new martyr of Vienna. They write that he was beheaded and burned for the Word of God. The same thing happened to a certain George/ a bookseller at Buda, in Hungary. He was burned with his books piled around him and suffered bravely for the Lord. Blood toucheth blood ; ' it will smother the Pope with kings and their kingdoms. Farewell, and pray for me a sinner. Martin Luther.
646. LUTHER TO THE CANONS OF WITTENBERG.
Dc Wcttc, 11, 565. German. (Wittenberg), November 17, 1524.
Despite all of Luther's protests {cf. supra no. 563, 603) the clergy of the Castle Church in Wittenberg persisted in their adherence to the old faith and the old forms of worship. Luther finally carried out the threat contained in the following letter, and after Christmas Day, 1524, the worship of the Castle Church was reformed. Cf. Kostlin- Kawerau', ii, 527f. The immediate occasion the letter was the admin« istration of the Eucharist in one kind to a woman of the city {cf, infra, no. 647).
Grace and peace in Christ, reverend and dear Sirs. It has again come to my attention that in your church the sacrament is administered in one form, contrary to the agreement, and especially to the promise, that was made to me by your rev- erend dean. Since, therefore, I perceive that the great patience with which we have hitherto endured your devilish life and the idolatry in your church is insufficient, and only increases and strengthens you in your outrageous and defiant conduct, so that you shamefully despise God's Word, which is offered you, and run from it, and will not hear it; moreover, since I observe from your administration of the sacrament in one kind that you intend, if possible, to divide our church and rend its unity and to introduce factions and divisions, which may finally lead to uprisings; therefore I am forced, as one who is called, by the grace of God, to be pastor of this church, to take counsel and measures against all this so that I may
September 17, 1534, because of his refusal to recant Lutheran opinions with vUeh he was charged Supra, 635.
^A marginal note on the original manuscript of this letter, by Conrad Cordatus, says that the name of this bookseller was John, not George. He adds further, "He was the servant of my brother, Martin Cordatua, and the books he was trying to sell had been bought with my money." Enders, v, 54, note 9.
- Hosea iv, 2,
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