when it is finished I hope a Christian will be able to iind in it all he needs to know. Greet all our friends in the faith, Francis von Sickengen, Ulrich von Hutten, and the rest. God's grace be with you. Amen.
Martin Luther, Dr.
��537. LUTHER TO NICHOLAS HAUSMANN AT ZWICKAU. Enders, iii, 312. Wittenberg, March 17, 1522.
Greeting. Dear Nicholas, although I am variously occu- pied by our great disturbances, I cannot omit writing to you. Your Zwickau prophets were about to bring forth monsters, which, if bom, would have done no little damage. Their spirit is fair-seeming and very wily, but the Lord be with you. Amen.
Satan has attempted much evil here in my fold, and in such a manner that it is hard to oppose him without scandal. Be on your guard against all innovations made by public decree or popular agitation. What our friends attempt by force and violence must be resisted by word only, overcome by word and destroyed by word. It is Satan who urges us to extreme measures.
I condemn masses held as sacrifices and good works, but I would not lay hands on those who are unwilling to give them up or on those who are doubtful about them, nor would I pre- vent them by force. I condemn by word only ; whoso believes, let him believe and follow, whoso does not believe, let him disbelieve and depart. No one is to be compelled to the faith or to the things that are of faith, but to be drawn by word, that he may believe and come of his own accord. I condemn images, but only by word, saying not that they should be burned, but that faith should not be placed in them, as hitherto has been done and is yet done. They will fall of themselves when the instructed people learn that they are nothing before God. In like manner I condemn the Pope's laws about confession, communion, prayer and fasting, but by word, that I may free consciences from them. When their consciences are freed, they may use such things for the sake of the weaker brethren who are entangled in them, and then
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