Grace and power from God, Most Illustrious Majesty, and most gracious and
dear Lords.
It is not out of sheer forwardness or rashness that I, a single, poor
man, have undertaken to address your worships. The distress and
oppression which weigh down all the Estates of Christendom, especially
of Germany, and which move not me alone, but everyone to cry out time
and again, and to pray for help, [5]
have forced me even now to cry aloud that God may inspire some one with
His Spirit to lend this suffering nation a helping hand. Oft times the
councils [6] made some presence at reformation,
but their attempts have been cleverly hindered by the guile of certain
men and things have gone from bad to worse. I now intend, by the help of
God, to throw some light upon the wiles and wickedness of these men, to
the end that when they are known, they may not henceforth be so hurtful
and so great a hindrance. God has given us a noble youth to be our head
and thereby has awakened great hopes of good in many hearts; [7]
wherefore it is meet that we should do our part and
profitably use this time of grace.
In this whole matter the first and most important thing is that we take
earnest heed not to enter on it trusting great might or in human reason,
even though all power in the world were ours; for God cannot and will not
suffer a good work to be begun with trust in our own power or reason. Such
works He crushes ruthlessly to earth, as it (Ps. 33:16) is written in the
xxiii Psalm, "There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty
man is not delivered by much strength." On this account, I fear, it came to
pass of old that the good Emperors Frederick I
[8]
and II
[9]
and many other
German emperors were shamefully oppressed and trodden under foot by the
popes, although all the world feared them. It may be that they relied on own
might more than on God, and therefore they had to fall. In our own times,
too, what was it that raised the bloodthirsty Julius II
[10]
to such heights?
Nothing else, I fear, except that France, the Germans and Venice relied
(Judges 20:21) upon themselves. The children of Benjamin slew 42,000
Israelites
[11]
because the latter relied on their own strength.
That it may not so fare with us and our noble young Emperor Charles, we
must be sure that in this matter are dealing not with men, but with the
princes of hell, who can fill the world with war and bloodshed, but whom war
and bloodshed do not overcome. We must go at this work despairing of
physical force and humbly trusting God; we must seek God's help with earnest
prayer, and fix our minds on nothing else than the misery and distress of
suffering Christendom, without regard to the deserts of evil men. Otherwise
we may start the game with great prospect of success, but when we get well
into it the evil spirits will stir up such confusion that the whole world
will swim in blood, and yet nothing will come of it. Let us act wisely,
therefore, and in the fear of God. The more force we use, the greater our
disaster if we do not act humbly and in God's fear. The popes and the Romans
have hitherto been able, by the devil's help, to set kings at odds with one
another, and they may well be able to do it again, if we proceed by our own
might and cunning, without God's help.
