Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/458

 806. ZWINGLI TO CONRAD SOM AT ULM.

R. Stahelin : Brief e aus der Reformationsseit, 1887, p. 21.

Zurich, August 30^ 1528.

Som (Sam, Saum) (1483-1S33) of Rotenacker on the Danube, studied at Freiberg and Tubingen, called to Ulm in June, 1524, a Zwinglian. CR., xcv, 632.

Grace and peace from the Lord. Dearest Conrad, I am sending you the replies* which Oecolampadius and I are mak- ing to Luther. That rash man keeps killing human and divine wisdom in his books, though it would have been easy to re- store this wisdom among the pious. But since the heretics, that is his followers, together with the wicked, have become so deaf to all truth that they not only refuse to listen, but even to let us approach, I was for a long time doubtful about expending this enormous labor, which I knew would be vain, among those who chiefly ought to profit by it. But I did it for the sake of charity, which beareth all things, and for the consciences of fair-minded men, who might be seduced by the light diligence of these men who call things blacker than an Ethiope white. So charity coupled with truth conquered. I have answered in the style that you see. Luther has called us back to Scotists and Thomists [whom we quote] not be- cause we trust them or think that he gets any advantage from these poor schoolmen, but simply to take all his weapons from him. Now I see these Urbans,* who, by reason of the male- diction rather than argument of this man, give themselves out as cultured scholars, but are really swindlers. May I die if he does not surpass Eck in impurity, Cochlaeus in audacity, and, in brief, all the vices of all men. . ..

Devotedly yours, Ulrich Zwingli.

807. LUTHER TO JOHN AGRICOLA AT EISLEBEN. Enders, vi, 281. (WrrxENBERG), September 11, 1528.

Grace and peace. A certain person told me a story about you recently, my dear Agricola, and insisted that it was true,

^ Published in the same book, under the title: Two Answers to Martin Luther' t Book, called a Confession, Both reprinted in Walch,' xx, colsi 1218-1473. ' Rhegius, formerly a Zwinglian, now a lyUtheran.

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