cannot be anything but the best, even though we do not per- ceive it. The "vacancy" and the "quietism" and the "wonder- ing,"* of which we jested, have become serious earnest; now it is time to be silent and let God rule; that is the way we
shall see peace. I am not unwilling to write to , as you
ask me to do.
686. LUTHER TO NICHOLAS AMSDORF AT MAGDEBURG. Enders, v, 182. Wittenberg, May 30, 1525.
Grace and peace. You write of a new honor for me, dear Amsdorf , namely, that I am called the toady of princes ; * Satan has conferred many such honors upon nie ^tiring'lhe past years. But I have little pity for these knowing fellows who display their bloodthirsty and seditious spirit when they pass judgment on me. Therefore I rejoice that Satan be- comes indignant and breaks out into blasphemy whenever I touch him. For what else are these except the voices of Satan, by which he is trjring to traduce me and the Gospel? But He Who has so often beaten down and broken to pieces the lion and the dragon will not allow the basilisk to trample upon me; therefore let them stop their roaring. Our con- science assures us that what has fallen from my lips on this subject is right before God. Let Him be crucified, then, and displease those who have gone out from us and from the name of the Gospel in order that they may dishonor us. This is the thanks we get from our adulterous generation. But they have gone out that they may be cast down and that their end may be confusion. The time will come, perhaps, when I, too, can say, "All ye shall be offended this night because of me." " On the other hand, we soon f oi^t the benefits we receive, and how proud we are and quick to judge even those from whom
^A citizen of Eisleben, who had been an adherent of Munzer.
- Entgrohung, Langweil und Verwunderung, In his book, Against the Heavenly
Prophets, Luther ascribes these expressions to Carlstadt (cf. Barge's notes In Weimar, xviii, 71, loi, 138). The idea of them seems to be that man must passfrely await the coming of God's Spirit to woiic in him and upon him. See Smith, pu ISO.
'Albert of Mayence. Ruhel had aslced him to write to the Archbishop urging Um to take a wife.
- I.e., because of his attitude toward the peasants.
■Matthew xxri, 31.
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