Second, dear Mother, you also know the true center and foundation of your salvation from whom you are to seek comfort in this and all troubles, namely, Jesus Christ, the cornerstone. He will not waver or fail us, nor allow us to sink or perish, for he is the Savior and is called the Savior of all poor sinners, and of all who are caught in tribulation and death, and rely on him, and call on his name.

[Christ] says: “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” If he has overcome the world, surely he has also overcome the sovereign of this world with all his power. But what else is [the devil’s] power but death, by which he has made us subject to himself, [and] held us captives on account of our sin? But now that death and sin are overcome, we may joyfully and cheerfully listen to the sweet words: “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” We certainly are not to doubt that these words are indeed true. More than that, we are commanded to accept this comfort with joy and thanksgiving. Whoever would be unwilling to be comforted by these words would do the greatest injustice and dishonor to the dear Comforter, as if it were not true that he bids us to be of good cheer, or as if it were not true that he has overcome the world. [If we acted thus,] we would only restore within ourselves the tyranny of the vanquished devil, sin, and death, and oppose the dear Savior. From this may God preserve us. (Luther’s Works, v. 50, p.19)

First, dear Mother, by God’s grace you well know by now that this sickness of yours is [God’s] fatherly, gracious chastisement. It is a quite small chastisement in comparison with that which he inflicts upon the godless, and sometimes even his own dear children, when one person is beheaded, another burned, a third drowned, and so on. And so all of us must sing: “For Thy sake we are being daily killed and regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” This sickness therefore should not distress or depress you. On the contrary, you should accept it with thankfulness as being sent by God’s grace; [you should] recognize how slight a suffering it is—even if it be a sickness unto death—compared with the sufferings of his own dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did not have to suffer on behalf of himself, as we have to do, but who suffered for us and for our sins. (Luther’s Works, v. 50, p.18)