you will assist him as best you can. I could have wished Bugen- hagen to stay here, but in such circumstances and for the Word's sake I think we ought to give him up. Who knows to what use God may wish to put him there? We might not recognize, and therefore might stand in the way of, the clear calling of God. You will hear from him of the wonderful things that Christ has done in Danzig. If I received such a call I should not dare refuse it, but would go at once.
It is reported here that the King of France has won a victory over the Emperor. Farewell, and pray for me.
Martin Luther.
66i. CHARLES CONTARINI TO THE SIGNORY OF VENICE. Brown, 1520-6, no. 944. Innsbruck^ February 26, 1525.
The stir in Germany between the Elector of Saxony and the Cardinal of Salzburg ^ and the Duke of Bavaria is greater than ever. The cause proceeds from the affairs of Martin Luther, because when the diet was held last year at Nurem- berg, the Duke of Bavaria and the Cardinal of Salzburg being invited thither, the Cardinal would not go, saying that he would not be present where heretics were defended and favored, alluding to the Elector of Saxony. The Duke of Bavaria, on the other hand, went to Nuremberg, and, finding himself at a grand banquet given in honor of the Elector of Saxony, meats were brought to table, although it was Friday. The Duke of Bavaria rose, and would not eat, saying publicly that such proceedings were too heretical. Hence arose this enmity. But what is worse, the subjects of many princes and lords of Germany have rebelled, and will no longer obey or pay them their usual taxes, Saxony favoring them at the in- stigation of Martin Luther, so that his sect is now in the field 25,000 strong, and they have raised a banner on which is writ- ten, Defensores Libertatis et Evangelicae Scripturae, the greater part of these people being [natives] of the free towns, according to report.
However unreasonable these things may appear, has not chosen to omit mentioning them, that the Signory may know the cause of this stir.
^Matthew I^ng.
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