Wittenberg always, smce it is my duty even to die for my neighbor's sake?
The third thing that moved me was that I fear (alas, I feel sure!) that there will be a great uprising in Germany, with which God will punish the German nation, for we see that the Gospel pleases the common people greatly, and they re- ceive it in a fleshly sense ; they see that it is true, but will not
i use it rightly. Those who ought to quiet this uprising are
■ helping it along, for they are beginning to quench the light by force, but they do not see that they are only embittering men's hearts and compelling them to revolt, and are adopting such an attitude that they seem to wish that they themselves or their children shall be destroyed; this is without doubt a plague that God had sent upon them. The spiotual tyranny,
\ against which alone I directed my writings, is weakened, but now I see it is God's will to carry things still farther, as He did with Jerusalem and its two rulers,* for I have lately learned that not only the spiritual, but also the temporal powers must yield to the Gospel, willingly or not, as is clearly shown in all the histories of the Bible. Now God has commanded by the prophet Ezekiel * that we must "set ourselves as a wall before Him for the people"; therefore I have thought it necessary to consult with my friends whether we cannot turn away God's judgment, or at least postpone it. This may be all in vain, and my enemies may scoff and laugh at it when they hear it, nevertheless I must do what I see and know is to be done, for your Grace should know and be quite confident that the de- crees that are made in heaven are very different from those that are made on earth.*
There are still other reasons which, however, are not so urgent, and, therefore, I do not insist upon or emphasize them much. The one reason is more than sufficient; the Gospel
■ is in need, therefore I could not think of anything or shrink
. from anything or fear anything on earth.
1 Pilate and Caiaphas.
- Ezeldel xxii, 30.
- In the original letter of March 7, this sentence read; *'The decrees that
are made in heaven are very different from those that are made at Nuremberg [where the Imperial Council was sitting]; and your Grace will see that those who now think they have made a meal on the Gospel have not yet said grace before meat*' (DeWette, il. 143)*
�� �
