Page:The letters of Martin Luther.djvu/101

 ===L=== TO JOHN LANGE Luther determined to stand by his appeal from an ill-informed to a better-instructed Pope, in spite of Herzog George.

November 28, 1520.

To the honored John Lange, Doctor of the Holy Scriptures in Erfurt, my friend in the Lord.

My greeting! We rejoice over our Prince’s return, and I beseech you, honored father, to pray for our cause. Herzog George is foolish — very mad. We duly expect thunder and lightning from that quarter. I am determined to stand by the appeal. I see troublous times ahead. May God direct all well! We have read your Prince’s learned and judicious answer to the Papal delegates, Aleander and Marinus, from which we see they have achieved nothing in that quarter. I shall send them to you soon. This Aleander has been mercilessly attacked in a witty lampoon because of his many vices. My writings have been burned in Cologne and Louvain.

Farewell in the Lord. Our father vicar has set off for Strenberg, under the escort of the lay brother Johannes. MARTIN LUTHER. WITTENBERG. (Schutze.)

LI
TO GEORGE SPALATIN

The Emperor wrote to the Elector, asking him to bring Luther with him to Worms, to be judged by learned men. On 10th December Luther burned the Pope’s Bull at the Elster gate, Wittenberg, in presence of hundreds of students, who flung Eck and Emser’s works into the flames, and then sang the “Te Deum.”

December 21, 1520.

You ask what I shall do if the Emperor demands my presence. If I am summoned, I declare I shall be borne thither sick, if I am not well enough to go, for if the Emperor call me, doubtless it is God’s call.

But if they use force towards me, which is probable, for they will not summon me in order to be enlightened, then the cause must be committed to God, who still reigns