Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/107

 536. LUTHER TO HARTMUTH VON CRONBERG.

Weimar, x*, 53f. German.

(Wittenberg, about the middle of March, 1522.)

This letter, which was printed four times in 1522, involved Luther in serious difficulties with Duke George of Saxony, who interpreted certain passages as uncomplimentary references to himself. Vide infra, no. 562.

Grace and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, gracious Lord and good friend in Christ. I read your two letters, the one to his Imperial Majesty and the other to the Mendicant Orders,* with great joy, and thank my God for the grace and the gift which He has given you in the knowledge of Christian truth and in love and desire for it. For it is easy to see that your words well up from the depths of your heart, and they show that the Word of Christ is not only in your ears and on your tongue (as is the case with many), but dwells deep in your heart It has put its own mark upon you and made you glad and bold to praise it and confess it, not only with your lips, but also in deeds and in writings before the whole world and against the whole world, especially against these wise and exalted souls. The greatness and the abundance of this gift no one can rightly estimate except one who has the Spirit, Who tells us what is given us and teaches us to compare spiritual things with spiritual, as St. Paul says.* For this does not enter the heart of the brutish man.

Therefore I have not been able to refrain from visiting you in spirit with this letter and telling you of my joy. I can say without a lie that the condemnation and persecution of the Pope and the whole world neither hurts me nor disturbs me as much as I am strengthened and rejoiced when I hear that a man has laid hold upon the tender truth and openly praises it. But how much more am I comforted when I learn — ^as I do learn every day — that you and men like you are coming to know it and are boldly confessing it. God graciously gives me this comfort so that my faith may be strengthened and I

1 The first of these letters in E. Kfick, DU Schrifttn H. von C/s (Halle, ipi^)* I>p. iff.; the second, pp. 5 iff., and Walch,* xr, i643flF. 'I Corinthians ii, laf.

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