Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/282

 do not go at once to the sacrament you can yet be saved by the Word and by faith. It is the devil's business to keep us in this perilous night and lead us off the path with his will-o - the-wisps.

I beg your preachers, dear brethren, to leave Luther and Carlstadt, and point only to Christ, and not as Carlstadt does, only to the work of Christ, and the example of Christ, which was the least part of His work, in which He is like other saints, but to Christ as a gift of God; or, as Paul says, the strength of God, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption given unto us ; which these "prophets" have never felt nor tasted nor imderstood, but juggle with their "living voice from heaven," and with their "ecstasy," "illimiination," "mortification," and such bombastic words, which they them- selves do not imderstand, though by them they make con- sciences doubtful, unquiet and heavy, while men wonder at their great art, and forget Christ.

Pray, dear brethren, that God the Father may not let us fall into temptation, but strengthen us according to His in- finite mercy, and uphold and accomplish His work begun in us, as He has commanded us to ask confidently through Jesus Christ our Saviour. This is an advantage we have over the "prophets," For I know and am certain that they never sought God's counsel nor prayed about their undertakings, for they have not a good enough conscience so to do, but they b^[an in their own presumption and continue thirsting for their own glory until they shall come to a shameful end. God's grace be with you all. Amen.

��653. LUTHER TO THE ELECTOR FREDERIC. Dc Wctte, 11, 581. German. (Wittenberg, before December 24, 1524.)

Grace and peace in Christ, serene and high-bom Prince and Lord. Your Grace allowed us this year to have some wheat from the collector, and now the collector duns us every day, and we cannot pay for it, because we are not getting and have not been getting our revenues. I therefore humbly peti- tion your Grace to excuse us for the last time from paying

�� �