Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/245

 Word, when it arises, always has the good fortune to excite Satan with all his might against itself. At first the devil rages with his fist and wicked power, then, if that does no good, he attacks with false tongues and extravagant spirits and doctrines, so that what he could not crush with power he may suffocate with venomous lies. . . . Now Satan knows that the rage of Pope and Emperor will accomplish nothing against us ; yea, he feels that, as is the way with God's Word, the more it is oppressed the more it spreads and grows, and, therefore, he now attacks it with false spirits and sects. We must, therefore, consider and not err, for it must be so, as Paul says to the Corinthians,* "There must also be here- sies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest." And so, as Satan driven out has now wandered two or three years through dry places, seeking rest and find- ing none, he has at last settled in your Grace's electorate, and made himself a nest at AUstedt, and thinks under our peace, protection and guardianship to fight against us. For Duke George's principality, although it is our next neighbor, is, as they themselves boast, too favorable and gentle for such a bold and dauntless spirit, so that the sectaries can- not there show their courage and confidence, wherefore the bad spirit cries out and complains terribly that he must suffer much, although no one has yet attacked him with sword or tongue or pen, and they only dream that they are bearing a cross. So frivolously and causelessly must Satan lie, though he can thereby deceive no one.

Now it is an especial joy that our followers did not b^^ this heresy, as the sectaries themselves boast that they did not learn it from us, but directly from Heaven, and that they hear God speak to them immediately as to the angels. It is ^ a simple fact that at Wittenberg only faith, love, and the ^ ^"^ ^' Cross of Christ are taught. God's voice, they say, you must

hear yourself, and suffer and feel God's work in you to know your own weight ; aye, they make nothing of the Script- ure, which they call "Bible-bubble-Babel." * To judge by

> I Corinthians xi, 19.

"AgricoU speaks of Munxer saying: "Was Bibel, Bubel, Babel, man maia aal dnen Winkel kriechen und mtt Gott reden." Kawerau: Agricola, p, 48*

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