Page:The letters of Martin Luther.djvu/49

1516 but in those pertaining to God and the salvation of souls I consider him sevenfold blind, even as your Pfeffinger.

I do not say this in a corner to malign them, but to their faces at every opportunity. Were I certain that your project came from God, then, would that you had a tongue of fire, and the Pater were pure stubble! But remember that what you and the Prince are discussing secretly is known, for before I got your letter I heard that the esteemed father would be made Bishop of Kimsche.

These happy times are long gone by when it was considered a grand thing to be a bishop, but now there can be no more miserable position, for it means leading a life of gluttony and debauchery such as that of Sodom and Rome. You see this when you compare the life and work of the old bishops with ours.

How many are immersed in wars, while their homes have become a very hell of insatiable greed!

Notice how far this man is removed from such vices, so that when the time comes for him to be lured into the terrible vortex of the Bishop’s courts you will try to prevent the calamity.

But enough of this! If your petition really admits of no delay tell me at once, because the esteemed father does not return from Antwerp till autumn, so I must send a special messenger to Cologne, where he told us to forward his letters. Farewell in the Lord, and pray for us. From the cloister at Wittenberg.

MARTIN LUTHER, Augustinian.

VIII

TO MICHAEL DRESSEL

Augustinian Prior in Neustadt, whom Luther deposed because he could not keep the peace with the brethren.

June 22, 1516.

Salvation and peace! But not such peace as is manifest to the natural man, but that which lies beneath the cross, viz. the peace which passeth all understanding. Thou art longing for peace, but in the wrong way; for thou seekest it as the world gives it, and not as Christ does. Dost