of wine, bellowed whole hours before the people against Luther and Erasmus, calling us beasts, asses, geese and stocks, but not refuting a single word. When he said that there was heresy in my books and was asked by someone, who had been instructed by the magistrate, what it was, this buffoon of a bishop replied : "I have not read Erasmus's books ; I tried to read the Paraphrases, but the Latin was too deep." . . .
I have no fear for myself. I have never been the teacher of error nor the leader of tumult. And yet you would hardly believe how strongly I am urged to mix in the Lutheran aflFair, and had I wished to do so it would have been far different from what it is. But hitherto I have preached peace and quiet, hitherto I have labored for Christ. . . .
��299. MARTIN BUCER TO GEORGE SPALATIN. R. Stahelin: Brief e aus der Reformationsseit. Basle, 1887, p. 9.
Heidelberg, September 19, 152a
... I have read the pamphlet of the most Christian^ Rev- erend Father Martin to our nobility. Good Heavens! what wise liberty is in it! There is no jot of it to which I can oppose anything from Scripture. But rather, as I previously learned to expect from his other works, I seem to myself to have found a man undoubtedly acting out the spirit of Christ. Capito, that finished theologian, my special patron, was at first horrified by what rumor said of the book, but when he read it, he acted, as he always does, as becomes a sincere theologian, as an interpreter and champion of the truth neither blinded nor timid. When you meet him you will learn his virtues most clearly. May our breasts not hesitate to accept the gifts which, as it were, the Holy Spirit shows the Church in most sacred Luther and other men not a few, whose erudi- tion and piety are both above suspicion. I pray Christ for that. If you can steal time from your other occupations, please write briefly what result I may expect from the present hazard, and if most pious Luther comes to you, commend me warmly to him. . . .
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