Wednesday, February 25, 2009

God Makes a Man What He Wishes

The conclusion of a letter by Martin Luther to Caspar Müler, the chancellor at Mansfeld, whom he addressed, “my kind lord and dear friend.” The letter reveals the good humor of Luther even when not feeling his best. The letter was written January 19, 1536.

Accept my ways (as Your Honor knows them); for I am quite rough and coarse, big, grey, green, overburdened with, excessively mixed up in, and overtaken by [all kinds of] affairs, so that sometimes, in order to preserve myself, I have to force myself to make a joke. Of course, a man is not more than a man, even if God can make out of a man what he wishes—yet we have to do our part too. Greet all good gentlemen and friends!

Luther's Works, Letters III, Vol. 50, edited by J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald and H. T. Lehmann, Fortress Press.

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