486. NICHOLAS GERBEL TO LUTHER. Enders, iii, I5S^ Strassburg, May 18, 1521.
Greeting in Christ Jesus the Crucified. About you every- thing here is so uncertain that you never saw or heard of any- thing more uncertain. A persistent rumor is going the rounds that you have been taken by treachery, and even that you were afterwards killed, stabbed in the neck with a sword. There are some who say that you have returned safe to Wittenberg. Between the two reports it is not known which is true. Cer- tainly there is not a single learned or good man who does not hope it is the latter. You would not believe how the adherents of the other party rejoice in the first report and how they thank their gods. The men are altogether crazy, and do not know how much ill, nay, how much hiunan blood your death would cost. But we who have aspired to salvation and free- dom and have recognized in you a champion of the Gospel and of true faith, are variously affected, and )rou would not believe how anxious we are for your life. Not that we grudge you the glory of living with the heavenly spirits and dying to the world, for which you have conquered these earthly vicissitudes by the exaltation of your soul and by your incredible con- stancy ; but because you seemed one of the few who treat the Gospel as it should be treated, and we cherished the hope that in you we had a leader who would not fail us, by whom all that had been lost by the wrong-doing and the negligence of our fathers could be restored.
Wherefore, my most learned Luther, if you love me and the rest of those who, with me, care for you and for the Gos- pel of God, which you have preached with so great labor, so great care, so many struggles, so many perils, let us know whether you are alive, whether you are captive, whether you have been deprived of freedom to write to us or teach us, or in what state things are with you. If reports are true, the interdict of fire and water will be laid on all who read your books or believe that the things you have taught are true. You see now what they have to expect in the future who have enrolled themselves under the Gospel of the Son of God. God grant that in pure and true faith we may bear all the treach-
�� �
