Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/249

 I must boast, as St. Paul too had to boast/ though it is folly and I would rather not have done it, if the lying spirits had let me. ... I know and am certain, by God's grace, that I am more learned in the Scriptures than all the sophists and papists, but so far God has graciously preserved me, and will preserve me, from the pride which would make me refuse to give answer to the most insignificant Jew or heathen, or anybody else. . ..

... To sum it up, gracious Lords, your Graces must not ^i?rf^r5J¥!i!L?lJSJ3ffice,jpJ[ the word. Let them go on boldly and confidently preaching what they can and against whom they will ; for, as I have said, there must be divisions, and the Word of God must take the field and fight. ... If their spirit is true, he will not fear us and will hold the field ; if our Spirit is true, He will not be afraid of him or of anybody. Let the spirits fight it out. If some are led astray, that is the fortune of war ; when there is a battle some must fall and be wounded, but he that fights bravely will receive the crown. cBjit if they wilL,fig^t with anything more^than the Word, if they will break and smit^ with the fist, then your Graces should inter- fere, whether it is we or they who do it, forbid the offenders the land, and say : "We shall gladly look on and allow you to fight with the Word, that the true doctrine may be preserved ; but keep your fists to yourselves, for that is our affair ; or else get out of the land." We, whose concern is with the Word of God, must not fight with the fist. It is a spiritual battle that wins hearts and souls from the devil. . . . Our duty is to preach and to suffer, not to strike and defend ourselves with the fist. Christ and His Apostles destroyed no churches, and broke up no images, but they won men's hearts with God's Word and the churches and images fell of themselves. . ..

Now I will close for this time, having humbly prayed your Graces to act vigorously against their storming and ranting, that God's kingdom may be advanced by word only, as be- comes Christians, and that all cause of sedition be taken from the multitude (Herr Omnes) which is more than enough inclined to it already. For they are not Christians who would go beyond the Word and appeal to force, even if they boast

^11 Corinthians xi, i6.

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