Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/79

 tions I might have on hand. Moreover he was very sorry that I had published a Sermon on Indulgence/ in the vernacular, and he begged that no more copies be printed or sold. I was overcome with confusion to think that so great a bishop had sent so great an abbot so humbly to me for the sake of this only ; I replied : "I am satisfied ; I prefer to obey rather than to work miracles even if I could," and other things to excuse my zeal. For although the bishop thought there was no error in my work, but that all my propositions were catholic, and although he himself would condemn the "indiscreet" proclama- tions of indulgences, yet for fear of scandal, he judged it better to be silent and patient a little while. Farewell in the Lord.

Brother Martin Eleutherius, Augustmian.

51. LUTHER TO JOHN LANG AT ERFURT. Enders, i. 168. Wittenberg, March 21, 1518.

Greeting. Reverend Father, I sent you some sheets of Carlstadt's edition of Augustine's The Spirit and the Letter, as I did to some others, but I forget to whom I sent which ones. . ..

The false preachers of indulgences are thundering against me in wonderful style from the pulpit, and as they cannot think of enough monsters with which to compare me, they add threats, and one man promises the people that I shall certainly be burned within a fortnight and another within a month. They publish Theses against me, so that I fear that some day they will burst with the greatness of their wrath. Everybody advises me not to go to Heidelberg* lest perchance what they cannot accomplish against me by force they will do by guile. But I shall fulfill my vow of obedience and go thither on foot, and I shall pass through Erfurt, but do not wait for me as I can hardly leave here before April 13." Our elector, with great kindness, as he is inclined to favor our theology, unasked

1/. e., the Sermcn von Abiass und Gnade, which Luther had expressed the intention of publishing in a letter to Scheurl of March s, translated in my Luther, p. 43! The "Sermon" was really a series of German theses om indul- gences. Weimar, i. 243.

SA general chapter of the Saxon Province of Augustinians was to be keld at Heidelberg in April and May. Gabriel della Volta, General of the order, had instructed Staupitz to force Luther to recant at this meeting. Smith, p. 46.

'In fact Luther left on Sunday, April 11.

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