that I forgot, please strike out what I dreamed about the word ^^3BTD Psalm xiii., verse 26. I will take care to explain the words of understanding, just as I did of the words of virtue, Psalm xx. There are many other things, but of less moment, for the book is full of typographical errors.

You do well to pray for me ; I am overwhelmed with many

^Matthew Lang. 'Matthew Sch inner. •Peter Bonomo.

'Aloisius Marlian.
 * Peter Ruiz de la Mota, Grand Almoner of Oiarles V. He died 152a.

at Basle. Weimar, ▼. Luther's criticisms are not without foundation.
 * /. e., his commentary on the Psalms, of which an edition was just coming out

�� �