To Maria, Queen of Hungary - Martin Luther
TO MARIA, QUEEN OF HUNGARY
Sister of Charles V. Her husband fell fighting against the Turks in August. Luther dedicated Psalms
37,62, 94, and 109 to her. November 1, 1526.
To Her Serene Highness Frau Maria, born Queen of Spain, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. My most gracious lady! Grace and comfort from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Most gracious queen. I determined, at the instigation of some pious people, to dedicate those four Psalms to your Majesty as an exhortation, joyfully, to maintain and further God’s Holy Word in Hungary; for I received the good news that your Royal Highness was inclined towards the gospel, but that godless bishops, who have all the power in Hungary, tried to hinder it spreading and turn you away from it. Also, that they have shed innocent blood, FA8 and set themselves in array against the truth of God. But seeing, alas, that the matter has taken another turn through the providence of God, and the Turk
has caused so much misery by slaying that noble young monarch King Ludwig, your Majesty’s beloved husband, I now regard things otherwise. Had the bishops allowed the gospel to spread, all the world would have declared that these evils came upon Hungary because of the Lutheran heresy, and what a scandal that would have been! We shall see whom they will now blame, for God has mercifully prevented such an accusation being made. St. Paul writes that the Holy Scriptures were written for
our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Spirit, might have hope, so I have published these Psalms to comfort your Royal Highness (with such comfort as God pleases to give) in this great and sudden affliction with which the Almighty God has seen fit to visit you, not in anger, as we have every right to hope, but as a chastisement so that your Royal Highness may learn to trust only in the true Father which is in heaven, and to be comforted by the one Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, who is also our Brother, nay, our very flesh and blood, and to find your delights with your true companions the dear angels whoever surround and care for us. For although it was a bitter trial for your Royal Highness to be left so early a widow, and robbed of your dear husband, still there is much consolation to be found in the Scriptures, particularly in the Psalms; and the Father and the Son will show you abundantly where everlasting life lies hidden. And truly, to whomsoever it is given to see and feel the Father’s love towards us in the Scriptures can easily endure all the misery which may be in the world, while whoever does not really feel this can never be truly joyful, although he may be revelling in all its pleasures and delights. No such affliction can overtake any one so great as what God endured in seeing His beloved Son rewarded for all the miracles and good deeds He did to sinful man by being maligned, scorned, and at last subjected to the most shameful death on the cross.
Each thinks his own cross the heaviest, and takes it more to heart than the cross of Christ, even although He had endured ten crosses. This may be because we are not so patient as God is, therefore a much smaller cross is infinitely more painful to us than Christ’s cross. But the Father of all mercies and the God of all consolation will comfort your Royal Highness in His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost, so that you may soon forget your present misery or be able to bear it bravely. Amen. At Wittenberg at the first winter moon.
Your Majesty’s obedient servant, MARTIN LUTHER .