ame as people who were conceived,
born, nursed, cradled, fondled, brought up, and grown up in the
Holy Scriptures. It would be no more than fair that whoever
could, should be afraid of them, so that their labor and their
good intentions might not be entirely in vain. Leipzig, to
produce such giants, must indeed be rich soil.

That you may understand what I mean, observe: Sylvester, Cajetan,
Eck, Emser,[3] and now Cologne and Louvaine have shown their
knightly prowess against me in most strenuous endeavor, and
received the honor and glory they deserved; they have defended
the cause of the pope and of indulgences against me in such a
manner that they might well wish to have had better luck,
finally, some of them thought the best thing to do was to attack
me in the same manner as the pharisees attacked Christ [Matt.
22:35]. They put forward a champion, and thought: If he wins, we
all win with him; if he is defeated, he suffers defeat alone. And
the super-learned, circumspect Malvolio[4] thinks I will not
notice it. Very well, in order that all their plans may not
miscarry, I will pretend not to understand their game. And I beg
them in return, not to take notice, that when I strike the pack,
I am aiming at the mule. And if they will not grant this request,
I stipulate that, whenever I say anything against the newest
Roman heretics and blasphemers of the Scriptures, not merely the
poor, immature scribe of the bare-foot friars at Leipzig shall
take it to himself, but rather the great-hearted flag-bearers,
who remain in hiding, and yet would win a notable victory in
another's name.

I pray every honest Christian to receive my words--though
sometimes barbed with scorn or satire--as coming from a heart
that is made to break with sorrow and to turn seriousness into
jesting at the sight now beheld at Leipzig, where there are also
pious people who would venture body and soul for God's Word and
the Scriptures, but where a blasphemer can thus openly speak and
write, who esteems and treats God's holy words no better than if
they were the fabled pratings of some fool or jester at the
carnival. Because my Lord Christ and His holy Word, even He who
gave His own blood as the purchase-price, is held to be but
mockery and fools' wit, I must likewise drop all seriousness, and
see whether I, too, have learned how to play the fool and clown.
Thou knowest, my Lord Jesus Christ, how my heart stands toward
these arch-blasphemers. That is my