Page:The letters of Martin Luther.djvu/132

 Doubtless it would be a very good thing were such changes made, were it generally desired, and no one objected.

But this will never be the case. We cannot all be so learned as Carlstadt, therefore we must give in to the weak, else those who are strong will run into all excesses, and the weak who cannot keep up with you will perish.

God has been very gracious to you in Wittenberg, giving you the pure Word, so you should have patience with those who never heard it, or where is your love?

We have many brothers and sisters in Leipsic, Meissen, and elsewhere, and these we must take to heaven with us. Although Herzog George, etc., are very angry with us at present, still we must bear with them, and hope for the best. They may become better than we.

You have gone about the business in a way of which I cannot approve, using your fists, and if this happen again I shall not take your part. You began without me, so carry it on without me. What you have done is wrong, no matter how many Carlstadts approve of it.

You have injured the consciences of many who have taken the sacrament, and attacked it, tearing down pictures, and eating eggs and meat. You are to blame for this, and yet you consider yourselves Christians, and better than others.

Believe me, I know the devil well, and he is at the root of all this, and has led you to attack the sacrament, etc., so that he might injure God’s Word, and meantime faith and love are forgotten.

Now we shall examine the nature of the things which have been done in my absence. There are things which God has commanded, and these must be kept, for no man, be he pope or bishop, has power to alter them. Other things God has left free to us, such as eating, drinking, marrying, etc. God has not forbidden these. Popes and bishops have tried to deprive us of this freedom, by setting up priests and monks, to whom marriage is forbidden, appointing fast days, and suppressing true fasting, thereby leading many to the devil, of whom St. Paul says, “In the latter times some shall depart from the faith,