Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/24

 LUTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE

��AND

��OTHER CONTEMPORARY LETTERS

��478. LUTHER TO MELANCHTHON.

Enders, iii, 146. (Wartbuhg, before May 12, 1521.)

Luther left Worms on April 26, traveling by way of Frankfurt and Hers f eld to Eisenach, where he arrived May 2. On the 4th he left Eisenach, but while passing through the Thuringian Forest he was seized by a band of armed men and carried away to the Wartburg, a castle of the Elector of Saxony, close by Eisenach, where he was kept in hiding until the spring of 1522. Cf. Smith, pp. 26ff.

This letter is only a fragment. DeWette (ii, 12) dates it "May or June"; Enders, "before May 12," assuming that it is a part of one of the letters referred to infra no. 480. The name of the person addressed is not given, but it was probably Melanchthon. Cf, Enders, n. i.

I have had much ado to get this letter off, so great is the fear

that my whereabouts may somehow be revealed. Wherefore

do you, too, have a care — if you think it can be done to the

glory of Christ— that it may remain or become uncertain

whether it is friends or enemies who are detaining me; and

be silent It is not necessary for anyone but you and Amsdorf

to know anything save that I am still alive. Who knows but

that God may use this silence to work upon those in high

station? The priests and monks who raved against me when

I was at liberty are so afraid of me, now that I am a captive,

that they are beginning to soften the harsh things they have

been saying about me. They cannot endure the weight of the

people's threats and know of no way to evade them. Behold

the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, what He does for us

when we are silent and patient and pray. A certain Romanist

has written to the Cardinal of Mayence, "We have lost Luther,

(21)

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