gracious Lord. There is ample reason why I should write to your Grace, if only I could write as I ought, now that Almighty God has taken away our head, our gracious Lord Elector, your Grace's brother, in the midst of these perilous and terrible times, and has left us in sorrow, and especially your Grace, on whom all this misfortune falls. Your Grace may well say, in the words of the Psalter,* "Innumerable evils have compassed me about; they are more than the hairs of mine head, so that I am not able to look up, etc.
But God is faithful, and does not let His wrath outweigh His mercy upon those who put their trust in Him, but gives them courage and strength to bear it, and in the end He gives the ways and means by which to escape it. Thus we can only say, again with the Psalter,* "The Lord hath chastened me sore, but He hath not given me over unto death" ; and again,* "Many are the afflictions of the righteous {i.e., of those who believe), but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." Solo- mon, too, offers us the same comfort, and says,* "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and delighteth in him as in a son ; therefore, my son, reject not the punishments of God, and be not weary of His chastening." And Christ Himself says,* "In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me peace."
This is the school in which God chastens us and teaches us to trust in Him, so that our faith may not always be on our lips and in our ears, but may havjC its true dwelling-place in the depths of our hearts. In this school your Grace now is, and without doubt God has taken away our head in order that He Himself may take his place, and come the closer to your Grace, and teach your Grace to give up his comforting and tender reliance upon that man who has been taken away, and draw strength and comfort only from His goodness and power ; for He is far more comforting and tender.
I have written this hurriedly, for your Grace's consola- tion. I hope your Grace will graciously accept it, and find yet more of joy in the Psalter and the Holy Scriptures, which are full of all comfort. God have your Grace in His keeping.
Your Grace's humble servant. Dr. Martin Luther.
^ Psalm xl, 12. 'Psalm xxxiy, 19. 'John xvi, 33.
- Psalm cxyiii, i8. * Proverbs iii, ii, zj.
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