To Wenzel letter 6 - Martin Luther

TO WENZEL

Thanks for a gift, etc. May 6, 1529.

Grace in Christ! The watch, dear Wenzel, has arrived all right. But it is either weary with its journey or not accustomed to its new owner, for it has stopped. However, with time, it appears inclined to run. I thank you warmly for it, but, being a poor man, can make no return. For the books which came out lately you must already have, and they are of such a nature that they cannot be called gifts. They are only old things brought out afresh. God has given me a little daughter Magdalena, and the mother is very well. The Diet is at an end, and almost without result, except that the persecutors of Christ, the tyrants of souls, could not vent their fury on us as they desired, and we could expect no more from God. There is talk of a Council, but it will be fruitless. There is a Venetian here just now, and he says that in the last French war against the Pope there were eight hundred Turks, of whom three hundred were uninjured, and being tired of the war returned home. I thought you did not know these dreadful things, as you took no notice of them. Soon midnight will come, when the cry will be heard, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.”

Pray for me. Greet our friends. MARTIN LUTHER .