Lutheranian
Active member
To my dear father, John Luther, citizen in the valley of Mansfeld: grace and peace to you in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.
Dear Father,
My brother James has written me that you are seriously ill. As the weather is bad and the season dangerous, I am very anxious about you, for, though God has given you a strong, tough body, yet your age and the inclemency of the weather give me disquieting thoughts. None of us is, or should be, sure of his life at any time. I should have come to you personally with the greatest willingness, but my good friends advised me against it and have persuaded me not to, and I myself thought it better not to tempt God by putting myself in peril, for you know how lords and peasants feel towards me.
It would be the greatest joy to me if it were possible for you and mother to come hither, which my Katie and all of us beg with tears that you will do. I hope we are able to take good care of you. Therefore I am sending Cyriac to see whether your weakness will allow you to be moved.
However in God’s wisdom your illness turns out, whether you live or die, it would be a heartfelt joy to me to be with you again and with filial piety and service to show my gratitude to God and to you according to the Fourth Commandment.
In the meantime I pray from the bottom of my heart that our Father, who has made you my father, will strengthen you according to his immeasurable kindness and enlighten and protect you with his Spirit, so that you may receive with Joy and thanksgiving the blessed teaching of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to which doctrine you have now been called and to which you have come out of the former terrible darkness and error; and I hope that his grace, which has given you such knowledge, and thereby begun his work in you, will guard and complete it to the end of this life and to the joyous hereafter of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
God has already sealed this teaching and faith in you and has testified to it by such marks as that you have suffered much slander, abuse, obloquy, mockery, scorn, hatred, and odium for his name’s sake, as we all have done. These are the true marks of our likeness to the Lord Christ, as Paul says, that we may be like him also in future glory.
Let your heart be strong and at ease in your trouble, for we have yonder a true mediator with God, Jesus Christ, who has overcome death and sin for us and now sits in heaven with all his angels, looking down on us and awaiting us so that when we set out we need have no fear or care lest we should sink and fall into the ground. He has such great power over sin and death that they cannot harm us, and he is so heartily true and kind that he cannot and will not forsake us, at least if we ask his help without doubting.
He has said, promised, and pledged this. He will not and cannot lie; of that we are certain. “Ask,” says he, “and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” And elsewhere: “Whosever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The whole Psalter is full of such comforting promises, especially Psalm 91, which is particularly good to read to the sick.
I wish to write this to you because I am anxious about your illness (for we know not the hour), that I might become a participant of your faith, temptation, consolation, and thanks to God for his holy Word, which he has richly and graciously given us at this time.
If it is his divine will that you should postpone that better life and continue to suffer with us in this troubled and unhappy vale of tears, to see and hear sorrow and help other Christians to suffer and conquer, he will give you the grace to accept all this willingly and obediently. This life, cursed by sin, is nothing but a vale of tears. The longer a man lives, the more sin and wickedness and plague and sorrow he sees and feels. Nor is there respite or cessation this side of the grave. Beyond is repose, and we can then sleep in the rest Christ gives us until he comes again to wake us with joy. Amen.
I commend you to Him who loves you more than you love yourself. He has proved his love in taking your sins upon himself and paying for them with his blood, as he tells you by the gospel. He has given you grace to believe by his Spirit, and has prepared and accomplished everything most surely, so that you need not care or fear any more, but only keep your heart strong and reliant on his Word and faith. If you do that, let him care for the rest. He will see to it that everything turn out well. Indeed, he has already done this better than we can conceive. May our dear Lord and Saviour be with you so that, God willing, we may see each other, either here or yonder. For our faith is certain, and we doubt not that we shall shortly see each other in the presence of Christ. Our departure from this life is a smaller thing to God than my journey would be from here to Mansfield of yours from Mansfield to Wittenberg. It is only an hour’s sleep, and after that all will be different. This is most certainly true.
I hope that your pastor and preacher will point out such things to you in faithful service, and so you will not need what I say at all. Yet I write to ask forgiveness for my bodily absence, which, God knows, causes me heartfelt sorrow. My Katie, little Hans, Magdalene, Aunt Lena, and all my household send you greetings and pray for you faithfully. Greet my dear mother and all my friends. God’s grace and strength be and abide with you forever. Amen.
Your loving son,
Martin Luther.
Dear Father,
My brother James has written me that you are seriously ill. As the weather is bad and the season dangerous, I am very anxious about you, for, though God has given you a strong, tough body, yet your age and the inclemency of the weather give me disquieting thoughts. None of us is, or should be, sure of his life at any time. I should have come to you personally with the greatest willingness, but my good friends advised me against it and have persuaded me not to, and I myself thought it better not to tempt God by putting myself in peril, for you know how lords and peasants feel towards me.
It would be the greatest joy to me if it were possible for you and mother to come hither, which my Katie and all of us beg with tears that you will do. I hope we are able to take good care of you. Therefore I am sending Cyriac to see whether your weakness will allow you to be moved.
However in God’s wisdom your illness turns out, whether you live or die, it would be a heartfelt joy to me to be with you again and with filial piety and service to show my gratitude to God and to you according to the Fourth Commandment.
In the meantime I pray from the bottom of my heart that our Father, who has made you my father, will strengthen you according to his immeasurable kindness and enlighten and protect you with his Spirit, so that you may receive with Joy and thanksgiving the blessed teaching of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to which doctrine you have now been called and to which you have come out of the former terrible darkness and error; and I hope that his grace, which has given you such knowledge, and thereby begun his work in you, will guard and complete it to the end of this life and to the joyous hereafter of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
God has already sealed this teaching and faith in you and has testified to it by such marks as that you have suffered much slander, abuse, obloquy, mockery, scorn, hatred, and odium for his name’s sake, as we all have done. These are the true marks of our likeness to the Lord Christ, as Paul says, that we may be like him also in future glory.
Let your heart be strong and at ease in your trouble, for we have yonder a true mediator with God, Jesus Christ, who has overcome death and sin for us and now sits in heaven with all his angels, looking down on us and awaiting us so that when we set out we need have no fear or care lest we should sink and fall into the ground. He has such great power over sin and death that they cannot harm us, and he is so heartily true and kind that he cannot and will not forsake us, at least if we ask his help without doubting.
He has said, promised, and pledged this. He will not and cannot lie; of that we are certain. “Ask,” says he, “and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” And elsewhere: “Whosever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The whole Psalter is full of such comforting promises, especially Psalm 91, which is particularly good to read to the sick.
I wish to write this to you because I am anxious about your illness (for we know not the hour), that I might become a participant of your faith, temptation, consolation, and thanks to God for his holy Word, which he has richly and graciously given us at this time.
If it is his divine will that you should postpone that better life and continue to suffer with us in this troubled and unhappy vale of tears, to see and hear sorrow and help other Christians to suffer and conquer, he will give you the grace to accept all this willingly and obediently. This life, cursed by sin, is nothing but a vale of tears. The longer a man lives, the more sin and wickedness and plague and sorrow he sees and feels. Nor is there respite or cessation this side of the grave. Beyond is repose, and we can then sleep in the rest Christ gives us until he comes again to wake us with joy. Amen.
I commend you to Him who loves you more than you love yourself. He has proved his love in taking your sins upon himself and paying for them with his blood, as he tells you by the gospel. He has given you grace to believe by his Spirit, and has prepared and accomplished everything most surely, so that you need not care or fear any more, but only keep your heart strong and reliant on his Word and faith. If you do that, let him care for the rest. He will see to it that everything turn out well. Indeed, he has already done this better than we can conceive. May our dear Lord and Saviour be with you so that, God willing, we may see each other, either here or yonder. For our faith is certain, and we doubt not that we shall shortly see each other in the presence of Christ. Our departure from this life is a smaller thing to God than my journey would be from here to Mansfield of yours from Mansfield to Wittenberg. It is only an hour’s sleep, and after that all will be different. This is most certainly true.
I hope that your pastor and preacher will point out such things to you in faithful service, and so you will not need what I say at all. Yet I write to ask forgiveness for my bodily absence, which, God knows, causes me heartfelt sorrow. My Katie, little Hans, Magdalene, Aunt Lena, and all my household send you greetings and pray for you faithfully. Greet my dear mother and all my friends. God’s grace and strength be and abide with you forever. Amen.
Your loving son,
Martin Luther.
