Page:The letters of Martin Luther.djvu/78

 followers will also be obliged to be silent, even should the stones cry out.

Therefore, that no evil may befall your Serene Highness, which I do not wish, I shall leave your Grace’s land in God’s name, and will go wherever the everlasting and merciful God directs, and shall submit to His divine will, letting Him do with me as He will.

Herewith I bless and greet your Electoral Grace, in deep humility, committing you to the merciful God, and thanking you with all my heart for the benefits you have bestowed upon me. And wherever my dwellingplace may be, I shall never to all eternity forget your Grace’s goodness to me, or cease to pray earnestly for your Highness’s salvation and prosperity.

At present I am full of joy and gratitude to God, that His dear Son counted a poor sinner like me worthy to suffer tribulation and persecution for His good and sacred cause. May He maintain your Electoral Grace to all eternity. Amen. Your Grace’s unworthy chaplain,

MARTIN LUTHER.

Wittenberg.

XXXI
TO JOHN REUCHLIN

The great German humanist, who was the first to spread the knowledge of Hebrew in Germany.

December 14, 1518.

The Lord be with you, my valiant hero! I praise the mercy of God, which dwells in you, my learned and esteemed sir, through which you have at length stopped the mouths of those who spoke against you. Certainly you are an instrument of Divine Providence, although you may not know it.

But those who have the cause of sacred learning at heart have for long earnestly desired one such as you, and God’s purposes were very different from what your actions would have led people to suppose they were. I was one of those who greatly desired to be with you, but the opportunity never presented itself. Still I have been ever with you, with my wishes and prayers, but what was