Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/197

 595. SIR THOMAS MORE TO WOLSEY.

Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, iii, 3270. English.

Easthampstead, August 26, 1523.

. . . One Thomas Mumar, a Franciscan friar, who wrote in defence of the King against Luther/ is come over to England, having been told by a simple fellow that the King wished to see him. The King desires out of pity that he should re- turn, for he is one of the chief stays against the faction of Luther, and orders Wolsey to pay him £100.

596. LUTHER TO THE CHRISTLVNS IN THE NETHERLANDS. Weimar, xii, 77. German. (Wittenberc, August 28(?), 15^.)

Eyn brieff an die Christen ym Nidderland. M. Luther. (Sine loco et anno; really printed by Hans Luft, Wittenberg, 1523. A copy of this first edition I (P.S.) purchased at Leipsic for $7.)

The first martyrs to the evangelical cause were two Augustinians of Antwerp, Henry Voes and John Esch (or von Essen), burned at Brus- sels, July I, 1523. An account of the auto-da-fi by an eye-witness was printed at once, dated July 10. The most recent account is by O. Clemen: Beitrage sur Reformationsgeschichte, i, (1900), pp. 40-52. This letter in Enders, iv, 196 is dated "Beginning of August," in Weimar, "July or August." The library at Gottingen has a copy of the first edition of this letter, with the following inscriptions, said to be in Luther's hand: "28 Augusti, 1523," and, "prodiit in hoc horribile edictum Caroli imp. 1540 mense sept." P. Fredericq: Corpus inquis^ itionis neerlandicae, iv, (1900), 224. This date cannot be verified, but it is quite probable. It is true Luther speaks of the martyrdom in letters of the last of July, but the thought of writing this public letter does not seem to have occurred to him at once. He also wrote a hymn. The documents are printed in Bibliotheca ref. Neerlandica, viii, edita a S. Cramer et F. Fijper, 191 1, under the title: Het mat^ telaarschap van Hendrik Vos en Joaannas van den Esschen,

Praise and thanks be to the Father of all mercy, who at this time lets us see His wonderful light, hitherto hidden on account of our sins while we were compelled to submit to the terrible power of Antichrist. But now the time has come when the voice of the turtle is heard in the land, and flowers appear on the earth. Of what joy, dear friends, have you

^Murnar's book was entitled Whether the King of BngUmd or Luther is tht Liar. A new life of Murnar, by T. von Liebenau, appeared in 191 3. It is in the series Brgansungen und ErlSuterungen MU Jantsen* GetchichSe des deutsek^n Volket, hg. von L. y. Pastor.

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