726 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 15380.
of the Bible, begun on the Wartburg, hoping to finish the Prophets, and dictated to Dietrich a commentary on the first twenty-five Psalms. He also explained his favorite 118th Psalm, and wrote ver. 17 on the wall of his room, with the tune for chanting, —
** Non moriar, sed vivam, et narrabo opera Domini.’
By way of mental recreation he translated thirteen of Esop’s fables, to adapt them for youth and common people, since “they set forth in pleasing colors of fiction excellent lessons of wise and peaceful living among bad people in this wicked world.” He rendered them in the simplest language, and expressed the morals in apt German proverbs.!
The Diet at Augsburg occupied his constant attention.. He was the power behind the throne. He wrote in May a public “ Admonition to the Clergy assembled at the Diet,” reminding them of the chief scandals, warning them against severe measures, lest they provoke a new rebellion, and promising the quiet possession of all their worldly possessions and dignities, if they would only leave the gospel free. He published a series of tracts, as so many rounds of musketry, against Romish errors and abuses.
He kept up a lively correspondence with Melanchthon, Jonas, Spalatin, Link, Hausmann, Brenz, Agricola, Weller, Chancellor Brick, Cardinal Albrecht, the Elector John, the Landgrave Philip, and others, not forgetting his “liebe Kethe, Herr Frau Katherin Lutherin zu Wittenberg.” He dated his letters “from the region of the birds” (ex volucrum regno), “from the Diet of the jackdaws”’ (ex comitiis Monedularum seu Monedulanensibus), or “from the desert” (ex eremo, aus der Einéde). Melanchthon and the Elector kept him informed of the proceedings at Augsburg, asked his advice about every important step, and submitted to him the draught
1 The MS. of his translation and adaptation of these fables has recently been re-discovered in the Vatican Library by Dr. Reitzenstein, and published, — with an interesting facsimile, by E. THIELE: ‘‘ Luthers Fabeln nach seiner wiedergefundenen Handschrift,’’ etc. Halle (M. Niemeyer), 1888 (19 pages).
ὃ 123. LUTHER AT THE COBURG. 121
of the Confession. He approved of it, though he would have liked it much stronger. He opposed every compromise in doctrine, and exhorted the confessors to stand by the gospel, without fear of consequences.
His heroic faith, the moving power and crowning glory of his life, shines with wonderful luster in these letters. The greater the danger, the stronger his courage. He devoted his best hours to prayer. His “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,” was written before this time,! but fitly expresses his fearless trust in God at this important crisis, when Melanchthon trembled. ‘Let the matter be ever so great,” he wrote to him (June 27), “great also is He who has begun and who conducts it; for it is not our work. . . . ‘Cast thy burthen upon the Lord; the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him.’ Does He say that to the wind, or does He throw his words before beasts? . . . It is your worldly wisdom that torments you, and not theology. As if you, with your useless cares, could accomplish any thing! What more can the Devil do than strangle us? I conjure you, who in all other matters are so ready to fight, to fight against yourself as your greatest enemy.” In another letter he well describes the difference between himself and his friend in regard to cares and temptations. “In private affairs I am the weaker, you the stronger combatant; but in public affairs it is just the reverse (if, indeed, any contest can be called private which is waged between me and Satan): for you take but small account of your life, while you tremble for the public cause; whereas I am easy and hopeful about the latter, knowing as I do for certain that it is just and true, and the cause of Christ and God Himself. Hence I am as a careless spectator, and unmindful of these threatening and furious papists. If we fall, Christ falls with us, the Ruler of the world. I would rather fall with Christ than stand with © the Emperor. Therefore I exhort you, in the name of
1 See above, 468, 502 sq., 741 sq.