To Friedrich Myconius letter 3 - Martin Luther

TO FRIEDRICH MYCONIUS

Luther pleads for a deposed pastor. April 4, 1543.

Grace and peace! The bearer, Conrad, who declares, my excellent Myconius, that you deposed him from his charge at Ersnod, insisted I should write you. He complains that after long years of work he is plunged into poverty with five children depending on him. To get rid of him I send him back to you, pleading you will listen to him and help him to the utmost, so that he may not perish of hunger. I am not reflecting on you in the slightest, having always had the highest opinion of you. But I could not turn a deaf ear to his misery. I shall be truly delighted if you are once more restored to health; and I pray God to spare you. When I was so often at the gates of death this year, I felt as if I were

suffocated by the burdens of the world. May the Lord grant me a blessed release and hasten that glorious day. May it be soon — very soon, Amen — so that the world may cease to rage against His Name and Word. God grant this.

MARTIN LUTHER .