Page:The letters of Martin Luther.djvu/65

 but feel certain I get all the blame. It has caused much talk, especially among Tetzel’s followers, who are naturally very angry. I do not know how it will all end, only it has placed me in a more perilous position.

MARTIN LUTHER.

Wittenberg.

XXII
TO JOHANN VON STAUPITZ

To Staupitz, his Superior and Father in Christ Jesus.

March 31, 1518.

My greeting! Although overwhelmed by business, I feel constrained briefly to address my father in the Lord.

To begin with, I am quite willing to admit that my name is in bad odor with very many.

For these good folks assert that I despise psalters and other forms of prayer, nay, even good works themselves. But St. Paul himself was often treated in the same way, some accusing him of saying, “Let us do evil, that good may come.”

But I have kept firm to Tauler’s theology and that other treatise which you had printed through our Aurifaber. I teach that man must trust solely in Christ Jesus — neither in prayer, merit, nor works, but hope for blessedness only through God’s mercy.

It is from this that these people extract poison and disseminate it everywhere, as you see.

Only as it was neither good nor bad report which made me act so, therefore I take no notice of all this, although it is those things which bring down the hatred of the schoolmen about my neck.

Because I prefer the mystical writings and the Bible to them, their wrath and jealousy are unbounded. I do not read the scholastics blindfolded, as they do, but ponder them. The apostle told us to prove all things, and hold to that which is good. I do not despise all theirs, neither consider it all good. But these creatures generally kindle a fire out of a spark, and make an