To the highly honorable man, Herr Stanislaus Hoffmann, preacher of the Council in Zwickau at St.Catharine's, his friend in the LOrd.
Grace and peace in the LOrd! I hear, good man, that you are Preacher at St.Catharines in the place of the shamefully and unworthily persecuted Laurentius Soranus who neither has been accused nor remitted (?uberwiesen)and I marvel at your impudence since you know very well that the church in Zwickau is commended to Herr Pastor Nicolaus and these souls are entrusted to his faithful care and for whom he must give an account to Christ. And you, without asking him and without his will, have pushed into this office or taken it over. What do you have for a conscience to do this and to persist in this action? It may that the Council has called you but it has called you without the knowledge and consent of the head-pastor to whom the care of this city is entrusted. I write this to admonish and also at the same time to point out that I ,this action of yours or your Senate, have no part in it and neither regard it as good but have nothing to do with it and I am free of your sin if Christ should judge you over it. You look to what you have done and do not regard me for either a colleague or justifier. Be it well with you in the LOrd and take cognizance of your conscience. On the Monday after Georg (24 April) 1531. Martin Luther. NOTE: ML telling it like it is.
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