To the truthful and faithful proclaimer of the gospel, Thomas Müntzer at Allstedt near the Harz mountains, our true and dear fellow brother in Christ, etc.

May peace, grace, and mercy from God our father and Jesus Christ our Lord be with us all. Amen. Dear brother Thomas, for the sake of God do not be surprised that we address you without title and as a brother, because we want you to correspond with us. And do not be surprised that, without being asked and being unknown to you, we have presumed to establish a mutual correspondence. God's son, Jesus Christ, who appears to all who are to be saved as the sole master and head, and who calls us brothers – “his” through the one common word for all brothers and believers-has compelled us to create friendship and brotherhood, and to point out the following articles. In addition, your two pamphlets on contrived faith have caused us to write. Therefore, if you receive this letter with good intentions for the sake of Christ our saviour, and if God wills it, this letter will serve what is good, and will produce results.

In the past our ancestors fell away from the true God; from a knowledge of Jesus Christ and true faith in him; from the true, single, common, divine word; and from divine customs and Christian love and ways. And they lived without God, law, and the gospel in human, useless, unchristian practices and ceremonies.