129227
WORKS OF MARTIN LUTHER
WORKS OF
MARTIN LUTHER
TRANSLATED
WITH
INTRODUCTIONS AND NOTES
VOLUME IV
A. J. HOLMAN COMPANY
AND
THE CASTLE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA ; PENNSYLVANIA
COPYRIGHT, 1931, BY
A. J. HOLMAN COMPAHY
CONTENTS
ON TRADING AND USURY (1524) and PAGE
A TREATISE ON USURY (1520)
INTRODUCTION (C. M. JACOBS) 9
TRANSLATION (C. M, JACOBS) 12
THE RIGHT AND POWER OF A CHRISTIAN CON-
GREGATION OR COMMUNITY TO JUDGE ALL
TEACHING AND TO CALL, APPOINT, AND DIS-
MISS TEACHERS, ESTABLISHED AND PROVED
FROM SCRIPTURE (1523)
INTRODUCTION (A, T. W. STEINHAEUSER, f) 73
TRANSLATION (A, T. W, STEINHAEUSER, f ) 75
PREFACE TO AN ORDINANCE OF A COMMON
CHEST (1523)
INTRODUCTION (A. T, W. STEINHAEUSER, f) 89
TRANSLATION (A. T. W. STEIN HAEUSER, t) 92
TO THE COUNCILMEN OF ALL CITIES IN GERMANY
THAT THEY ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN CHRIS-
TIAN SCHOOLS (1524)
INTRODUCTION (A, T. W. STEINHAEUSER, t) 101
TRANSLATION (A. T. W. STEINHAEUSER, t) 103
A SERMON ON KEEPING CHILDREN IN SCHOOL
(1530)
INTRODUCTION (C. M. JACOBS) 133
TRANSLATION (C M. JACOBS) * 135
THE BURNING OF FRIAR HENRY (1525)
INTRODUCTION (A. T. W, STBINKABUSJOR, t) 18*
TlANStATTON (A. T. W. STKHSTHABUSKR, f) 184
ADMONITION TO PEACE: A REPLY TO THE
TWELVE ARTICLES OF THE PEASANTS IN
SWABIA (1525)
INT^WCTXON (C M, JACOBS) * 205
Ta* TWELVE A*rxauB$ . . . 210
OP THE ADMONITION (C M, JACOBS) .. 219
6 Contents
AGAINST THE ROBBING AND MURDERING HORDES
OF PEASANTS (1525) PAGE
INTRODUCTION (G M. JACOBS) 247
TRANSLATION (C M. JACOBS) , 248
AN. OPEN LETTER CONCERNING THE HARD BOOK
AGAINST THE PEASANTS (1525)
INTRODUCTION (C. M. JACOBS) 257
TRANSLATION (C M. JACOBS) , 259
AN EXPOSITION OF THE EIGHTY-SECOND PSALM
(1530)
INTRODUCTION (C M, JACOBS) , . . . 285
TRANSLATION (C. M. JACOBS) 287
AN EXHORTATION TO THE CLERGY ASSEMBLED
AT THE DIET AT AUGSBURG (1530)
INTRODUCTION (C. M. JACOBS) . . . . * *..-., 327
TRANSLATION (C. M JACOBS) 329
INDEXSCRIPTURE REFERENCES 383
ON
TRADING AND USURY
1524
INCLUDING
THE TREATISE ON USURY
1519 AND 1520
INTRODUCTION
Luther's work On Trading and Usury (Von
Kauffshandlung und Wucher) was published
some time before the end of June, 1524. 1 In the beginning of the
treatise he says that he has been "urged and begged" to expose some
of the financial doings of the time, and has yielded to the request,
though he knows that things have gone too far to be checked by
his writing. Concerning the source of the requests we are not in-
formed but it is not unlikely that they arose out of the discussion
of monopolies and the best means for suppressing them, which occurred
at the Diet of Nuremberg, January to April, 1524.
Complaints were made in many quarters about the operations of
the trading companies, which were taking a commanding position in
certain lines of trade, and seeking to create monopolies. Similar
complaints were made about the steady advance in commodity prices,
which was general throughout Germany and which worked great
hardship on some classes. The rise of the companies and the
phenomenal profits that they were making were, not unnaturally, con-
nected in many minds with the advance in prices. The subject of
regulation had been under discussion at more than one previous diet,
especially at the Diet of Nuremberg in 1523, which went into the
matter at greater length than any of its predecessors. The Diet of
1524 renewed the consideration of the matter and drastic action was
proposed. The proposals were not adopted, however, either because
of the influence of the great Augsburg companies in the diet itself,
or because of the pressure which they were able to exert at the court
of Charles V. 3 The recess of the diet provided for a mild kind of
regulation that was sure to be abortive. It was, perhaps, in view
of this failure that Luther was asked by friends to speak his mind
on this matter*
He had already spoken. In the Autumn of 1519 he had published
a brief tract On Usury.* A month or so later (December,
1519) he completed a revision and expansion of it, which was pub-
*S* WeJmur Ed, XV, 279 ff.
Ttws latter view Is that taken by Pietach, In Weimar Ed., XV, 281.
1 For th proceeding! of the diet, see WBBD& Deutsche Reicha-
tagktn outer Karl V, IV, pp. 471 ff; the Recess, pp. 602 f.
<X in tJifc edition, VoL 1. p. 1S9. The proceedings of the Diet ol 1523 in
WRX*E, op. cit. Ill, 554 ff.
* (KLKIXE*) S e r in o von den* "Wucher, Weimar Ed.
VI, &&
(9)
10 On Trading and Usury
lished early in 1520* In the Open Letter to the Chris-
t i a n N o b i 1 i t y a he had again referred, though briefly, to
these matters. He now republished the longer treatise On U s u r y,
furnishing it with a new conclusion, and prefaced it with a new
treatise On Trading. The complete work is translated here.
It is one of the most interesting and informing, though not one
of the most important, of Luther's works. Its chief value is his-
torical, not theoretical. It gives us a highly interesting account of
business practices in the sixteenth century, and it leaves us in no
uncertainty concerning Luther's opinion of them. It also gives us a
clear idea of Luther's own economic conceptions. He desires men
to take a religious view of business and relate it to the law of
Christ; he would have them apply the Golden Rule to all of their
dealings, including their dealing with money. In this respect it forms
an interesting contribution to Luther's ethics.
On the other hand, when Luther discusses the specific applications
of the rule, he shows himself entirely without either sympathy or
understanding for the new economic developments that were taking
place around him. His view of property is thoroughly mediaeval. It
is identical with that of the scholastic doctors, Nummus non
paret nummum (Money does not produce money), was
for him, as for them, a fixed principle. Any effort to make money
productive seemed to him to be sinful, contrary to the law of nature,
and a violation of the laws of God, contained in the Old and the
New Testaments. It had its roots in avarice, and the fruit of
avarice is usury. That many of the practices which he rebuked are
fundamentally dishonest, is a fact that no one will deny; but it is
also a fact that Luther had no more idea of economic laws, as we
understand them, than he had of the law of gravitation.
In estimating his views, we have also to take account of his own
personal attitude toward wealth. Few men have ever lived who were
more utterly indifferent to money. For him it was not a thing 1 to be
striven after, but only a means of livelihood and a resource with
which to relieve the necessities of others. For this reason he was
sure to see avarice where others might see only prudence.
The concluding section of the Treatise on Usury
Is devoted to a discussion of the practice known as Zinskauf,
or Rentenkauf. The name is difficult to render Into
English and, after some hesitation, the term "purchase of income/*
or "buying of income" has been adopted. Luther himself describes
the practice adequately. It consisted of the payment of a sum of
money by the buyer to the seller, in consideration of which the seller
agreed to pay to the buyer a certain percentage ol the purchase
price annually, in perpetuity. This percentage was known as
1 (GROSSER) Sermon von d e m Wuch*r t Weimar Ed.,
*fn this edition, VoL H, pp. 159 fc
Introduction 11
Z i n s e n, which in modern German is the equivalent of "interest."
The whole transaction was a form of investment, and contains the
root of the modern mortgage loan, which developed out of it It
was, in fact, a loan disguised as a sale, and Luther correctly regarded
it as an evasion of the mediaeval law against usury. 1
The text of the work is found inWeimar Ed. XV 8 293-
313, 321-22; VI, 36-60: Erlangen Ed. (1) XX, 89-122; (2)
XVI, 79-112; and XXII 200-226; St. Louis Ed., X, 914-
937; 825-854. Clemen, III, 1-46: Berlin Ed. VII,
514-40 (first part only). The translation is made from the text of
Clemen.
Literature. Extensive bibliographies in Weimar
Ed., XV, 283, PRESERVED SMITH, Age of the Refor-
m a t i o n (1920), pp. 80-83, and Cambridge
Modern History, I, pp. 773-78. Cunningham's chapter
"Economic Change," in Cambridge Modern History, I, pp. 493-531,
is valuable. The best brief discussion in English is that of PRESERVED
SMITH, op. cit., pp. 515-62. As an introduction to the specific
subject of the treatise, the work of ECK, in Berlin Ed., VII,
494-513, is most useful
CHARLES M. JACOBS.
MOUNT AERY,
PHILADELPHIA,
* Cf. Vol. II, p. 159, and note, where Z i n B k u f is translated "traffic
in annuities"
ON TRADING AND USURY
1524
The Holy Gospel, since it has come to light, rebukes and
Rom. reveals all "the works of darkness," as St. Paul calls them,
!3:i3 in Romans xiii. For it is a brilliant light, which lightens
all the world and teaches how evil are the world's works and
shows the true works we ought to do for God and our
neighbor. Therefore some of the merchants, too, have been
awakened, and have become aware that in their trading many
a wicked trick and hurtful financial practice is in use, and
Ecdus. it must be feared that the word of Ecclesiasticus applies
26:28 here, and that "merchants can hardly be without sin." Nay,
I think St. Paul's saying in the last chapter of I Timothy,
6:io,' 9 fits the case, "Avarice is a root of all evil," and "Those that
are minded to be rich fall into the devil's snare and into
many profitless and hurtful lusts, which sink men in destruc-
tion and perdition/'
I think, to be sure, that this book of mine will be quite
in vain, because the mischief has gone so far and has com-
pletely got the upper hand in all lands; and because those
who understand the Gospel ought to be able in such easy,
external things to let their own conscience be judge of what
is proper and what is not. Nevertheless I have been urged
and begged to touch upon these financial misdoings and to
expose some of them, so that even though the majority may
not want to do right, some, if only a few, may yet be
delivered from the gaping jaws of avarice. For it must
be that among the merchants, as among other people, there
are some who belong to Christ and would rather be poor
with God than rich with the devil, as says Psalm xxxvii,
"Better is the little that the righteous hath than the great
37:16 possessions of the godless," For their sake, then, we ttmst
speak out,
(B)
m* Jelling 13
It is not to be denied that buying and selling are neces-
sary. They cannot be dispensed with and can be practiced Necea -
in a Christian manner, especially when the articles of trade "^
serve a necessary and honorable purpose. For in this
wise even the patriarchs bought and sold cattle, wool, grain,
butter, milk and other goods. These are gifts of God, which
He bestows out of the earth and distributes among men.
But foreign trade, which brings from Calcutta, India, and
such places, wares like costly silks, gold-work and spices,
which minister only to luxury and serve no useful purpose,
and which drains away the wealth of land and people, this
trade ought not to be permitted, if we had government and
princes. 1 But of this it is not my present purpose to write,
for I think that like overdressing and overeating, it will
have to stop of itself when we have no more money. Until
then neither writing nor teaching will do any good. We
must first feel the pinch of want and poverty.
God has cast us Germans off. We have to throw our gold
and silver into foreign lands and make the whole world rich
while we ourselves remain beggars. England would have
less gold if Germany let it keep its cloth, and the king o
Portugal, too, would have less if we let him keep his spices.*
Count up how much gold is taken out of Germany, without
need or reason, from a single Frankfurt fair," and you will
wonder how it happens that there is a heller left in
German lands. Frankfurt is the golden and silver hole
through which everything that springs and grows, is minted
or coined here, flows out of Germany. If that hole were
stopped tip we should not now have to listen to the com-
plaint that there are debts everywhere and no money; that
all lands and cities are burdened with taxes and ruined with
interest payments. But let that pass. So it will go anyhow.
1 Cf. Vol. II, 159. On contemporary complaint! of the same kind, see
Berlin Bd VII, 515, n. 1.
'The spice-trade WAS, In the sixteenth century, one of the richest sources
of revenue for the importers. 1 the figures on that trade presented to the
Diet of Nttwrnbetg in 1524, Bentfche Reich stagsakten unter
Karl V,
* The greateet of tike annual gatherings of traders, which were held in many
localities in Germany.
14 On Trading and Usury
We Germans must be Germans; we never stop unless we
Th* Par-must. It is our purpose here to speak about the abuses and
the sins of trade so far as they concern the conscience. The
injury they work to the purse we leave to the care of princes
and lords, that they may do their duty.
The First, The merchants have among themselves one com-
VM** mon rule, which is their chief maxim and the basis of all
J^ le Mer . their sharp practices. They say: I may sell my
chants goods as dear as I can. This they think their
right. Lo, that is giving place to avarice and opening every
door and window to hell. What does it mean? Only this:
"I care nothing about my neighbor; so long as I have my
profit and satisfy my greed, what affair is it of mine if it
does my neighbor ten injuries at once?" There you see how
shamelessly this maxim flies squarely in the face not only
of Christian love, but of natural law. Now what good is
there in trade? How can it be without sin when such in-
justice is the chief maxim and the rule of the whole busi-
ness? On this basis trade can be nothing else than robbing
and stealing other people's property*
For when this rogue's eye and greedy belly of a merchant
^ finds that people must have his wares, or that the buyer is
poor and needs them, he takes advantage of him and raises
the price. He considers, not the value of the goods or w;hat
'he has earned by his trouble and risk, but only the other
man's need ; not that he may relieve it, but that he may use
it for his own profit, to raise the price of goods, which he
would not have raised if it had not been for his neighbor's
need. Because of his greed, therefore, the wares must have
a price proportioned to his neighbor's need for them, ad
his neighbors need, like his own wares, must have a valuation.
Pray, is not that unchristian and inhuman conduct? Is tiot
that selling a poor man his own poverty? If, because of
his need, he has to buy his wares so mttch the dearer, it is
just the same as if he had to buy his own need; for what fa
sold is not the wares as they are, but the wares plus the fact
that he must have them. This and like abominations are
No Fixed Rule for Prices 15
the necessary consequence when the rule is : I may sell my
wares as dear as I can.
The rule ought to be, not : I may sell my wares as dear as
I can or will, but: I may sell my wares as dear
as I ought, or as is right and proper. For your selling
ought not to be a work that is entirely within your own
power and will, without law or limit, as though you were a
god and beholden to no one ; but because this selling of yours
is a work that you perform toward your neighbor, it must
be so governed by law and conscience, that you do it with-
out harm and injury to your neighbor, and that you be
much more concerned to do him no injury than to make
large profits. But where are such merchants? How few
merchants there would be and how trade would fall off, if
they were to amend this evil rule and put things on a
Christian basis!
You ask, then, How dear may I sell? How am I to get Price
at what is fair and right so as not to overreach or over-
charge my neighbor? I answer: That is indeed a thing that
will never be governed either by writing or speaking, nor
has anyone ever undertaken to fix the price of every sort of
wares. The reason is that wares are not all alike : one sort
comes from a greater distance than another, one sort costs
more than another. On this point, therefore, everything is,
and must remain, uncertain and no fixed rule can be made,
any more than one can set a certain city as the place from
which all wares are to be brought or establish a definite
cost price for them, since it may happen that the same
wares, brought from the same city by the same road, cost
vastly more one year than another, because, perhaps, the
weather is bad or the road is worse, or something else hap-
pens that raises tibe cost at one time above that at another
time. Now it is fair and right that a merchant take as much
profit on his wares as will pay the cost of them and repay him
for his trouble, his labor, and his risk. Even a farmhand must
have food and hire fot feis labor; who can serve or labor
16 On Trading and Usury
Matt : for nothing? The Gospel says, "The laborer is worthy of
his hire."
Price But in order not to leave this question entirely unan-
swered, the best and safest way would be for the temporal
authorities to appoint over this matter wise and honest men
who would appraise the cost of all sorts of wares and fix
accordingly the outside price at which the merchant would
get his due and have an honest living, just as at certain
places they fix the price of wine, fish, bread and the like.
But we Germans are so busy with drinking and dancing that
we cannot tolerate any such regulation. Since, then, we
cannot hope for such a law, the next best thing is to hold
our wares at the price which they bring in the common
market or which is customary in the neighborhood. In this
matter we can accept the proverb : "Do Eke others and you
are no fool." Any profit made in this way, I consider honest
and well earned, since there is risk of bsSS in wares and
outlay, and the profits cannot be all too great
But when the price of goods is not fixed either by law
or custom, and you must fix it yourself, then indeed no one
can give you any other instructions except to lay it upon
your conscience to be careful and not overcharge your neigh-
bor, and seek not avaricious gain, but only an honest living.
Some have wished to make it a rule that a man may take
a profit of one-half on all wares ; some say one-third ; others
say something else; but none of these things is a safe rule
unless it be so decreed, either by the temporal authorities
or by common law; what they would determine would be
safe. Therefore you must make up your minds to seek in
your trading only your honest living, count your costs,
trouble, labor and risk on that basis, and then fix, raise, or
lower the price of your goods, so that you are repaid for
your trouble and labor.
To be sure, I would not have anyone's conscience so
** perilously restrained or so closely bound on this point as to
Insist that one must strike the right measure of profit to
the very heller; for it is not possible to get at the exact
On Profits 17
amount that you have earned with your trouble and labor.
It is enough that with a good conscience you seek to arrive
at the exact amount, for it lies in the very nature of trade
that the thing is impossible. The saying of the Wise Man
will hold in your case too: "A merchant will hardly deal Eccius.
without sin, and a merchant will hardly keep his lips from 26:28
evil/' If you therefore take a little too much profit, un-
knowingly and unintentionally, let that go into your Lord's
Prayer, where we pray, "Forgive us our debts," for no man's
life is without sin. Besides, the time will come when you
will get too little for your trouble; throw that in the scale
to balance the times when you have taken too much.
For example, if you had a business of a hundred gulden
a year, and above all the costs and honest returns which you
had for your trouble, labor, and risk, you were to take an
excessive profit of one or two or three gulden, that I
should call a mistake which could not well be avoided,
especially on a whole year's business. Therefore you should
not burden your conscience with it, but bring it to God in
the Lord's Prayer, as another of those inevitable sins that
cleave to all of us. It is not selfishness or greed that forces
you to this mistake, but the very nature of your occupation
(I am speaking now of good-hearted, God-fearing men, who
would not willingly do wrong), just as the marriage duty is
not performed without sin, and yet because of its necessity
God winks at it, for it cannot be otherwise.
In deciding how much profit you ought to take on your
business and your labor, there is no better way to reckon
it than by estimating the amount of time and labor you have
put on it and comparing it with that of a day laborer, who
works at another occupation, and seeing how much he earns
in a day. On that basis reckon how many days you have
spent in getting your wares and bringing them to your place
of business, how great the labor has been and how much
risk you have run, for great labor and much time ought to
have so much the greater returns. That is the most accurate,
the best and the most definite advice that can be given in
"18 On Trading and Usury
Matt this matter; if anyone mislikes it, let him better it. My
10:10 ground is, as I have said, in the Gospel, "A laborer is worthy
1 /- of his hire," and Paul also says, "He that feecleth the flock
shall eat of the milk; who goeth to war at his own cost
and expense?" If you have a better ground than that, you
are welcome to it.
standing Second, There is a common error, which has become a
widespread custom, not only among merchants but throughout
the world, by which one man becomes surety for another ; and
although this practice seems to be without sin and looks like a
virtue springing from love, nevertheless it causes the ruin of
many and brings them irrevocable injury. King Solomon often
forbade it and condemned it in his Proverbs, and says in
"7^*5 chapter vi, "My son, if thou be surety for thy neighbor,
thou hast bound thine hand, thou art snared with the words
of thy mouth and taken with the words of thy mouth. Do
this now, my son, and deliver thyself, for thou art come
into the hand of thy neighbor; go, hasten, and urge thy
neighbor ; give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine
eyelids; deliver thyself as a roe out of the hand and as a
p rWt bird out of the hand of the fowler." So also in chapter xx
20:16 "Take his garment that becomes surety for a stranger, and
take a pledge of him for the stranger's sake," Likewise in
22:26 chapter xxii, "Be not of those that strike hands and become
surety for debts," And again in chapter xxvii, "Take his
Prov garment that becomes surety for another and take a pledge of
27;' 13 him for the stranger's sake/'
See with what strictness and vehemence the wise king for-
bids in Holy Scripture that one become surety for another,
and the German proverb agrees with him, Biirgen soil
man wiirgen ; as if to say, "Standing surety should be
slain." It serves the surety right when he is caught and has
to pay, for he acts thoughtlessly and foolishly m standing"
surety. Therefore it is decreed in Scripture that no one
shall become surety for another unless he is able and entirely
willing to assume the debt and pay it* It seems strange that
this practice should be wrong and be condemned, though
Standing Surety 19
many have discovered the folly of it when it has made them
scratch their heads. Why, then, is it condemned? Let us
see.
Standing surety is a work that is too lofty for a man; it
is unseemly, for it is presumptuous and an invasion of God's
rights. For, in the first place, the Scriptures bid us to put
our trust and place our reliance on no man, but only on God;
for human nature is false, vain, deceitful, and unreliable, as
the Scriptures say and as experience teaches every day. But
he who becomes surety puts his trust in a man, and risks
life and property on a false and insecure foundation ; there-
fore it serves him right when he falls and fails and goes
to ruin.
In the second place, a man puts his trust in himself and
makes himself God, for that on which a man puts his trust
and reliance is his god. But of his life and property a man
is not sure and certain for a single moment, any more than
he is certain of the man for whom he becomes surety, but
everything is in God's hand only, and He will not allow us
a hair's breadth of power or right over the future or have
us for a single moment sure or certain of it. Therefore the
man who becomes surety acts unchristianlike, and deserves
what he gets, because he pledges and promises what is not
his and is not in his power, but in the hands of God alone.
Thus we read in Genesis xliii and xliv how the patriarch Genesig
Judah became surety to his father Jacob for his brother 43:9,
Benjamin, promising that he would bring him back or bear 32' ft.
the blatne forever, but God finely punished 'his presumption
so that he could not bring Benjamin back until he gave
himself up for him, and afterwards was barely freed by
grace, It served him right, too, for these sureties act as
though they did not need to be on speaking terms with God
or to consider whether they were sure of a tomorrow for
their life and property, They act without fear of God, as
though their life and property were their own, and were in
their power as long as they wished to have it ; and this is
nothing but a fruit of unbelief. James in his Epistle, chap- Jajnw
ter iv, calls this gride and says, "Go to, now, ye who say,
20 On Trading and Usury
Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city and
there trade and get gain; whereas ye know not what shall
be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a
vapor which endureth a little time and then vanisheth. For
that ye ought to say, If we live and God will, we shall do
this or that ; but now ye glory in your pride."
Moreover, God has condemned this presumption about the
future and disregard of Him in more places, such as Luke
Luke xii, where the rich man had so much grain one year that he
2i :16 " wanted to pull down his barns and build greater, and bestow
his goods therein, and said to his soul, "Good soul, thou
hast much goods for many years ; eat, drink and be merry."
But God said to him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall
be required of thee, and whose shall that be which thou hast
laid up?" So it is with all that are not rich toward God,
Acts i:7 So He answers the apostles also in Acts i, "It is not for you
to know the time or the hour which the Father hath in his
Prov. own power 1 ' ; and in Proverbs xxvii, "Boast not thyself of
the morrow, for thou knowest not what may yet happen
today/' Wherefore He has bidden us, in the Lord's Prayer,
to pray for nothing more than our daily bread today, so that
we may live and act in fear and know that at no hour are we
sure of either life or property, but may await and receive
everything from His hands. This is what true faith does.
Indeed we daily see in many of God's works that things
must happen thus, whether it suits us or not,
Solomon has devoted almost the whole of that book of
his that is called Ecclesiastes to this teaching, and shows
how all man's planning and presumption are vanity and
trouble and misfortune, unless God is brought into them, so
that man fears Him and is satisfied with the present and
rejoices in it; for God is the enemy of that secure and un-
believing presumption which forgets Him, wherefore He
opposes it in all He does, lets us fail and fall, snatches away
life and property when we least expect it, and "comes at
the hour when we think not/' so that the godless, as the
Psalter says, never live out half their days, but always, un-
Christian Ways of Trading 21
expectedly and just when they are getting started, must
depart and leave it, as Job also says in many places.
If you say, however, "How then are people to trade with
one another, if surety is not allowed? Many would have
-
to stay back who can otherwise get on well" ; I an- tians to
swer: There are four Christian ways of trading external Trade
goods with others. The first way is to let them rob us of The First
our property and take it from us, as Christ says in Matthew ^^
v, "If any man take thy cloak, let him have the coat also, tmg to
and ask it not of him again." This way of dealing counts ^ xt(>r "
for nothing among the merchants, and besides it has been
neither held nor preached as a general Christian teaching,
but as a counsel and as good intention for the clergy and
the perfect, though they keep it even less than the merchants.
But true Christians keep it, for they know that their Father
in heaven has assuredly promised, in Matthew vi, to give
them this day their daily bread, If all of us were to act
thus, not only would numberless abuses in all kinds of busi-
ness be avoided, but very many people would not become
merchants, because reason and human nature flee and avoid
that sort of risk and damage above all things else.
The second way is to give freely to everyone who needs
it, as Christ teaches in the same passage. This is a lofty
Christian work and therefore counts for little among people, Giviiur
and there would be fewer merchants and less trade if it
were put into practice; for the man who does this must 5:42
truly lay hold on heaven and look always to God's hand and
not to his accumulations of property, knowing that it is
God's will to support him, even though all his corners be
bare. He knows that it is true, as He said to Joshua, "I
will not forsake thee, nor take away my hand," and as the
proverb puts it, "God has more than ever He gave away." j^a
But that takes a true Christian, and a true Christian is a 1:S
rare animal ; the world and nature pay no heed to them.
The third way is lending; that is, I give away my prop- ^ord
erty and take it back if it is returned to me ; if not, then I way^-
tntist do without it. Christ Himself makes a rule for this
land of lending and says, "Lend, hoping for nothing again" ;
22 On Trading and Usury
that is, Ye shall lend freely and run the risk that it may not
be returned; if it comes back, take it; if not, make it a gift.
The Gospel makes only one distinction between lending and
giving, viz., a gift is not taken back and a loan is taken back
if it is returned ; but when we make a loan, we take the risk
that it may be a gift. He who lends expecting to get back
something more or something better than he has loaned, is
clearly a damned usurer, since even those who lend demand-
ing or expecting to get back just what they have lent, and
taking no risk of its return, are not acting in a Christian
way. This too, as I think, is a lofty Christian work and a
rare one, when the way of the world is considered, and if
it were practiced it would greatly lessen and destroy trade
of all sorts.
These three ways of dealing, then, are a masterly keeping
of the commandments not to presume upon the future nor to
put trust in any man or in self, but to depend solely on Gocl.
In this way everything is paid in cash and the word of
James is applied, "If God will, so be it." In this way we
deal with people as with those who may fail and are un-
reliable ; we give our money without profit and take the risk
that what we lend may be lost.
But here someone will say ; "Who then can be saved and
where shall we find Christians? Nay, in this way there
would be no trade in the world; everyone would have his
property taken or borrowed and the door would be thrown
open for the idle gluttons, of whom the world is full, to take
everything with their lying and cheating." I reply : I have
already said that Christians are rare in the world ; therefore
the world needs a strict, hard temporal government that
will compel and constrain the wicked not to steal and rob
and to return what they borrow, even though a Christian
ought not demand it, or even hope to get it back. This is
necessary in order that the world may not become a desert,
peace may not perish, and trade and society may not be
utterly destroyed; all which would happen if we were to
rule the world according to the Gospel and not drive and
compel the wicked, by laws and the use of force, to do and
.Borrowing and Lending 23
suffer what is right. We must, therefore, keep the roads
open, preserve peace in the towns, and enforce law in the
land, and let the sword hew brisky and boldly against the
transgressors, as Paul teaches in Romans xiii. For it is Rom.
God's will that those who are not Christians shall be held 13:4
in check and kept from doing wrong, at least with impunity.
Let no one think that the world can be ruled without blood ;
the sword of the ruler must be red and bloody; for the world
will and must be evil, and the sword is God's rod and
vengeance upon it. But of this I have said enough in my
little book On the Temporal Authorities. 1
Borrowing would be a fine thing, if it were practiced Borrow-
between Christians. In that case everyone would return what m *
he had borrowed and the lender would willingly do without
it if the borrower could not pay; for Christians are brethren
and one does not forsake another, nor is any of them so
lazy and shameless as not to work, but to depend on another's
wealth and labor, or be willing to consume in idleness an-
other's goods. But if men are not Christians, the temporal
authorities ought to compel them to repay what they have
borrowed ; if the authorities are negligent and do not compel
repayment, the Christian ought to put up with the robbery,
as Paul says, in First Corinthians vi, "Why do ye not rather 6:7 "
suffer wrong?" But if a man is not a Christian, you may
exhort him, demand of him, treat him as you will ; he pays
no attention, for he is not a Christian and does not heed
Christ's doctrine.
There is a grain of comfort for you in the fact that you
are not bound to make a loan except out of your surplus
and what you can spare from your own necessities, as Christ
says of alms, "What you have left over, that give in alms; Ltace
so are all things clean unto you." If, therefore, someone 11:11
wanted to borrow from you an amount so great that you
would be ruined if it were not returned, and you could not
spare it from your own necessities, then you are not bound
to make the loan ; for your first and greatest duty is to pro-
In this edition, Vol. Ill, pp. 223 ff.
24 On Trading and Usury
vide for the necessities of your wife and children and ser-
vants, and you must not divert from them what is due them
from you. Thus the best rule to follow is that if the
amount asked as a loan is too great, you give something out-
right, or lend as much as you would be willing to give, tak-
Luke ing the risk of losing it. John the Baptist did not say, "He
3:11 that hath one coat, let him give it away," but "He that hath
two coats, let him give one to him that hath none, and he
that hath food, let him do likewise."
The The fourth way of trading is buying and selling, and that
^k cas ' 1 mone y or P a Y ments m kind. If a man wishes to
practice this method, he must make up his mind not to rely
and . on anything in the future but only on God, and to deal with
"^ men who will certainly fail and lie, Therefore the first
piece of advice to such a man is that he shall not borrow
anything or accept any security, but take only cash. If he
wishes to lend, let him lend to Christians, or else take the
risk of losing it and lend no more than he would be willing
to give outright or can spare from his own necessities. If
the government will not help him get his loan back, let him
lose it; and let him beware of becoming surety for any
man, but let him far rather give what he can. Such a man
would be a true Christian merchant and God would not for-
sake him, because he trusts Him finely and gladly takes a
chance, in dealing with his risky neighbor.
Now if there were no such thing in the world as becoming
surety, and the free lending of the Gospel were in practice
and only cash money or ready wares were exchanged in
trade, then the greatest and most harmful dangers and
faults and failings in merchandising would be well out of
the way; it would be easy to engage in all sorts of busi-
ness, and the other sinful faults could the better t>e pre-
vented. For if there were none of this becoming* surety and
lending on security, many a man would have to keep down
and be satisfied with a moderate living, who now aspires
day and night after the high places, relying on borrowing:
and standing surety. This is the reason that everyone now
wants to be a merchant and get rich. Out of this come the
Tricks of Trade 25
countless dangerous and wicked tricks and wiles that have
become a jest among the merchants. There are so many
of them that I have given up the hope that trade can be
entirely corrected ; it is so overladen with all sorts of wick-
edness and deception that it cannot drag its own length;
by its own weight it must fall in upon itself.
.In what has been said I have wished to give a bit of
warning and instruction to everyone about this great, nasty,
widespread business of merchandising. If we were to accept
the principle that everyone may sell his wares as dear as he
can, and were to approve the custom of borrowing and
forced lending and standing surety, and yet try to advise
men how they could act the part of Christians and keep
their consciences good and safe, -that would be the same
as trying to teach men how wrong could be right and bad
good, and how one could at the same time live and act
according to the divine Scriptures and against the divine
Scriptures. For these three errors, that everyone may
sell what is his own as dear as he will, borrowing, and
becoming surety, these, I say,, are the three sources from
which the stream of abomination, injustice, treachery and
guile flows far and wide : to try to stem the flood and not
stop up the springs, is trouble and labor lost.
At this point, therefore, I wish to tell of some of these The
tricks and evil doings which I have myself observed and Tricks
which pious, good people have described to me, to make it *
apparent how necessary it is that the rules and principles
which I have set down above be established and put in
practice, if the consciences of merchants are to be counselled
and aided ; also in order that all the rest of their evil doings
may be learned and measured by these; for how is it pos-
sible to tell them all ? By the three aforementioned sources
of evil, door and window are thrown wide to greed and to
wicked, wily, self-seeking nature; room is made for them,
occasion and power is given them to practice unhindered
all sorts o wiles and trickery, and daily to think out more
such schemes, so that everything stinks of avarice, nay, is
drowned and drenched in avarice as in a great new Deluge.
26 On Trading and Usury
Rai. First, There are some who have no conscientious scruples
" e af against selling their goods on credit for a higher price than
if they were sold for cash: nay, there are some who wish
Sold on to se ji no g 00 d s for cash but everything on credit, so that
'* they may make large profits. Observe that this way of
dealing, which is plainly against God's Word, against rea-
son and all fairness, and springs from sheer wantonness and
greed, is a sin against one's neighbor, for it does not
consider his loss, and robs and steals from him that which
belongs to him ; it is not a seeking for an honest living, but
only for avaricious gain. According to divine law, goods
should not be sold for a higher price on credit than for cash.
2. Rais. Again, there are some who sell their goods at a higher
price than they command in the common market, or than is
customary in the trade ; and raise the price of their wares for
no other reason than because they know that there is no
Scarcity ^^ Q t j ia ^, commoc jfty j n the country, or that the supply
will shortly cease, and people must have it. That is a very
rogue's eye of greed, which sees only one's neighbor's need,
not to relieve it but to make the most of it and grow rich
on one's neighbor's losses. All such people are manifest
thieves, robbers and usurers.
3. Co*. Again, there are some who buy up the entire supply of
certain goods or wares in a country or a city, so that they
may have those goods solely in their own power and can
then fix and raise the price and sell them as dear as they
like or can. Now I have said above that the rule that a
man may sell his goods as dear as he will or can is false
and unchristian. 1 It is far more abominable that one should
buy up the whole commodity for that purpose. Even the
imperial and temporal laws forbid this and call it "monop-
oly," 3 i. e., purchase for self-interest, which is not to be
tolerated in city or country, and princes and lords would
stop it and punish it if they did their duty, Merchants who
do this act just as though God's creatures and God's goods
were made for them alone and given to them alone, and
*Sec above, p, 14 f,
3 See Introduction, above, pp. 9 &, and literature there cited,
Joseph's Dealings Justified 27
as though they could take them from other people and set on
them whatever price they chose.
If anyone wishes to urge the example of Joseph in Genesis
xli, how the holy man gathered all the grain in the country
and afterwards, in the time of famine, bought with it for the
king of Egypt all the money, cattle, land and people, which G ^; 48ff
seems, indeed, to have been a monopoly, or practice of 47:140*
self-interest, this is the answer : This purchase of Joseph's
was no monopoly, but a common and honest purchase, such
as was customary in the country. He prevented no one else
from buying during the good years, but it was his God-
given wisdom which enabled him to gather the king's grain
in the seven years of plenty, while others were accumulating
little or nothing. For the text does not say that he alone
bought in the grain, but that he "gathered it in the king's
cities." If the others did not do likewise, it was their loss,
for the common man usually devours his living uncon-
cernedly and sometimes, too, he has nothing to accumulate.
We see the same thing today. If princes and cities do not
provide a reserve supply for the benefit of the whole coun-
try, there is little or no reserve in the hands of the common
man, who supports himself from year to year on his yearly
income. Accumulation of this kind is not self-interest, 01;
monopoly, but a really good Christian providence for the
community and for the good of others. It is not practiced
in such a way that they seize everything for themselves alone,
like these merchants, but out of the yield of the common
market, or the yearly income which everyone has, they set
aside a treasury, while others either cannot or will not
accumulate, but get out of it only their daily support. More-
over the Scriptures do not tell us that Joseph gathered the
grain to sell it as dear as he would, for the text clearly
says that he did it not for greed's sake, but in order that
land and people might not be ruined, But the merchant,
in his greed, sells it as dear as he can, seeking only his own
profit, caring nothing whether land and people are ruined
by it.
But that Joseph used this means to bring all the money
28 On Trading and Usury
and cattle, and all the land and people beside, into the
king's possession, does not seem to have been a Christian
act, since he ought to have given to the needy for nothing,
as the Gospel and Christian love bid us do. Yet he did
right and well, for Joseph was conducting the temporal
government in the king's stead. I have often taught that
the world ought not and cannot be ruled according to the
Gospel and Christian love, but only by strict laws, with
sword and force, because the world is evil and accepts
neither Gospel nor love, but lives and acts according to its
own will unless it is compelled by force. Otherwise, if only
love were applied, everyone would eat, drink and live at
ease on some one else's goods, and nobody would work;
nay, everyone would take from another that which was his,
and there would be such a state of affairs that no one could
live because of the others.
Therefore, because God so disposes things, Joseph did
right when he got possession of everything by such fair and
honest purchase as the time permitted, and following the
temporal law, allowed the people to remain under restraint
and sell themselves and all they had; for in that country
there was always a strict government and it was customary
to sell people like other goods. Besides, there can be no
doubt that as a Christian and a good man, he let no poor
man die of hunger but as the text says, after he 'had re-
ceived the king's law and government, he gathered, sold,
and distributed the corn for the benefit and profit of land
and people. Therefore the example of the faithful Joseph
is as remote from the doings of the unfaithful, self-seeking
merchants as heaven is far from earth. So far this digres-
sion ; now we come back to the merchants' tricks.
4. tJna<v When some see that they cannot establish their tnonop-
olies in any other way because other people have the same
goods, they proceed to sell their goods so cheap that the
others can make no profit, and thus they compel them either
not to sell at all, or else to sell as cheap as they themselves
are selling and so be ruined. Thus they get their monopoly
after all These people are not worthy to be called men or
"Living Off the Street" 29
to live among other men, nay they are not worth exhorting
3r instructing; for their envy and greed is so open and
shameless that even at the cost of their own losses they
:ause loss to others, so that they may have the whole place
to themselves. The authorities would do right if they took
from such people everything they had and drove them out
of the country. It would scarcely have been necessary to
tell of such doings, but I wanted to include them so that
it might be seen what great knavery there is in trade, and
that it might be plain to everybody how things are going
in the world,, in order that everyone may know how to
protect himself against such a dangerous class.
Again, it is a fine piece of sharp practice when one man f
sells to another, by means of promises, (Mit worten
y m sack), goods which he himself has not, as fol-
lows, A merchant from a distance comes to me and asks
if I have such and such goods for sale. I say, Yes, though
I have not, and sell them to him for ten or eleven gulden
when they could otherwise be bought for nine or less,
promising him to deliver them in two or three days. Mean-
while I go and buy the goods where I knew in advance
that I could buy them cheaper ; I deliver them and he pays
me for them. Thus I deal with his, the other man's,
money and property, without risk, trouble or labor, and I
get rich. That is called "living off the street," on some-
one else's money; he who does this need not travel over
land and sea. 1
Again it is called "living off the street" if a merchant
has a purseful of money and wishes no longer to subject his
goods to the risks of land and sea, but to have a safe busi-
ness, and settles down in a great business city. Then when
he hears of a merchant who is pressed by his creditors and
must have money to satisfy them and 'has none, but has
good wares, he gets someone to act for him in buying the
wares and offers eight g u 1 d e n f or what is otherwise worth
ten. If this offer is not accepted, he gets someone else to
1 i e. Need not take the customafy risks.
30 On Trading and Usury
offer six or seven, and the poor man begins to be afraid
that his wares are depreciating and is glad to take the eight
so as to get cash money and not have to stand too much
loss and disgrace. It happens, too, that these needy mer-
chants seek out such tyrants and offer their goods for cash
with which to pay their debts. They drive hard bargains
and get the goods cheap enough and afterwards sell them
at their own prices. These financiers are called "cut-
throats," 1 but they pass for very clever people,
-g ere j g anot j ier y t O f S elf.seeking. Three or four mer-
chants have in their control one or two kinds of goods that
others have not, or have not for sale. When these men see
that the goods are valuable and are advancing in price all
the time because of war or of some disaster, they join forces
and pretend to others that the goods are much in demand
and that not many people have them on sale; if however
there are some who have these goods for sale they put up
a stranger to buy up all these goods, and when they have
them entirely in their own control they make an agreement
to this effect: Since there are no more of these goods to
be had we will hold them at such and such a price, and
whoever sells cheaper shall forfeit so and so much. This
trick, I hear, is practiced chiefly and mostly by the English
merchants in selling English or London cloth. It is said
that they have a special council 3 for this trade, like a city
council, and all the Englishmen who sell English or London
cloth must obey this council on penalty of a fine. The
council decides at what price they are to sell their cloth and
at what day and hour they are to have it on sale and when
not. The head of this council is called the "court-master"
and is regarded as little less than a prince. See what
avarice can and dare do.
Again, I must report this little trick, I sell a man pepper
or the like on six months' credit and know that he must
sell it again by that time to get ready money. Then I go to
1 Gorgel stccher odder kehlfltecher*
"From the fifteenth century on the English merchant! engaged fa foreign
trade were organized for just nuch, purposes as Luther here describes.
Tricky Practices 31
him myself, or send someone else, and buy the pepper back
for cash, but on these terms. What he bought from me
for twelve gulden I buy back for eight, and the market
price is ten. So I make going and coming, 1 so that he may
get the money and maintain his credit; otherwise he might
have the disgrace of having no one extend him credit in
the future.
The peopie who buy on credit more than they can pay
for, practice or have to practice this kind of trickery a
man, for example, who has scarcely two hundred gulden
obligates himself for five or six hundred. If my creditors
do not pay, I cannot pay, and so the mischief goes deeper
and deeper and one loss follows another the farther I go
in this kind of dealing, until at last I see the shadow of the
gallows and I must either abscond or go to jail. Then I
keep my own counsel and give my creditors good words,
telling them I will pay my debts. Meanwhile I go and get
as much goods on credit as I can and turn them into
money, or get money otherwise on a promissory note, or
borrow as much as I can. Then when it suits me, or when
my creditors give me no rest, I close up my house, get up
and run away, hiding myself in some monastery, 3 where I
am as free as a thief or murderer in a church yard. Then my
creditors are glad that I have not fled the country and release
me from a half or a third of my debts on condition thdt
I pay the balance in two or three years, giving me letter
and seal for it. Then I come back to my house and am a
merchant who has made two or three thousand gulden
by getting up and running away, and that is more than I
could have got in three or four years either by running or
trotting.
Or if that plan will not help and I see that I must
abscond, I go to the court of the Emperor or the Viceroy
and for one or two hundred gulden I get a Quin-
q u e r n e 11 , i. e,, a letter with the imperial seal permitting
me to be at large for two or three years despite my
*Hyn<ien, und forne.
1 Cta%fag right of sanctuary,
VoL
32 On Trading and Usury
creditors, 1 because I have represented that I have suffers
great losses; for the Quinquernells, too, make ;
pretence at being godly and right. These are knaves' tricki
Again there is another practice that is customary in th
companies. 3 A citizen deposits with a merchant on
or two thousand gulden for six years. The merchati
. is to trade with this and pay the citizen annually two hun
Epl dred gulden fixed interest, win or lose. What profit h
makes above that is his own, but if he makes no profit b
must still pay the charge. In this way the citizen is doini
the merchant a great service, for the merchant expects wit!
two thousand gulden to make at least three hundred
on the other hand, the merchant is doing the citizen a grea
service, for otherwise his money must lie idle and brinj
him no profit. That this common practice is wrong and i
true usury I have shown sufficiently in the D i s
course on Usury. 8
I Inus<; gi ve onc more illustration to show how borrowinj
and lending leads to misfortune. When some people se
claims ^^ a j, U y er j s unreliable and does not meet his payments
they can repay themselves finely in this way. I get a strang
merchant to go and buy that man's goods to the amoun
of a hundred gulden or so, and say ; "When you hav<
bought all his goods, promise him cash or refer him to ;
certain man who owes you money; and when you have th
goods bring him to me, as though I owed you money am
act as though you did not know that he is in my debt ; thu
I shall be paid and will give him nothing." That is calle<
"finance"* and ruins the poor man entirely together with al
whom he may owe ; but so it goes in this unchristian borrow
ing and lending.
Again, they have learned to store their goods in place
where they increase in bulk. They put pepper, ginger an<
saffron in damp cellars or vaults so that they may gain ii
M. e, A letter entitling a debtor to a moratorium.
a i. ., The trading companies.
* See Part II of this work, below, pp. 37 ff.
*FInanzen. Luther always mm it to mean, unfair, tricky
Unchristian Practices 33
weight; woolen goods, silks, furs of martin and sable, they
sell in dark vaults or booths, keeping them from the air,
and this custom is so general that almost every kind of
goods has its own kind of air, and there are no goods that
some way is not known of taking advantage of the buyer,
in the measure or the count or the yard or the weight.
They know, too, how to give them a false color ; or the best
looking are put top and bottom and the worst in the middle.
Of such cheating there is no end and no merchant dare
trust another out of his sight and reach.
Now the merchants make great complaint about the
nobles or robbers, 1 saying that they have to transact busi-
ness at great risk and are imprisoned and beaten and taxed
and robbed, If they suffered all this for righteousness'
sake the merchants would surely be saints because of their
sufferings. To be sure, it may happen that one of them
suffers some wrong before God, in that he has to suffer for
another in whose company he is found and pay for another
man's sins ; but because of the great wrong that is done and
the unchristian thievery and robbery that is practiced by the
merchants themselves all over the world, even against one
another, what wonder is it if God causes this great wealth,
wrongfully acquired, to be lost or taken by robbers, and the
merchants themselves to be beaten over the head or im-
prisoned besides ? God must administer justice, for He has
Himself called a righteous Judge, I0;1
Not that I would excuse the highwaymlen and bush-
whackers or approve of their thievery! It is the princes'
duty to keep the roads safe for the sake of the wicked as
well as of the good; it is also the duty of the princes to
punish unfair dealing and to protect their subjects against
the shameful skinning of the merchants. Because they fail
to do it, God uses the knights and the robbers to punish
the wrongdoing of the merchants, and they have to be His
devils, as He plagues Egypt and all the world with devils
or destroys it with enemies. Thus He flogs one knave
*The taxes imposed by knights and baroaa on, goods transported across their
land! amounted at times to robbery,
34 On Trading and Usury
with another, but without giving us to understand that the
knights are less robbers than the merchants, for the mer-
chants rob the whole world every day, while a knight robs
one or two men once or twice a year.
Th* Of the companies I ought to say much, but that whole
Tradin * subject is such a bottomless abyss of avarice and wrong
that there is nothing in it that can be discussed with a clear
conscience. For what man is so stupid as not to see that
companies are nothing else than mere monopolies? 1 Even
the temporal law of the heathen forbids them as openly in-
jurious, to say nothing of the divine law and Christian
statutes. They have all commodities under their control and
practice without concealment all the tricks that have been
mentioned; they raise and lower prices as they please and
oppress and ruin all the small merchants, as the pike the little
fish in the water, just as though they were lords over God's
creatures and free from all the laws of faith and love.
So it comes that all over the world spices must be
bought at their price, which is alternating. This year they
put up the price of ginger, next year of saffron, or vice
versa, so that all the time the bend may be coming to
the crook 3 and they need suffer no losses and take no
risks. If the ginger spoils or fails, they make it up on
saffron and vice versa, so that they remain sure of their
profit. AH this is against the nature, not only of merchan-
dise, but of all temporal goods, which God wills should be
subject to risk and uncertainty. But they have found a way
to make sure, certain, and perpetual profit out of insecure,
unsafe, temporal goods, though all the world must be sucked
dry and all the money sink and swim in their gullet. How
could it ever be right and according to God's will that a
man should in a short time grow so rich that he could buy
out kings and emperors? But they have brought things to
such a pass that the whole world must do business at a risk
and at a loss, winning this year and losing next year, while
1 Monopolies were forbidden by the Roman civil law.
* D 1 e krumrae i a die Bett&e komme, I, & things may even
Big Thieves and Little Thieves 35
they always win, making up their losses by increased profits,
and so it is no wonder that they quickly seize upon the
wealth of all the world, for a pfennig that is per-
manent and sure is better than a gulden that is tem-
porary and uncertain. But these companies trade with per-
manent and sure gulden, and we with temporary and
uncertain pfennigs. No wonder they become kings
and we beggars !
Kings and princes ought to look into these things and
forbid them by strict laws, but I hear that they have an in-
terest in them, and the saying of Isaiah is fulfilled, "Thy
princes have become companions of thieves." They hang Isaiah
thieves who have stolen a gulden or half a gulden 1:23
and trade with those who rob the whole world and steal
more than all the rest, so that the proverb may hold true:
Big thieves hang the little ones, and as the Roman senator
Cato said : Simple thieves lie in prisons and in stocks ; public
thieves walk abroad in gold and silk. But what will God
say to this at last? He will do as He says by Ezekiel;
princes and merchants, one thief with another, He will melt \ 2 .' 2C
them together like lead and brass, as when a city burns, so
that there shall be neither princes nor merchants any more.
That time, I fear, is already at the door. We do not think
of amending our lives, no matter how great our sin and
wrong may be, and He cannot leave wrong unpunished.
No one need ask, then, how he can belong to the com-
panies with a good conscience. The only advice to give
him is : Let them alone, they will not change. If the com-
panies are to stay, right and honesty must perish; if right
and honesty are to stay, the companies must perish. "The
bed is too narrow," says Isaiah, "one must fall out; the Isaiah
cover is too small, it will not cover both." 28:2C
I know full well that this book of mine will be taken ill,
and perhaps they will throw it all to the winds and remain
as they are; but it will not be my fault, for I have done my
part to show how richly we have deserved it if God shall
come with a rod. If I have instructed a single soul and
rescued it from the jaws of avarice, my labor will not have
36 On Trading and Usury
been in vain, though I hope, as I have said above, that this
thing has grown so high and so heavy that it can no longer
carry its own weight and they will have to stop at last.
Finally, let everyone look to himself. Let no one stop
as a favor or a service to me, nor let any one begin or con-
tinue to spite me or to cause me pain. It is your affair, not
mine. May God enlighten us and strengthen us to do His
good will. Amen,
A TREATISE ON USURY
1520
First, It should be known that in our times (of which
the Apostle Paul prophesied that they would be perilous) 1 Tim.
avarice and usury have not only taken a mighty hold in 3:1
all the world, but have undertaken to seek certain cloaks
under which they would be considered right and could thus
practice their wickedness freely, and things have gone almost
so far that we hold the holy Gospel as of no value. There-
fore, it is necessary, in this perilous time, for everyone to
see well to himself, and in dealing with temporal goods, to
make true distinctions and diligently to observe the holy
Gospel of Christ our Lord.
Second. It should be known that there are three different Three
degrees and ways of dealing well and rightly with temporal ^*** *
goods. The first is that if anyone takes some of our tern- w ith
poral goods by force, we shall not only permit it, and let Temporal
the goods go, but even be ready to let 'him take more, if he j Fep-
will Of this our dear Lord Jesus Christ says, in Matthew
be Taken
v, "If anyone will go to law with you to take your coat, let Them te>
Matt.
him take your cloak also." This is the highest degree of
this kind of work, and is not to be understood to mean, as
some think, that we are to throw the cloak after the coat, but
rather that we are to let the cloak go, and not resist or be-
come impatient about it, or demand it back again. For He
does not say, "Give him the cloak also," but "Let him take
the cloak also/' So Christ Himself, before Bishop Annas, John
when He received a blow on the cheek, offered the other 18:23
cheek also and was ready to receive more such blows ; nay, The E*
in His entire Passion we see that He never repays or returns nrf
an evil word or deed, but is always ready to endure more.
Third. It is true, indeed, that He said to the servant
(37)
38 Treatise on Usury
John Malchus, who struck Him, "If I have spoken evil, prove the
i8:3i ev jj. but jf we j] j w jjy sm itest thou me?" Some even of the
learned stumble at these words, and think that Christ did not
offer the other cheek, as He taught that men should do. But
they do not look at the words rightly; for in these words
Christ does not threaten, does not avenge Himself, does not
strike back, does not even refuse the other cheek; nay, He
1 Pet does not judge or condemn Malchus, but as Peter writes of
2:23 Him, He did not threaten, or think to recompense evil, but
committed it to God, the just Judge, as if to say, "If I have
spoken rightly or you are right in smiting me, God will find
it out, and you are bound to prove it." So Zechariah said,
2 Chron. w hen they killed him, Videa^ dominus et judicet,
24:22 "God will see it and judge." So He did also before Pilate,
John when He said, "He that hath given me over to thee hath
19:11 a greater sin than thou." For that is Christian and brotherly
fidelity, to terrify him, and hold his wrongdoing and God's
judgment before him who does you wrong; and it is your
duty to say to him, "Well, then, you are taking my coat
and this and that; if you are doing right, you will have to
answer for it." This you must do, not chiefly because of
your own injury, and also not to threaten him, but to warn
him and remind him of his own ruin. If that does not
change his purpose, let go what will, and do not demand it
back again. See, that is the meaning of the word that
Christ spoke before the court of Annas. It follows that,
like Christ on the cross, you must pray for him and do well
to him who does evil to you. But this we leave now until
the proper time.
com- Fourth. Many think that this first degree is not com-
mand, manded and need not be observed by every Christian, but
is a good counsel, laid upon the perfect for them to keep
just as virginity and chastity are counselled, not commanded
Therefore they hold it proper that everyone shall take back
what is his own, and repel force with force according to his
ability and his knowledge; and they deck out this opinion
with pretty flowers, and prove it, as they think* with many
strong arguments ; namely, First, the canon law (to say notf**
Excuses 39
ing of the temporal) says, Vim vi pellere jura
s i n u n t , that is, "The law allows that force be resisted
with force." From this comes, in the second place, the
common proverb about self-defence, that it is not punishable
for what it does. In the third place, they bring up some
illustrations from the Scriptures, such as Abraham and David
and many more, of whom we read that they punished and
repaid their enemies. In the fourth place, they bring in
Reason, and say, Solve istud (explain that) ; if this
were a commandment, it would give the wicked permission
to steal, and at last no one would keep anything; nay, no
one would be sure of his own body. In the fifth place, in
order that everything may be firmly proved, they bring up
the saying of St. Augustine 1 who explains these words of
Christ to mean that one must let the cloak go after the coat,
secundum praeparationem animi, that is,
"he shall be ready in his heart to do it." This noble, clear
exposition they interpret and darken with another gloss, and
add, "It is not necessary that we give it outwardly and in
deed; it is enough that we be inwardly, in the heart, ready
and prepared to do it." As though we were willing to do
something that we were not willing to do, and yes and no
were one thing !
Fifth. See, these are the masterpieces with which the
doctrine and example of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, to-
gether with the holy Gospel and all His martyrs and saints,
have hitherto been turned around, made unknown, and
entirely suppressed, so that nowadays those spiritual and
temporal prelates and subjects are the best Christians who
follow these rules, and yet resist Christ's life, teaching, and
Gospel. Hence it comes that lawsuits and litigations,
notaries, officiates, fl jurists, and that whole noble race,
are as numerous as flies in summer. Hence it comes that
there is so much war and bloodshed among Christians. Suits
must also be carried to Rome,* for there much money is the
thing most needed ; and throughout the Church the greatest
*On the Sermon on the Mount, 1, 19, 59.
9 The law officers of the bishops,
Cf. Vol II, 103 t
40 Treatise on Usury
and holiest and commonest work these days is suing and
being sued. 1 That is resisting the holy and peaceful life and
doctrine of Christ, and the cruel game has gone to the point
where not only is a poor man, whom God has redeemed with
His blood, cited many miles for the sake of a trifling sum
of three or four groschen, put under the ban, and
driven away from wife and children and family,* but the
bright young boys look on this as a good thing to do, and
regard it with equanimity* So shall they fall who make
a mockery of God's commandments ; so shall God blind and
put to shame those who turn the brightness of His holy
Word into darkness with Vim vi repellere licet*
and with letting the cloak go secundum praepara-
tionem animi !* For thus the heathen, too, keep the
Gospel ; nay, the wolves and all the unreasoning beasts ; men
need no longer be Christians to do it.
Sixth. Therefore, I want to do my part and, so far as
I can, to warn everyone not to be led astray, no matter how
learned, how mighty, how spiritual, or how much of all these
things at once, they may be who have made, and still make a
counsel* out of this decree, no matter how many are the
flowers and the colors with which they decorate it. No ex-
cuses help! This is simply a commandment that we are
bound to obey, as Christ and His saints have confirmed it
and exemplified it. God does not care that the laws spir-
itual or temporal permit force to be resisted with force.
And are not those precious things that the laws permit ! They
permit common brothels, though they are against God's com-
mandment, and many other wicked things which God for-
bids; and they have to permit secret sin and wickedness.
The things that human laws command and forbid matter
little; how much less the things that they permit or do not
*Rechten und fechtcn.
3 The abuse of ecclesiastical jurisdiction was a subject of bitter complaint
at the Diet of Worms- (1521). Ci Deutsche
utiterKarlV, 1.
*Eyn froliche styrn darzu trafea.
* "Force may be repelled with force." Cf. above, p. 39,
*See above, p. 39.
Instead of a commandment
Worldly Sword Spiritual Power 41
punish. Thus self-defence is before the human law un-
punishable, but before God it has no merit. Suing at law
is condemned by neither pope nor emperor, but it is con-
demned by Christ and His doctrine. That some of the Old
Testament fathers punished their enemies was never due to
their own choice in the matter, and it was never done with-
out God's express command, which punishes sinners, and
punishes, at times, both good and bad, angels and men. For
this reason they never sought revenge or their own profit,
but only acted as obedient servants of God, just as Christ Matt
teaches in the Gospel that at God's command we must act wtfSff.
even against father and mother, whom He has commanded
us to honor. Nevertheless, the two commandments are not
contradictory, but the lower is ruled by the higher. When
God commands you to take revenge or to defend yourself,
then you shall do it; and not before then.
Seventh. Nevertheless, it is true that God has instituted
the worldly sword and, the spiritual power of the Church,
and has commanded both kinds of rulers to punish the evil Rom.
and rescue the oppressed, as Paul teaches in Romans xiii, 13:3f -
and Isaiah in many places, and Psalm Ixxxi. But this should s j'. 23 ffp
be done in such a way that no one would be an accuser in PS.
his own case, but that others, in their brotherly fidelity and 82:3f -
their care for one another, would tell the rulers that this
man was innocent and that man wrong, Thus the authorities
would resort to punishment in a just and orderly way, on
proof furnished by the others; indeed, the offended party
ought to ask that his case be not tried, and ought to do his
best to prevent it. The others, for their part, ought not to
desist until the evil was punished. Thus things would be
conducted in a kindly, Christian and brotherly way, with
more regard to the sin than to the injury. Therefore Paul
rebukes the Corinthians, in I Corinthians vi, because they i cor.
went to law with one another, and did not rather suffer *'** &
themselves to be injured and defrauded, though because of
their imperfection, he did permit that they appoint the least
of themselves as judges. He did this to shame them into a
knowledge of their imperfection. In like manner we must
42 Treatise on Usury
still tolerate those who sue and are sued, as weak and child-
ish Christians whom we must not cast off, because there is
hope for their improvement, as the same Apostle teaches in
many places. We ought to tell them, however, that such
conduct is not Christian or meritorious, but human and
earthly, a hindrance to salvation and not a help.
Eighth- Christ gave this commandment in order to estab-
lish within us a peaceful, pure, and heavenly life. Now
for everyone to demand what is his and be unwilling to
endure wrong, that is not the way to peace, as those blind
men think of whom it is said, in Psalm xiii, "They know
not the way to peace," 1 which goeth only through suffering.
The heathen, too, know this by Reason, and we by daily
experience. If peace is to be kept, one party must be quiet
and suffer; and even though quarrels and litigations last for
a long while, they must finally come to an end, after injuries
and evils that would not have been, if people 'had kept this
commandment of Christ's at the start and had not allowed
the temptation, with which God tries us, to drive them from
the commandment and overcome them. God has so ordered
things that he who will not let a little go because of the
commandment, must lose much, perhaps everything, through
lawsuits and war. It is fair that a man should give to the
judges, proctors, and clerks, and receive no thanks for it,
twenty or thirty or forty gulden in serving the devil,
when he will not let his neighbor, for God's sake and for his
own eternal credit, have two gulden, or six. Thus he
loses both his temporal and eternal goods, when, if he were
obedient to God, he might have enough for both time and
eternity. It happens, at times, that in this way great lords
must lose a whole land in war and consume great sums of
money on soldiers for the sake of a small advantage or a
small liberty. That Is the perverted wisdom of the world;
it fishes with golden nets and the cost is greater than the
profit; there are those who win the little and squander the
much.
Ninth. It would "be impossible to become pure of our
The Second Degree 43
attachment to temporal goods, if God did not decree that we
should be unjustly injured, and exercised thereby in turning
our hearts away from the false temporal goods of the
world, letting them go in peace, and setting our hopes on
the invisible and eternal goods. Therefore he who requires
that which is his own, and does not let the cloak go after
the coat is resisting his own purification and the hope of
eternal salvation, for which God would exercise him and to
which He would drive him. And even though everything
were taken from us, there is no reason to fear that God will
desert us and not provide for us even in temporal matters ;
as it is written in Psalm xxxvi, "I have been young and Psalra
have grown old, and have never seen that the righteous was 37:2S
deserted or his children went after bread." This is proved Job 42:
in the case of Job also, who received in the end more than 10 ' 12
he had before, though all that he had was taken from him.
For, to put it briefly, these commandments are intended to
loose us from the world and make us desirous of heaven.
Therefore we ought peacefully and joyfully to accept the
faithful counsel of God, for if He did not give it, and did
not let wrong and unhappiness come to us, the human heart
could not maintain itself; it entangles itself too deeply in
temporal things and attaches itself to them too tightly, and
the result is satiety and disregard of the eternal goods in
heaven.
Tenth. So much for the first degree of dealing with
temporal goods! It is also the foremost and the greatest,
and yet, sad to say ! it has not only become the least, but it
has come to nothing and, amid the mists and clouds of human
laws, practices and customs, has become quite unknown.
Now comes the second degree. It is that we give our 2. Gir-
goods freely to everyone who needs them or asks for them. *"*
Of this also our Lord Jesus Christ speaks in Matthew v, Away
"He who asks of thee, to him give." Although this degree Matt
is much lower than the first, it is, nevertheless, hard and 5*2
bitter for those who have more taste for the temporal than
for the eternal goods; for they have not enough trust In
God to beEeve that He can or will maintain them in this
44 Treatise on Usury
wretched life. Therefore, they fear that they would die of
hunger or be entirely ruined if they were to do as God
commands, and give to everyone that asks them, How, then,
can they trust Him to maintain them in eternity? For, as
Luke Christ says, "He who does not trust God in a little thing
16:10 never trusts Him in a great." And yet they go about
thinking that God will make them eternally blessed, and
believing that they have good confidence in Him, though
they will not heed this commandment of His, by which He
would exercise them, and drive them to learn to trust Him
in things temporal and eternal There is reason to fear,
therefore, that he who will not hear the doctrine and obey it
will never acquire the art of trusting, and as they do not
trust God for the little temporal goods, so they must at last
despair about those that are great and eternal
Eleventh. This second degree is so small a thing that it
was commanded even to the simple, imperfect people of the
Jews, in the Old Testament, as it is written in Deuteronomy
Dcut xv, "There will always be poor people in the land, therefore
16:11 I command thee that thou open thy hand to thy poor and
needy brother, and give to him." Besides, He commanded
them severely that they must allow no one to beg, and says,
Deut. in Deuteronomy xv, "There shall be no beggar or indigent
15:4 man among you." Now if God gave this commandment in
the Old Testament, how much more ought we Christians be
bound not only to allow no one to suffer want or to beg,
but also to keep the first degree of this commandment, and
let everything go that anyone will take from us by force.
Now, however, there is so much begging that it has even
become an honor ; and it is not enough that men of the world
beg, but the spiritual estate of the priesthood practices it as
a precious thing. I will quarrel with no one about it, but I
consider that it would be more fitting that there should "be
no more begging in Christendom under the New Testament,
than among the Jews under the Old Testament ; and I hold
that the spiritual and temporal rulers would be discharging
their duty if they did away with all the beggars' sacks.*
Cf Vol rlf p m
Forgetting the Needy 45
Twelfth. There are three practices or customs among
men that are opposed to this degree of dealing. The first
is that men give and present things to their friends, the ti:
rich and powerful, who do not need them, and forget the
needy; and if they thus obtain favor, advantage, or friendship
from these people, or are praised by them as pious folk, Nat ia
they go carelessly along, satisfied with the praise, honor,
favor, or advantage that comes from men, and do not ob-
serve, meanwhile, how much better it would be if they did
these things to the needy, and obtained God's favor, praise,
and honor. Of such men Christ says, "If thou make a mid- Luke
day or an evening meal, thou shalt not invite thy friends or 14:12ff -
thy brethren, or thy relatives, or thy neighbors, or the rich,
so that they may invite thee again, and thus take thy reward ;
but when thou makest a meal, invite the poor, the sick, the
lame, the blind ; so art thou blessed, for they cannot recom-
pense it to thee ; but it shall be recompensed to thee among
the righteous, when they rise from the dead," Although
this doctrine is so clear and plain that everyone sees and
knows that it ought to be so, yet we never see an example of
it among Christians any more. There is neither measure
nor limit to the entertaining, the high living, the eating,
drinking, giving, presenting ; and yet they are all called good
people and Christians, and nothing comes out of it except
that giving to the needy is forgotten. what a horrible
judgment will fall upon these carefree spirits, when it is
asked, at the Last Day, to whom 1 they have given and done
good !
Thirteenth, The second custom is that people refuse to j^ ni ^
give to enemies and opponents. For it comes hard to our t Give
false nature to do good to those who have done it evil. But ^ nemiw
that does not help. The commandment is spoken for all men Matt
alike, "Give to him that asketh," and it is clearly expressed 5*2
in Luke vi, "To everyone that asketh of thee, give." Here Lukc
no exception is made of enemies or opponents ; nay, they are e-.so
included, as the Lord Himself makes clear in the same pas-
sage, and says, "If ye love only those that love you, what Lllkc
kind of a benevolence is that? The wicked, too, love those $:32ff.
46 Treatise on Usury
that love them. And if ye do good only to those that love
you, what kind of a benevolence is that? The wicked also
do that. But ye shall love your enemies, ye shall do good,
ye shall lend to them and expect nothing from it; so shall
your reward be great, and ye shall be children of the Highest,
for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked." These
wholesome commandments of Christ have so fallen into
disuse that men not only do not keep them, but have made
of them a "counsel," which one is not necessarily bound to
keep, just as they have done with the first degree. 1 They
have been helped in this by those injurious teachers who say
that it is not necessary to lay aside the signa ran-
cor is, that is, the signs of enmity, and bitter, angry
attitudes toward an enemy, but that it is enough to forgive
him in one's heart. Thus they apply Christ's commandment
about external works to the thoughts alone, though He
Himself extends it, in clear words, to works, saying, "Ye
shall do good (not merely think good) to your enemies."
Rom- So, too, in Romans xiii, Paul, in agreement with King Solo-
12:20 mon, says, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst,
Pro*, give him drink; for thereby thou shalt heap coals of fire
25:21 on his head"; that is, you will load him with benefits, so
that, overcome with good, he will be kindled to love for you.
From these false doctrines has sprung the common saying,
"I will forgive, but not forget." Not so, dear Christian!
You must forgive and forget, as you desire that God shall
not only forgive and forget, but also do you more good
than before.
Fourteenth. The third custom is pretty and showy, and
does most injury to this giving. It is dangerous to speak of
it, for it concerns those who ought to be teaching and ruling
*. Givin*others, and these are the folk who, from the beginning' of
^ wor ld to its end, can never hear the truth or suffer
others to hear it. The way things now go, they apply the
high title of "alms," or "giving for God's sake," to giving
for churches, monasteries, chapels, altars, towers, bells,
1 See above, p. 37 ff.
"Giving for God's Sake" 47
organs, paintings, statues, silver and gold ornaments and
vestments, and for masses, vigils, singing, reading, testa-
mentary endowments, sodalities, and the like. Giving has
taken hold here, and the real stream of giving is on this
side, to which men have guided it and where they wanted to
have it; no wonder, therefore, that on the side to which
Christ's word guides it, things are so dry and desolate that
where there are a hundred altars or vigils, there is not one
man who feeds a tableful of poor people, let alone gives
food to a poor household. Not what Christ has commanded,
but what men have invented, is called "Giving for God's
sake"; not what one gives to the needy living members of
Christ, but what one gives to stone, wood, and paint is
"alms/' And this giving has become so precious and noble
that God Himself is not enough to recompense it, but has to
have the help of breves, bulls, parchments, lead, metal, cords
large and small, and wax, green, yellow and white. If it
makes no show, it has no value ; and it is all bought at great
cost, "for God's sake," from Rome, and such great works
are rewarded with indulgences, here and there, over and
above the reward of God ; but giving to the poor and needy,
according to Christ's commandment, this miserable work
must be robbed of such splendid reward, and be satisfied
with the reward that God gives. Thus the latter work is
pushed to the rear and the former is put out in front and
the two, when compared, shine with unequal light. There-
fore, St. Peter of Rome must now go begging throughout
the world for the building of his church, and gather great
heaps of "alms for God's sake," and pay for them dearly
and richly with indulgences.* And this work suits him well,
and he can easily attend to it, because he is dead ; for if he
were alive, he would have to preach Christ's commandments
and could not attend to the indulgences. His lambs follow
diligently after their faithful shepherd, go about with the
indulgences in every land, and wherever there is a dedica-
tion-day* or a fair these beggars gather like flies in summer,
*Cf. Vol. I, 29 ff. "
* E y n Kirchwey, ie.. either church-dedication, or an anniversary of
the dedication* These festivals drew great crowds.
Vol. IV.-4
48 Treatise on Usury
and they all preach the same song, "Give to the new building
that God may recompense you, and the holy lord, St.
Nicholas." Afterwards they go to their beer or wine, also
"for God's sake"; and the commissaries are made rich, also
"for God's sake." But there is no need for commissaries or
legates to preach to us that we shall give to the needy accord*
ing to God's commandment.
Fifteenth. What shall we say to this ? If we reject these
works, the Holy See at Rome puts us under the ban and
the high scholars quickly call us heretics, for the place to
which the stream of money is directed makes a mighty
difference. We would not prevent the building of suitable
churches and the adornment of them, for we cannot do
without them, and the worship of God ought rightly be
conducted in the finest way 1 ; but there should be a limit to
it, and we should have a care that the appointments of
worship should be pure, rather than costly. It is pitiable
and lamentable, however, that by these clamorous goings-on
we are turned away from God's commandments and led only
to the things that God has not commanded, and without
which God's commandments can well be kept. It would be
sufficient, if we gave the smaller portion to churches and
the like, and let the real stream flow toward God's command-
ment, so that among Christians good deeds clone to the poor
would shine more brightly than all the churches of stone
or of wood. To speak out boldly, it is sheer trickery, dan-
gerous and deceptive to the simple-minded, when bulls,
breves, seals, banners, and the like 3 are hung up for the sake
of dead stone churches, and the same thing is not done a
hundred times more for the sake of needy, living Chris-
tians. Beware, therefore, man ! God will not ask you, at
your death and at the Last Day, how much you have left in
your will, or whether you have given so much or so much
jf att to churches ; but He will say to you, "I was hungry and ye
25:42f.fed me not; I was naked and ye clothed me not." Let these
words go to your heart, dear man ! Everything will depend
1 Anffs zierlichst.
3 See Clemen, 30, a, 1*
Abolition of Beggary 49
on whether you have given to your neighbor and done him
good. Beware of show and glitter and color that draw you
away from this !
Sixteenth. Pope, bishops, kings, princes and lords ought
to labor for the abolition of these intolerable burdens and Abolition
impositions. It ought to be established and decreed, either * Be *-
by their own mandate or in a general council, that every for
town and village should build its own churches and care for church
its own poor folk, so that beggary would cease entirely, 1 or
at least that it would not be done in such a way that any
place should beg for its churches and its poor in all other
cities, according to the present unhappy custom; and the
Holy See at Rome ought to be left to enjoy its own bulls, for
it has enough else to do, if it will perform its office, without
selling bulls and building churches that it does not need.
God has expressed it plainly in His law, in Deuteronomy xv, Deut.
"There will always be poor people in your city." Thus He i5:ii
has committed to every city its own poor, and He will not
have men running hither and yon with beggars' sacks, as
men now run to St. James" and to Rome. Although I am
too small a man to give advice to popes and all the rulers of
the world in this case, and although I myself think that
nothing will come of it ; nevertheless, it ought to be known
what the good and needful course would be, and it is the
duty of the rulers to consider and to do the things that are
necessary for the best ruling of the common people, who
are committed to them.
Seventeenth. A device has been invented which teaches
in a masterly way, how this commandment can be circum-
vented and the Holy Ghost deceived. It is, "No one is
bound to give the needy unless they are in extreme want."
Besides, they have reserved the right to investigate and
decide what "extreme want" is. Thus we learn that no one
is to give or help until the needy are dying of hunger,
freezing to death, ruined by poverty, or running away be-
cause of debts. But this knavish gloss and deceitful addi-
CiVd. II, pp, 134 f.
St James of Compostella. See Veil. I. p. 191.
50 Treatise on Usury
Matt - tion 1 is confounded with a single word which says, "What
7:12 thou wilt that another do to thee, that do thou also/' Now
no one is so foolish as to be unwilling that anyone should give
to him until the soul is leaving his body or he has run away
from his debts, and then help him, when he can no more be
helped. But when it comes to churches, endowments, indul-
gences and other things that God has not commanded, then
no one is so keen or so careful in reckoning out whether we
are to give to the church before the tiles fall oil the roof,
the beams rot, the ceiling fall in, the dispensation-letters
mold, the indulgences decay though all these things could
wait more easily than people who are in need but in these
cases every hour is one of "extreme want/' even though all
the chests, and the floor itself, were full, and everything
well-built. Nay, in this case treasure must be gathered with-
out ceasing, not to be given or lent to the needy on earth,
but to the Holy Cross, to our Dear Lady, to the holy patron,
St. Peter, though they are in heaven. All this must be done
with more than ordinary foresight, so that if the Last Day
never came, the church would be taken care of for a hundred
or two hundred thousand years; and thus, in case of need,
the canonization of a saint, 3 or a bishop's pallium,*
or other like wares can be bought at the fair in Rome.* I
truly think that the Romans are very great fools not to sell
canonization, pallia, bulls, and breves at a higher
price and not to get more money for them, since these fat
German fools come to their fair and obligate themselves to
buy them; though, to be sure, no Antichrist could collect
these treasures more fittingly than the bottomless bag at
Rome, into which they are all gathered and set in order.
It would grieve one to the heart, if these damned goods,
taken from the needy, to whom they properly belong, were
spent for anything else than Roman wares, St. Ambrose
and Paulinus, in former times, melted the chalices and
everything that the churches had, and gave to the poor*
Turn the page, and you find how things are now. Well for
1 1 e., to Christ's commandment fl Cf. Vol. II, p. 131*
* Cf. Vol. II, p. 89 f. V
gleychen ein Jafcrmarkt, cf. Vol II, p. 95*
The Third Degree 51
you, dear Rome, that even though the Germans run short
of money, they still have chalices, monstrances, and images
enough; and all of them are still yours !
Eighteenth. We come now to the third degree of dealing
with temporal goods. It is that we willingly and gladly
lend without charges or interest. Of this our Lord Jesus
Christ says, in Matthew v, "He that would borrow of thee,
from him turn not," that is, "do not refuse him." This
degree is the lowest of all and is commanded even in the M ^ 2
Old Testament, where God says, in Deuteronomy xv, "If
anyone of thy brethren in thy city become poor, thou shalt De 1 u ^ 7ff
not harden thy heart against him nor shut thy hand; but
that shalt open it and lend him all that he needs" ; and they
have allowed this degree to remain a commandment, for all
the doctors agree that borrowing and lending shall be free,
without charge or burden, though all may not be agreed on
the question to whom we ought to lend. For as was said
about the previous degree, there are many who gladly lend
to the rich or to good friends, more to seek their favor or
put them under obligation than because God has commanded
it, and especially if it is given the high title, spoken of above,
viz., "for God's service," or "for God's sake." For every-
body gladly lends to the Holy Cross and our Dear Lady and
the patron saint, but about those to whom God's command
points there is always trouble and labor, to them no one
wants to lend, except in cases of extreme want, where
lending does no good, as has been said above.
Nineteenth. Christ, however, excluded no one from His
commandment; nay, He included all kinds of people, even
one's enemies, when He said, in Luke vi, "If ye lend only Luke
to those of whom ye expect that they will make return, what 6:34i
kind of benevolence is that? Even wicked sinners lend one
to another that they may have the same again"; and also
"Ye shall lend and expect nothing in return." I know very
well that very many doctores have interpreted these
words as though Christ had commanded to lend in such a
way as not to make any charge for it or seek any profit by
it ? but to lend gratis. This opinion is, indeed ? not wrong,
52 Treatise on Usury
for he who makes a charge for lending is not lending and
Loan * neither is he selling; it must therefore be usury, because
lending is, in its very nature, nothing else than to offer
another something without charge, on the condition that one
get back, after a while, the same thing, or its equivalent, and
nothing more. But if we look the word of Christ squarely
in the eye, it does not teach that we are to lend without
charge, for there is no need for such teaching, since there is
no lending except lending without charge, and if a charge is
made, it is not a loan. He wills that we lend not only to
friends, the rich, and those to whom we are well disposed,
who can repay us again, by returning this loan, or with
another loan, or by some other benefit ; but also that we lend
to those who cannot or will not repay us, such as the needy
and our enemies. It is just like His teaching about loving
and giving; our lending is to be done without selfishness
and without self-seeking. This does not happen unless we
lend to our enemies and to the needy; for all that He says
is aimed to teach us to do good to everyone, that is, not
only to those who do good to us, but also to those who do
us evil, or cannot do us good in return. That is what He
means when He says, "Ye shall lend and expect nothing
from it," that is, "Ye shall lend to those who cannot or will
not lend to you again." But he who lends expects to receive
back the same thing that he lends, and if he expects nothing,
then, according to their interpretation, it would be a gift
and not a loan. Because, then, it is such a little thing to
make a loan to one "who is a friend, or rich, or who may
render some service in return, that even sinners who are not
Christians do the same thing, Christians ought to do more,
and lend to those who do not the same, i. e, to the needy
and to their enemies. Thus, too, the doctrine falls which
says that we are not bound to lay aside the signa
rancoris, as has been said above; and even though
they speak rightly concerning lending, yet they turn this
commandment into a counsel and teach us that we are not
bound to lend to our enemies or to the needy, unless they
are in extreme want. Beware of this !
Three Laws for Lending 53
Twentieth. It follows that they are all usurers who lend
their neighbor wine, grain, money, or the like, in such a
way that he obligates himself to pay charges on it in a year
or at a given time; or that he burdens and overloads him-
self with a promise to give back more than he has borrowed,
or something else that is better. And in order that these
men may themselves perceive the wrong that they are doing
though the practice has, unfortunately, become common we
set before them three laws. First, This passage in the
Gospel commands that we shall lend, Now lending is not
lending unless it be done without charge and without advan-
tage to the lender, as has been said. Crafty avarice, to be
sure, sometimes paints itself a pretty color and pretends to
take the surplus as a present, but that does not help if the
present is the cause of the loan; or if the borrower would
rather not make the present, provided he could borrow
gratis. And the present is especially suspicious, if the bor-
rower makes it to the lender, or the needy to the wealthy;
for it is not natural to suppose that the needy would make a
present to the wealthy of his own free will ; it is necessity
that forces him to do so, Second, This is contrary to the
natural law, 1 which the Lord also announces in Luke vi and <j :31
Matthew vi, "What ye would that men should do to you,
that do also to them." Now, beyond all doubt, there is no 7:12
one who would that men should lend him rye to be repaid
with wheat, bad money to be repaid with good, bad wares
to be repaid with good wares ; indeed, he would much rather
that men should lend him good wares to be repaid with bad,
or with equally good wares, but without charge. Therefore
it is clear that these usurers are acting against nature, are
guilty of mortal sin, and seek their neighbor's injury and
their own profit, because they would not put up with such
treatment from others, and are thus dealing unfairly with
their neighbor. Third, It is also against the Old and the
New Law, which commands, "Thou shalt love thy neigh-
bor as thyself," But such lenders love themselves alone,
seek only their own, or do not love and seek their neigh-
M. e., Charging for loans.
54 Treatise on Usury
bor with such fidelity as they love and seek themselves.
Twenty-first. Therefore no better or briefer instruction
can be given about this, and about all dealing with temporal
goods, than that everyone who is to have dealings with his
neighbor set before him these commandments, "Whatsoever
thou wilt that another do to thee, that do thou to him also,"
and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." If, beside
this, he were to think what he would have for himself, if he
were in his neighbor's place, he would learn for himself and
find for himself all that he needs to know. There would be
no need for law books or courts or accusation; nay, all the
cases would be quickly and simply decided. For everyone's
heart and conscience would tell him how he would like to
be dealt with, what he would like to have remitted, what
given and what forgiven, and from this he must conclude
that he ought to do just that for everyone else. But because
we leave these commandments out of view, and look only at
the business, and its profit or loss, we must have all the
countless books, courts, judges, law suits, blood, and all
misery, and thus, upon the violation of God's commandments,
must follow the destruction of God's kingdom, which is
peace and unity, in brotherly love and faithfulness. And
yet these wicked men go about, begging at times and fasting,
14:17 giving alms at times, but in this matter, on which salvation
depends, they are quite heedless and carefree, as if this
commandment did not concern them at all, though without
it they cannot be saved, even if they did all the other works
of all the saints.
Twenty-second. Here we meet two objections. The first
bjec- is that if lending were done in this way, the interest would
b e j ostj that is, the profit which they could make meanwhile
with the goods that were lent The second is the great
example. Everywhere in the world it has become the custom
to lend for profit, and especially because scholars, priests,
clergy, and churches do it, seeing that the improvement of
the church's spiritual goods and of the worship of God is
sought, and without these there would be very few Chris-
tians in the world, and everyone would be reluctant to lend
Lend Without Interest 55
Answer. There is nothing in all of that. In the first Anr
place, you must lose the interest and the profit if it be taken swcwd
from you or if you give to someone outright 1 ; why, then,
will you seek it and keep it in lending ? He who decides to
give and lend must give up the interest in advance, or it is
neither giving nor lending. In the second place, whether
it is a good custom or a bad custom, it is not Christian or
divine or natural, and no example helps against that fact.
For it is written, "Thou shalt not follow the crowd to do
evil, but honor God and His commandments above all
things," That the clergy and the churches do this is so
much the worse. For spiritual goods and churches have
neither authority nor freedom to break God's commandments,
rob their neighbor, practice usury, and do wrong. More-
over, the service of God is not improved by it, but cor-
rupted. Keeping God's commandments is improving the
service of God ; even knaves can improve the church prop-
erty; and even if the whole world had the custom of lending
with this kind of a charge, the churches and the clergy
should act the other way, and the more spiritual their pos-
sessions were, the more Christian should be the manner in
which, according to Christ's command, they would lend
them, give them, and let them go. He who does otherwise,
is doing so, not for the improvement of the churches or of
their spiritual goods, but for his own usury-seeking avarice,
which decks itself out with such good names. It is no
wonder, then, that Christians are few ; for here we see who
they are that practice really good works, though many blind
and deceive themselves with their own self-chosen good
works, which God has not commanded them, But if anyone
finds that this makes it hard for him to lend to his neighbor,
it is a sign of his great unbelief, because he despises the
comforting assurance of Christ, who says, "If we lend and Luke
give, we are children of the Highest, and our reward is
great/' He who does not believe this comforting promise
and does not make it a guide for his works, is not worthy
of it.
* See above, pp. 21 and 43 ff,
PART TWO
ON USURY
oth*r First. Beneath these three degrees are other degrees and
ways of wavs O f dealing with temporal goods, such as buying, inherit-
with"* ing, conveying, etc., and these are governed by temporal and
spiritual law. By these no one becomes better or worse in
the sight of God, for there is no Christian merit in buying
anything, getting it by inheritance, or acquiring it in some
other honest way, since the heathen, Turks, and Jews can
be this good.
But Christian dealing and the right use of temporal goods
consist in the three above-mentioned degrees or ways
giving them away, lending them without charge, and quietly
letting them go when they are taken by force. Let us now
leave all the other ways of dealing out of account, and give
attention to the matter of buying, especially the buying of
income, 1 since this makes a pretty show and seems to be a
way by which a man can burden others without sin and grow
rich without worry or trouble. For in other dealings it is
manifest to everybody if a man sells too dear, or sells false
wares, or possesses a false inheritance, or wealth that is not
his, but this slippery and newly invented business makes
itself ofttimes the pious and faithful protector of damnable
greed and usury.
A SOB- Second. Although the buying of income is now estab"-
lished as a proper trade and a permitted line of business,
it is, nevertheless, to be hated and opposed for many reasons.
First, because it is a new and slippery invention, especially
in these last, perilous times, where nothing good is invented
any more and the thoughts of all men are bent upon wealth
and honor and luxury, without any limit. We cannot find
1 D e r zinakauff. See Introduction above, p. 10 f.
(56)
Against Natural and Christian Law 57
any example of this business among the ancients, and Paul 2 rva -
says of these times that many new, wicked practices will
be invented. Second, because, as they must themselves
admit, however right it is, it makes a bad show and has an t ThesSt
offensive outward appearance, and St. Paul bids us avoid 5:23
all evil and offensive appearances, even though the thing
itself were right and proper a b omni spetie mala
abstinete (I Thessal. ult.), "Be on your guard
against every evil appearance." Now in this business the
advantage of the buyer, or receiver of income, is always
looked upon as greater and better, and is more sought after
by everyone than that of the seller, or payer of income;
and this is a sign that the business is never conducted for
the sake of the seller, but always for the sake of the buyer,
for every man's conscience fears that it cannot be right to
buy income, but no one has any doubt that he can sell it at
any risk that he cares to take. So close does this business
come to the conscience.
Third. This business, even though it be conducted with-
out usury, can scarcely be conducted without violation of
the natural law and the Christian law of love. For it is ^
to be supposed that the buyer never, or very seldom, seeks Natural
and desires the welfare and advantage of his neighbor, the
seller, more than or equally with his own, especially if the
buyer is the richer man and does not need to buy. And yet
the natural law says, What we wish and desire for ourselves, l Cor>
we shall wish and desire for our neighbor also; and it is the 13 ;5
nature of love, as St. Paul says in I Corinthians xiii, not to
seek its own profit or advantage, but that of others. But
who believes that, in this business, anyone buys income
(unless he absolutely needs it) with a view to giving his
neighbor, the seller, a profit and advantage equal to his own?
Thus it is to be feared that the buyer would not like to be
in the seller's place, as in other kinds of trade.
Fourth. Everyone must admit that whether this business
be usury or not, it does exactly the same work that usury ?? al
does; that is to say, it lays burdens upon all lands, cities,
58 Treatise on Usury
lords, and people, sucks them dry and brings them to ruin,
as no usury could have done. We see this plainly in the
S case * many cities anc * P" nc ^P a ^^ es - Now ^ le kord tau ght,
'not that the fruit is to be known by the tree, but the tree
by the fruit. Thus I cannot possibly think you a sweet
fig-tree, when you bear nothing but sharp thorns, and I
cannot reconcile the claim that this buying of incomes is
right with the fact that land and people are ruined by it,
Fifth. Let us imagine, then, or dream, or force ourselves
to think that this business is right, as it is now conducted ;
nevertheless, it deserves that pope, bishops, emperor, princes
and everybody else endeavor to have it abolished, and it is
the duty of everyone who can prevent it to do so, if only
on account of its wicked and damnable fruits, which burden
and ruin the whole world.
Sixth. Therefore it is not enough that this business should!
Nt be rescued by canon law from the reproach of usury, for
Make it fa^ <joes not rid it of or secure it against avarice and self-
love ; and from the canon law we find that it is not directed
toward love, but toward self-seeking. Money won by gam-
bling is not usury either, and yet it is not won without
self-seeking and love of self, and not without sin; the
profits of prostitution are not usury, but they are earned by
sin; and wealth that is acquired by cursing, swearing and
slander is not usury, and yet it is acquired by sin. Therefore
I cannot conclude that those who buy income which they do
not need are acting rightly and properly. I make bold to
say and give warning that the rich, who use this business
only to increase their incomes and their wealth, are in great
danger. Moreover, I do not think it permissible to act as
do some avaricious fellows (Geytzige blasen),
who collect their incomes at stated times, and quickly invest
it again in income so that the one income always drives
the other along, as water drives the millwheel. This is such
open and shameless avarice that no man, however stupid,
can deny that it is avarice; and yet all that is held to be
right. If there were no other reason to regard this buying
of income as usury or as wrong dealing (especially in such
Taking Interest 59
a case as I have mentioned), this one reason would be
enough, viz., that it is a cloak for such manifest and
shameless avarice, and allows men to do business without
risk. Whatever is of God avoids sin and every kind of
evil; but this business gives avarice free rein; therefore it
cannot be of God, as it is now conducted.
Seventh. We will now look at the arguments by which
this tender business is justified. There is a little Latin word
called inter esse. This noble, precious, tender, little
word may be rendered in German this way: If I have a
hundred gulden with which I can trade, and by my
labor and trouble make in a year five or six gulden
or more, I place it with some one else, on a productive
property, so that not I, but he, can trade with it, and for
this I take from him five gulden, which I might
have earned; thus he sells me the income five gulden
for a hundred and I am the buyer and he the seller. Here
they say, now, that the purchase of the income is proper
because, with these gulden, I might perhaps have
made more in a year, and the interest is just and sufficient.
All that is so pretty that no one can find fault with it at
any point. But it is also true that it is not possible to have
such interest on earth, for there is another, counter-interest,
which goes like this: If I have a hundred gulden,
and am to do business with it, I may run a hundred kinds
of risk of making no profits at all, nay, of losing four times
as much besides. Because of the money itself, or because
of illness, I may not be able to do business, or there may be
no wares or goods on hand. Hindrances of this kind are
innumerable, and we see that failures, losses, and injuries
are greater than profits. Thus the interest on loss is as
great as the interest of profits, or greater.
Eighth. Now if income is bought on the first kind of
interest only, 1 so that these risks and the trouble are not
assumed, and it can never happen that the buyer loses more
than he invests, and thus the money is invested as though
a i. c. F On the interest of profits.
60 Treatise on Usury
all of it could always be without the other interest, 1 then it
is clear that the trade is based on nothing, because there
cannot be any such interest, and it cannot be invented. For
in this business, goods are always on hand, and one can
transact it sitting still; a sick man can do it, a child, a
woman ; indeed, it matters not how unfit the person is, though
no such persons can engage in trade, and earn profits, with
bare money. Therefore those who regard only this kind of
interest, and trade in it, are worse than usurers ; nay, they
buy the first interest with the second interest, and win in
order that other people may lose. Again, since it is not
possible to regulate, compute, and equalize the second interest
(for it is not in man's power), I do not see how this
business can last. For who would not rather invest a hun-
dred gulden for income than trade with it, since in
trade he might lose twenty gulden in a year, and his
capital besides, while in this business he cannot lose more
than five, and keeps his capital? Moreover, in trade his
money must often be inactive because of the market ( D e r
wahr halben), or because of his own physical con-
dition, while in this business it is moving and earning all
the time.
Is it any wonder, then, that a man gets control of all the
wealth in the world, when he has goods always at hand, with
constant safety and less risk, and when his capital is pro-
tected in advance? One's profits cannot be small at times
when one can always procure goods, just as one's losses
cannot be small when one cannot get rid of goods, or cannot
procure them. Therefore, money in trade and money at
interest are different things, and the one cannot be com-
pared with the other. For money invested in income has a
basis which constantly grows and produces profit out of
the earth, while money in trade has no certainty ; the interest
it yields is accidental, and one cannot count on it at all*
Here they will say, perhaps, that, because they place money
on land, there is an "interest of loss," as well as an "interest
* i,e., "The interest o loss/'
Collateral to be Specified. 61
of profit/' for the income stands or falls according as the
land stays or not. 1 This is all true, and we shall hear more
about it below. But the fact remains that money which one
can place on land increases the "first interest" 2 too much
and decreases the "second interest" 3 as compared with
money that moves in trade ; for, as was said above, there is
more risk in trade than in land. Since, then,, one cannot get
ground with a definite sum of money, neither can one buy
income with a definite sum. Therefore, it is not enough to
say, "With so much money I can buy so much income from
a piece of ground, and therefore it is right for me to take
so much income for it and let some one else look after the
ground," For in that way one would assess a piece of
ground at a definite value. That is impossible, and great
hardship must result for land and people.
Ninth. Therefore it is no wonder that the knights of
income (Zins junckeren) quickly become rich
above others, for since the others keep their money in
trade, they are subject to the two kinds of interest, but the
knights of income, by this little trick, get out of the second
interest and come into the first; thus their risk is greatly
reduced and their safety increased. It ought, therefore, not TV,
be permitted to buy income with cash money, without sped- fmtt
fying and defining the particular piece of ground from which
the income is derived, as is now the custom, especially
among the great merchants, who place money on ground in rived
general, without specification. By so doing they ascribe to ?"**
the nature of money that which is only accidental to it. It specified
is not in the nature of money that it buys ground, but it
may happen that a piece of ground is for sale for income
when some money is at one's disposal; but that does not
happen with all ground or with all money; therefore the
ground ought to be named and exactly defined. If that were
done, it would be evident how much money would be useless
for income purposes and have to stay in trade or in the
1 The risk that the owner might lose his ground was a real risk in the
sixteenth century.
*L e,, The "interest of profit"
H e,, The "interest of loss. 1 '
62 Treatise on Usury
coffers, though it now produces income with neither right
nor pretext except that one says (in a general way), "By
placing it on a piece of ground, I can buy so much income
with it, and that will be interest/' Yes, my dear fellow, my
money can buy my neighbor's house; but if it is not for
sale, the ability of my money has no effect on his interest.
In the same way, it is not the luck of all money to buy
income from ground; and yet some people want to buy
income from everything that can be used. They are usurers,
thieves, and robbers, for they are selling the luck of the
money, which is not theirs and is not in their power. "Nay,"
you say, "it can buy income from a piece of ground." I
answer, It does not do so yet, and perhaps it never will.
Hans can take a Gretchen, but he has her not yet, and so
he is not yet married. Your money can buy income ; that is
half of it, but the deal depends on the rest of it the accep-
tance and the other half. But now the rich merchants want
to sell the good fortune of their money, and that without
any bad fortune, and sell the will and intentions of other
people besides, because it rests with them whether the sale
can be made. That is selling the thirteenth bear-skin. 1
Tenth. I say, further, that it is not enough that the
ground be there and be named, but it must be described
parcel by parcel and the money placed on it and the income
to be got from it indicated, as, for example, the house, the
garden, the meadow, the pond, the cattle, and all this free
and unsold and unencumbered. They must not play the
blind cow in the community and place a burden on the whole
property. If this provision is not made, a town, or a poor
man, must be sold in a sack and utterly ruined by the blind
bargain, 3 as we see happening now in many cities and states.
The reason is this the trade of a city may fall off, citizens
become fewer, houses burn down, fields, meadows and all
the ground run down and the goods and the cattle of every
householder grow less, more children come; or it may be
burdened with some other misfortune. Thus the wealth
*i. c., Selling: what one haa not.
a i. c., In which the goods are not seen*
Buyer Takes the Risk 63
slips away, but the blind bargain, made with the whole
property of the community, remains. Thus the poor and
small remnant of wealth must bear the burden and expense
of the whole former lot ; and this can never be right. The
buyer is sure of his income and has no risk, and this is
against the nature of any real bargain ; and it would not be
so, if the property were described parcel by parcel, and the
income were to fluctuate with the value of the ground, as is
right.
Eleventh. The only way of defending this business against
the charge of usury and it would do so better than all talk
of interest would be that the buyer of income have the Take His
same risk and uncertainty about his income that he has
about all his other property. For with his property the
receiver of income is subject to the power of God death,
sickness, flood, fire, wind, hail, thunder, rain, wolves, wild
beasts, and the manifold losses inflicted by wicked men, All
these risks should apply to the buyer of income, for upon
this, and on nothing else, his income rests ; nor has he any
right to receive income for his money, unless the payer of
the income, or seller of the property, specifically agrees,
and can have free and entire and unhindered use of his own
labor. This is proved from nature, Reason, and all laws,
which agree in saying that in a sale the risk lies with the
buyer, 1 for the seller is not bound to guarantee his wares to
the buyer. Thus when I buy the income from a particular
parcel of ground, I do not buy the ground, but the labor of
the seller upon the ground, by which he is to bring me my
income. I therefore take all the risk of hindrance that may
come to his labor, insofar as it does not come from his
fault or neglect, whether by the elements, beasts, men,
sickness, or anything else. In these things the seller of the
income has as great interest as the buyer, so that if, after
due diligence, his labor is unprofitable, he ought and can say
freely to the receiver of the income, "This year I owe you
nothing, for I sold you my labor for the production of
*The principle of caveat emptor.
Vol. IV.-5
64 Treatise on Usury
income from this and that property; I have not succeeded;
the loss is yours and not mine ; for if you would have interest
on my profits, you must also have an interest in my losses,
as the nature of a bargain requires." The owners of income,
who will not put up with that, are just as pious as robbers
and murderers, and wrest from the poor man his property
and his living. Woe to them !
Twelfth. From this it follows that the blind trade in
incomes that are based not on a designated piece of prop-
erty, but on the land of a whole community, or many prop-
erties taken together, is wrong. For although the purchaser
of income cannot show on what property the charge rests,
he has, nevertheless, no risk, never accepts the possibility
that income may fail here or there, and wants to be sure of
his income. But perhaps you will say, "If this were to be
the case, who would buy income?" I answer: See there!
I knew very well that if human nature were to do the right
thing, it would turn up its nose. Now it comes out that in
this trade in incomes the only things that are sought are
safety, avarice, and usury.
O how many cities, lands, and people must pay these
charges, when it has long since been men's duty to remit
them ! For if this risk is not taken, the purchase of incomes
is simply usury. They go on endowing churches and monas-
teries and altars and this and that, and yet there is no limit
to the trade in incomes, just as though it were possible for
wealth, persons, luck, products, and labor to be alike in all
years. However equal or unequal these things may be, the
charge must go on at the same rate. Ought this not ruin
land and people? I am surprised that the world still stands,
with this boundless usury going on! It is thus that the
world has improved! What in earlier days was called a
loan, is now changed into the purchase of income.
Thirteenth. The income purchase is sometimes made in
such a way that income is bought from those to whom the
buyer ought to lend or give something. That is utterly
worthless, for God's commandment stands in the way, and
it is His will that the needy shall be helped by loans or
Excessive Interest Charges 65
gifts. Again it happens that both buyer and seller need
their property, and therefore neither of them can lend or
give, but they have to help themselves with such a bargain.
If this is done without breaking the church-law which pro-
vides for the payment of four, five, or six gulden on
the hundred, it can be endured; but respect should be always
had for the fear of God, which fears to take too much
rather than too little, in order that avarice may not have its
way in a decent business deal. The smaller the percentage
the more divine and Christian the deal.
It is not my affair, however, to point out when one ought
to pay five, four, or six percent. I leave it for the law to
decide when the property is so good and so rich that one
can charge six percent. It is my opinion, however,, that if
we were to keep Christ's command about the first three
degrees, 1 the purchase of incomes would not be so common
or so necessary, except in cases where the amounts were
considerable and the properties large. But the practice has
got down to groschen and p f e n n i g e and deals
with little sums that could easily be taken care of by gifts
or loans in accordance with Christ's command. And yet
they will not call this avarice.
Fourteenth. There are some who not only deal in little
Rates
sums, but also take too much return seven, eight, nine, ten
percent. The rulers ought to look into this. Here the
poor common people are secretly imposed upon and severely
oppressed. For this reason these robbers and usurers often
die an unnatural and sudden death, or come to a terrible end
(as tyrants and robbers deserve), for God is a judge for
the poor and needy, as He often says in the Old Law. ^^
But then they say, "The churches and the clergy do this mmt8
and 'have done it, because this money is used for the service ctaA
of God/' Truly if a man has nothing else to do than to MomeF
justify usury, a worse thing could not be said about him,
for he would take the innocent church and the clergy with
him to the devil and lead them into sin. Leave the name
1 See atJOTe, p. 37 f.
66 Treatise on Usury
of the Church out of it, and say, "It is usury-seeking
avarice that does not like to work to earn its bread, and so
makes the name of the Church a cloak for idleness."
Why talk of service of God? The service of God is to
keep His commandments, so that no one steals, robs, over-
reaches, or the like, but gives and lends to the needy. You
would tear down this service of God in order to build
churches, endow altars, and have mass read and prayers
sung; though God has commanded none of these things,
and with your service of God you bring the true service of
God to naught. Put in the first place the service of God
that He has commanded, and let the service of God that
you have chosen for yourself come along behind. As I said
above, if all the world were to take ten percent, the church
endowments should keep strictly to the law, and take four
or five, with fear; for they ought to let their light shine, and
give an example to the worldly. But they turn things
around, and would have freedom to leave God's command-
ments and His service in order to do evil and practice
usury. If you would serve God your way, then serve Him
without injuring your neighbor, and without failing to keep
isa.ei:8 God's commandments. For He says in Isaiah Ixi, "I am a
God that loves justice and I hate the sacrifice that is stolen."
Prw. The Wise Man also says, "Give alms of that which is thine."
3:9 But these overcharges are stolen from your neighbor, against
God's commandment.
Fifteenth. But if anyone is afraid that the churches and
endowments will go down, I say that it is better to take
ten endowments and make of them one that is according to
the will of God, than to keep many against God's com-
mandment. What good does a service 1 do you if it is
against God's commandment and contrary to the true serving
of God? You cannot serve God with two kinds of service
Matt that contradict one another, any more than you can serve
6:24 two masters.
There are also some simple folk who sell these incomes
1 Ein gottes dienst.
A Dangerous Tendency 67
without having ground or security, or sell more than the
ground can bear, and this leads to evident ruin. This
matter is very dangerous and goes so far that it is hard to
say enough about it. The best thing would be to turn back
to the Gospel, approach it, and practice Christian dealing
with goods as has been said.
There is also in this business a dangerous tendency, from
which I fear that none of the buyers of income at least
very few of them are free. It is that they want their
income and their property to be sure and safe, and there-
fore place their money with others, instead of keeping it
and taking risks. They very much prefer that other people
shall work with it and take the risks, so that they themselves
can be idle and lazy, and yet stay rich or become rich, If
that is not usury, it is very much like it. Briefly, it is
against God. If you seek to take an advantage of your
neighbor which you will not let him take of you, then love
is gone and the natural law is broken. Now, I fear that,
in this buying of income, we pay little heed to the success
of our neighbor, if only our income and our property are
safe, though safety is the very thing we ought not to seek.
This is certainly a sign of greed or laziness, and although
it does not make the business worse, it is, nevertheless, sin
in the eyes of God.
*Back in Saxony and Lueneburg and Holstein, the thing
is done so crudely that it would be no wonder if one man
were to devour another. There they not only take nine or
ten percent, or whatever they can get, but they have also
hitched a special device on to it. It goes this way if a man
lets me have a thousand gulden for income, 3 I have to take
instead of cash money, so many horses or cows, so much
bacon, wheat, etc., that he can not get rid of otherwise, or
cannot sell for so high a price. Thus the money that I get
amounts to scarcely half of the sum named, say, to five
*The passage from here to the end i* an addition to the treatise of 1520.
See above, p. 9 f.
L e>, At interest
68 Treatise on Usury
hundred gulden, though the goods and the cattle ar
of no use to me, or may bring me in scarcely one or two
hundred gulden. These fellows are not highway rob-
bers, but common house thieves. 1 What shall we say about
this ? These men are not men at all, but wolves and senseless
beasts, who do not believe there is a God.
Tfc* In a word, for all this usury and unfair securing of income
TMh * there is no better advice than to follow the law and example
of Moses. We ought to bring all these charges under the
ordinance that that which shall be taken or sold or given
shall be a tithe, or in case of need a ninth, or an eighth, or
a sixth. Thus everything would be fair, and all depend on
the grace and blessing of God. If the tithe turned out well
in any year, it would bring the creditor a large sum ; if it
turned out badly, the creditor would bear the risk as well
as the debtor, and both would have to look to God. In that
case, the income could not be fixed at any given amount,
nor would that be necessary, but it would always remain
uncertain how much the tithe would yield and yet the tithe
would be certain.
The tithe, therefore, is the best of all fixed charges and it
has been in use since the beginning of the world, and in the
Old Law it is praised and established as the fairest of all
arrangements according to divine and natural law. By it,
if the tenth did not reach, or were not enough, one could
take and sell a ninth, or fix any amount that the land or
Gen. house could stand. Joseph fixed the fifth as the amount to
41:34 be taken, or found it so fixed and customary in Egypt. For
by this arrangement the divine law of fairness constantly
abides, that the lender take the risk* If things turn out
well, he takes his fifth; if they turn out badly, he takes so
much less, as God gives, and has no definite and certain
sum.
But now that incomes are bought in definite and certain
amounts, all years are equal, good and bad alike, and land
and people must be ruined. The purchaser buys the same
income for unequal and equal years, poor years and rich
*Haus reuber and hoffe reubr.
God's Laws 69,
years; nay, he buys a blessing that God has not yet given
for a blessing that is already given. That can never be
right, for by that means one sucks another's sweat and
blood, Therefore it is no wonder that in the few years that
the buying of incomes has been practiced, i. e., about a
hundred years, all princedoms and lands have been impov-
erished and pawned and ruined.
But if the sale or income were based, not on produce, 1
but on houses or places that were gained and acquired by
manual labor, it could be justified by the law of Moses, by
having a "jubilee year" in these things and not selling the Lev.
income in perpetuity. For I think that, since this business 25:loff -
is in such a disordered state, we could have no better
examples or laws than the laws which God provided for His
people, and with which He ruled them. He is as wise as
human Reason can be, and we need not be ashamed to keep
and follow the law of the Jews in this matter, for it is
profitable and good.
Emperor, kings, princes and lords ought to watch over
this matter and look to their lands and peoples, to help them
and rescue them from the horrible jaws of avarice, and
things would be so much the better for them. The diets
should deal with this as one of the most necessary things,
but they let this lie, and serve, meanwhile, the pope's tyranny,
burdening lands and people more and more, until at last
they must go to destruction because the land can no longer
endure them, but must spue them out.
God give them His light and grace. Amen.
a Getrcid, "agricultural products,"
THE RIGHT AND POWER
OF A CHRISTIAN CONGREGATION OR
COMMUNITY TO JUDGE ALL TEACHING
AND TO CALL, APPOINT, AND DISMISS
TEACHERS,
ESTABLISHED AND PROVED FROM SCRIPTURE
1523
INTRODUCTION
This and the following treatise were written by Luther with
particular reference to the congregation at Leisnig, a little Saxon
town on the Mulde river. In the spring of 1522 the entire parish had
gone over to' the Lutheran movement. The priest appointed by the
abbot of Bucli, who held the right of patronage, was dismissed and
two evangelical ministers, Hemrich Kind and Johann Gruner, were
elected by the congregation; the order of worship was revised, and
steps were taken to make the congregation financially self-supporting-.
On September 25, 1522, Luther, whose plans for Wittenberg had
been crossed by the radical movement under Karlstadt, visited the
congregation, at their request, and discussed with them these various
reforms. On January 25 of the following year the congregation sent
two accredited representatives, Sebastian von Kotteritzsch and Franz
Salbach, to Wittenberg, to obtain Luther's approval of their unani-
mously adopted ordinance of a common chest, and to request him to
prepare for them an order of worship as well as to put the congrega-
tion's right to call its own ministers upon a scriptural basis. To all
of these requests Luther responded in the course of the following
spring; to the first by publishing the Leisnig ordinance with a com-
mendatory preface ;* to the second in the Von Ordnung
Gottesdiensts in der Gemeine; to the third in the
present treatise.
Luther here draws the practical consequences of his view of the
Church, which antedates the indulgence controversy and is found
substantially complete in his first lectures on the Psalms (1S13). 3 The
only specifically new feature added was the principle of the spiritual
priesthood of believers, which dawned upon him after the Leipzig
Disputation, 6
Our treatise, therefore, contains nothing new, but is a convenient
summary of a view scattered references to which may be found in
many of Luther's previous writings,* with an eye constantly upon the
1 See p. 92 ff.
3 Cf, K, HOIX-, pp. 245-78.
* Its first appearance is in a letter to Spalatin, December 18, 1519 (ENDERS,
Luther's Briefwechsel, II, 279 fc). Cf. Treatise on the
New Testament (in this edition, Vol. I, 315 f., 318), Open Lette/r
to the Christian Nobility (Vol. II, 66 ff.), Babylonian
Captivity (Vol. II, 279 f., 283), Christian Liberty (Vol. IT,
*In* addition td the references in the foregoing note, compare in this edition
Vol. I, 35 (62 thesis), 353 ff. 361.
(73)
74 Right and Power of a Christian Congregation
actual conditions of a definite local congregation. In the first line he
calls himself "Ecclesiastes" or preacher, and this is the point of view
from which he writes. He shows that the ministry is nothing else
than the ministry of the Word. And since the Word belongs to all,
the congregation has the inherent right to have ministers of the Word ;
if its minister is not such a minister it has the right to dismiss him
and to elect one who is. The call of the congregation is emphasized
as that which makes a minister, even apart from ordination; if the
minister thus elected be refused ordination, his call is tantamount to
ordination, The secular authorities are to be appealed to, in an
emergency, to furnish ministers. Emergency, or necessity, plays an
important role throughout, and the later state rule (Notbischofa)
is foreshadowed. The last paragraph is Luther's strongest statement
of the supremacy of the Word in the sacred office. The treatise is of
particular value as a clear expression of Luther's ideal of Congrega-
tionalism, a position which he never gave up, though later he was
compelled under the stress of circumstances to content himself with
state rule. 1
The translation is based on the text of CLEMEN, II, 325 ff. The
treatise is given also in the Weimar Edition, XI, 406 ff.,
Erl an g.en Edition, XXII, 141 ff. S t. Loui s Edi t i on,
X, 1538-49; Berlin Edition, VII, 141 ff. Besides the intro-
ductions in these editions, compare the Lives of Luther by KOSTLIN-
KAWERAU (S. ed., 1903), I, 517 f., and by BERGER, II, 2 (1919), 56
ff ,, as well as KOSTLIN'S Luther's Theologie (2. ed,,
1901), I, 333 ff., and TSCHACKERT'S Entstehung der
lutherischen und reformierten Kirchenlehre
(1910), 20 f., 34. The most thorough recent discussion of the
origin and development of Luther's conception of the Church is in
K. ROLL'S Gesammelte Aufsatze zur Kirchenge*
schichte, I: Luther (1921), 245-325. A line of reasoning
similar to that of our treatise is pursued by Luther in his De
instituendis ministris (fall of 1523), on which, sec
KOSTLIN-KAWERAU, I, 630 ff.
ALBERT T. W. STEINHAEUSER
ALLENTOWN,
PENNSYLVANIA
1 In estimating Luther|s view of the power of the congregation, it should he
remembered that for him a congregation is the entire community regarded
as a religious entity. The term G e m e i n e means "the community/' as often
as it means "the congregation." C, M, J,
THE RIGHT AND POWER OF A CHRISTIAN
CONGREGATION OR COMMUNITY TO JUDGE
ALL TEACHING AND TO CALL, APPOINT, AND
DISMISS TEACHERS,
ESTABLISHED AND PROVED FROM SCRIPTURE
1523
It is necessary, first of all, to know where and what a
Christian congregation is, so that men may not engage
in purely human affairs under cover of the name of a
Christian congregation, as has always been the custom of
non-christians. Now the certain mark of the Christian
congregation is the preaching of the Gospel in its purity.
For as one can tell by the army standard, as by a sure sign,
what leader and what army have taken the field, so one may
surely know by the Gospel where Christ and His army are
stationed. Of this we have God's sure promise in Isaiah Iv.
"My word/* He says, "that goeth forth out of my mouth, isa.
shall not return unto me void; but as the rain cometh down 55:lof -
from heaven and watereth the earth, so shall my word
accomplish all things whereto I send it." Hence we are
certain that where the Gospel is preached, there must be
Christians, no matter how few in number or how sinful and
frail they be; just as where the Gospel is not preached and
the doctrines of men hold sway, there can be no Christians
but only heathens, no matter how great their numbers or how
saintly and good their lives.
From this it follows undeniably that bishops, foundations,
monastic houses, and all that crew have long since ceased to
(75)
76 Right and Power of a Christian Congregation
be either Christians or a Christian congregation, though they
have flaunted this name as their exclusive possession. For
whoever knows what the Gospel is can see, hear and
understand that they are based, to this very day, upon
their human teachings and have driven, and are still driving,
the Gospel far from them. Whatever such folk do and say
must be regarded, therefore, as heathen and secular.
Secondly, in this matter of judging teachings and of ap-
pointing and dismissing teachers or pastors, not the least
attention is to be paid to any human decree, law, precedent,
usage or custom, whether it be decreed by pope or emperor,
by princes or bishops, whether it have been observed by half
the world or by all the world, whether it be in existence for
one year or for a thousand years. The soul of man is
eternal and above everything that is temporal; therefore it
must be ruled and equipped with an eternal word alone. It
is most absurd to rule conscience, in God's stead, by means
of human law and long established custom. We must be
guided, therefore, in this matter by the Scriptures and the
Word of God. For the Word of God and the teaching of
man cannot but clash when the latter undertakes to rule
the soul. Of this we desire to give a plain instance in the
question before us.
The word and teaching of man have decreed and pre-
scribed that the judging of doctrine be left altogether to
bishops, theologians, and councils. Whatever these have
decided, all the world is bound to regard as law and as
articles of faith. This is abundantly proved by their daily
harping on the pope's canon law. One hears scarcely any-
thing else from them but the boast that they have the power
and the right to judge what is Christian and what is heretical;
the plain Christian must await their decision and abide by it.
This claim of theirs, with which they have intimidated the
whole world, and which is their chief stronghold and defence,
lo, how shamelessly and how senselessly it rages against the
law and Word of God !
For Christ decrees the very opposite. He takes from the
bishops, theologians and councils both the right and the
To Judge All Teaching and to Call Teachers 77
power to judge doctrine, and confers them upon all men,
and upon all Christians in particular. He does this when
He says in John x, "My sheep hear my voice" ; and, "My John
sheep do not follow a stranger, but flee from him; for they 1 5 :27 >
know not the voice of strangers. As many as have come '
are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them."
Here you see plainly who has the right to judge teaching.
Bishops, pope, theologians, and any one else have the power
to teach; but the sheep are to judge whether what they teach
is the voice of Christ or the voice of strangers. What reply
can be made to this by the windbags who bluster and shout,
"Councils ! councils ! Ah, we must listen to the theologians,
the bishops, the great majority; we must look to ancient
usage and custom." What! God's Word yield to your
ancient usage, your custom, your bishops? Never! We
therefore let bishops and councils decide and decree what
they please ; but when we have God's Word on our side, it
shall be for us, and not for them, to say whether it is right
or wrong, and they shall yield to us and obey our word.
Here you see plainly enough, I fancy, how much trust is
to be placed in those persons who deal with souls by means
of the word of men. Who does not see that all bishops,
foundations, monastic houses, universities, with all that are
therein, rage against this clear word of Christ by shame-
lessly taking from the sheep the judgment of doctrine and
appropriating it to themselves by their own impudent decree?
Hence they are certainly to be regarded as murderers, thieves,
wolves and apostate Christians, who are here openly con-
victed not only of denying the Word of God, but of setting
up and carrying out decrees in opposition to this Word.
Thus it behooved antichrist and Ms kingdom to do accord- 2 Then
ing to Paul's prediction in II Thessalonians ii. 2:3 f
Again, Christ says in Matthew vii, "Beware of false
prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but in-
wardly they are ravening wolves," Observe that He here
assigns the judgment not to the prophets and teachers, but
to the pupils, or the sheep. For how could one beware of
false prophets unless one examined, judged and gave a
78 Right and Power of a Christian Congregation
decision on their teaching? Indeed, there can be no false
prophets among the hearers, but among the teachers alone.
All teachers should and must, therefore, be subject with their
teaching to the judgment of the hearers.
i Thess. Our third passage is from St. Paul, in I Thessalonians v,
5:21 "Test all things; hold fast that which is good/' Note that
Paul would have no doctrine or decree to be observed unless
it be tested and found good by the congregation that hears
it. For this testing certainly does not pertain to the teachers ;
they must first declare that which is to be tested. Thus, in
this passage also, the judgment is taken from the teachers
and committed to the pupils among Christians; hence there
is a vast difference between Christians and the world. In
the world the ruler commands what he pleases, and his
su fy' ects acce pt it; but "among you," says Christ, "it shall
not be so." Among Christians every one is the other's judge
and, on the other hand, also subject to the other. 1 The
spiritual tyrants, however, have turned Christendom into a
temporal power,
Matt. Q ur {0^^ p assa ge is again a saying of Christ's, in
" Matthew xxiv, "Take heed that no man deceive you; for
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall
deceive many/' But what need is there of adducing further
passages? All the warnings of St. Paul in Romans xvi, I
16^13 Corinthians x, Galatians iii, iv and v, Colossians ii, and
is ' everywhere else, as well as the sayings of all the prophets
i Cor. in which they teach that doctrines of men are to be rejected,*
G ^ 0: 3 4 4 these altogether deprive the teachers of the right and power
Coi. 2:8 to judge any teaching, and assign this right and power to
the hearers with urgent commands and on pain of losing
their souls. So that the hearers not only have the power and
the right to judge all preaching, but are obliged to judge it
under penalty of forfeiting the favor of Divine Majesty.
Thus we see in how unchristian a manner the despots dealt
with us when they deprived us of this right and appropriated
1 Compare the two theses in the Treatise on Christian liberty,
Vol. ii, 312.
a Cf. the treatise vith thia title In Vd, ii, 427
To Judge All Teaching and to Call Teachers 79
it to themselves. For this thing alone they have richly
deserved to be cast out of the Christian Church and driven
forth as wolves, thieves and murderers, whose rule and teach-
ing are contrary to God's Word and will.
We conclude, then, that where there is a Christian con-
gregation which has the Gospel, it not only has the right and
the power, but is in duty bound, according to the obedience
it pledged to Christ in Baptism, and under pain of forfeiting
its salvation, to shun, to flee, to put down, to withdraw from,
the authority which our bishops, abbots, monastic houses,
foundations, and the like exercise today; since it is plainly
to be seen that their teaching and rule are opposed to God
and His Word. Thus our first point is established certainly
and firmly enough, and we should depend upon it that to
put down or to shun such bishops, abbots, monasteries, and
the like rule, is a divine right and necessary for the salva-
tion of souls.
II
A Christian congregation, however, should not and cannot
be without the Word of God. It follows therefore logically
enough from the foregoing, that it must have teachers and
preachers to administer this Word. And since in these last
accursed times the bishops and false spiritual rulers neither
are nor have any intention of being such teachers, and are
moreover unwilling to give us or to suffer us to have such
teachers ; and since we ought not to tempt God to send down
anew preachers from heaven: therefore we must do as the
Scriptures say, and call and appoint from among ourselves
men who are found fit for this work, and whom God has
enlightened with understanding and endowed with the requi-
site gifts.
For no one can deny that every Christian has God's Word
and is taught of God and anointed by Him to the priest-
hood. Thus Christ says in John vi, "They shall all be ^
taught of God/' And in Psalm xlv, "God hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." By "fel- P8 ' 4S:7
lows" are meant Christians, Christ's brethren, consecrated
VoL IV.-6
80 Right and Power of a Christian Congregation
1 Pet. to be priests with Him. As Peter also says in I Peter ii, "Ye
2:9 are a royal priesthood, that ye should show forth the praises
of him who hath called you into his marvelous light." 1
Now, if Christians 'have the Word of God and are anointed
by Him, they are in duty bound to confess, preach and
2 COT. spread this Word. As Paul says in II Corinthians iv, "We
4:13 have the same spirit of faith, and therefore we speak" ; and
PS. the prophet says in Psalm cxvi, "I believed, therefore I
116:10 speak"; and in Psalm li, he says in the name of all Chris-
Ps<51:13 tians, "I will teach transgressors thy ways, that sinners may
be converted unto thee." These passages prove once more
that a Christian not only has the right and power to teach
God's Word, but is in duty bound to teach it on pain of
losing his salvation and forfeiting God's favor.
Now you will say : "But, unless he has been called to do
this, he dare not preach, as you yourself have repeatedly
taught!" I reply; Here you must consider the Christian
from a double point of view. On the one hand, when he is
in a place where there are no Christians, he needs no other
call than the fact that he is a Christian, inwardly called and
anointed by God ; he is bound by the duty of brotherly love
to preach to the erring heathens or nonchristians and to
teach them the Gospel, even though no one call him to this
Ac * a s work. That is what St. Stephen did (Acts vi and vii) ; the
10 V office of preaching was not committed to him by the apostles,
7:2 ff. yet he preached and performed great wonders among the
Acts 8:sP e P' e ' Philip, Stephen's fellow-deacon, did the same (Acts
viii), without having received the office of preaching. The
A i8 S -25 same 1S true ^ ^polios (Acts xviii). In such circumstances
26, 28 the Christian looks, in brotherly love, upon the needs of poor
perishing souls, and waits for no commission or letter from
pope or bishop. For necessity breaks every law and knows
no law; moreover, love is bound to help when there is no
one else to help. But, on the other hand, when the Christian
is in a place where there are Christians, who have the same
power and right as he, he should not thrust himself forward,
1 For a discussion of the spiritual priesthood of believers, comp. Vol. ft, 66 ff,
To Judge All Teaching and to Call Teachers 81
but should rather let himself be called and drawn forth to
preach and teach in the stead and by the commission of the
rest. Indeed, a Christian has such power that he may and
should arise and teach, even among Christians, without being
called of men, in case he finds the teacher in that place to be
in error, provided that this be done in a becoming and decent
manner. Such a case is plainly described by St. Paul in ! Cor -
I Corinthians xiv, where he says, "If anything be revealed 14:3
to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace."
Notice what St, Paul does here. He commands the man
who is teaching to hold his peace and to retire (among
Christians !) , and commands the hearer to arise, even without
a call, because necessity knows no law.
If then St. Paul here bids anyone, in case of necessity,
among Christians, to arise even without a call, and calls him
by virtue of this word of God; and if he bids the other to
retire, and deposes him by virtue of these words : how much
more does an entire Christian congregation have the right to
call a man to this office whenever it becomes necessary!
And it is always necessary, and never more than now. For
in the same passage St. Paul gives to every Christian the
power to teach among Christians whenever it becomes neces- i Cor.
sary, "Ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn 14:31
and all may be admonished" ; and, "Desire earnestly to i G*.
prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues; but let all i4:39t
things be done decently and in order." Take this passage as
a most sure basis, which gives more than sufficient authority
to the Christian congregation to preach, to permit men to
preach, and to call preachers. Especially in case of neces-
sity, this passage itself calls every one in particular, without
any call of men; so that we might have no doubt that the
congregation which has the Gospel may and should choose
and call, out of its number, one who is to teach the Word
in its stead. i Tim .
But now you will say: "St. Paul, however, commanded s-,22
Timothy and Titus to appoint priests ; moreover, we read in Ttu *
Acts xiv that Paul and Barnabas appointed priests in their Act9
congregations, The congregation cannot, therefore, call 14:23
82 Right and Power of a Christian Congregation
anyone, nor can anyone come forward of his own accord to
preach among Christians ; but we must have the consent and
commission of bishops, abbots or other prelates, who sit in
the apostles' seat/' I reply: If indeed our bishops and
abbots sat in the apostles' seat, as they claim, one might speak
of letting them do what Titus and Timothy, Paul and
Barnabas did when they appointed priests. But now that
they sit in the devil's seat, and are wolves, neither preaching
the Gospel nor permitting it to be preached, the appointment
of men to the office of preaching and pastoral care among
Christians concerns them as much as it concerns the Jew and
the Turk. Mule drivers and dog leaders, that is what they
ought to be !
Moreover, even if they were the right sort of bishops and
desired to have the Gospel and to appoint the right sort of
preachers, they could not and should not do this without the
consent, choice and call of the congregation ; except in cases
of necessity, in order that souls might not be lost for lack of
God's Word. For in such necessity, as we have seen, anyone
may provide a preacher, either by personal request or through
the power of the secular authorities ; nay, he should himself
step into the breach and rise up and teach, if he be able, for
necessity is necessity and knows no bounds, just as, when
fire breaks out in a town, everyone should hasten to lend a
hand and not wait to be asked.
But where no such necessity exists, and where there are
those who have the right, the power, and the gift to teach,
no bishop ought to appoint anyone without the consent,
choice and call of the congregation; it is his duty rather to
confirm the man whom the congregation has elected and
called. If the bishop does not confirm him, he is none the
less confirmed by virtue of the call of the congregation. For
neither Titus nor Timothy nor Paul appointed any priest
mm i:7 unless he was chosen and called by the congregation. This
i Tim. is clearly proved from Paul's words in Titus i and I Timothy
Stf.ioiii, "A bishop, or priest, must be blameless"; and, "The
deacons must first be proved." Titus certainly did not know
who was blameless: this information must needs come from
To Judge All Teaching and to Call Teachers 83
the congregation, who must bring such a one to his attention.
We read also in Acts vi, with respect to a very minor office, Acts
that the apostles themselves did not venture to appoint men
to be deacons without the knowledge and consent of the
congregation. The congregation, on the contrary, chose and
called the seven deacons, and the apostles confirmed them.
But if the apostles did not venture, upon their own authority,
to appoint men to an office that had to do merely with the
distribution of bodily food, how should they 'have been so
bold as to commit to anyone the highest office of all, that of
preaching, by their own power and without the knowledge,
consent and call of the congregation ?
But since in our days the necessity exists, and there is
never a bishop to provide evangelical preachers, the example
of Titus and Timothy does not apply here. We must rather
call a preacher out of the congregation, whether he be con-
firmed by Titus or not. For the people to whom Titus
ministered would or should have done the same, if he had
refused to confirm their preachers or if there had been no
one else to appoint preachers. These days are altogether
unlike the days of Titus ; then the apostles ruled and desired
the right sort of preachers, but now our despots desire none
but wolves and thieves.
And why do the raging tyrants condemn us for electing
and calling in this manner? They themselves do the same
thing, and have no other way, Among them no one is ever
appointed pope or bishop by the authority of one man, but
he is elected and called by the chapter and thereupon con-
firmed by others, bishops by the pope as their superior, but
the pope himself by the Cardinal of Ostia as his inferior. 1
And if one should happen not to be confirmed, he is none
the less bishop or pope. Now I ask the dear tyrants this
* The Cardinal of 0tia is the cardinal dean, whose duty it is, after the pope
has received the required two-third* vote of the conclave, to ask him whether
he will accept the election and by what name he wishes to he known. If the
pope happens not to he a bishop, he is consecrated at once by the Cardinal-
Bishop of Ostia; if he is already a bishop, there takes place only the solemn
b e n e d i c t i o or blessing. See Catholic Encyclopedia: Art
"CoaclaveV
84 Right and Power of a Christian Congregation
question : If the election and call of their congregation can
make a man a bishop, and if the pope is pope solely by virtue
of his election without confirmation by any other authority,
why should not a Christian congregation make a man a
preacher solely by virtue of its call? (My argument has the
greater force because, forsooth, they regard the estate of
bishop and pope as superior to the office of preacher.) Who
has granted this right to them and withheld it from us ? The
more since our call has Scripture in its favor, while theirs is
but a human fable without Scripture, whereby they rob us
of our rights. They are tyrants and knaves, dealing with us
as the devil's apostles are bound to do.
Hence it has also been the custom in certain places that
even secular authorities such as burgomasters and princes
appointed and salaried their own city and castle preachers,
choosing whom they pleased, without the consent or com-
mission of bishops or popes ; nor has anyone ever interfered
with this custom. I am afraid, however, that it was not
done from a correct understanding of their Christian rights ;
it has come about rather because the spiritual tyrants despised
the office of preaching, held it common, and made a sharp
distinction between it and the spiritual rule. But it is in
truth the highest office of all, on which all other offices
depend and from which they follow; on the other hand,
where this office does not exist none of the others can follow,
John 4:2 For in John iv we read that Christ did not baptize, but only
i COT. preached; and Paul boasts in I Corinthians i that he was
1:17 sent not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel.
Therefore, the man to whom has been committed the office
of preaching has committed to him the highest office in the
Christian Church. He may then also baptize, say mass, and
take full charge of the care of souls. Or if he prefer, he
may confine himself to preaching, and leave baptizing and
such minor offices to others, as Christ did, and St. Paul, and
Acts 6:4 all the apostles (Acts vi). By this we see that our present
bishops and spirituals are painted images and no bishops at
all. For the highest office, that of the Word, which ought to
be their proper work, they leave to the very lowest orders,
To Judge All Teaching and to Call Teachers 85
to chaplains and monks, alms-collectors I 1 To whom they
leave also the minor offices, such as baptism and other
pastoral acts. Meanwhile they themselves administer con-
firmation and bless bells, altars and churches, works which
are neither Christian nor episcopal, but invented out of their
own heads. They are perverse and blind mummers, and
nothing but make-believe bishops. 2
iTerminarien. Cf. Vol. II, 135, n. 2.
3 Kinderbischdfe, also called Niklasbischofe, i. e., the play-
bishops chosen by school children from among their number, in the games and
pageants held in Germany on St. Nicholas' Day (December 6th).
PREFACE
TO
AN ORDINANCE OF A COMMON CHEST
1523
INTRODUCTION
The care of the poor had been neither neglected nor adequately
conducted by Church and state in the later middle ages. Alms-giving
flourished as one of the churchly virtues, but it was regarded as a
good work done to please God and not one's neighbor ; the point of
view of the giver was emphasized, that of the recipient was ignored.
The influence of the mendicant friars only added to the abuse. Efforts
at civil poor relief were no less inadequate to cope with the problem
of poverty, which was rapidly becoming acute. 1
Luther placed the whole matter upon the high plane of Christian
love, as the expression of justifying faith; he emphasized alms-
giving as the general duty of all Christians, and sought to establish
it upon a systematic basis. Already at the Leipzig Disputation in
July of 1519, he expressed the wish that there might be no mendicant
orders. Later in the same year, in his Treatise on the
Blessed Sacrament and on Brotherhoods/ he ad-
vocated the establishment by the brotherhoods of "common chests"
for the aid of needy craftsmen; and all along, especially in the
Open Letter to the Christian Nobility, 8 he strenu-
ously opposed mendicancy and begging, and insisted that every town
should support its own poor.
These principles received their first practical application in the
Wittenberg Beutelordnung,* adopted in 1521 under Karl-
stadt's advocacy, during Luther's absence at the Wartburg. The
Wittenberg Kastenordnung 5 followed early in 1522. Under
the influence of the latter, and perhaps not without Luther's direct
influence, there was drawn up in the congregation at Leisnig, probably
by its recently elected clergymen, an Ordinance of a
Common Chest, which was submitted to Luther for his
approval. It pleased him so much that he wrote a preface for it and
*In 1510 Matthew Hutlin of Pfortzheim published Liber vagatorum,
The Book of Vagabonds, which describes twenty-eight varieties of beggars, ex-
poses their tricks, and gives a vocabulary of their jargon. It is printed, with
Luther's preface (1528), in Weimar Ed., XXVI, 634 ff. Cf. PRESERVED
SMITH. The Age of the Reformation, 558-621.
a See Vol. II, 27 f.
8 See Vol. II, 115 ff., 134 ff.
* Printed in BARGE'S Karlstadt (1905), II, 359 f., and reprinted in
LIETZMANN'S K 1 e i n e T e x t e , nr. 74. Cf. K. MUXLER, Luther und
Karlstadt, 31 ff.
See LEITZMAHN*S Kleixxe Texte, nr. 21.
(89)
90 Preface to an Ordinance of a Common Chest
had it published, about Whitsuntide, 1523, as * model for other
communities. Not being the work of Luther, this ordinance has not
been translated by us, but because of its historical interest a summary
of its chief provisions may here be given. It is considerably wider
in scope than its predecessors and almost amounts to a congregational
constitution.
The nobles, council, guildmasters, elders and commons o the town of Leisnij?
and vicinage solmenly agree, in the matter of choosing their pastors, to exercise
their Christian liberty in accordance with Holy Scripture. Every householder
is obligated, with his family and servants, faithfully to hear and learn, at
appointed times, the Word of God. All are 1 pledged to put down blasphemy,
immoderate drinking, immorality, and other crying sins and vices. The parish
has the right and the duty, with the aid of the civil authorities, to bring fla-
grant offenders to book. There follow elaborate provisions for the maintenance
and administration of the common chest, into which all churchly incomes are to
flow. Over it ten wardens shall be appointed, two each from the nobles and the
town council, and three each from the citizens and the peasantry. Three times
a year a parish meeting shall be held, to hear the report of the wardens, trans-
act necessary business, and elect new wardens. Out of the chest shall be paid
all expenses incident to the salaries of the pastors, sextons, and schoolmasters,
all repairs to property, and the support of the poor of all classes. There hall
be also a school for girls under twelve years of age, with instruction in reading
and writing, conducted by "an elderly female of good report." Tuition shall be
paid only by scholars residing outside the district. The common chest shall be
used, finally, to store up supplies of grain for times of emergency. In case the
regular income does not suffice, taxes shall be laid on all inhabitants.
Luther's preface gives a general approval to these provisions, and
discusses in particular what disposition should be made of the posses-
sions of declining monastic houses. He advises that such possessions
be taken over and administered by the temporal authorities. It is
instructive to note with what scrupulous fairness to all concerned this
intricate question is handled. Remaining inmates are to be generously
supported for the rest of their lives. Those who choose to leave are
to be supplied with the means to make a fresh start in life. Needy
heirs and relatives of the donors of bequests and endowments should
have their wants supplied first. The remainder only is to go to the
common chest. And even this remainder is to be reduced by the
restoration of what Luther considers wrongful interest or usury.
Mendicant houses in cities are to be converted into schools or dwell-
ings. All these suggestions are made in the spirit of Christian love
and are intended only for those who are actuated by evangelical faith
and love.
Luther's hopes were not realized. He was compelled to be content
with the one or twa who, as he said, "would like to follow" him. He
regretted the failure of the Leisnig experiment, which being the first
should have been the best. The reasons for this failure were in part
the opposition of the temporal authorities, in part the lack of the
proper persons to carry out the plan. Here as in so many other
instances, Luther had to bow to the stubborn facts and wait
Introduction 91
unsser herr gott Christen macht," 1 (until our Lord God makes some
Christians) .
The preface, together with the Leisnig ordinance itself, is found in
Clemen's Edition, II, 404-23; the Weimar Edition,
XII, 11-30; the Erlangen Edition, XXII, 106-30; the
St. Louis Edition, X, 954-77, and the Berlin Edition,
VII, 107-37. See the introductions there, and KOSTLIN-
KAWERAU, Martin Luther, (1903), I, 549-51, and A. E.
BERGER, Martin Luther, II, 2 (1919), 452-61. Comp. B.
RiGGENBACHj Das Armenwesen der Reformat ion
(1883); L. FfeucHTWANGER, Geschichte der sozialen
Politik und der Armenpflege im Zeitalter der
Reformation (1908); R. SEEBERG, Aus Religion
und Geschichte (1906), I, 247 ff.; P. SMITH, The Age
of the Reformation (1920), 558 if., and K. HOLL,
Gesammelte Aufsatze zur Kirchenges chichte,
I: Luther (1921), 233 ff., 388 ff.
ALBERT T. W. STEINHAEUSER
AlXENTOWN,
PENNSYLVANIA
*Cf. Weimar Ed., XII, 693.
PREFACE
TO
AN ORDINANCE OF A COMMON CHEST
1523
Martin Luther, Preacher,
To all Christians in the Congregation of Leisnig,
My dear Sirs and Brethren in Christ:
Grace and Peace from God the Father
and our Saviour Jesus Christ
Dear Sirs and Brethren, Since the Father of all mercies
has called you as well as others to the fellowship of the
Gospel, and has caused His Son Jesus Christ to shine into
your hearts; and since the riches of the knowledge of
Christ have wrought so mightily among you that you have
2^44 a dopted a new order of service, and a common chest, after
4:32* the example of the apostles: I have seen fit to print and
publish this ordinance of yours, in the hope that God may
lay His gracious blessing upon it and make it a public
example to be followed by many other congregations, so
2 Cor that we, too, may boast of you, as St. Paul boasted of the
9:2 Corinthians that their zeal provoked many, although you
must confidently expect that, if your undertaking is of God,
it must needs be violently assailed, for Satan will take no
rest nor holiday.
We cherish the hope, then, that this example of yours
may be generally followed, and that as a result there will
be a great decline of the existing foundations, monastic
houses, chapels, and the horrible dregs which have until now
fattened on the wealth of the whole world, under the pre*
(92)
Preface to an Ordinance of a Common Chest 93
tence of serving God. This decline is being greatly hastened
by the holy Gospel, which is again breaking forth and which
reveals such blasphemous and damnable service of God in
its true colors. Moreover, the spirituals themselves are
behaving in such a manner that nothing good remains among
them and nothing good can penetrate to them. Things have
come to such a pass that it seems both God and man are sick
and tired of monkery and spirituality, and that there must
be a change. At the same time there is need of great care,
lest the possessions of such vacated foundations become
common plunder and everyone make off with what he can get.
I have resolved, therefore, while there is yet time, to antici-
pate this danger with Christian advice and counsel according
to my duty and ability. For the blame is laid at my door
whenever monasteries and foundations are vacated, the num-
ber of monks and nuns grows less, and anything is done to
injure and weaken the spiritual estate. This makes me
unwilling to take the additional blame if some greedy bellies
should grab these spiritual possessions and claim, in excuse
of their conduct, that I was the cause of it.
Though I fear but few will heed my advice, if it comes
to such a pass, for greed is a heedless, unbelieving rogue, I
will do my part and clear my conscience and will place the
burden upon theirs, so that no one may accuse me of having
kept silence or of having spoken too late. Let whoever will,
then, accept or reject my well-meant advice; I am without
blame. But I issue beforehand this sincere warning and
friendly request: Let no one heed or follow this advice of
mine unless he knows and understands thoroughly, from the
Gospel, that monkery and spirituality, as we have had them
these four hundred years, serve no useful purpose, but are
altogether a harmful error and deception. For a matter
such as this must be undertaken with a good, strong, Christian
conscience ; otherwise things will go from bad to worse, and
we shall be overtaken on our deathbed by terrible remorse.
In the first place: it would indeed be well if no rural
monasteries, such as those of the Benedictines, Cistercians,
Celestines, and the like, had ever appeared upon earth. But
94 Preface to an Ordinance of a Common Chest
now that they are here, the best thing is to suffer them to
pass away or to assist them, wherever one properly can, to
disappear altogether. This may be done in the following
two ways. First, by suffering the inmates to leave, if they
choose, of their own free will, as the Gospel permits them
to do. The other way is for all temporal authorities to direct
the monasteries under their jurisdiction to admit no further
applicants and, if there be too many inmates, to send them
elsewhere and to let the remainder die out. Since, however,
no one is to be forcibly brought to faith and the Gospel, the
remaining inmates, who on account of their age, their belly
or their conscience continue in the monasteries, should not
be ejected nor dealt with harshly, but supported for the rest
of their days just as before. For the Gospel teaches us to do
good even to the unworthy, as our heavenly Father sends rain
and sunshine upon good and evil alike. We must remember,
too, that these persons drifted into this estate in consequence
of the generally prevailing blindness and error, and that they
have not learned a trade by which they might support them-
selves.
I advise the temporal authorities, however, to take over
the possessions of such monasteries, and to provide out of
them for such persons as remain, until their death, and to
provide for them more amply and generously than it was
in all probability done before, in order that men may realize
that it is not a case of greed opposing the spiritual posses-
sions, but of Christian faith opposing the monasteries. In
doing this, no permission of pope or bishop is to be sought
beforehand, nor are their ban and curse to be feared ; for I
am writing this for those only who understand the Gospel
and who have the right to take such action in their own
lands, cities and jurisdiction.
In the second place: such possessions of monasteries as
are taken over by the authorities should be applied in the
following three ways. First, to support the persons still
remaining in them, as has just been said. Second, to provide
those who leave with sufficient funds to find a position and
to make a fresh start in life even though they brought nothing
Preface to an Ordinance of a Common Chest 95
with them when they entered the monastery. For when
they leave they leave, so to speak, their lifelong livelihood;
moreover, they have been defrauded, for they might have
employed the time they spent in the monastery in learning a
trade. As for those who brought something with them, it is
no more than right before God that it should be returned to
them, an equal part to each; for Christian love should here
be the judge, and not the severity of human justice. If
anyone is to suffer injury or loss, it should be the monastery
and not the individuals, for the monastery is the cause of
their error. But the third way is the best, namely, to devote
all remaining possessions to the common fund of a common
chest, out of which gifts and loans might be made, in Chris-
tian love, to all the needy in the land, whether nobles or
commons. In this way, too, the testament and intention of
the founders would be carried out. For though they erred
and were misled in giving their goods to monasteries, their
intention certainly was to give them to the glory and for
the service of God ; that was the spirit in which they com-
mitted their error. Now, there is no better service of God
than Christian love, which helps and serves the needy, as
Christ Himself will testify in the judgment of the last day Matt.
(Matthew xxv). For this reason, too, the possessions of ^ !
the Church were formerly called bona ecclesiae, that
is, common possessions, as it were, a common chest, for all
the needy among Christians.
It is, however, just and in accordance with Christian love,
that in case Jjhe heirs of the founders are impoverished and
in want, the foundations should revert to them, a goodly por-
tion to each, and all of it together if the need warrant this.
For it was certainly not the intention of their fathers to
take the bread out of the mouths of their children and heirs
and bestow it elsewhere. And even if this was their inten-
tion, it is a wrong and unchristian intention. For fathers
are in duty bound to provide above all else for their own
children ; this is the highest service they can render to God
with their temporal goods. But in case the heirs are not
Vol. IV, 7
96 Preface to an Ordinance of a Common Chest
poor or do not need it, they ought not to take back their
fathers' foundation but let it go into the common chest.
But you might say: "That is opening the door too wide;
in this way the common chest will receive precious little,
for every one will claim the whole amount and will say his
needs are so much, etc." I reply : That is why I said that
Christian love must judge and act in this matter; it cannot
be handled by means of laws and regulations. Besides, I
am setting down this advice in accordance with Christian love
for Christians alone. We must expect greed to creep in here
and there. What then ? It must not on that account remain
undone. In any case it is better that greed take too much in
an orderly way than that the whole thing become common
plunder, as it happened in Bohemia. Let everyone examine
himself to see what he should take for his own needs and
what he should leave for the common chest.
In the third place : the same procedure should be followed
with respect to abbacies, foundations, and chapters in control
of lands, cities and other possessions. For such bishops and
foundations are neither bishops nor foundations; they are
really at bottom temporal lords sailing under a spiritual
name. Hence they should be turned into temporal lords or
else their possessions should be divided between the poor
heirs and relations, and the common chest. As for prebends
and benefices, they should be left to their present incumbents ;
after their death, however, they should no longer be filled,
but divided between the poor heirs and the common chest.
In the fourth place : part of the possessions of monasteries
and foundations, and a great part of the prebends are based
upon usury, which now calls itself everywhere "interest,"
and which has in but a few years swallowed up the whole
world. Such possessions would have to be separated first of
all, like leprosy, from those possessions which consist of
simple bequests. For the advice I gave above refers only to
foundations consisting of right and honest bequests, not
bearing interest. Interest bearirig foundations, however, may
rightly be regarded as usury; for I have never yet seen or
Preface to an Ordinance of a Common Chest 97
heard of a right annuity 1 that bears interest. It would be
necessary, therefore, in such a case, to make the usury, by
returning to each one his interest payments, before allowing
such a possession to go into the common chest ; for God says, isa,
"I hate robbery for burnt offering." If it prove impossible 61:8
to find the persons who sustained loss by paying interest,
the common chest might then receive the possession. But
the right and wrong of interest is too long a story for the
present ; I have sufficiently dealt with it in the T r e a t i s e
on Usury/ from which one may learn what part of
such prebends and foundations should be restored to those
who have made payments of interest. For there is no doubt
that many prebends have received back the full amount of
their loans, and yet do not cease sucking sweat and blood
out of those who are still paying interest. This matter is
altogether one of the most urgent to which emperors and
kings, princes and lords, and everyone else should give
attention.
In the fifth place: mendicant houses within cities might
be converted into good schools for boys and girls, as they
were before. The other monasteries could be converted into
dwelling-houses, if the city needed them. The fact that they
were consecrated by bishops should not stand in the way of
this, for God knows nothing of such consecrations. But if
this advice of mine were acted upon in a Christian fashion,
many things would suggest themselves and be found feasible,
and much would be learned by experience, more than can
now be proposed in words, for various and extraordinary
conditions would arise, in which only Christian love can
judge aright.
If God were to grant this advice to be carried out, not
only should we have a well supplied common chest for all
needs, but three crying evils would be abolished. The first
of these is begging, which does so much harm to land and
people in soul and property. 8 The second is the horrible
*Cf. Vol. II, 159 f.
'See Weimar Ed., VI, 3 ff., 36 If. This Edition, this voL p. 37 ff.
Cf. VoL II, 115 f., 134 ff.
98 Preface to an Ordinance of a Common Chest
abuse of the ban, which serves no other purpose than to
torture the people in the interest of the possessions of priests
and monks. If there were no possessions there would be no
need of this ban. The third evil is the wretched annuities,
the greatest usury on earth, which has until now vaunted
its rights especially in spiritual possessions.
But whosoever will not follow this advice nor curb his
greed, of him I wash my hands. Well do I know that few
will accept it; indeed, I am content if one or two follow
me or would at least like to follow me. The world must
remain the world, and Satan the prince of the world. I have
done what I can and what I am in duty bound to do. God
help us all to take the right course and to remain firm.
Amen.
TO THE COUNCILMEN
OF ALL CITIES IN GERMANY
THAT THEY ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN
CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
1524
INTRODUCTION
With his conception of the spiritual priesthood of all believers,
Luther could not but regard the educational system of the church as
antiquated and insufficient. While his views on education were in
certain respects akin to those of the humanists, they differed radically
from them by reason of their essentially religious motivation. For
the mystics and enthusiasts, with their emphasis on the spirit and their
depreciation of the letter and of letters, the giver of the open Bible to
the common people could have nothing but contempt
Ever since 1516 1 we find throughout Luther's writings scattered
references to the importance of a thorough education for "the poor
young people who are committed to us for direction and instruction." 3
But it was not until 1524 that he addressed his ringing appeal to the
councilmen of all German cities, urging them to establish and maintain
schools. This appeal, together with .the later Predigt, das's
man Kinder zur Schule ha 1 ten solle (1530), given
below, 3 forms Luther's classic pronouncement on. the subject of
education.
Among the outstanding features of the educational program here
laid down, the following may be mentioned: The responsibility o
establishing and supporting adequate schools is laid upon the con-
sciences of the secular authorities in the towns as one of their most
important Christian duties. Though Luther has in view primarily
the Latin or higher schools, he does not ignore the necessity of
common or public schools, and he desires that girls as well as boys be
educated.* There is even the suggestion of compulsory education, and
the proposal of free scholarships at least for advanced pupils. The
objections to education are stated with an understanding of the popular
mind possessed only by a man of the people, and met with the
thoroughness of a trained schoolman. Though the religious motive
runs through all, and determines the curriculum suggested, stress is
laid also on the temporal and social aspects of education and, in the
later Predigt, on the value of a liberal education for its own
*Cf. NEUBAUER, II, 2.
a See Vol. II, 1S2.
See this volme, p. 135 ff.
*Cf. above, Vol. II, 151. In 1527 Luther invited Frl. Else y. Kanitz to open
a girls' school in Wittenberg and offered her board and lodging in his house.
(See ENDERS, Luther'sBriefwechsel, VI., p. 79 f.; comp. M. CURKIE,
The Letters of Martin Luther, 1908, p. 160 1)
(101)
102 To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany
sake. A final feature is the advocacy of well-chosen public libraries.
All in all, a pretentious, forward-looking program, which marks
Luther as one of the outstanding figures in the history of popular
education.
The appeal had its effect and roused many of the councilmen to
action. Up to 1600, at least 300 city and town schools were estab-
lished in German lands. In 1537 a Roman Catholic theologian, John
Zwick, confessed that if he were a boy again he would attend Lutheran
institutions rather than those of his own church, on account of the
greater thoroughness of the former. 1
The treatise was translated into Latin by Obsopoeus, and published
with a highly laudatory preface by Melanchthon. An English trans-
lation of it, as well as o<f the Predigt, is given in F. V. N.
PAINTER, Luther on Education (1889), where there is
also an excellent historical introduction. O. ALBRECHT devoted
a valuable study to it in Studien z u Luthers Schrift
an die Ratsherrn (Theol. Studien u. Kritiken, 1897). See
also KOSTLIN-KAWERAU, Martin Luther (1903), I, 545 ff., II,
223 .; A. E. BERGER, Martin Luther, II, 2 (1919), 562 ff.,
and R. NEUBAUER, Martin Luther, II, (1914), 1 ff. Comp.
G. MERTZ, Das Schulwesen der deutschen Refor-
matiooszeit (1902); F. P. GRAVES, A History of Edu-
cation during the Middle Ages and the Tran-
sition to Modern Times (1910), and K. HOLL, Ge-
sammelte Aufsatze zur Kirchengeschichte, I:
Luther (1921), 395 ff.
ALBERT T. W. STEINHAEUSER
ALLENTOW.N),
PENNSYLVANIA
1 Quotation, ia BBRGEB* II, pt. 2, p. 577.
TO THE COUNCILMEN OF ALL CITIES IN
GERMANY THAT THEY ESTABLISH AND
MAINTAIN CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
1524
To the Burgomasters and Councilmen of all cities in
Germany. Martin Luther.
Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Prudent, wise and dear Sirs : Having been put under the
ban some three years ago and declared an outlaw, I should
have remained silent had I feared the command of men
more than God. There are indeed many persons in Ger-
many, both great and small, who on that account, still
attack my speaking and writing and shed much blood over it. 1
But God has opened my mouth and bidden me speak, and is
mightily supporting me and, without my help, strengthening
and spreading my cause the more they rage, and seems to be
laughing and mocking at their rage, as it is said in the
second Psalm. By this token alone everyone who is not ** 2:4
hardened can see that this cause must indeed be of God, for
it plainly bears the mark of a divine word and work, which
always thrive best when men are most determined to perse-
cute and suppress them.
Therefore I will speak, as Isaiah says; and not hold my Isa *
peace as long as I live, until Christ's righteousness go forth
as brightness and His saving grace be lighted as a lamp.
1 Heinrich Vos and Johann van den Esschen, the first martyrs of Protestant-
ism, were 'burnt at Brussels, July 1, 1523. Cf. also The Burning of
Brother Henry in Dithmar schen (1525), included in this vol-
ttme, see p. 184 ft'.
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104 To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany
And I pray you now, all my dear sirs and friends, to receive
kindly and lay to heart this writing and admonition of
mine. For, no matter what I may be personally, I can boast
before God with a good conscience that I am not seeking my
own advantage, which I could attain far better by remaining
silent, but am dealing in hearty good faith with you and with
the whole German land, to which I have a divine commission,
let men believe it or not. And I wish to assure you and
declare to you, frankly and confidently, that if you heed me
in this matter, you heed not me but Christ, and that if you
heed me not, you despise not me but Christ. For I know
and am well aware of what I am saying and teaching and
for what purpose I say it, and everyone who is willing rightly
to consider my teaching will discover it for himself.
First of all, then, we are experiencing today throughout
The De. Germany how schools are everywhere allowed to go to wrack
ScLJfc an( * ruin; universities are growing weak, monasteries are
declining. This grass is like to wither and the flower thereof
isa. fadeth, as Isaiah says, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth
40:7 upon it in His Word, and shineth with so great heat upon
it through the Gospel. For since it is becoming known,
through God's Word, how unchristian and devoted only to
men's bellies those institutions are; and especially since the
carnal multitude see that they are no longer obliged or able
to drive their sons and daughters into monasteries and cathe-
dral schools, and to turn them out of their own houses and
possessions and plant them in other people's possessions, no
one is any longer willing to have children educated. "Tell
us," they say, "why should we send them to school, if they
are not to become priests, monks and nuns? They had
better learn such things as will help them to make a living !"
From this confession of theirs it is very evident what such
people are thinking and on what their minds are set. For if
they had not sought only the belly and a temporal living for
their children when they sent them into the monasteries and
cathedral schools or into the spiritual estates, but had been
earnestly concerned for their salvation and blessedness, they
would not thus fold their hands, relapse into indifference and
Work of
the
That They Establish Christian Schools 105
say : "If the spiritual estate is no longer to count for any-
thing, then we will let education be and not bother our
heads about it." They would rather say : "If it is true, as
the Gospel teaches, that this estate is dangerous to our chil-
dren, why then, dear sirs, show us another way to educate
them that will be pleasing to God and profitable to them;
we certainly want to provide not only for the bellies of our
dear children, but also for their souls." That, at least, is
what true, Christian and faithful parents would say.
But it is not surprising that the Evil One takes this at- The
titude and inspires carnal and worldly hearts to neglect the
children and youths. Who can blame him for it? He is a
prince and god of this world. How can he possibly be pleased
to see his nests, the monasteries and the spiritual gangs, de-
stroyed by the Gospel, in which nests he corrupts above all
the young folk, who mean so much, yea, everything to him ?
How can he be expected to permit or promote the proper
training of the, young? He would indeed be a fool to suffer
and help men to establish in his kingdom the very thing by
which that kingdom must be most speedily overthrown, as
would surely happen if he lost that choice morsel, the dear
youth, and had to permit them to be saved for the service
of God at his expense and by means of his possessions.
It was a most prudent course, therefore, that he adopted
in the days when Christians had their children taught and
trained in a Christian manner. The young multitude bade
fair to escape him entirely and to work intolerable havoc to
his kingdom. Then he went to work, spread his nets and
set up such monasteries, schools and estates that it was not
possible for a boy to escape him without a miracle from
heaven. Now, however, that he sees his snares exposed
through God's Word, he flies to the other extreme and will
not suffer anyone to study at all. It is again a right and
prudent course that he pursues, in order to preserve his
kingdom and by all means to retain the young. If he has
them in his possession, they will grow up under him and
remain his; who will take anything from him? He thus
possesses the world in peace. For if a really crushing loss
106 To the Councilman of All Cities in Germany
is to be inflicted upon him, it must come through the young
people, reared in the knowledge of God and spreading and
teaching others God's Word.
No one believes what a dangerous design of the devil's
this is. It goes forward so silently that no one perceives it,
and the harm is done before one can prevent it. Men fear
the Turks and wars and floods, for in such matters they
understand what is harmful and what is beneficial. But what
the devil has here in mind, no one sees, no one fears, it
proceeds so quietly. And yet everyone who would give a
gulden to fight the Turks, if they were at our very door,
ought properly to give a hundred gulden to this cause, even
if only one boy could be trained therewith to become a true
Christian man ; for a true Christian man is better and worth
more than all men upon earth.
Therefore, I pray you all, my dear sirs and friends, for
God's sake and the poor youths', not to treat this subject as
lightly as some do, who are not aware of what the prince
of this world intends. For it is a serious and important
matter that we help and assist our youth, and one in which
Christ and all the world are mightily concerned. By helping
them we shall be helping ourselves and all men. And reflect
that these secret, subtle and crafty attacks of the devil must
needs be met with deep Christian seriousness. If it is neces-
sary, dear sirs, to expend annually such great sums for fire-
arms, roads, bridges, dams and countless similar items, in
order that a city may enjoy temporal peace and prosperity,
why should not at least as much be devoted to the poor,
needy youth, so that we might engage one or two competent
men to teach school?
Mean* Moreover, every citizen should be moved by the following
consideration. Formerly he was obliged to give up so much
money and property for indulgences, masses, vigils, endow-
ments, testaments, anniversaries, mendicants, brotherhoods,
pilgrimages, and other like humbug; but now that he is rid
by the grace of God of all that robbing and giving, he ought,
out of gratitude to God and for His glory, to give a part
of that amount for schools in which to train the poor chit-
That They Establish Christian Schools 107
dren, which would indeed be a good and precious investment.
If the light of the Gospel had not dawned and set him free,
he would have to give up to the above-mentioned robbers
ten times as much and more for ever, without any return.
He should also know that where there is objection and op-
position to this proposal, the devil is assuredly present, who
did not object when men gave their money for monasteries
and masses, and poured it out in streams, for he perceives
that this work is not to his advantage. Let this then, my
dear sirs and friends, be the first consideration to move you,
that we must upset this scheme of the devil, our most
dangerous and subtle foe.
Our second consideration is found in the words of St. Paul
in II Corinthians vi, that we receive not the grace of God
in vain nor neglect the day of salvation. For Almighty God
has indeed graciously visited us Germans and proclaimed a
true year of jubilee. 1 We have at present the most excellent
and learned young men, adorned with the languages and all
arts, who could be of much service if we made use of them
as instructors of the young. Is it not evident that we are
now able to prepare a boy in three years, so that at the age
of "fifteen or eighteen he wilLJmow more than all universities
and monasteries hitherto? ^Indeed, what did men learn in
those institutions but how to"t>ecome asses, blockheads and
dunces ! For twenty and forty years one sat over one's books
without acquiring either Latin or German. I say nothing of
the shameful and viciousjji e, by which the excellent youths
were miserably corrupted^/
It is true that, rather than have the universities and monas-
teries continue as before, with no other place for youth to
study and live, I should wish no boy ever to study nor to
be able to speak; for it is my earnest intention, prayer and
1 Luther wrote* "eyn recht gulden iar." This may be freely translated "a
golden opportunity." but the allusion will be lost. Gulden Jahr was he
popular term for the year of jubilee, i.e., the year in which a papal indulgence
was proclaimed. It was regarded as a year of exceptional opportunity and
blessing; it waa indeed a year cxf gold for the Church, and literally a gulden-
year for those who spent their money for letters of pardon (see 86. Thesis,
, Vd. I, 37). Cf. KOLDE in Prot. Realencyk. (3. ed.), IX, 545-50,
108 To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany
desire, that those ass-stables and devil's-schools should either
sink into the abyss or be converted into Christian schools. 1
But now that God has so richly blessed us and has given us
so many men able to instruct and train our young people
aright, surely we ought not to despise the grace of God nor
suffer Him to knock in vain. He is standing at our door;
happy are we if we open to Him! He is calling to us;
blessed is he that answers him ! If we let Him pass by, who
will bring Him back ?
Let us consider our former misery and the darkness in
which we sat. Germany, I trow, has never heard so much
of God's Word as now; at least we find nothing like it in
history. If we permit it to go by without thanks and honor,
it is to be feared we shall suff er a still more dreadful darkness
and plague. Buy, dear Germans, while the fair is at your
doors ; gather in the harvest while there is sunshine and fair
weather ; use the grace and Word of God while they are here.
For," know this, God's Word and grace is a passing rain-
storm, which does not return where it has once been. It
came to the Jews, but it passed over ; now they have nothing.
Paul brought it to the Greeks, but it passed over ; now they
have the Turk. Rome and the Latins had it, too; but it
passed over; now they have the pope. And you Germans
must not think you will have it for ever; for ingratitude and
contempt will not suffer it to remain. Take and hold fast,
then, whoever can ; idle hands cannot but have a lean year.
God ha Our third consideration is by far the most -important of
Cora " all; it is the command of God. Its importance is seen in
it that He so frequently through Moses urges and enjoins
parents to instruct their children that it is said in Psalm
Pfc 78: Ixxviii, "How straitly he commanded our fathers that they
5 f< should give knowledge unto their children and instruct their
children's children." It is seen also in the fourth command-
2i:i8 ment > * n which He so urgently enjoins children to obey their
ff. parents that He would even have disobedient children sen-
tenced to death. Indeed, for what other purpose do we older
*Cf. above, pp, 106 f.
That They Establish Christian Schools 109
folk exist than to care for, instruct and bring up the young?
The foolish youths cannot possibly instruct nor protect them-
selves ; God has therefore entrusted them to us who are old
and know by experience what is good for them, and He will Dcut
compel us to render a strict account. Hence Moses also 32:7
commands, "Ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy
elders, and they will tell thee."
But it is a sin and a disgrace that we must needs urge
and be urged to train our children and youths and seek their
best interests, when nature itself should drive us to do this
and the examples even of the heathen afford us manifold
instruction. There is not an irrational animal but looks
after its young and teaches them what they need to know,
except the ostrich, of which God says that she is hardened Jo1 j 6 39: 14
against her young ones, as though they were not hers, and
leaves her eggs in the earth. And what would it profit us if
we possessed and performed all else and became utter saints,
and yet neglected the chief purpose of our life, namely, the
care of the young? I believe also that among outward sins
none so heavily burdens the world in the sight of God nor
deserves such severe punishment as the sin we commit against
our children by not giving them an education.
When I was a lad they had this maxim in the schools:
Non minus est negligere scholarem quam
corrumpere virginem, It is just as bad to
neglect a pupil as to corrupt a virgin. This was said in
order to frighten schoolmasters, for there was then no more
grievous sin known than corrupting a virgin. But, dear
Lord God, how small a sin is corrupting virgins or wives
(which being a bodily and known sin may be atoned for)
compared with the sin by which precious souls are neglected
and corrupted (which is neither regarded nor known as sin
and is never atoned for). woe unto the world for ever
and ever! Children are daily born and grow up among us,
and there is, alas ! no one to care for or to direct them ; we
let them go on as they will. The monasteries and founda-
tions should see to it, but they are the very ones of whom
Christ says in Matthew xviii, "Woe unto the world because
110 To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany
of offences ! Whoso shall offend one of these young ones
that believe in me, it were well for him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the
depth of the sea." They are nothing but devourers and
destroyers of children.
"Ah," you say, "but all that is addressed to parents ; what
business is it of councilmen and magistrates?" Very true:
but if the parents neglect it, who is to see to it? Shall it
on that account remain undone and the children be neglected?
In that case, how will magistrates and councilmen excuse
themselves by saying it is no business of theirs ? There are
various reasons why parents neglect their duty.
Wh * In the first place, there are those who lack the piety and
Neglect decency, even if they had the ability, to do it. Like the
Their ostrich, they are hardened against their young, and are
Dllty content to have cast the eggs from them and to have brought
children into the world; they will do nothing more. But
these children must live among us and with us in the same
city. How then can reason and above all Christian love
suffer them to grow up untrained and to poison and pollute
Gen. 20: ^ er children, until at last the whole city perish, as it
24 f. happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, Geba, and other cities.
2 Kings Secondly, the great majority of parents are, alas ! unfitted for
23:8 this work and do not know how children are to be trained
and taught, for they themselves have learned nothing but
how to provide for the belly; whereas it takes persons of
exceptional ability to teach and train children aright. Thirdly,
even if parents were able and willing to do it themselves,
they have neither the time nor the opportunity for it, what
with their other duties and housework. Necessity compels
us, therefore, to engage public schoolteachers for the chil-
dren, unless everyone were willing to engage an instructor
of his own. But that would be too heavy a burden upon the
common man, and many a promising boy would be neglected
on account of poverty. Besides, many parents die and leave
orphans, and if we do not know by experience how these are
Pa cared for by their guardians, God Himself tells us by calling
68:6 Himself the Father of the orphans, as of those who are
That They Establish Christian Schools 111
neglected by everyone else. Moreover, there are some who
have no children of their own, and who for that reason take
no interest in the training of children.
It therefore becomes the business of cotincilmen and why the
magistrates to devote the greatest care and attention to state
the young. For since the property, honor and life of the J^ita
whole city are committed to their faithful keeping, they would school*
fail in their duty toward God and man if they did not seek
its welfare and improvement with all their powers day and
night. Now the welfare of a city consists not alone in
gathering great treasures and providing solid walls, beautiful
buildings, and a goodly supply of guns and armor. Nay,
where these abound and reckless fools get control of them,
the city suffers only the greater loss. But a city's best and
highest welfare, safety and strength consist in its having
many able, learned, wise, honorable and well-bred citizens;
such men can readily gather treasures and all goods, protect
them and put them to a good useT~I
Thus it was done in ancienTTlome. There boys were
trained in such a way that by the time they were fifteen,
eighteen or twenty years of age they were thoroughly con-
versant with Latin and Greek and the various liberal arts,
as they are called, 1 and immediately entered upon a military
or a political career. In this way they became intelligent,
wise and competent men, skilled in all knowledge and experi-
ence, so that if all the bishops, priests and monks in Germany
today were rolled into one they would not equal one Roman
soldier. As a result, their cause prospered ; they had capable
and trained men for every position. Thus there has always
been forced upon men everywhere, even among the heathen,
the necessity of maintaining schoolmasters, if a nation was
to be brought to a high standard. Hence St. Paul draws
the word "schoolmaster" from the common practice of
mankind, when he says in Galatians iv, "The law became
our schoolmaster." <& 3s24
Since, then, a city should and must have men, and there
Le,, the triviutn: grammar, rhetoric, and logic; and the quadriv-
ium: music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy.
Vol, IV. 8
112 To the Councilman of All Cities in Germany
is everywhere a lack of such men and complaint that they
cannot be found, we dare not wait until they grow up of
their own accord (nor can we hew them out of stone nor
carve them out of wood) ; and since God will work no
miracles so long as men can solve their problems by means
of the other gifts He has granted them : therefore we must
do our part and spare no labor or expense to train and
produce such men. Whose fault is it that there are at
present in all cities so few capable men, but the fault of
the authorities who 'have left the young to grow up like
saplings in the forest and have given no thought to their
instruction and training! As a result, they have grown so
misshapen that they cannot be used for building purposes,
but are mere brushwood, fit only for fuel
The civil government must certainly continue. Shall we
then permit none but clods and boors to rule, when we can
get better men? That would indeed be a barbarous and
foolish policy. We might as well make rulers of swine and
wolves, and set them over those who will not consider how
they may be ruled by men. Moreover, it is inhuman per-
versity to think no further than this, "We will rule now;
what concern is it of ours how they will fare who come
after us ?" Not over human beings, but over swine and dogs
should such persons rule, who seek only their own profit or
honor in governing. Even if we took the utmost pains to
train up none but able, learned and skilled rulers, there would
still be room enough for toil and labor in order that the
government might prosper. How shall it prosper if no one
takes any pains at all?
"But," you say again, "granted that we must have schools,
what is the use of teaching Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and the
other liberal arts ? We can still teach the Bible and God's
Word in German, which is sufficient for our salvation." I
reply: Alas! I know well that we Germans must always
remain brutes and stupid beasts, as neighboring nations call
us and as we richly deserve to be called. But I wonder why
we never ask: What is the use of silks, wine, spices, and
strange foreign wares, when we have in Germany not only
That They Establish Christian Schools 113
wine, grain, wool, flax, wood and stone enough for our needs,
but also the very best and choicest of them for our honor
and ornament? Arts and languages, which are not only not
harmful, but a greater ornament, profit, honor and benefit,
both for the understanding of Scripture and for the conduct
of government, these we despise; but we cannot do without
foreign wares, which we do not need, which bring us in no
profit, and which reduce us to our last penny. Are we not
justly dubbed German fools and beasts?
Truly, if there were no other use for the languages, this FOT **
alone ought to rejoice and move us, that they are so fine and ^ ^ e
noble a gift of God, with which He is now richly visiting Church
and endowing us Germans, more richly indeed than any
other land. There is little evidence that the devil suffered
them to be revived through the universities and monasteries;
these have, on the contrary, always raged against them and
are still raging. For the devil smelt a rat and perceived that
if the languages were revived, there would be a hole knocked
in his kingdom which he might have difficulty stopping.
Since he was unable, however, to prevent their being revived,
his aim is now to keep them on such slender rations that they
will of themselves decline and pass away. They are like an
unwelcome guest who has come to his house ; so he deter-
mines to show him such entertainment that he will not tarry
long. Very few of us, my dear sirs, see through this
wicked plot of the devil.
Therefore, my beloved Germans, let us open our eyes,
thank God for this precious treasure, and guard it well, lest
it be again taken from us and the devil have his will. For
though the Gospel has come and daily comes through the
Holy Spirit alone, we cannot deny that it has come by means
of the languages, by which it was also spread abroad, and
by which it must be preserved. For when God desired
through the apostles to spread abroad the Gospel in all the Acts 2*
world, He provided tongues for that purpose. And before
that He had spread the Greek and Latin languages, by means
of the Roman empire, throughout all lands, in order that
His Gospel might the more speedily bear fruit far and wide.
114 To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany
He has done the same now. No one knew for what purpose
God suffered the languages to be revived, until we now
begin to see that it was for the sake of the Gospel, which
He intended afterwards to reveal, in order to expose and
destroy thereby the kingdom of antichrist. To this end He
also gave over Greece to the Turk, in order that the Greeks,
driven out and scattered, might spread their language and
.give an incentive to the study of other languages as well.
In proportion, then, as we prize the Gospel, let us guard
the languages. For not in vain did God have His Scriptures
set down in these two languages alone the Old Testament
in Hebrew, the New in Greek. The languages, therefore,
that God did not despise but chose above all others for His
Word, we too ought to honor above all others. For St. Paul
declared it to be a peculiar glory and distinction of Hebrew
that God gave His Word in that language, when he said in
Rom. Romans iii, "What profit is there of circumcision? Much
3:1 tf. every way: chiefly, because unto them were committed the
P S oracles of God." King David also boasts in Psalm cxlvii,
H7:i9 "He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judg-
ments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation
nor made known to them his judgments." Hence Hebrew
Rom. is called a sacred language, and St. Paul terms it in Romans i
1:2 "the holy scriptures," doubtless because of the holy Word
of God contained therein. Similarly, the Greek language
may be called sacred, because it was chosen above all others
as the language in which the New Testament was to be
written and from which, as from a fountain, it flowed by
translation into other languages and made them also sacred.
And let us be sure of this : we shall not long preserve the
Gospel without the languages. The languages are the sheath
6;i; in which this sword of the Spirit is contained; they are the
casket in which we carry this jewel; they are the vessel in
which we hold this wine ; they are the larder in which this
food is stored ; and as the Gospel itself says, they are the
baskets in which we bear these loaves and fishes and frag-
ments. If through our neglect we let the languages go
(which may God forbid !) , we shall not only lose the Gospel,
That They Establish Christian Schools 115
but come at last to the point where we shall be unable either
to speak or write a correct Latin or German. As proof and
warning of this, let us take the wretched and woeful example
of the universities and monasteries, in which men not only
unlearned the Gospel, but corrupted the languages so that
the miserable folk were fairly turned into beasts, unable to
read or write a correct German or Latin and wellnigh losing
their natural reason to boot.
Hence the apostles themselves considered it necessary to
put the New Testament into Greek and to bind it fast to
that language, doubtless in order to preserve it for us safe
and sound as in a sacred ark. For they foresaw all that was
to come and now has come to pass", and knew that if it were
contained only in men's heads, wild and fearful disorder and
confusion, and many various interpretations, fancies and
doctrines would arise in the Church, which could be pre-
vented and from which the plain man could be protected
only by committing the New Testament to writing and lan-
guage. Hence it is certain that unless the languages remain
the Gospel must finally perish.
This has been proved and is still shown by experience.
Immediately after the days of the apostles, when languages
ceased, the Gospel, the faith and the whole Church gradually
declined, until they sank under the pope to the lowest depth ;
and after the languages declined very little that is excellent
was witnessed in the Church, but a great many dreadful
abominations arose because the languages were unknown.
On the other hand, since the languages have been restored,
they bring with them so bright a light and accomplish such
great things that the wole world wonders and is forced to
confess that we have the Gospel quite as purely as the apostles
had it, and that it has altogether attained to its original
purity, far beyond what it was in the days of St. Jerome or
St. Augustine. In short, the Holy Spirit is no fool and does
nothing unadvisedly or uselessly; He regarded the languages AjAa 2:4
as of so great value and necessity to the Church that He
oftentimes brought them down with Him from heaven. This l Jfj
alone should be a sufficient incentive for us to pursue them
116 To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany
with diligence and reverence and not to despise them, for
He Himself has now again revived them upon earth,
"But," you say, "many of the fathers were saved and even
became teachers without languages." That is true. But
how do you account for the fact that they so frequently
erred in the Scriptures? How often does not St. Augustine
err in the Psalter and in other expositions! Likewise St
Hilary, and indeed all of them who attempted to expound
Scripture without the languages. And even though what
they said now and then was true, they were not sure whether
it really belonged in the passage into which they read it. For
example, it is correct to say that Christ is the Son of God;
but it must have sounded like a jest to their opponents when
PS. they proved this from Psalm ex, Tecum principium
11033 in die virtutis tuae, whereas in the Hebrew there is
not a word about the Deity in this passage! Now when
men defend the faith with such uncertain arguments and
mistaken proof texts, are not Christians put to shame and
made a laughing-stock in the eyes of opponents who know
the language ? And the latter become only the more hardened
in their errors and have a good pretext for regarding our
faith as a human dream.
What is the reason that our faith is thus put to shame?
It is because we do not know the languages; and there is
no other way out than to know the languages. Was not
St. Jerome obliged to make a revised translation of the
Psalter from the Hebrew, because when we dispute with
Jews on the basis of our Psalter they laugh at us and say
our version does not agree with the Hebrew? Now the
expositions of all the early fathers who treated the Scriptures
without languages, even when their teaching is not wrong,
are of such a nature that they very often employ uncertain,
inconsistent and inappropriate language; they grope like a
blind man along a wall, so that they very frequently miss the
sense of their text and twist it like a nose of wax to suit
their fancy, as in the verse mentioned above, Tecum
principium, etc. Even St Augustine is obliged to
confess, as he does in his De doctrina Christiana,
That They Establish Christian Schools 117
that a Christian teacher who is to expound the Scriptures
must know, in addition to Latin, also Greek and Hebrew;
otherwise it is impossible not to stumble constantly, nay,
there is room enough for labor and toil even when one is
well versed in the languages.
There is a great difference, therefore, between a simple i Cor.
preacher of the faith and an expositor of Scripture, or as 12:28ff -
St. Paul puts it, a prophet. A simple preacher, to be sure, 14:26ff "
is in possession of so many clear passages and texts from
translations that he can know and teach Christ, lead a holy
life and preach to others. But to interpret Scripture, to
treat it independently, and to dispute with those who cite it
incorrectly, to that he is unequal; that cannot be done
without languages. Yet there must always be such prophets
in the Church, who are able to treat and expound the Scrip-
tures and also to dispute; a saintly life and correct doctrine
are not enough. Hence languages are absolutely necessary
in the Church, just as prophets or expositors are necessary,
although not every Christian or preacher need be such a 12:8 ff.
prophet, as StPaul says in I Corinthians xii and Ephesians iv. Eph.
Thus it has come about that since the days of the apostles 4:U
the Scriptures have remained obscure and no trustworthy
and enduring expositions have anywhere been written. For
even the holy fathers frequently erred, as has been said, and
because of their ignorance of the languages seldom agree;
one says this, another that St. Bernard was a man of lofty
mind, whom I almost venture to set above all other celebrated
teachers both ancient and modern ; and yet he often trifles
with Scripture, albeit in a pious spirit, and in many of his
quotations departs from its true sense. For this reason the
sophists 1 also claimed that Scripture was obscure ; they held
that God's Word was by its very nature obscure and em-
ployed a peculiar speech. They do not see that the whole
trouble lies in ignorance of the languages; if we understood
the languages there would be no simpler speech anywhere
1 Luther's standing name for the mediaeval theologians.
118 To the Gouncilmen of All Cities in Germany
than God's Word. A Turk's speech must needs be obscure
to me; a Turkish child of seven would easily understand him,
whereas I do not know the language.
Hence it was also a stupid undertaking to attempt to learn
the meaning of Scripture by reading the expositions of the
fathers and their numerous books and glosses. Instead of
this, men should have given themselves to the study of lan-
guages. For because they were without languages the dear
fathers at times belabored a text with many words and yet
caught barely an inkling of its meaning; their comment is
half guess work, half error. And yet you run after it with
much labor, when you could meanwhile by means of the
languages find a much better interpretation than the one you
are following. For in comparison with the comments of all
the fathers, the languages are as sunlight to shadow. Since,
then, it becomes Christians to use the Holy Scriptures as
their own and only book, and it is a sin and shame not to
know our own book nor to understand our God's speech and
words, it is a still greater sin and loss if we do not study the
languages, the more that God is now offering and giving us
men and books and every aid and inducement to this study,
and desires His Bible to be an open book. How glad would
the clear fathers have been if they had had our opportunity
of learning the languages and coming thus equipped to the
Holy Scriptures ! What toil and labor it cost them barely to
gather up the crumbs, while we may have the whole loaf with
but half their labor, indeed, with scarce any labor at all. Oh,
how their diligence puts our indolence to shame; nay, how
strictly God will judge our lack of diligence and gratitude!
Here belongs also what St. Paul says in I Corinthians xiv,
Cor. namely, that there should be in the Church those who will
judge all teaching. 1 To this end it is undoubtedly necessary
to know the languages. For the preacher or teacher may
expound the Bible from beginning to end after his own
fashion, hit or miss, if there is no one present to judge
whether his teaching be right or wrong. But in order to
*Cf. above p. 117.
That They Establish Christian Schools 119
judge, men must know the languages, otherwise it is im-
possible. Therefore, though the faith and the Gospel may
be proclaimed by simple preachers without the languages,
such preaching is flat and tame, men grow at last wearied
and disgusted and it falls to the ground. But when the
preacher is versed in the languages, his discourse has fresh-
ness and force, the whole of Scripture is treated, and faith
finds itself constantly renewed by a continual variety of
words and works. Hence Psalm cxxviii 1 likens such studies Pa. 29$
in the Scriptures to a chase when it declares that God
disco vereth the dense forest to the deer; and Psalm i likens Ps. 1:3
them to an ever green tree beside ever fresh waters.
Nor should we be led astray because some boast of the
Spirit and despise the Scriptures 3 or others, like the Walden-
sian Brethren, 3 consider the languages unnecessary. But,
dear friend, you may say what you will about the Spirit, I
too have been in the Spirit and have seen the Spirit, perhaps
more of it (if it comes to boasting of one's own flesh) than
they with all their vaunting shall see in a year. My Spirit,
moreover, has given some account of itself, while theirs sits
very quietly in its corner and does little but sing its own
praise. But I know full well how perfectly the "Spirit" does
all things: I should indeed have failed egregiously if the
languages had not aided me and given me a certain and
positive knowledge of Scripture. I too could have lived
uprightly and preached the truth in seclusion, but I should
then have left undisturbed the pope and the sophists with
the whole antichristian realm. The devil has not so much
respect for my spirit as he has for my speech and pen when
they deal with Scripture. For my spirit takes from him
*By mistake Luther or his printer prefixed a superfluous numeral. A worse
mistake is the forced application of the two psalm verses.
a The Schwarmer, especially the Zwickau prophets and Karlstadt.
Luther dealt fully with them in his Wider dJe himmlischen
Propheten (1525).
8 He means the Bohemian Brethren, or Picards (as distinguished from the
Utraquists, cf Vol II, 144), for whom he wrote Vom Anheten des
Sakraments (1523), Cf. KOSTLIN-KAWERAU, Martin Luthetr
(1903), I, 633-38,
120 To the Gouncilmen of All Cities in Germany
nothing but myself alone, but Holy Scripture and the lan-
guages leave him but little room on earth, and that means a
loss to his kingdom.
Nor can I at all commend the Waldensian Brethren for
depreciating the languages. Even if they taught the truth,
they must nevertheless frequently miss the right sense of a
text and are also unequipped and unskilled in the defence of
the faith against error. Moreover, their teaching is so
obscure and expressed in so peculiar a form, departing from
that of Scripture, that I am afraid it may not be pure or may
not continue pure. For there is great danger in speaking of
divine things in a different manner and in different terms
from those employed by God Himself. In short, they may
lead holy lives and teach holy things among themselves, but
as long as they remain without the languages they cannot but
lack what all the rest lack, namely, the ability to treat Scrip-
ture with certainty and thoroughness and to be useful to
other nations. But since they could do this and refuse, let
them see how they will answer for it to God.
FW th* Well, this may suffice concerning the necessity and value
sate of languages and Christian schools for the spiritual realm
an< ^ ^ e sa l vat i n f sou ls- Let us now consider also the
body. Let us suppose that there were no soul and no heaven
or hell and we had to consider only the temporal government
after the manner of the world, and let us see whether it does
not need good schools and educated persons more sorely
even than the spiritual realm. Hitherto the sophists have
shown no concern whatever for the temporal government,
and have confined their schools so exclusively to the spiritual
estate that it was well nigh a disgrace for an educated man
to marry; he had to hear such remarks as, "Behold, he is
turning secular and does not care to become a spiritual ! w
just as if their spiritual estate were alone pleasing to God
and the secular estate, as they call it, were altogether of the
PS. 64:1 (j ev ;i an( j unchristian. But in the sight of God they thetn-
se ^ ves become meanwhile the devil's own, and (as happened
to Israel in the Babylonian captivity) this poor populace has
alone remained in the land and in the right estate, while the
That They Establish Christian Schools 121
better people and the leaders were carried off to the devil
with tonsure and cowl to Babylon. 1
It is not necessary here to state that the temporal govern-
ment is a divine order; I have elsewhere 2 so fully treated
this subject that I trust no one has any doubt about it. The
question is rather, how to get good and skilled persons into
the government. In this we are challenged and put to shame
by the heathen, who in former times, especially in Rome and
Greece, without knowing whether this estate was pleasing to
God or not, were so earnest and diligent in educating and
fitting their boys and girls for it that when I think of this I
blush for us Christians, and especially for us Germans, who
are such utter blockheads and beasts that we can ask, "Pray,
what good are schools if one is not to become a spiritual?"
We certainly know, or should know, how necessary and
useful a thing it is and how well pleasing to God, when a
prince, lord, councilman or any other ruler is educated and
trained to conduct himself in his office as a Christian should.
If then there were no soul, as I have said, and if there
were no need at all of schools and languages for the sake
of the Scriptures and of God, this one consideration should
suffice to establish everywhere the very best schools for both
boys and girls, namely, that in order outwardly to maintain
its temporal estate, the world must have good and skilled
men and women, so that the former may rule well over land
and people and the latter may keep house and train children
and servants aright. Now such men must come from our
boys and such women from our girls. Therefore the thing
to do is to teach and train our boys and girls in the proper
manner. But I said above that the common man does
nothing to bring this about ; he cannot, he will not, he does
not know how. Princes and lords ought to do it, but they
must needs ride in sledges, and drink, and take part in
masquerades; they are burdened with high and important
business in cellar, kitchen and bedroom. And though some
of them would gladly da it, they must stand in fear of the
* Cf. Vol. H, 242.
> Cf, Vol. HI, p. 22$ ff.
122 To the Gouncilmen of All Cities in Germany
others, lest they be taken for fools or heretics. It rests,
therefore, dear councilmen, altogether with you; you have
also more opportunity for doing it than princes and lords.
Th "But," you say, "everyone may instruct his sons and
Kind of daughters himself, or at least train them by means of
Needed discipline." I reply: We know indeed what such teaching
and training amount to. Even when the severest discipline
is applied and has turned out well, the net result is a certain
enforced outward respectability ; underneath are the same old
blockheads, unable to converse on any subject or to be of
assistance to anyone. But if children were instructed and
trained in schools or elsewhere where there were learned and
well-trained schoolmasters and schoolmistresses to teach the
languages, the other arts, and history, they would hear the
happenings and the sayings of all the world and learn how
it fared with various cities, estates, kingdoms, princes, men,
and women ; thus they could in a short time set before them-
selves, as in a mirror, the character, life, counsels and pur-
poses, success and failure of the whole world from the begin-
ning. As a result of this knowledge, they could form their
own opinions and adapt themselves to the course of this out-
ward life in the fear of God, draw from history the knowl-
edge and understanding of what should be sought and what
avoided in this outward life, and become able also by this
standard to assist and direct others. But the training which
is undertaken at home, apart from such schools, attempts to
make us wise through our own experience. Before that
comes to pass we shall be dead a hundred times over, and
shall have acted inconsiderately all our life; for much time
is needed to acquire one's own experience.
Now since the young must romp and leap or at least have
something to do that gives them pleasure, and since this
should not be forbidden (nor would it be well to forbid them
everything), why should we not furnish them such schools
and lay before them such studies? By the grace of God it
has now become possible for children to study with pleasure
and in play languages, the other arts, or history. The kind
of schools we attended are a thing of the past that hell and
That They Establish Christian Schools 123
purgatory in which we were tormented with cases and tenses,
and yet learned less than nothing with all the flogging,
trembling, anguish and misery. If we take so much time
and trouble to teach children card-playing, singing and danc-
ing, why do we not take as much time and trouble to teach
them reading and other branches, while they are young and
have the time, and are apt and eager to learn ? For my part,
if I had children and could accomplish it, they should study
not only the languages and history, but singing, instrumental
music, and all of mathematics. 1 For what is all this but
mere child's play? In these branches the Greeks in former
times trained their children, who grew up into men and
women of wondrous ability, skilled in every pursuit. How I
regret now that I did not read more poets and historians, and
that no one taught me them ! I was obliged instead to read,
with great cost, labor and injury, that devil's filth, the
philosophers and sophists, from which I have all I can do to
get myself clean.
Now you say, "But who can spare his children for so long
a time, and train them all to be young gentlemen? There is
work for them to do at home, etc." I reply: It is not in
the least my intention to have such schools established as we
had heretofore, in which a boy sat over his Donatus and
Alexander 3 for twenty or thirty years and yet learned nothing.
We are living in a new world today and things are being
done differently. My idea is to let boys go to such a school
for one or two hours a day, and spend the remainder of the
time working at home, learning a trade or doing whatever
their parents desired ; so that both study and work might go
hand in hand while they were young and able to do both.
They spend at least ten times as much time with their pea-
shooters or playing ball or racing and tussling. In like
manner, a girl can surely find time enough to go to school
one hour a day and still attend to all her duties at home ; she
H.e., arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. Cf. above, p. Ill, n. 1.
* Aelius Donatus, Ars Grammatica and A r s minor; and
Alexander de Villa Dei, Doctrinale ptierorum, two widely used
mediaeval grammars, the latter in verse form. Cf. 0, SCHEEI,, Martin
Luther, I, 86.
124 To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany
sleeps, dances and plays away more time than that. There
is only one thing lacking, and that is the earnest desire to
train the young people and to benefit and serve the world
with well-bred men and women. The devil very much pre-
fers coarse blockheads and ne'er-do-wells, lest men live too
comfortably on earth.
But the exceptional pupils, who give promise of becoming
skilled teachers, preachers and holders of other spiritual posi-
tions, should be kept longer at school or altogether dedicated
to a life of study, as we read of the holy martyrs who had
the training of Sts. Agnes, Agatha, Lucy and others, 1 That
was how the monasteries and cathedral schools originated,
which have now, however, been perverted to a very different
and damnable use. And there is great need of such advanced
study, for the shaven crowd is fast dwindling ; besides, most
of them are unfit to teach and rule, for all they know is how
to care for the belly, which is indeed all they have been
taught. We must certainly have men to administer God's
Word and Sacraments and to do pastoral work among the
people. But where shall we get them if we let our schools
decline and do not replace them with others that are Chris-
tian? For the schools that have been maintained hitherto,
even if they were not to pass away, can produce nothing but
lost and pernicious deceivers.
It is highly necessary, therefore, that we take up this
matter in all seriousness and without loss of time, not only
for the sake of the young, but in order to preserve both our
spiritual and our temporal estate. If we miss this oppor-
tunity, we may perhaps find our hands tied later on when we
would gladly attend to it, and may be compelled in vain to
suffer, in addition to the loss, the pangs of remorse for ever.
For God is generously offering us His help, He stretches
forth His hand and gives us all things needful for this work.
If we despise His offer we are judged already with Israel,
65:2 ^ whom Isaiah says, "I have spread out my hands all the
day unto the unbelieving and rebellious people" ; and Prov-
1 St. Agnes was martyred while still a school girl. Cf, SCHAEFZR, L . a 1 s
Kirch en historiker, 235. On Ss. Agatha and Lucy, ibid. 233, 236.
That They Establish Christian Schools 125
erbs i, "I have stretched out my hand, and no man re-
garded; ye 'have set at nought all my counsel; therefore I
will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear
cometh upon you/' Of this let us beware ! Consider, as an **
example, the great zeal of King Solomon in this regard; so 1:24ff<
deeply concerned was he for the young that in the midst of
his royal duties he prepared for them a book called Proverbs.
And consider Christ Himself how He draws young children
to Himself, how urgently He commends them to us, and how
He praises the angels that attend them (Matthew xviii), in
order to show us how great a service it is to train the young
well ; on the other hand, how terrible is His anger when men
offend them and let them perish !
Therefore, dear sirs, take seriously this work, which God
so urgently requires of you, which your office lays upon you,
which is so necessary for the young, and without which
neither the temporal nor the spiritual realm can exist. Alas !
we have rotted and perished long enough in darkness; we
have too long been German beasts. Let us for once make
use of our reason, so that God may behold our gratitude for
His benefits, and other lands see that we, too, are human
beings, able to learn useful things from them or teach them
to them, in order that through us, too, the world may be
made better. I have done my part. It has truly been my
purpose to help and benefit the German nation. If some
despise me for this and refuse to listen to my sincere advice,
because they think they know better, I cannot help it. I
know indeed that others could have done this better; it is
only because they hold their peace that I am doing it as well
as I can. It is surely better to have spoken on the subject,
however inadequately, than to have remained altogether
silent. I hope that God will stir up some of you, so that my
well-meant advice may not be in vain, and that you will not
consider him that utters it but fix your mind on the cause
itself and let it fix itself in your mind.
Finally, one thing more should be well considered by all The
who earnestly desire to have such schools and languages
established and maintained in Germany. It is this: no tin
126 To the Councilman of All Cities in Germany
effort or expense should be spared to found good libraries,
especially in the larger cities, which can well afford it. For
if the Bible and all the arts are to be preserved, they must
be contained and held fast in books and writings, as was
done by the prophets and apostles themselves, as I have said
above. 1 This is necessary, not only that those who are to
be our spiritual and temporal leaders may have books to
read and study, but that the good books, the arts and the
languages that we now have through the grace of God may
be preserved and not lost. St. Paul, too, was concerned for
1 Tim - this, when he commanded Timothy to give attendance to
2 Tim. reading, and bade him bring with him the parchment left at
4:13 Troas. Indeed, all kingdoms that attained preeminence gave
attention to this matter, especially the people of Israel, among
whom Moses was the first to undertake this work, when he
Dent, had the book of the law preserved in the ark of God and gave
3i:25f.j j n c h ar g e O f the Levites, from whom whoever needed it
Deut. might obtain a copy ; he even commands the king to procure
17:18 rom th em a C0 py Q f thjs book. Thus we see how God
appointed the levitical priesthood, among its other duties, to
watch over and have the care of books. Afterwards this
library was added to and improved by Joshua, then by
Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, and thus continuously by
many other kings and prophets. Whence have come the
Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, which would never
have been collected or preserved if God had not required
such care to be bestowed upon them.
Following this example, the cathedral schools and monas-
teries also established libraries in former days, although
there were few good books in them. What a loss it was
not to have attended to the securing of books and good
libraries in those days when there were books and men
enough for that purpose, was plainly seen afterwards when
all arts and languages gradually declined, and instead of
good books the stupid, useless and harmful books of the
That They Establish Christian Schools 127
monks, Catholicon, 1 Florista, 3 Graecista,*
Labyrinthus, 4 Dormi secure, 6 and the like
ass's dung, were introduced by the devil. Consequently the
Latin language became corrupted and there remained no-
where a decent school, course of instruction or method of
study, until, as we have experienced and observed, men
recovered with much toil and labor the languages and arts,
although only imperfectly, from bits and fragments of old
books hidden among dust and worms, and are still searching
laboriously for them every day, as men dig for treasures
and jewels in the ashes of a ruined city.
It served us right, and God properly rewarded us for our
ingratitude in not considering His benefits nor providing,
while we had the time and the ability, for the continuance
among us of good books and learned men. When we neg-
lected this, as though it was no concern of ours, He in turn
did the same, and instead of Holy Scripture and good books
suffered Aristotle to come in with countless hurtful books
that only drew us farther away from the Bible. In addition
to these He let in those devil's masks, the monks, and the
phantoms of the universities, which we endowed with super-
human gifts, and received and loaded upon our own necks a
host of doctors, preachers, masters, priests and monks, that
is to say, great coarse fat asses adorned with red and brown
birettas, resembling a sow with a golden chain and jewels,
who taught us nothing good, but made us only the blinder
and more stupid, and in return devoured all our goods and
filled all monasteries and indeed every corner with the filth
and dung of their vile, poisonous books, which it is appalling
to contemplate.
Was it not a cruel misfortune that a boy was obliged here-
4 A Latin lexicon, compiled by the Dominican Joh. Januensis (1286).
i.e.. Ludolph von Luchow in Hildesheim, author of a rhymed Latin syntax
(1317).
i.e., Eberhard von Bethune, the alleged author of a combined grammar and
lexicon.
* The title of a poem de raiseriis rectorumscholarutn (1220),
probably by Eberhard von Bethune.
The aptly chosen title of a collection of sermons made by Job, von Werden
about the middle of the 15th century.
Vol. IV. 9
128 To the Councihnen of All Cities in Germany
tof ore to study twenty years and more, only to learn enough
bad Latin to become a priest and read mass ? Whoever got
as far as this was counted blessed. Blessed was the mother
that bore such a child ! And yet he remained all his life a
poor ignoramus, fit neither to cackle nor to lay eggs. Such
teachers and masters we were obliged to put up with every-
where, who knew nothing themselves and could teach nothing
good or worth while, nay, who did not even know how to
study and teach. Where was the fault? There, were no
other books than those stupid books of the monks and sophists.
What else could come from them but pupils and teachers as
stupid as the books they used ? A daw cannot hatch doves,
and a fool cannot produce a sage. That is the reward of
ingratitude, because men did not found libraries, but let the
good books perish and kept the poor ones.
The But my advice is not to huddle together indiscriminately
Khld all sorts of books and to look only to their number and
to Keep quantity. I would gather only the best; there is no need of
collecting the commentaries of all jurists, the sentences of
all theologians, the questions of all philosophers, and the
sermons of all monks. Indeed, I would throw out all such
dung and furnish my library with the right sort of books,
consulting with scholars as to my choice. First of all there
should be in it the Holy Scriptures in Latin, Greek, Hebrew,
German, and in whatever other languages they might be had.
Then the best commentaries, and if I could find them, the
most ancient, in Greek, Hebrew and Latin. Then books that
aid us in acquiring the languages, such as the poets and
orators, no matter whether heathen or Christian, Greek or
Latin; for it is from such books one must learn grammar.
Then should come books of the liberal arts and all the other
arts. Lastly, books of law and of medicine, though here too
a careful choice among commentaries should be made.
Among the chief books, however, should be chronicles and
histories, in whatever language they may be had; for they
are of wondrous value for understanding and controlling the
course of this world and especially for noting the wonderful
That They Establish Christian Schools 129
works of God. 1 How many fine tales and maxims we should
have today of things that took place and were current in
German lands, not one of which is known to us, simply
because there was no one to write them down, and no one to
preserve the books had they been written. That is why
nothing is known in other lands about us Germans, and we
must be content to have all the world call us German beasts,
who know only how to war, gorge and guzzle. The Greeks
and Romans and even the Hebrews recorded their history
so accurately and diligently that if but a woman or a child
did or said anything unusual, all the world must read and
know it. Meanwhile we Germans are still nothing but
Germans and will always remain Germans.
Since, then, God has at present so graciously bestowed
upon us an abundance of arts, scholars, and books, it is time
to reap and gather in the best, so far as we are able, and to
lay up treasure in order that we may preserve for the future
something of these years of jubilee 31 and not lose this bounti-
ful harvest. For it is to be feared (and a beginning is
already being made) that men will go on writing new and
different books until at last, through- the agency of the devil,
the good books which have now been produced and printed
will again be suppressed and the bad and hurtful books with
their useless and senseless rubbish will once more swarm
back and litter every nook and corner. For the devil as-
suredly intends that we should again be burdened and tor-
tured with Catholicons, Floristas, modernists, 8 and the cursed
dung of the monks and sophists, just as before, for ever
^studying and yet never learning anything.
Therefore I beseech you, my dear sirs, to let this my sincer-
ity and zeal bear fruit among you. Should there be any who
count me too insignificant to profit by my advice, or who
despise me as one condemned by the tyrants, I pray them to
1 Luther discusses at length the value of history in his preface to LINK'S
translation of G, CA*EIXA'S History of Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan (1539),
reprinted in the Weimar Ed. LXIII, 353 ff. Cf. R. NEUBAUER,
Martin Luther, II (4. and 5. cd., 1914), 97-103.
a Cf. above, p. 107.
1 Cf. above, p. 127, The modernists are the Nominalists.
130 To the Gouncilmen of All Cities in Germany
consider that I am not seeking my own advantage, but only
the welfare and salvation of all Germany, Even if I were a
fool and had hit upon a good idea, certainly no wise man
should think it a disgrace to follow me. And if I were a
very Turk and a heathen, and my plan were nevertheless seen
to benefit not myself but the Christians, they ought not in
fairness to spurn my offer. It has happened before that a
fool gave better counsel than a whole council of wise men.
Ex. 18;17 ft Moses was obliged to receive instruction from Jethro.
Herewith I commend you all to the grace of God. May
He soften and kindle your hearts, that they may be deeply
concerned for the poor, miserable and neglected youths and
with the help of God assist and help them, to the end that
there may be a blessed and Christian government in German
lands as to body and soul, with all plenty and abundance, to
the praise and glory of God the Father, through Jesus Christ
our Saviour, Amen.
A SERMON
ON
KEEPING CHILDREN IN SCHOOL
1530
INTRODUCTION
In the Spring of 1529, Luther wrote a preface for a book, published
by his friend, Justus Menius, under the title, Oeconomia
Christiana. 1 The book dealt with the duties of married folk
and the Christian training of children. Luther's preface emphasized
the duty of Christians to provide their children with an education, and
concluded as follows:
"Thus, even In temporal government, you can serve ycxur lord or your city
better by training children than by building him castles and cities and gathering
the treasures of the whole world; for what good does all that do, if there are
no learned, wise, godly people? I shall say nothing of the temporal benefit
and eternal reward that accrue to you before God and the world, if you have
thus raised your child better than was in your shameful, hoggish counsel and
intention. I shall give an exhortation on this subject another time in a separate
book, God willing 1 and write against the shameful, dangerous, damned parents,
who are not parents but shameful hogs and poisonous beasts, who devour their
own children."
Luther carried out this intention in the Summer of 1530. The diet
was in session at Augsburg", and he spent the time at the castle of
Coburg, where he had greater leisure than in Wittenberg. It was
there that he wrote the Sermon. We do not know the date when
the work was begun, but it was completed July 15th and the first
edition came from the press August 1st, 1530.
The work is described in the title as "a sermon," and was intended
to furnish preachers with arguments that could be used to persuade
people to provide their sons with an education, but it grew into a
book, of which ne says, in the dedication, that he has had to restrain
himself by force, to keep it from getting too big. In a^ letter to
Melanchthon, dated July 5th, he had referred to this and remarked,
"I was never so verbose as I seem now to have become ; perhaps it is
the garrulity of old age." 2
This Sermon should be read alongside the letter To the
Councilmen of all the Cities of Germany. 8 The
two works are complementary. The earlier argues for the estab-
lishment and maintenance of schools; the later for the use of the
schools thus established. The two together enable the reader to
form a clear conception of Luther's ideas on education.
The text of the Sermon is found in Weimar Ed. XXX a ,
1 The preface is printed hi Erlangen Ed. LXIII, pp. 277 ff.
a Enders VIII, 80.
Above, pp. 103 ff.
(133)
134 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
517 ff.; Erlangen Ed. 1 , XX, 1 ff.; Erlangen Ed.* XVII,
378 f f ., St.LouisEd. There is an English translation in F. V. N.
PAINTER, Luther on Education (1889). The following trans-
lation is from the text of Clemen, IV, 144 ff.
For literature, see the Introduction in Weimar Ed. and
the introduction to the letter To the Councilmen, above, pp,
101 f.
CHARLES M. JACOBS,
MOUNT AIRY,
PHILADELPHIA.
A SERMON
ON
KEEPING CHILDREN IN SCHOOL
1530
DEDICATORY LETTER
To the
Honorable and Wise
Lazarus Spengler,
Syndic of the City of Nuremberg,
my especially dear sir and friend
Grace and peace in Christ, our dear Lord and true
Saviour. Amen.
Honorable and wise dear sir and friend.
I have composed a sermon to the preachers here and there,
to the effect that they shall exhort their people to keep their
children in school. The thing has grown under my hands
and become almost a book, though I have had to restrain
myself by force in order that it might not become altogether
too big, so full and rich is this subject. I hope that it may do
much good, and I have published it under your name 1 with
the sole thought that it may thereby secure greater respect,
and be read, if it be worthy, by the burghers of your city, for
I well perceive that your preachers will be diligent enough in
this matter and (because they are people whom God has
endowed with great gifts) that they understand the case and
push it forward. Thus, praise God! they need neither my
admonition nor my instruction. And yet it does no harm
to have many people agreeing with one another and resisting
the devil the more strongly.
For it can scarcely be possible that, in so great a city, with
such a large crowd of citizens, the devil will not try his arts
and tempt some to despise the Word of God and the schools.
1 i.e., dedicated it to Spengler.
(135)
136 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
This is the case particularly because there are many things
there (especially commercial business 1 ) to turn the children
from the schools to the service of Mammon, and without
doubt the devil has these things in mind. If he could cause
the Word and the schools to be despised in Nuremberg, his
attack would have had no small measure of success, for he
would have set an example that would have mighty im-
portance throughout Germany, and he would, in truth, deal
all the schools in other cities a hard blow. For Nuremberg
truly shines throughout all Germany like a sun among moon
and stars, and what is practiced there has a powerful in-
fluence on other cities.
But praise and thanks be to God, Who has long hindered
the devil's purposes, and put it into the heart of an honorable
and wise Council to found and equip such a fine and glorious
school, at great cost and expense. 3 It elects and appoints to
it the very finest people, so that (not to boast too much!)
it used to be the case that no university, not even Paris, was
so well provided with teachers. I say this on the testimony
of those who were trained with me in universities, for I
know their wisdom, and have learned it too, and, sad to say !
I still know it all too well. This is indeed a fine achievement, 8
and a virtue of such a famous city, and an honor to its well
known Council. For in this they have given rich Christian
thought to their subjects, and have contributed to their
eternal salvation, as well as to their temporal profit and
honor. Such a work God will assuredly strengthen with ever
increasing blessing and grace, though the devil must strive
against it for a while, since he cannot be happy when such a
fine tabernacle is built to the Lord in this sun. He must
assemble clouds and mist and dust, and try in every way
to keep such glory from shining too far, or to turn it into
darkness ; what else could he do ?
Therefore I hope that the citizens will acknowledge the
fidelity and the love of their lords by keeping their children
1 Luther saw peculiar snares of Satan in commercial pursuits. See his work
On Trade and Usury, above, pp. 12 ff.
9 In 1526 the city of Nuremberg had founded a new gymnasium.
Among its teachers were such distinguished scholars as Joachim Camerarius aad
Eobanus Hess.
Catorrhoma.
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 137
in school and honestly helping to support this work, because
they see that, without cost to themselves, their children are
so richly and diligently cared for and that everything is
provided for them. This will be the case, especially if the
preachers are really active; for if they are not active, the
common man will be attacked and overcome by thoughts
that come from Satan and give this up and turn to other
affairs. Indeed he cannot think this matter through, as a
preacher can, and see how important it is, or how great the
chances are for profit or for loss; therefore we must have
patience with them, if only they are not obdurate or wicked.
I know Nuremberg well enough to know that it has, thank
God ! many fine Christian citizens, who do gladly and from
the heart that which they ought to do, if only they know or
are told their duty. They have this reputation not only with
me, but far and wide, and there is no reason to fear that
they will fail in this. There may, indeed, be an idolater or
servant of the idol (I mean of Mammon) who takes his son
out of school and says, "If my son can do sums and read, he
can do enough ; we now have German books, etc." Thus he
sets other citizens who are pious, a bad example, which they
follow without reckoning the harm it does, and with the best
intentions, thinking it the right thing and the only thing to
do. This mistake the preachers can easily provide against,
for every community, and especially so great a city, must
have more people in it than merchants, and other people who
can do more than keep accounts and read German books.
German books are made especially for the common man to
read at home. But for preaching and governing and sitting
in judgment, all the knowledge and all the languages in the
world are too little, to say nothing of Germany only. This
is particularly true in these days of ours, when one has to
talk with other peoples more than with Neighbor Hans.
These idolaters think nothing about governing, and do not
realize that without the preachers and the rulers they could
not serve their idol a single hour.
Of course, I believe that among so many people there may
be an idolater, or a few of them, who would not care whether
honor or shame canie to the noble city of Nuremberg, so
138 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
long as they got their pfennig. On the other hand,
people ought not to care about these mischievous idolaters,
and should let them and their bad example go, and think,
"The greater the reputation that comes to our city when
an honorable Council deals so faithfully and honestly with
the schools, the greater were the shame if the citizens were
to despise this fidelity and kindness, and become partakers of
the bad example and offence given to other cities which then
could say, 'Yes, that is what they do at Nuremberg ; there are
people there too ; why should we do any better ?' "
You idolater, if you will not consider what God and honor
require, and will think of nothing but your idol, 1 God will
yet find people who will consider it. Thank God! I have
known several cities where the Council cared nothing for
the Word or the schools, but where there were many pious
citizens, who by daily persistence compelled the Council to
found schools and churches. Therefore, if God will, the
shameful report will not go out from Nuremberg, on your
account, that the citizens followed your example and despised
the schools which an honorable Council founds and maintains
with so great fidelity, at such great cost, when in much
smaller cities the citizens have got their schools, even though
their Councils thought nothing of them.
But where am I getting to with my talk, dear friend? I
suppose it lies in the nature of these things that there has
to be much talk about them. In this case the talking has
been done under your name and that of all the burghers of
your city. I beg that you will take it kindly, and help to
further and to push this matter, as, indeed, you have done
and are doing. God knows, I mean it well.
May Christ our Lord strengthen and preserve you until
that day when, if God will, we shall see each other with joy
and in another shape. He who has given you so much to do
for His work and His Word will also go on and complete it
all. To Him be praise and thanks forever. Amen.
Your obedient,
MART. LUTHER.
H.e., Money.
TO ALL MY DEAR FRIENDS,
PASTORS AND PREACHERS,
WHO TRULY LOVE CHRIST,
MARTIN LUTHER.
Grace and peace in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
My dear friends, you see with your own eyes how that
wretch of a Satan is now attacking us in all sorts of ways,
with force and guile, and is afflicting us with all kinds of
plagues, in order to destroy the holy Gospel and the kingdom
of God, or if he cannot destroy them, to hinder them at
every turn and prevent them from making progress and
gaining the upper hand. Among his wiles, one of the very
greatest, if not the greatest of all, is this he deludes and
deceives the common people so that they are not willing to Out
keep their children in school or bring them up as scholars.
He puts the mischievous idea into their minds that because Satan
there is no hope for monkery, nunnery, or priestcraft, as
they have existed heretofore, there is no more need for
scholars or for much studying, but that we must consider
how to make a living and get rich.
This seems to me to be a real masterpiece of the devil's
art. He sees that in our time he cannot do what he would
like to do; therefore he thinks to have his own way with
our descendants, whom he is getting ready in our very sight,
so that they may learn nothing and know nothing, and when
we are dead, he will have before him a naked, bare, defence-
less people, with whom he can do as he pleases. For if the
Scriptures and learning disappear, what will remain in Ger-
many but a disorderly and wild crowd of Tartars or Turks,
(139)
140 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
or perhaps, a pig-sty and a mob of wild beasts ? But he does
not let them see this now. He blinds them in masterly fashion,
so that, when it has gone to the point where he wants it and
their own experience compels them to see it, he can laugh in
his sleeve at all the complaining and the howling. However
much they may wish, they will then be able to do nothing
that will help, and will have to say that things have gone on
too long. They will then be willing to give a hundred
gulden for half a scholar, though now they will not
give ten for two whole scholars.
And it will serve them right. Because they are not now
willing to support and keep pious, honorable, virtuous school-
masters and teachers, offered them by God, to raise their
children in the fear of God, and in virtue, knowledge, learn-
ing, and honor, with great labor, diligence, and care, and at
small cost and expense; therefore they will get in their places
L oca ten and Bacchanten, 1 gross asses and louts,
such as they have had before, who at great cost and ex-
pense, will teach the children nothing else than how to be
utter asses, and in return will dishonor their wives and
daughters and maid-servants, and become lords over their
houses and goods, as has happened heretofore. This will be
the reward of the great and shameful ingratitude into which
the devil is so craftily leading them.
Now because, as pastors, it is a part of the duty of our
office to be on our guard against these and other wicked
wiles, we must not go to sleep on this matter, which is of
Against suc fo g reat i m p 0r tance ; but we must incite, exhort, torment,
and nag, with all our power and diligence and care, so that
the common people may not let themselves be so deceived and
deluded by the devil. Therefore let each of us look to
himself and remember his office, so that he does not go to
sleep and allow the devil to become god and lord. For if we
are silent about this and go to sleep on it, and the young
people are neglected and our descendants become Tartars or
1 Names applied in contempt to teachers whose education was defective and
who could not hold the higher places in the schools.
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 141
wild beasts, it will be the fault of our silence and our snoring,
and we shall have a heavy account to render for it.
To be sure, I know very well that many of you, without
my exhortation, are doing this work better than I can advise
you; also I have previously published a book to the Coun-
cillors of the cities. 1 Nevertheless, because some may have
forgotten this, or would be more persistent on account of
my example, I have sent you this sermon of mine, which I
have preached more than once to our people. From it you
can observe that I am working faithfully with you in this
matter, and that we are doing our best everywhere and are
guiltless before God in the conduct of our office. The case
is truly in our hands, because we see that even those who are
called clergy take the attitude of men who would let all the
schools, and their discipline and teaching, go to destruction,
or even help to overthrow them, because they cannot have
their own way with them, as they once did. This, too, is the
devil's doing, through them. God help us. Amen.
* Above pp. 103 ff.
A SERMON ON
KEEPING CHILDREN IN SCHOOL
Dear friends : I see that the common people are indifferent
to the maintenance of the schools, and are taking their chil-
dren entirely away from learning, and are turning them only
to the making of a living and to care for their bellies. Be-
Profit sides, they either will not or cannot think what a horrible
and ^ S8atlc ^ unc ^ r i st i an undertaking this is, and what great and mur-
catwm derous harm they are doing throughout the world, in the
service of the devil. Therefore I have undertaken to give
you this exhortation, on the chance that there may still be
some who believe a little that there is a God in heaven and a
hell prepared for unbelievers, and that they may be converted
by this exhortation ; though almost all the world is acting as
though there were neither a God in heaven nor a devil in hell.
Therefore, I shall count up the profit and loss in this thing.
First we shall take up the spiritual, or eternal, profit and
loss, and then the temporal, or worldly.
I hope, indeed, that believers, and those who want to be
The called Christians, know very well that the spiritual estate 1
spiritual h as b een established and instituted by God, not with gold or
silver, but with the precious blood and the bitter death of
His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. From His wounds
rt ? t flow the Sacraments 3 (they used to depict this on the broad-
in*ti- ry ^des 8 ), and He earned it dearly that in the whole world
tutedby men should have this office of preaching, baptizing, loosing,
God - binding, giving the Sacrament, comforting, warning, exhort-
ing with God's Word, and whatever else belongs to the
pastoral office. This office not only helps to further and
maintain this temporal life and all the worldly classes, but it
1 1> e r geistliche Stand, I.e., the clergy, or the ministry.
a The blood and water from the side of Christ.
* One-page tracts, frequently illustrated with wood-cuts.
(142)
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 143
also delivers from sin and death, which is its proper and
chief work. Indeed, the world stands and abides only be-
cause of the spiritual estate; if it were not for this estate, it
would long since have gone to destruction.
I am not thinking, however, of the present spiritual estate Nat the
in the monastic houses and the foundations, with its celibacy,
for it has long since fallen from its first glorious foundation
and is now nothing more than an estate founded by worldly
wisdom for the getting of money and income. There is
nothing spiritual about it except that the clergy are not
married, and they do not need marriage, for they have some-
thing else in its place; except for this, everything about it
is merely external, temporal, perishable pomp. They give no
heed to the Word or the office of preaching; and where the Bnt
Word is not in use, the clergy must be bad. But the estate Ministry
of which I am thinking is that which has the office of preach- of the
ing and the service of Word and Sacraments, which gives
the Spirit and all blessedness such as one cannot attain by
any chanting or pomp. It includes the work of pastors,
teachers, preachers, lectors, priests (whom men call chap-
lains), sacristans, school-teachers, and whatever other work
belongs to these offices and persons. This estate the Scrip-
tures highly exalt and praise. St. Paul calls them God's 2 Ccvr
stewards and servants; bishops, doctors, prophets; God's 5;2o
ambassadors to reconcile the world to God. Joel calls them Ha
"saviors," David "kings and priests," Haggai "angels"; and 1; ' 13
Malachi says, "The lips of the priest keep the law, for he is
an angel of the Lord of Sabaoth." Christ Himself gives
them the same name, not only in Matthew xi, where He calls Matt.
John the Baptist an angel, 1 but also through the whole book :io
of John's Revelation.
For this reason the ancients greatly avoided this estate
and dreaded to take the office upon them because of its great
dignity and honor, and had to be forced and driven into it.
To be sure, there have been many since then who have
praised this estate highly, though more because of the saying
of mass than because of preaching. This praise and glorifica-
* Of course Luther is playing upon the meaning of angel, i.e., "messenger."
Vol. IV. 10
144 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
tion grew to the point where the office and estate of the
priesthood (i. e. of the sacrificing of the mass) was placed
above Mary and the angels, because the angels and Mary
could not say mass, and a priest could. A new priest and
his first mass were glorious, and blessed was the woman who
had borne a priest; though the office of preaching is the
highest and chief of all, and it was not regarded so highly.
In a word, a priest was a man who could say mass, even
though he did not know a word to preach and was an
unlearned ass. That is in fact the spiritual estate even to
the present day.
Now if it is sure and true that God Himself has established
and instituted the spiritual estate with His own blood and
death, it is easy to conclude that He will have it highly
honored and not suffer it to be destroyed or to cease, but
will have it maintained until the Last Day. For the Gospel
and the Church 1 must abide until the Last Day, as Christ
Matt sa J s i n the last chapter of Matthew. But by whom shall it
28:20 be maintained? Oxen and horses and dogs and swine will
not do it, neither will wood and stone. We men shall have
to do it, for this office is not committed to oxen and horses,
but to us men. But where shall we get men for it except
from those who have children? If you will not raise your
Giving child for this office, and the next man will not, and so on,
^* to and no father or mother will give a child to God for this
Ministry work, what will become of the spiritual office and estate ?
The old men, who are now in the office, will not live forever,
but are dying off every day, and there are no others to take
their place. What will God say to this at last ? Think you
that He will be pleased because we so shamefully despise
His office, divinely instituted for His praise and our salva-
tion, and won so dearly, and because we so ungratefully let
it drop and pass away?
He has not given you children and the means to support
them, only that you may do with them as you please, or
train them for worldly glory. You have been earnestly com-
manded to raise them for God's service, or be completely
*Christenheit.
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 145
rooted out, with your children and everything else; then
everything that you have spent on them will be lost. The
First Commandment says, "I visit the iniquities of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of
them that hate me." But how will you raise them for God's
service if the office of preaching and the spiritual estate have
gone down? And it is your fault; you could have done
something for it and helped to maintain it, if you had
allowed your child to study. If you can do it, and your child
has the ability or the desire, and you do it not, but stand in
the way, listen to this, You are guilty of the harm that is
done if the spiritual estate goes down, and neither God nor
God's Word remains in the world. In so far as you are able,
you are letting it go down ; you will not give one child to it,
and you would do the same thing about all your children, if
you had a world full of them; thus, so far as you are con-
cerned, the service of God simply goes to destruction.
It does not help your case to say, "My neighbor keeps his
son in school and so I need not" ; for your neighbor can say
the same thing and so can all the neighbors; meanwhile, Ability
where is God getting people for His spiritual office? You
have the people and will not give them ; your neighbor also
will not give them ; thus the office goes to destruction, so far
as your part in it is concerned. Because, then, you allow the
office, instituted and established by your God and so dearly
won, go to ruin and be destroyed, with such horrible ingrati-
tude, you will be accursed and have nothing but shame
and misery for yourself and your children, or be so tor-
mented otherwise that both you and they will be damned,
not only here on earth, but eternally in hell This will not
fail; and you will learn that your children are not so wholly
yours that you need give nothing of them to God. It is His
will that He shall also have a right in them; and they are
more His than yours.
In order that you may not think that I am too severe with
you in this, I shall lay before you a partial statement of the
profit and the loss (for who can tell it all?) that you experi-
ence, so that you yourself may be compelled to say that you
146 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
belong to the devil and ought rightly to be damned eternally
in heU, if you find yourself guilty in this matter and do not
reform; or else that you may rejoice and be glad from the
heart, if you find that you are chosen by God, with your
wealth and your labor, to raise a son who will be a pious
Christian pastor, preacher, or school-teacher, and thereby
have raised for God a special servant, nay (as has been said)
an angel of God, a true bishop before God, a savior of many
people, a king and prince in the kingdom of Christ, and a
teacher of God's people, a light of the world. Who can tell
all the glory and the virtue that a real and faithful pastor has
in the eyes of God? There is no dearer treasure, nor any
more precious thing on earth or in this life than a real and
faithful pastor or preacher.
^ Reckon for yourself the profit which the preaching-office
a/the an d the care f sou ' s produce ; your son is assuredly produc-
Ministry ing this profit, if he is conducting this office faithfully. For
example, So many souls are daily taught by him, converted,
baptized and brought to Christ and saved, redeemed from
sins, death, hell, and the devil, and through him come to ever-
lasting righteousness, to everlasting life and heaven. As
\ z Daniel says, "They that teach others shall shine as the
heavens, and they that turn many to righteousness shall be
as the stars in eternity." Because God's Word and office
when they are rightly administered, must without ceasing do
great things, and work actual miracles, so your son must
without ceasing do great miracles before God, such as raising
the dead, driving out devils, making the blind to see, the deaf
to hear, the lepers clean, the dumb to speak. Though these
things may not happen in a bodily way, yet they do happen
spiritually in the soul, where the miracles are even greater.
Christ says, in John xiv, "He that believeth on Me shall do
Ol u-i2 the works that I do, and do still greater works." If a believer
can do this to single individuals, how much more will a public
preacher do it to a great crowd? Not that he does this as a
man ! It is his office, ordained by God for this purpose, that
does it, that and the Word of God which he teaches; he is
the instrument for this.
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 147
Now if he does such great works and miracles spiritually,
it follows that he does them also in a bodily way, or at
least begins and causes them. For how does it happen that
Christians will rise from the dead at the Last Day, and that * Gnc *
all the deaf, blind, lame, and those that suffer other bodily
ills, must lay these ills off, and their bodies become not only
fine and beautiful and sound, but even shine as bright and
f&r as suns, as Christ says? Is it not because here on Matt.
earth, through God's Word, they have been converted, become 1 3 :43
believers, been baptized, and been incorporated into Christ?
Thus Paul says, in Romans viii, that God will raise up our Rom.
mortal bodies because of the Spirit Who dwelleth in us. 8:11
Now who helps men to this faith and to this beginning of
the resurrection of the body without the office of preaching
and of the Word of God, which your son has ? Is that not
an immeasurably greater and more glorious work and miracle
than if he were in a bodily or temporal way to raise the dead
again to this life, or help the blind, deaf, dumb, and leprous
in the world and in this transitory life?
If you were sure that your son would do this work for
one single man, viz., that he would make one blind man see
or one dead man rise, take one soul from the devil, rescue
one person from hell; whichever one of these things he
would do, ought you not rightly, with all joy, pledge all of The n*
your property to train him for this office and work, and leap ^
for joy because with your money you had accomplished so a Swl
great a thing for God? What are all the foundations and *> <h*
monastic houses, as they now exist, with all their works, ^
compared with one such pastor, preacher, or school-teacher?
In former times, and at the beginning, they were founded,
indeed, by pious kings and lords for the precious work of
training such preachers and pastors ; but now, sad to say !
they have fallen, through the devil's activity, into such a
wretched state that they have become caves of death and
outer courts of hell, for the corruption and injury of the
Church.
See, now ! Your son does these works, not only for one
person, but for many, nay, for all men together; and he
148 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
does them every day. Best of all, he does them in the sight
of God, Who looks upon them and holds them so high and
dear, as has been said, 1 even though men may not recognize
them or pay any heed to them, Nay, if all the world calls
him a heretic, a deceiver, a liar, a rebel, it is so much the
better, and is a good sign that he is an upright man and like
his Lord Christ. For Christ, too, had to be a rebel, a
murderer, and a deceiver, and be judged and crucified with
the murderers. What would it matter, if I were a preacher,
that the world called me a devil, if I knew that God called
me His angel? Let the world call me a deceiver as long as
it will ; God calls me His true servant and steward, the angels
call me their comrade, the saints call me their brother, be-
lievers call me their father, wretched souls call me their
savior, the ignorant call me their light ; and God says "Yes,
it is so," and the angels and all creatures join in. Ah!
How prettily has the world, together with the devil, deceived
me, with its slanders and scoffings! What has it won at
my expense ? What harm has it done me ? The dear thing !
I have spoken of the works and wonders which your son
does for souls, to help them against sin and death and the
devil. But for the world, too, he does great and mighty
for the works. He informs and instructs all classes how they are to
World con( j uc t themselves outwardly in their offices and ranks, so
that they may do what is right before God ; he can comfort
and advise those who are troubled, compose difficulties,
relieve troubled consciences, help to maintain peace and to
of Pea se ^tle and remove differences, doing innumerable works of
this kind every day. For a preacher confirms and strengthens
and helps to maintain government, and temporal peace of all
kinds. He checks the rebellious ; teaches obedience, morals,
discipline, and honor; instructs fathers and mothers and
children and servants in their duties; in a word, he is the
teacher of all secular offices and ranks. These are, indeed,
the smallest good works of a pastor, and yet they are so
high and noble that no wise men among all the heathen have
above, p. 143,
The,
Main-
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 149
either known them or understood them, still less been able to
do them* Nay more, even today no jurist, no university,
foundation, or monastery knows these works, and they are
not taught either in canon law or secular law. For in these
spheres there is no one who calls these offices God's great
gifts, or His gracious ordinances; it is only the Word of
God and the preachers that praise and honor them so highly.
Therefore, to tell the truth, peace, which is the greatest
of earthly goods, and in which all other temporal goods are
comprised, is really a fruit of true preaching, for where true
preaching is, there war and discord and bloodshed do not
come; but where the preaching is not right, it is no wonder
that there is war or constant unrest and the desire and the
will for fighting and the shedding of blood. We can see
right now that the sophists can do nothing but cry "Blood"
and spit fire. They are shedding the blood of innocent
priests because they have married, although the pope and
their own canon law, while they punish this kind of marriage
severely, only depose the priest from his office, but leave their
persons and their property untouched and allow them to
retain their Christian honor ; still less do they condemn such
priests to hell or regard them as heretics. To this the jurists
and all the world bear witness, and it was made a law at the
diet of Nuremberg. But these blind blood-hounds have
given up preaching and betaken themselves to lies, and there-
fore they cannot desist from murder. The devil, their god,
does this also. He was from the beginning, and still re- John
mains, "a liar and a murderer." s-,44
A true pastor, then, serves men in body and soul, in
property and honor. See now how he serves God and what r^
a glorious sacrifice, or service, 1 he renders ; for by his work Service
and his word the kingdom of God is maintained in the a * God
world; so, too, are kept the Name and the honor and the
glory of God, the true knowledge of God, the right faith
and understanding of Christ, the fruits of the suffering and
blood and death of Christ, the gifts and works and power of
*Gottesdienst "service of God" or "worship."
150 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
the Holy Spirit, the true and saving use of baptism and the
Sacrament, the right and pure doctrine of the Gospel, the
right way of disciplining and crucifying the body. Who
could ever give high enough praise to any one of these
things? ,What more can be said about them? The more
one does with these things, the more he carries on the battle
against the devil, the world's wisdom, and the imaginations
of the flesh; the more victories he wins; the more he puts
down error and prevents heresy. For he must strive and
fight against the gates of hell and overcome the devil. He
does it, too; and yet not he, but his work and his word. 1
These are the innumerable and unspeakable works and
miracles of the preaching-office. In a word, if one would
praise God to the uttermost, one must praise His Word and
the preaching of it; for it is God's Word, and the preaching
of it is His.
Now even though you were a king, you ought not think
yourself worthy to give your son and train him to this office
and work, even at the cost of all that you had. Is not the
money and the labor that you expend on such a son too
highly honored, too gloriously blessed, too profitably in-
vested? Is it not counted in God's sight better than any
kingdom or empire ? A man ought to go on his knees to the
ends of the earth, carrying his penny, if he were sure that
there it could be so gloriously and profitably invested; and
yet, only see ! You have in your house and on your lap that
in which you can invest it so gloriously. Shame, and shame,
and shame again upon our blind and shameful ingratitude!
We do not see what a fine and beautiful service we could
render to God; nay, what great lords we could be in His
sight, with just a little effort, and that with our own money
and property.
The sophists accuse us Lutherans of not teaching good
works. Fine fellows they are! They have not so bad an
understanding of good works ! Are not the things that have
been mentioned good works? What are all the works of
the foundations and the monasteries compared with these
1 S e i n ampt, i.e., the work of his office.
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 151
glorious wonders? They are the cawings of daws and
ravens, and not as good as the cawing of the daws; for
the daws caw from love, because they take pleasure in it,
but they howl their croakings without pleasure, like hoopees
or owls. Now if it was formerly the custom to think
highly of new priests and their first masses, 1 and if fathers
and mothers and all their friends were glad that they had
raised a son to be an idle, lazy, useless mass-priest, or
glutton, 3 who puts God to shame with his blasphemous sacri-
fice of the mass and his wasted prayers, and scandalizes and
defrauds the world with his unchaste life ; how much more
should you rejoice if you have raised a son for this office*
and are sure that he serves God so gloriously, helps men so
richly, and smites the devil in such knightly fashion? You
have made your son a genuine and fine sacrifice to God, and
the very angels must look upon it as a splendid miracle.
You ought also to know the harm that you are doing, if
you take the opposite course. If God has given you a child ^
who has the ability and the talent for this office, and you do wrong
not train him for it, but look only to the belly and to temporal * f
livelihood, then take the list of things mentioned above and
run over the good works and wonders noted there, and see Ministry
what a pious prig and small potato* you are. For, so far as
in you lies, you are depriving God of an angel, a servant, a
king and prince in His kingdom, a savior and comforter of
men in matters that pertain to body and soul, property and
honor, a captain and a knight to fight against the devil.
Thus you are making place for the devil and advancing his
kingdom, so that he keeps souls in sin and death and hell,
and daily brings more into them, and wins victories every-
where; the world remains in heresy, errors, contention, war,
and strife and gets worse every day; the kingdom of God
goes down, together with Christian faith, the fruits of the
sufferings and the blood of Christ, the work of the Holy
Spirit, the Gospel, and all worship of God; and all devil-
worship and misbelief get the upper hand. All of this need
1 Sec aboyt p. 144. a Messpfafen oder fresspfaffcn.
Le., The office of preaching.
4 The exact equivalent of Luther's kreutlein.
152 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
not have happened and could have been hindered, or even
improved, if your son had been trained for this work and
entered it.
Suppose that God were to address you on your death-bed,
or at the Last Judgment, and say, "I was hungry, thirsty, a
Matt stranger, naked, sick, imprisoned, and you rendered me no
ff / service? For in that you have not done it to people on
earth, or to my kingdom or Gospel, but have helped put them
down and allowed men's souls to be ruined, you have done
this to me ; for you could have helped. I had given you a
child and money for this purpose, but you wantonly allowed
me and my kingdom and all men's souls to suffer want and
pine away, and thereby served the devil and his kingdom
against me and my kingdom; now let him be your reward.
Go with him into the abyss of hell. My kingdom in heaven
and earth you have not helped to build, but to destroy and
weaken ; but you have helped the devil to build and increase
his hell; live, therefore in the house that you have built."
How shall you stand then ?
What think you? Will you not be overwhelmed, not by
little drops of sin, but by whole cloudbursts of it you, who
now give no heed and go along securely, as though you were
doing well not to train your child in doctrine ? But then you
will have to say that you are justly condemned to the abyss
of hell as one of the worst and most harmful of men who
have lived on earth, and indeed, if you were to consider these
things, even now, while you are living, you would be truly
horrified at yourself, for no conscience can endure it to be
found guilty of the things that have been mentioned; how
much less can it endure it, if things like this, more than can
be numbered, fall on it all at once, and suddenly? Your
heart will then have to cry out that your sins are more than
Prayer the leaves and the grass, and greater than heaven and earth ;
o 9 Man and you will say, with Manassah, king of Judah, "My sins
are more than the sands of the sea, and my iniquity is great."
Even the law of nature tells you that. He who can prevent
injury, and does not, is guilty of the injury, because he
certainly desired and willed the injury, and would inflict it
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 153
himself, if he had occasion or opportunity. These people,
therefore, are certainly as good as the devil himself, because
they are so hostile to both God and the world that they help
to ruin both heaven and earth, and serve the devil so faith-
fully. In a word, if we can call the devil hard enough names,
then we can give hard enough names to these people, who
hinder the work of God; for they are the servants of the
devil.
By what I have said I do not want to insist that every man
must train his child for this office, for not all the boys must ^T Not
become pastors, preachers and school-masters. It is well to *
know that the children of lords and great men are not to be
used for this work, for the world needs heirs and people,
otherwise the government will go to pieces. 1 I am speaking
of the common people, who used to have their children
educated for the sake of the livings and benefices, and now
keep them away, only for the sake of support. They do
not need heirs, and yet they keep their children out of
school, regardless of the fact that the children are clever
and apt for these offices, and could serve God in them, with-
out privation or hindrance. Such boys of ability ought to
be kept at study, especially if they are poor men's sons, for
all the foundations and monasteries and livings endowments
were established for this purpose. Beside them, indeed,
other boys ought also to study, even though they are not so
clever, and ought to learn to understand, write, and read
Latin; for it is not only highly learned Doctors and Masters
of Holy Scripture, that we need. We must also have ordi-
nary pastors, who will teach the Gospel and the Catechism 3
to the young and the ignorant, and baptize, and administer
the Sacrament. They are of no use in a conflict with heretics,
but that does not matter; in a good building we must have
not only hewn facings, but also backing-stone; so we must
have sacristans and other persons, who serve and help the
preachers and the Word of God.
1 The hereditary feudal lordship was the only form of government that Luther
knew.
*By "the catechism" Luther means here, as generally, the Commandments,
the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer,
154 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
Even though a boy who has studied Latin afterwards
learns a handicraft, and becomes a burgher, we have him in
reserve, in case he should have to be used as a pastor, or in
some other service of the Word. His knowledge does not
hurt him in the earning of a living ; on the contrary, he can
rule his house all the better because of it, and besides, he is
prepared for the work of preacher or pastor, if he is needed.
It is especially easy in our day to train persons who can teach
the Gospel and the Catechism, because not only Holy Scrip-
tures, but knowledge of all kinds is so abundant, what with
so many books, and so much reading, and (thank God!) so
much preaching, that one can learn more in three years than
used to be possible in twenty. Even women and children
can now learn from German books and sermons more about
God and Christ (I am telling only the truth!) than all the
universities, foundations, monasteries, the whole papacy and
all the world used to know. But the ordinary pastors must
be able to use Latin; they cannot do without it any more
than the scholars can do without Greek and Hebrew; so
St. Augustine says, and so even the canon law prescribes.
But you say, "Suppose things were to turn out badly, and
my son were to become a heretic, or a knave of some other
kind; it is said that the learned are the crooked, etc/' O
well! You have to take that chance. Your diligence and
labor will not be lost. God will have regard to your faithful
service and count it as though it had turned out well. You
have to take the chance of how he will turn out in any other
occupation for which you train him. How was it with the
good Abraham? His son Ishmael did not turn out well;
neither did Isaac's son Esau, or Adam's son Cain. Should
Abraham have given up training his son Isaac, or Isaac his
son Jacob, or Adam his son Cain for the service of God?
How many bad kings and people there were among the holy
and chosen nation of Israel, who were the cause of heresies
and idolatries and all kinds of misfortune, and who killed all
the prophets ! Ought Levi the priest to have let the whole
nation go on that account, and no longer trained anyone for
the service of God? How many bad priests and Levites
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 155
were there in the tribe of Levi, which God Himself had
chosen for the priesthood? How many people has God on
the earth who misuse all His kindness and all His creatures?
Ought He on that account desist from His kindness and let
no man live? Ought He cease to do good?
Then, too, in order that you may not worry too much
about where your son's living will come from, if he gives TBe sap.
himself to learning, and to God's work and service, He has ***
... r
not left you or forgotten you, and you ought not to worry
or complain. He has promised by St. Paul in I Corinthians >
ix, "He that serves the Gospel shall be supported by the 9:14
Gospel"; and Christ Himself says in Matthew x, "A laborer Matt
is worthy of his hire ; eat and drink what they have." Under
the Old Testament, in order that His office of preaching
might not perish, He chose and took the whole family
of Levi, one-twelfth of the whole nation of Israel, and
gave them the tithe from the whole nation, ,beside the
first-fruits of all kinds of sacrifices, their own cities
and villages, fields, pasture-lands, cattle, and all that goes
with them. Under the New Testament, see how, in former
times, emperors, kings, princes, and lords gave to this
office rich possessions, which the foundations and monas-
teries now hold, and use them to surpass kings and princes.
He will not and cannot leave those who serve Him faith-
fully ; the promises that He has made are too great, when Heb
He has said, in Hebrews xiii, "I will not leave thee nor 13:5
neglect thee/'
Count for yourself, too, how many parishes, preaching
places, schools, and sacristanships there are. Most of them
are sufficiently provided for, 1 and vacancies are occurring
every day. What does that mean except that God has pro-
vided kitchen and cellar for your son, so that his living is
ready for 'him before he needs it, and he does not have to
seek it? When I was a young student, I heard it said that
in Saxony there were (if I remember rightly) about eighteen
hundred parishes. If that were true, and every parish re-
quired at least two persons, a pastor and a sacristan (except
2 Le., By endowments.
156 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
that in the cities there are preachers, chaplains, assistants,
schoolteachers, and helpers), then in this one principality,
there are needed about four thousand educated persons, of
whom about one-third die off every ten years. I would wager
that in half of Germany there are not four thousand pupils in
the schools, I estimate that there are scarcely eight hundred
parishes in Saxony ; how many will that make for the whole
of Germany? I would like to know where we are going to
get pastors, schoolteachers, and sacristans three years from
now. If we do nothing about this, and if the princes espe-
cially do not try to see that the boys' schools and the
universities are properly provided for, there will be such a
scarcity of men that we shall have to give three or four
towns to one pastor and ten villages to one chaplain, if we
can get even that many men.
The universities at Erfurt, Leipzig, and elsewhere are
ruined, and so are the boys' schools here and there, so that it
is distressing to see them, and little Wittenberg now has to
do better than any of them. 1 The foundations and the mon-
asteries (bad luck to them!) will also feel the scarcity, I
think. They will not sing the song through on the high pitch
that they have struck, however refractory they become, and
even though they have to put up with, or even reverence,
in their chapters people whom they would once have been
unwilling to look at. Let your boy go on with his studying
then, and do not worry; perhaps if the world stands for a
while longer and God gives the princes and the cities grace to
act, the property of the foundations and the monasteries will
come back to the use for which it was appointed. And
where is the use of worrying much about the belly? There
Matt stands Christ, and says, "Do not worry about what ye shall
6:31.33 eat and drink; your heavenly Father well knows that you
need this ; seek first the kingdom of God and His righteous-
ness, and all this will come to you/' If anyone does not
believe, let him keep on worrying and die of hunger.
To be sure, it is true that a few years ago many pastors
1 The average number of students at Wittenberg between 1526 and 1530 WM
250; at Leipzig 145; at) Erfurt 44. See Weimar Ed. XXX, a 550, n. 2.
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 157
did suffer great want, and they still do. That must be blamed
on the evil that is in the world, making the people so wicked d T of
j j. r 1 j ,. Ministers
and ungrateful and avaricious, and making them persecute
the Gospel. By this God is trying us to see whether we are
upright and sincere. We must think of this time as like the
time of the martyrs, for then, too, godly teachers suffered
great want and poverty, as Paul himself boasted, and Christ 2 ^
also prophesied in Matthew ix, "When the bridegroom is
taken from them, then shall they fast/' That is the true Matt -
fasting of the Gospel. Seldom, too, has God's Word come, 9:1S
that hard times have not come with it. In the days of
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Elijah, and Elisha, there
was cruel want, alongside of the great light of the truth;
and in the beginning of the Gospel there was a great famine Acts 4
throughout the world. This has to be the fault of the dear
Gospel and the Word of God, and not of the world's previous
iniquity and present obstinate ingratitude! Thus the Jews
blamed all their misery on the teaching of Jeremiah, and the Je ^' 6 ^ 4:
Romans, when they were overthrown by the Goths, knew
nothing to blame it on except the fact that they had become
Christians; against this St. Augustine wrote a great book,
De civitate dei. 1
No matter what people say, a the world is the world. As
those men became liars and were destroyed, so these shall
become liars and pass away, that Christ and His Word may
abide. He is seated firm and high, as it is written, "The
Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand." There Fs -
He sits ; if anyone likes, and is wicked, let him pull Him
down ! But as long as He remains seated there, we too shall
remain; what is the use? To put it in a word, your son can
easily get as good a living in the preaching office as in a
trade ; unless it be that you are thinking of great wealth and
of making your son a great lord in the eyes of the world,
such as the bishops and canons are. If that is in your mind,
then what I am saying does not concern you. I am speaking
1 The City of God, written shortly after 410 A.D., when Rome was
captured by the Visigoths, tinder Alaric.
"Las wasschen wer da wesscht
158 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
now to believers, who honor the preaching office and hold
it high above all riches, as the 'office that is nearest to God
Himself and the highest treasure that is given to men, so
that they may know how great is the service they can render
to God in this, as men who would rather have a part in this
work, even with small possessions, than have this world's
goods and be without this work. These men will recognize
that the soul is more than the belly, and that the belly may
easily have enough and be obliged to leave behind that which
is more than enough. But they that seek riches will take all
their goods with them; how can that fail?
Let this be the first part of this sermon, a hasty and brief
account of the spiritual profit and loss which one has from
the support or the neglect of the schools.
The second part will deal with the temporal, or
Tto worldly, profit and loss. And in the first place, it is true
^ ce ^ worldly government is in no way to be
Profit compared with the spiritual office of preaching, as St. Paul
01 EAl " calls it; for it is not purchased at so dear a price as the
preaching office, with the blood and the death of the Son of
God ; therefore it cannot do such great wonders and works
as the preaching office. For all the works of this estate
belong to this temporal, transient life, the maintaining of
body, wife, child, house, property, and honor, and what be-
longs to the needs of this life. As far as eternal life sur-
passes this temporal life, so far and so high above the
temporal office does the preaching office go. For worldly
lordship is a picture, shadow, and figure of the lordship of
Christ. The office of preaching (where it exists as God
ordained it) brings and bestows eternal righteousness, eternal
peace, and eternal life. This is the praise that St. Paul gives
4:i ff. ^ in Second Corinthians iv. But worldly government main-
tains temporal and transient peace and life.
Coven*. Nevertheless it is a glorious ordinance of God and splendid
m<mt gift of God, Who has established and instituted it, and will
have it maintained, as something that men cannot do without
If there were no worldly government, no man could live be-
cause of other men; one would devour the other, as the brute
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 159
beasts do. Therefore as it is the function and the honor of the
office of preaching to make sinners saints, and dead men live,
and damned men saved, and the devil's children God's chil-
dren; so it is the function and the honor of worldly govern-
ment to make men out of wild beasts and to prevent men
from becoming wild beasts. It keeps a man's body, so that
not everyone may slay it; it keeps a man's wife, so that not
everyone may seize and defile her ; it keeps a man's child, his
daughter or son, so that not everyone may carry them away
and steal them ; it keeps a man's house, so that not everyone
may break in and commit outrage there; it keeps a man's
fields and cattle and all his goods, so that not everyone may
attack and steal and rob and damage them. There is nothing
of this among the beasts, and if it were not for worldly
government, there would be nothing of it among men, but
they would cease to be men and become mere beasts. Do
you not think that, if the birds and beasts could speak, and
were to see worldly government among men, they would say,
"O ye men ! You are not men but gods, compared with us !
How safe you live and hold your property, while among us
no one is sure for an hour of life, or property, or means of
livelihood, because of the others ! Out upon your thankless-
ness, who do not see what a glorious life the God of all of
us has given you compared with us beasts 1"
It is certain, then, that government is a creation and an
ordinance of God, and that for us men in this life it is a
necessary office and rank, which we can no more do without
than we can do without life itself, since without government
this life cannot continue. Therefore it is easy to understand
that God has not commanded it and instituted it in order that
it may be destroyed, but that He will have it maintained, as
is clearly stated in Romans xiii by Paul, and in First Peter
iii, where it is said that they are to protect the good and a Pe i %
punish the bad. Now who will maintain it except us men, 2:i3f.
to whom God has committed it and who verily need it for
ourselves? The wild beasts will not maintain it, nor will
wood and stone. But who are the men that can maintain it?
Assuredly not only those men who want to rule with the fist,
Vol. IV. 11
160 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
as many now think to do. For if the fist alone is to rule,
things will surely come to such a condition as exists among
the beasts, and whoever gets the better of another will stick
him in the bag. We have before our eyes enough examples
of how much good the fist does without wisdom or reason.
Therefore Solomon says, in Proverbs viii, that wisdom
Pr ^ 4 must rule, not force, and speaks of wisdom thus, "Mine is
both counsel and help; mine is both understanding and
EccL might ; by me must kings be kings, and counsellors sit justly" ;
9:18 and in Ecclesiastes x> "Wisdom is better than armor or
9:16 weapons" ; and again, "Wisdom is better than strength." All
experience proves this and in all the histories we find that
force, without reason or wisdom, has never once accom-
plished anything. Therefore the murderers and tyrants, if
they do not proceed cautiously and get some justice and
counsel and laws among them (even though they are them-
selves wicked), and direct and use their fist and their power
accordingly, will not be able to continue, but will fall out
with one another and go to destruction of themselves. Briefly,
then, it is not the law of the fist, but the law of the head
that must rule; not force, but wisdom or reason, among the
wicked as among the good.
Accordingly, since our government in Germany must be
tion for guided by the Roman imperial law, and this is our govern-
Bf**- ment's wisdom and reason, given it by God, it follows that
this government cannot be maintained, but must go to de-
struction, unless this law is maintained. Now who will main-
tain it ? Fist and armor do not ; heads and books must do
it. Men must learn and know the law and the wisdom of
our worldly government. It is a fine thing, to be sure, if an
emperor, prince, or lord is by nature so wise and able that
he can get at the law without studying it, 1 as could Duke
Frederick of Saxony 2 and Sir Fabian von Feilitsch, 8 both
of whom I knew. I will not mention any men who are
1 D a s er das r e c h t auswendig trefen k a u.
3 The Elector Frederick, d. 1525.
Fabian von Feilitsch, d. 1520, one of the councillors of Frederick of Saxony.
Luther dedicated to him the Assertio omnium articuloru m.. of
1521, though he died before the work was published. Cf. Weimar Ed. VII.
91 ft; ENDERS, III, 3.
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 161
now living. But because such birds are rare and their ex-
amples are dangerous on account of the others who have not
this power by nature, it is better, in ruling, to keep the
common law that is written in the books, so that the govern-
ment may have greater reputation and honor and need no
miracles or special gifts.
Thus the jurists and scholars in this worldly government
are the persons who preserve this law, and maintain the
worldly government; and just as a pious theologian and
sincere preacher is called, in the realm of Christ, an angel
of God, a savior, prophet, priest, servant, and teacher (as
has been said above), 1 so a pious jurist and true scholar can
be called, in the worldly realm of the emperor, a prophet,
priest, angel, and savior. Moreover, as a heretic or false
preacher is, in the realm of Christ, a devil, thief, murderer,
and blasphemer, so a false and faithless jurist, in the em-
peror's house or realm, is a thief and a knave and a traitor,
a scoundrel and a devil for the whole Empire. When I
speak of the jurists, I do not mean only the Doctors of Laws,
but the whole profession, 2 including chancellors, secretaries, 8
judges, advocates, notaries, and all who have to do with the
legal side of government ; also the big-bugs known as coun-
sellors, for they, too, work with law, and belong among the
jurists; and just as the word "counsellors" (Ret he)
is not far from the word "traitors" (Verrether),*
so the deeds of the two are not far apart; they "counsel"
their lords, at times, so faithfully that no traitor could betray
them so well.
You see, then, the profit that a pious legal scholar, or
jurist, can produce ; nay, who can tell it all ? For whatever
belongs to the work and ordinance of God produces con-
stantly so many and so great fruits that they cannot be
counted or comprehended. For one thing, he maintains and
helps to further with his law book, (by God's ordinance),
i See above, p. 143, 146 8.
3 D a s gantze handwerck.
The "secretaries" were the law officers of the incorporated towns.
* The play on words cannot be rendered into English. Luther writes, W i e
das wort Rethe nicht weit vora wort Verrether ist.
162 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
the whole worldly government, emperor, princes, lords,
cities, land, and people, as has been said above; 1 for all of
these must be preserved by wisdom and law. But who will
praise this work highly enough? From it you have guardian-
ship and protection for your body and life, against neighbors,
enemies, murderers. Then, too, you have protection and
peace for your wife, daughter, son, house, and home, ser-
vants, money, property, lands, and everything that you have.
For all of this is bound around, walled in, and hedged about
with law. The greatness of all this can never be completely
written in any books ; for who will speak fully of the un-
speakable blessing of peace, and say how much it both gives
and saves in one single year?
All these great works your son can do, and he can become
so useful a man, if you will hold him to it, and have him
study; and you can become a partaker of all this, and invest
your money thus profitably. Ought it not to flatter you, and
be a great honor for you, to see your son an angel in the
empire and an apostle of the empire, and a cornerstone and
bulwark of temporal peace on earth, and all this with the
certainty that God so regards it, and that it is really true?
For although this work does not make men righteous before
God, or save them, nevertheless, it is a joyful comfort to
know that these works please God so well, and please Him
even more when such a man is a believer and in the kingdom
of Christ ; for in this way he thanks God for His benefits
and presents the finest thank-offering, the highest worship.
You must be a gross, ungrateful clod, worthy that men
should drive you out among the beasts, if you saw that your
rSon could become a man to help the emperor preserve his
Law empire, sword, and crown; to help the prince rule his land;
to counsel and help cities and territories ; to help protect so
many men's bodies, wives, children, property, and honor;
and would not risk enough on it to permit your son to study
and come to this position. Tell me, what do all the founda-
tions, monasteries, and the like do? I would take the work
of a faithful, pious jurist and secretary in preference to the
*?. 159, 161. "~ "
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 163
holiness of all priests, monks, and nuns, even when they are
doing their very best. If these great and good works do
not move you, then you ought at least be moved by the
honor and the good pleasure of God, when you know that
by this means you thank God so gloriously and render Him
such great service, as has been said, It is a shameful despis-
ing of God that we do not grant this glorious and divine work
to our children, and only stick them into the service of the
belly and of avarice, and do not let them study except to
seek a living, like hogs, wallowing forever with noses in the
filth, and do not train them to so worthy a rank and duty.
Certainly we must either be crazy, or without love for our
children.
But listen still further- Suppose that it is God's will, and
that He demands your son for this office! You surely owe
it to your God to help maintain this institution, if you can.
Now it cannot be maintained unless we keep our children at
their studies and in school; there is no doubt about that.
And there is need in this office of abler people than are
needed in the office of preaching, so that it is necessary to
keep the best boy for this work ; for in the preaching office
Christ does the whole thing, by His Spirit, but in worldly
government one must use reason, from which the laws have
come, for God has subjected temporal rule and bodily Gen.
things to reason (Genesis ii), and has not sent the Holy 2:19
Spirit from heaven for this purpose. Therefore governing
is harder, because it cannot be ruling over things that are
certain, and must act, so to speak, in the dark.
Now if you have a son who is gifted for learning, and you
can keep him at it, and do not do so, but go your way without
asking what is to become of worldly government and law
and peace; then you are doing everything you can against
worldly authority, like the Turks, nay, like the devil himself.
For you are taking from empire, princedom, land, city, a
savior, comforter, cornerstone, helper, and deliverer, and so
far as you are concerned, the emperor might lose sword and
crown, the land lose protection and peace ; and you are the
man through whose fault (so far as your power goes) no
164 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
one may have securely his body, wife, child, house, home, or
goods ; but you offer all these freely on the butcher's bench,
and become the reason why men are to become mere beasts,
and devour one another in the end. All this you assuredly
are doing, especially if you are knowingly keeping your son
out of this wholesome office for the belly's sake. Now are
you not a fine, useful man in the world ? Every day you use
the empire and its peace, and by way of thanks you rob it
of your son and stick him into the service of avarice, and
thus you strive with all diligence that there may be no one
to help maintain the empire and law and peace, but that
everything may go to destruction, provided only that by this
empire you may have and keep your own body and life,
property and honor.
What do you think you have deserved by this ? Are you
worthy that men should let you live among them? But
what will God say to it, Who has given you your child and
your property so that you may serve God with them and
keep your son in His service? Or is it not serving God
when we help maintain His ordinance, and worldly govern-
ment? Now you neglect that service as though it were no
concern of yours, or as though you were more free than
other men, and were not bound to serve God, but might do
as you pleased with your son and your property, even though
God, with both His worldly and His spiritual empire, were
to fall into the abyss. And yet you want to make daily use
of the empire's protection, peace, and law, and to have the
preaching office and the Word of God ready for you and at
your service, so that God may serve you free of charge both
with preaching and with worldly government, in order that,
without any worry, you may take your son away from Him
and teach him to serve only Mammon Do you not think
that God will some day say such a Benedicite
over your avarice and belly-care as will ruin you, both here
and hereafter, with your son and all that you have? Dear
fellow, is not your 'heart terrified at this abominable abomina-
tion, your idolatry, despising of God, ingratitude, your
destruction of both of God's institutions and ordinances,
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 165
nay, the injury and ruin that you inflict on all men? Ah,
well! I have told you and warned you; do you see to it!
You hear both the profit you can gain and the loss that you
can suffer, do as you please ; God will recompense you.
I shall say nothing here about the fine pleasure that a man
gets from having studied, even though he never has an The Re-
office of any kind; how at home by himself he can read all
kinds of things, how he can talk and associate with the
learned; travel and do business in foreign lands; for perhaps
there are very few people who are moved by this pleasure.
But since you are so bent on the pursuit of Mammon and of
a living, see how much and how great is the wealth that
God has put at the disposal of the schools and scholars, so
that you have no need to despise learning and knowledge
because of your poverty. Then see that emperors and kings
must have chancellors and secretaries, counsellors, jurists,
and scholars ; there is no prince who does not need to have
chancellors, jurists, counsellors, scholars, and secretaries;
all the counts, lords, cities, and castles must have syndics,
secretaries, and other scholars; there is not a noble but
must have a secretary; and to speak of men of ordinary
education, there are also the miners and the merchants and
the traders. Only count the number of kings, princes, counts,
lords, cities, etc. Three years from now, where shall we be
getting the educated men, when the scarcity is now beginning Scarcity
here and there? I really believe that kings will have to
become lawyers, princes chancellors, counts and lords secre-
taries, and burgomasters sacristans.
Unless something is done about this quickly, we must
become Tartars or Turks, or an uneducated schoolmaster 1
will become a doctor and counsellor at court. Therefore I
hold that there was never a better time to study than now;
not only because knowledge is so abundant and so cheap, but
also because of the great wealth and honor that must follow
knowledge. Those who study in these times will become ex-
pensive folk, for two princes and three cities will yet compete
for one scholar. For whether you look above you or about
1 L o c a t oder bacchant, see above, p. 140.
166 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
you, you find that countless offices are waiting in these next
ten years for scholars, and yet there are very few who are be-
ing trained for them. And not only has God appointed such
great wealth for schools and scholars, but it is honorable and
divine wealth, earned in a divine and honorable position, by
many glorious, good, and useful works, which please God
and are a service of God. The avaricious man, on the con-
trary, earns his wealth with despite (even though his works
are not Godless and sinful) and with hateful works, about
which he cannot have a glad conscience, and cannot say that
he is serving God with them. For my part, I would rather
earn ten gulden by a work that is a service of God,
than a thousand gulden by a work that is not a
service of God, but only of my own profit and of Mammon.
But with this honorable wealth honor also goes. Chan-
cellors, secretaries, and the people who hold the offices sit
also in high places and help to counsel and to rule, as has
been said, 1 and they are in actual fact lords upon earth, even
though they are not lords personally and by birth and rank.
-^ an ^ savs ^at ^ e ^ a< ^ to ^ ^ e king's work, and it is true.
A chancellor must attend to the work or business of em-
peror, king, or prince; a town secretary must do the work
of the Council or the town; and this with God and with
honor, for God gives it blessing and good fortune and suc-
cess. And when an emperor, king, prince is not at war, but
rules by law, what is he except a secretary and a jurist, if it
is the work he does that we are speaking of ? For they deal
with the law, and that is the work of a secretary or a jurist.
Who rules the prince's land and people when there is peace,
and not war? Is it the fighting-men, or the captains? I
think it is the pen that does it. And whait is greedy-belly
doing, meantime, with his Mammon ? He comes to no such
honor, and dirties himself the while with his rust-eaten
money.
The Emperor Justinian 3 himself declares: portet
1 See above, p. 162.
a Justinian (Roman Emperor, 527-565) caused the preparation of the great
code of Roman Law which was the basis of the German legal system of Luther's
day. Luther is quoting the Constitutio imperitoriaxn majes-
t a t c m, which forms the preface to his Institutions.
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 167
majestatem imepritoriam non solum arm is
decoratum, sed etiam legibus armatam
esse. "Imperial majesty," he says, "must not only be
adorned with arms, but also armed with laws*" See how
daringly this emperor turns his words about. He calls the
laws his armor and weapons, and arms his decoration and
adornment; he would make his secretaries his knights and
fighting-men. It is finely said indeed. For the laws are
indeed the true armor and weapons which maintain and
protect land and people, nay, the very empire itself, and the
worldly government, as has been sufficiently told above* Thus
wisdom is better than might, and pious jurists are the true
knights, who defend the emperor and the princes. Many
sayings of this kind couM be brought out of the poets and
the histories, but it would take too long. Solomon himself KccL
says, in Ecclesiastes ix, that a poor man saved a city, by his
wisdom, from a mighty king.
I do not wish to be understood as breaking off, by what I Honor-
have said, with soldiers, fighting-men, and those whose busi- falg>1
ness is war, or as despising or casting them off. They too,
when they are obedient, help with their fist, to protect peace
and everything. Everything has its own honor before God,
as His ordinance and work. But I must also praise my
own trade 1 for once because my neighbors have fallen out
with it and there is danger that it may come into contempt.
This is the way that St. Paul praises his own office so con-
stantly that some think he goes too far and is guilty of pride.
If there is anyone who wants to have force and soldiers
praised and honored, he will find enough about the things
for which they are to be praised, I hope, in another little
book, in which I have praised them honestly and fully.
For the jurists and petty secretaries do not please me at all
when they so praise themselves as to despise or mock at
other classes, as though they were the whole thing and there
was nobody else in the world who amounted to anything
except themselves. This is what the shavelings 3 and the
He., Scholarship.
^Schuerlinge, the tonsured clergy.
168 A Sermon on Keeping umidren in
whole papacy have done heretofore. All classes and all the
works of God are to be praised as highly as ever they can
be, and none of them is to be despised in favor of another,
for it is written, Confessio et magnificentia
Ps * o p u s e j u s , "What God does is fair and fine" j 1 and again
P S . ' in Psalm civ, "God is well pleased with His works/' Espe-
104:31 daily ought preachers to impress these ideas upon the people
from their youth up, schoolteachers impress them on the
boys, and parents on their children, so that they may well
learn what classes and offices are God's and ordained of
God. If they know this, so that they despise and mock at
and speak evil of none of them, but hold them all in honor,
that pleases God and serves the cause of peace and unity;
for God is a great lord, and has many kinds of servants.
Scholars We find, too, some swaggerers who permit themselves to
"^ think that the name "secretary" is scarcely worthy to be
Com- mentioned or listened to. well! Do not let that worry
pared y OU ! Remember that these good fellows must sometimes
have a little pastime and fun, and let this be their fun ! You
are still a secretary before God and the world. They may
swagger, but notice that they pay the highest honor to the
quill. They put it a on the top of their hats and their helmets,
as though to confess, by this act, that the quill is the highest
thing in the world, without which they would be armed for
battle and could not walk about in times of peace, still less
swagger so boldly. For they, too, must make use of the
peace which the emperor's preachers and teachers, i. e. the
jurists, teach and maintain. You see, therefore, that they
put the tool of our trade, the good quill, on top, and rightly;
but the tool of their trade, the sword, they gird about their
loins, where it hangs well and is ready for their work. On
their heads it would not be becoming; there the quill must
wave. So if they have sinned against you, this is their
penance, and you should forgive them.
But that brings me to this fact. There are many great
to whom the trade of a writer is a hateful thing, because
1 "His work is honor and majesty" (Eng. R. V.)
* Luther's f e d d e r means both "pen" and "plume."
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 169
they do not know, or do not consider, that it is a divine
office and work, and do not see how necessary and useful
it is to the world; and if they were to see (which may
God forbid!), their knowledge would come too late. There-
fore, this is what you ought to do. Pay no attention to
them, and look around at fine, pious noblemen, such as
Count George von Wertheim, 1 Hans von Schwarzenberg/
George von Frundsberg, 8 and their like, who are dead, for I
will say nothing about the living. Refresh yourself and
comfort yourself with them, and remember that for the sake Gen
of one man, Lot, God honored the whole land of Zoar; for w
the sake of a single Naaman, the whole land of Syria; for 2
the sake of one Joseph, the whole kingdom of Egypt. Why Gen
should not you also honor all the nobility for the sake of 4i:47
the many honest noblemen whom you, without doubt, have
before your eyes ? And when you look at them, you must
think that there is not a bad one left. How could it be that
untimely fruit should not fall from the fair tree of nobility,
and that some of the fruit should not be wormy and warty?
That does not make it a bad tree, to be condemned. Thus
it is with the children of God. For God Himself spares
the whole human race for the sake of one man, whose name
is Jesus Christ ; if He were to look only at men, He would
have nothing but wrath. The preachers, to be sure, and the
worldly authorities, cannot do this, and neither look at nor
consider anything bad, for they must punish the bad, one
with the word, the other with the sword. But I am speaking
to individuals, as Christians, and say that they ought to
learn to distinguish between God's work and men's wicked-
ness. In all of God's offices and ranks there are many
wicked men; but the rank is and remains good, no matter
how much men misuse it. You find many bad women, many
false servants, many unfaithful maids, many wrong-doing
1 George von Wertheim (<L1530) introduced the Reformation into his terri-
tories in 1522. Cf. ENDERS, IV, 3 r. n. 11.
3 Tohann von Schwarzenberg (1463-1528) a patron of learning:, as well as of
the Reformation. Biographies by WAGNBR (Berlin, 1893) and W. SCHEEL (Ber-
lin, 1905).
* George von Frtmdsberg (d. 1527), one of tne most famous German soldiers
of his day. See Allgexn. Deutsche Biographic, VIII, 154 L
170 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
officials and counsellors; nevertheless, the classes wives,
servants, maids and all the offices are God's institution,
work, and ordinance. The sun remains good, even though
the whole world misuse it, one to rob and another to kill, one
to do this kind of evil and another that. Who could do
anything evil, unless he had the sun to light him to it, and
the earth to hold him up, and the air to keep him alive, and
Rom - thus had God Himself to guard him? The saying continues
true, Omnis creatura subjecta est vanitate,
sed non volens 1 (Romans viii).
Some think that the office of writer is a light and little
office, while it is a real work to ride in armor and endure
heat, frost, dust, thirst, and other discomforts. Of course !
That is the old story! No one sees where the other's shoe
pinches, and stands agape at the other man's good luck.
True it is that it would be hard for me to ride in armor;
but, on the other hand, I would like to see the horseman
who could sit still the whole day and look into a book, even
though he had nothing to care about, to dream, to think, or
to read. Ask a writer, preacher, or speaker whether writing
and speaking is work; ask a schoolmaster whether teaching
and training boys is work? The pen is light; that is true.
Also there is no tool of any of the trades that is easier to
get than the writer's tool, for all that is needed is goose
feathers, and there are enough of them everywhere. But
the best part of the body (which is the head) must lay hold
here and do most of the work, and the noblest of the mem-
bers (which is the tongue), and the high faculty (which is
speech) . In other occupations, it is only the fist or the foot
or the back or some other such member that has to work ;
and while they are at it, they can sing and jest, which the
writer cannot do. "Three fingers do it," they say of writers ;
but a man's whole body and soul work at it.
I have heard it said of the praiseworthy and dear Emperor
Maximilian,* that when the big men complained because he
used writers so much for embassies and work of the kind,
* "Every creature was subjected to vanity, but not willingly."
a Died 1519.
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 171
he said, "What shall I do ? They cannot be used, so I have
to take writers"; and again, "I can make knights, but I
cannot make doctors." So, too, I have heard of a fine noble-
man, who said, "I will have my son study. It is no great
art to hang two legs over a horse and become a knight ; he
has already learned that from me." That was well said.
Once more, I do not want this to be understood as though I
were speaking against the knightly class, or any other class,
but only against the worthless swaggerers, who despise all
learning and wisdom, and can boast of nothing except wear-
ing armor and hanging two legs over a horse, though they
seldom have to do it, and in return have enough of comfort,
pleasure, joy, honor, and wealth the whole year round. It is
true that, as they say, knowledge is light to carry and armor
heavy; but wearing armor is soon learned, and wisdom is
not soon learned, and is not easily practiced or used.
To bring this talk to an end ! We ought to know that God schoia
is a wonderful lord. His trade is to take beggars and make N tto
them lords, just as He makes all things out of nothing. gpised
This trade of His no one will interfere with or hinder. He
has the whole world sing of Him, in Psalm cxii, "Who is
like the Lord, Who sitteth so high and beholdeth so deep?
Who lifteth the small out of the dust and raiseth the poor
out of the filth, that He may make them sit among the
princes, even among the princes of His people." Look PS. 113:
about you, at the courts of all the kings and princes, at the **
cities and the parishes; see whether this Psalm does not
rule with many strong examples. There you will find jurists,
doctors, counsellors, writers, preachers, who were usually
poor and have certainly been boys at school, and have
mounted and flown up by their pens, 1 until they are lords, as
the Psalm says, and like princes, help to rule lands and
peoples. It is not God's will that born kings, princes, lords,
and nobles should rule and be lords alone ; He wills to have
His beggars with them, so that they may not think that noble
birth alone, and not God alone, makes lords and rulers, It
is said, and it is true, that the pope too was a school boy.
0r "their feathers."
172 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
Therefore do not despise the fellows who come to your
door and say, Panem propter deum 1 and sing for
bread; you are listening, as this Psalm says, to the singing
of great princes and lords. I too was such a P a r -
tekenhengst, 3 and got bread at the house-doors, espe-
cially at Eisenach, my dear town, although afterwards my
dear father lovingly and faithfully kept me at the university
at Erfurt, and by his sweat and labor helped me to what I
have become. Nevertheless, I was a Parteken-
h e n g s t , 2 and I have come so far by means of the writer's
pen, as this Psalm says, that I would not change with the
emperor of the Turks, and have his wealth and do without
my knowledge ; nay, I would not take for it all the wealth
in the world heaped up many times. And without any
doubt, I should not have come to this, if I had not got into
school and into the trade of writing.
Therefore, have your son study, and do not hesitate about
it, and even if he has to go after his bread meanwhile, you
are giving our Lord God a fine bit of wood out of which He
can carve you a lord. It must continue to be a fact that your
son and my son/ that is, the sons of common folk, must
rule the world, both in the spiritual and the worldly ranks,
as this Psalm testifies. For the rich misers cannot and will
not do it ; they are the Carthusians 3 and monks of Mammon,
and they must serve him day and night. The born princes
and lords cannot do it alone, and especially they cannot under-
stand anything at all about the spiritual office. Thus both
kinds of government on earth must remain with the middle
class common people, and with their children.
And do not be disturbed because the common miser de-
spises knowledge so deeply and says, "Ha, if my son can
read and write German and do sums, he can do enough, I
am going to make a business man of him." They will soon
be so tame that they will dig ten ells deep into the earth with
1 "Bread for God's sake."
2 Possibly "crumb-horse," a school boy who sang, with others, in the streets
for bread (particula pan is). On Luther's singing at Eisenach, see
especially, SCHEEL, Martin Luther, I (1916), pp. 104 ff.
* i.e., The strictest devotees.
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 173
their fingers to get a scholar. For the business man will not
be a business man long, if preaching and law shall fail; this
I know for sure. We theologians and jurists must continue,
or all the rest will go to ruin with us; this will not fail.
When the theologians disappear, God's Word also disappears,
and there remain nothing but heathen, nay, nothing but
devils ; when the jurists disappear, then the law disappears,
and peace with it, and there remains nothing but robbery,
murder, crime, and violence, nay, nothing but wild beasts.
But what earnings and profits the business man will have
when peace is gone, I shall let his ledger tell him; and what
good all his property will do him when preaching goes down,
I shall let his conscience show him.
It is particularly vexing that such rude and unchristian
words are spoken by those who want to be so altogether
evangelical. They know how to get the better of everyone
and cry down everyone with Scripture, and yet they will
not grant either God or their own children so much honor or
wealth as to train them in the schools, so that they may come
to glorious and divine positions, in which they can serve God
and the world, even though it is plain and certain that these
positions are established and ready, and well provided with
wealth and honor. On the contrary, they turn their sons
away from them and shove them into the service of Mammon,
of which nothing is plain and certain, which must be full of
danger to body and wealth and soul, and which cannot be,
besides, a service of God.
At this point I should also tell how many scholars are
needed in medicine and other liberal arts, concerning which other
a great book could be written and about which one could
preach for a half year. Where would the preachers and
lawyers and physicians come from, if we had not grammar
and the other sciences of speech? They must all flow from
this spring. But the task would be too long and too great.
I would be brief and say that a diligent and pious school-
teacher, or master, or whoever it is that faithfully trains and
teaches boys, can never be sufficiently rewarded, or repaid
with any money, as even the heathen Aristotle says. Never-
174 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
theless, this work is as shamefully despised among us as
though it was nothing at all. I myself, if I could leave the
preaching office and other things, or had to do so, would not
be so glad to have any other work as that of schoolmaster,
or teacher of boys, for I know that this is the most useful,
the greatest, and the best, next to the work of preaching.
Indeed, I scarcely know which of the two is the better ; for
it is hard to make old dogs obedient and old rascals pious ;
and that is the work at which the preacher must labor, often
in vain. But young trees can be better bent and trained,
though some of them break in the process. Let it be one of
the greatest virtues on earth faithfully to train other people's
children ; very few people, almost none, in fact, do this for
their own.
That the physicians are lords, we can see with our own
eyes, and that we cannot do without them, our own experi-
ence teaches. But that they are a class that is useful to the
world, a comforting and wholesome class, and that their
work is a service acceptable to God and made and founded
by Him, all of this not only is proved by the nature of the
work itself, but it is testified by the Scriptures, 1 in Ecclesias-
ticus xxxviii where almost a whole chapter is given up to
praise of the physicians, It says, "Thou shalt honor the
physician, for one cannot do without him, and God has
appointed him, for all healing is of God. The skill of the
physician bringeth him to honor, and in the sight of great
men he shall be held worthy. God hath created medicines
out of the earth, and he is no reasonable man who despiseth
them. For as in the time of Moses the bitter water was
sweetened with wood, it was His will to make known to men
thereby what medicine can do; and He hath also given to
men this skill, that His wonders may be praised. For here-
with can the physician soothe all kinds of pain, and make
many sweet and good confections, and prepare salves whereby
the sick become well ; and of these works of his there is no
end, etc." But I have said too much about this ; the preachers
1 Luther here quotes the Apocrypha as "Scripture." He renders the whole
passage very freely.
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 175
can draw all these things out more fully, and impress upon
the people the profit and the loss that they can here produce,
for the whole world, and for our descendants, better than I
can write it.
I will let everything rest here, for it has been my purpose
faithfully to exhort and urge everyone who can help in this Th
cause. Only think for yourself how many good things God Shame
has given you gratis, and is daily giving, namely, body and
soul, house and home, wife and child, the services and the
use of all His creatures in heaven and earth; beside all this,
the Gospel and the office of preaching, baptism, the Sacra-
ment, and the whole treasure of His Son and His Spirit, not
only without your merit, but also without cost or trouble
to you, for you do not now have to support either schools
or parishes, 1 as you would be bound to do according to the
Gospel. And you are such an accursed, ungrateful wretch
that you will not give a son to be trained to preserve these
gifts of God. You have everything, gratis ; and you show
not a particle of gratitude, but you let God's kingdom and
men's souls' salvation go to ruin and help cast it down to
the ground.
Ought not God to be angry over this ? Ought not famine
come? Ought not pestilence, the sweating-sickness, and the
French disease find us ? Ought not blind folk, wild, raving
tyrants, rule? Ought not war and contention arise? Ought
not government in Germany become bad ? Ought not Turk
and Tartar plunder us? Nay, it would be no wonder if
God opened the doors and windows of hell and snowed and
hailed devils among us, or let brimstone and hell-fire rain
from heaven and sink us, all together, into the abyss of hell,
like Sodom and Gomorrah. For if Sodom and Gomorrah
had had or seen or heard as much as we, they would be
standing today. They were not one tenth as wicked as
Germany is, for they had not God's Word and the preaching
office, while we have both gratis, and act like men who want
God and His Word, and all moral control and honor to go
to ruin ; indeed, the fanatics have actually begun to suppress
1 i. c. Because they are supported by endowments.
Vol. IV. 12
176 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
the Word of God. The nobles and the rich men, too, have
attacked it to overthrow good morals and honor, so that we
may become the kind of people that we have deserved to be.
For what else are the Gospel and the preaching office that
we have than the blood and sweat of our Lord? He won
them by His anguished, bloody sweat, earned them by His
blood and Cross, and gave them to us. We have them with-
out any cost to ourselves, and have done nothing for them,
nor given anything. Ah, God ! How bitter it was for Him,
and yet how kindly and gladly He did it ! How greatly the
dear Apostles and all the saints suffered in order that these
things might come to us ! How many have been put to
death for them in our own time ! To speak of myself, too,
how many times I have had to suffer death for them, so that
I might serve my Germans with them! But all this is
nothing, compared with what Christ, God's Son and our dear
heart, has spent on them. And yet, by all this suffering, He
will have earned from us only this, some persecute this
office, and condemn, and slander it, and wish it to the devil;
while others keep hands off, support neither pastors nor
preachers, and give nothing toward their maintenance. Be-
sides this, they turn the children away from this office, so
that it will soon go to destruction, and Christ's blood and
agony be in vain; and yet, they go their ways undisturbed,
have no qualms of conscience, no repentance, and no sorrow
for this hellish and more than hellish ingratitude, this un-
speakable sin and blasphemy. They show neither fear nor
awe of God's wrath, neither desire nor love for the dear
Saviour in return for His bitter and hard pains. Neverthe-
less, with these terrible abominations they want to be Evan-
gelicals and Christians !
If this is the way that things are to go in Germany, I am
sorry that I was born a German, or ever wrote or spoke
German; and if I could do it with a good conscience, I
would give my aid and counsel to have the pope come back
over us, and oppress and shame and ruin us worse than ever
he did before. Formerly, when people served the devil and
put the blood of Christ to shame, all the purses were wide
A Sermon on Keeping Children in School 177
open, and there was no limit to men's giving to churches,
schools, and all sorts of abominations. Children could be
driven, pushed, and forced into monasteries, churches, foun-
dations, and schools, at unspeakable cost, and all of it was
lost, But now, when they are to found real schools and real
churches, nay, not found them, but keep them in repair,
for God has founded them and given enough even for their
maintenance, and we know what God's Word is and that to
honor Christ's blood is to found a real church, now, I say,
all the purses are closed with iron chains, and nobody can
give anything. And besides, they tear their children away,
and do not allow them to be supported by the churches (to
which we give nothing) and to enter these wholesome offices,
in which, without their effort they are cared for even in tem-
poral things, in order to serve God and honor and preserve
Christ's blood and pains; but they push them, rather, into
the jaws of Mammon, meanwhile treading Christ's blood
under foot; and yet they are good Christians!
I pray that God will graciously let me die 1 and take me
hence, that I may not see the misery that must come over
Germany. For I believe that if ten Moseses stood and
prayed for us, they would accomplish nothing. I feel, too,
when I would pray for my dear Germany, that my prayer
rebounds, and does not press up to heaven, as it does when
I pray for other things. For it shall be that God will save
Lot and sink Sodom. God grant that I am compelled to lie,
and be, in this matter, a false prophet! That would happen,
if we reformed, and honored our Lord's Word and His
precious blood and death otherwise than we have done here-
tofore, and helped and trained our young people for God's
offices, as has been said.
But I hold that it is the duty of the government to compel
its subjects to keep their children in school, especially those
children who were mentioned above. For it is truly its duty
to maintain the offices and classes that have been mentioned,
so that preachers, jurists, pastors, writers, physicians, school-
masters, and the like may continue, for we cannot do without
*Ich bitte Gott umb ein gnedigs stundlin.
178 A Sermon on Keeping Children in School
them. If it can compel its subjects who are fitted for the
work to carry pike and musket, man the walls, and do other
kinds of work, when war is necessary ; how much more can
it and ought it compel its subjects to keep their children in
school, because here there is a worse war on, a war with the
very devil, who goes about to suck out secretly the strength
of cities and princedoms, and empty them of able persons,
until he has bored out the pith, and left an empty shell of
useless folk, with whom he can play and juggle as he will.
That is, indeed, starving out a city or a land; it destroys
itself without battle, before one is aware of it. The Turk
acts differently. He takes every third child in his whole
empire and trains it for what he will. How much more
ought our lords take some boys for schooling, since that
does not take the child away from its parents, but is for
their own good too ; and it trains him for usefulness to the
community, and for an office in which enough is given him.
Therefore let everyone be on his guard who can. Let the
government, when it sees a promising boy, have him kept in
school; if the father is poor, let it help him with church
property. Let the rich make their wills with this work in
view, as some have done who have endowed stipends ; that is
the right way to bequeath your money to the Church. This
way you do not, to be sure, release departed souls from
purgatory, but by maintaining God's offices, you help the
living and those to come who are not yet born, so that they
do not get into purgatory, nay, so that they are released from
hell and go to heaven ; and you help the living to peace and
comfort. That would be a praiseworthy Christian testament,
and God would have delight and pleasure in it, and would
bless and honor you in return, by giving you pleasure and
joy in Him.
Well, then, dear Germans, I have said enough to you.
You have heard your prophet. God grant that we may obey
His Word, to praise and thank our dear Lord for His
precious blood, so freely offered for us ; and may He keep
us from the abominable wickedness of ingratitude and f orget-
fulness of His blessings. Amen.
THE BURNING OF FRIAR HENRY IN
DITHMARSCHEN
1525
INTRODUCTION
In the Netherlands with their hardy and independent population,
prepared by the preref ormatory labors of Pupper of Goch and Wesel,
the piety and schools of the Brethren of the Common Lot, and the
humanism of Erasmus, the Reformation found from the beginning a
fertile soil. Luther's teachings won adherents especially among his
Augustinian brethren, who belonged to the German congregation under
the leadership of Staupitz and later of Link. Foremost among 1 them
were the friars at Antwerp, men like Henry Voes, John Esch, Jacob
Propst, and Henry of Zutphen. To Voes and Esch, burned at
Brussels on July 1, 1523, fell the honor of being the first martyrs of
the evangelic cause. Propst, prior of the Antwerp monks since 1519,
whom Erasmus called "a pure Christian, who almost alone preaches
Christ," escaped a like fate in 1522 by a public recantation, but
became afterwards a trusted friend of Luther and labored faithfully
for thirty-six years in the evangelic ministry at Bremen. 1 Henry of
Zutphen, who succeeded him as prior, "outshone them all" when, at
the age of thirty-six, after escaping from prison in Antwerp and
laboring for two years in Bremen, he was burned at the stake in
Holstein on December 10, 1524.
Henry of Zutphen, this is the only name we know him by; he has
been variously called Moller, Moller, and Miiller,* but without war-
rant, was born about 1488 at Zutphen, a village in the province of
Geldern in the Netherlands ; entered the Augustinian order ; studied
at Wittenberg, 1508, becoming bachelor of philosophy in 1509 and
master in 1511. He served as sub-prior at Cologne, 1514, and as
prior at Dort, 1515. In 1520 he returned to Wittenberg, becoming an
intimate friend of Luther and Melanchthon, and took his bachelor of
divinity degree in 1521, defending theses on Justification, which three
years later he submitted to the archbishop of Bremen. 8 In the sum-
mer of 1522 he left Wittenberg for Antwerp, where he succeeded
Propst as prior and became the leader of the reform movement.
Here he was taken prisoner on September 29, 1522, by Margaret of
Savoy, regent of the Netherlands,* but was immediately liberated by
the populace including thousands of women, and after several days of
hiding made his escape. Intending to return once more to Wittenberg,
he stopped at Bremen, where he was called as preached at St. Ansgar's
1 See below, p. 187. * See below, p. 190.
a Prot. Realenc., 15,268-9. * See below, p. 190.
(181)
182 The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen
chapel in November, 1522, and obtained Luther's permission, in the
absence of his vicar general Link, to accept the call. 1 After a richly
blessed ministry at Bremen, toward the close of which Jacob Propst
and John Timann became his colleagues at Our Dear Lady and
St. Martin's respectively, he accepted a call to conduct a preaching
mission at Meldorf in Dithmarschen, between the Elbe and Eider
rivers in western Holstem. Here he preached his first sermon on
the Second Sunday in Advent, December 4, 1524, and on the following
Saturday, December 10, was burned at the stake in the nearby village
of Heide by a band of drunken peasants instigated by the ecclesiastical
and civil authorities.
The sad tidings was immediately communicated to Luther by
Propst, heart-broken at the calamity and deeply shamed by the
recollection of his own cowardice almost three years ago. The letter
was intended originally for the Augustinian brethren at Antwerp, but
the messenger having departed, Propst sent it to Luther after adding
a paragraph in which he besought him to send a letter of consolation
to the church at Bremen. 3
With this request Luther was glad to comply. The death of Voes
and Esch, a year and a half before, had stirred in him emotions that
could be released only in verse; in their memory he had sung his
first hymn, "Ein neues Lied wir heben an," 3 and had written a com-
forting letter to the Christians in the Netherlands.* Now again, no
less deeply moved, he put together the story of Henry's martyrdom,
relying on the data in Propst's letter as well as on other information,
prefixed to it a devotional exposition of Psalm ix, and dedicated the
whole in a prefatory epistle of truly apostolic tone to the Christians
at Bremen. Wisely he adopted the simple and direct style of the old
chronicle writers, keeping himself and his emotions in the background,
and achieved a "beautiful bare narrative" the equal of anything in
Foxe's "Book of Martyrs." Thus Von Bruder Henrico
ynn Diedmar verbrand is one of the most beautiful and
tender of Luther's writings and deserves a place in the first rank of
all his works.
The writing, whose date is either February or March, 1525, is
found in the various editions of Luther's Works at the following
places: Weimar, 18, 215-250; Erlangen, 26 a , 400-426; 53,
347-354; Berlin, 7, 275-302; Walch, 21, 94-121; St.
Louis, 21 a, 687-709. The major portion of it is given also,
with excellent linguistic notes, in R. NEUBAUER, Martin Luther,
I (5. and 6. ed., 1913), 191-205.
The following literature should be consulted: J. F.
l NDERS, 4, 89.
3 Propst's letter in ENDERS, 5, 90-94.
8 See Berlin Ed,, 8, 23. Cf. KOSTLIJT-KAWERAU, I, 607-8.
4 Wei mar Ed., 12, 73-80; SMITH-JACOBS, Luther's Corres-
pondence, II, 194-6.
Introduction 183
He in rich von Zutphen (1886); BERTHEAU in Prot.
Realenc. (3. ed.), 21, 735-742; KALKOFF, Die Anfange
der Gegenr ef or mation in den Niederlanden
(1903); LINDSAY, History of the Reformation (1916,
reprint), II, 224-234; KOSTUN-KAWERAU, Martin Luther (5.
ed, 1903), I, 603-620.
The spot at Heide where Friar Henry was burned has been marked,
since 1830, by a simple monument. Claus Harms, whose first parish
was in Lunden, 1 retold his story in 1817, and Claus Groth, the most
artistic of German dialect poets (born, at Heide in 1819), celebrated
him in verse, both in the Low German dialect. That Friar Henry's
memory still lives among the common folk of Holstein is seen from a
passing reference in Gustav Frenssen's Dorfpredigten (88th
thousand, 1921) in which his marytyrdom is mentioned as equally well
known with that of John Huss.
A. T. W. STEINHAEUSER.
ALLENTOWN,
PENNSYLVANIA
1 See below, p. 196.
THE BURNING OF FRIAR HENRY IN
DITHMARSCHEN
1525
Martin Luther, Preacher at Wittenberg,
to all beloved and elect friends of God in Christ
at Bremen.
Grace and peace from God our Father and our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Most dearly beloved in Christ: Having gathered from
trustworthy and upright witnesses 1 the true history of the
martyrdom of your evangelist, the blessed Friar Henry, I
was unwilling that it should remain hidden or be but imper-
fectly known. I liave resolved to publish it, therefore, to
the praise and glory of divine grace, which has in these days
been so abundantly bestowed upon us condemned, lost, and
unworthy sinners that we not only have, hear, and read the
pure Word of God and see it rise, as the sun in his bright-
ness, upon many lands, but also perceive and experience how
the Spirit of God is confirming and establishing this Word
with mighty and heroic deeds, as He has been wont to do
from the beginning. Above all, He has given us brave and
bold hearts, so that in many places both preachers and hearers
are daily being added to the number of the saints, some shed-
ding their blood, others being cast into prison, still others
driven into exile, and all enduring the shame of the cross of
Christ. Now hath appeared again the form of a true Chris-
tian life, terrible indeed with suffering and persecution in
the world's eyes, but precious and well pleasing in the sight
of God; as it is said in the Psalter, "Precious in the sight of
1 Among others, Pastor Propst of Bremen. See Introduction, p. 181.
(184)
The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen 185
the Lord is the death of His saints," and again in Psalm ** 72:
Ixxii, "Precious shall their blood be in His sight/' 14
Of these your Henry Zutphen doth verily outshine all,
who endured so shameful a martyrdom in Dithmarschen for
the sake of the Word of God, and mightily sealed the Gospel
with 'his blood. Howbeit John and Henry o Brussels, 1 the
first martyrs of all, became likewise two bright and shining
lights through their good death, being offered as a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savor. With them belong also
Caspar Tauber burned at Vienna,* and George the bookseller
in Hungary.* I have heard recently of still another who was
burned at Prague in Bohemia for leaving his order of impure
chastity and entering the divine estate of matrimony, the
order of pure chastity. 4 These and their like will drown in
their blood the papacy with its god the devil; they will also
preserve the Word of God in its truth and purity from the
unclean prof aners, the new false prophets, 1 who are nowadays
bestirring themselves and breaking forth everywhere. For it
is certain that God is suffering them to die and pour out
their blood in these days when divers heresies and schisms
are arising, in order through them to admonish us and to
bear witness that this doctrine, which they taught and kept
and for which they shed their blood, is indeed the true doc-
trine and confers the true Spirit; even as aforetime the holy
martyrs died for the sake of the Gospel and sealed and certi-
fied it unto us with their blood.
No such glory was ever obtained by those who have misled
the world with their doctrines of works, human righteous-
ness, and free will. For such doctrines the devil puts no one
to death; he suffers their adherents gladly, nay he grants
them great riches and the honor and power of this world, so
that they are at peace and lead a pleasant life. Even though
they died for those doctrines, they would be no martyrs of
God, but their own and the devil's martyrs. The very
*John Esch and Henry Vocs, See Introduction.
*A wealthy merchant of Vienna, beheaded and Burned on September 17,
1524. Cf. ENDERS, 5, 46, 53-4.
Burned with his books at Pesth. Cf. ENDKK*, 5, 54.
4 Nothing further is known of this martyr.
Carlstadt, Munzer, and followers.
186 The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen
heathen have endured death for their temporal rights, goods,
Rom. and honor; as St. Paul says, in Romans v, that peradventure
5:7 some one might die for a good thing 1 (that is, for things the
world counts good, such as riches, honor, and power), but
for a righteous thing 1 one will scarcely die. But to die for
the Word of God and for faith, that is a precious, fine, and
noble death, possible only to the Spirit and sons of God. To
endure such a death is to die for the unrighteous and even
for those who put us to death, and to intercede for them in
18 33*12 dying; as Christ did according to Isaiah, "And made inter-
cession for the transgressors." Hence we read of no in-
stance of a Christian dying for the doctrine of free will and
of works, nor for anything else than the Word of God.
Forasmuch, then, as our merciful Lord has so graciously
visited you at Bremen, and has drawn very near to you and
given you through this same Henry so plain and tangible a
demonstration of His Spirit and power, I have thought fit
to write down for you and to publish the narrative of his
sufferings, in order to admonish you in Christ not to mourn,
nor to speak ill of his murderers, but rather to rejoice and
to thank and praise God, who has made you meet to behold
and possess these His wonders and gifts of grace. As for
those murderers, they have already suffered retribution
enough and more than enough, having so horribly stained
their hands with innocent blood, and heaped up such great
and terrible guilt in the sight of God, that there is far more
reason to weep and lament for them than for the blessed
Henry, and to pray that not they alone but the whole land
of Dithmarschen may be converted and come to the knowl-
edge of the truth. This fruit of Henry's martyrdom is the
more confidently to be expected, since many in that land are
already turning eagerly to the Gospel and regret this murder
committed among them. For God, who permitted the blessed
Henry to suffer in that place, verily intends not only to
punish the ungodly, if they do not repent, but to turn this
1 Thtis Luther translated in the earlier editions of his New Testament; later
he put "for a good man" and "for a righteous man." Tyndale had the Utter
from the beginning.
The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen 187
murder into a blessing to many in that land and to bring
them thereby to eternal life. 1
I pray you, in the name of God, to take a hearty interest
in the dear folk at Dithmarschen, and to show them all
friendly comfort and aid, so that they too may come over to
our side. For I hear that many are incensed beyond measure
at the monks for bringing this outrage upon their land. That
is a good spark, kindled by God; it will surely spread into a
fine flame, if you treat it with kind and gentle spirit, so that
it be not quenched.
I commend to you your preacher, Jacob Propst, 3 together
with the other preachers, whom may God strengthen with
you all, and grant you grace to hold fast the doctrine sealed
with Henry's blood, and to follow cheerfully, should God
require it, in his footsteps. Amen.
All our brethren in Christ salute you. Pray for us. The
grace of God be with you. Amen.
THE HISTORY OF FRIAR HENRY ZUTPHEN
In the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred and
two and twenty came Henry to Bremen, not intending to
preach there, for he was on 'his way to Wittenberg, having
been driven by the tyrants out of Antwerp for the Gospel's
sake. But being requested by certain good Christians to
preach them a sermon, he consented out of Christian love,
and delivered his first sermon on the Sunday next before
1 Here follows a devotional exposition of Psalm ix, which is omitted in the
translation.
a Jacob Propst, or Praepositus, born at Ypres in last decade of 15th century;
entered Augustinian order; studied at Wittenberg, 1519; became prior of
Antwerp in same year; praised by Erasmus. Back in Wittenberg, 1521, bachelor
of theology; returned to Antwerp in same year. Imprisoned at Brussels, where
he escaped death by recanting, February 9, 1522. Once more in Wittenberg,
1523; wrote a penitent history of his persecutions; on intimate terms with
Luther; married a close friend of Frau Katie, 1523: Pastor for thirty-six
years at Our Dear Lady in Bremen, beginning 1524; in correspondence with
Luther; sponsor for Luther's youngest daughter Margaret. Died, 1562. See
Realenc.
188 The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen
St. Martin's Day/ When the people heard him and perceived
that he taught the Word of God, the whole congregation of
the parish earnestly besought and invited him to remain with
them and declare to them the Word of God, which he was
agreed to undertake for a season.
Now as soon as this became known to the socalled spirit-
uals, namely, the canons with the monks and priests, they
put forth every effort to suppress and cast out both him and
the Word of God, for the sake of their greed, as is the
custom in all lands. To this end they petitioned the honor-
able and wise council to expel that wicked heretic, forasmuch
as his teaching and preaching were against the holy Chris-
tian Church. Upon which the honorable council summoned
the trustees and elders of the parish in which Henry
preached, and laid before them the accusation of the chapter
and of all the clergy,
The trustees of the parish replied that to the best of their
knowledge they had engaged a godly and learned preacher,
who taught them the Word of God in its truth and purity.
If, however, the chapter or anyone else, great or small,
could bring proof that he had taught contrary to God's
Word or preached any other heresy, they would by no means
suffer this nor retain him in office, but would assist the
chapter in bringing him to book. If, on the other hand, the
gentlemen of the chapter with the other clergy could fasten
no charge upon him of having taught contrary to God's Word,
but were minded to displace him forcibly and without any
fault on his part, they would by no means permit this to be
done. They respectfully prayed the honorable council, there-
fore, not to expect them to take this action, but to leave them
in the enjoyment of their legal rights; they, on their part,
would see that their preacher conformed at all times to the
law. This reply the honorable council communicated by
messenger to the chapter. When the spirituals perceived that
they could accomplish nothing with good words, they resorted
to anger and threats, ran off forthwith to their bishop* and
1 November 9, 1522.
a Christopher of Brunswick, archbishop of Bremen and Verden (1511-58),
a brother of Duke Henry of Brunswick- Wolff enbiittel.
The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen 189
notified him that the Bremers 'had turned heretics and re-
fused obedience to their clergy, with many lamentations
about the danger of the whole land being led astray.
Then the bishop despatched two of his councilors to
Bremen with orders that the monk be sent to him. On being
questioned for what reason he was to be delivered up, they
replied that he preached against Holy Church; asked to
indicate in what articles, they had no answer. One of the
councilors was the suffragan bishop of the preaching friars, 1
who did his utmost to bring the monk into his power, fearing
he might otherwise find himself without a job. The honor-
able council finally made them the following reply: Foras-
much as the preacher they had engaged had not been refuted
from Holy Scripture, and no one was able to point out any
article in which he preached error, they saw no way to induce
their citizens to let him go ; therefore they respectfully prayed
their gracious lord bishop to send his foremost scholars to
Bremen, to hold a disputation with their preacher. If the
latter were found to be in error, they would impose on him
a fitting punishment and expel him; but if not, they could
not see their way to dismiss him. To this the suffragan
replied, beseeching them earnestly, for the peace of the whole
land, to deliver up the preacher to him, with many protesta-
tions that he sought only the salvation of their souls. But
in vain ; for the Bremers held to their original reply.
Thereupon the suffragan departed in high dudgeon from
Bremen, and refused afterwards in the greatness of his
anger to confirm the children of those heretics. On return-
ing to his lord, he submitted to him the above reply together
with what he had learned from the priests and monks.
After this, when each day brought fresh tidings of how the
preacher was daily delivering stronger and stronger sermons
against the clergy', they changed their tactics and sent esti-
mable men to warn the Bremers of the harm that would come
upon their city through their preacher violating the decree o
His Holiness the Pope and His Majesty the Emperor; they
1 Suffragan Michde of the Dominican order.
190 The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen
also made known that he was a prisoner of Lady Margaret's, 1
which was likely to bring heavy damages upon them, and
they published threatening letters from Lady Margaret de-
manding his surrender. All to no avail; for to all of this
the honorable council replied invariably, in writing and by
word of mouth, in the most unobjectionable manner. Then
the bishop and his crowd concocted another scheme to sup-
press the Word of God ; they called a provincial synod, not
at Bremen as is customary, but at Buxtehude, where they
might be free to deal with Friar Henry as they pleased. To
which synod they cited and summoned all the prelates and
scholars in the whole bishopric, for the purpose of discussing
matters of faith and practice.
To this synod the preacher also was cited, but with the
difference that he was to be proceeded against as a heretic,
notwithstanding he had not been convicted nor tried. The
elders, therefore, with the whole parish refused to let their
preacher attend; for the malice of the papists was apparent
to all. Friar Henry, however, drew up a summary of his
preaching, that is, of the things he taught and believed, in
brief articles, 3 which he sent to the archbishop with a letter
in which he showed his innocence and the correctness of his
articles, and offered, if they could show from Scripture that
he was in error, to give up and recant such error, only they
must show it from Holy Scripture, for he was able to prove
his teaching and preaching from Scripture.
This offer they rejected together with the articles, for he
had no reply. What decision they reached may be gathered,
however, from the fact that immediately afterwards they
ordered the bull of Pope Leo X s and the imperial edict
Issued at Worms* to be published and posted up. Neverthe-
less, the good preacher continued his sermons without inter-
ruption, constantly declaring himself willing and ready to
answer to everyone for his doctrine and preaching. Mean-
while the papists were not idle, but sent their chaplains every
1 See Introduction, p. 181. a See Introduction, p. 181.
The bull against Luther, announced June 15. 1520, and published January
3, 1521.
*May 8, 1521.
The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen 191
day to his services, thinking to entangle him in his words.
But God showed forth his marvelous works and brought
certain of them to repentance, so that the greater part of
the chaplains they sent acknowledged such doctrine and
preaching to be the truth and from God, which no one could
withstand, for they had never in their lives heard such doc-
trine from any man. Wherefore they ought to have ceased
from their evil ways and from persecuting God's Word and
to have come to faith, that so they might be saved ; but their
wickedness had blinded them and hardened them like unto
Pharaoh, so that they became only the more wicked, accord-
ing to their deserts. And though they daily cried, "Heresy !
heresy !" not one of all the monks has been able to this day
to say a word against his preaching, no nor ever will be.
Now when Almighty God beheld the time approaching
that the good Henry should bear witness with his blood to
the truth he had proclaimed, He sent him into the midst of
the murderers whom He had raised up for this purpose. For
it came to pass, in the year four and twenty after Christ,
that he was called by Pastor Nicolas Boye 1 and other good
Christians of the parish of Meldorf in Dithmarschen to
proclaim to them the Word of God and deliver them from
the jaws of Antichrist, who had there set up a mighty
kingdom. Which call he accepted as from God and prom-
ised to come to them. On St. Catharine's Eve a he invited six
good brethren and fellow citizens to his house, to whom he
made known his call to Dithmarschen and his decision to go
thither to see what God would accomplish through him ; for
he was in duty bound to preach the Word of God not only
to them at Bremen, but to whosoever desired it. He prayed
them to advise him how he might most readily proceed
thither without the whole congregation knowing it and seek-
ing to prevent him, which they would certainly have done.
The good Christians besought him to remain with them, and
to consider how little hold the Gospel had gained upon the
*A member of one of the first families in Dithmarschen; born about 1500;
studied at Wittenberg:, 1518 ff.; returned to his homeland in 1523, where he
was given charge of the parish of Meldorf; died, 1542.
"November 24.
192 The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen
populace, especially in the surrounding towns, and that the
persecution was still strong; and to consider that he had
been called by them to preach the Word of God. If the
Dithmarschers desired a preacher, let him send them some
one else; for they well knew what manner of folk the
Dithmarschers were. Moreover, they told him, they could
not let him depart without the consent of the entire parish.
Henry acknowledged that he had been called by them, but
replied that they had enough pious and learned men to preach
to them; 1 the papists, moreover, were in large measure dis-
credited, even women and children being able to see through
and reject their foolishness; besides, they had had him for
two years, while the Dithmarschers had no preacher at all;
wherefore he could not with a good conscience refuse their
request. As to their not being able to dismiss him without
the knowledge and consent of the whole congregation, that
carried no weight, for it was not his intention to leave them
for good and all; his plan was to remain in Dithmarschen
for only a short time, say one or two months, until he had
laid a foundation by his personal presence and preaching, and
then to return to Bremen. It was his desire and request,
therefore, that after his departure they should make known
to the congregation the call which had come to him and which
he had not been able to decline, and that they should explain
to them the reasons for his secret departure; for he must
needs leave secretly on account of his enemies, who sought
to harm him, lying in wait day and night, as they themselves
knew, to put him out of the way. He assured them also
that he would ere long be back among them again. With
these words he convinced them, so that they suffered him to
depart; for it was their hope that the Dithmarschers, who
are oppressed above other people with idolatry, might come
to a true knowledge of the Word of God.
Accordingly, on Monday of the first week in Advent,*
Henry set out through the midst of the diocese of Bremen
on his way to Dithmarschen, and came to Meldorf , whither
he had been called, and where he was received with great joy
1 e. g., Propst and Timann. "November 28.
The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen 193
by the pastor of the parish and other good Christians* As
soon as he arrived, and before he had preached a sermon,
the devil with his members flew into a rage and stirred up in
particular Augustine Torneborch, the prior of the Black
Cloister (the monks of which are called Jacobins 1 or preach-
ing friars), who ran pell-mell to his comrade Master John
Snicken, the vicar or commissioner of the official of Ham-
burg, with whom he consulted what had best be done to
prevent their kingdom from falling.
They finally decided that they must before all else prevent
him from preaching; for if he were to preach before the
common people, their knavery would be exposed and the
game would be up. For they were well aware of what had
happened at Bremen. This decision having been reached,
the prior of the preaching monks set out early next morning,
having passed a poor night what with his great anxiety, and
journeyed to Heide, it ws the Saturday before the Second
Sunday in Advent, and appeared before the eight and forty
regents of the whole province, making bitter accusation and
notifying them that the monk had come from Bremen with
the purpose of leading the whole land of Dithmarschen
astray, just as he had done in Bremen. The prior was sup-
ported by Master Giinther, the clerk of the province, and by
Peter Nannen, both sworn enemies of the Word of God.
The two of them most zealously abetted him, and represented
to the remaining six and forty regents, who were unlearned
and plain men, what a name they could make for themselves
in all the Low Countries, and especially how they might earn
the undying gratitude of the Bishop of Bremen, if they put
this heretic monk to death. On hearing this the poor simple-
tons straightway passed a written resolution to kill him, a
man they had not even laid eyes on, much less tried and
convicted.
The prior, in short, obtained a letter or mandate from
the eight and forty regents for the pastor of the parish, com-
manding him, under full penalty of the law, to expel the monk
1 Dominican friars, called Jacobins because their first convent in Paris wa.s
in. a hospice bearing the name of St. Jacques.
194 The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen
before ever he preached a sermon. Armed with this letter
the prior set out post-haste for Meldorf , and delivered it to
the good pastor during the night, hoping to prevent Henry
from preaching ; for he knew well enough how much was at
stake. When the pastor read the letter or mandate, he was
greatly astonished at its contents, because it was contrary to
custom for the eight and forty to interfere in Church mat-
ters, since the right to manage its own affairs belonged to
the whole congregation of the parish according to the ancient
custom of the province. For ever since its adoption by the
whole province, it has been a standing rule that every parish
has the right to appoint and dismiss its pastor or preacher
of its own free choice.
The pastor apprised Friar Henry of the contents of the
letter, and informed him also of the usage and custom of
the province. To which Henry replied that, having been
called by the whole parish to preach the Word of God, he
would abide by this call so long as it was the pleasure of the
whole congregation; for we must obey the Word of God
rather than man. If God was minded to let him perish in
Dithmarschen, it was no farther to heaven from there than
from another place; he must in any case shed his blood at
some time for the Word of God.
In this mood he mounted the pulpit on the following
Sunday, 1 and preached his first sermon, from the words of
Rom. i:9 Paul in Romans i, "God is my witness," etc., and from the
Lk. 21: Gospel for the day. At the close of the service the whole
25 " 36 parish was called together and the letter of the eight and
forty regents, brought by the aforesaid prior, was read to
them, in which they were ordered, under penalty of a thou-
sand Rhenish gulden, to prevent the monk from preaching,
as well as to send accredited delegates to Heide, where a
session of the provincial council was to be held for disposal
of an important matter.
On hearing this letter read they became exceedingly angry
that such a mandate had been sent them altogether contrary
to the custom of the province, according to which every
1 Decanter 4.
The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen 195
parish had the right to elect as its preacher whomever it
pleased; and they decided unanimously to retain and protect
the good Henry as their preacher, having been profoundly
stirred by the first sermon they had heard him preach. In
the afternoon Henry preached again, from Paul's words in
Romans xv, "We then that are strong," etc. 15:1
On the Monday following, the people of Meldorf sent two
delegates to Heide, declaring themselves ready to argue their
cause with anyone in the whole province and making known
what Christian sermons they had heard Henry preach. In
addition thereto, the pastor wrote a letter to the eight and
forty regents, informing them that neither he nor Henry
had any intention of fomenting trouble, but only of teaching
the pure and uncorrupted Word of God, and offering to
defend his cause and Friar Henry's against all comers. He
humbly prayed them not to trust the monks, who were seek-
ing from hatred and greed to suppress the truth, nor to
condemn the Word of God, but first of all to investigate the
whole truth and to condemn no one unheard. If they were
found to be in the wrong, they were ready to take their
punishment.
This offer with the testimony was ignored and not an-
swered. All talked, some saying one thing, others another.
Finally Peter Detleves, one of the elders, took the floor.
"Since there is great dissension in all lands," said he, "in
matters of faith, and since we as the most unlearned and
ignorant are not able to settle such questions, it is our sincere
opinion that the matter should be postponed until the coming
council, which is to be called in the near future, as we have
been informed by our clerk, Master Gtinther. Whatever our
good friends and neighbors hold and believe at that time, we
are willing to accept But if, as it is claimed, the Word of
God is not being taught dearly enough, and anyone is able to
teach it more clearly and more purely, we have no intention
of forbidding it, for we want no disturbance in our land.
Everyone ought therefore to be patient and let the matter rest
until next Eastertide; in the meantime it will perhaps be
discovered what is right and what is wrong." This solution
196 The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen
pleased them all, and the delegates from Meldorf returned
home and made their report with great joy to the assembled
parish, hoping all would turn out well.
On the Day of St. Nicholas, Bishop, 1 he preached two
Lk 19 j sermons ; the first on the gospel, "A certain nobleman/' etc.,
12-25 the second from the text, "And they truly were many
7/23 priests/' etc., with so much spirit that everyone marveled
and prayed God earnestly to let them keep such a preacher
a long time. On the Feast of the Conception of Mary 3 he
preached two sermons from the gospel, "The book of genera-
tion/' etc., setting forth the promises of Christ made to the
fathers and the faith which they met, and showing how we
too must be saved by such faith without any merit on our
part. All this he set forth with so much spirit that everyone
marveled and thanked God fervently for sending them such
a preacher; for they now saw plainly how they had been
duped by the monks and priests. They also besought him
earnestly to tarry with them over Christmas and preach twice
each day ; for they were afraid he might be called elsewhere.
Meanwhile the prior and Master John Snicken were not idle.
For when the prior found his malice accomplishing nothing,
he repaired with Doctor William* of the preaching friars to
Lunden to the grey monks, called barefoot friars or Minor-
ites/ in order to seek aid and counsel how to carry out his
purpose; for those monks have great skill to deceive poor
wights with their dissembling.
The grey friars at once summoned several of the regents,
namely, Peter Nannen, Peter Swin, and Claus Roden, and
showed them with great lamentation, as is their wont, how
the heretic was preaching and misleading the people, a part
of whom had become his adherents. Unless they saw to it
and put the heretic to death, the worship of Mary together
with the two holy convents would be overthrown. That was
the "Scripture" with which they thought to destroy the
heretic, and thus it came to pass. When the poor simpletons
heard this they became angry, and Peter Swin declared that
* December 6. 8 William Soltezenlmsetx of Hamburg.
t December 8. * Franciscans.
The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen 197
they had written to the pastor as well as to Henry how they
were to conduct themselves; if necessary, they would write
again. To this the prior replied, "Not so: you must go
about it in a different way; for if you begin writing to the
heretic he will reply, and as sure as you live you will be
drawn into the same heresy before you know it; for when
he begins to speak, it is impossible for anyone to withstand
him/' Then they decided that he must be taken secretly by
night and at once burned at the stake, before it became known
to the people and before ever he could open his mouth. This
plan pleased them all mightily, and none more than the grey
monks.
To carry out the plan, Peter Nannen, a particular friend
of the prior's and willing to curry favor, took unto himself
several leaders from other villages, with the aid and advice
of Master Gunther. One should in fairness mention no
names; but since fame is what they were out after, they
ought not to be deprived of it. These are the names of the
ringleaders: Peter Nannen, Peter Swin's son, Henning of
Lunden, John Holm, Lorenz Hannemann, Ludwig Hanne-
mann, Bostel John Preen, Claus of Weslingburen, Brosi
John of Wockenhausen, Marquard Kramer, of Benstedt,
Ludecke John of Wessling, and Peter Grossvogt of Hem-
mingstedt. These leaders together with the others that were
with them were ordered to the parish of Neuenkirchen, where
they met at the house of Master Gunther, to consult how
to capture the good Henry and prevent his speaking; for
they had already passed sentence upon him that he should
be burned.
They agreed to meet on the morrow after the Conception
of Mary 1 at Hemmingstedt, a half mile from Meldorf, and
they strictly guarded the roads into Meldorf , so that no one
might warn the people of that village. It was ordered that
at nightfall, at the sound of the Ave Maria bell, the men of
all the villages should assemble. In all there came together
about five hundred peasants. When they were assembled,
* December 9.
198 The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen
the purpose of the summons was announced to them; for
no one but the leaders knew what was in the wind. When
the common men heard what it was, they were minded to
turn back and not commit so wicked a deed. But the leaders
commanded them, on pain of life and goods, to proceed.
They had also consumed three butts of Hamburg beer, which
put them in fighting mood. So they came fully armed to
Meldorf at midnight on the stroke of twelve.
The Jacobins or preaching friars provided them with
lights and torches to see by, lest the good Henry should
escape. They had also a traitor with them, Henning's Hans
by name, who told them everything. They broke into the
parsonage and after the manner of drunken, senseless peas-
ants, smashed everything within, cans, pots, clothing, cups;
but whatever they found of silver or gold, they took along.
They burst into the pastor's bedroom, smiting and stabbing,
and crying, "Kill him ! kill him !" A part of them drove him
naked into the muddy road, arrested him, and bade him come
with them. The others cried, "Let him go! We have no
orders to arrest him." After wreaking their malice on the
pastor, they burst in upon good Friar Henry, dragged him
naked from his bed, beating and stabbing after the fashion
of mad, drunken peasants, and tied his hands tightly behind
his back. Thus they dragged and thrust him until even
Peter Nannen was moved with pity, he that was so venomous
a foe of the Word of God, and bade them let him walk
unmolested, he would be sure to follow. They gave him in
charge of Balke John as his leader, who did not so much
lead as drag him along.*
When they had brought him to Hemmingstedt, they asked
him how he had come into their province and what he wanted
there. He answered them courteously and told them the
truth, so that even they were moved and cried out, "Away
with him! If we listened long to him, we should become
heretics too." He then begged them to set him on a horse,
for he was weary and spent and his feet were very sore
1 Propst, in his letter to Luther, tells that they dragged Henry, bound to the
tail of a horse, as far as Heide. ENDEBS, 5, 92*
The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen 199
from having walked and been led, naked and barefoot,
through the cold night and over icy roads. At this they broke
out into mocking laughter and asked if they must needs keep
a stable for the heretic; it was too bad, but he would have to
go afoot. Thus they dragged him through the night as far
as Heide, where they took him to the house of one Raldenes,
and were about to make him fast with iron chains, when the
householder took pity on him and would not permit this.
Upon his refusal to let them have their way they brought the
good Henry to the house of a priest named Reimer Hotzeck,
an underling of the official of Hamburg, where they locked
him in the cellar and set the drunken peasants on guard,
who had their sport with him till morning. Among others
there came to him Simon the priest of Altenworden, and
Christian the priest of Neuenklrchen, both most ignorant
persecutors of God's Word, who asked him why he had laid
off the sacred habit. He answered them courteously from
Scripture, but they understood not what he said.
Master Giinther also came to him, inquiring whether he
wished to be sent to the bishop of Bremen or would rather
take his punishment in Dithmarschen, Henry replied, "If I
had taught or done anything unchristian you might indeed
punish me for it; the will of God be done." Upon this
Master Giinther cried, "Listen to him, dear friends ; he wants
to die in Dithmarschen." But the common folk with one
accord gave themselves all night long to their guzzling. In
the morning at eight a council was held in the marketplace,
to deliberate what was to be done. The full peasants
shouted, "Only burn him ! On to the fire ! Thus we shall
gain today favor with God and man ; for the longer we let
him live, the more persons will he pervert with his heresy.
Where is the good of long deliberation? He must die in
any case." In this manner the good Henry was condemned
unheard to the stake.
Announcement was then made that all who had assisted in
his capture were to march with their weapons to the fire.
The grey or barefoot friars were on hand, encouraging the
wretched creatures and saying, "Now you are going about
200 The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen
the matter in the right way," and urging on the poor, pitiable
drunken folk. Then they took him and bound him, neck and
feet and hands, and led him away with loud shouts to the
fire. A woman standing in her doorway saw them pass and
began to weep bitterly at the pitiable sight. To whom the
good Henry said, "My dear woman, weep not for me." When
he was come to the place where the fire was prepared, he sat
down upon the ground for utter weariness. Then came up
the magistrate, Schosser Maes, bribed to take this part, as it
is credibly reported, 1 and condemned Friar Henry to the fire,
pronouncing sentence in these words, "This scoundrel has
preached against the Mother of God and against the Christian
faith; wherefore, on behalf of my gracious lord the Bishop
of Bremen, I condemn him to the fire." Friar Henry replied,
"That I have not done; but as Thou wilt, O Lord!" and lift-
ing up his eyes to heaven, he said, "Lord, forgive them, for
they know not what they do. Thy name alone is holy, O
heavenly Father."
Then a good Christian woman, Claus Jungen's wife and
sister to Peter Nannen, a resident of Meldorf , came forward
and standing before the fire offered to go to the whipping
post and let them wreak their anger upon her, and besides to
give a thousand gulden, if they would put the man in ward
again until the following Monday, when he might be tried
before the court of the whole province and thereafter burned.
When they heard that they went stark mad with fury, and
struck the woman to the ground and trampled upon her.
They rained blows upon the good martyr of Christ ; one man
drove his smallsword into his skull; but John Holm of
Neuenkirchen beat him with a mace ; the rest stabbed him in
the sides, the back, the arms, wherever they could come at
him, and not once, but as often as he attempted to speak.
Master Giinther incited and urged on the crowd, saying,
"Go to, my fine fellows ! this is God's work !" Presently the
aforesaid Master Giinther brought up an ignorant grey friar
to shrive him. To whom said the martyr of Christ, "My
ipropst informed Luther that Maes did not hold the office of magistrate at
the time, and that he received ten florins for his work. ENDEKS, 5, 92.
The Burning of Friar Henry in Dithmarschen 201
brother, have I ever offended thee in any way or provoked
thee to anger ?" "Why, no!" replied the monk. "Then,"
said good Friar Henry, "what sin should I confess to
thee that thou shouldest forgive me ?" The grey monk was
covered with confusion and withdrew.
Now the fire would not burn, how often soever they
kindled it. Meanwhile they wreaked their fury upon him,
beating him with halberds and pikes. This they did by the
space of about two hours, during which time he stood before
the peasants naked but for his shirt, with eyes lifted to
heaven. At last they brought a long ladder, to which they
bound him very tight, in order to cast him into the fire.
Then began the good martyr of Christ to recite the Creed,
but one of them struck 'him on the mouth with his fist, bid-
ding him burn first, after which he might recite whatever
he pleased. Another stood with one foot upon his breast and
bound him about the neck to a rung of the ladder, so firmly
that the blood gushed from his mouth and nose ; his purpose
was to strangle him, for he perceived that for all his many
wounds he could not die.
Thereupon they raised him up together with the ladder.
One of them set his halberd against the ladder to assist in
raising it; for the province has no hangman. The halberd
glanced off and pierced the holy martyr of Christ through
the midst. Thus they cast the good man with the ladder upon
the wood. But the ladder fell to one side. John Holm then
ran forward, took his mace, and beat it upon his breast until
he died and never stirred more. Thus they roasted him upon
the coals, for the wood refused to burn.
That is in brief the true history of the suffering of the
holy martyr Henry of Zutphen.
AN ADMONITION TO PEACE:
A REPLY TO
THE TWELVE ARTICLES OF THE PEASANTS
IN SWABIA
1525
INTRODUCTION
The Peasants' War of 1525 is the most tragic episode in the history
of the Reformation in Germany. No student of Luther's life and
work can pass by the writings in which he expressed his views about
it. They are fundamental to an understanding of his conceptions of
society, of the state, and of the relation of the Gospel to both. We
have in them, also, the key to the subsequent development of the
Lutheran churches of Germany, with their repression of the demo-
cratic element in church government and their close dependence upon
the territorial states.
The social ferment, out of which the Peasants' War arose, had its
beginning far back of the Reformation, It had been in progress for
a full century before the Reformation began, and evidences of it can
be found in England and France, as well as in Germany. The causes
of social movements of this land are always difficult to trace. They
are primarily psychological. Revolutions and rebellions are the
product of states of mind, and the processes by which economic and
material conditions beget mental states are seldom visible to the eye
of the historian.
Nevertheless, it is possible to name with certainty some 01 the
causes of this social ferment. One of them was the ambition of the
peasant for a higher social status, far a recognition of his value to the
life of society, conferred in the form of privileges and exemptions,
which was the only form of recognition that the time understood. A
second cause, corollary to the former, was the peasant's dissatisfaction
with the economic burdens that he had to bear. A third cause was
the increased demands that were made upon the peasants as the feudal
system gradually gave way before the rising power of the territorial
state. The efforts of the smaller feudal land-holders to maintain
themselves in the face of the growing authority of the great princely
houses required resources that could be had only by laying greater
burdens upon the tillers of the soil, in the form of increased taxation
and new services.
From its earliest beginnings, this movement among the peasantry
had had a rebellious aspect. For one thing it involved a degree of
hostility to existing church institutions. The abbots and the bishops,
along with the knights and other landlords, were held responsible for
the peasants' ills. This attitude of mind made the peasantry a fertile
field for religious propaganda. The proposals for church reform
that had been almost constant since the days of Wyclif had been
(205)
206 An Admonition to Peace
popular among the peasants, especially those proposals which looked
toward reforming the Church by reducing- it to apostolic poverty.
Heretical ideas of many kinds had combined with these criticisms of
the Church, and the hope of the coming millenium glowed most
brightly in the hearts of those who had the least to hope for this
side of it.
Throughout the fifteenth century, peasant uprisings, of larger or
smaller extent, had been relatively common occurrences. There was
scarcely a decade that some such rebellion did not take place in some
locality, and these revolts were accompanied or paralleled by similar
uprisings of the lower classes in the cities. They were directed against
the city councils and the country landlords, clerical and lay. Quite
usually they claimed a religious motive, and had their inception in
visions and revelations of the Lord. The Peasants' War of 1525 was
thus the last of a long series of similar rebellions, but it was the first
to occur after the beginning of the Reformation and it was by far
the greatest and the most disastrous of them all.
It was intimately connected with the Reformation. The teaching
of Luther had been taken up eagerly by the lower classes, but they
gave it an interpretation that Luther had never intended it to have.
To people who were already oti the verge of rebellion, it seemed to
furnish a new theoretical reason for opposition to the Church, and to
point a way by which the oppressive institutions of the Church,
especially the monasteries and the endowed foundations, could be
overthrown without giving up the spiritual benefits which the Church
claimed to confer. This view of it was zealously spread by radical
reformers and preachers of religious revolution. The best known of
these men were Thomas Muenzer and Balthasar Hubmaier. 1 They
aimed to be reformers of society, as well as of the Church. They
believed that the Church could be reformed only by the abolition of
existing ecclesiastical institutions and the creation of new and pure
ones, and their ideal of society was a theocracy, a kingdom of God
on earth, that would be ruled only by God's Word, written in Scrip-
ture or revealed by His Spirit to His chosen prophets. It was but
natural that preachers of this kind of doctrine should find enthusiastic
audiences among the classes that felt themselves oppressed. It was
the entrance of these new ideas into a state of mind already pre-
disposed to revolution that would seem to have produced the uprising
of 1525.
Long before the rebellion came, Luther realized that the preaching
of radical reform was sure to lead to serious conflicts. He had ex-
perienced the dangers of it in the Wittentierg disturbances of 1522.
His^ Eight Wittenberg Sermons (1522) 3 had proclaimed
his ideas of the method by which reforms should be introduced. In
1 Biography by VEDDER, in Heroes of the Reformation
Scries, New York, 1905.
a ln this edition, Vol. II, pp. 387-425.
Introduction 207
his Faithful Exhortation (1522) and his tract On Tem-
poral Government 1 he had issued his warnings against violent
measures and defined his attitude toward the ruling classes. In 1525 he
had to decide whether, in the face of a new situation, he would still
hold to the principles that he had expressed.
In 1524 and 1525 there were three main centers of revolutionary
activity in Germany, Swabia, Franconia, and Thuringia. Thuringia
was Luther's old home, and a considerable part of it was under the
government of his own prince, Frederick of Saxony; but it was in
Swabia that the situation first became acute. As early as May, 1524,
there were local uprisings in these territories, and through the whole
remainder of that year the discontent was spreading. There were
meetings of peasants here and there for the formulation of demands
upon their rulers, and the various "articles" that came out of these
meetings are among our most valuable sources for the history of the
movement. In more than one place the peasants refused point blank
to pay the taxes or perform the services demanded of them, and every-
where throughout the region they were preparing for armed revolt. In
the midst of this ferment Muenzer, Hubmaier, and others were preach-
ing religious revolution.
Among the manifestos of various kinds that were issued by the
peasants, the Twelve Articles came to have the most im-
portant place. They were adopted originally by the peasants of the
neighborhood of Memmingen and date from January or February,
1525. They appeared in print before March 19th, and circulated
rapidly, being reprinted at least twenty-four times, in widely separated
localities, before the end of May. Their authorship presents a prob-
lem that will probably never be solved. The names of Christopher
Schappeler and Sebastian Lotzer, who were undoubtedly leaders in
the movement, have been connected with them, and the earlier his-
torians ascribed their authorship to one or both of these men. On
the basis of extensive research, Wilhelm Stolze 2 has suggested that
they were written by Hubmaier, or by some one of his disciples.
Because of their importance and because of Luther's frequent ref-
erences to them, it has seemed advisable to append the full text of
the Articles.
Just when the Articles may have come to Luther's attention, we do
not know, but it was certainly before April 16th, on which date
Melanchthon wrote to Camerarius of Luther's purpose to reply to them
(Corpus Reformatorum, i, 739 ) . The actual work of
writing 1 this reply was begun during a journey which took Luther into
Thuringia, another of the centers of discontent. How much he may
have been influenced by the things that he saw and heard there must
remain uncertain. The title that Luther gave to this first treatment
1 Both in this edition, Vol. Ill, 206 ff; 228 f.
a Most recently in Bauernkrieg und Reformation (1926)
pp. 56 f,, 77 ff.
Vol. IV. 14
208 An Admonition to Peace
of the peasants' grievances is Ermahnung zum Frieden auf
die zwoelf Artikel der Bauernschaft in
Schwaben.
There was more than one reason why Luther felt called upon to
take a hand in the situation. In the Articles themselves the
peasants were appealing to "Christian law," or "Christian right/' in
support of their demands, and Luther felt this to be a complete per-
version of the Gospel. In Article XII, also, the peasants had requested
advice and instruction on this very point upon the basis of Holy Scrip-
ture. Moreover, at the time when Luther received the Articles
the insurrection had not yet begun in earnest. The Articles ex-
press a situation of calm before the breaking of the storm. The
peasants were in arms but had not yet committed overt acts of
violence, and Luther hoped that such acts might still be averted, if
they were in earnest with their request for advice. The growing
tension in Thuringia doubtless had something to do with his decision.
But beside these reasons there was another. In the Admonition
Luther refers to a "second document" that has come into his hands.
We do not know for certain what that document was, but we do
know that in it Luther was appealed to by name as one of those whose
advice and instruction the peasants sought. We know of two such
documents. The one is a set of instructions given to representatives
of the peasant bands as a guide for negotiations with the Swabian
League. 1 They are to ask, among other things, for the appointment
of a commission to interpret the "divine law/' and it is suggested that
it consist of Ferdinand of Austria, Frederick of Saxony, and Luther,
Melanchthon, or Bugenhagen. The other is constitution of the "Chris-
tian Association," adopted by the Swabian peasants, March 7, 1525. 3
Appended to this document is a list of fourteen doctores who
will be acceptable expounders of the "divine law." Luther's name
headed this list, which included also Melanchthon, Brenz, Osiander,
and Zwingli.
The Admonition consists of three parts. The first is ad-
dressed to the princes and lords. Luther asks them to take the threat-
ened rebellion seriously, to try conciliation, to moderate their demands
upon the peasants, and to reform their way of living. He tells them
frankly that they are to blame for the situation that exists. The
second part is addressed to the peasants. Here Luther admits that
many of the peasants' demands, contained in the Articles, are
just. They have been treated outrageously by their rulers and burdens
have been imposed upon them that they ought not to be asked to bear.
Nevertheless, they are wrong in attempting to change these things by
force, and they are doubly wrong in claiming that the Gospel gives
them this right, for the law which Christians accept requires submis-
1 W e i m a r Ed., XVIII, 280.
a Handlung ttnd ar tick el, etc., in Boehmer, TJrkmxden zur
Gesctuchte des Bauernkriegs, pp. 22 ff.
Introduction 209
sion to authority and declares that everyone who takes the sword will
perish with the sword. He discusses the Preface and the first three
articles in some detail, and dismisses the rest as matters that concern
the lawyers. The third part is addressed to both lords and peasants.
He reminds them that he has just proved that both parties are wrong
and that neither is acting in a Christian way. If it comes to a con-
flict, both parties will lose their souls and Germany will be ruined.
The proper way to settle the matter is to appoint a commission to
study the situation and propose a compromise that will be agreed to by
both parties.
The whole treatise is composed in a dispassionate spirit, Luther
speaks plainly, as always. He blames the agitation among the peasants
upon the radical preachers, who have confused the law and the Gospel,
and he accuses the nobles of bringing this rebellion upon themselves
by their arbitrary and unchristian conduct and their persecution of the
Gospel. Nevertheless, it is a moderate and fair statement of a view
of the situation which is thoroughly consistent with Luther's earlier
utterances, and from which he did not afterwards depart. That the
Admonition failed of its intended effect was due to the rapidity
with which events moved. Before its publication the Peasants' War
was already in full sway, and the peasants who had sought the advice
and instruction that it gave were burning and pillaging monasteries
and castles, villages and towns.
Literature. The literature on the Peasants' War and Luther's
relation to it is very extensive, though comparatively little of it is in
English. The histories of the Reformation and the biographies of
the principal reformers all discuss it, the most recent being that of
MACKINNON, Luther and the Reformation III (1929),
pp. 180-210. The best bibliography in an English work is found in
the Cambridge Modern History, Vol. II (1907), pp.
752-54. With this should be compared the bibliography of W. STOLZE,
Der deutsche Bauernkrieg"; Untersttchungen
ueber seine Entstehung und seinen Verlauf, Halle,
1907, and for the more recent literature Paul ALTHATJS, in Jahr-
buecher der Luthergesellschaf t , 1925, pp. 1-39, and
Theologische Literaturzeitung, 1926, col. 298. BAX,
The Peasants' War in Germany, 1899, is a one-sided and
inaccurate work. The most recent interpretation of the events is
that of W. STOLZE, Bauernkrieg und Reform at ion, Leip-
zig, 1926. A valuable edition of the most important sources is that
of BOEHMER, Urkunden zur Geschichte des Bauern-
kriegs und der Wiedertaeuf e)r, Bonn, 1910. The Twelve
Articles are given in English translation in BAX, op. cit., pp.
63-74, and in KIDD, Sources of the Continental Refor-
mation, 1911, No. 83.
The text of the Admonition is found in Weimar Ed.,
210 An Admonition to Peace
XVIII, 291 ff.j Eriangen Ed., XXIV, 259 ff. (271 if.); St.
Louis Ed., XVI, 45-70; Berlin Ed., VII, 311' ff.; Clemen,
III, 47 ff. The translation follows the text of Clemen; the appended
translation of the Twelve Articles is based on that of Kidd,
compared with the text of Boehmer.
CHARLES M. JACOBS.
MOUNT AIRY,
PHILADELPHIA.
THE TWELVE ARTICLES 1
The fundamental and true chief articles of all the peasants
and subjects of spiritual and temporal lords, concerning the
things in which they feel themselves aggrieved.
To the Christian reader peace, and the grace of God
through Christ.
There are many antichristians who have lately taken occa-
sion of the assembling of the peasants to cast scorn upon the
Gospel, saying, Is this the fruit of the new Gospel? Is no
one to be obedient, but are all to rebel and balk, to run
together with force and gather in crowds in order to reform,
to overthrow, or perhaps to slay the spiritual and temporal
lords ? To all these godless and wicked critics the following
articles make answer, in order, first, to remove this reproach
from the Word of God, and second, to justify in a Christian
way the disobedience, nay, the rebellion of the peasants.
First, The Gospel is not a cause of rebellion and disturb-
itom.1 ance, because it is a message about Christ, the promised
Messiah, whose words and life teach nothing but love, peace,
patience and unity; and all who believe in this Christ become
1 Since the Admonition is Luther's commentary on these Articles,
it has seemed best to give their text in full.
Introduction 211
loving, peaceful, patient and harmonious. This is the foun-
dation of all the articles of the peasants (as will clearly
appear), and they are directed to the hearing of the Word
of God and to life in accordance with it. How, then, can
the antichristians call the Gospel a cause of revolt and dis-
turbance? But the fact that some antichristians and enemies
of the Gospel resist these demands and requests is not the
fault of the Gospel, but of the devil, the deadliest enemy of
the Gospel, who arouses opposition in his own by means of
unbelief. Hereby the Word of God, which teaches love,
peace, and unity, is suppressed and taken away.
Second, It follows evidently that the peasants, desiring in
their articles this Gospel for doctrine and life, cannot be
called disobedient and rebellious; but if it be the will of
God to hear the peasants, earnestly crying to live according Rom. n
to His Word, who will blame the will of God? Who will ^ 4
meddle in His judgment? Nay, who will resist His majesty? E^a. 3
Did He not hear the children of Israel, crying to Him, and **& 14
release them out of the hand of Pharaoh, and can He not
today deliver His own? Yea, He will deliver them, and that
quickly! Therefore, Christian reader, read the following
articles with care, and afterwards judge.
Here follow the articles.
THE FIRST ARTICLE
First, It is our humble petition and request, as also the
will and intention of all of us, that in the future we should ^^ in j 3
have authority and power so that a whole community should Acts 14
choose and appoint a pastor, and also have the right to depose DeuL 17
him, if he should conduct himself improperly. The pastor EXL 31
thus chosen should preach to us the Holy Gospel purely and Deut 10
clearly, without any human addition, doctrine, or command- jotn 6
ment; for to proclaim to us continually the true faith gives us Gal - 2
cause to pray to God for His grace to instil and confirm this
true faith within us, and if His grace is not instilled in us, we
always remain flesh and blood, which availeth nothing, since
it stands clearly in the Scriptures that only through true
faith can we come to God, and only through His mercy can
212 An Admonition to Peace
we be saved. Therefore we need a leader and pastor; and
thus our demand is grounded on the Scriptures.
THE SECOND ARTICLE
Second, Since the tithe 1 is appointed in the Old Testament
* ancl M filled in the New, we will none the less gladly pay the
Whole
Epistle just tithe of grain, but in a proper way. Since men ought to
to the gj ve j t to (^d anc } distribute it to those that are His, it be-
^e jews j^ s ^ ^ e p as tor who clearly proclaims the Word of God,
and we will that, for the future, this tithe be gathered and re-
ceived by our church-provost, 3 whom a community appoints ;
that out of it there shall be given to the pastor, who shall be
chosen by an entire community, a modest, sufficient main-
Deut. 25 tenance for him and his, with the consent of the whole com-
munity; that the remainder shall be distributed to the poor
MatTio an d needy who are in the same village, according to the cir-
i Cor. 9 cumstances and with the consent of the community. Any-
thing that then remains shall be kept, so that if the needs of
the land require the laying of a war-tax, no general tax may
be laid upon the poor, but it shall be paid out of this surplus.
If it should happen that there were one or more villages
that had sold their tithes to meet certain needs, they are to be
Luke 6 i n f rrne d that he who has the tithes in this way from a whole
Matt, s village is not to be deprived of them without return, but we
will come to agreement with him, in proper way, form, and
manner, to buy them back from him on suitable terms and at
a suitable time. But in case anyone has not bought the tithes
from any village, and his forbears have simply appropriated
them to themselves, we will not, and ought not, and intend
not, to pay him anything further, but will keep them for the
support of the aforesaid, our chosen pastor, and for distribu-
tion to the needy, as the Holy Scriptures contain, no matter
whether the holders of the tithes be spiritual or temporal.
The small tithe 8 we will not give at all, for God the Lord
Gen. i created cattle for the free use of men, and we regard this an
1 The tax for the support of the parish priest, usually paid in kind, not in
money.
1 The lay-officer who administered the property of the parish. He was known
by many names. Cf. BOEHMER, p. 5, n. 5.
Also known as the "blood-titjie" and the "cattle-tithe,"
Introduction 213
improper tithe, which men have invented ; therefore we will
not give it any longer.
THE THIRD ARTICLE
Third, It has been the custom hitherto for men to hold us
as their own property; and this is pitiable, seeing that Christ
has redeemed and bought us all with the precious shedding of
His blood, the lowly as well as the great, excepting no one*
Therefore, it agrees with Scripture that we be free and will
to be so. Not that we would be entirely free; God does not
teach us that we should desire no rulers. We are to live in isa. 53
the commandments, not in the free self-will of the flesh; but J ^ J
we are to love God, recognize Him in our neighbor as our R 0m . is
Lord, and do all (as we gladly would do) that God has com- Wisd - 6
manded in the Lord's Supper; therefore, we ought to live
according to His commandment. This commandment does Deut 6
not teach us that we are not to be obedient to the rulers, but Matt 4
we are to humble ourselves, not before the rulers only, but ^ uke j"
before everyone. Thus to our chosen and appointed rulers John' 13
(appointed for us by God) we are willingly obedient in all Ro 13
proper and Christian matters, and we have no doubt that, as
true and real Christians, they will gladly release us from Acts
serfdom, or show us in the Gospel that we are serfs.
THE FOURTH ARTICLE
Fourth, It has been the custom hitherto that no poor man
has had the power to be allowed to catch game, wild fowl,
or fish in running water; and this seems to us altogether
improper and unbrotherly, selfish, and not according to the
Word of God. In some places the rulers keep the game to Gen. i
spite us and for our great loss, because the unreasoning ^jfj 7
beasts wantonly devour that property of ours which God i cor. 10
causes to grow for the use of man ; and we have to endure C Ql - 2
this and keep quiet about it, though it is against God and
neighbor. When God the Lord created man, He gave him
authority over all animals, over the birds in the air, and over
the fish in the water. Therefore it is our request that if
anyone has waters, he offer satisfactory documentary evi-
214 An Admonition to Peace
dence that the waters have been wittingly sold to him; in that
case we do not wish to take them from him by force; on the
contrary, Christian consideration must be shown, for the
sake of brotherly love. But he who cannot bring sufficient
proof of this shall surrender them to the community in a
proper manner.
THE FIFTH ARTICLE
Fifth, We are also aggrieved in the matter of wood-cut-
ting, for our lords have appropriated all the woods to them-
selves alone, and when the poor man needs any wood, he
must buy it at a double price. It is our opinion that woods
held by lords, spiritual or temporal, who have not bought
them, should revert to an entire community, and that a corn-
First munity be free, in a regular way, to allow anyone to take
Chapter h om e what he needs for firewood without payment, and also
Q eg . to take for nothing any that he needs for wood-working,
though with the consent of him whom the community shall
choose to supervise this. If there are no woods that have
not been thus honestly purchased, a brotherly and Christian
agreement should be reached about them; but if the property
had first been appropriated and afterwards sold, the agree-
ment shall be made in accordance with the facts in the case,
and according to brotherly love and the Holy Scriptures.
THE SIXTH ARTICLE
Sixth, We have a heavy grievance because of the services 1
which are increased from day to day, and grow daily. We
Rom. 10 d es i re that this matter be properly looked into and that we
be not so heavily burdened, but that gracious regard be had
to us, as our ancestors rendered services only according to
the Word of God.
THE SEVENTH ARTICLE
Seventh, We will not henceforth allow ourselves to be
further oppressed by the lords, but a man shall possess his
holding in accordance with the terms on which it has been
* Requirements of labor given gratis to the lord of the land. The amount
of this service was fixed by custom, but the limits were not always observed.
Introduction 215
granted, according to the agreement between lord and peas-
ant. The lord shall not compel him further, or force him to
more services, or demand anything else from him for noth-
ing, so that the peasant may use and enjoy his holding
unburdened and peacefully ; but if the lord needs more ser-
vices, the peasant shall be willing and obedient, though at
such times as may not work the peasant injury, and he
shall perform the services for proper pay.
THE EIGHTH ARTICLE
Eighth, We are greatly aggrieved, as many of us have
holdings, because the said holdings will not support the rents,
and the peasants suffer loss and ruin. (We ask) that the
lords have honorable men inspect the said holdings, and fix Matt, n
a fair rent, so that the peasant shall not labor for nothing,
for every laborer is worthy of his hire.
THE NINTH ARTICLE
Ninth, We are aggrieved by the great wrong of continually
making new laws. Punishment is inflicted on us, not accord-
ing to the facts in the case, but at times by great ill-will, at
times by great favor. In our opinion we should be pun- J er * &
ished by the ancient written law, and the cases dealt with
according to the facts, and not according to favor.
THE TENTH ARTICLE
Tenth, We are aggrieved because some have appropriated
to themselves meadows out of the common fields, which
once belonged to a community. We would take these back Lute s
again into the hands of our communities, unless they have
been honestly purchased; but if they have been unjustly
purchased, we should come to a kindly and brotherly agree-
ment about them, according to the facts in the case.
THE ELEVENTH ARTICLE
Dent 1
Eleventh, We would have the custom called T o d f a 1 1 1 Matt $
entirely abolished. We will not suffer it, or allow widows J 4 ** 2
j ^ S3L * 1
1 Ducs paid to the lord upon the death of a tenant. The nature of the
payment was fixed hy custom, Cf. the English heriot.
216 An Admonition to Peace
and orphans to be so shamefully robbed, against God and
honor, as now happens in many places, under many forms,
and that by those who ought to guard and protect them.
They have skinned and scraped us, and though they had little
authority, they have taken that. God will no longer suffer it ;
it shall be entirely done away; no man shall henceforth be
bound to give anything of it, whether little or much.
CONCLUSION
Twelfth, It is our conclusion and final opinion that, if one
or more of the articles here set forth were not to be in agree-
ment with the Word of God (though we think this is not
the case), these articles, when they are shown to us by the
Word of God to be improper, we will recede from, if this is
explained to us with arguments of Scripture. If some of the
articles were conceded to us, and it were afterwards found
that they were unjust, they shall be from that hour null and
void, and have no more force ; likewise, if in the Scriptures,
with the truth, more things were discovered that were
against God and injurious to our neighbor, 1 we will, and
we have determined to, use forbearance and practice and
exercise ourselves in all Christian doctrine. Therefore we
will pray to God the Lord, for He, and none other can give
us this. The peace of Christ be with us all.
1 TIie implication is that these things shall be added to the Articles.
AN ADMONITION TO PEACE:
A REPLY TO
THE TWELVE ARTICLES OF THE PEASANTS
IN SWABIA
1525
AN ADMONITION TO PEACE:
A REPLY TO
THE TWELVE ARTICLES OF THE PEASANTS
IN SWABIA
1525
The peasants who have now banded together in Swabia
have put their intolerable grievances against the rulers into
twelve articles, and undertaken to support them with certain
passages of Scripture, and have published them in printed
form. The thing about them that pleases me best is that, in
the twelfth article, 1 they offer to accept instruction gladly
and willingly, if there is need or necessity for it, and are
willing to be corrected, in so far as that can be done by clear,
plain, undeniable passages of Scripture, since it is right and
proper that no one's conscience should be instructed or cor-
rected, except by divine Scripture,
Now, if that is their serious and sincere meaning and it
would not be right for me to interpret it otherwise, because
in these articles they come out boldly into the open, and show
no desire to shun the light then there is good reason to hope
that things will be well. As one who am counted among
those who now deal with the divine Scriptures here on earth,
and especially as one whom they mention and call upon by
name in the second document, 3 it gives me the greater courage
and confidence in openly publishing my instruction, which I
do in a friendly and Christian spirit, as a duty of brotherly
love, in order that, if any misfortune or disaster shall come
out of this matter, it may not be attributed to me, or blamed
on me, because of my silence. But if this offer of theirs is
* Sec text of the Articles in Introduction, above, p. 211.
a See Introduction, p. 208.
(219)
220 An Admonition to Peace
only pretence and show (and without doubt there are some
of that kind of people among them ; for it is not possible that
so great a crowd should all be true Christians and have good
intentions, but a large part of them must be using the good
intentions of the rest for their own selfish purposes and seek-
ing their own advantage), then without doubt, it will accom-
plish very little, or contribute, in fact, to their great injury
and eternal ruin.
Because this matter, then, is great and perilous, concerning,
as it does, both the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the
world (for if this rebellion were to proceed and get the
upper hand, both kingdoms would be destroyed and there
would be neither worldly government nor Word of God, but
it would result in the permanent destruction of all Germany),
therefore it is necessary to speak boldly and to give advice
without regard to anyone. It is also necessary that we be
willing listeners and allow things to be said to us, so that
our hearts may not be hardened and our ears stopped, as has
happened before now, and we may not get the full vigor 1 of
God's wrath. For the many terrible signs 3 that are seen both
in heaven and earth, point to a great disaster and a mighty
change in Germany. Although, sad to say, we care little
about this. Nevertheless, God goes on His way, and some
time He will make our hard heads soft.
TO THE PRINCES AND LORDS
We have no one on earth to thank for this mischievous
rebellion, except you princes and lords; and especially you
Prida of kl* n d ^shops and mad priests and monks, whose hearts are
th* hardened, even to the present day, and who do not cease to
Princes ra g e g^ rav e against the holy Gospel, although you know
that it is true, and that you cannot refute it. Besides, in your
temporal government, you do nothing but flay and rob your
subjects, in order that you may lead a life of splendor and
pride, until the poor common people can bear it no longer.
1 Gang und schwang.
a Luther was a firm believer in portents. Cf . Smith & Jacobs, L u t h e t ' ft
Correspondence II, pp. 125, 318, 432, 470, 512.
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 221
The sword is at your throats, but you think yourselves so
firm in the saddle that no one can unhorse you. This false
security and stubborn perversity will break your necks, as
you will discover. I have often told you before to beware
of the saying, in Psalm cvi, Effundit contemptum PS.
super principes, "He poureth contempt upon princes." 107:4
You are striving after it, and want to be smitten over the
head, and no warning or exhorting will help you to avoid it.
Well, then, since you are the cause of this wrath of God,
it will undoubtedly come upon you, if you do not mend your
ways in time. The signs in heaven and the wonders on earth
are meant for you, dear lords ; they bode no good for you,
and no good will come to you. A great part of God's wrath
has already come, and God is sending so many false teachers
and prophets among us, 1 so that through error and blasphemy
we may richly deserve hell and everlasting damnation. The
rest of it is now here, for the peasants are mustering, and
this must result in the ruin, destruction, and desolation of
Germany by cruel murder and bloodshed, unless God shall
be moved by our repentance to prevent it.
For you ought to know, dear lords, that God is doing this
because this raging of yours cannot and will not and ought
not be endured for long. You must become different men God's
and yield to God's Word. If you do not do this amicably Jad *\
and willingly, then you will be compelled to it by force and m
destruction. If these peasants do not do it for you, others
will. Even though you were to beat them all, they would
still be unbeaten, for God will raise up others. It is His
will to beat you, and you will be beaten. It is not the peas-
ants, dear lords, who are resisting you ; it is God Himself
who is resisting you in order to visit your raging upon you.
There are some of you who have said that they will stake
land and people on the extirpation of Lutheran teaching. 2
What would you think, if you were to turn out to be your
own prophets, and your land and people were already staked ?
*A reference to the religious revolutionaries, especially Thomas Muenzer.
a Cf. the proclamation of Duke George of Saxony (Feb. 10, 1522), "We
shall not hesitate to stake life and property on this cause" (Clemen II,
313, n. 17).
222 An Admonition to Peace
Do not jest with God, dear lords ! The Jews, too, said, "We
John have no king/' and it became so serious that they had to be
19:15 without a king forever.
To make your sin still greater, and ensure your mericless
J^f^ destruction, some of you are beginning to blame this affair
Blame on the Gospel and say it is the fruit of my teaching. Well,
well ! Slander away, dear lords You did not want to know
what I taught, and what the Gospel is ; now there is one at
the door who will soon teach you, unless you amend your
ways. You, and everyone else, must bear me witness that I
have taught with all quietness, 1 'have striven earnestly against
rebellion, and have diligently held and exhorted subjects to
obedience and reverence toward even your tyrannous and
ravenous rule. This rebellion cannot be coming from me.
But the murder-prophets, 3 who hate me as much as they hate
you, have come among these people and have gone about
among them for more than three years, and no one has re-
sisted them save me alone. If, therefore, God is minded to
punish you, and allows the devil, through his false prophets,
to stir up the people against you, and if it is, perhaps, His
will that I shall not be able to prevent it any longer ; what
can I or my Gospel do ? Not only has it suffered your per-
secution and murdering and raging; it has also prayed for
you and helped protect and maintain your rule over the com-
mon people. If I had any desire to be revenged on you, I
could laugh in my sleeve, and become a mere onlooker at
the doings of the peasants, or even join in with them and
help make matters worse ; but from this may my God pre-
serve me, as He has done hitherto .
Therefore, my dear lords, enemies or friends, I beg sub-
missively that you will not despise my faithfulness, though
I am a poor man. I beg that you will not make light of this
rebellion. Not that I believe or fear that they will be too
strong for you, or that I would have you be afraid of them
on that account But fear God and have respect for His
wrath ! If it be His will to punish you as you have deserved
1 M i t aller^Stille, i. e., without inciting rebellion.
a i. e., The religious revolutionaries.
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 223
(and I am afraid that it is), then He would punish you,
even though the peasants were a hundred times fewer than
they are. He can make peasants out of stones and slay a
hundred of you by one peasant, so that all your armor and
your strength will be too little.
If it is still possible to give you advice, my lords, give a
little place to the will and wrath of God. A cart-load of hay
must give way to a drunken man ;* how much more ought you
to leave your raging and your obstinate tyranny and deal aioa
reasonably with the peasants, as though they were drunk or Rom -
out of their mind. Do not begin a struggle with them, for 12:19
you do not know what the end of it will be. Try kindness
first, for you do not know what God wills to do, and do not
strike a spark that will kindle all Germany and that no one
can quench. Our sins are before God ; therefore we have to
fear His wrath when even a leaf rustles, let alone when such
multitude sets itself in motion. You lose nothing by kind-
ness; and even though you were to lose something, it can
afterwards come back to you ten times over in peace, while
in conflict you may, perhaps, lose both life and goods. Why
run into danger, when you can get more by another, and a
good way?
The peasants have put forth twelve articles, some of which
are so fair and just as to take away your reputation in the
eyes of God and the world and fulfil the Psalm about pouring
contempt upon princes. Nevertheless, almost all of them are
framed in their own interest and for their own good, though
not for their best good. I should, indeed, have put forth 107:4
other articles against you that would have dealt with all
Germany and its government.
I did this in my book To the German Nobility,*
when there was more at stake ; but you made light of that,
and now you must listen to and put up with these selfish arti-
cles, It serves you right, as people to whom nothing can be
told.
The first article, in which they ask the right to hear the rf.
Gospel and choose their pastors, you cannot reject with aemen
*A proverb. a ln this edition, Vol. II, pp. 61 ff.
Vol. IV.-45
51, n.13
224 An Admonition to Peace
Some of any show of right, though, to be sure, it contains some self-
Them ishness, since they allege that these pastors are to be sup-
Jurt ported by the tithes, and these do not belong to them. Nev-
ertheless, the sense of the article is that permission should
be given for the preaching of the Gospel, and this no ruler
can or ought oppose. Indeed no ruler ought to prevent
anyone from teaching or believing what he pleases, whether
Gospel or lies. It is enough if he prevents the teaching of
sedition and rebellion.
The other articles recite physical grievances, such as
Leibfall, 1 imposts and the like; and they, too, are fair
and just. For rulers are not instituted in order that they
may seek their own profit and self-will, but in order to pro-
vide for the best interests of their subjects. Flaying and
extortion are, in the long run, intolerable. What good would
it do if a peasant's field bore as many g u 1 d e n as stalks or
grains of wheat, if that only meant that the rulers would take
all the more, and make their splendor all the greater, and
squander the property on clothing, eating, drinking, build-
ing, and the like, as though it were chaff? The splendor
would have to be checked and the expenditure stopped, so
that a poor man too could keep something. You have gath-
ered further information from their broadsides, in which
they present their grievances sufficiently.
TO THE PEASANTS
So far, dear friends, you have learned only that I admit
Luke it to be (sad to say !) all too true and certain that the princes
1:52 and lords, who forbid the preaching of the Gospel and
oppress the people so unbearably, are worthy, and have well
J^ deserved, that God put them down from their seats, as men
a Good w^ nave sinned deeply against God and man. And they
c*r* have no excuse. Nevertheless, you, too, must have a care
fag y OU fafe U p votir CSL - [1&t w ;^ a g 00 ^ conscience and with
justice. If you have a good conscience, you have the com-
1 An inheritance tax paid by the heirs of serfs to the lord; cf, above p.
216, n. 1.
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 225
f orting advantage that God will be with you, and will help
you through. Even though you were worsted for a while,
and though you suffered death, you would win in the end, and
would preserve your soul eternally with all the saints. But
if you have not justice and a good conscience, you will be
worsted ; and even though you were to win for a while, and
were to slay all the princes, yet in the end you would be lost
eternally, body and soul. This is, therefore, no joking mat-
ter for you ; it concerns your body and soul eternally. The
thing that is most necessary to consider and that must be
most seriously regarded, is not how strong you are and how
completely wrong they are, but whether you have justice and
a good conscience on your side.
Therefore, dear brethren, I beg you, in a kindly and
brotherly way, to look diligently to what you do, and not to
believe all kinds of spirits and preachers, now that Satan has
raised up many evil spirits of disorder and of murder, and
filled the world with them. Only listen and give ear, as you
offer many times to do. 1 I will not spare you the earnest
warning that I owe you, even though some of you, poisoned
by the murderous spirits, will hate me for it, and call me a
hypocrite. That does not worry me; it is enough for me if I
save some of the good-hearted and upright men among you
from the danger of God's wrath. The rest I fear as little,
as they despise me much; and they shall not harm me. I
know One Who is greater and mightier than they are, and
He teaches me in Psalm iii, "I am not afraid, though many
thousands of people set themselves against me." My confi- Ps 3:6
dence shall outlast .their confidence; that I know for sure.
In the first place, dear brethren, you bear the name of
God and call yourselves a "Christian band" or union, and
allege that you want to live and act "according to the divine J^
Law." Now you know that the name, Word, and titles of G od Not
God are not to be assumed idly or in vain, as He says in the t*
second Commandment, "Thou shalt not bear the name of the
Lord Thy God in vain," and adds "For God will not let him
be guiltless who bears His name in vain." Here is a clear,
He-, In the XII Articles. See Introduction, p. 211 #. and 217.
226 An Admonition to Peace
plain text, which applies to you, as to all men. Without
regard to your great numbers, your rights, and your terror,
it threatens you, as well as us and all others, with God's
wrath. -He is, as you also know, mighty enough and strong
enough to punish you as He here threatens, if His name is
borne in vain; and so you have to expect no good fortune,
but only misfortune, if you bear His name falsely. Learn
from this how to judge yourselves; and accept this kindly
warning. For Him Who once drowned the whole world in
the Flood and sank Sodom with fire, it is a simple thing to
slay or to defeat so many thousand peasants. He is an
almighty and terrible God.
j^ tta In the second place, it is easy to prove that you are bearing
Peasant! God's name in vain and putting it to shame; nor is it to be
^ doubted that you will, in the end, encounter all misfortune,
unless God is untrue. For here stands God's Word, and
Matt says through the mouth of Christ, "He who takes the sword
26:52 shall perish by the sword." That means nothing else than
Rom. ^^ no one > ky his own violence, shall arrogate authority to
i3:i himself; but as Paul says, "Let every soul be subject to the
higher powers 1 with fear and reverence."
How can you get over these sayings and laws of God, when
you boast that you are acting according to divine law, and
yet take the sword in your own hands, and revolt against
the "higher powers" that are ordained of God? Do you not
Rom - think that Paul's judgment in Romans xiii will strike you,
"He that withstands the ordinance of God shall receive con-
demnation" ? That is "bearing God's name in vain ;" alleging
God's law and withstanding God's law, under His name. O
have a care, dear sirs ! It will not turn out that way in the
end.
In the third place, you say that the rulers are wicked and
intolerable, for they will not allow us the Gospel, and they
N^ionai oppress us too hard by the burdens they lay on our temporal
Lav 10 goods, and they are ruining us body and soul. I answer :
******* The fact that the rulers are wicked and unjust does not
*** excuse tumult and rebellion, for to punish wickedness does
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 27
not belong to everybody, but to the worldly rulers who bear Rom.
the sword. Thus Paul says in Romans xiii, and Peter, in I 13:4
Peter iii, that they are ordained of God for the punishment i Pet
of the wicked. Then, too, there is the natural kw of all the 2:7
world, which says that no one may be judge in his own cause
or take his own revenge. The proverb is true, "He who
resists is wrong," and the other proverb, "He who resists
makes strife." The divine law agrees with this, and says, in
Deuteronomy xxxii, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith
the Lord." Now you cannot deny that your rebellion pro- 32:35
ceeds in such a way that you make yourselves your own
judges, and avenge yourselves, and are unwilling to suffer
any wrong. That is contrary not only to Christian law and
the Gospel, but also to natural law and all equity.
If your undertaking is to prosper, when you have against
you the divine and Christian law of the Old and New Tes-
taments, and also the natural law, you must produce a new
and special command of God, confirmed by signs and won-
ders, which bids you do these things. Otherwise God will
not allow His Word and ordinance to be broken by your
violence. On the contrary, because you boast of the divine
law and yet act against it, He will let you fall and be pun-
ished terribly, as men who dishonor His name; and then He
will condemn you eternally, as was said above. For the
word of Christ in Matthew vii, applies to you; you see the
mote in the eye of the rulers, and see not the beam in your 7:3
own eye. Also the saying of Paul in Romans iii, "Let us
do evil that good may come; whose damnation is just and Rom
right." It is true that the rulers do wrong when they sup-
press the Gospel and oppress you in temporal things; but
you do much more wrong when you not only suppress God's
Word, -but tread it under foot, and invade His authority and
His law, and put yourselves above God. Besides, you take
from the rulers their authority and right; nay, all that they
have. For what have they left, when they have lost their
authority? ^ ta
I make you the judges, and leave it to you to decide who *^ ?
is the worse robber, the man who takes a large part of
228 An Admonition to Peace
another's goods, but leaves him something, or the man who
takes everything that he has, and his living besides. The
rulers unjustly take your property; that is the one side. On
the other hand, you take from them the authority, in which
their whole property and life and being consist. Therefore,
you are far greater robbers than they, and intend to do worse
things than they have done. "Nay," you say, "we are going
to leave them enough to live on." If anyone wants to believe
that, let him ! I do not believe it. One who dares go so far
as to take away, by force, the authority, which is the main
thing, will not leave it at that, but will take the other, and the
smaller thing, that depends upon it. The wolf that eats a
whole sheep will also eat its ear. And even though you were
so good as to leave them enough to live on, nevertheless, you
would take the best thing they have, namely, their authority,
and make yourselves lords over them; and that would be too
great a robbery and wrong, God will hold you the greatest
robbers.
Can you not imagine it, or figure it out, dear friends ? If
your enterprise were right, then any man might become judge
over another, and there would remain in the world neither
authority, nor government, nor order, nor land, but there
would be only murder and bloodshed ; for as soon as anyone
saw that someone was wronging 'him, he would turn to and
judge him and punish him. Now if that is unjust and intol-
erable when done by an individual, neither can it be endured
when done by a band or a crowd. But if it can be endured
from a band or a crowd, it cannot be prevented with right
and justice when individuals attempt it; for in both cases
the cause is the same, namely, a wrong. And what would
you do yourselves, if disorder broke out in your band, and
one man set himself against another and took his own ven-
geance on him? Would you put up with that? Would you
not say that he must let others, whom you appointed, do the
judging and avenging? How, then, do you expect to stand
with God and the world, when you do your own judging and
avenging upon those who have injured you; nay, upon your
rulers, whom God has ordained?
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 229
Now, all this has been said concerning the common, divine
and natural law which even heathen, Turks, and Jews have
to keep, if there is to be any peace or order in the world.
Even though you were to keep this whole law, you would do
no better and no more than heathen and Turks. For not to
be one's own judge and avenger, but to leave this to the
authorities and the rulers, makes no man a Christian ; it is a
thing that must eventually be done whether willingly or not.
But because you are acting against this law, you see plainly
that you are worse than heathen or Turks, to say nothing of
the fact that you are not Christians. But what do you think
that Christ will say to this ? You bear His name, and call
yourselves a "Christian assembly/' and yet you are so far
from Christian, and your actions and lives are so horribly
contrary to His law, that you are not worthy to be called even
heathen or Turks, but are much worse than these, because
you rage and struggle against the divine and natural law,
which all the heathen keep.
See, dear friends, what kind of preachers you have and
what they think of your souls. I fear that some prophets
of murder 1 have come among you, who would like, by your
means, to become lords in the world, and do not care that
they are endangering your life, property, honor, and soul,
temporally and eternally. If, now, it is really your will to
keep the divine law, as you boast, then do it. There it stands !
God says, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay"; and again,
"Be subject not only to good lords, but also to the wicked,"
If you do this, well and good ; if not, you may, indeed, cause 32:35
a calamity, but it will finally come upon yourselves. Let no 1 *^j
one be in doubt about this ! God is just, and will not endure
it. Be careful, therefore, with your liberty, that you do not
run from the rain and fall in the water, and thinking to gain
freedom of body, lose body and goods and soul eternally.
God's wrath is there; fear it, I advise you! The devil has
sent false prophets among you; beware of them !
And now we would go on, and speak of the law of Christ,
and of the Gospel, which is not binding on the heathen, as
1 See above, p. 221, n. 2.
230 An Admonition to Peace
The the other law is. 1 For if you boast that you are Christians
an ^ are gi a( i w hen you are called Christians, and want to be
known as Christians, then you must also allow your law to
be held up before you rightly. Listen, then, dear Christians,
to your Christian law ! Your Supreme Lord Christ, whose
Matt, 5:name you bear, says, in Matthew vi, "Ye shall not resist
39 5. eyj^ b u t if any one compels you to go one mile, go with him
two miles, and if anyone takes your cloak, let him have your
coat, too; and if anyone smites you on one cheek, offer him
the other also." Do you hear, "Christian assembly" ? How
does your undertaking agree with this law? You will not
endure it when anyone does you ill or wrong, but will be
free, and suffer nothing but good and right; and Christ says
that we are not to resist any evil or wrong, but always yield,
suffer it, and let things be taken from us. If you will not
bear this law, then put off the name of Christian, and boast
of another name that accords with your actions, or Christ
Himself will tear His name from off you, and that will be
too hard for you.
item. Thus says Paul, too, in Romans xii, "Avenge not your-
12:19 selves, dearly beloved, but give place to the wrath of God."
I n: r 20 Again, he praises the Corinthians, in II Corinthians xi,
1 6- r iff.because they suffer it gladly if a man smite or rob them ; and
in I Corinthians vi, he rebukes them because they went to
law about property, and did not endure the wrong. Nay
our Leader, 3 Jesus Christ, says, in Matthew vii, that we are
to wish good to those who wrong us, and pray for our perse-
cutors, and do good to those who do evil to us. These are our
Christian laws, dear friends! Now see how far the false
prophets have led you away from them, and yet they call
you Christians, though they have made you worse than
heathen. For from these sayings, a child easily grasps that
it is Christian law not to strive against wrongs, not to grasp
after the sword, not to protect oneself, not to avenge one-
self, but to give up life and property, and let who takes it
take it ; we have enough in our Lord, who will not leave us,
M. e., "The divine and natural law," spoken of above.
Hcrtzog.
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 231
as He has promised Suffering, suffering; cross, cross ! This
and nothing else, is the Christian law! But now you battle
for temporal goods, and will not let the coat go after the
cloak, 1 but want to recover the cloak. How, then, will you
die, and give up your life, or love your enemies, or do good
to them? O worthless Christians! Dear friends, Christians
are not so common that so many of them can get together in
one crowd. A Christian is a rare bird! Would to God that
the majority of us were good, pious heathen, who kept the
natural law, not to mention the Christian law !
I will also give you some illustrations of Christian law
so that you may see whither the mad prophets have led you.
Look at St. Peter in the garden. He wanted to defend his
Lord Christ with the sword, and cut off Malchus' ear. Tell
me, had not Peter great right on his side ? Was it not an
intolerable wrong that they were going to take from Christ,
not only His property, but also His life? Nay, they not only
took from Him life and property, but in so doing they en-
tirely suppressed the Gospel by which they were to be saved,
and thus robbed heaven. Such a wrong you have not yet
suffered, dear friends. But see what Christ does and teaches
in this case. However great the wrong was, nevertheless He
stopped St. Peter, bade him put up his sword, and would not
allow him to avenge or prevent this wrong. In addition He
passed a judgment of death upon him, as though upon a mur-
derer, and said, "He that takes the sword shall perish with
the sword." From this we must understand that it is not
enough that anyone has done us wrong, and that we have a
good case, and have right on our side, but we must also have
the right and power committed to us by God to use the sword
and punish wrong. Moreover, a Christian must also endure
it if anyone desires to keep the Gospel away from him; if,
indeed, it is possible to keep the Gospel from anyone, as we
shall hear.
A second example is Christ himself. What did He do
when they took His life on the cross and thereby took away
from Him the work of preaching for which He had been
* See above, p. 230.
232 An Admonition to Peace
sent by God Himself for the blessing of the souls of men?
1 Pet. He did just what St. Peter says. He committeed the whole
2:23 matter to Him who judgeth righteously, and He endured this
intolerable wrong. More than that, He prayed for His per-
Luke secutors and said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not
23:34 what they do."
Now, if you are true Christians, you must certainly act in
this same way and follow this example. If you do otherwise,
then let go the name of Christian and the boast of Christian
law; for then you are certainly not Christians but are resist-
ing Christ and His law, His doctrine and His example. But
if you do it, you will quickly see God's miracles and He will
help you as He helped Christ whom He avenged after the
completion of His passion, in such a way that His Gospel
and His kingdom won through with power and gained the
upper hand, in spite of all His enemies. In this same way He
will help you, too, and His Gospel will rise with power
among you, if you first suffer to the end, and leave the case
to Him, and await His vengeance. But now you yourselves
are interfering, and wish to conquer and maintain your-
selves, not with suffering, but with the fist. Thus you hinder
His vengeance, and will yourselves become the reason why
you will keep neither Gospel nor fist.
Luther I must also give you an illustration from this present time.
No * Pope and emperor have set themselves against me and have
raged. Now how have I brought it about that the more pope
and emperor have raged the more my Gospel spread? I
have never drawn sword nor desired revenge. I have begun
no division and no rebellion, but, so far as I was able, I
have helped the worldly rulers, even those who persecuted
the Gospel and me, to maintain their power and honor. But
I have stopped with committing the matter to God and rely-
ing confidently at all times upon His hand. Therefore, He
has not only preserved my life in spite of the pope and all
the tyrants (and this many really consider a great miracle;
as I myself must also confess that it is), but He has caused
my Gospel always to increase and spread. Now you inter-
fere with me. You want to help the Gospel and do not see
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 233
that by what you are doing you are hindering it and holding
it down in the highest degree,
I say all this, dear friends, as a faithful warning. In this
case you should rid yourselves of the name of Christians and Thc
cease to boast of Christian law. For no matter how right Peasants
you are, it is not for a Christian to appeal to law, or to fight, Not .
but rather to suffer wrong and endure evil ; and there is no tiaJ J~
other way (I Corinthians vi). You yourselves confess in
your Preface, 1 that all who believe in Christ become kindly, 1 ^g.
peaceful, patient, and united; but in your deeds you are dis-
playing nothing but impatience, turbulence, strife and vio-
lence; thus you contradict your own words. You want to be
known as patient people, who will endure neither wrong nor
evil, but will endure what is right and good. That is fine
patience! Any knave can practice it! It does not take a
Christian to do that ! Therefore I say again, however good
and right your cause may be, nevertheless, because you
would defend yourselves, and suffer neither violence nor
wrong, you may do anything that God does not prevent, but
leave the name of Christian out of it; leave out, I say, the
name of Christian, and do not make it a cloak for your
impatient, disorderly, unchristian undertaking. I shall not
let you have that name, but so long as there is a heart-beat
in my body, I shall do all I can to take that name from you.
You will not succeed, or will succeed only in ruining your
bodies and souls.
In saying this, it is not my intention to justify or defend NOT the
the rulers in the intolerable wrongs which you suffer from R*i
them. They are wrong, and do you cruel wrongs; that I
admit. But what I hope is that, if neither party will allow
itself to be instructed, and the one party attacks and comes
to blows with the other (which God forbid!), neither shall
be called Christians, but that, as is usual when one people
fights with another, God will punish one knave with another,
as the saying goes. If it comes to a conflict (which may God
graciously avert!), I hope that you will be counted as people
of such a kind and such a name that the rulers may know
1 Cf. Introduction, p. 211.
234 An Admonition to Peace
that they are fighting not against Christians but against
heathen ; and that you, too, may know that you are fighting
the rulers not as Christians but as heathen. For Christians
fight for themselves not with sword and gun, but with the
Cross and with suffering, just as Christ, our Leader, does not
bear a sword, but hangs on the Cross. Your victory, there-
2 Cor. fore, does not consist in conquering and reigning, or in the
10:4 use of force, but in defeat and in weakness, as St. Paul
2 COT sa y s * n ^ Corinthians i, "The weapons of our knighthood
12:9 are not carnal, but mighty in God''; and again, "Strength is
made perfect in weakness."
vphat Your name and title must be those of people who fight
Luther because they will not, and ought not, endure wrong or evil,
wm Do according to the teaching of nature. You should have that
name, and let the name of Christ alone, for that is the kind
of works that you are doing. If, however, you will not
take that name, but keep the name of Christian, then I must
understand that this cause is my cause, and count and hold
you as enemies who would quench or hinder my Gospel
more than pope and emperor have so far done, since under
the name of the Gospel you are acting against the Gospel.
Nor would I conceal from you what I expect to do. I shall
commit the cause to God, stake my own neck, by God's grace,
and rely confidently on Him, as I have hitherto done against
pope and emperor, and pray for you, that He may enlighten
you, and resist your undertaking, and not let it succeed. For
I see well that the devil, who has not been able to destroy me
by means of the pope, now seeks to abolish me and swallow
me up by means of the bloodthirsty prophets of murder and
spirits of turbulence that are among you. Well, let him
swallow me! I will leave little enough room in his belly;
that I know! And even if you win, you will have small
enjoyment of it ! I beg you, humbly and kindly, to come to
your senses and not make it necessary for me to trust and
pray to God against you.
For although I am a poor, sinful man, I know and am
certain that in this case I have a right cause, if I fight in
behalf of the name "Christian" and pray that it be not put
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 235
to shame. I am sure, too-, that my prayer is acceptable to
God and will be heard, for He Himself has taught us to
pray, in the Lord's Prayer, "Hallowed be thy name," and
in the Second Commandment He has forbidden that it be put
to shame. Therefore I beg that you will not think lightly of
my prayer and the prayer of those who pray along with me,
for it will be too mighty for you and will arouse God against
you, as St. James says, "The prayer of the righteous availeth
much, if it persist, as the prayer of Elijah did." We have
also many comfortable promises of God that He will hear S:16f *
us, such as John xiv, "What ye ask in my name, I will do" ;
and I John v, "If we ask anything according to His will, He John
heareth us." Such confidence and assurance in prayer you 14 ' 14
cannot have because your own conscience and the Scriptures s ; i4
testify that your enterprise is heathenish, and not Christian,
and under the name of the Gospel, works against the Gospel
and brings contempt upon the name of Christian. I know
that none of you has ever once prayed to God or called upon
Him in behalf of this cause. You could not do it ! For you
dare not lift your eyes to Him in this case; but only shake
defiance with the fist which you have clenched in impatience
and with an intolerant will. This will not turn out well for
yQu.
If you were Christians, you would stop defying and threat-
ening, and stay inside the Lord's Prayer, and advance your
cause with God by praying, and say, "Thy will be done," and
"Deliver us from evil. Amen." You see in the Psalter that
the true saints take their necessities to God, and lament them,
and seek aid from Him, and do not defend themselves or
resist evil. Such prayer would have done more to help you,
in all your needs, than if the world were full of you, espe-
cially if, beside that, you had a good conscience, and a com-
forting assurance that your prayers were heard, as His prom-
ises declare; such as I Timothy iv, "He is the helper of all 4 !JJ
men, especially of the believers," and Psalm xxxix, "Call
upon me in trouble, and I will help thee"; and Psalm xc, Ps * SO:1S
"He called upon me in trouble, therefore will I deliver him." PS. 91*15
See ! That is the Christian way to get rid of misfortune and
236 An Admonition to Peace
evil, namely, endure it and call upon God. But because you
do neither neither call nor endure but aid yourselves with
your own might, and make yourselves your own God and
Saviour, therefore God cannot and must not be your God or
Saviour. By God's permission (which, we pray, may not be
given!), you might accomplish something as heathen and
blasphemers, though only for your eternal and temporal ruin ;
but as Christians, or Evangelicals, you will win nothing; I
would wager a thousand necks in it !
On the basis of what has been said, all your articles are
Th* easily answered; for even though all of them were right and
Article* p r0 p er according to the law of Nature, nevertheless you have
3^ forgotten the Christian law, since you have not put them
through by means of patience and prayer to God, as Christian
people ought, but have undertaken, with impatience and
violence, to wrest them from the rulers, and extort them by
force; and this is against the law of the land and against
natural justice. The man who framed your articles is no
pious and honest man, for he has indicated on the margin*
many chapters of Scripture, on which the articles are sup-
posed to rest, but keeps the porridge in his mouth, and leaves
out the passages by which he would show his own wickedness
and that of your enterprise. He has done this to deceive
you and urge you on and bring you into danger. For the
chapters he adduces, when they are read through, say very
little in favor of your undertaking, but rather the opposite;
viz, that men shall live and act as Christians. He is some
prophet of turbulence, who seeks, through you, to work his
will upon the Gospel. May God prevent, and guard you
against him!
In the Preface you are conciliatory and allege that you
wou ld n t be seditious, and make the excuse that you desire
to teach and live according to the Gospel There your own
mouth and your own works rebuke you, for you confess that
you are making disturbances and rising in revolt, and you
want to adorn such conduct by means of the Gospel. You
have heard above that the Gospel teaches that Christians
1 The Articles were printed with marginal references to Scripture.
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 237
ought to endure and suffer wrong, and pray to God in all
their necessities, yet you are not willing to suffer, but like
heathen, force the rulers to conform to your impatient will.
You adduce the children of Israel as an example, saying that
God heard their crying and delivered them. Why then do
you not follow the example that you bring forward? Call
upon God and wait until He sends you a Moses, who will
prove by signs and wonders that he is sent from God. The
children of Israel did not riot against Pharaoh, or help them-
selves as you propose to do. This illustration, therefore, is
dead against you, and condemns you. You boast of it, and
yet you do the opposite.
Again, it is not true when you declare that you teach and
live according to the Gospel There is not one of the articles
which teaches a single point of the Gospel, but everything is
directed to one purpose ; namely, that your bodies and your
properties may be free. In a word, they all deal with worldly
and temporal matters. You would have power and wealth,
so as not to suffer wrong; and yet the Gospel does not take
worldly matters into account, and makes the external life con-
sist only in suffering, wrong, cross, patience, and contempt
for temporal wealth and life. How, then, does the Gospel
agree with you; except that you are seeking to give your
unevangelical and unchristian enterprise an evangelical
appearance, and do not see that you are thereby bringing
shame on the holy Gospel of Christ, and making it a cloak
for wickedness ? Therefore you must take a different atti-
tude, and either drop this matter entirely and decide to suffer
these wrongs, if you would be Christians and have the name
of Christian ; or else, if you are going on with it, make use
of another name and not be called and considered Christians.
There is no third course, and no other way.
True enough, you are right in desiring the Gospel, if you
are really in earnest about it. Indeed, I am willing to make ^
this article even sharper than you do, and say it is intolerable GOSPI
that anyone should be shut out of heaven and driven by force to Pre
into hell. No one should suffer that; he ought rather lose his
neck a hundred times. But he who keeps the Gospel from
me, shuts heaven against me and drives me by force into hell ;
238 An Admonition to Peace
for the Gospel is the only way and means for the soul's
salvation, and on peril of losing my soul, I should not suffer
this. Tell me, is that not stated sharply enough? And yet
it does not follow that I must set myself with my fist against
the rulers who do me this wrong. "But/' you say, "how am
I at once to suffer it and not suffer it?" The answer is easy.
It is impossible that anyone shall have the Gospel kept from
him. There is no power in heaven or earth that can do this,
for it is a public teaching that moves freely about under the
heavens and is bound to no one place. In this it is like the
star, running through the air, which showed Christ's birth to
the wise men from the East.
It is true, indeed, that the rulers may suppress the Gospel
in cities or places where the Gospel is, or where there are
preachers ; but you can leave these cities or places and follow
the Gospel to some other place. It is not necessary that, for
the Gospel's sake, you should capture or hold the city or
place; but let the lord have his city, and do you follow the
Gospel. Thus you suffer men to do you wrong and drive
you away; and yet, at the same time you do not suffer men
to take the Gospel from you or keep it from you. Thus the
two things, suffering and not suffering, come to one. If you
will hold the city for the sake of the Gospel, you rob the
lord of the city of what is his, and pretend that you are doing
it for the Gospel's sake. Dear friend, the Gospel does not
teach robbing or the taking of things, even though the lord
of the property abuses it by using it against God, wrongfully,
and to your injury. The Gospel needs no bodily place or city
to dwell in ; it will and must dwell in hearts. This is what
Christ taught in Matthew x, "If they drive you out of one
Matt city, flee to another." He does not say, "If they drive you
10:23 ou t of one city, stay there, and capture the city, to the praise
of the Gospel, and make a riot against the lord of the city,"
though that is what men now want to do, and what they are
teaching. But He says, "Flee, flee straightway into another,
until the Son of Man shall come." Thus He says, too, in
Matthew xxiii, that the godless shall drive His evangelists
l ^ from one city to another ; and Paul also says, in II Corin-
4:11* thians iv, "We are in no certain place." If it so happen that
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 239
a Christian must be moving constantly from one place to an-
other, and leaving the place where he is and everything that
he has, or if he sit in uncertainty, expecting this to happen
any -hour, then it is well with him; it is as it should be with a
Christian. For because he will not suffer the Gospel to be
taken from him or kept from him, he has to suffer city, place,
property, and everything that he is and has, to be taken and
kept from him. Now how does this agree with your under-
taking? You capture and hold cities and places that are not
yours, and will not suffer them to be taken or kept from you;
though you take and keep them from their natural lords.
What kind of Christians are these, who, for the Gospel's
sake, become robbers, thieves, and scoundrels, and then say
they are evangelicals?
On the First Article
"An entire community shall have the
power to choose and depose a pastor."
This article is right if only it were understood in a Christian
sense, though the chapters indicated on the margin do not
help it. 1 If the goods of the parish come from the rulers, and
not from the community, then the community cannot apply
these goods to the use of him whom they choose, for that
would be robbery and theft. If they desire a pastor, let them
first humbly ask one from the rulers. If the rulers are un-
willing, then let them choose their own pastor, and support
him with their own property, and let the rulers have their
property, or else secure it from them in a lawful way. But
if the rulers will not tolerate the pastor whom they chose and
support, then let him flee to another city, and let any flee with
him who will, as Christ teaches. That is a Christian and
evangelical way to choose and have one's own pastor. Who-
ever does otherwise, acts in an unchristian manner, as a
robber and brawler.
On the Second Article
"The tithes shall be divided out to the
pastor and the poor, and the balance kept
for needs of the land, et c." This article is nothing
*The passages were 1 Tim. 3:1 ff.; Tit 1:5 fi.; Acts 14:23; Dent. 17:9.
Vftl TV Irt
240 An Admonition to Peace
but theft and highway robbery. They would appropriate
for themselves the tithes, which are not theirs but the rulers',
and would do with them what they please. Not so, dear
friends! That is the same thing as deposing the rulers
altogether, when your preface expressly says that no one is
to be deprived of what is his. If you would make gifts
Pror and do good, do it out of your own property, as the Wise
3:9 Man says, for God says by Isaiah, "I hate the sacrifice that
tsa. ' 19 ot k v robbery." You speak in this article as though you
61:8 were already lords in the land and had taken all the prop-
erty of the rulers for your own and would be no one's sub-
jects, and would give nothing. From this one grasps what
you have in mind. Stop it, dear sirs, stop itl It will not
be you who end it! The chapters of Scripture that your
lying preacher and false prophet has smeared on the margin/
do not help you at all ; they are against you.
On the Third Article
"There shall be no serfs, for Christ has
made all men fre e." That is making Christian liberty
. an utterly carnal thing. Did not Abraham and other patri-
archs and prophets have slaves ? Read what St. Paul teaches
serfdom a t> ou t servants, who, at that time, were all slaves. Therefore
this article is dead against the Gospel. It is a piece of rob-
bery by which every man" fakes from his lord the body, which
has become his lord's property. For a slave can be a Chris-
tian, and have Christian liberty, in the same way that a pris-
oner or a sick man is a Christian, and yet not free. This
article would make all men equal, and turn the spiritual king-
dom of Christ into a worldly, external kingdom; and that is
impossible. For a worldly kingdom cannot stand unless
there is in it an inequality of persons, so that some are free,
some imprisoned, some lords, some subjects, etc.; and St.
GaL Paul says in Galatians v, that in Christ master and servant
3l2 are one thing. On this subject my friend Urban Regius 3 has
written enough; you may read further in his book.
*The pasaages were Ps. 110:4; Gen. 14:20; Dent. 18:1 ff.; 12:6 ff.: 25:4;
1 Tim. 5: 18; Matt. 10:10; 1 Cor. 9:9.
'The Augsburg reformer. His book bore the title, Von Leiblygen-
schaft oder Kn e chtheit .
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 241
On the Other Eight Articles
The other articles, about freedom of game, birds, fish,
wood, forests ; about services, tithe, imposts, excises, Tod-
fall, etc., these I leave to the lawyers, for it is not fitting
that I, an evangelist, should judge or decide them. It is for
me to instruct and teach men's consciences in things that
concern divine and Christian matters ; there are books enough
about the other things in the imperial laws. I have said
above that these things do not concern a Christian, and that
he cares nothing about them. He lets anyone else rob, take,
skin, scrape, devour, and rage, for he is a martyr on earth.
Therefore the peasants ought rightly let the name of Chris-
tian alone, and act in some other name, as men who want
human and natural rights, not as those who seek Christian
rights. This means that on all these points they should keep
still, suffer, and make their complaints to God alone.
See, dear friends, this is the instruction that you asked of
me in the second document. 1 I beg that you will remember
that you offer willingly to be instructed by the Scriptures.
Now when this reaches you, do not cry out at me, "Luther
flatters the princes and speaks contrary to the Gospel." First
read and see my arguments from Scripture; for this is your
affair; I am excused in the sight of God and the world. I
know well the false prophets that are among you. Do not
listen to them. They are surely deceiving you. They do
not think of your consciences, but would make Galatians of
you,* so that by means of you they might come to wealth and
honor, and must afterwards, with you, be damned eternally
in hell.
ADMONITION TO BOTH RULERS AND PEASANTS
Therefore, dear sirs, since there is nothing Christian on
either side and nothing Christian is at issue betwen you, but
both lords and peasants are dealing with heathenish, or
worldly, right and wrong, and with temporal goods; since,
moreover, both parties are acting against God and are tinder
*See Introduction, p. 208.
*Le., Turn your minds away from the Gospel to the Law. Cf. Gal. 3: 1.
242 An Admonition to Peace
His wrath, as you have heard ; therefore, for God's sake,
let yourselves be advised, and attack these matters as such
matters are to be attacked, that is, with justice and not with
force or with strife, and do not start an endless bloodshed in
Germany. For because both of you are wrong, and both of
you would avenge and defend yourselves, both of you will
destroy yourselves and God will use one knave to flog
another.
You lords have both Scripture and history against you, for
both tell how tyrants are punished. Even the heathen poets 1
say that tyrants seldom die a dry death, but usually have
been slain, and have perished in blood. Because, then, it is
an assured fact that you rule tyranically and with rage, pro-
hibit the Gospel, and skin and oppress the poor, you have
no reason for confidence or hope that you will perish other-
wise than your kind have perished.
Look at all the kingdoms that have come to their end by
the sword, Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome. They have all
been destroyed at last in the same way that they destroyed
others. Thus God shows that He is judge upon earth and
leaves no wrong unpunished. Therefore nothing is more cer-
tain than that this same judgment is close to you, 1 ' whether
it come now or later, unless you reform.
You peasants also have Scripture and experience against
you. They teach that turbulence has never had a good end,
Matt. an d God has always held strictly to the word, "He that takes
26:52 the sword shall perish by the sword." Because, then, you
are doing wrong by judging yourselves and avenging your-
selves, and are bearing the name of Christian unworthily
besides, you are certainly under the wrath of God ; and even
though you win and destroy all the lords, in the end you
9>22ff would have to tear the flesh from one another's bones, like
Num. 'wild beasts. For because not spirit, but flesh and blood,
i6:3i rules among you, God will shortly send an evil spirit among
2 Sam. y u as ^ e did to the men of Shechem and to Abimelech.
18:14 See the end that finally comes to turbulence in the story of
^ 20: Korah, in Numbers xvi, and of Absalom, Sheba, Samri and
1 Juvenal X, 112 f.
* Luther says, "Lies at your neck."
A Reply to the Twelve Articles 243
their like. Briefly, God hates both tyrants and rebels ; there- 1
fore He sets them on each other, so that both parties perish i6:is
shamefully, and His wrath and judgment upon the godless
ire fulfilled.
To me the saddest and the really pitiful thing, and that
which I would willingly buy off with my own life and death,
is that on both sides two inevitable injuries must follow. For
because neither party strives with a good conscience, but
both fight for the upholding of wrong, it must follow, in the i.
first place, that those who are slain are lost eternally, body
and soul, as men who die in their sins, without penitence and
without grace, in the wrath of God. There is nothing to be
done for them. The lords would be fighting for the strength-
ening and maintaining of their tyranny, their persecution of
the Gospel, and their unjust oppression of the poor, or else
for the aiding of that kind of rulers. That is a terrible
wrong and is against God. He who commits such a sin
must be lost eternally. The peasants, on the other hand,
would fight to defend their turbulence and their abuse of the
name of Christian. Both these things are greatly against
God, and he who dies in them or for them must also be lost
eternally, and there is no help for it.
The second injury is that Germany will be laid waste, and
if this bloodshed once starts, it will scarcely cease until 2 .
everything is destroyed. It is easy to start a fight, but to
stop it when we will is not in our power. What have they Enilied
ever done to you* all these innocent children, women, and
old people, whom you fools are drawing with you into such
danger that you should fill the land with blood and robbery
widows and orphans? Oh, the devirs mind is wicked enough!
And God is angry, and threatens to let him loose upon us and
cool his rage in our blood and souls. Beware, dear sirs, and
be wise! It concerns both of you! What good will it do
you to condemn yourselves eternally and wilfully and leave
behind you, for your descendants, a desolate and devastated
and bloody land besides, when you could arrange things bet-
ter, while there is still time, by penitence toward God and
friendly agreement, or by suffering in the sight of men?
With defiance and strife you will do nothing.
244 An Admonition to Peace
It would, therefore, be my faithful counsel to choose from
among the nobles certain counts and lords, and from the cities
The certain councilmen, and have these matters dealt with in a
^ to friendly way, and settled; that you lords let down your stub-
the bornness as you must do in the end, whether you will or
Maitter w ill not and give up a little of your tyranny and oppression,
so that poor people get air and room to live; that the peas-
ants for their part, let themselves be instructed, and give over
and let go some of the articles that grasp too far and too high,
so that the case may be settled by human law and agreement,
even though it cannot be dealt with in a Christian way.
If you shall not follow this advice (and God forbid that
you do not follow it!), I must let you come to grips, but I am
guiltless as regards your souls, your blood, and your prop-
erty; you will bear the guilt yourselves. I have told you that
you are both wrong and that your fighting is wrong. You
lords are not fighting against Christians, for Christians do
nothing against you, but prefer to suffer all things but
against open robbers and defamers of the Christian name.
Those of them who die are already condemned eternally. On
the other hand, you peasants are not fighting against Chris-
tians, but against tyrants, and persecutors of God and man,
and murderers of the holy Christ. Those of them who die
are also condemned eternally. There you have God's sure
verdict upon both parties ; that I know. Do what you please
to keep your bodies and souls, if you will not follow this
verdict.
I, however, will pray to my God that He will either bring
both your parties to agreement and unite you, or else prevent
things from turning out as you intend. To be sure, the terri-
Jer. i5:ible signs and wonders that have come to pass in these times
give me a heavy heart and make me fear that God's wrath
Ezek. has become too strong; as He says in Jeremiah "Though
14:14 Noah, Job, and Daniel stood before me, I would have no
pleasure in the people." Would to God that you might fear
His wrath and amend your ways, that the plague of it might
be put off and postponed a while ! At all events, I have given
all of you, faithfully enough, Christian and brotherly advice.
God grant that it may help ! Ajtnen.
AGAINST THE ROBBING AND MURDERING
HORDES OF PEASANTS
1525
INTRODUCTION
The Twelve Articles represent the demands that the Swabian
peasants were making of their rulers in the early months of 1525.
Luther received them shortly before April 16, and the Admonition
to Peace was published early in May. 1 Meanwhile events had been
moving so rapidly that his warnings and advice were too late.
Early in April the peasants of Swabia delivered their first attacks
upon their landlords and rulers, plundering and destroying castles,
monasteries, and churches. Almost at the same time disturbances
began in the neighborhood of Rothenburg and before May 1st most of
Franconia was at the mercy of the peasant bands, led by Florian Geyer
and Goetz von Berlichingen. Similar outbreaks followed in many
localities, especially in Thuringia, where Muehlhausen, the home of
Thomas Muenzer, was the storm center. Their early successes led
the peasants to believe that the time of their deliverance had come, and
their victories were followed, especially in the towns, by the most
ruthless and revolting atrocities.
Luther received belated reports of conditions in the South while
he was away from Wittenberg, in the heart of the disaffected districts
of Thuringia, It was against the peasants in arms, murdering and
burning and robbing, that he wrote the little tract here presented. The
dispassionate tone of the Admonition is entirely abandoned. The
rebellion is a reality, and Luther's one hope is to see it put down as
rapidly as possible. The time for half-way measures, for conciliation,
and for making concessions has passed ; government is threatened with
destruction, and anarchy is at the door. This explains the violent
language of the tract
The exact date of its writing cannot be determined, but its ideas
correspond closely with those expressed in a letter to John Ruehel,
written from Seeburg, May 4th, and even the language of the two
documents has close resemblances. It is likely, therefore, that the two
were written on or about the same date. There is a similar difficulty
with the date of publication. It was certainly before the middle of
May, but more than that we cannot say. The first edition contains a
re-print of the Admonition.
The text is found in Weimar Ed. XVIII, 357-61; Er-
langen Ed. XXIV, 288-94; St. Louis Ed. XVI, 71-76;
Clemen III, 69-74 ; B e r 1 i n E d . VII, 346-52. The translation is
from the text of Clemen.
CHARLES M. JACOBS.
MOUNT AIRY,
PHILADELPHIA.
1 See Introduction to the Admonition, above, p. 20 S.
De Wette II, 652; SMITH AND JACOBS, Luther 1 * Corre-
spondence, 11,308.
(247)
AGAINST THE ROBBING AND MURDERING
HORDES OF PEASANTS
1525
Against the rioting peasants, Martin Luther.
In the former book 1 I did not venture to judge the peas-
ants, since they had offered to be set right and to b<
instructed, and Christ's commands, in Matthew vii, says thai
we are not to judge. But before I look around they go on
and, forgetting their offer, they betake themselves to vio-
lence > and r k ^ ra e ^ act like ma(i ^g$. B y *k* s lt i{
easy to see what they had in their false minds, and that the
pretences which they made in their twelve articles, under the
name of the Gospel, were nothing but lies. It is the devil's
work that they are at, and in particular it is the work of the
archdevil who rules at Miihlhausen, 3 and does nothing else
than stir up robbery, murder, and bloodshed ; as Christ says
of him in John viii, "He was a murderer from the begin-
ning/' Since, then, these peasants and wretched folk have lei
J0 g? 44 themselves be led astray, and do otherwise than they have
promised, I too must write of them otherwise than I have
written, and begin by setting their sin before them, as Goc
IS 58*i comman ds Isaiah and Ezekiel, on the chance that some oi
them may learn to know themselves. Then I must instrud
the rulers how they are to conduct themselves in these
circumstances.
The peasants have taken on themselves the burden of three
sjns of terrible sins against God and man, by which they have abun-
dantly merited death in body and soul. In the first place
J J r
Peasants
1 The Admonition to Peace, above, pp. 218 ff.
a Thomas Muenzer. Cf. MACKINNON, L. and the Ref. Ill (1929),
pp. 180 S. For literature ibid., p. 181, n. 44.
(248)
Against the Robbing and Murdering Peasants 249
they have sworn 1 to be true and faithful, submissive and
obedient, to their rulers, as Christ commands, when He says, 20:25
"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's," and in Rom
Romans xiii, "Let everyone be subject unto the higher 13 :i
powers/" Because they are breaking this obedience, and are
setting themselves against the higher powers, wilfully and
with violence, they have forfeited body and soul, as faithless, i. Per-
perjured, lying, disobedient knaves and scoundrels are wont 3wy
to do. St. Paul passed this judgment on them in Romans
xiii, when he said, that they who resist the power will bring nom.
a judgment upon themselves. This saying will smite the 13:2
peasants sooner or later, for it is God's will that faith be
kept and duty done.
In the second place, they are starting a rebellion, and
violently robbing and plundering monasteries and castles
which are not theirs, by which they have a second time de- 2 - _**
served death in body and soul, if only as highwaymen and
murderers. Besides, any man against whom it can be proved
that he is a maker of sedition is outside the law of God and
Empire, so that the first who can slay him is doing right and
well. For if a man is an open rebel every man is his judge
and executioner, just as when a fire starts, the first to put it
out is the best man. For rebellion is not simple murder, but
is like a great fire, which attacks and lays waste a whole land.
Thus rebellion brings with it a land full of murder and blood-
shed, makes widows and orphans, and turns everything
upside down, like the greatest disaster. Therefore let every-
one who can, smite, slay, and stab, secretly or openly, remem-
bering that nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful, or
devilish than a rebel. It is just as when one must kill a mad
dog; if you do not strike him, he will strike you, and a whole
land with you.
In the third place, they cloak this terrible and horrible sin
with the Gospel, call themselves "Christian brethren," 8
receive oaths and homage, and compel people to hold with
them to these abominations. Thus they become the greatest
1 The feudal oath of homage,
* Or "government," or "rulers," Obrigkeit.
* Cf. Introduction to the Admonition, above p. 208.
250 Against the Robbing and Murdering Peasants
of all blasphemers of God and slanderers of His holy Name,
serving the devil, under the outward appearance of the Gos-
pel, thus earning death in body and soul ten times over. I
have never heard of more hideous sin. I suspect that the
devil feels the Last Day coming and therefore undertakes
such an unheard-of act, as though saying to himself, "This
is the last, therefore it shall be the worst; I will stir up the
dregs and knock out the bottom." God will guard us against
him! See what a mighty prince the devil is, how he has the
world in his hands and can throw everything into confusion,
when he can so quickly catch so many thousands of peasants,
deceive them, blind them, harden them, and throw them into
revolt, and do with them whatever his raging fury undertakes.
It does not help the peasants, when they pretend that,
according to Genesis i and ii, all things were created free and
common, and that all of us alike have been baptized. For
under the New Testament Moses does not count; for there
stands our Master, Christ, and subjects us, with our bodies
Luke and our property, to the emperor and the law of this world,
20:25 w h en ]j e savs ^ "Render to Csesar the things that are
R i3-i C& s * r * s " P au ^ too > sa y s > * n Romans xii, to all baptized Chris-
tians, "Let every man be subject to the power," and Peter
1 2^13 sa y s > "^ e su bject to every ordinance of man." By this doc-
trine of Christ we are bound to live, as the Father commands
from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son ; hear him."
For baptism does not make men free in body and property,
but in soul; and the Gospel does not make goods common,
except in the case of those who do of their own free will
Acts 4: what the apostles and disciples did in Acts iv. They did not
demand, as do our insane peasants in their raging, that the
goods of others, of a Pilate and a Herod, should be com-
mon, but only their own goods. Our peasants, however,
would have other men's goods common, and keep their own
goods for themselves. Fine Christians these ! I think there
is not a devil left in hell ; they have all gone into the peas-
wimt ia ants * ^ e ^ r rav * n kas one W on <l all measure.
to L since the peasants, then, have brought both God and man
Bone down upon them and are already so many times guilty of
Against the Robbing and Murdering Peasants 251
death in body and soul, since they submit to no court and
wait for no verdict, but only rage on, I must instruct the
worldly governors how they are to act in the matter with a
clear conscience.
First. I will not oppose a ruler who, even though he
does not tolerate the Gospel, will smite and punish these
peasants without offering to submit the case to judgment. 1
For he is within his rights, since the peasants are not con-
tending any longer for the Gospel, but have become faithless,
perjured, disobedient, rebellious murderers, robbers, and
blasphemers, whom even heathen rulers have the right and
power to punish; nay, it is their duty to punish them, for it
is just for this purpose that they bear the sword, and are "the
ministers of God upon him that doeth evil."
But if the ruler is a Christian and tolerates the Gospel, so
that the peasants have no appearance of a case against him,
he should proceed with fear. First he must take the matter
to God, confessing that we have deserved these things, and
remembering that God may, perhaps, have thus aroused the
devil as a punishment upon all Germany. Then he should
humbly pray for help against the devil, for "we are battling E H
not only against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wicked- 6:12;
ness in the air," and this must be attacked with prayer. Then, 2:2
when our hearts are so turned to God that we are ready to let
His divine will be done, whether He will or will not have us
to be princes and lords, we must go beyond our duty, and
offer the mad peasants an opportunity to come to terms,
even though they are not worthy of it. Finally, if that does
not help, then swiftly grasp the sword.
For a prince and lord must remember in this case that he
is God's minister and the servant of His wrath (Romans Ro *;
xiii), to whom the sword is committeed for use upon such
fellows, and that he sins as greatly against God, if he does
not punish and protect and does not fulfil the duties of his
office, as does one to whom the sword has not been committed
when he commits a murder. If he can punish and does not Wratil
even though the punishment consist in the taking of life and
H e., Without trial.
252 Against the Robbing and Murdering Peasants
the shedding of blood- then he is guilty of all the murder
and all the evil which these fellows commit, because, by wil-
ful neglect of the divine command, he permits them to
practice their wickedness, though he can prevent it, and is
in duty bound to do so. Here, then, there is no time for
sleeping ; no place for patience or mercy. It is the time of
the sword, not the day of grace.
The rulers, then, should go on unconcerned, and with a
good conscience lay about them as long as their hearts still
beat. It is to their advantage that the peasants have a bad
conscience and an unjust cause, and that any peasant who is
killed is lost in body and soul and is eternally the devil's. But
the rulers have a good conscience and a just cause ; and can,
therefore, say to God with all assurance of heart, "Behold,
my God, you have appointed me prince or lord, of this I can
R have no doubt; and Thou hast committed to me the sword
13:4 over the evildoers (Romans xiii). It is Thy Word, and
cannot lie. I must fulfill my office, or forfeit Thy grace. It
is also plain that these peasants have deserved death many
times over, in Thine eyes and the eyes of the world, and have
been committed to me for punishment. If it be Thy will that
I be slain by them, atid that my rulership be taken from me
and destroyed, so be it: Thy will be done. So shall I die
and be destroyed fulfilling Thy commandment and Thy
Word, and shall be found obedient to Thy commandment
and my office. Therefore will I punish and smite as long as
my heart beats. Thou wilt judge and make things right/'
Thus it may be that one who is killed fighting on the
ruler's side may be a true martyr in the eyes of God, if he
fights with such a conscience as I have just described, for he
Must Be is ; n Q od > s Word and j s O b e( j{ ent to jjim. On the other
hand, one who perishes on the peasants' side is an eternal
brand of hell, for he bears the sword against God's Word
and is disobedient to Him, and is a member of the devil. And
even though it happen that the peasants gain the upper hand
(which God forbid!) for to God all things are possible, and
we do not know whether it may be His will, through the
devil, to destroy all order and rule and cast the world upon
Against the Robbing and Murdering Peasants 253
a desolate heap, as a prelude to the Last Day, which cannot
be far offnevertheless, they may die without worry and go
to the scaffold with a good conscience, who are found exer-
cising their office of the sword. They may leave to the devil
the kingdom of the world, and take in exchange the everlast-
ing kingdom. Strange times, these, when a prince can win
heaven with bloodshed, better than other men with prayer!
Finally, there is another thing that ought to move the
rulers. The peasants are not content to be themselves the
devil's own, but they force and compel many good people
against their wills to join their devilish league, and so make
them partakers t pf all of their own wickedness and damna- cent
tion. For anyone who consents to what they do, goes to the Peo * le
devil with them, and is guilty of all the evil deeds that they
commit ; though he has to do this because he is so weak in
faith that he does not resist them. A pious Christian ought
to suffer a hundred deaths, rather than give a hair's breadth
of consent to the peasants' cause. ho-w many martyrs
could now be made by the bloodthirsty peasants and the
murdering prophets ! Now the rulers ought to have mercy
on these prisoners of the peasants, and if they had no other
reason to use the sword, with a good conscience, against the
peasants, and to risk their own lives and property in fighting
them, there would be reason enough, and more than enough,
in this that thus they would be rescuing and helping these
souls, whom the peasants have forced into their devilish
league and who, without willing it, are sinning so horribly,
and who must be damned. For truly these souls are in pur-
gatory; nay, in the bonds of hell and the devil.
Therefore, dear lords, here is a place where you can release,
rescue, help. Have mercy on these poor people I 1 Stab, smite,
slay, whoever can. If you die in doing it, well for you ! A
more blessed death can never be yours, for you die in obey-
ing the divine Word and commandment in Romans xiii, and
in loving service of your neighbor, whom you are rescuing
from the bonds of hell and of the devil. And so I beg every-
one who can to flee from the peasants as from the devil him-
M. e., On those whom the peasants have compelled to join them.
254 Against the Robbing and Murdering Peasants
self; those who do not flee, I pray that God will enlighten
and convert. As for those who are not to be converted, God
grant that they may have neither fortune nor success. To
this let every pious Christian say Amen! For this prayer
is right and good, and pleases God; this I know. If anyone
think this too hard, let him remember that rebellion is intol-
erable and that the destruction of the world is to be expected
every hour.
AN OPEN LETTER CONCERNING THE HARD
BOOK AGAINST THE PEASANTS
1525
Vol. IV. -17
INTRODUCTION
The tract Against the Robbing and Murdering
Hordes of Peasants was published before the middle of
May, but by the time that it had gained wide circulation the Peasants'
War was practically at an end. Once more events had moved so
swiftly that Luther's utterances were untimely. 1 Before May 15th the
backbone of the insurrection had been broken in Swabia, Franconia,
and Thuringia. In Alsace, the Odenwald, and the Palatinate the
defeat of the peasants was slower in co>ming- } but there were few
localities in which the lords had not won their decisive victories
before June 5th. The peasants were at the mercy of the governments
against which they had risen in revolt, and on which, during their
short period of success, they had wreaked revenge for the wrongs
that they had long endured. This time it was the rulers who were
ruthless. In their hour of victory they sated a veritable lust for
blood, under the guise of exemplary punishment. Luther's tract seemed
to be a defence of their cruelties, though it was composed in a wholly
different situation. 3
Luther's utterances gave great offence, not only to those who had
sympathized with the hopes of the peasants, but to many of his own
friends and followers. On May 30th, he wrote to Amsdorf, "The
time will come, perhaps, when I, too, can say, 'All ye shall be
offended this night because of me'." 3 His intimate friend, John Ruehl,
had written him on May 26th, "To many of those who are favorable
to you it is a strange thing that you allow the tyrants to slay without
mercy and say that they can become martyrs." 4 On all sides he was
accused of harshness and sycophancy. In this situation, it was appar-
ent that he must speak again. He did so in a sermon preached at
Wittenberg on Pentecost ; he spoke to a larger audience in this Open
Letter.
The date of its composition is uncertain. The earliest reference to
its publication is in a letter of Spalatin's from which we gather that
he was sending out copies of it on August 1st. That would throw the
date of composition into the early part of July, The fact that it is
1 See above, pp. 209, 247, 248.
a Cf . BRENZ, Von Milderung der Fuersten, in Plug-
schriften a us d. ersten Jahren d. Rfn. III. 4.
8 ENDEHS V, 182 ; SMITH AND JACOBS, Luther's Correspondence
II, 319.
*Weimar Ed. XVIII, 377. Cf. Luther's reply, DE WETTE II,
669 ff. SMITH AND JACOBS II, 320 ff.
(257)
258 Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants
addressed to Kaspar Mueller, who was a member of the party that
came up from Mans f eld to help celebrate Luther's wedding (June
27th), and the additional fact that in his letter of invitation to his
Mansfeld friends (June 15th) 1 he makes no reference to it, point
to the conclusion that it was written after June 27th. 3
In the Open Letter Luther upholds the views that he had
expressed in the Admonition to Peace and in the tract
against the peasants. He maintains that there is no excuse for insur-
rection and armed rebellion. On the other hand, he declares that the
severe treatment which the lords are inflicting on those who have sur-
rendered cannot be justified, and the conclusion of the work condemns
unsparingly "the furious, raving, senseless tyrants, who even after the
battle cannot get their fill of blood."
The text of the Open Letter is found in Weimar Ed
XVIII, 384-401. Erlangen Ed. XXIV, 295-319; St. Louis
Ed., XVI, 77-98; Clemen, III, 75-93; Berlin Ed. VII, 358-
82. The translation follows Clemen.
For literature, see Introduction to the Admonition to
Peace, above p. 209, and K. MUELLER, Kirche, Gemeinde
und Obrigkeit nach Luther (1910).
CHARLES M. JACOBS.
MOUNT AIRY,
PHILADELPHIA.
1 De Wette III, 1; SMITH AND JACOBS, II, 323.
a So Weimar Ed. XVIII, 377.
AN OPEN LETTER CONCERNING THE HARD
BOOK AGAINST THE PEASANTS
1525
To the honorable and wise Caspar Mueller, 1 Chancellor of
Mansf eld, my good friend. Grace and peace in Christ.
I have been obliged to answer your letter 3 in a printed
book, because the little book that I published against the
peasants 8 has given rise to so many complaints and questions, Critics
as though it were unchristian and too hard. To be sure, I
had intended to stop my ears, and let the blind, unthankful
creatures who seek in me nothing but causes of offence
smother in their own vexation until they had to rot, since
they have got so little improvement from my other books
that they cannot accept such a plain, simple judgment upon
earthly things. For I remembered the word of Christ in
John iii, "If ye believe not when I speak of earthly things, Joha
how shall ye believe when I speak of heavenly things?" And
when the disciples asked, "Knowest thou that the Pharisees
are offended at this saying?" He said, "Let them be offended; ^ 4
they are blind and leaders of the blind" (Matthew xv).
They cry and boast, "There, there you see Luther's spirit!
He teaches bloodshed without mercy. He must be the devil's
mouthpiece." Ah, well, if I were not used to being judged
and condemned, this might move me ; but I am not conscious
of any pride that is greater than my pride in this, that my
work and teaching must at first suffer reverses and be cruci-
fied. No one is satisfied unless he can condemn Luther.
Luther is the target of contradiction. Everyone has to win
his spurs against him and carry off the honors of the tourna-
1 Muller was chancellor of the counts of Mansf eld and a frequent corre-
spondent of Luthe^s. See Introduction.
a Thfe letter is lost
Against the Robting and Murdering Hordes, abore
pp. 248 .
(259)
26B An Open Letter
ment. In these matters everybody else has a higher spirit
than I, and I must needs be altogether fleshly. Would God
that they had a higher spirit ! I would then gladly be a man
i cor. of flesh indeed, and say, as St. Paul to his Corinthians, "Ye
4:8 are rich; ye are full; ye reign without us." But I fear it is
all too true that they have a high spirit, for I have not as yet
seen them undertake very much that does not bring them
to sin and shame.
-. But they do not see how they stumble, when they thus pass
NO judgment on me, and how, by their contradicting, they reveal
Anww the thoughts of their hearts, as Simeon says of Christ in
Luke Luke ii. They say that they note well what kind of a spirit
2:34 1 I have; I, too, note how splendidly they have grasped and
learned the Gospel. They have, in fact, not a spark of
knowledge of it, and yet they babble much about it. How
can they know what heavenly righteousness in Christ may be,
according to the Gospel, when they do not know what earthly
righteousness in rulers is, according to the law? Such people
are not worthy to hear a single word or see a single work
that might make them better; but they ought to have nothing
but offence, as the Jews had in Christ, because their hearts
are so full of wicked wiles that they desire nothing more than
P fi . to be offended, so that they may fare according to the saying
18:27 in Psalm xvii, "With the froward thou wilt show thyself
Dent froward," and in Deuteronomy xxxii, "I will move them to
32:21 jealousy with those that are not a people ; I will provoke them
to anger with a foolish nation."
This was the reason why I wanted to keep silent, and let
them stumble unconcernedly on, and take offence, until they
received their deserts, and their hearts were hardened and
their eyes blinded by sheer offence, and they went to destruc-
tion these people who have hitherto learned nothing from
the great, clear light of the Gospel, which has shone so lav-
ishly everywhere; 1 who have made so little of the fear of
God that they think nothing "evangelical" except to despise
and judge others, and to consider themselves great in spirit
and lofty of understanding; and who from the doctrine of
* Luther says, "The light .... which has sounded so richly/*
Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants 261
humility take nothing but pride, like the spider, which sucks
only poison out of the rose. You seek an explanation, how-
ever, not for yourself but to stop the mouths of these useless
fellows. I suspect that you are undertaking a vain and
impossible task; for who can stop the mouth of a fool? His
heart is crammed with folly, and that which fills the heart 12:34
must overflow the lips. Nevertheless, because you ask it, I
will do you this vain and lost service.
First of all, then, I must warn those who criticize my book
that they ought to hold their tongues and have a care lest
they make a mistake and lose their own heads ; for they are
certainly rebels at heart, and Solomon says, "My son, fear
thou the Lord and the king, and mingle not with the rebel-
lious ; for their calamity shall rise suddenly, and who know-
eth the ruin of them both?" There we see that both rebels
and those who mingle with them are condemned, and God
will not have it made a jest, but king and government are
to be feared. But they who are "mingling with the rebel-
lious" are those who take their part, lament over them, justify
them, and show mercy to those on whom God has no mercy,
but whom He will have punished and destroyed. For the
man who thus takes the part of the rebels makes it perfectly
plain that he, too, if he had opportunity, would cause disaster,
as he has determined in his heart. The rulers, therefore,
ought to seize these people by the cap and make them hold
their tongues and note that this is a serious matter.
If they think this answer too hard, and that this is talking
violence and only shutting men's mouths, 1 I reply that this
is right. A rebel is not worth answering with arguments, for Open to
he does not accept them. The- answer for such mouths is a
fist that brings sweat from the nose. The peasants would not
listen; they would not let anyone tell them anything; their
ears must be unbuttoned with bullets, till their heads jump
off their shoulders. Such pupils need such a rod. He who
will not hear God's Word, when it is spoken with kindness, 1
must listen to ttte headsman, when he comes with his axe.
1 i. c., Instead of convincing them. . ,
*A reference to the Admonition to Peace.
262 An Open Letter
NO If it is said that in this I am uncharitable and unmerciful, I
Mercy answer, "This is not a question of mercy; 1 we are talking of
a^eb God's Word. It is His will that the king be honored and
rebels destroyed ; and He is as merciful as we are."
Of mercy I will neither hear nor know anything, but give
heed to God's will in His Word. Therefore my little book
will be right, and will remain so, though the whole world take
offence at it. What care I that you do not like it, if God
likes it? If He will have wrath, and not mercy, what have
you to do with mercy? Did not Saul sin by showing mercy
1 15^23 u P on Amalek, when he failed to execute God's wrath, as he
had been commanded? Did not Ahab sin, when he had
mercy on the King of Syria, and let him live, contrary to
1 20-42 8 God's word? If you wish for mercy, then do not "mingle
with the rebellious," but fear the powers that be, and do
Rom. good; if you do evil, then be afraid, for, says Paul, "He
13:3 f - beareth not the sword in vain."
This ought to be answer enough to all who take offence at
my book and make it useless. Is it not right for a man to
hold his tongue, when he hears that God says this, and that
this is God's will? Or is God bound to give reasons to such
empty babblers, and tell them why this is His will ? I had
thought that the mere wink of His eye would be enough to
put every creature to silence, much more a word of His.
PIW. 24;There stands God's Word, "My son, fear God and the king;
21 f * if not, thy calamity will come quickly" ; and Romans xii, "He
Rom. that resisteth the ordinance of God, will receive judgment."
13:2 Why is not St. Paul merciful? If we are to preach God's
Word, we must preach the word that declares His wrath, as
well as that which declares His mercy; we must preach of
hell as well as of heaven, and help extend God's Word and
judgment and work over both the righteous and the wicked,
so that the wicked may be punished and the good protected.
And yet, in order that the righteous God may hold His
own against these His judges, and His decree be found just
and sure, we shall undertake to advocate His Word against
these blasphemers and show the reason for His divine will,
*B*rmhertzig fcyn, barmiertzig her.
Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants 263
and light two candles for the devil. 1 They throw it up to me Loke
that Christ teaches, "Be ye merciful as your Father is mer- 6:36
ciful"; and again, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice"; cf- Matfc
and again, "The Son of Man is come not to destroy souls, but
to save them"; etc. Here they think they have hit the nail
on the head. "Luther ought to have taught that we should
have mercy on the peasants, and he teaches, instead, that we
should kill them out of hand. What do you think of that?
Let us see whether Luther will jump that ditch ! I think he
is caught/' Thank you, my dear masters. If these high
spirits had not taught me, how would I ever have known this
or found it out? How should I know that God demands
mercy, I, who have taught and written more about mercy
than any other man in a thousand years ?
This is the devil himself. He wants to do all the evil that
he can, and so he stirs up good and pious hearts and tempts
them with things like this, so that they may not see how black m*
he is, and tries to deck himself out in a reputation for mercy, ClT
But it will not help him! My good friends, you who are
praising mercy so highly because the peasants are beaten, why
did you not praise it when the peasants were raging, smiting,
robbing, burning, and plundering, until they were terrible to
men's eyes and ears? Why were they not merciful to the
princes and lords, whom they wanted to wipe out entirely?
No one spoke of mercy then. Everything was "rights";
nothing was said of mercy; it was nothing. "Rights, rights,
rights !" they were everything. Now that they are beaten,
and the stone that they threw at heaven is falling bade on
their own heads, no one is to say anything of rights, hut
speak only of mercy.
And yet they are stupid enough to think that no one
notices the rascal behind it! Ah, no! You are in plain
sight, you black, ugly devil ! You praise mercy, not because
you ar in earnest about it and love mercy, or you would
have praised it to the peasants ; but because you are afraid
for your own skin, and would use the appearance and repu-
tation of mercy in order to escape God's rod and punishment.
1 i. e., Throw doable light on, the subject.
264 An Open Letter
Not so, dear fellow! You must take your turn, and die with-
out mercy, St. Paul says, "If thou do that which is evil, be
9 afraid; for the power beareth not the sword in vain, but for
the wrath of God upon him that doeth evil." You would do
evil and not suffer the wrath, but cover yourself up with a
reputation for mercy. Come back tomorrow and we shall
bake you a little cake. Who cannot do this ? Suppose I were
to break into a man's house, rape his wife and daughters,
break open his coffers, take his money, set a sword to his
breast, and say, "If you will not put up with this, I shall run
you through, for you are a godless wretch"; then if a crowd
gathered and were about to kill me, or if the judge ordered
my head off, suppose I were to cry out, "Ei, Christ teaches
that you are to be merciful and not kill me"; what would
people say? That is exactly what my peasants and peas-
ants' advocates are doing now. Now that they have done
their own sweet will upon their lords, like robbers, mur-
derers, thieves, and scalawags, we are to have a song about
mercy, and say, "Be merciful, as Christ teaches, and let us
rage, as the devil teaches : do good to us, and let us do our
worst to you; be satisfied with what we have done and call
it right, and call what you are doing wrong." Who could
not do that? If that is mercy, then we shall start a pretty
state of affairs ; we shall have no sword, ruler, punishment,
hangman, or prison, and let every knave do as he pleases;
then, when he is to be punished, we shall sing, "Ei, be mer-
ciful, as Christ teaches." That would be fine law! There
you see what they have in mind who condemn my book as
though it deni 
