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Full text of "Works Of Martin Luther Volume IV"

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'. 

(103) 



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. 

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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 denied mercy. They are certainly good peasants, 
rebels, and regular blood-dogs, or else they have been led 
astray by them; for they would like all wickedness to go 
unpunished, while under the name of mercy, they are the 
most merciless and cruel destroyers of the whole world, so 
far as it is in their power to be. 

"Nay," say they, "we do not justify the peasants and 
would not prevent their punishment, but it seems wrong to 
us for you to teach that no mercy should be shown the poor 
peasants; for you say that they ought to be slain without 



Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants 265 

mercy." 1 I answer that if you really mean that, I am all 
golden. 2 But all this is merely a cloak for your bloodthirsty 
self-will, which takes secret delight in the ways of the peas- 
ants. Where have I ever taught that no mercy should be 
shown? In that self -same book do I not beg tie rulers to 
show grace to those who surrender ? Why do you not open 
your eyes and read it? Then it would not have been neces- 
sary for you to damn my book, and take offence at it. But 
you are so full of poison that you seize upon the one bit of it 
in which I say that those who will not surrender or listen 
ought to be killed without mercy; and pass by the rest of it, 
in which I say that those who surrender are to be shown 
grace. Everybody can see that you are a spider that sucks 
poison from the rose. It is not true that you condemn the 
peasants, or that you love mercy, but you would like to see 
wickedness free and unpunished, and the temporal sword 
brought to nought. Nevertheless, you will not accomplish it. 
So much for the unchristian and merciless bloodhounds 
who praise the sayings about mercy 8 in order that sheer 
wickedness and mercilessness may rule in the world as they 
please ! To the others, whom they have led astray, or who 
are so weak that they cannot compare my book with the 
words oi Christ, I have this to say: There are two king- 
doms, one the kingdom of God, the other the kingdom of the 
world. I have written this so often that I am surprised 
that there is anyone who does not know it or note it. One 
who knows how to distinguish rightly between these two 
kingdoms will certainly not be offended at my little book, and 
will also have a right understanding of the sayings about 
mercy. God's kingdom is a kingdom of grace and mercy, 
not of wrath and punishment. In it there is only forgive- 
ness, consideration for one another, love, service, the doing 
of good, peace, joy, etc. But the kingdom of the world is a 
kingdom of wrath and severity. In it there is only punish- 
ment, repression, judgment, and condemnation, for the sup- 
pressing of the wicked and the protection of the good. For 

1 See above, pp. 251, 253. 

He., Free of all blame. 

i c., The sayings of Christ, quoted above. 



266 An Open Letter 

isa. this reason it has the sword, and a prince or lord is called in 
14:5 Scripture Gods wrath, or God's rod (Isaiah xiv). 

The words of Scripture that speak of mercy apply to the 
Mercy inkingdom of God and to Christians, not to the kingdom of the 
jjjjj^. world, for it is a Christian's duty not only to be merciful, 
dom of but to endure every kind of suffering robbery, arson, 
Christ mur der, d ev ii an d hell. It goes without saying that he is to 
smite, slay and recompense no one. But the kingdom of the 
world is nothing else than the servant of God's wrath upon 
the wicked, and is a real precursor of hell and everlasting 
death. It should not be merciful, but strict, severe and wrath- 



fe That f u i - m the fulfilment of its work and duty. Its tool is not 

World a wreath of roses or a flower of love, but a naked sword ; 
and a sword is a symbol of wrath, severity and punishment. 
It is turned only against the wicked, to hold them in check 
and keep them at peace, and to protect and save the righteous. 

EX. Therefore God decrees, in the law of Moses and in Exodus 

21:14 xxii, where He institutes the sword, "Thou shalt take the 

murderer even from mine altar, and shalt not have mercy 

on him," and the Epistle to the Hebrews confesses that he 

Heb> who acts against the law shall die without mercy. This shows 
10:28 that in the exercise of their office, worldly rulers cannot and 
ought not be merciful, though out of grace, they may give 
their office a holiday. 

Now he who would confuse these two kingdoms as our 
false fanatics do would put wrath into God's kingdom and 
mercy into the world's kingdom; and that is the same as put- 
ting die devil in heaven and God in hell. Both of these things 
these sympathizers with the peasants would like to do. First 
they wanted to go to work with the sword, fight for the Gos- 
pel as "Christian brethren/' 1 and kill other people, when it 
was these others' duty to be merciful and patient. Now that 
the kingdom of the world has overcome them, they want to 
have mercy in it; that is to say, they would endure no 
worldly kingdom, but would not grant God's kingdom to 
anyone. Can you imagine anything more perverse? Not so, 
dear friends ! If one has deserved wrath in the kingdom of 

1 See above, pp. 208, 225, 229 f. 



Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants 267 

the world, let him submit, and either take his punishment, or 
humbly sue for pardon; those who are in God's kingdom 
ought to have mercy on everyone and pray for everyone, and 
yet not hinder the kingdom of the world in the maintenance 
of its rights and the performance of its duty, but rather 
assist it. 

Although the severity of the world's kingdom seems 
unmerciful, nevertheless, when we see it rightly, it is not Severe 
the smallest of God's mercies. Let everyone think this over m ^ m '" 
and give his own judgment on the following case. Suppose Really 
I had a wife and children, a house, servants, and property, Merctfl11 
and a thief or murderer fell upon me, killed me in my own 
house, ravished my wife and children, took all that I had, and 
went unpunished, so that he could do the same thing again, 
when he wished. Tell me, who would be more in need of 
mercy in such a case, I or the thief and murderer ? Without 
doubt it would be I who would need most that people should 
have mercy on me. But how can this mercy be shown to me 
and my poor, miserable wife and children, except by sup- 
pressing such a knave, and protecting me and maintaining 
my rights, or, if he will not be suppressed and keeps on, by 
giving him his just dues, and punishing him, so that he must 
stop it? What fine mercy to me it would be, if we were to 
have mercy on the thief and murderer, and let him kill, and 
abuse and rob me ! 

That kind of mercy which rules and acts through the 
temporal sword, these peasants 1 advocates do not consider. 
They open their eyes and their mouths upon the wrath and 
the severity only, and say that we are flattering the furious 
princes and lords, when we teach that they are to punish the 
wicked. And yet they are themselves ten times worse flat- 
terers of the murderous knaves and wicked peasants; nay, 
they are bloodthirsty murderers, rebels at heart, for they 
have no mercy on those whom the peasants overthrew, 
robbed, dishonored, and subjected to all kinds of injustice. 
For if the intentions of the peasants had been carried out, 
no honest man would have been safe from them, but who- 
ever had a pfennig more than another would have had 



268 An Open Letter 

to suffer for it They had already begun that, and it would 
not have stopped there; women and children would have 
been put to shame; they would have taken to killing each 
other, too, and there would have been no peace or safety 
anywhere. Has anything been heard of that is more unre- 
strained than a mob of peasants when they are fed full and 

Pro*, have got power ? As Solomon says, in Proverbs xxx, "Such 
30:21 * p e0 pi e the W orld cannot bear." 

On such people are we now to have mercy above others, 
and let them rage on as they please with everyone's body, 
life, wife, children, honor and property? Are we to leave 
them unpunished, and allow the innocent to perish shamefully 
before our very eyes, without mercy or help or comfort? I 
hear constant reports that the Bamberg peasants were offered 
more than they asked, provided only they would keep the 
peace, and they would not. Margrave Casimir, 1 too, prom- 
ised his peasants that whatever others won with strife and 
rebellion, he would give them out of free grace; but that did 
not help either. It is well known that the Franconian peas- 
ants, out of sheer wantonness, planned nothing else than 
robbing, burning, breaking, and destroying. It is my own 
experience with the Thuringian peasants that the more they 
were exhorted and instructed, the more obstinate, the prouder, 
the madder they became. Their attitude everywhere was so 
wanton and defiant that it seemed as though they really 
wanted to be slain without grace or mercy. They scornfully 
defied God's wrath, and now it is coming upon them, as the 

PS. cviii Psalm says, "They would not have grace, and now it is 
109:17 far away from them." 

The Scriptures, therefore, have fine, clear eyes and see the 
temporal sword aright. They see that out of great mercy, it 
must be unmerciful, and from utter kindliness, it must exer- 

i Pet. cise wrath and severity. As Peter and Paul say, it is God's 
2:14 servant for vengeance, wrath, and punishment upon the 

Rom. wicked, but for the protection, praise, and honor of the 
13t4 righteous. It looks upon the righteous and has mercy on 

1 0asimlir, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1481-1527). 
Deutsche Biographic, iv, 43 ff. 



Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants 269 

them, and in order that they may not suffer, it guards, bites, 
stabs, cuts, hews, and slays, as has been commanded it by 
God, whose servant it knows itself to be, even in this. This 
punishing of the wicked without grace does not occur for 
its own sake, because the punishment of the wicked is a 
thing to seek after, not in order that the evil desires that are 
in their blood may be atoned for, but in order that the 
righteous may be protected, and peace and safety main- 
tained. And beyond all doubt, these are precious works of 
mercy, love, and kindness, since there is nothing on earth 
that is worse than disturbance, insecurity, oppression, vio- 
lence, and injustice. Who could or would stay alive, if such 
things were the rule? Therefore the wrath and severity of 
the sword is just as necessary to a people as eating and drink- 
ing, nay, as life itself. 

"Nay," say they, "we are not talking about the obdurate 
peasants who are unwilling to surrender, but of those who 
have been beaten, or who have given themselves up. To 
them the princes ought to show mercy, and not treat them 
so cruelly." I answer; You cannot be a good man if you 
slander my little book and say that I speak in it of such 
conquered peasants, or of those who have surrendered, 
whereas I made it plain that I was speaking of those who 
were first approached in a friendly way, and would not. All 
my words were against the obdurate, hardened, blinded peas- 
ants, who would neither see nor hear, as anyone may see 
who reads them ; and yet you say that I advocate the slaugh- 
ter of the poor captured peasants without mercy. If you are 
going to read books this way and interpret them as you 
please, what book will have any chance with you? There- 
fore, as I wrote them so I write now ; On the obstinate, hard- 
ened, blinded peasants, let no one have mercy, but let every- 
one, as he is able, hew, stab, slay, lay about him as though 
among mad dogs, in order that, by so doing, he may show 
mercy to those who are ruined, driven away, and led astray 
by these peasants, so that peace and safety may be maintained. 
It is better to cut off one member without mercy than to 
have the whole body perish by fire, or by disease* How do 



270 An Open Letter 

you like that? Am I still a preacher of the Gospel who 
advocates grace and mercy? If you think I am not, it makes 
little difference, for you are a bloodhound and a rebel- 
lious murderer and destroyer of the country, you and your 
rebellious peasants, whom you are flattering in their rebellion. 

They say further, that the peasants have slain nobody as 
they are being slain. What shall be said to that? What a 
splendid argument! They have slain nobody! That was 
because people had to do what they wanted ! They threatened 
to kill those who would not go along with them; they laid 
hold of the sword that did not belong to them ; they attacked 
property, houses, and possessions. Arguing this way, a 
thief and murderer, who took from me what he wanted by 
threatening me with death, would be no murderer. If they 
had done what they were kindly asked to do, they would not 
have been killed ; when they were not willing to do it, it was 
right to do to them what they themselves had done, or 
threatened to do, to those who did not agree with them. 
Besides, it is plain that they are faithless, perjured, disobe- 
dient, rebellious thieves, robbers, murderers, and blasphemers, 
and there is not one of them who has not deserved ten times 
over to suffer death without mercy. We are not seeing this 
thing straight. 1 We see only the punishment, and how it 
hurts, and not the guilt and the deserts, and the unspeakable 
injury and ruin that was sure to follow. If the punishment 
hurts, cease to do evil. Paul gives the same answer to this 
^. 3f . kind of folk when he says, in Romans xiii, "Wilt thou not 
be afraid of the sword, do that which is good ; but if thou 
do evil, be afraid." 

They say in the third place, that the lords are misusing 
their sword and slaying too cruelly, I answer: What has 
that to do with my book? Why lay others' guilt on me? If 
they are misusing their power, they have not learned it from 
me; and they will have their reward. For the Supreme 
Judge, who is using them to punish the self-willed peasants, 
has not forgotten them either, and they will not escape Him. 
My book speaks not of what the lords deserve, but of what 

1 Man will yhe mit dem schalcks auge sell en. 



Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants 271 

the peasants deserve. When I have time and occasion to do 
so, I shall attack the princes and lords, too, for in my office 
of teacher, a prince is just the same to me as a peasant. I 
have already done them certain services which have not made Matt 
me overpopular with them; but that matters little to me. I 
'have One who is greater than all of them, as John says. 

If my first advice, given when the rebellion was just be- 
ginning, 1 had been followed, and a peasant, or a hundred of 
them had been knocked down so that the rest would have 
tripped over them, 3 and if they had not been allowed to get 
the upper hand many thousands of them, who now have to 
die, would have been saved, for they would have stayed at 
home. That would have been a needful deed of mercy, per- 
formed with little wrath; now it is necessary to use so much 
severity, because there are so many of them to control. 

But God's will has been done, in order to teach both sides 
a lesson. First, the peasants had to learn that things had 
been too easy for them and that they were not able to stand i. 
prosperity and peace. 8 They had to learn that hereafter they 
ought to thank God if they have to give up only one cow in 
order to enjoy the other cow in peace; for it is always better 
to possess the half of one's property in peace and safety, 
than to have the whole of it and be at every instant in danger 
of thieves and murderers, since that way we have it not at 
all. The peasants did not know what a precious thing it is 
to be in peace and safety and to enjoy one's food and drink 
in happiness and security, and so they did not thank God for 
it He had to take this way to teach them, and relieve their 
itch. To the lords, on the other hand, this thing was useful, 
too. They 'have found out what is behind the rabble and how 
far they are to be trusted, so that they might learn henceforth 
to rule justly and put their lands and roads in order. There 
was no longer either government or order ; it had all been 



* In the Admonition, above, p. 219 ff. 

*i. e., If the first to rebel Bad "been so treated that the rest would have 
come to their senses. Cf. notes in Clemen, III, 85, and Berlin VII, 
371. 

See Introduction to the Admonition, above, p. 205. 

Vol. IV.-18 



272 An Open Letter 

given up. 1 There was no longer any fear or reverence among 
the people; everybody did as he pleased; no one wanted to 
give anything, but everyone wanted to revel, drink, dress up, 
and be idle, as though every man were a lord. The ass will 
have blows, and the people will be ruled by force ; God knew 
that full well, and so He gave the rulers, not a feather- 
duster/ but a sword. 

Not the smallest of the objections that they conjure up is 
^ that there have been among the peasants many righteous 
F<rartii folk, who got there innocently and under compulsion, and 
Crfticisin that injustice is done in the sight of God when they are exe- 
cuted. I answer: They are talking like people who have 
never heard a single word of God's, and therefore my reply 
must be such as I would give to heathen or to children ; so 
little has been accomplished among the people by all the books 
and sermons ! 

I say, in the first place, that no injustice is done to those 
who have been compelled by the peasants. Not a Christian 
stayed among them, and these men did not get among them 
innocently, as they pretend. It does appear, indeed, as 
though they were suffering injustice, but it is not so. Tell 
me, my dear friend, if a man killed your father and mother, 
dishonored your wife and children, burned your house, and 
took your money and everything that you had, and then said 
that he had to do it because he had been forced to it, what 
kind of an excuse would that be? Who has ever heard that 
anyone can be compelled to do good or evil? Who can com- 
pel a man's will ? O, it does not hold water, it does not fit, 
when a man says, "I have to do wrong ; I am forced to it." 
To deny Christ and the Word of God is a great sin and 
wrong, and many are forced to do it, but do you think that 
that excuses them? Likewise, to raise an insurrection, to 
become disobedient and faithless to rulers, to perjure one- 
self, to rob and bum, that is a great wrong, and some of 
the peasants were forced to do it; but how does that help 
them? Why do they let themselves be forced? 

1 This seems to be the sense of Luther's Es stund alles off en 
und mussig. 
* Literally, "a fox-tail." 



Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants 273 

"Nay," say they, "but they threatened to take my lif e and T^ 
my property." Ei, my dear fellow, to keep your life and Fallacy 
property, you are willing to break God's commandments, kill 
me, and ravish my wife and children; but how did God and I 
come to that? Would you be willing to suffer the same 
things at my hands ? If you had been so compelled that the 
peasants bound you hand and foot, and carried you along 
by force, and you had defended yourself with your mouth, 
and rebuked them for doing it, and your heart had thus con- 
fessed and borne witness that it was unwilling and refused to 
consent, then your honor would have been preserved; you 
would have been compelled in body, but uncompelled in will. 
But, as it is, you keep silent and do not rebuke them ; you 
go along with the crowd and do not make your unwillingness 
known, and thus it helps you nothing. This has gone on too 
long for you now to say that you were unwilling. You ought 
to have feared and heeded God's commandment more than 
men, even at the risk of danger or of death. He would not 
have deserted you, but would have stood by you faithfully, 
rescued you, and helped you. Therefore, as they are damned 
who deny God, even though they are forced to do it, so it is 
no excuse for the peasants that they have let themselves be 
forced. 

If that excuse were to pass, there would be no more pun- 
ishment of sin or crime; for where is there a sin to which 
the devil, the flesh, and the world do not drive us and, as 
it were, force us? Do you not think that there are times 
when a wicked lust drives men to adultery with a raging 
fever that may well be considered a greater compulsion than 
that which drove a peasant into revolt? Who is lord of his 
own heart? Who can resist the devil and the flesh? It is not 
possible, indeed, for us to ward off the lightest sin, for the 2 ' Iini * 
Scriptures say that we are captives of the devil, as though he 2 " 26; 
were our prince and god, so that we have to do what he wills Acta 
and what he puts into our hearts. There are some terrible 10:3 8 
stories to prove this. Ought it therefore to go unpunished 
and be thought right? Not so! It is our duty to call God 
to our aid, and to resist sin and wrong. If you die or suffer 



274 An Open Letter 

for it, well for you ! Your soul is blessed before God and 
highly honored by the world! But if you yield and obey, 
you must die anyhow, and your death is shameful before 
God and the world, because you have allowed yourself to be 
forced to wrongdoing. Thus it would be better to die with 
honor and blessedness, in praise of God, than to have to die 
with shame, in punishment and pain. 

"Good God!" you say. "If only we had known that!" 
Good God, I answer, how can I help it? Ignorance is no 
excuse. Ought not a Christian to know what is to be known? 
Why do they not learn? Why do they not support good 
preachers ? They want to be ignorant. The Gospel has come 
into Germany; many persecute it, few desire it, fewer accept 
it, and those who do accept are so lax and lazy that they 
let the schools go to ruin, and the parishes and pulpits go 
down. No one gives any thought to maintaining the Gospel 
and training the people, and everywhere it seems as though 
it hurt us to learn anything and as though we wanted to know 
nothing. What wonder is it, then, if God visits us, and lets 
us see a bit of the punishment that follows the despising of 
His Gospel, a sin of which we all are guilty (for even 
though some of us are innocent of this rebellion, we have 
deserved worse things), in order to warn us and drive us to 
school, so that we may get some sense and some knowledge. 

How is it in war time, when the innocent must go forth 
Common w ^ ^ SP&ty nav > when it seems that it goes hardest 
with the innocent, who must become widows and orphans? 
These are plagues that God sends upon us. They are well 
deserved, and one of us must suffer them with the rest, if we 
are to live together, as the proverb says, "One is guilty of 
one's neighbor's fire." 1 

One who lives in a community must do his share in bear- 
ing and suffering the community's burdens, dangers, and 
injuries, even though, not he, but his neighbor has caused 
them: He must do this in the same way that he enjoys the 
peace, profit, protection, wealth, freedom, and convenience 

^ 1 Ein nachbar 1st detn andern ein brand scbuldig, 
i e., if your neighbor's bourse burns, you suffer. 



Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants 275 

of the community, even though he has not won them or 
brought them into being. He must learn to sing with Job, Job 2:io 
and so comfort himself, "Have we received good from the 
hand of the Lord, and shall we not also bear the evil?" So 
many good days are worth a bad hour, and so many good 
years are worth a bad day, or year. For a long time we have 
had peace and good days, until we became presumptuous and 
sensitive, did not know what peace and good days meant, and 
did not once thank God for them; now we have to learn. 

It is my advice that we abstain from complaining and 
murmuring and thank God that, by His grace and mercy, no 
greater misfortune has befallen us, such as the devil was 
minded to bring about through the peasants. That is what worse 
Jeremiah did. When the Jews were driven out and captured 
and slain, he comforted himself, and said. "It is of the Lord's Lam 

n ,pp 

grace and goodness that we are not entirely destroyed." We 
Germans are much worse than the Jews, and yet we have not 
been driven out and slain, as they were; but we want to 
murmur and become impatient and justify ourselves. We 
are so unwilling to have a part of us slain that God's wrath 
against us may increase and He may let us go to destruction, 
remove His hand, and give us over entirely to the devil. We 
are acting as we mad Germans always do. We know nothing 
about God, and talk about these things as though there were 
no God who does them and wills that they be done. It is 
our intention not to suffer at all, but to be nobles, who can 
sit on cushions and do as they please. 

For that is what you would have seen if this devil's busi- 
ness of the peasants had gone on and God had not thus 
warded them off by the sword, in answer to the prayers of 
pious Christians. Throughout all Germany things would 
have gone as they are going now with those who are being 
killed and destroyed ; only it would have "been much worse. 
No one would have been safe from another; any man might 
have killed another, burned down his house and home, and 
ravished his wife and children. For this business did not 
start with God; there was no order in it; it had already 
come to a pass where none of them trusted or believed 



276 An Open Letter 

another; they deposed one captain after another; and thing! 
were done, not as honest men would have had them done, btr 
according to the wishes of the vilest knaves. The devil hac 
it in mind to lay all Germany utterly waste, because there was 
no other way by which he could suppress the Gospel. Whc 
knows what will yet happen, if we keep on with our murmur- 
ing and ingratitude ? God can let the peasants go mad again, 
or release upon us some other plague, so that things may 
become even worse than they are now. I think that this has 
been a good strong warning and threat. If we neglect it, 
and are not converted, and fear God, let us beware of what 
may come to us, lest this shall prove to have been only a jest, 
with the serious thing to follow. 

Finally, it may be said, "You yourself teach rebellion, for 
Fifth y u sa y ^ at evervone w ^ can shall hew and thrust among 
<Mti- the rebels, and that, in this case, everyone is both supreme 
cism judge and executioner." I answer : My little book was not 
written against simple evil-doers, but against rebels. You 
must make a very, very great distinction between a rebel 
and a thief, or a murderer, or any other kind of evil-doer. 
For a murderer, or other evil-doer, lets the head of the gov- 
ernment alone, and attacks only the members or their prop- 
erty; nay, he fears the ruler. So long as the head remains, 
no one ought to attack such a murderer, because the head can 
punish him, but everyone ought to await the judgment and 
command of the head, to whom God has committed the 
sword and the office of punishment. But a rebel attacks the 
head himself and interferes with his sword and his office, 
and therefore his crime is not to be compared with that of a 
murderer. We cannot wait until the head gives commands 
and passes judgment, for the head is himself captured and 
beaten and cannot give them, but everyone who can must 
run, uncalled and unbidden, and as a true member, help to 
rescue his head by thrusting, hewing, and killing, and risk 
his life and goods for the head's sake. 

I must make that clear by a simple comparison. Suppose 
I were some lord's servant, and saw his enemy running upon 



Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants 277 

him with a naked sword, and it was in my power to keep him 
off, but I stood still and let my lord be shamefully slain. Tell 
me, what would God and the world say of me? Would they 
not have a right to say that I was an utter rogue and traitor, 
and must certainly be in league with the enemy? 1 But if I 
were to leap between my lord and his enemy, and risk my 
body for my lord, and run his enemy through, would that not 
be an honorable and honest deed, and be praised and lauded 
before God and the world ? Or, if I myself were to be run 
through in doing it, how could I die a more Christian death ? 
I would be dying in the true service of God, so far as what 
I was doing is concerned, and if I had faith, I would be a 
true, holy martyr of God. But if I wanted to excuse myself, 
and said that I was keeping quiet until my lord should bid 
me defend him, what effect would that excuse have, except to 
earn me double blame, and make me worthy of all men's 
curses, as one who was jesting in the face of such wicked- 
ness? Did not Christ Himself praise this kind of thing in j ohn 
the Gospel, and make it right for servants to fight for their 18:36 
lords, when He stood before Pilate and said, "If my king- 
dom were of this world, then would my servants fight for me, 
that I might not be delivered to the Jews ?" There you see 
that before God and the world it is right for servants to fight 
for their lords; otherwise what would worldly government 
be? 

See, now ! A rebel is a man who runs upon his head and 
lord with naked sword. No one should wait, then, until his 
lord bids him prevent it, but the first who can ought to run in 
and stab the rascal unbidden, and not worry whether he is 
committing murder ; for he has only kept off an arch-mur- 
derer, who wanted to murder the whole land. Nay, if he 
does not thrust and slay, but lets his lord be run through, he 
too is an arch-murderer; for he must then remember that, 
because his lord suffers and is down, he is himself, in that 
case, lord and judge and executioner. For rebellion is no 
jest, and there is no evil deed on earth that compares with it. 

1 Literally, "have head and tail with the enemy," 



278 An Open Letter 

Other wicked deeds are single acts; rebellion is a Noah's 
flood of wickedness. 

I am called a clergyman and have the office of the Word, 
Rebel- but if I were the servant even of a Turk and saw my lord in 
Ii<m danger, I would forget my spiritual office and thrust and hew 
as l n g as * na -d a heartbeat left. If I were slain in so doing, 
I should go straight to heaven. For rebellion is a crime that 
deserves neither court nor mercy, whether it be among 
heathen, Jews, Turks, Christians, or any other people; it is 
already heard, judged, condemned, and sentenced to death at 
anybody's hands. There is nothing to do about it, except to 
kill quickly, and give the rebel his deserts. No murderer 
does so much evil, and none deserves so much evil. For a 
murderer commits a penal offence, and lets the penalty stand; 
but a rebel tries to make wickedness free and unpunishable, 
and attacks the punishment itself. Moreover, in these times 
he gives the Gospel a bad reputation with its enemies, who 
blame the Gospel for this rebellion and open their slanderous 
mouths wide enough in slandering it, although this does not 
excuse them, and they know better. Christ will smite them, 
too, in His own time. 

See, then, whether I was not right when I said, in my little 
book, that we ought to slay the rebels without any mercy. 
I did not teach, however, that mercy ought not to be shown 
to the captives and those who have surrendered. They accuse 
me of having said it, but my book proves the opposite. It 
was not my intention, either, to strengthen the raging tyrants, 
or to praise their raving. For I hear that some of my knight- 
lets 1 are treating the poor people with unmeasured cruelty, 
and are very bold and defiant, as though they had won the 
victory and were firmly in the saddle. They are not seeking 
the punishment and the improvement of the rebellion, but 
they are satisfying their furious self-will and cooling a rage, 
which they, perhaps, have long nursed, thinking that they 
have now got a chance and a cause for it. Especially are 
they now setting themselves with complete assurance against 
the Gospel ; seeking to restore the endowed places and the 

1 Junckerlin. 



Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants 279 

monasteries, and to keep the crown on the pope ; confounding 
our cause with that of the rebels. But soon they will reap 
what now they are sowing. He that sitteth on high sees 
them, and He will come before they expect Him. Their 
plans will fail, as they have failed before; this I know, 

In the same book I said that these are strange times, when 
a man can earn heaven with slaughter and bloodshed. "God 
help us. Luther forgot himself that time ! He taught before 
that a man must obtain grace and salvation by faith alone, 
and not by works, and here he ascribes salvation, not only to 
works, but even to the frightful work of bloodshed! The 
Rhine is on fire at last !" Dear God, how closely they seek 
me ! How they lie in wait for me ! But it is of no use ! I 
hope I may be allowed to use the words and expressions, not 
only of the common people, but also of the Scriptures. Does 5.3 
not Christ say in Matthew v, "Blessed are the poor, for 
theirs is the kingdom of heaven," and "Blessed are ye when 
ye are persecuted, for great is your reward in heaven" ? In 



Matthew xxv, does He not reward works of mercy, etc.? " ff 
And yet it remains true that works avail nothing before God, 
but only faith avails. How that is, I have told in many of my 
writings, and especially in the Sermon on the Un- 
righteous Mammon, 1 if there is anyone who is not 
satisfied with that, let him keep on being offended as long as 
he lives. As for the fact that I made bloodshed such a pre- 
cious work, the passage in my book shows plainly that I was 
speaking of worldly rulers who are Christians, and who are 
doing their duty in a Christian way, especially when they are 
moving to battle against the rebel bands. If they are not 
doing right in shedding blood and fulfilling the duty of their 
office, then Samuel, David, and Samson must have done 
wrong when they punished evil-doers, and shed blood. If 
that kind of bloodshed is not good and right, then we ought 
to let the sword alone, and be "free brethren" and do as *we 
like. 
I beg earnestly that you, and everyone, will look at my 

*Weimar Ed, X, 273 ff. 



280 An Open Letter 

book fairly, and not run through it so hurriedly. Then you 
will see that I was advising only good and pious rulers, as it 
was right that a Christian preacher should. I say it for the 
third time. I was writing only for rulers who might wish to 
deal in a Christian or otherwise honest way with their people, 
for the purpose of instructing their consciences concerning 
this matter, to the effect that they ought quickly to smite the 
bands of rebels, regardless of whether they struck the guilty 
or the innocent, and that if they struck the innocent, they were 
not to let their consciences trouble them, but were confessing 
by the very act that they were bound to do their duty to God. 
Afterwards, however, if they won, they were to show grace, 
not only to those whom they held innocent, but to the guilty, 
too. 

But the furious, raving, senseless tyrants, who even after 
the battle cannot get their fill of blood, and in all their lives 
A wam- ask scarcely a question about Christ, these I did not under- 
* to take to instruct. To these bloody dogs it is all one whether 
they slay the guilty or the innocent, whether it please God 
or the devil. They have the sword, but only that they may 
vent their lust and self-will. I leave them to the guidance 
of their master, the devil, who is, indeed, leading them. I 
have heard that at Muehlhausen one of these big bugs sum- 
moned before him the poor wife of Thomas Muenzer, now 
a widow and with child, fell on one knee before her, and said, 
"Dear lady, let me .... you." 0, a knightly, noble deed, 
done to a poor, lone, pregnant little woman ! That is a brave 
hero for you ! He is worth three knights, at the very least ! 
Why should I write for scoundrels and hogs like that? The 
Scriptures call such people B e s t i e n, that is, "wild ani- 
mals," such as wolves, boars, bears, and lions, and I shall not 
make men of them; and yet we must put up with them, when 
God plagues us with them. I had two fears. If the peas- 
ants became lords, the devil would become abbot; but if these 
tyrants became lords, the devil's dam would become abbess. 
Therefore I wanted to do two things, quiet the peasants, 
and instruct the lords. The peasants were unwilling, and 
now they have their reward; the lords, too, will not hear, 



Concerning the Hard Book Against the Peasants 281 

and they shall have their reward also. Except that it would 
have done harm, if they had been killed by the peasants, that 
would have been a light punishment for them. 1 Hell-fire, 
trembling, and gnashing of teeth in hell will be their reward 
eternally, unless they repent. 

This, dear sir and friend, is my answer to your letter. I 
hope that I have more than satisfied you. If there is anyone 
who is not satisfied, let him still be, in God's name, wise and 
prudent, righteous and holy ; and let me still be a fool and a 
sinner. I wish that they would leave me in peace ; but they 
will not win, and what I teach and write will still be true, 
even though the whole world burst. If anyone wants to be 
peculiar, I, too, shall be peculiar, and we shall see who is 
right in the end. 

God be with you ! Tell Conrad to make no mistake, and 
get in the right bed. a The printer should be careful here- 
after not to call you "Chancier."* Amen. 

1 E y n fuchsschwantz, see above, p. 272. 

a Either a message to a certain Conrad, who was secretary to the Duke of 
Mansfeld (so Berlin Ed. VII, 382, n. 2), or an allusion to a popular 
song describing the woes of an imaginary Conrad who got in the wrong bed 
(so Weimar and Clemen. ) 

8 Either in the first page of this tract, or elsewhere, the printer had given 
Mueller the title of Cantzeler, instead of Cantzler. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE EIGHTY-SECOND 

PSALM 

1530 



INTRODUCTION 



The only one of Luther's expository writings included in the original 
plan of this edition of Luther's Works was the Exposi- 
tion of the Magnificat. 1 It was felt that this field was too 
large to be covered with any adequacy, without departing from the 
primary purpose o>f the edition, which was to give works of Luther 
to English readers in their entirety. The editors have made a second 
exception by including- this Exposition of the Eig-hty- 
second Psalm. 

There are two reasons that have led them to do this. The first 
is that this treatise is an admirable illustration of Luther's exeg-etical 
method. He was not a scientific exegete in any modern sense. The 
establishment of the exact meaning of the text of Scripture was not 
for him an end in itself. He was concerned with existing situations 
in Church and society, and the improvement of those conditions ; with 
existing problems of the spiritual life, and the solution of those prob- 
lems. The study o>f the Scriptures was for him a means for the 
improvement of the conditions and the solution of the problems. The 
value of his expositions lies in the remarkable breadth and amazing 
variety of their applications, which often makes them treatises on 
things in general, rather than the kind of thing that we have learned 
to call commentaries. 

The second reason that this Exposition has been included 
is that it deals with the problems of government. In Luther's hands 
the Psalm becomes U A Mirror for Magistrates." In this mirror, rul- 
ers may see at once the ideal and the reality of government, the 
possibilities that open before those who- are called upon to govern their 
fellowmen, and the woeful failure of the rulers of Luther's generation 
to realize those possibilities. In the course of the discussion Luther's 
theory of the State, and its relation to the Church comes to clear 
expression.* This is especially important because of the fact that the 
Exposition was written and published in the year of the Diet 
of Augsburg, when the question of the relation of Church and State 
was vital to the continuance of the Reformation. 

The treatise, like the Catechisms, seems to have owed its 
origin to the visitation of the Saxon churches, and the revelations 
concerning actual conditions which this visitation made. Luther was 

*Vol. Ill, p. 123 ff. 

a On the difficulties of the translator with Luther's technical terminology, 
see Introduction to the Admonition to Peace (1525), in this 
volume, p. 205. 



286 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

working at it before March 17, 1530. The section on the toleration of 
false doctrine was inserted, apparently at the suggestion of Lazarus 
Spengler, conveyed to Luther through Veit Dietrich. 1 The whole 
work was completed before April 12, 3 and probably before April 13, 
the date of Luther's departure from Wittenberg for Coburg, where he 
spent the months of the Diet of Augsburg. The first Wittenberg 
edition was sold out before June 3rd. The popularity of the treatise 
is shown by the fact that before the end of 1531 two different Latin 
translations of it had been published. 

The work is contained in Weimar Ed. XXXI, 1 189-218; Er- 
langen Ed. XXXIX, 224-65; St. Louis Ed V, 696-731, The 
translation is made from the Weimar text 

Literature in Weimar Ed., p. 185. Cf. KARL Horx, 
Luther, 3 pp. 326-89. 

CHARLES M. JACOBS. 
MOUNT AIRY, 
PHILADELPHIA. 

1 See Introduction iaWeimar Ed. XXXI 1 , 184. 
Ibid. 



THE 
EIGHTY-SECOND PSALM 

TRANSLATED AND EXPLAINED 
1530 

God standeth in the congregation of God 

And is judge among the gods. 

How long will ye judge unjustly 

And prefer the persons of the godless? 

Judge the poor and the orphan 

And help the wretched and needy to 

j u s t i c e . 

Rescue the small and poor man, 
Deliver him out of the hand of the godless. 
But they know nothing and consider 

nothing , 

They go in darkness; 

All the foundations of the land must fall. 
I said, indeed, Ye are gods 
And all together children of the Highest. 
But ye shall die like men, 
And fall like a prince. 
Arise, O God, and judge the land, 
For Thou dost inherit among the heathen. 

PREFACE 

Once upon a time popes, bishops, priests, and monks had 
such authority that, with their little letters of excommunica- 
tion, they could force and, drive kings and princes wherever 
they wished, without resistance or defence. Nay, kings and 
princes could not ruffle a hair of any monk or priest, no 
matter how insignificant the maggot was. They had to put 



288 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

The up with it when a rude jackass in the pulpit would vilify a 
Tyranny j^g anc [ a p r j nce an d make fun of them as his wanton will 
Church suggested. That was called preaching, and no one dared 
utter a peep against it. The worldly rulers were completely 
subject to these clerical giants and tyrants and these disso- 
lute, rude fellows walked all over them- So mighty was the 
rule of the single canon, si quis suadente! 1 Besides, 
it was not understood or taught what temporal rulership was, 
or how great the distinction was between it and spiritual 
government. For this reason none of the worldly lords knew 
how to revenge himself upon the clergy, except by being too 
hostile to them, speaking evil of them, and, when he could, 
playing secret tricks on them, or winking at what others did. 
Now, however, the Gospel has come to light and it makes 
a plain distinction between the temporal and the spiritual 
estate, and teaches, besides, that the temporal estate is an 
ordinance of God which everyone ought to obey and honor. 
^ Therefore they are rejoiced because they are free, and the 
Libera- spiritual tyrants have to pull in their pipes, and the tables are 
tton of tumetL Now popes, bishops, priests and monks have to fear 
an ^ honor the princes and lords and nobles, make them gifts 
and presents, keep the fasts and the feasts, and worship at 
their feet as though they were their gods. This tickles them 
so that they do not know how to abuse this grace and liberty 
wantonly enough; and meanwhile they are persecuting the 
Gospel, by means of which they have become gods and lords 
over the clergy, under the pretenpe of protecting and defend- 
ing the spiritual estate. But alas for the protection that the 
clergy get at such a price that it hurts body and life; though, 
to be sure, it serves them right ! 

Moreover, in order to show still more thanks to the Gospel, 
they will not allow it to rebuke their wickedness and self-will. 
They have now discovered a new device, and declare that 
whoever rebukes them is seditious and rebels against the 

*In the Canon Law ( D ecret II, C. 17, qu. 4, c. 29) it prohibits attacks 
on the persons of clergy or monks, on pain of excommunication. Luther 
writes, in a letter to Albrecht of Mainz, July 6, 1530 (Weimar XXX*, 
405), "See to it that you do not attack a priest, and get thunder and lightning 
from the si suadeute.'* 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 289 

rulers'hip ordained of God, and defames their honor. Thus, 
since they are rid of the tyranny of the clergy, and cannot be 
rebuked by them, they now want to be rid of the Gospel and 
be beyond its rebuke, although it has set them free. Their 
ultimate desire is to be able to do whatever they wish, with- 
out hindrance or rebuke, without shame or fear, and with 
honor and glory, so that they may become that noble, praise- 
worthy folk, of whom St. Peter says in II Peter iii, "There 2 Pet 
shall come at the last time scoffers, who live acording to their 
own self-will, and do what they please." 

There were such junkerlets among the Jewish people, too, 
as this Eighty-second Psalm shows. They had before them, 
the saying of Moses, in Exodus xxii, where he calls the E * d - 
overlords and judges "gods/' and says, "If a case cannot be 22:8 
decided, both parties are to be brought before the gods, that 
is, the judges, etc." They made of this passage a cloak for R^ 
their shame, and a defence of their iniquity against the ** old 
preachers and prophets ; they would not be rebuked by them, 
purled themselves up against their rebukes and their preach- 
ing, and smote them on the head with this saying : "Will you 
rebuke us and teach us ? Do you not know that Moses calls 
us gods? You are a rebel; you are speaking against God's 
ordinance and preaching insults against our honor. You 
must listen to us, learn from us, and let yourself be rebuked 
by us. Hold your tongue, or you must burn !" That is just 
what these same junkers say, in Psalm xii, "It is for us to Ps> 12:4 
speak ; who will be our lord?" And again in Psalm x, "What 
shall the righteous do to us?" And again in Psalm iv, "Who Ps - 10:3 
is there that will show us anything better?" There are many Pl 4:6 
more such passages. It is as if they were saying, "We 
endure no master nor rebuker; we are the gods; they must 
hear us." 

Against these junkers this Psalm is made. It says : 

God standeth in the congregation of God Verse i 
And is judge among the gods. 

He confesses, and does not deny that they are gods. He 
will not be seditious or lessen their honor or power, as the 



290 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

disobedient rebels do, and the mad saints, the heretics and 
fanatics. Nevertheless he makes a true distinction between 
God's power and theirs. He will let them be gods over men, 
eminent but not over God Himself, as if he were to say, "It is true 
that ye are gods over all of us, but not over the God of all 
of us. For God, who appointed you as gods, surely wills 
that He Himself shall be an exception and that His Godhead 
shall not be subjected to your godhead. He does not allow 
you to be gods, in order that He may not remain God ; but 
He wills to remain Supreme God, a judge over all gods." 

But Moses calls them gods because all the offices of ruler- 
ship, from the least to the highest, are God's ordinance, as St. 
Rom ; Paul teaches in Romans xiii; and King Jehoshaphat, in II 
2 chron Chronicles, says to his officials, "Consider, and judge rightly, 
19:6 "f r the judgment is God's." Now because this is not a 
matter of human will or devising, but God Himself appoints 
and preserves all rulership, and if He no longer held it up, 
it would all fall down, even though all the world held it fast, 
therefore, it is rightly called a divine thing, a divine ordi- 
nance and such persons are rightly called divine, godlike, 
or gods, especially when, beside the institution itself, we have 
a word or command of God for it, as among the people of 
Israel, where the priests, princes, and kings were appointed 
by the oral command and word of God. 

From this we see how high and how glorious God will have 
rulers held, and that men ought to obey them, as His officers, 
and be subject to them with all fear and reverence, as to God 
Himself. He who would resist them or be disobedient to 
them or despise them, whom God names with His own name 
and calls gods, and to whom He attaches His own honor ; he, 
I say, who despises, disobeys, or resists them, is thereby 
despising, disobeying and resisting the true Supreme God, 
who is in them, and speaks and judges through them and calls 
their judgment His judgment. What they win by it St. Paul 
shows, in Romans xiii, and this is abundantly shown by 
experience. 

All this is written because it is God's will to establish and 
maintain peace among the children of Adam for their own 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 291 

good; as St. Paul says, in Romans xiii, "It is God's minister Rom. 
to you for good." For where there is no rulership, or where 13:4 
rulers are not held in honor, there can be no peace. Where 
there is no peace, no one can keep his life, or anything else, 
in the face of another's outrage, thievery, robbery, violence, 
and wickedness ; much less will there be room to teach God's 
Word, and to raise children in the fear of God and in disci- 
pline. Because, then, God will not have the world desolate 
and empty, but has made it for men to live in and till the land 
and fill it, as is written in Genesis i ; and because this cannot Gen - 
happen where there is no peace; He is compelled, as a Crea- 1:29 ** 
tor, preserving His own creatures, works, and ordinances, to 
institute and preserve rulership, and to commit to it the 
sword and the laws, so that He may slay and punish all those 
who do not obey it, as men who strive also against God and 
His ordinance, and are not worthy to live. 

But again, as, on the one hand, He keeps down the disorder 
of the rabble and therefore subjects them to the sword and 
the laws ; so, on the other hand, He keeps down the rulers, 
that they shall not abuse His majesty and power according to 
their own self-will, but use them for that peace for which He 
has appointed and preserves them. Nevertheless, it is not 
His will to allow the rabble to raise their fist against the 
rulers or to seize the sword, as if to punish and judge the 
rulers. No, they must leave that ! It is not God's will, and 
He has not committed this to them. They are not to be 
judges and revenge themselves, or resort to outrage and vio- 
lence, but God Himself will punish wicked rulers and impose 
statutes and laws upon them. He will be judge and master 
over them. He will find them out, better than anyone else 
can, as indeed, He has done since the beginning of the world. 

This is what this first verse says: "God standeth in the 
congregation of God, and is judge among the gods." As if to 
say: Let no one undertake to judge the gods, to punish ihem, Sn y ec t 
or master them, but be quiet, keep the peace, be obedient, and Must Be 
suffer. But neither are the gods to be proud and self-willed, Obedicn * 
for they are not gods among the people and overlords of the 
congregation in such a way that they have this position all 



292 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

to themselves and can do as they like. Nay, not so ! God 
Himself is there also, and He will judge, punish, and master 
them, and if they do not obey, they shall not escape. "He 
standeth in His congregation/' for the congregation is also 
His ; and "He judgeth the gods," for the rulers, too, are His ; 
and because both are His, it is right for Him to take the 
part of both; and He wills to be respected and feared by 
both, so that the congregation may be obedient to the rulers 
for God's sake, and the rulers may administer justice and 
peace, also for God's sake; thus the things of this life will 
go along finely, in the fear of God and obedience to Him. 
But if one party or the other will not do its duty, if the 
congregation be disobedient and the rulers self-willed, then 
both are guilty of death in God's sight, and both are pun- 
Lute ished the congregation by the rulers, the rulers by God, who 
i:52 can put down the mighty from their seats and tear them up 
by the roots, destroying their name and their memory, as the 
illustrations show. 

Organ- Observe that he calls all communities or organized assem- 
^ ed blies 1 "the congregation of God," because they are God's 
the own, and He accepts them as His own work, just as, in Jonah 
Work i f He calls Nineveh "a city of God." For He has made, 
jonah d an( ^ lna ^ es * a ^ communities; He still brings them together, 
3:3 feeds them, increases them, blesses and preserves them, gives 
them fields and meadows, cattle, water, air, sun and moon, 
and everything that they have, nay, body and life, as it is 
Gen. written in Genesis i. For what have we, and what has all 
i:29 f. ^ wor j c j j that is not got unceasingly from Him? But even 
though experience ought to teach us this, He has to say it in 
plain words, and openly confess and boast that the commun- 
ities are His ; for mad Reason, in its shrewdness, and all the 
worldly-wise know not at all that a community is God's 
creature and His ordinance, but have no other thought about 
it than that it has come into being by accident/ by people 

a All Gemeinen odder ordenliche vcrsamlung. 
Luther's G e m e i n e means both "congregation" and "community" and lie 
shifts continually from the one meaning to the other, as with Obrigkeit, 
which means both "institutions of government" and "rulers." 

a Ongefehr und plumbsweise. 



Eighty- second Psalm Translated and Explained 293 

holding together and living side by side in the same way that 
murderers and robbers and other wicked bands come together 
to disturb the peace and the ordinance of God ; and these are 
the devil's congregations. It is only believers that know the 
articles about creation 1 from Genesis i, though even their 
faith in it is weak, and many of them never think of it or 
speak of it. But David knows it very well, when he says in 
Psalm xxiii, "The earth is the Lord's and they that dwell PSt 
therein ; for He hath founded it upon the seas and built it 24:1 L 
upon the waters" ; and his son Solomon says, in Psalm cxxvi, 
"Except God keep house and city, the builder and the watch- \ 2Jml 
man build and watch in vain." What should the worldly- 
wise know of heavenly things, when they do not know these 
things, amongst which they live and move? 

Since such communities are God's work, which He daily A 
creates, supports and increases, so that they can sit at home CoittfoJt 
and produce children and educate them: therefore this word 
is, in the first place, a great and pleasant comfort to all those 
who find themselves situated in such a community. It 
assures them that God accepts them as His work and His 
creation, cares for them and protects and supports them, as 
we can, in fact, see with our own eyes. For who could have 
or keep a cow or a heller, if God did not give it and 
help and guard it? Therefore, everyone ought to admonish 
himself to be thankful for everything that is offered him by 
his rulers, and be glad that, in such a community, he is 
worthy to eat his bread and live. For this word "congrega- 
tion of God" is a precious word, and anyone who is in it 
ought to be ten times more glad than if he were enrolled as 
a Roman citizen, which was once a great honor on earth. 
But Reason does not consider this. 

In the second place, it is a terrible and threatening word A 
against the wicked, self-willed gods, or rulers, for it tells 
them that they are set over, not wood and stone, not swine 
and dogs (about which God has made no commandments) 
but over the "congregation of God" ; and they ought to fear 

*Cf. Luther's explanation of the first Article of the Creed in The Small 
Catechism. 



294 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

lest the wrong that they do be done against God Himself. 
For the congregations 1 are not their own, as are the swine and 
dogs, which God has given them as their own property ; but 
He is, and wills to be, in them, and they are to be called His 
congregation. On both sides, then, everything will go well, 
in the fear of God and in humility. Subjects will have regard 
to God and gladly be obedient for His sake, and rulers will 
also have regard to God and do right and keep peace for His 
sake. 

But especially ought this fear and humility to be in that 
congregation which was not only first founded and created 
by that word in Genesis i, but which was established and 
ordered by a special word of God. Thus the communities of 
the people of Israel were confirmed in many ways through 
Moses, and chosen before all others, and separated from 
them. It is especially of these communities that this Psalm 
speaks, and it calls them, above all others, "God's congrega- 
tions," just as they are called in all the prophets His heritage, 
His possession, His kingdom, His priesthood; though it was 
in these very "congregations of God" that the worst and 
most ravenous gods were found, and the most self-willed and 
proudest rebels that could be upon the earth, as this Psalm 
indicates and history testifies. 

The same thing is true of our rulers, under the New Testa- 
ment. Beside their creation by the word of Genesis i, they 
Matt - have been established anew, through Christ, by a special 
i Pet WOI "d- For He says, in Matthew xxii, "Give to Caesar what 
2:13 is Caesar's"; and in I Peter iii, "Be subject to every ordi- 
Rom - nance of man"; and in Romans xiii, "Let every man be 
subject to his rulers"; and there are many more passages. 
This Psalm, therefore, applies to our rulers, as well as to the 
Jews, just as every other Scripture of the Old Testament is 
given to us, as well as to the Jews. For this reason, in our 
communities, too, this fear and humility, both of gods and 
subjects, ought to be all the more in evidence. Nevertheless, 
our condition will continue to be that of which this Psalm 

1 Or "communities." See above, p. 292. 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 295 

sings; and it says nothing good about the gods and their 
virtues. 

Now in order that these proud gods may be deprived of 
their defiant boastf ulness, when they think that no one is to 
judge them or rebuke them without being called a rebel, a 
little peg is driven into them and a club is laid by the dog, 1 f 
so that they may be properly rebuked, boldly spoken to, and 
hard and sharply threatened, as this Psalm does. For it 
says here, "God standeth in His congregation and judgeth 
the gods"; that is, He rebukes them. 3 For He keeps the 
upper hand over them and the right to judge them, and does 
not make them gods in such wise as to abolish His own God- 
head and let them do as they please, as if they alone were 
gods over God. On the contrary, it is His will that they be 
subject to His Word and either listen to it or suffer all mis- 
fortune. It is enough that they have rule over all else; but 
over God's Word they are not to have it For God's Word 
appoints them, and makes them gods, and subjects everything 
to them. Therefore, they are not to despise it, for it is their 
institutor and appointer ; but they are to be subject to it, and 
allow themselves to be judged, rebuked, made, and mastered 
by it 

Where, then, is God, or how do we become sure that there 
is a God Who thus rebukes? Answer: You hear in this 
place that "He stands in the congregation." Where His 
congregation is, there you will find Him. For there He has 
His appointed priests and preachers, to whom He has com- 
mitted the duty of teaching, exhorting, rebuking, comfort- 
ing, and, in a word, of preaching the Word of God. How it 
has been commanded to preach the Word of God* in all the 
world and in every place, I cannot here tell, for I think that 
everybody sees the churches and pulpits, and all of them rest 
on this one foundation, in Matthew xxviii, "Go and preach 
to all the nations, and teach them to keep the commandments ****** 28: 
I have given you." Would God that only faithful men had 

M c., As a threat of punishment 

*0r "punishes them" (strafft fie). 

Wort Gottcs triben. 



296 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

this office and administered it faithfully and purely, and 
that it were not abused so shamefully and hatefully ! Never- 
theless, abuse does not destroy the office; the office is true, 
exactly as temporal rule is a true and good office, even though 
a knave has it and abuses it. 

Observe, however, that a preacher, by whom God rebukes 
Andto the gods, is to "stand in the congregation." He is to "stand/* 
the that is, he is to be firm and confident, and deal uprightly and 
^ Ol od honestly with it; and "in the congregation," that is, openly 
and boldly before God and men. By this two sins are pre- 
vented. The first is unfaithfulness, There are many bishops 
and preachers in the preaching-office, but they do not "stand," 
and serve God faithfully; on the contrary, they lie down, 
or otherwise play with their office. These are the lazy and 
worthless preachers, who do not tell the princes and lords 
their sins. In some cases they do not notice the sins ; they 
lie down and snore in their office, and do nothing that per- 
tains to it, except, like swine, take up the room where good 
preachers should stand; they form the great majority. 
Others, however, play the hypocrite and flatter the wicked 
gods, and strengthen them in their self-will; just now they 
are raging and raving against the Gospel, and are stirring up 
their princes and lords to slander and murder. Still others 
fear for their skins and are afraid that they must lose life 
and goods. All of these do not "stand," and are not faithful 
to Christ. 

The other sin is called back-biting. The whole world is 
full in every corner of both preachers and laymen who bandy 
evil words about their princes and lords, and curse them and 
call them names, though not boldly, in the open, but in cor- 
ners, and in their own companies. But that accomplishes 
nothing except to make the evil worse. It serves only to set 
a secret fire, by which people are moved to disobedience, 
rebellion, breach of the peace, and contempt for their rulers. 
If you are in the office, 1 and are not willing to rebuke your 
gods openly and publicly, as your office demands* at least 
leave off your private back-biting, calling of names, criticiz- 

1 i. e., In the office <tf preaching. 



Matt 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 297 

ing, and complaining, or be hanged to you I 1 But if you are 
not in office, then leave off all rebuking and criticizing, both 
public and private, or the devil is already your abbot and 
does not need to become so; for, in Matthew vii, God has 
forbidden secret judging, or judging where there is no office. 
On the other hand, it is His will that those who are in office 
and are called to do it, shall rebuke and judge their gods 
boldly and openly. 

Therefore, this first verse goes on to say, "He is judge 
among the gods." Judge He is, and He rebukes the gods, but 
He does it as a judge, to whom that office has been commit- 
ted, not plotting like a hypocrite in corners among secret 
groups, but "among the gods" themselves. He dares to 
speak boldly in their presence. It does not say, "He is a 
slanderer or back-biter," but "He is a judge among the 
gods." Mark this well! The lords sit in high places, and 
everyone sees their sins and faults most of all. And because 
men see them most of all, there is no commoner sin than 
speaking evil of lords. Everyone loves to do it, for in so 
doing he forgets his own unrighteousness. Even though 
their lord had every virtue, and they could discover in him Matt 
only one vice and small as a mote, while they themselves 7:3-5 
were full of vices as large as beams, yet they would see the 
mote in high places before they would see the virtues, and 
would not see the beams in the depths of all vices. 3 

So, then, this first verse teaches that to rebuke rulers is not 
seditious, provided it is done in the way here described; 
namely, by the office to which God has committed that duty, 
and through God's Word, spoken publicly, boldly, and hon- 
estly. To rebuke rulers in this way is, on the contrary, a 
praiseworthy, noble, and rare virtue, and a particularly great 
service of God, as the Psalm here proves. It would be far 
more seditious, if a preacher were not to rebuke the sins of 
the rulers, for then he makes people angry and sullen, and 
strengthens the wickedness of the tyrants and becomes a par- 
taker in it, and bears responsibility for it. Thus God might 

1 Hab dir kein. gut jar. A colloquialism implying a mild curse. 
3 This is an illustration of Luther's hurried style, The "beams" are the 
vices, and the "depths" are depths of rank. 



298 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

be angered and might allow rebellion to come as a penalty. 
The other way, when the lords are rebuked as well as the 
people, and the people as well as the lords (as the prophets 
did), neither can blame anything on the other, and they 
have to bear with one another, and be satisfied, and be at 
peace with each other. 

They are poisonous and dangerous preachers who take the 
side of one party alone and call the lords names in order to 
tickle the people, and court the peasants like Muenzer, Carl- 
stadt, and other fanatics ; or call the peasants names in order 
to flatter and please the lords, as our opponents do. The 
thing to do is to chop both parties in one bowl and make one 
dish out of the two of them. For a preacher is neither a 
courtier nor a slave of peasants. He is God's servant and 
slave, and his commission is over lords and slaves; as the 
Psalm here says, "He judges and rebukes the gods," That 
is the meaning of the word Judicet, "judge," viz. 
j u d i c i o e t jure. He is to do that which is right and 
proper, not with a view to favor or disfavor, but according 
to law, that is, according to God's Word, which knows no 
distinction or respect of persons. 

How long will ye judge unjustly 
Verses M A n d prefer the persons of the godless? 

These next three verses, nay, the whole Psalm, every 
prince should have painted on the wall of his chamber, on 
his bed, over his table, and on his garments. For here they 
find what lofty, princely, noble virtues their estate can prac- 
tice, so that temporal government, next to the preaching- 
office, is the highest service of God and the most useful office 
on earth. And this ought surely strengthen a lord, and incite 
him to conduct his office with joy, and practice these virtues 
in it. For how could one praise this rank more highly than 
by saying that they are called, and are, gods? And the 
works and virtues of their rank are not only princely or 
royal, nay, not only angelic, but divine virtues. On the 
other hand, they find how ungodly, unprincely, nay, inhuman 
and altogether devilish are the, iniquities that they commit, 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 299 

and how they are the most harmful people on earth, if they 
depart from the virtues of their office, and do the opposite. 
Then they can rightly be called, not gods, but devils ; and 
this they certainly are, even though they sit in the office 
of gods and bear the empty name. 

Now let us see, one after another, the virtues that they can ni e 
practice. The first is that they can secure justice for those Virtues 
who fear God and repress those who are godless ; as it says, 
"How long will ye judge unjustly and prefer the persons of 
the godless?" Who can fully count the number of the rich 
virtues and profits that follow from this first virtue For virtue: 
if God's Word is protected and supported, so that it can be 
freely taught and learned, and if the sects 1 and false teachers 
are not given opportunity or defended against the teachers 
who fear God, what greater treasure can there be in a land ? 
Surely God Himself must dwell there, as in His own temple. T ^ Snp , 
Many kings and princes have founded great and glorious port the 
churches, and built temples, but even if a king could build Y** * 
a church of pure gold, or of emeralds and rubies only, what 
would all these great and glorious things count for, compared 
with one true, pious, God-fearing pastor or preacher? He 
can help many thousand souls, both in eternal life and in this 
life, for by his word he can bring them to God, and make 
of them able and apt people, serving and honoring God and 
wholesome and profitable for the world. A church or temple 
cannot thus benefit a man ; nay, it cannot do any helping at 
all, but only stands there and lets itself be helped and 
adorned. 

But who is this prince? And where are the eyes that can 
see this virtue in a lord or prince ? To support or protect a 
poor, pious pastor is an act that makes no show and looks 
like a small thing; but to build a marble church, give it 
golden ornaments, and serve dead stone and wood, that 
makes a show that glitters ! That is a virtue worthy of a 
king or prince ! Well, let it make its show ! Let it glitter ! 
Meanwhile my pastor, who does not glitter, is practicing the 
virtue that increases God's kingdom, fills heaven with saints, 

*Rotten. 



300 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

plunders hell, robs the devil, wards off death, represses sin, 
instructs and comforts every man in the world according to 
his station in life, preserves peace and unity, raises fine 
young folk, and plants all kinds of virtue in the people ; in a 
word, he makes a new world. He builds not a poor, tem- 
porary house, but an eternal and beautiful Paradise, in which 
God Himself is glad to dwell. A pious prince or lord, who 
supports or protects such a pastor, can have a part in all this. 
Nay, this whole work, and all the fruits of it are his, as 
though he had done it all himself, because without his pro- 
tection and support, the pastor could not abide. No moun- 
tain of gold or silver in a land can be compared with this 
treasure therefore. But blessed must be the eyes that can 
know this ; nay, blessed the fists that can do it. 

The second virtue of a prince is to help the poor, the 
orphans, and the widows to justice, and to further their 

Virtue: cause. But, again, who can tell all the virtues that follow 
A*. f rom this one? For this virtue includes all the works of 
" righteousness; as when a prince or lord or city has good 

Justice laws and customs, when everything is regulated in an orderly 
way, and the order is kept by people in all ranks, occupations, 
trades, businesses, services, and works, so that it is not said 
populus sine lege, "The people are without laws." 
For where there are no laws, the poor, the widows, and the 
orphans are oppressed. Then there is no peasant so low 
that he cannot practice extortion; and that holds equally trua 
with buying, selling, inheriting, lending, paying, borrowing, 
and the like. It is only a question who can get the better 
of another, 1 rob him, steal from him, and cheat him; and that 
happens most of all to the poor, the widows, and the orphans. 
Now who can count the alms that such a lord is giving with- 
out ceasing? He supports not only the pastor, spoken of 
above, but all the subjects that he has, and he may well be 
called the father of them all, as in ancient times the heathen 
called such good princes "Fathers" and "saviors of their 
country." 3 

1 Wer den andern kan uber das feil werffen. 
3 P a t e r patriae and servatores patriae. 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 301 

See, now, what a hospital 1 such a prince can build! He 
needs neither stone, nor wood, nor builders ; and he need give 
it neither endowment nor income. To endow hospitals and Than 
help poor people is, indeed, a precious good work in itself. 
But when such a hospital becomes so great that a whole 
land, and especially the really poor people of that land, enjoy 
it, then it is a general, true, princely, nay, a heavenly and 
divine hospital. For the first kind of hospital only a few 
enjoy, and sometimes they are false knaves masquerading 
as beggars ; but the second kind of hospital comes to the aid 
only of the really poor, widows, orphans, travellers, and 
other forlorn folk; and besides, it preserves for everyone 
rich or poor, his living and his goods, so that he does not 
have to become a beggar or a poor man; for if the law were 
not kept, no one could keep anything from another, and all 
would have to become beggars together, and be ruined and 
destroyed. However, many there are who are not beggars 
and do not become beggars, that is the number that their 
overlord is providing for in this hospital. For so to help a 
man that he does not need to become a beggar is just as 
much of a good work and a virtue, and an alms, as to give 
to a man, and help a man, who has already become a beggar. 

Lo, who is there that sees or regards this virtue in this 
estate of the gods ? 3 Would Reason seek it there ? It does 
not make a glittering show, and therefore it counts for noth- 
ing, But if a prince or princess were to go to a hospital 
sometime, and there wait on the poor, and wash their feet 
as we read that St. Elizabeth* did, and as some great folk in 
foreign lands still do, that would be a great thing! That 
glitters! It opens peoples' eyes and makes them a greater 
reputation than all the virtues could ! And it is true ! We 
have to praise it, and ought to praise it, as a great and beau- 
tiful, though human, act of virtue. But what is it, compared 
with the divine act of virtue that a prince performs when he 

1 The hospital of Luther's time was "both hospital and alms-house. 

2 i e., The rulers. 

8 St. Elizabeth' of Hungary and Thuringia, d. 1231. It was said of her that, 
when she was Landgravine of Thuringia, she built a hospital of twenty-eight 
beds near the Wartburg, and attended the inmates daily. See Cath. 
Encycl. V, 389 f. 



302 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

continually does this greater service to all who are poor, or 
must otherwise become poor? No one praises this, for no 
one knows it or considers it. Therefore even the heathen 
say 1 that righteousness is so fair a virtue that neither sun 
nor moon nor morning star can be so fair. 

In a word, after the Gospel, or spiritual office, there is on 
earth no better jewel, no greater treasure, no richer alms, no 
fairer endowment, no finer possession that a ruler who makes 
and preserves just laws. Such men are rightly called gods, 
These are the virtues, the profit, the fruits and the good 
works that God has appointed to this rank in life. It is not 
for nothing that He has called them gods, and it is not His 
will that it shall be a lazy, empty, idle estate, in which men 
seek only honor, power, luxury, selfish profit, and self-will; 
but He would have them full of great, innumerable, unspeak- 
able good works, so that they may be partakers of His divine 
majesty, and help Him to do divine and superhuman works. 
The third virtue is that they protect and guard against 
violence and force, and this is called peacemaking. Thus 
the emperors themselves have divided their duties into two 
P arts > wnen tne 7 Sa 7 ^at an emperor or prince should be 
equipped with laws and arms. For this reason they are 
turn of depicted on their seals with a book in one hand and a sword 
su jwts j^ t ^ e other, as a sign that they administer law and peace. 
Law is wisdom, and should be the first of the two ; for gov- 
ernment without wisdom does not last. They wear golden 
crowns, too, so that it may be known that they are appointed 
by God to be gods, and have not come into office of their own 
accord, but are to be His assistants. 

Now who can recount all the benefits that come from this 
third virtue? One would first have to tell what the benefits 
^ P eace are > an ^ w hak the harm that absence of peace does. 
Peace But who on earth is so eloquent and so wise that he would 
undertake to recount the whole of both these things? For 
all the good that peace can do, God does for us through 
these gods, and all the harm that lack of peace can do God 

1 ARISTOTLE, Nicomachean Ethics v, 3 (cf. Weimar Ed. 
1. a, p. 201, a 4.) 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 303 

keeps from us by means of these gods. Now it is from peace 
that we have our bodies and lives, wives and children, houses 
and homes, nay, all our members hands, feet, eyes and all 
our health and liberty, and within these walls of peace we sit 
secure. "Where peace is, there is half a heaven." 1 On the 
other hand, though you had all the money and wealth of the 
Turk, and were not at peace, all your wealth would do you 
so little good, that you could not have a happy bite of bread 
or a quiet drink of water. If things went well, there would 
be care, fear, danger all around ; if things were worse, there 
would be only blood and fire and robbery and all calamity. 
Thus lack of peace may be counted half a hell, or hell's pre- 
lude and beginning. 

But peace can help you, so that a bit of dry bread tastes 
like sugar and a drink of water like Malvoisie. 3 But what kind 
of fool am I to try to tell the benefits of peace and the 
injuries of lack of peace. More easily could I count the 
sand on the seashore or the leaves and grass-blades in the 
woods. Christ Himself, in Matthew v, compares peace to 
heaven, and says, "The peaceful shall be called children of 
God" ; but God's children do not belong in the world, and 
just as little does peace belong there. Lo, all these virtues be, 
in very heaps, in this estate, but men do not see them, for 
they make no show. Because of the goodness and the num- 
ber of them they cannot make a show. But the empty, 
worthless, useless works, these make a show ! These are held 
in reputation! 

I must remember here my monks and priests, who have 
the reputation and the name of carrying heaven on their TI 
shoulders in their acts of worship, though in reality they are Monk8 
the great whale, Cuntz Hildebrand* which carries the world Uselefl8 
on its tail, as the peasants say. What are all of these, com- 
pared with one man who lives in this divine office?* They 

*A proverb, going back to Walther von der Vogelweide. See Weimar 
Ed. 1. c., p. 202, n. 3. 

The highly prized sweet wine of Spain, Shakespeare's Malmsey. 

8 C u n t z HHdebrand, a corruption of conzelebrant, which 
was at once a technical name for one who assisted in the celebration of the 
Mass, and the popular name for the legendary fish which carried the world. 

M. t. t The office of a ruler. 

Vol. IV.-20 



304 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

are tame dogs that lie on pillows and whistle with their hind- 
ends. But, not to insult them, I think that they are about 
as useful in the world as the rust on the iron, for they are 
just as much good to the world, or to this divine office, as 
the rust on his tools is to a carpenter. Nay, I shall name 
the very best of them, who have been hermits, like Hilarion 3 
and Jerome, 2 and the rest, and who have their great reputa- 
tion because of the holy hermit life they led. If wishing 
could do it, I would rather be a pious secretary or tax col- 
lector for one of these "gods" than twice an Hilarion or a 
Jerome among the angels. Even though my little pen or 
miserable penny would make less show in the world's eyes 
than their gray beards and wrinkled skin, I should not worry 
about that, if only I were a partaker of all those divine 
virtues of rulership, of which I have spoken. 

See, now, what an imperial, nay, what a heavenly strong- 
A hold such a prince can build for the protection of his sub- 
strong, jects ! It is indeed a splendid and a needful thing to build 
hold of s t r ong cities and castles against one's enemies ; but that is 
nothing when compared with the work of a prince who 
builds a stronghold of peace, that is, who loves peace and 
administers it. Even the Romans, the greatest warriors on 
earth, had a saying that to make war without necessity was to 
go fishing with a golden net ; if it was lost, the fishing could 
not pay for it; if it caught anything, the cost was too much 
greater than the profit.* One must not begin a war, or work 
for it; it comes unbidden, all too soon. One must keep 
peace as long as ever one can, even though one must buy it 
with all the money that would be spent on the war, or won 
by the war. Victory never makes up for what is lost by war. 
Sum- These, then, are the three chief virtues of the gods, 
mary touched on in these three verses. Any one of them can fill 
the world with blessing. The first verse demands the first 
Verse 2 virtue, viz., that the gods, that is, the princes and lords, shall 
honor God's Word above all things and shall further the 
teaching of it. It says, "How long will ye judge unjustly 

1 Hilarion of Gaza, d. 371 A. D. St Jerome, d. 420 A. D. 
8 Suetonius, Oct. 23. Luther probably got the saying from Erasmus* 
Adages. 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 305 

and prefer the persons of the godless ?" The godless and the 
false teachers always have great reputation in the eyes of 
Reason and of the world. They know, too, how to make a 
fine appearance, before both lords and people, and thus 
strengthen and spread their poisonous errors. For as St. 
Paul says, in Galatians vi, "Their confidence and boast is Ga i. 
not in God; therefore they must seek men to be their confi- 6;is 
dence and boast." This is called, here in this verse, "prefer- 
ring persons," or "regarding persons," when men choose 
their doctrine, not from love of truth, but from the pleasure 
that they take in persons, and this sin St. Tude, in his J ude 16 
Epistle, blames in the godless. 

The second verse teaches the second virtue. They are to Verse 3 
make and administer just laws, so that the poor, the wretched, 
the widows, the orphans are not oppressed, but have their 
rights and can keep them. It says, "Judge the poor and 
orphaned, and help the wretched and needy to justice." By 
saying that "they are to help them to justice," it gives us to 
understand that there are judges and courts, but that things 
go so by favor or friendship, out of envy or revenge, that 
often he is put in the right who is really in the wrong. 

The third verse teaches the third virtue. They are to Verse4 
protect against force and harm, and prevent violence, punish 
the knaves, and wield the sword upon the wicked, so that 
peace may be kept in the land. It says, "Rescue the small 
and the poor, deliver them out of the hand of the godless." 

In the preceding verse, it speaks of "justice," in this verse 
of "the hand" to show that there it was speaking of wrong, 
and here of violence. For these two, wrong and force, go 
together in the world. We say, "He does me violence and 
wrong." Wrong is done by the mind, 1 or with the mouth; 
violence with the fist and with crime. 3 A' prince and lord 
should suppress both. 

These three verses, then, include all the princely virtues 

J D tirch s urteil. 

*Mit f revel. Luther's distinction between f revel and gewalt 
is hard to keep in translation, Gewalt, when used in an evil sense, as 
here, is equivalent to f revel, which means "wickedness in violent opera- 
tion," therefore, "crime." 



306 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

that can be called virtutes h e r o i c a s, or "knightly 
virtues," such as are ascribed to and praised in Hercules, 
Hector, Achilles, and other great heroes and lords, who 
fought great battles, slew many enemies, and honorably 
proved their manhood and prowess in combat. We have 
nothing against that! But open my eyes and show me one 
of these gods who has dared to suppress wrong and violence, 
(I will say nothing about the first virtue, which concerns 
God's Word!), to resist knaves and rascals, to protect and 
preserve the good and the poor, and to maintain order and 
peace in the land. Such a man smites, not Hector or 
Achilles, but greater and more monstrous giants, namely all 
the devils, with all their wickedness. Dear friend, that takes 
a heart with the strength of nine hearts, and fidelity that 
goes beyond all fidelity. 

To finish with these three verses : Such a man should bear 
with honor the three divine offices and names ; therefore he 
should be called a savior, father, deliverer. For by the first 
virtue, the furtherance of the Word of God, he helps many 
to blessedness, so that they may be redeemed from sin and 
death, and attain salvation. By the second virtue, the admin- 
istration of just laws, he supports all his subjects, as a father 
supports his children; for, as has been said, 1 if it were not 
for law, no one could keep anything from another. By the 
third virtue, the suppression of violence and the punishment 
of the wicked, he protects the poor, and preserves peace; thus 
he is a true rescuer, or knight/ and justly wears the golden 
spurs. For I believe that R i 1 1 e r comes from r e 1 1 e n 
and that the word R e 1 1 e r has become R i 1 1 e r, a true 
and splendid name for the princes and lords. 

For we find that our old Germans gave their princes and 
lords unusually fine names. Thus in Saxon Ludewig means 
praesidium, arx populi. "Wig" is a stronghold, 
or fort, in which one can take refuge and to which one can 
retreat, in case of need. Therefore a prince should be a 
Ludewig, that is, a defence and refuge for the people. 

1 Above, p. 301. 

a Retter oddet Ritter. 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 307 

Heger, again, indicates that a prince should cherish, 1 satisfy, 
protect, and defend his land and his people. Herman, which 
the Latins have corrupted into Ariminius, means "a man of 
the army," 3 dux belli, one who is strong in war and 
battle, who can rescue and lead his own people, and risk his 
life in doing it, In the same way, they called their overlords 
Retter or Ritter, from retten, because they 
"rescued" their people from distress. Thus by the name they 
reminded them of their office, their rank, and the virtues that 
go with them. Beyond doubt, they were moved to give the 
rulers these and like names, because of the works and the 
virtues that they saw and observed in their princes. 

These are the virtues that they ought to have and to prac- 
tice. But how do things actually go ? The very opposite ! 
Among the gods three devilish vices are working against 
these divine virtues. The world is perverse and perverts all 
of God's gifts and blessings. That is what it does with these 
divine offices too. For it is the princes and lords, who ought 
to be advancing God's Word, who do the most to suppress, 
forbid, and persecute it. Instead, they advance false and 
injurious teachers, as we read that the kings of Israel and 
Judah did. King Ahab and Jezebel, his queen, supported 
about eight hundred priests of Baal, and drove out all God's 
prophets, so that only Elijah was left, and he could not stay 
in the land. The same thing has happened before, and is 
happening now. The world, full of monks and priests, can 
be advanced, and princes and lords can be exalted, but a John 
Huss* or a Leonard Reiser* cannot be tolerated. Thus this 
verse is mightily fulfilled. They "judge unjustly/' that is, 
they misuse and pervert their office; and "prefer the persons 
of the godless," that is, they advance the godless and hinder 
the godly. 

Who can tell all the cruel harm and injury that such a 
prince or lord does ? He drives so many souls into hell, and 
robs so many of eternal blessedness, that he might well be 
called, not "a god," but a devil ; for he does not help God 

^Hegen. a Heer man. 

8 The Bohemian reformer, executed 1415. 

*A Lutheran preacher, executed Aug. 16, 1527, 



308 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

build a heaven or a paradise, but helps Beelzebub build hell, 
and fill it up. How small are the sins of an ordinary man or 
woman, compared with the sins of such a lord ! What evil 
can a thief or murderer or adulterer do, compared with that 
which such a lord does ? In this case the saying is certainly 
true, "The big thieves hang the little ones, and the big mur- 
derers have the little murderers killed." They say, "A wise 
man commits no little acts of folly." So a great man is guilty 
of no little vices ; just as, on the other hand, he can perform 
no little acts of wisdom or virtue, since he is placed in a posi- 
tion where all the things he does must be great, whether they 
be good or bad Therefore, as there is no greater jewel in 
the world than a God-fearing lord, so there is no more 
hurtful plague in the world than a godless lord. 

So it is, also, with the second virtue, the administration of 
law, and the helping of the poor and the orphaned, as is 
shown by daily experience and common complaint. Espe- 
cially in Germany things go in such a way that one prince 
hinders another, one noble another, one city another. Each 
of them hinders the rest, so that even though part of them 
wanted to be upright, they cannot, because of the others, and 
have to allow wrong to be done. Thus it comes that the 
spirit of defiance and self-will rules among the sons of men, 
as though Germany were populus sine lege, "a 
people without law," and there is almost no distinction among 
the ranks and offices. A prince is emperor; he is likewise 
merchant and trader. Similarly count is prince, noble is 
count, burgher is noble, peasant is burgher, servant is lord, 
maid is mistress, pupil is master. Everyone is what he 
wants to be, does as he likes, and conducts himself as he 
pleases. How much good and right this brings to the com- 
mon people is easy to discover. Who can recount, or 
adequately describe, all of these evils? 

It is exactly so with the third virtue also, the succoring of 
the poor. There is neither punishment nor discipline, neither 
fear nor timidity. Self-will of every kind has reached a 
point, among both nobles and peasants, that when one speaks 
against it, they become so much the worse and do all the 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 309 

more, just for spite; for they see and know how things go, 
and that they go unpunished. Certainly now is the time of 
which the prophet Amos says, "It is an evil time, when even 6 ^ 
a wise man must keep silent." For if anyone speaks against 
it, they act as though he were merely showing them a way to 
make things worse. But how could it be worse, when neither 
silence nor speech helps ? If we are silent, they become worse 
day by day ; if we speak, they become still worse. Then the 
poor and wretched must suffer, and be unsuccored. This is 
all the fault of the princes and lords, who have let these 
things go so far that they cannot prevent them, even though 
they might wish to do so. But one will come who will put 
a stop to the tickling of our self-will, and scratch its itch right 
well It has gone too far; we are doing too much; the bag 
must tear, and the string must break. God help His own! 
Amen. 

A question arises, in connection with these three verses. ghajl 
Since the gods, or rulers, beside their other virtues, are to 
advance God's Word and its preachers, are they also to put Put 
down opposing doctrines, or heresies, since no one can be 
forced to believe ? The answer to this question is as follows : 

First. Some heretics are seditious, and teach openly that 
no rulers are to be tolerated ; that no Christian may occupy ^ ^ 
a position of rulership, that no one ought to have property Teach 
of his own, but run away from wife and child and leave Sedition 
house and home, or that all property shall be held in com- 
mon. 1 These teachers are immediately, and without doubt, 
to be punished by the rulers, as men who are resisting tern- Ram> 
poral law and government (Romans xiii). They are not i3:if. 
heretics only, but rebels, who are attacking the rulers and 
their government, just as a thief attacks another's goods, a 
murderer another's body, an adulterer another's wife; and 
this is not to be tolerated. 

Second. If some were to teach doctrines contradicting an 
article of faith, clearly grounded in Scripture and believed Articles 

, __ of Frith 

1 These ideas were spread chiefly by the Anabaptist teachers, especially by the 
followers of Thomas Muenzer. They played a part in the Peasant Revolt of 
1525. See present volume, pp. 211 flf. 



310 Eighty- second Psalm Translated and Explained 

throughout the world by the whole Church, 1 such as the 
articles that we teach children in the Creed, as, for example, 
if anyone would teach that Christ is not God, but a mere 
man, and like other prophets, as the Turks and the Anabap- 
tists hold, such teachers should not be tolerated, but pun- 
ished as blasphemers. For they are not mere heretics, but 
open blasphemers, and rulers are in duty bound to punish 
blasphemers, as they do those who curse, swear, revile, abuse, 
defame and slander. Such teachers, with their blasphemy, 
are defaming the name of God, and robbing their neighbor 
of his honor in the eyes of the world. In like manner, the 
rulers should also punish, or certainly not tolerate,' those 
who teach that Christ did not die for our sins, but that every- 
one shall make his own satisfaction for them; for that, too, is 
blasphemy against the Gospel and against the article that we 
all pray in the Creed, "I believe in the forgiveness of sins," 
and "In Jesus Christ dead, risen, etc." They should be treated 
in the same way who teach that the resurrection of the dead 
and the life everlasting are nothing, and that there is no hell, 
and the like things ; as did the Sadducees and the Epicureans, 
of whom there are now coming to be many among the great 
wiseacres. 

By this procedure no one is compelled to believe, for he 
can still believe what he will; but he is forbidden to teach 
and blaspheme. For, by so doing, he would take from God 
and the Christians their doctrine and word, and he would do 
them this injury under their own protection and by means of 
the things that all have in common. Let him go to some 
place where there are no Christians ; for as I have often said, 
he who makes a living from the burghers ought to keep the 
law of the burgh, and not defame and revile it, or else he 
ought to get out. We are told that the holy fathers in the 
Council of Nicsea, when they heard the doctrine of the 
Arians read, all hissed unanimously, and would not listen or 
permit any argument or defence, but condemned them out of 
hand, without any disputation, as blasphemers.* Moses, in 

* Chris ten he it. 

3 Luther repeats this statement in his treatiste T he Councils and the 
Church (1539). His sources seem to have heen Cassidorus* and Rufinus' 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 311 

his Law, commands that such blasphemers and, indeed, all Lev. 
false teachers, are to be stoned. So, in this case, there ought 24:16 
not to be much disputing, but such open blasphemers should 
be condemned without a hearing and without defence, as 
Paul commands in Titus i, "A heretic is to be avoided and Tit 
let go, after he has been admonished once or twice"; and he 3:1 
forbids Timothy to wrangle and dispute, since this has no i Tim. 
effect, except to pervert those who hear. For these common 6:2 
articles of the whole Church 1 have had hearings enough; 
they have been proved and decreed by the Scriptures and by 
the confession of the whole Church, confirmed by many mir- 
acles, sealed by the blood of many holy martyrs, and are 
testified to and defended in the books of all the doctors. They 
need no more discussion and clever interpreting. 

Third. If it happen that in a parish, a city, or a principality, 
the papists and the Lutherans (as they are called) are crying 3. Pa- 
out upon one another because of certain matters of belief, piste ""* 
and preaching against one another, and both parties will have ^ 
it that the Scriptures are on their side, I would not willingly 
tolerate such a division. My Lutherans ought to be willing 
to abdicate and be silent, if they observed that they were not 
gladly heard, as Christ teaches, in Matthew x. They ought Matt - 
to have themselves compelled to preach, as I do. For I 
leave off readily, if people do not want to hear me, and all 
my preaching and writing has been done under force and 
compulsion. But if neither party is willing to yield or be 
silent, or if neither can do so because of official position, then 
let the rulers take a hand. Let them hear the case, and com- 
mand that party to keep silence which does not agree with 
the Scriptures. Thus the great emperor Constantine did, 
when he caused Athanasius and Arius to be heard and their 
case judged by his procurator, Probus. 3 It is not a good 
thing that contradictory preaching should go out among the 
people of the same parish. For from this arise divisions, 

translation of Eusebitts. Cf. SCHAEFER Luther als Kirchenhistor- 
iker,p. 295. 

>Christenheit. 

a Luther's source for this disputation was VIGIWUS OF THAPSUS' Contra 
Arianos dialog us (MiGNE LXII, 155 flf.) Cf. SCHAIFER Luthet 
als Kirchenhistoriker, p. 281, 



312 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

disorders, hatreds and envyings which extend to temporal 
affairs also. 

Fourth. If it happen that some are crying out upon one 
another because of matters concerning which both sides con- 
f ess that the Scriptures are not at issue, but only ancient cus- 
tom an( j ma n-made law, (I mean such questions as tonsures, 
holy water, the blessing of herbs, and the like unnecessary 
things, which are confirmed neither with miracles nor with 
the blood of martyrs), then these wranglings are by no 
means to be tolerated in the pulpit, but both parties are to be 
ordered to keep peace. 

For what the Scriptures do not contain, the preachers 

ought not wrangle about in the presence of the people. 

Rather ought they deal always with the Scriptures, for love 

and peace are far more important than all ceremonies. Thus 

COL St. Paul says that peace is to be preferred to all else, and it 

3:14 is unchristian to let peace and unity yield to ceremonies. If 

that command does not help, then he who, without Scripture, 

insists on ceremonies as necessary to salvation, and who 

would bind men's consciences, should be ordered to keep 

silence. 

What I say about public preaching, I say even more 
emphatically about private preaching and secret ceremonies. 3 
These are not to be tolerated at all. For the rest, anyone 
may read what he likes and believe what he likes. If he 
will not hear God, let him hear the devil. But the things 
that are sure articles of Scripture are to be both publicly 
preached and read and taught to the common people at home, 
All of this compels no one to believe, but it gives the com- 
munity peace from the hot-heads, and puts a stop to the 
knavery of the fellows who preach in corners, who sneak, 
uncalled and unsent, into peoples' houses, and emit then 
poison there, before pastors or rulers find them out. These 
John are the thieves and murderers, of whom Christ speaks it 
io;8 John x They enter another's parish and seize another's 




^ . Thi 

reference is to the secret, or semi-secret, propaganda of the sectaries, many o 
whom were revolutionaries, and all of whom were suspected of teaching reVc 
luticmary doctrine. 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 313 

office, which is not committtd to them, but forbidden them. 

It is the duty of a citizen, if such a sneak conies to him, No 
before he listens to him or lets him speak, to report the 
matter to the ruler or to the pastor whose parishioner he is. without 
If he does not do this, he should know that he is breaking a CaU 
his oath 1 and disobeying his ruler, and that he is despising his 
pastor (whom he ought to honor), and thus acting against 
God, and that he is himself guilty and just as much of a thief 
and rascal as the sneak himself. The fiftieth Psalm says p s . so: 
of these teachers in corners, "God spake to the godless, Why 15 " 20 
declarest thou my laws, and takest my covenant in thy 
mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my word 
behind thee? If thou seest a thief (that is, a thief of souls, 
John x), thou runnest with him, and art partaker with 
adulterers (that is, false believers and heretics). Thou 
makest thy mouth speak evil, and thy tongue dealeth in false- 
hood. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother, and 
slanderest thy mother's son." 

If Muenzer and Carlstadt and their comrades had not been 
allowed to sneak and creep into other men's houses and par- 
ishes, whither they had neither call nor command to go, that 
whole great calamity 3 would not have happened. To be sure, 
the apostles did, at first, go into other men's houses and 
preach there; but they had a command, and were ordained 
and called and sent to preach the Gospel in all places; as 
Christ said, "Go into all the world and preach to all crea- Mark 
tures." Since then, however, no one has had this general i6:is 
apostolic command, but every bishop or pastor has had his 
definite diocese or parish, and for this reason St. Peter, in I i pet 
Peter v, calls them Cleros, that is, "parts," indicating S:3 
that to each of them a part of the people has been com- 
mitted (as Paul writes to Titus also), and that no one else, Tit. 
and no stranger, shall undertake to instruct his parishioners, 1:S 
either publicly or privately, without his knowledge and con- 
sent. On peril of body and soul, no one is to listen to such a 
man, but report him to his pastor or his ruler. 

* i. c,, Of allegiance. * The Peasants' Revolt, 



314 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

This rule should be so kept that no preacher, however 
pious or upright, should take it upon himself either to preach 
to the people of a papistical or heretical pastor, or to teach 
them privately, without the knowledge and consent of that 
pastor; for he has no command to do this, and what is not 
commanded should be left undone. If we would perform 
the duties that are commanded, we have enough to do. It 
does not help their case to say that all Christians are priests. 
It is true that all Christians are priests, but all are not pas- 
tors. For to be a pastor, one must not only be a Christian 
and a priest, but must have an office and a field of work 1 
committed to him. This call and command make pastors and 
preachers. A burgher or layman may be a learned man, but 
this does not make him a Doctor, and entitle him to teach 
publicly in the schools, or to assume the teaching-office, unless 
he is called to it. 

I have had to say these things about the sneaks and false 
preachers, of whom there are now all too many, in order 
to warn both pastors and rulers that they shall exhort and 
command their people to be on their guard against these 
vagabonds and knaves, and to avoid them as sure emissaries 
of the devil, unless they bring good evidence that they are 
called and commanded by God to do this work in that special 
place. Otherwise no one should let them in or listen to them, 
even though they were to preach the pure Gospel, nay, even 
though they were angels from heaven, and all Gabriels, at 
that. For it is God's will that nothing be done as a result 
of one's own choice or decision, but everything as a conse- 
quence of a command or a call. That is especially true of 

2 Pet. preaching, as St. Peter says, in II Peter i, "Ye should know 

1:20 f * this first, No prophecy was brought out by the will of man, 

but the holy men of God spoke, driven by the Holy Ghost." 

Luke 4:4i Therefore Christ, too, would not let the devils speak, when 
they cried out that He was the Son of God and told the truth, 
for He did not want to permit such an example of preaching 
without a call. Let everyone, then, remember this: If he 
will preach or teach, let him prove the call or command which 

Kirchspiel, 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 315 

drives and compels him to it, or else be silent; if he will not 
do this, then let the rulers hand the knave over to the right 
master, Master Hans. 1 That will be what he deserves, for 
he certainly intends to start a rebellion, or worse, among the 
people. 

But perhaps you will say to me, "Why do you, by your 
books, teach throughout the world, when you are only Objc- 
preacher in Wittenberg?" I answer : I have never wanted to ^^ p 1 * 
do it, and do not want to do it now. I was forced and driven Himself 
into this position in the first place, when I had to become a Does lt 
Doctor of Holy Scripture against my will. 2 Then, as a Doc- 
tor in a general free university, I began, at the command of 
pope and emperor, 3 to do what such a doctor is sworn to do, 
expounding the Scriptures for all the world, and teaching 
everybody. Once in this position, I have had to stay in it, 
and cannot give it up or leave it, even yet, with a good con- 
science, even though both pope and emperor were to put me 
under the ban for not doing so. For what I began as a Doc- 
tor, made and called at their command, I must truly confess 
to the end of my life, and I cannot keep silent or cease to 
teach, though I would like to do so, and am weary and 
unhappy at the great and unendurable ingratitude of the 
people. And even if I were not a Doctor, I am, neverthe- 
less, a regularly called preacher, and may teach my own 
people with writings. If others have desired these writings 
of mine and have asked for them, it is my duty to accede to 
their request. For I have never pushed myself in, or desired 
or asked that anyone should read these writings, but have 
acted just like other pious pastors and preachers, who write 
books, and neither prevent nor drive people to the reading of 
them, and thus teach throughout the world. They do not 
run and sneak like these worthless, uncalled knaves, into the 



1 i. e. The jailer or executioner. 

a Luther took his degree of Doctor of Theology at the express *co<ffiinand of 
the Vicar of the Augustinian Order, John Staupitz. See SCHEEL, L tit her, 
II (1917), 309 ff., and his own letter to the Faculty at Erfurt (Enders, 
I, 22 ff.). 

'Implied in the charter granted by the pope and the emperor to the univer- 
sity. 



316 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

offices of others without the knowledge and consent of the 
pastors, but they have a definite office and position, by which 
they are driven and compelled. 

Someone, however, may enter the further objection, "We 
ought not to punish these blasphemers or prevent them, 
because we tolerate the Jews, who blaspheme the Lord Christ 
and His mother, with all the saints and all Christans, both in 
their teaching and their speaking/' Answer: They have 
their punishment for this, in that they are outside the Church 
and cannot hold any public office; and even as it is, they are 
not allowed to utter this blasphemy publicly. Much less are 
they permitted to attempt this in the public position of 
preachers or by preaching in corners, as do these poisonous 
sneaks, who are not willing to cast the poison of their blas- 
phemy upon any except those who are baptized and are 
called Christians. Moreover they are not willing to be con- 
sidered useless by the world, like the Jews, but want to be 
celebrated and honored as the greatest people of all But if 
they were to go, or to stay, where there are no Christians, 
and where, like the Jews, they would be heard by no one, then 
we let them blaspheme to the stones and trees in some forest, 
or possibly in the depths of the sea, or in a hot oven. 

Perhaps someone may make me another clever answer and 
s. LU- say that, with this kind of teaching, I am strengthening the 
th * r Is case of the tyrants who persecute the Gospel, and opening 
door and window for them. Since they consider our Gospel 
heresy and blasphemy, they will now preen themselves sure 
enough, and pretend that conscience and duty compel them 
to punish us as blasphemers. Answer: What do I care? If 
we were to hold back necessary instruction because of the 
tyrants, we would long since have had to give up the Gospel 
altogether. If they do right, they will find it out, and I leave 
them to worry about it. When they knowingly use their 
power over worldly things, in the most self-willed manner, 
for the injury of others, what wonder that they do us wrong? 
Like blind men, they cannot see our doctrine, and like mad- 
men, they cannot hear it. It was thus that the kings of 
Israel killed the true prophets. Nevertheless, we must not 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 317 

abolish or hide the commandment to stone false prophets; 1 
but pious rulers will punish no man without first seeing, 
hearing, learning, and becoming certain that he is a blas- 
phemer. But enough of this ! Let us return to the Psalm: 

But they know nothing and consider Vetse 5 
nothing, they go in darkness; 

All the foundations of the land shall 
fall. 

This verse is a lamentation. It says that the gods have 
left their duties and their virtues, and are practicing the JjJjJ^ 
opposite vices, as has been said. But they will not have done faJi of 
this with impunity. He will cast them down and they will Rnleri1 
have a real fall, though they think themselves secure and do 
not believe it until they experience it. Nay, they scoff at it, 
when it is said of them, "The foundations shall fall." They 
feel that they sit fast, and have power, and, as the text says, 
they are called "foundations of the land," that is, rocks and 
stones, on which the land and the government stand and rest. 
For just as, in His Kingdom, Christ is the cornerstone, 
rock, or foundation, on which the Church is built, or stands, 
so every prince or lord is the cornerstone, rock, or founda- 
tion of his land, or people. This manner of speaking, in 
which kings and princes are called rocks and cornerstones, is 
common in Scripture, as when Isaiah calls the king of Egypt 
"a rock of the people/' etc, 

With this saying, then, He strikes a blow at their confi- 
dence, and says, with a great threat, "Even though you are 
so firmly planted, and are actually rocks and foundations in 
the land, I will cast you and dash you down, so that you shall 
fall and go to pieces. If you compare this saying with the 
histories, you discover how frequently God overthrows kings 
and lords, throws them, hurls them, wipes them out, and 
treats them relentlessly, in the fulfillment of this verse, which 
they will not believe. Read the books of Kings and see how 
He wipes out Kings Jeroboam, Ahab, Jehoram, Ahaziah; and 
among the heathen, the Emperors Julius, Nero, Domitian, 

* See above, p. 310, 



318 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

etc. Our own times, too, give us illustrations in plenty, if 
we consider or regard them. But they forget all this, and pay 
no attention to it, and this verse must seem to them a lie, 
until they find out by experience how certainly true it is. 

They earn this overthrow, it says, because they do not take 
Reasons: heed, do not consider, and walk in darkness. These are the 
i. They t j iree y - ces t j iat ] lave k een motioned. 1 The first is that they 
do not accept the duty of advancing the Word of God. So 
long as they have what they want, they do not care what 

becomes of God and His Word - If He wants to be a God ' 
and advance His own Word, let Him do it Himself ; they 

have many other things to do beside performing this duty. 
Moreover, they take so little heed to themselves that they are 
loth to hear and learn the Word of God, in order to know 
what He is. And, what is still worse, they persecute the 
Word of God, condemn it unheard, and take the corrupting 
of souls and the killing and murdering of true preachers, as 
lightly as though it were a game or a joke to destroy people 
so pitiably in body and soul. And then they will have it 
that they have done God service ! 

2 Nw The second vice is that they do not take heed to their 

p*>tect worldly government and do not provide the poor and 

the Poor wre tched with law and protection. In this they are not only 

heedless and negligent, but they vex their subjects with force 

and wrong, or wink at it, when others do it. And yet no one 

must say that this is wrong! Thus they become ripe for 

punishment, and complete their wickedness, and fill up the 

register of their sins. 

The third vice is that "they walk in darkness," and in this 
i U r^ od ^ ess state > ^ ve on ^ * or themselves, as though they had got 
the rulership in order to seek and pursue only their own profit 
and honor, their own pleasure and selfish desires, their own 
pride and pomp, and owed no one either service or help. That 
is an altogether worldly and dark life, for they know not 
what they do, or ought to do, but go about like blind men, 
who guide themselves by feeling and tapping. They do what 
they feel like and want to do, and do not see, beyond these 

1 Above, p. 307 f. 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 319 

things, those which their office requires. Therefore they 
must fall and perish, as they deserve. 

The human heart should be terrified when it hears the 
judgment and decree passed in heaven upon these tyrants. 
For this verse clearly shows that before God and the angels 
they have the honor to be considered despisers and perse- 
cutors of God's Word, violent and vicious rulers, and blind 
men, who walk in darkness and are to be cast down. Heaven 
is already ringing with this verdict, and, thanks to this verse, 
the earth also shall be full of it. But they have armed them- 
selves against it with a strong, thick unbelief that gives them 
a heart of stone and a head of iron, so that they pay no atten- 
tion to this utterance, and await their condemnation defiantly 
and proudly. Ah, well ! Let them go on to the devil, since 
they will not have it otherwise ! 

I have said, Ye are gods 

And all of you children of the highest. 

There it stands ! They are, and are called, gods. They are 
proud of it, and pride themselves confidently on their power. The 
He confesses that they are gods and have power; and that is 
true. But it is shameful that they do not recognize from 
whom they have it, and use it as though they had it from 
themselves, and could do with it what they will, serving with 
it neither God nor man, and wanting to be free gods, without 
any god and over every god. Here He has a word to say in 
this wickedness, and says, "Ye know well that ye are gods 
and have power; that ye have learned and grasped very 
quickly. But when will ye learn from whom ye have it? 
What becomes of Me? What becomes of My command- 
ments, which I have given you ? It is not your command, but 
I, I, I have said that ye are gods. It is My com- 
mand and My word that makes and ordains you gods, and 
keeps you gods, and it is not your word or wisdom or might. 
Ye are gods made by My word, as all creatures are made, 
and ye are not self-made gods or born gods, as I am. If I 
had not commanded it, no one of you would have been a god. 
Mine are all power, rulership, property, honor, lands and 
Vol. IV. 21 



320 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

peoples, and all that belongs to them, I have given them to 
you; ye have not acquired them or won them. But what 
fine thanks do ye give Me for them? Ye reject Me and My 
Word, and hold Me for no God at all." 

"What F say they, f T>o we not recognize that we have this 
from Thee, and hold Thee for our God ! That be far from 
us ! If Thou knowest it not otherwise, look only at our titles 
in which we publicly boast and confess it, We, N, by 
God's grace King of N 3 ; 'We, N, by God's grace Duke of 
N' ; 'We, N, by God's grace, Prince of N'; etc. There Thou 
hearest that we confess our rulership to be received from 
God's grace. What wilt Thou more than this ?" 

It is true ! The words ale right and good ! But do you 

IM. know of a people of whom the prophet says, "This people 

29:13 honoreth Me with the mouth, but their heart is far from 

Matt Me?" Christ, too, says, in Matthew vii, "They will not all 

7:21 come into the kingdom of heaven who say to me Lord, Lord; 

i Cor. but he that doeth the will of my Father"; and Paul in I 

4:20 Corinthians iii, "The kingdom of God is not in words, but 

in deeds." 

What good does it do that with your words you boast and 
confess that you are lords by God's grace, when your heart 
and your whole life show that you would like to have no 
God, and be a free lord, with all might to act against God's 
commandments, according to your own self-will? For he 
who does not heed and keep God's Word, sets God Himself 
at naught, since he who would honor God and have God, 
must have Him in and through His Word, otherwise it is 
impossible to get Him, have Him, or know Him. Since, 
then, the gods neither heed nor have God's Word and com- 
mandment, they have no God ; and if they have no God, they 
must have become gods by themselves, and this verse must 
be a lie and a falsehood, when it says, "I have said, 
Ye are gods." See, then, how many are the princes and 
lords who bear the title, "By God's grace," with a true heart 
and truthful lips! The majority bear it as a testimony 
against themselves, as a false and shameful lie about God, by 
which they blaspheme and dishonor His holy name, wearing 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 321 

it as a cloak for their tyranny and wickedness. Of this 
much could be said. 

One might wonder why He calls such wicked people, 
whom he rebukes so harshly, "children of God/' or "of the 
Highest," since it is the holy and believing people who are 
called children of God in Scripture. Answer: It is just as 
great a wonder that He calls these wicked people by His own 
name, gods; indeed, calling them gods is even more than 
calling them children. But it is all in the word, "I have 
said." As we have often said, the Word of God hallows and 
deifies everything to which it is applied. Therefore those 
estates that are appointed in God's Word are all holy, divine 
estates, even though the persons in them are not holy. Thus 
father, mother, son, daughter, master, mistress, servant, maid, 
preacher, pastor, etc., all these are holy and divine positions 
in life, even though the persons in those positions may be 
knaves and rascals. So, because He here founds and orders 
the office of rulership, the rulers are rightly called "gods" 
and "children of God," for the sake of the divine office and 
divine Word; and yet they are wicked knaves, as He here 
calls them. 

Therefore ye shall die like men, Verse 7 
And fall like one of the princes. 

Because they are not willing to honor God with their god- 
head, as He commands, but act as though they had nothing ^^ 
from God, and everything from themselves, He here threat- ment of 
ens that He will punish them, and punish them in such a way the 
that they will lose their godhead, He will depose them and Bul * !M 
take away their godhead, so that they die and go to destruc- 
tion, not as "gods" or "children of God," but as men, so that, 
both in life and death, they may be like men who are without 
God's Word, and are lost. For God's Word makes a dis- 
tinction among the children of Adam. Those who have 
God's Word are not merely men, but holy men, God's chil- 
dren, Christians, etc. ; but those who are without God's Word 
are merely men, that is, in sin, eternally imprisoned in death, 
under the power of the devil, and are altogether without 



322 Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 

God. Therefore, when the Scriptures call anyone "man," 
they are giving him a bad name; and when they say that 
the wicked gods shall "die like men," it is a terrible, horrible 
threat, for it means that they shall be lost eternally. 

So it is, also, with the phrase, "They shall fall like one of 
the princes." Here He does not call them "gods," or "chil- 
dren of God," but changes the name, and calls them simply 
"princes." As if to say; A prince who is without God and 
His Word, is also assuredly lost, and when he falls and 
passes away, he loses his godhead, that is God's appointment, 
and passes away as tyrants are wont to pass. They do not 
believe this terrible threat and condemnation, however, but 
must be made to experience it. All history is full of illustra- 
tions of this. 
Verse s Arise, God, and judge the land ; 

For thou dost inherit amongthe heathen. 

Worldly government will make no progress. The people 
The are too wicked, and the lords dishonor God's name and Word 
Khied<Mft continually, by the shameful abuse of their godhead. There- 
fore he prays for another government and kingdom, in which 
things will be better, where God's name will be honored, His 
Word kept, and He Himself be served; that is the kingdom 
of Christ. Therefore he says, "0 God, come and be the 
Judge upon earth. Be Thyself King and Lord. The gods 
have a lost cause. For to Thee belongs the kingdom among 
all the heathen in the whole world, as is promised in the 
Scriptures." 

This is the kingdom of Jesus Christ : this is the true God, 
who has come and is judging; that is to say, He is Lord in 
all the world, for no empire has spread so far among the 
heathen as has the kingdom of Christ, and this verse can not 
be understood as meaning any other than Christ. This God is 
a god by nature, 1 to whom it is not said, "I have said 
that Thou are God"; but, "Arise, God and judge the 
earth." For Christ practices aright the three divine virtues 
mentioned above. He advances God's Word and the preach- 

*Ein naturlicher Gott. 



Eighty-second Psalm Translated and Explained 323 

ers of it ; He makes and keeps law for the poor ; He protects 
and rescues the miserable. Among the people of Christ 1 the 
service of God is justice, peace, righteousness, life, salvation, 
etc. Of this kingdom of Christ the Gospels, and the 
Epistles of the apostles, preach and testify so fully that there 
is no need to speak further of them here. 

Thus we see that, over and above righteousness, wisdom, 
and power of this world, there is need for another kingdom, 
in which there is another righteousness, wisdom, and power. 
For the righteousness of this world has an end, but the 
righteousness of Christ and those who are in His Kingdom 
abide forever. To this may He help us and keep us, Who 
is our King, our dear Lord and God, Jesus Christ. May He, 
with the Father and the Holy Ghost in one essential 2 and 
eternal Godhead, be praised and blessed forever. Amen. 

*In der C hr 1st enh ei t. 3 Natttrlich er . 



AN EXHORTATION TO THE CLERGY 

ASSEMBLED 

AT THE DIET AT AUGSBURG 
1530 



INTRODUCTION 

The Exhortation to the Clergy Assembled at the 
Diet at Augsburg was Luther's first work at Feste Coburg. 
On April 15, 1530, the Elector of Saxony arrived at Coburg, with 
his retinue, on his way to the Diet of Augsburg. One of the major 
purposes of this diet, as announced by the emperor, was to reconcile 
religious differences and bring Germany to religious unity. 1 With this 
end in view he had called upon the "estates" to be ready to express 
their views on the religious questions then dividing the empire. The 
Elector of Saxony, therefore, took with him as advisers the leaders 
of religious thought in his dominions, Luther, Melanchthon, Spalatin, 
Justus Jonas and Agricola. They had already discussed a confession 
of faith that might be presented at the diet and had agreed upon a 
part, at least, of its contents, though its final form had not been 
determined and the Augsburg Confession was not finished until 
immediately before its presentation, on June 25th. 

The Elector's party remained at Coburg for a week, and then 
moved on toward Augsburg, leaving Luther behind. He was under 
the ban of the empire, and it was not safe to take him farther. On 
April 23, he took up his residence at the castle Feste Coburg where 
he remained while the diet was in session. During this period of 
enforced retirement, he had leisure for writing. 

He began work on the Exhortation as soon as he was 
settled in the castle. On April 29 he wrote to Melanchthon 3 that 
the work was growing under his hands. On May 12 he sent the 
manuscript to Wittenberg to be printed. 3 Before the end of the 
month it was off the press, and before June 7 it was on sale in 
Augsburg, where one book-seller disposed of five hundred copies in 
a few days ;* "everybody is reading it," wrote Justus Jonas to Luther, 
on June 12. B Cardinal Campeggio ordered it translated into Latin," 
though we do not know whether the work was ever done. The man 
who had been commissioned to make the translation wrote to a 
friend, June 21, "It is a summary of all Lutheranism. If you would 
know the whole Luther, you would better buy it/ n 

This treatise may be regarded as Luther's own Augsburg Con- 
fession, Not only was it written at the same time as the Confession, 

1 FomsTEMANN, Urkundcnbucli z u der Geschichte dcs 
Reichstags zu Augsburg (1833), I, 3 f. 
a ENDERS, VII, 313 
*ibid. 332. 
Mbid. 379. 
ibid. 376. 

Weiinar Ed. XXX, a 238. 
'ibid. 

(327) 



328 Introduction 

but it deals with many of the subjects which the Confession treats, 
especially in that section which deals with abuses in the Church. 
It reveals Luther's mind on those subjects far more plainly than 
does the work of the more diplomatic and careful Melanchthon. The 
material is quite evidently suggested by the Torgau Articles, 1 which 
had been agreed upon as a basis of a confession, of faith by Luther, 
Melanchthon, and others at a conference held at Torgau, March 20, a 
The latter part of the work is based on notes that Luther apparently 
made in connection with the conference at Torgau.* 

The text of the Exhortation is found in Weimar Ed. XXX, a 
268 ff.; Erlangen Ed. 1 , XXIV, 330 ff., Erlangen Ed. a , 
XXIV, 358 ff.; St. Louis Ed.; CLEMEN, IV, 104 ff,; Berlin 
Ed,, III, 347 f f . The translation is made from the text of Clemen. 

CHARLES M. JACOBS. 
MOUNT AIRY, 
PHILADELPHIA. 

1 Translated in JACOBS, Book of Concord, II, 75 ff. 
a Cf . SMITH & JACOBS, Luther's Correspondence, II, 322 ff. 
8 Given by FORSTEMAKN, op. c i t , pp. 68 ff. Cf . Weimar Ed., 
XXX a , 246 ff; translated in part by JACOBS, op. cit f pp. 95 ff. 



AN EXHORTATION TO THE CLERGY 

ASSEMBLED 

AT THE DIET AT AUGSBURG 
1530 



TO ALL THE CLERGY ASSEMBLED AT 

AUGSBURG AT THE DIET IN THE YEAR 1530: 

EXHORTATION OF MARTIN LUTHER 

Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

It is not fitting, dear sirs, that I should appear in person 
at this diet; and even though I had to appear, or were to 
do so, it would serve no useful purpose, for it would make 
no difference amid all the splendor and bustle. Neverthe- 
less, beside my spiritual presence (which I will prove with 
all my heart and with God's help, through my diligent and 
earnest prayers and supplications to my God) I have under- 
taken to be among you with this mute and feeble written 
message. 

The reason is that my conscience drives me to pray, 
beseech and exhort each and all of you, in the kindliest way 
and from the heart, that you will not pass this diet by or for 
use it to vain purposes. For God, through our most 
gracious Emperor Charles, is giving you grace, chance, time, 
and cause to accomplish much that is great and good by 
means of this diet, if only you have the will to do so. He 
is speaking now as Paul speaks in II Corinthians VI, "I 2 Cor. 
exhort you that ye receive not the gift of God in vain." For 6:1 

(329) 



330 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

He says, "I have heard thee in an accepted time, and helped 
thee on the day of salvation." "Behold now is an accepted 
time and a day of salvation," especially for you. And we 
see and hear how the hearts of all men are set upon this 
diet, and expect, with high hope, that good will come out 
of it. 

If, however, this diet shall break up without result (which 
may God graciously forbid!) and nothing worth while be 
accomplished, after all the world has for a long while been 
fed with false hopes and put off by diets and councils, and 
that hope has all been false and vain, it is to be feared that 
despair will be bred, and everyone will become overtired of 
false hopes and delays, and the long, fruitless waiting will 
produce impatience and make bad blood. For things cannot 
longer stay as they now are, especially with you and your 
class 1 ; you know and feel that better than I can tell you. 
I am therefore doing what now I do, for your own good 
and for the sake of peace and unity. 

Certain ones, perhaps, will look with evil eyes on my 
presumption, and say, "Who needs you? Who ever asked 
for your exhortation or your writing? There are many 
learned and pious people here who can give better advice 
in this matter than a fool like you." Ah, well! I shall 
willingly believe this. God help that it may all be true! 
I am quite willing that my presumption shall be criticized 
and condemned. But it is also true that one cannot do too 
much of a good thing, and a fool has often given better 
counsel than many wise men, 2 while the greatest wrongs on 
earth have usually been done by wise people, especially when 
they relied on their own wisdom and did not act in the fear 
of God, and did not pray with humble hearts for divine 
help and grace. 

All the histories are full of illustrations of this, both in 
the Scriptures and out of them ; but even though there were 
no other illustration of it, we could find a good one in your- 



*i. e. The clergy. 
a Cf . Vol. II, p. 62. 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 331 

selves. For ten years 1 now you have tried your wisdom on 
this matter, with so many diets, with so many proposals, 
with so many wiles and tricks, with so much holding out o 
false hopes, nay, even with force and wrath, with murder 
and punishment, so that I have seen in you a cause for 
wonder and woe; and yet the matter has never gone the 
way you wanted it. That is the whole thing ! Wisdom has 
wanted to control such high and great matters by itself, 
without fear of God and humble prayer, and has come to 
shame in its presumption ; and if you do not come to fear 
God and to humble yourselves before Him, so that you 
cease from threatening and vengefulness and ask God 
earnestly for help and counsel, you shall still accomplish 
nothing, though you were as wise as King Solomon; for 
there stands the Scripture, I Peter v, "God resisteth the i Pet, 
proud, but to the humble He giveth His grace," 5:S 

We, for our part, pray with diligence; we also know 
the right way to pray for God's grace, and we are certain, 
too, that our prayer is acceptable and is heard. This, I fear, 
only few of your party can do. Moreover, we have now 
begun to pray earnestly for you, that God Almighty may 
for once enlighten your hearts and move them to fear His 
Word and to walk humbly with Him. Such prayer is ac- 
cepted for us that we know ; but may God grant that you 
do not set yourselves stubbornly against it, so that our prayer 
must return again into our bosom, because it has been lost 
and despised among you ! For we see that the devil is try- 
ing to bring on the Turks/ and is stirring up one disturb- 
ance after another, and would like to smash everything. If, 
then, you were still to be hard of heart and continue to be 
as stubborn as heretofore, that would be too much and 
altogether intolerable. 

To begin with, then, you need not take any action be- 
cause of me, or the likes of me. The true Helper and 
Counselor has brought us and our cause so far, and has ans D<> 

Not 

1 Since the Diet of Worms in 1521. t t Nedi 

9 One of the announced purposes of the diet was to make provision, for the the Diet 

removal of "the grievous burden and invason of the Turks." FORSTERMANN, 

I, 3; KIDD, Documents, p. 258. 



332 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

put it where it is to stay and where we want to leave it, 
so that for ourselves we need no diet, no counsel, no settling 
of the matter; and we would not have these things come 
from you, because we know that you can do no better than 
we; nay, not so well as we. For whether we come under 
Turks or Tartars, under pope or devil, our cause is secure; 
so that we know how to believe and live, how to suffer and 
pray, how to get well and to die, where we are to look for 
and get and find everything, and where we are at last to 
abide, according to the word of St. Paul in Romans viii, 



These things God has given us in rich measure through 

Jesus Christ our Lord, and they have already been pro- 

claimed and confirmed by the blood and anguish of many 

Phil. godly people, who have been put to death by your party. 

3 " 16 Not that we are perfect, or that we have yet attained all 

things! But we have the right "rule," as St. Paul calls 

it, the right way, the right beginning; nay, so far as doc- 

trine is concerned, we have no lack at all, no matter how 

it is with life. 

But we have compassion upon you and the poor people 
under you, who are altogether uninstructed, or at least 
uncertain; and we would gladly help you, by means of our 
prayers and exhortations, as best we might. For I greatly 
fear that you have forgotten your office and the humility 
which you owe to God, and are going to draw the reins 
too tight, and ride the willing horse too hard, so that an- 
other revolt will occur and both we and you will come to 
Pea*, iP"^ an d distress, as happened the other time. 1 For with- 
ants' out doubt you remember how, before the revolt, the diet 
War had been called to meet at Spires with such glorious and 
comforting hopes that all the world looked forward to it 
eagerly, and heartily awaited the good that would come 
out of it. But your counsels were full of wisdom and man- 
aged to have that diet called off without result and shame- 
fully. 3 The rod -that is Muenzer and the revolt came 

*In the Peasants' Revolt of 1525. See above, pp. 205 ff, 

|( The Diet of Nuremberg, in 1524, not only determined that a Council of 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 333 

quickly, and gave you a blow from which you have not yet 
recovered; and sad to say, we have been hurt by it even 
more than you. That is what comes of doing everything 
with force and according to your own notions. 

At Worms, too, our dear Emperor Charles, that noble 
youth, had to do what you wanted, and condemn me and all 
my teachings, 1 parts of which you yourselves had before 
then secretly accepted and made use of. Even now your 
preachers would have no sermons, were it not for Luther's 
books. For they are now leaving their sermon-books under 
the bench, together with the things that used to be all the 
rage in the pulpit, and are beginning to preach about faith 
and good works and subjects of that kind, about which 
nothing used to be heard or known. At that time, also, you 
extorted from him a decree for the slaying of Lutherans 
so horrible that you yourselves could not keep it or tolerate 
it, and it had to be changed at the diet at Nuremberg; in- 
deed, some of the princes had of their own accord to forbid 
the edict so that they might not place themselves and their 
lands and peoples in danger. 1 

I am reciting these things not to scoff at you or mock 
you, for I am already amply revenged upon you; but in 
order that I may earnestly beg you and faithfully admonish 
you to learn from your own experience and misfortune to 
give up henceforth your swaggering and threatening, your 
force and boasting, and to deal with God in fear and 
humility, and laying aside your presumption, to seek His 
help and grace with earnest prayer. This is certain, if 
you keep on with your swaggering and boasting, you will 
find that Muenzer's spirit still lives and is, I fear, mightier 
and more dangerous than you can now believe or conceive. 
It is more your affair than ours, though he is more hostile 

the Church should be held, but called for a meeting at Spires, in the fall of 
the same year, to arrange for such a council. This meeting was not held. 

*The Edict of Worms (1521) placed Luther under the ban of the Empire and 
forbade the dissemination of his doctrines. Text in WREDE, Deutsche 
Reichatagsakten, I, 640 ff. ; KIDD, Documents of the Con- 
tinental Reformation, No. 45. 

*The Diet of Nuremberg demanded a General Council of the Church, and 
declared the enforcement of the Edict of Worms impossible. WEDB> op. c i t . 
Ill, 385 ff, and SMITH AND JACOBS, Luther's Correspondence 
II, 169 ff. 



334 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

to us than to you, but God be thanked eternally! we have 
a defence against him. Would God that you had the same 
defence ! It is the pure Word and honest prayer. 

You know, too, the strong and firm stand that we have 
taken against all the fanatics. If I wanted to boast, I 
might also say that we had been your protectors and that 
it was our doing that you have remained what you still are. 
If it had not been for us, your scholars would, I fear 
have been too weak for the case, and the fanatics and rebels 
would have taught you something that you did not know. 
Therefore they hate us more than they hate you, and blame 
us when they have to creep to the cross and recant. We 
have to put up with that and learn by experience that the 
proverb is true, "If you help a man down from the gal- 
lows, he tries to put you on it." The rebellious knaves 
would not have known the first thing about attacking the 
pope; but now that, by our help, they have got free and 
John eat our bread, they lift up their heel against us, as Christ 
i3:i8 sa y S O f j u d aSj the betrayer. 

But some will say here, "Yes, it is all your fault ; you 
began it, and these are the fruits of your teaching." Ah, 
well ! I must suffer that, knowing full well that I am ac- 
cused of it; but, on the other hand, I know many godly 
people among you who know that it is not true. The work 
is there in broad daylight, and it is my strong witness. The 
fanatics have always despised and persecuted my doctrine 
more than yours, and I have had to set myself against them 
more strongly and defend myself more harshly than I ever 
did against the pope. How then, can it have come out of 
my teaching? Or why did not this disturbance arise among 
my followers, where I was preaching and teaching every 
day, and where the first and worst evil should have hap- 
pened, if this kind of dissension was to come out of my 
doctrine? 

Have you forgotten that at Worms the German nobility 
laid before his Imperial Majesty some hundred and four 
statements in which they made complaints against the 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 335 

clergy/ and boldly declared that if his Imperial Majesty 
did not abolish the things complained of, they would do it 
themselves, because they could no longer endure them? If 
that had been started (as the rebels afterwards did start it), 
and a single preacher had arisen to advise that it be done, 
where would you clergy be now? In hell. 3 And yet my 
teaching was then in full course, and had given rise to no 
revolt and was not tending that way, but was teaching the 
people to keep the peace and obey their rulers. Had it not 
been for that, the complaints of the clergy would surely have 
started a pretty game. But now it must be my teaching 
that has done it. This is the thanks I deserve! To be 
sure, I desire no other, for so it went with all the prophets 
and apostles, and with Christ Himself. 

In the second place, have you also forgotten how at the 
first my teaching was so welcome to almost all of you? Doctrine 
Were not all the bishops glad to see that the tyranny of \ 
the pope, who was going too hard after the endowed 
positions, was checked a little? They could look on and 
listen and sit quiet and wait for the opportunity to get all 
of their episcopal jurisdiction back again. A fine teacher 
was this Luther, who attacked indulgences so honestly ! For 
in those days the bishops and pastors had to put up with it 
when a monk or a rascal from outside came into their chap- 
ters and their parishes and drove a scandalous trade with 
letters of indulgence, and no one dared to peep. There 
was no doctor or professor in all the universities or mon- 
asteries who could have known how to oppose this miser- 
able business, or have dared to do it. Luther was "dear 
son" ; he cleansed the chapters and parishes of this huckster- 
ing and held the bishops* stirrups to help them back into 
the saddle and threw a stumbling block in the pope's road; 
why did you not call that revolt ? 

Afterwards, when I attacked the monastic life and the 
monks became fewer, I heard neither bishop or pastor 

1 The Gravamina of the Germ* an Nation, see W&EDE, 
Deutsche Reichstagsakten, I 661 ff. . 

a I n bus correptam. For this translation see Weimar E a . 
XXX,' p. 714. 

Vol. IV. 22 



336 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

weeping aver it, and I know that no greater service has 
ever been done the bishops and pastors than ridding them 
of the monks. Indeed I fear that there will be no one now 
at Augsburg to take the part of the monks and ask that 
they be restored to their old place. Nay, the bishops will 
not allow these bed-bugs and lice to be put back in their 
fur. They are glad that their fur is so clean rid of them, 
though, to tell the truth, the monks had to rule the Church 
tinder the pope, for the bishops did nothing except bear the 
titles of nobility. I destroyed the monks, not with revolu- 
tion, but with my teaching, and the bishops were glad ; they 
could not have done it with the force of all the kings and 
the learning of all the universities ; why, then, did they not 
consider that revolutionary? 0, they are too glad that the 
monks are down and that the pope has almost lost a hand 
thereby; and yet they give no thanks to Luther, this part 
of whose doctrine they use so gloriously. 

Because I am now discussing the fact that people have 
forgotten what the world was like before my teaching 
began, and are not now willing to admit that anyone did 
anything wrong, I must bring out again the old pretences 
and picture to the clergy their forgotten virtue, so that they 
may see or recollect what the world would be like if our 
Gospel had not come. We, too, may see, to our comfort, 
what great and glorious fruit the Word of God has pro- 
duced. We shall begin at the point where my doctrine 
began, that is, with the indulgences. 

CONCERNING INDULGENCES* 

K our Gospel had done nothing else than release men's 
consciences from the shameful abomination and idolatry of 
the indulgences, that alone would be enough to show that 
it was the Word and power of God. For the whole world 
must admit that no human wisdom could have done this, 
since no bishop, no chapter, no monastery, no doctor, no 
university, not I myself, in short, no human reason, under- 

* Cf. Vol. I, pp. 1 ff. 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 337 

stood or knew this abomination; still less did any know- 
how to check it or attack it ; everyone had to approve it and 
let it pass as good and wholesome doctrine; and the dear 
bishops and the pope got money out of it, and let it go on 
richly. 

1. They sold the indulgence as the divine grace which 
forgives sin, and thereby Christ's blood and death were 
denied and blasphemed, together with the Holy Ghost and 
the Gospel, 

2. They falsely sold souls out of purgatory by it; it was 
an insult to God's majesty, but it brought in a lot of money. 

3. They made of the pope a god in heaven, with power 
to command the angels to carry to heaven the souls of 
pilgrims who died on the way to Rome. 

4. The Gospel, which is the only true indulgence, had 
to be silent in the churches in the presence of the indulgence. 

5. The whole world was cheated and skinned out of 
immeasurable amounts of money, with the most shameless 
avarice and lies, on the pretext of war against the Turks. 

6. They gave up earlier indulgence-letters for the 
sake of new ones, and abrogated the old indulgence in the 
churches for the new one's sake, and played with the Golden 
Year/ according as they wanted money. O yes, for war 
against the Turks ! 

7. But the pretence of the Golden Year is pure fiction 
and a baseless lie ; to corrupt the faith of Christ and Christ's 
daily Golden Year; but countless thousands of souls have 
been misled by it and the people shamefully deceived into 
pilgriming to Rome and cheated out of their money, having 
their pains and their expense for nothing. 

8. In the indulgence they sold the good works of the 
whole Church and also, as a special thing, the absolution 
which the Gospel forever gives to the whole world free of 
charge; thus souls were seduced from the Gospel and from 
Christ to the works of men. 

9. They praised the indulgence above all works of love. 

* The Jubilee-year, in which special indulgences were granted. 



338 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

10. They made the merits of the saints, beyond what 
they needed for themselves, the indulgence-treasure, as 
though Christ's passion were not sufficient for the forgive- 
ness of all sins ; this, too, corrupts faith in Christ. 

11. At last they so exalted the indulgence as to teach 
that if one had even committed a sin of lust with the Mother 
of God, it would be forgiven him through the indulgence. 

12. They taught that when the penny rang in the money- 
box, the soul rose to heaven. 

13. One had no need of penitence and regret in order to 
get the indulgence; it was enough that one invested his 
money. 

14. St. Peter could not give a grace that was greater 
than the indulgence. 

15. What has now become of the immeasurable money, 
treasure, and wealth that was so long stolen and so shame- 
fully acquired by means of the indulgence? 

In a word, who can tell all the abominations that the 
indulgence, as a true and mighty idol, has caused in all the 
chapters, cloisters, churches, chapels, hermitages, altars, pic- 
tures, tables, nay, in almost all the houses and chambers, 
so long as there was money in them? One would have to 
read again the books that were written against them ten 
years ago or so. Now speak up, dear sirs! For this un- 
speakable thievery and robbery of money, and for this 
inconceivable number of deceived hearts and consciences, 
and for this terrible and abominable lie, this blasphemy of 
Christ's Passion, of the Gospel, of grace, nay, of God Him- 
self, which have been committed by indulgences, all of you 
clergy are together to blame; not only you who have got 
money by them, but also you who were silent about it and 
looked on willingly at this raging of the devil. You talk 
of rebellion, of confiscation of monasteries, of the Turks! 
What are all these things together compared to you in- 
dulgence-vendors, when one thinks about it? It was a real 
Turkish army against the true Christian faith, 

But which of you has ever once repented for this terrible 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 339 

abomination, or even sighed over it, or had a wet eye? And 
now, like hardened, unrepentant sinners, you will have it 
that you never did anything wrong; therefore you come 
together in Augsburg and want to persaude us that the 
Holy Ghost is with you and will accomplish great things 
through you, though all your life long you have done the 
Church nothing but harm, and that afterwards He will lead 
you straight to heaven with all these unrepented abomina- 
tions nay, with the abominations that you have defended 
as though He must rejoice that you have served your 
god Belly so gloriously and laid waste God's Church so 
pitifully. This is why you have no good luck; and you 
will have none until you repent and amend your ways. 

Well, that is one of the pretences! That is the way 
things went in this matter before my teaching came. That 
it is no longer so, is the fault of my rebellious Gospel. 

It is right that the indulgences should be followed by 
that other bargain-trade called confessionalia. 

CONCERNING CONFESSIONALS* 

These were the butter-letters, in which the pope sold 
liberty to eat butter, cheese, milk and eggs, to hear mass at 
home, to marry within the forbidden degrees, and to choose 
a father-confessor, to be released from penalty and guilt 
as often as one desires in life and in the article of death, and 
the like. Dear, was not this a vicious bargain-trade through- 
out the world, all invented for the sake of money? As if 
God had not before given all such things as these freely to 
all the world through the Gospel ; or as if God had forbidden 
these things, and they were the giants who could sell God's 
commandments for money! The Gospel must be nothing, 
and God must be their merchandise! This skinning, trading 
and blaspheming, too, has been overthrown by the rebellious 
Gospel, but now it is all forgotten and there is no bishop 
or cleric who is sorry, or who needs forgiveness for it before 
God. Here was another thing that no bishop or doctor 

* Cf. Vol. I, pp. 22, 27, 33 n 1, Vol. II, pp, 98, 128. 



340 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

attacked, but all kept silence and consented to it. Well, we 
shall see whether God will let Himself be aped, as they 
think to do. 

CONCERNING CONFESSION 

Your books are still extant in which you have set down 
your teaching about confession, which I count one of the 
greatest plagues on earth, whereby you have confused the 
conscience of the whole world, cast so many souls into 
despair, and weakened and deadened all men's faith in 
Christ. For you have told us nothing of the comfort of the 
absolution, which is the main thing and the best thing in 
confession and which strengthens faith and confidence in 
Christ ; but you have made a work of it, extorted it by force 
from unwilling hearts in order to strengthen your tyranny ; 
then you have made them worry and torture and scourge 
themselves by the relation of all their sins, that is, you have 
disturbed forever the rest and peace of their hearts by laying 
upon them an impossible task. 1 When will you bring all 
these souls back again and make up for the deadly, baseless 
injury you have done them? This kind of confession, too, 
my Gospel has set to rights, and has given new strength to 
weak consciences. No bishop, doctor, or university knew 
anything about this ; and even now they have neither sorrow 
nor pity for this misery. 

CONCERNING PENANCE 

This is the dregs! It is a very hell! If all the other 
abominations were forgiven, this one could never be forgiven 
you. This has filled hell; it has injured Christ's kingdom 
more cruelly than the Turk or the whole world could ever 
do. You taught us that by our works we ought to make 
satisfaction for sin, even for sin against God; and that 
was called repenting of sin! You never laid so much im- 
portance on contrition and confession, though you made 
works of them, too. What is it to say, "You must render 

J Cf, Vol. I, pp. 81 ff.; Vol. II, pp. 2 and 7 & 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 341 

satisfaction for your sins," except to say, "You must deny 
Christ, renounce your baptism, blaspheme the Gospel, call 
God a liar, disbelieve the forgiveness of sins, trample Christ's 
blood and death under foot, dishonor the Holy Ghost, and 
go to heaven with these virtues by your own efforts"? 
Where are there tongues and voices with which to say 
enough about this? 

How does this faith differ from the faith of Turks and 
heathen and Jews? All of them, too, would make satis- 
faction by their works. But how can a soul do anything 
else than despair if it has no other confidence against sin 
than its own works? You cannot deny this charge; your 
books are extant in which nothing is taught concerning 
faith in the treatment of either penitence or confession, but 
all the teaching is about our own works. And yet there is 
neither bishop nor cleric to shed a tear over this horrible, 
hellish blasphemy of Christ. They are pure and safe. 
They call us rebels and slay the married priests, 1 contrary to 
their own law. They are offended because the Lutherans 
do not make a pretence of fasting, as they do, and do not Matt. 
wear tonsures. They defy the eternal God with their in- 6:1< 
human wickedness. 

Out of this abomination have come (nay, they had to 
come; there was no way to prevent it!) all the other 
abominations, namely, the self-righteousness of so many 
of the monasteries and chapters, with their services of wor- 
ship, their sacrifices, masses, purgatory, vigils, brotherhoods, 
pilgrimages, indulgences, fasts, worship of saints, relics, 
evil spirits, and the whole parade of the hellish procession. 
What else is possible? If conscience is to stand and build 
on its own works, it stands on sand, which slips and slides 

*In 1527, George Winkler, a pastor m Halle, was tried by an ecclesiastical 
court at Aschaffenburg, charged with administering the Sacrament in both kinds. 
It was known at the trial that he was not only guilty of this offence, but had 
also taken a wife. He was released by the archbishop of Mainz, but on the 
way home was set upon and murdered. Circumstances pointed to the arch- 
bishop as the instigator of the deed, Luther wrote a letter of sympathy T o t h c 
Christians of Halle (Weimar Ed. XXIII, 402 ff.) 

a Die gantze Procession des hellischen creutz gangs, 
a reference to the processions that were customary in Easter week. Cf. 
Weimar Ed.* XXX, a 261, n, 43. 



342 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

continually. It must be looking for works, one after an- 
other, and the longer it seeks, the more works it must seek. 
At last they put cowls on the dead so that the dead might 
go to heaven. Dear Lord God ! What were poor consciences 
to do? They had to build on works; therefore they had to 
seek them so wretchedly and snatch whatever they could 
find, and fall into this deep folly. 

Good By these shameful doctrines, too, all the real good works, 
wrks wych God h as established and ordered, were despised and 
brought to naught. Such are the works of rulers, subjects, 
fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, servants, maids. These 
were not called good works, and no account was taken of 
them in repentance. They were known as "a worldly life," 
"a perilous state," "lost works." Thus this doctrine trod 
under foot both the Christian and the worldly life, and 
gave neither God nor Caesar his due. Instead it invented 
a new and peculiar life, which is neither Christian nor 
worldly; indeed they do not know themselves what it is, 
because they have no word of God for it, but as Moses says, 
29:26 they serve gods whom they know not. This was no wonder. 
For at that time no one knew how to preach the Gospel 
otherwise than to teach out of it examples of good works, and 
no one of us ever heard a Gospel that aimed to give com- 
fort to the conscience and to lead to faith and trust in 
Christ. That is how it ought to be preached, and, praise 
God ! it is now preached that way again. Thus the world 
was in the Gospel, and yet it was without the Gospel. 

They ought to have made a wise distinction between two 
kinds of satisfaction for sin, namely, that for sins against 
men, which can be, and that for sins against God, which 
cannot be made, as Christ shows in Matthew vii and xviii. 
The holy fathers made use of it and caused Christians who 
had sinned to render satisfaction before the Church and their 
brethren. This is apparent from the words with which 
they imposed two or three or seven years of penance. 1 Thus 
Christ and His satisfaction would have remained in heaven. 

1 A reference to the penitential canons, 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 343 

But in that way the services in the chapters and monasteries 
would not have come up, likewise the indulgences of which 
I spoke above, and the great god Belly would not have got 
so much. Therefore they had to confuse the two kinds of 
satisfaction 1 , and at last make satisfaction avail before God 
only. To be sure, this error attacked the Church from the 
beginning, and through great men, at that, such as Origen 
and Jerome and Gregory; but it never reached the govern- 
ment of the Church, nay, the very throne of God, as it has 
done under the pope. For this is the oldest of errors and 
goes back to the beginning of the world ; it will also remain 
the newest, clear down to the world's end. We will now 
tell of some of the things that have come in later, 

CONCERNING THE SALE OF MASSES, OR PRIVATE MASSES 
You yourselves know, dear sirs, what a scandalous huck- 
stering you have made of the Sacrament. That is the 
handiwork of all of you, because every day, throughout the 
world, you have bought and sold so many thousand masses 
for money, one for a groschen, one for eight pence, one for 
six pence, etc. You can neither excuse yourselves for this 
nor lie out of it. For though you have not called this a 
regular trade, it has been, in fact, nothing else than a trade. 
It has been done for money; no money, no masses! This 
sin alone is so horrible that it would be no wonder if God 
had let the whole world become Turks because of it, or 
had allowed the world to sink into the abyss; one. of the 
things I marvel at is that God has suffered it so long. His 
patience has been inconceivable, though His wrath has not 
been absent. You did it, and it was your practice, before 
our Gospel came. You cannot put on airs; it is so plain 
that you yourselves shuddered at it; and yet you let it go 
on, and would not have it called an innovation. 

Now your scholars want to be so fine that they bring The 
out the ancient canons and the sayings of the Fathers to Ori rina 
prove that they called the mass a sacrifice. Shine yourself ** 

1 1, e, The satisfaction for sins against men and for sins against God. 



344 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

up, pussy; you need to! You quote lengthy canons and 
sayings, but what good does that do? We are talking of 
private masses, 1 and the canons speak of common masses, 
or communicants' masses, and they lay great importance to 
the communing. This the private masses do not do. They 
compare with the common, or communicants 7 masses, as a 
priest's secret mistress compares with a pious, honest, 
acknowledged wife. That shows what these great scholars 
know about quoting the canons. But they do even better 
than that ! The ancient canons distinguish between the sac- 
rifice and the communion, but they scramble the two to- 
gether. For in the early days of the Church, when mass 
was held, it was after the fashion of the old law, the Chris- 
tians brought to the altar all kinds of first-fruits, milk, 
**- t honey, apples, pears, etc. The priest then offered this, as 
is! 20 Moses commanded the Jews; therefore the service was 
)eut. known for a long while as a sacrifice. This was followed 
26:24 ky ^ commtm i onj or sacrament. They did not call that 
sacrifice, but communion. But our private masses make a 
sacrifice out of the sacrament, and let the communion go. 
Right here, dear sirs, I must talk with you who cry out 
that no innovations ought to be allowed. Tell me, is not 
the private mass a shameful innovation? Why did they 
allow it to be introduced, and why do they now defend it? 
Nay, if no innovations had been allowed, how much would 
we now find among you that was found in the ancient 
canons and the Fathers? Why, I could almost get it in a 
nutshell, while your innovations have filled the world. I 
will say even more. What was your church-life before our 
Gospel came but daily innovations? They broke in, one 
after another ; nay, they poured in like a cloud-burst. One 
set up St. Anne, another St. Christopher, another St. 
George, another St. Barbara, another St. Bastian, another 



glints St Catherine, another the Fourteen; 3 and who can tell the 
whole story of these new kinds of saint-worship? Are not 

'Winkelmessen, i. e. masses said for the benefit of individuals^ 
usually for the souls of mdivduals who have died. 

1 Saints who offered protection against special dangers. See Vol. 1, pp. 
i of ff 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 345 

these innovations ? Where were the bishops then, and the 
people who cry out that there must be no innovations? 
Nay, more ! One set up the rosary, another the crown of 
Mary; one the Psalter of Mary, 1 another the pater-noster- 
stones 2 on the church-doors, another the prayers to St. 
Bridget; 8 one this prayer another that prayer; it was all 
without number or measure, and there were whole books 
full of it. Where was there a bishop or doctor who would 
even look cross-eyed at these innovations ? 

It was the same way with the pilgrimages. Every day 
there was some new place of pilgrimage, our Lady at 
Grimmathal, at Eicha, at Birnbaum, at Regensburg, and so 
many other "our Ladies." 4 There was scarcely a chapel 
or an altar but there was a pilgrimage to it, and the people 
ran to them like crazy, neglecting their work and their 
obedience, so that it was plainly a delusion of the devil; 
but the bishops and the monasteries and the universities 
kept silence. If our Gospel had not come there would soon 
have been no place left to which pilgrims could go. 6 And 
was not that a particularly masterly deception with our 
Lord's coat at Trier,* which was afterwards exposed as a 
shameful lie? What have all the Lutheran innovations done 
when compared with this one rascally deception alone? 
Here again there was no one who cried out against the 



1 The "crown of Mary" and the "Psalter of Mary" were forms of the rosary. 
The common, or lesser, rosary consisted of five times ten Ave Marias, with. 
one Pater Koster after each group of ten Ave Marias. The "crown of Mary" 
was sixty-three Ave Marias in six groups, each followed by a Pater Noster. 
The number sixty-three was presumed to be the number of the years of the 
Virgin's life. Another tradition gave her age as seventy-three, and a "crown'* 
of severity-three Ave Marias, with seven Pater Nosters,. was also in use. The 
"Psalter of Mary," or greater rosary> consisted of fifteen times ten Ave 
Marias, with a Pater Noster after each group of ten. See Weimar Ed. 
XXX, 3 296, notes 1 and 2; Berlin Ed., Ill, 363, notes; Realencyk, 
XVII, 146 f.; Cath. Encycl. IV, 540; XIII, 184 ff. 

3 The large beads of the rosary. These beads were sometimes hung on the 
church-doors, and worshippers who said the prayers as they entered the church 
received special Indulgences. 

8 The fifteen prayers to St. Bridget were especially popular in the Reforma- 
tion-time. 

4 On the shrines at Grimmenthal and Regensburg, see Vol. II, p. 130. Eicha 
and Bienbaum were in the neighborhood of Leipzig. Cf. Weimar Ed. 
XXX, a 296, n. 5, 

* Because every church would have been a place of pilgrimage. 
The Holy Coat of Trier, alleged to be the seamless garment of Christ, 
eocpoaaj fo adoration in. 1513, Sw Vol. II, p. 130, 



346 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

novelty or exposed it ; but Luther, who exposes and rebukes 
these new things, is an innovator ! 

Again, how are the indulgences multiplied every day? 
HOW many new brotherhoods 1 do the priests and monks set 
up, through all the guilds, in the names of all the saints? 
Every day they sold letters of brotherhood and gave their 
good works and holy lives in exchange for money. They 
sold vigils, anniversary masses, masses for the dead, with 
ceremonies around the bier. 3 Some invented the golden 
masses, 8 others the "five-masses," 4 still others masses of this 
kind and that, till they could not be counted. Nothing is 
found about these masses in the ancient Fathers. I shall 
say nothing about the relics. God help us, how one new 
one followed another ! Among them were gross and palpable 
lies about the Holy Cross, about many whole bodies of one 
and the same saint, about many fingers of a single saint. 
It went so far as that they revered even the drawers of St. 
Francis, 6 and some woman's hair as the hair of St. Catherine. 
In a word, it was without end or measure, so that you 
yourselves made a jest of it; and yet it went along un- 
rebuked, and no bishop saw in it anything new. 
Preach. If I were to come to the pulpits, then things would really 
*"* be beyond all bounds. Every day the monks were preaching 
their new visions and dreams and ideas, new miracles and 
illustrations, and that without measure. There was scarcely 
a monk who had been a preacher for two or three years 
who did not make a new sermon-book that was to rule the 
pulpit for a while. The world was full of these books, and 
there was nothing in them about Christ and faith, but they 
were all about our own works and merits and devotion, with 
many false and shameful examples of these things. Even 

1 Societies for the doing of good works. The good works of all the members 
were placed to the credit of each. See Vol. II, pp. 26-31. 

a Masses for the dead at which a bier was placed in the church and a pro- 
cession made around it. 

8 The "golden mass" was the mass of Golden Sunday, the first Sunday after 
Pentecost; sometimes the Saturday mass of the week following the festival of 
St. Michael and All Angels. They were special masses for the dead. 

* The five masses said on Christmas Day. 

*St Francis* drawers were in the great collection of the Elector Frederick 
at Wittenberg, See Weimar Ed, XXX, 3 265, n. 91. 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 347 

when they did their best in this, it was to call upon the saints, 
not forgetting their own order, -until at last they pictured 
to all the world that holy and noble woman, the Virgin Mary, Mary 
as the mediator for poor sinners, even with her Son, Christ 
Himself. For we all know, and I was as deep in it as all 
the rest, that we had taught that Mary was to be held in 
Christ's place; we held Christ to be our angry judge and 
Mary to be our throne of grace, in whom must be all our 
confidence and refuge, if we were not to despair. Was that 
not a horrible novelty? Where were the bishops who 
rebuked these new blasphemers and betrayers of Christ, 
who took Christ's office from Him and gave it to Mary, 
who taught us to flee from Christ and fear Him as though 
He were master of a whipping-post, and place in someone 
else the confidence which we owe Him as our true service 
of God? Sheer idolatry is what we learned from these 
betrayers ! 

The doctors in the universities helped it along. They had 
nothing else to do except invent new opiniones, one 
after another, and no one could get a doctor's degree with 
special honors, unless he had brought out something new. 08T 
Their best work, however, was in despising the Holy Scrip- 
tures and letting them lie under the bench! 1 "Bible, Bible?" 
said they. "The Bible is a heretics' book ! You must read 
the doctors ! There you find what is what !" I know that 
I am not lying about this, for I grew up among them and 
have heard and seen all this from them. Scotus says* that 
the article, "He descended into hell" cannot be proved from 
the Scriptures. Occam, my dear master, writes that it can- 
not be proved from the Scriptures that man needs the grace 
of God in order to do a good work. These are the best of 
them; what are we to expect from the rest. Thomas 
Aquinas ("teacher of teachers/' the Dominicans call him !) 
goes them all one better, for he says that to become a monk 
is as good as to be baptized. This is the way to honor the 

1 Cf. Vol. I, p. 7. , 

Duns Scotus (d. 1308). On this document see SEEBURG, Theologie 
d. D. S., p. 119. 



348 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

blood and the death of Christ ! But this is not an innova- 
tion ! And besides, the pope and all the bishops have made 
him a saint! 

In a word, the condition of the preaching and the teaching 
was sad and pitiful; but the bishops were all silent; they 
saw no innovations, though now they can see a new gnat 
in the sun. Everything was so upside down with discordant 
doctrines and strange new opinions that no one knew any 
more what was certain or uncertain, what it was to be a 
Christian or an un-Christian. The old doctrine of the 
faith of Christ, of love, of prayer, of the Cross, of comfort 
in affliction was overthrown ; nay, in all the world there was 
not a doctor who knew the whole catechism that is, the 
Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Creed to 
say nothing of understanding and teaching it, as praise 
God! it is now taught, and learned even by the young chil- 
dren. In proof of this, I call to witness all the books of 
both the theologians and the jurists. If you can rightly 
learn from them one part of the catechism, I shall let myself 
be hooked on the wheel and let the flesh be picked from my 
bones. And yet in all this there can have been no innova- 
tions! But this 1 must be an innovation! 

"Nay," say you, "these things are now accepted and in 
daily use; but your teaching is altogether new." Tell me, 
then, dear friend, how old is that idol, St. Anne? How 
old is the rosary, or the crown of Mary? How old are 
the bare-foot friars' pater-noster-stones on the doors and 
the gates and in every corner? How old is the pilgrimage 
to Grimmathal, to Regensburg, to the coat at Trier, and 
all the rest? Were they not new ten, twenty, forty years 
ago? But who was opposed to innovations then? Let my 
Gospel go that long and it too will become old. "Well, 
your new Gospel may be right, but it has about it a peculiar 
novelty, which cannot be endured." What is that? The 
canons of Magdeburg say it works harm to purse and 
kitchen. "There's sense in that, said the servant."* That 

1 i. e, Luther's teaching * A proverb. 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 349 

would at least be good German; we could understand it; 
I wish I had known it before ! Why have we been wasting 
so many words? Well, then, let us resolve here, in privy 
council, that "new doctrine" is that which hurts purse and 
kitchen, and "old doctrine" is that which fills purse and 
kitchen. Write that down and seal it; we shall send it to 
the diet at Augsburg and hear what the lords have to say 
to it! 

God knows I do not say this to your dishonor; your 
destruction would help me not at all ; I would rather things 
were better with you. But you yourselves may well con- 
sider, that if you forget these abominations, and preen your- 
selves into the bargain, there will be people who do not 
forget, and will perhaps deal with them foully enough. For 
such a shameless procedure cannot be endured, that you 
should give the name of innovation to whatever you please, 
and that whatever you choose not to call innovation cannot 
be such. You are suppressing the truth and doing so against 
your own consciences. This would bring us back to the 
beginning of the whole matter, and we would be harsher 
with you than before. It is a terrible thing when one un- Deffrnd . 
dertakes to conceal such a wretched state of affairs, and in* 
justify it, and slander and persecute others. That will be 
a sign of a hardened and unrepentant heart, and will show 
that you must soon go to destruction, for no other sin insults 
and angers God more than denying, adorning, and concealing 
open wickedness. This was the sin of Cain and of Saul. 
Not so, dear sirs ! Do not so ! Some of you do honor God ! 
Confess that in these matters you have done wrong. Humble 
yourselves, and He will exalt you ; pray, and He will forgive 
you ; amend your ways, and He will help you. 

But if you will not humble yourselves, but prefer to bury 
these matters in silence, and leave them unrepented and un- 
punished, and rather persecute the poor Lutherans because 
of them, and take it in mind to suppress them, well, we shall 
watch you. If a plague comes upon you (and it cannot 
but come), remember that you had warning enough; you 



350 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

will not be the first to boast yourselves above God ; this I 
know for sure. My mind toward you is kindly and true ; I 
would that I might move some of you, because I hope that 
there may still be a Lot or two in your Sodom. The rest, 
who remain unrepentant, will not only not acknowledge these 
abominations, by which they have deserved death more than 
a thousandfold, but they will, because of them, kill, drown, 
hang, and burn the innocent ones who will not praise this 
vice and shame; as, indeed, they are now doing. 

But too many things are coming to my mind! I shall 
return to the private masses, and spare the abominations 
which I am now thinking about until I see how you amend 
your ways, or how you adorn and excuse yourselves, at this 
diet; then we shall come with your right color, and bid 
you Proficiat, 1 if God will. 

Let this be enough, for the present, about the traffic in 
paid masses! But even when they are not sold, but are 
said, at their best, for God's sake, nevertheless you teach 
he Mass an( ^ hold t ' iern as a sacr ^ ce a ^d a work whereby one serves 
God and makes satisfaction for sin, both for ourselves and 
for others, whether living or dead, and especially for the 
dead, as we all know that the mass has almost to fight for 
the dead against purgatory. The suffragan bishop who 
made me a priest and put the cup in my hand said these 
very words, "Receive power to sacrifice for the living and 
the dead." 3 That the earth did not swallow us both was 
wrong, and was due to God's too great patience. The living 
had this benefit from it, they believed that he who witnessed 
one mass a day was safe and sound and blessed. This was 
the best and commonest use of the mass ; you cannot deny 
it. Ask the merchants about it and those who have to 
make journeys, and the pious burghers of the cities, at 
least at the Rorate Mass. 8 



1 Equivalent to "drink your health." 

*Ac c ip e potestatem sacrificandi pro vivis et mortttis. 

The mass of the Advent Sundays, when the antiphon was sung Rorate 
coeli ("Drop down ye heavens"). This antiphon is retained in American 
Lutheran Churches as part of the Introit for the Fourth Sunday in Advent 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 351 

Is not this a horrible innovation? Do not your ancient 
Apostolic Canons say, "No one shall be present at mass who 
does not desire to communicate or receive the Sacrament" ? 
Did not Christ institute it in order that it might be re- 
ceived, and that He might be remembered, and that faith 
in Him might be strengthened, when He said, "This do in 
remembrance of me?" But you keep silent about this re- 
membrance, allow people neither to remember Him nor 
receive the Sacrament and do not teach or exhort men to 
faith, according to Christ's institution ; but you are satisfied 
to let the bystanders see the mass which you meanwhile 
are secretly offering. Thus you allow the poor onlookers 
to keep in their hearts the lie and the false confidence that 
by their onlooking they have done a good work, though they 
have had none of the blessing of the Sacrament, either WM* 
physical or spiritual, as Christ willed it and His apostles 
after Him. I say it again ! You complain that the endow- 
ments and the monastic property are being taken away; 
because of this abomination and vicious abuse of the mass, 
they ought to do to the endowments and the monasteries 
what Josiah, king of Juda, did to the altar at Bethel, not 
leave one stone upon another. That would be fair and 
just, if you were not to amend your ways in this respect 

You cry out, "What good has come out of Luther's new 
doctrine?" I must ask you a question in reply, "What good 
is left among you ?" You have left not one thing incorrupt. 
The mass, our peculiar and highest treasure, you have put 
to shame with countless abominations and idolatries, as I 
have said ; and you have trampled its right Christian usage 
under foot, disturbed faith, and silenced the Word. Bap- 
tism has remained for the children, though it has been used 
clumsily and carelessly enough; but as soon as the child 
has grown up and come to the use of reason, you have 
straightway killed him, worse than the Turk does, and have 
taken his baptism away again with your miserable doctrine 
of penance and works whereby he learns to despise his bap- 
tism, as now lost by sin and become of no value, and hence- 
V6L IV.-23 



352 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

forth to seek salvation by his own works. As though bap- 
tism were a temporary human work, as the Anabaptists 
teach, and not an everlasting covenant of God! Tell me 
here, what good have you left? I shall not ask what good 
would have come if we had been unable to maintain, in spite 
of you, our baptism, Sacrament, Gospel, faith, and Christ; 
for you have taught nothing that was right, but all your 
teaching has been against baptism, the Sacrament, and 
repentance. That is plain as day. 

Those who live among the Turks have this advantage, 
that if a man is baptized he is not taught doctrines that are 
against his baptism, though the evil Turkish life and example 
is perilous and offensive. And even though there were 
teaching against baptism, it would be easy to resist, because 
the Turk is not a Christian and is held in contempt among 
Christians, along with his doctrine. But among you, not 
only are life and example dangerous, but you teach against 
baptism and storm against it with words and works, and do 
this under the name of Christ, as the dear fathers of souls, 
and the friends of baptism. That cuts like a sharp razor, as 
PS. 52:2 the Psalm says, and St. Peter, too, laments over you in II 
2 Pet Peter 2, "They utter swelling words though there is nothing 
2:18 back of them, and entice by lasciviousness to fleshly lust 
those who had just escaped, and now must walk in error, 
etc." 

The good that has come out of my doctrine is that all this 
abomination and blasphemy of yours has been brought to 
light and condemned; and this is a great good and more 
than enough, though more good comes out of it every day, 
as will appear later. Among you, however, all good is cor- 
rupted and none has remained. 

ON THE BAN 

You know, to begin with, that it is a great robbery and 
the outrage that you have snatched for yourselves the great 
Snia11 ban, called Excommunicatio major, which prop- 
erly belongs to the secular authorities. It has gone so far 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 353 

that popes have undertaken to depose emperors, kings, and 
princes, and make themselves temporal emperors. Let me 
tell you, dear sirs, that this is not right ! Your ban should 
be called the small ban, 1 which shuts the doors, not of earth, 
but of heaven, and separates from the Church and from the 
Sacrament, as Christ says in Matthew xviii, "Hold him as Matt 
a heathen, etc./' and St. Paul in I Corinthians v, "What 18:17 
have I to do with them that are without?" If other matters 
are to be amended, this too must be amended, for God is Is *- $i:8 
not pleased with any sacrifice or service that comes from 
robbery, as Isaiah says. 

The use of the ban is another thing. It should be for the 
punishment of public offences, such as robbery, adultery, 
fornication, murder, hate, usury, drunkenness, also heresy, 
blasphemy and the like, for our Lord Christ teaches in 
Matthew xviii, that the ban shall be put upon those who will Matt. 
not hear the Church, or congregation. Thus the Church 18:17 
teaches in harmony with God's Word. 

Now tell me, what is good and ancient about the ban that The 
has remained among you? What new and mischievous AbMe 
abuses have not arisen around it? I shall not bring in the Baa 
fact that you have banned, cursed, damned, and slain in- 
nocent and pious people as heretics. The ban is used for 
nothing else than to collect taxes and debts and cause great 
misery to poor people. 2 For the arbitrary power that the 
knaves, officials, and commissaries have exercised in this 
matter is already known to you in part ; and if you do noth- 
ing about it at this diet we shall hereafter put out a calendar 
of these virtues which will convince you that we have un- 
derstood your abuse of the ban and will make it plain to the 
whole world. 

But in the place where the ban should rightly have its 
power and use, it has been a mere indulgence and a very 
benediction, and has lost its cutting-edge. The place I mean 
is among the bishops and canons, nay, among the popes and 



1 For earlier utterances of Luther on the ban, see Vol. I, pp. 37 f. 

"This charge is made in the Gravamina of 1521. See above, p. 1, n,. 1. 



354 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

the cardinals themselves. On this point, I would like to 
hear a doctor of canon law who would show me how often, 
according to the canons and the spiritual law, the pope, 
cardinals, bishops, priests, endowed livings and monasteries 
have been put under the ban and cursed because of simony 
and other vices. Who holds them excommunicate? The 
declaration is in their hand and runs as follows, "He is 
under the ban whom we will to be under the ban; whom we 
will not have under the ban, he is not under the ban." Go 
on, dear sirs ; if your will is to be law, the Church can get 
rid of such bishops and popes ! 
Are the i w } s h I knew what we are to take you for anyhow. You 
do not want to be Christians, for you will not endure 
Christ's word and ordinance; and you do not want to be 
papists, for you keep the canons and the spiritual law even 
less ; though, to be sure, they are much harder to keep than 
the Gospel. But is it not a strange piece of news that 
papists will not be papists, and yet will give themselves out 
to be papists; will hold the goods of the Church and the 
rule over it, but only for their own sweet will, not for the 
good of the churches? These things do not fit together. 
Well, then, keep on being Epicurean and Turkish, for that 
is certainly what you are! But just because the goods of 
the monasteries and the endowments are being seized, I 
must have a private and friendly talk with you. 
The Con- It Is a fact, and it does not please me either, that these 
elation goods are seized and scattered. The Unlutherans are doing 
church most ft> an d e t more f ^e profits than those who are 
P*OP- accused of being Lutherans, as can easily be proved. I 
erty am especially ill-pleased when knaves get' hold of them, of 
whom I know that they have not earned it; for my con- 
science does not trouble me when those who work and 
render honest service get some of them. But there is one 
question that I would like to have answered, because there 
are plainly two kinds of endowment thieves and monastery- 
robbers, those, namely, who are outside and those who 
are inside, and I would like to be told who are the worse 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 355 

of the two. Those on the outside are the wicked and un- 
worthy of whom I spoke; those on the inside are the bishops, 
the canons, and the monks themselves, who sit in the houses. 
They misuse the property for all kinds of vice and un- 
chastity, and shamelessly overstep the bounds of their order, 
and send great sums to Rome to knaves that are still greater. 
Thus they plunder the endowed places shamefully ! 

Think you not that if the emperors, kings, and princes, church 
who have endowed these monasteries and bishoprics, had ^j* p " DI 
wanted to found brothels, or churches for the Romans to verted 
rob, they would have had sense enough to act differently and 
not hand over their money and property to harlots and 
knaves, or to Roman thieves and robbers? Because, then, 
such fellows sit in the endowed houses and monasteries, and 
their property is used by people whom the founders neither 
intended nor willed, and these fellows, therefore, hold it 
contrary to the will of the founders, consume it in vicious 
ways, and employ it shamefully, and are, on this account, 
under the ban and accursed as ir regular es, 1 since 
all these things are true, tell me, who are the greatest en- 
dowment-robbers and church-thieves? You will see the 
pope sitting in the highest place among them, with cardinals, 
bishops, canons, abbots, and monks; for they do none of 
that for which their positions were founded, but exactly 
the opposite, as though they were crazy; nevertheless, they 
take the property and use it as they please. Ah, good friend, 
if you can see the splinter in another's eye and cry out 
about the theft of spiritual goods, you must be shown the Matt. 
beam in your own eye, which you do not want to see. If 
you can say the one, you must also hear the other, so that 
you may know that other people, too, have eyes, and feel 
and smell and hear. 

You allege that what is yours should not be taken from ^ 
you. Of course, what is yours should not be taken. Never- f n ii y 
theless, I would play your canon law with you. The canon Held 
law condemns, bans, curses, and deposes you, and says, "It 

1 Those who are debarred from spiritual offices "because of violations of law. 



356 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

is not yours." It is called Deponatur. 1 For you do 
not keep the rule and law of the foundation, and you have 
deposed yourself thereby. Thus according to your own law, 
you lost your property long ago, and have so far held it 
unlawfully like damned robbers. If one were to decline 
and conjugate the word deponatur through all its per- 
sons, where would pope, cardinals, bishops, and canons be? 
It would surely become an impersonal verb; no person 
would be left. But if you think it proper that people have 
patience with you for not keeping your own law, then you 
should also think it proper to have patience with those who 
take property from you, as unrepentant simonists and out- 
lawed robbers, or forbid you to succeed to it, because you 
do not keep your own law ; that is Deponatur. May 
your request be granted, then, that what is yours be left to 
you, that is, your harlotry and knavery ; but that what is not 
yours, that is, the taxes and the goods, be not left to you, 
but be taken from you, as from robbers and thieves ! 

I do not wish this to be a defence for anyone. Let every- 
one see to it for himself for what service or purpose he 
needs the property. But against the complainants I make 
a distinction in the use of spiritual goods. I say that if the 
goods of the foundations and monasteries are to be knavishly 
stolen and sent to Rome and shamefully consumed out there 
with harlots and knaves, and the intention of the founders 
is to be defeated, I would far rather that the emperors, 
kings, princes and lords kept them and put them to better 
use. For it is sure that the founders entrusted them to 
pious, chaste, Christian persons, not men who stood and 
bellowed, or who went a-falconing, but to men who studied 
and read and prayed, so that learned men could be chosen 
from among them to be bishops, pastors, preachers, school- 
teachers, chancellors, secretaries, etc. ; and this was the case 
long ago, at the beginning. Now, however, they neglect 
and despise these works and duties ; nay, they mock at them 
and persecute them, and are under the ban many times over ; 

M,e "Deposed." 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 357 

therefore I should not weep if they were to lose the profit 
and the income. There is a saying, Beneficium 
propter officium, but not beneficium prop- 
ter maleficiu m. 1 Your own canon law teaches that, 
and punishes it most cruelly with the ban, and calls it 
simony. 

Tell me, now, what pope, bishop, foundation or monastery 
has ever known sorrow or repentance because it has allowed 
the o f f i c i a to go down, or has ever seriously considered 
how they might be restored again ? Nevertheless they have 
used the beneficia and lived on them. Thus they are 
two-fold church-thieves and double monastery-robbers; for 
they have not only possessed the goods that were given for 
a different kind of people from themselves, but they have 
also stolen and robbed from the whole Church and pre- 
vented it from having pious, learned, Christian bishops, 
pastors, preachers and like necessary persons, whom the 
Church cannot do without, and whom it was their duty to 
give it, according to the intention of the founders. Dear; 
friend, the founders did not intend the o f f i c i a to be the 
weaving of a long cloak, an alb, and a tonsure, or the put- 
ting on of chasubles and consecrated clothes. Sticks and 
stones can wear these things ! Their will was to train people 
for the comfort and welfare of the Church. 

If, then, you would make such a great disturbance about 
the restoration of the endowments and the monasteries, the 
proper answer to you is: Dear sirs, first make good your 
double robbery of persons and of property. You have 
robbed the Church of the persons; you have stolen the 
property from the foundations. Give these back, so that the 
o f f i c i a may go on again, and then you may rightly acquire 
the beneficia. Such persons are more important to 
the Church than all the property and all the glory of all the 
clergy. If not, it will be bad accounting for you <to give 
account of the expenditures only, and merely estimate the 
income. You must be told to keep your books differently 

1 "A Cimrch position exists for the sake of the duty; not to be an occasion 
for wrong-doing." 



358 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

and look better to your work. You have received the prop- 
erty of the lords in order to support and train persons. 
Where are these persons ? Give an account of them ! Nay, 
it is you who have let the boys' schools go down, so that 
the whole Church everywhere is, through you, corrupted 
to the very bottom, for no other purpose than that your 
Epicurean belly may be well off. 

I have said this so that it may be seen what the condemners 

of motes gain by stirring up filth. Therefore remember God, 

and ask Him to help you accomplish some good at this diet. 

These matters are great and weighty, and unfortunately they 

are so deep rooted that human power and wit can do nothing 

with them. The ban is necessary, but Lord God ! it must 

Matt not strain out gnats and swallow camels, or nothing will 

23:24 come of it, 

The subjects of penance, mass, baptism, faith, and works 
are, I fear, too high for you. Therefore I have small hope 
that you will reach pure decisions about them, for even your 
scholars have no understanding of them, and these things 
must be maintained and practiced only through Christ Him- 
self and His Holy Spirit, without human aid. Then, too, 
Acts i5: exce Pt f r tht fi rst f them, only one or two of the Councils 
4 ff - have dealt with them. Therefore I shall confine my further 
petitions, supplications, and exhortations to the subjects 
about which we do not need the special illumination of the 
Holy Spirit, but which all Christians can comprehend and 
be sure of, and which can almost be known by the reason. 
And first : 

ON Two KINDS IN THE SACRAMENT 

Tha one On this point, you well know that the one kind is an 
Kind an offensive innovation, contrary to the clear, plain words of 
Christ and against the long, ancient usage of the whole 
Church. All this has been mightily demonstrated to you 1 
by much Scripture; nevertheless, you great enemies of all 

*Cf, Vol. I, pp. 121 f., Vol. II, pp. 18 f.; 178487; 414 f. 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 359 

innovation have not only accepted and maintained this 
blasphemous innovation, but have defended it arbitrarily 
with cruel ragings and persecutions, whereby you have 
tempted God to the uttermost, and blasphemed and con- 
demned His Word. God grant that you may repent it, and 
submit your idea to His Word ! You could not support it 
with any Scripture ; and if you maintain it with outrage and 
force against the Scriptures, no good will come out of it in 
the end. It does not help you to allege that we are to do 
nothing new and alter nothing; for you have heard that this 
thing is new, and that it is you who, without ceasing, have 
brought innovation and alteration into the Church. What is 
altered according to God's Word is no innovation, for all 
customs must give way to the Word of God; so your own 
law says. God and His Word are older than you are ; they 
will also be younger and newer than you and we, for they 
are eternal. Therefore the Word must alter and rule both 
old and new, and not be altered or ruled either by new or 
old. 

You allege that without the consent of the Church, noth- ^^ i, 
ing should be changed and nothing introduced. Who, then, the 
is the Church ? Are you ? Then show your seals and creden- churcl1 
tials; or prove it, without them, in some other way, by 
means of your deeds and your fruits. Why are not we too 
the Church? We are baptized as well as you; and we teach, 
preach, have the sacraments, believe, pray, love, hope, and 
suffer more than you. Or are you the Church because you 
bring in innovations, and in so doing, change, blaspheme, 
persecute, and slay God's Word and, as church-robbers, hold 
possession of the foundations and monasteries? Yes, you 
are the Church, the devil's church ! She is a liar against 
God's Word and a murderess, because she sees that her 
god, the devil, is a liar and a murderer. The true Church 
must be the one that holds to God's Word and suffers for* 
it, as, praise God ! we do, and murders no one and leads no 
one away from God's Word. You ought not, therefore, say 
to us so much "Church, Church, Church." You ought rather 



360 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

make us certain that you are the Church; that is the im- 
Matt portant thing. The devil, too, can say, "I am God ; worship 
me." The wolf can say, "I am the shepherd." We know 
very well that we must listen to the Church; but we ask, 
join Who and where is it? 

10:1 God help you to a reformation on this point! If you do 
not reform, we shall continue, by God's grace, to do as we 
have done heretofore. Nay, I shall go further, and say, If 
God wills that at this diet you make some concessions, we 
shall not accept them from you with the thought that by 
your concessions things that were wrong before are now 
made right. No, we count you far too small for us to think 
that it is in your arbitrary power to say when and how long 
God is truthful or a liar, and when and how long His Word 
is right or wrong. That would be too much ! It would be 
putting you, with the pride of Antichrist, above God and His 
Word, and taking back all that we have taught and done. 
On the contrary, we want to have this forced from you by 
God's Word, and have you blasphemers, persecutors and 
murderers compelled to it, so that you humble yourselves 
before God, confess your sins, your murders, and your 
blasphemy against God's Word, and reform, as men who 
have hitherto done wrong, persecuted God's Word, and shed 
innocent blood. We want this sin and wickedness of yours 
to be unconcealed, and are not willing to consent to it by 
keeping quiet and covering things up, thus making ourselves 
partakers in these abominations. We are willing to stake 
everything on this, and fight this out with you on the basis 
of God's Word, which you persecute. For, as I said at the 
beginning, 1 we do not need your diet and your resolutions. 
We stand where we do stand, without your help ; nay, we 
stand there against your raging and raving. But for your 
own sakes, and for the poor people's sakes, we are doing 
what we do, on the chance that we may help you, or some 
of you, and that we may give the people good advice, to the 
honor of God and the welfare of Christendom. 

1 See abwe, pp. 331, 332. 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 361 

ON THE UNMARRIED STATE 

Coelibatus, that is the unmarried state, or prohibited Ceiaay 
marriage, is another of your papal innovations contrary to an In : 
the eternal Word of God and to the ancient blessed usage nofratlo)n 
of the Church; contrary also to God's creation. But in it is 
fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel xii, where he says of your D an . 
king, 1 "Neither shall he regard an,y god, nor the desire of 11:37 ' 
women." It must be a great sin not to love women, for the 
prophet indicates here that it is a peculiar abomination of 
Antichrist, and puts it next after the denial of God, The 
old translation has, 3 Erit in concupiscentiis 
foeminarum, "He shall be in desire of women" ; but 
that would not be an antichristian "virtue" ; it would have 
to be Erit in concupiscentiis masculorum, 8 
though that is what he means when he says Affectum 
erga mulieres non curabit/ which is the correct 
text. 

Now, dear sirs, if you would be pious and do a good deed, 
compel yourselves to repentance for all the miserable and 
unspeakable wretchedness of all kinds of vice throughout 
the world which has grown out of this accursed papal in- 
novation. It hangs about the necks of all of you, and it will 
stay there, unless you do something about it, and remove it. 
You have heard that to despise the love of women, that is, 
to forbid marriage, is an abomination and plague of Anti- 
christ, for God made woman to be held in honor, and to be 
the helper of man. Therefore He would have this love un- 
f orbidden and undespised. It is the flesh and the devil that 
teach us to use women only for dishonor by putting one 
after another of them to shame, as your new, highly praised, 
unmarried (I had almost said dishonorable)* state has done 
and still does. 6 That is not loving women, but loving tm- 

1 i. e. Antichrist. 
H e. The Vulgate. 

3 "He shall practice lust with men." 

4 "He shall not care for deaire toward women." 

*Eheloser r ich haette schiet gesagt ehrloser, Stand. 

' "In former times the canons set themselves hard against the pope in this 
matter, especially the canons of Mainz, so teat the canons of Erfurt would 
almost have slaw their archbishop," Chron. Germaaiae. (This is 



362 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

chastity, and loving shame done to women, and holding 
them not as women, but as harlots, whom no one can thence- 
forth love or honor. But it is God's will that they be re- 
garded as women, and that this be done gladly and with love ; 
that is to say, we are to have them in marriage, and dwell 
with them in marital love. That pleases God, but it takes 
knowledge and grace. 

Celibacy Or do you know that the sixth commandment says, "Thou 
Carifcrary shalt not break the marriage vow?" 1 This commandment, 
Com- like all the rest, makes no distinction of persons, spiritual 
or temporal, priests or laymen. They are not to break the 
marriage vow, that is, not to touch another's wife. But it is 
certain that the commandment, in forbidding everyone an- 
other's wife, permits everyone a wife of his own; nay, in 
order that no one may touch another's wife, it compels him 
to have his own wife. If it were true, as the dear canons 
wickedly declare, that a pastor cannot serve God if he has 
a wife of his own, then this sixth commandment would have 
to be entirely abolished and would not apply generally to per- 
sons of all kinds, and permit them to have their own wives. 
Right here I would like to speak of other commandments 
also. For example, "Thou shalt have no money or property 
of thine own, otherwise thou canst not serve God." And 
yet the seventh commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," allows 
one to have one's own money and property, and only forbids 
one to have another's property ; nay, in order that one may 
not steal, it commands that one have one's own property. 
Therefore I do not yet know whether there is more danger 
of sin from one's own money or one's own wife. Avarice, 
Mammon, and Company are indeed mighty! It is a great 
knavery of the canon law that it declares that God cannot 
be served if one has one's own wife, and that He can be well 
served if one has one's own Mammon, money, property, 



Luther's own marginal note to this passage. The reference is to Lambert of 
Hersf eld's Chronicle. The occurrence was in 1075, when Gregory VII 
was attempting to enforce celibacy on the Church. See Monumenta Germ. 
Script V, 218. Erfurt was in the archdiocese of Mainz.) 

*Du sollst nicht ehebrechen. The accepted English rendering, 
"Thou shalt not commit adultery," deprives Luther's argument of its point. 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 363 

castles, and cities. The opposite is true! It is better to 
serve God having a wife, than having property, though 
neither is a hindrance to a Christian. For a wife one 
already has, and the worry of how to get her is over, and 
she can take care of herself ; but of money one can never 
get enough, and one worries incessantly how to increase it 
and keep it. It is this worry and love 1 that are the real 
hindrances to the service of God, and such worry a wife can 
well take from a pastor by doing the worrying herself and 
letting him serve God entirely. 

Again, one might easily play the fool with the fifth com- A cause 
mandment and say, "Thou canst not have weapons, guns, * Sitt 
and other arms and serve God at the same time, for thou 
mightest kill, do injury, or be hindered thereby." And yet 
the fifth commandment only forbids killing, but permits 
weapons and arms; nay, in order that murder may be pre- 
vented, it commands to have weapons and arms. Why have 
our marriageless saints both their own money and their own 
arms, and do their farming and their fighting with a clear 
conscience? Does not that hinder them in the service of 
God? No, but a little wife must hinder them! It was a 
dolt that made this canon and a dolt that made the other. 
Nevertheless he has blinded the whole world, even the great 
scholars ! 

The devil, however, wanted so to fix things, by means of 
this canon, that his celibates should have no wives of their 
own, but should have instead the wives, daughters, and 
maids of everybody else, and Sodom into the bargain. This 
would not have been the case had they been married. It was 
also his will that instead of having their own property, which 
is hard to acquire, they should swallow up the property 
of all the world and consume it in idleness, which would not 
happen if they had to seek and acquire property for them- 
selves. In like manner they have forbidden weapons, so 
that they might lay hands on the swords of all the kings 
and do with them what they would; this too would not be 

He. Of money. 



364 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

the case, if they had their own swords. It is a wonder of 
wonders that these three things, all sorts of free un- 
chastity, all sorts of avarice and splendor, all sorts of 
weapons and war, do not prevent these unmarried saints 
from serving God, and yet one pious wife prevents them ! 
If everything were to fail, and pope, bishops, canons, and 
even the people were to remain in their unmarried knavish 
state, since even the heathen poet admits that pimps and 
procurers take wives unwillingly, I hope, nevertheless, that 
you will have pity on the the poor parish priests and pastors, 
and allow them to marry; and that you will not be such 
shameful, murderous, crazy canonists and jurists as you have 
been in the past. For your canons decree that a married 
priest is to be suspended, that is, put out of office; and 
you, with your dull asses and Bacchantes, have interpreted 
that to mean that they are to be hanged, drowned, run 
through, murdered, and hunted. 1 So utterly bloodthirsty 
and murderous are you bloodhounds that you are not 
ashamed to rage as you will even against and beyond your 
own law. If you will not have pity, and I fear that so 
much innocent blood, so many horrible sins and such 
enormous wickedness hang on your necks and press so hard 
upon you that God will hardly give you grace to do other- 
wise than you are doing, except to bring your own destruc- 
tion upon you, as St. Peter says in his second Epistle, 
2 pet. we u G 0( f s w iu 3^11 k e d one) nevertheless, and not your 

2:19 

pleasure. 

For the monks I know not what to ask. It is well known 
Th that you wish them all to the devil, whether they take wives 
or no t And not without reason, for two roosters on the 
same dunghill cannot endure one another. They want to 
have the life that you have and that you would like to have 
all to yourselves; and that you cannot suffer. Therefore 
let them go, the rascals ! They must not lead the lives of 
bishops or canons ; that befits only the Church and the ser- 
vants of God; and that means you. God Almighty will do 

1 C. Above, p. 140, 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 365 

more and better than you intend, and than we expect of 
you, Amen I Else, I fear, the devil will be abbot and his 
dam will be abbess. And yet, I have one hope and comfort ; 
you cannot live here forever, and we must always be train- , 
ing up new parish priests and pastors, and, God willing ! the 
young fellows, who are coming on, will not allow themselves 
to be tied up with your crazy, wicked vows and obligations 
to the unhonored state 1 and other abominations. But if the 
parish clergy become corrupt and the people are without 
the Word, and if the monks go down, you will see how long 
bishops and canons, foundations and monasteries will remain. 
There must be pastors, even if there are no bishops, canons, 
or monks. 

Christendom was maintained for many hundred years The 
without these endowment-bishops and canons, and it can UseH 

Icssn^ss 

henceforth be maintained without them. At the Last Judg- of the 
ment no Christian soul will be able to boast or testify that 
in all these centuries a single one of them had ever heard 
or learned from his endowment-bishop the Lord's Prayer, 
the Ten Commandments, the Creed, or one of the Gospels, 
or ever had or enjoyed from him a single episcopal duty 
or work. "We ourselves lived, before Luther, as though we 
had no bishops, and so we must continue to live." I know 
for sure that the whole world must say that, before Luther's 
doctrine, they received no more from their bishops than they 
do now, and receive no less now than they received before, 
except that they suffer from extortion and assessment. They 
cannot feel or notice whether they used to have bishops, or 
have none now; so little experience have they had of 
episcopal offices and duties! This is called watching" 
diligently over souls ; and this is the way they want to watch 
over them again ! 

"Nay," say they, "we consecrate and ordain others to do 
these things in our stead." Even this they do not do ; it is 
the suffragan who does it, and he has nothing of the bishop 
about him, for he only ordains to the sacrificing of the mass, 

1 E h r 1 o a a pun on e h c 1 o s , "unmarried." 



366 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

makes no inquiry at all about how and what is to be preached 
and what the people need to learn; therefore he is satisfied 
when the priests can hardly read a requiem, smears them 
quickly with his chrism and lets them pass on. When these 
men are preachers, it is God who makes them so, and by 
them He maintains His Church; it would long since have 
perished a hundred thousand times if it had depended on 
the bishops and suffragans. As for the evil state in which 
it has been and still is, whose fault is it, except that of 
the bishops, who sit in the apostles' seat and in the episcopal 
office, and do none of the things they ought to do, and let 
everything go to ruin? And yet they cry out that they 
should be allowed to have the ruling place they used to have, 
because they seek the salvation of souls. It was a fine gov- 
ernment and they seek the salvation of souls ! Yes, it was 
the devil on their heads (for he rides them) and the mis- 
fortune of all of us around our necks, as we found out 
before ! It is a question of princely m e u m and t u u m ; 
the bishop's office will still rest with the pastors and 
preachers. 

They allege further, "We let people study in the univer- 
sities; they learn to preach ably, and then we have them 
ordained by the suffragan." That is true and unfortunate ! 
You let them study ; so do the Turks and the Jews ! But 
what help do they give them, and what help do you give 
them out of your mammon of endowments? And yet this 
is your serious duty! Nay, it grieves you that there are 
universities; you smell a poisonous breath in them. You 
are rid of the monks or have them in hand; that fruit of 
the Gospel you have accepted gladly. You would like to be rid 
of the theologians and scholars too; they are still in your 
way! If they were out of the way you would be completely 
the masters of the parish clergy. Then you could mount 
again above kings and princes; nay you could command the 
pope himself, who cannot do without you, and you bishops 
would be the only gods and lords on earth. That is what 
you are after, dear sirs ! Is it not true that the secret con- 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 367 

ference of Mainz/ where I could not be present, took a step 
in this direction? Then we would have a world full of 
jackasses, and the Church would have no Word and no pas- 
toral office. Yes, you would let them study; but the livings 
of the chapters, which have been incorporated with the 
universities, no one gets unless he has first studied by other 
people's help; and if he is to get them, he must first buy 
them, and pay for them with a sum of money; and when he 
has paid for them, is bound to howl and b 1 a 1 1 in the chap- 
ter, so that his studies and his knowledge bring no benefit to 
the office of preacher or teacher. That is the way you help 
the Church ! 

Granting", however, that you ordain others in your place 
(which you do not do), who are to preach and be bishops 
in your stead, you must remember that I am now speaking 
of bishops and not of men who make appointments. A 
peasant, or village judge, a town, a prince, can also appoint 
a preacher, but that does not make any of them a bishop. 
A bishop is one who is himself to feed God's people. For 
there is Paul's instruction to bishops in the Book of Acts, Acta 
"Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, among 20:23 
whom the Holy Ghost has made you bishops, to feed the -j^ 
community of God, which He has won with His own blood." Duties 
If you were bishops, as your name and place require you to 
be, your hair would stand on end at this saying, and you 
would be as sorry to be bishops as I am to be a preacher 
and doctor; for you would be little better off than I and men 
like me. St. Paul also says, "A bishop shall be d i d a c - i rn. 
t i c u s , " that is, "apt to teach," "persistent in teaching." ^ 
He does not mean prince-bishops or castle-bishops, but l *\ 7 9 
bishops of the Church, who do the work that, praise God ! 2 Tim. 
many of His pastors do, even though they do not wear 4:2 
mitres, which blockheads and "Nicholas-bishops" 3 can also 
wear. For that you, as bishops, should supervise what is 



* Cf. Luther's work Wider den . . . . Rathschlag der Mainz- 
ischen Pfafferei (1526). Weimar Ed. XIX 260 ff. 

* St. Nicholas went from house to house in the garb of a bishop, giving pres- 
ent* to good children. He is the ancestor of the modern Santa Clans. 

Vol. IV.-24 



368 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

rightly taught, and do not know yourselves what it is, that 
is laughable ! No, sad to say, it is not laughable ! We have 
had experience of the good th^t your oversight does, as the 
subjects above treated show! 

Of all this, dear sirs, I have had to remind you and exhort 
you, because I see that you do not fear God, and seek neither 
contrition nor repentance for your horribly perverted life, 
and have not even qualms of conscience over it; for by this 
God is angered to the uttermost. For since we poor 
Lutherans have taken wives, you venture to think that you 
have at last one thing about us to take hold of, because you 
could find nothing else. You have thought that you would 
use it, and scourge us with it and press us with it, so that 
all your shameful, unchaste harlotry, all your robbing of 
monasteries and stealing of endowments, the whole un- 
savory mess of your abominations and perverted, unbishop- 
like abuses, shame, vice, injury and corruption of the 
Church, all this would be concealed, covered up, lost in 
silence, and come to be praised as fair and fine. Thence- 
forth you might claim for yourselves, all authority, even 
over the apostles themselves, because you were pure and 
innocent people, who never muddied the water. A good trip 
to you, dear sirs ! But see that you make no mistakes. Do 
not say, "Hurrah!" You are not yet over the hill! You 
have seen how you can dress yourselves up, but you have 
not yet seen how we can strip the pretty bag off from you, 
and paint you in such colors that you mmst spit at your very 
selves. Do not boast and strut ; your case is not as good as 
you think ! 

Even though you can load us with wives, whom we yet 
acknowledge before God with a good conscience, and also 
before the world, as our married wives, and not as our 
harlots, you will never believe in how masterly a fashion we 
will polish up your mistresses and stolen wives, whom you 
and we both know that you have with no good conscience, 
and whom you do not acknowledge before the world except 
as your harlots. Thus you must call yourselves and be 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 369 

judged as whore-master, before both God and the world. 
Besides we will paint you Roman Sodom, Italian marriage, 
Venetian and Turkish brides, and Florentine bridegroom 1 in 
such wise that you shall see and grasp that our marriage 
has had sweet revenge on your honorless chastity. And 
though some of you, perhaps, may not be guilty of all these 
things, we shall not ask about this. The protector, defender, 
fellow, and comrade will be on the same footing with those 
who are themselves guilty, for the reason that they do not 
rebuke, ban, and avoid these sins (as the Gospel and your 
own law teach), but help these evildoers, aid them, and join 
them in raging against us, and by this help, make them- Rom. 
selves partakers of all these abominations, and are therefore 
no better than the guilty. 

Never a heathen, never a Turk, never a pope, never an 
emperor, never a man on earth, has made or enforced a 
law that anyone should be put to death for marrying Thus 
it is a new and unheard-of thing begun by you bishops, who, 
in your chapters, are the greatest endowment-robbers, 
whore-masters, and hunters of harlots on earth. And you 
do it not in order to maintain chastity, but because others 
will not practice harlotry and unchastity as you do ; for you 
allow it to go unrebuked. And no one can believe that 
you mean well by chastity with this penalty, since there are 
no greater enemies of chastity anywhere than you are, for 
you persecute it most shamelessly and incessantly in your 
own persons with all unchastity. 

To be sure, this is a very small thing compared with the 
great common abomination, viz., that you are the kind of 
bishops described above, and in time, if you do not improve 
shall be painted in other colors. For if we are to have god- 
less harlot-masters and enemies of God for bishops, we shall 
honestly show them in what church they belong; this you 
will certainly discover. For as long as you are unwilling 
to let our marriage alone, you shall have little honor or joy 

^ope Clemeat VII (1523-24), a member of the Florentine house of Medici. 
Venice and Florence were proverbial for unchastity. 



370 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

from your harlotry and antichristian bishopry. If I die 

because of it, there are others who can do it better ! In a 

word, you and we know that you live without God's Word, 

but we have God's Word. Therefore our supreme request 

and humble petition is that you will give God the honor, 

confess your sin, repent, and reform. If not, take this from 

me, -if I live, I shall be your plague; if I die, I shall be your 

Hosea death. For God has set me on you; I must be, as Hosea 

13:7 f. sa y Sj a b ear an( j a u on i n t h e roa d O f Assur; you shall have 

no rest from my name, until you amend your ways or are 
destroyed ! 

Therefore we give you your choice. First, since you 
cannot and will not perform your episcopal duties, since 
y u an< ^ a ^ y ur sc ^' ars ver %> verily, are unable to preach 
and be the comforters and judges of consciences ; then leave 
us your office, which it is your duty to exercise; let us be 
free to teach the Gospel, and let us serve the poor people, 
who wish to be godly. Do not persecute and prevent those 
who do what you cannot do (though it is your duty), and 
which others are willing to do for you. 

In the second place, We shall make no other 
request of you, 1 nor will we take any pay from you; but if 
God supports us otherwise, we will do the work, so that 
you may be spared both work and pay, trouble and expense. 
Not that we are so anxious to preach ! Speaking for my- 
self, indeed, I can say that there is no message I would hear 
more gladly than that of my own deposition from the preach- 
ing-office. I am so tired of it; partly because of the in- 
gratitude of the people, but much more because of the 
intolerable hardships which the devil and the world lay upon 
me ! But though the poor souls do not want my preaching, 
there is a man who says "No** to my withdrawal His 
name is Jesus Christ, and it is right for me to follow Him, 
for He has earned my service. All of you know (praise 
God!) that the Lutheran preachers are godly men and do 
you no harm, but are more useful to you than all your and 

1 Than that made above. 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 371 

the pope's scholars. You have never had more pious 
heretics, nor will you ever get them; pray God that they may 
be spared to you ! 

In the third place, We will let you remain what 
you are, and teach, as you have done in the past, that 
you are to be allowed to be princes and lords, for the sake 
of peace, and are to be permitted to keep your property. 
The Hussites and Wiclifites did not do this, and none of the 
fanatics or revolutionaries are willing to do it now. Thus 
you see that in us you have not enemies, but friends, nay, 
even protectors. For how does it hurt us if you are lords 
and princes ? If you are not willing to do what is right for 
your class and position, well and good! It is not we, but 
you who must give account. Only keep the peace, and do 
not persecute us! We ask nothing more, and never have 
asked anything more, than that the Gospel shall be free. 
You could help us and we could help you to peace. If you 
do it not, then we carry off the honor, and you lose both, 
peace and honor. 

In the fourth place, You could set up again the 
episcopal power, in so far as you left us free to preach the 
Gospel. For my own part, I shall be ready with help and 
counsel, so that you may have something of episcopal rank. 
You would have two parts of the episcopal office; the one, 
that in your stead we and the preachers would teach the 
Gospel ; the other, that with your episcopal power, you would 
help in the administration of it. Your persons, your life, 
and your princely ways we would leave to your own con- 
science and to God's judgment. Heretofore we never have 
taken your episcopal authority from you; you yourselves 
have let it fall. For when you could not maintain with it 
the indulgences and other intolerable abuses, you let it go 
altogether, and were not willing to protect our Gospel, or 
even to tolerate it, but turned this authority against us and 
against the Gospel. Then it had to strike itself a blow that 
dulled its edge ; for God did not ordain it against His Word, 
but for His 



372 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

More than this 1 we cannot offer you, except the daily 
prayer, the good will, and the service which it is our duty 
to offer all our enemies. Our offer is this, we will perform 
the duties of your office; we will support ourselves, without 
cost to you ; we will help you to remain what you are and 
advise that you have authority to see that things go right. 
What more should we do ? We are carrying a heavy load ; 
we have burdened ourselves with you and the revolutionists 
and all the world, yes, and all the devils ; and nobody helps 
us. If you, too, will not help, but keep on pressing us 
down, beware lest you break our backs in two, and try our 
patience too far. If you are going to suppress the pious 
heretics who are carrying you along, see what becomes of 
you. The game is no longer in our hands, as it was before, 
but the devil has got it away from us ; we can help you no 
more, if you do not help yourselves also, and have regard 
not to yourselves, but to the multitude of common people 
and to peace. It is high time that you do this, and we too 
will do our best. If there be among you one pious heart, 
it can well gather from this whole tract that I am telling 
the truth, and must tell it, and sincerely mean it well for 
you and for everyone. More than this I cannot do; your 
cause is too utterly bad. 

But someone may think it a laughable proposal that the 
bishops shall rule the Church, because it is well known that 
they cannot and will not learn, and St. Paul says that one 
i Tim. who rules his own house badly will never rule the Church 
3:5 well, and it is plain to be seen how the bishops preside over 
their chapters and maintain discipline by allowing them to 
be impunita lupinaria et latrocinia. 3 My 
answer is this. I know only to well that it is true; but in 
order that these wicked people may see that we seek peace 
and that there is no fault in us, I can suffer it that they 
provide the parishes and preaching-position with spiritual 
persons, and thus help to administer the Gospel. I would 
rather that the fault should be theirs than ours, and before 

1 L e. The four things specified above. 

3 "Peas of unpunished vice and robbery." 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 373 

now God has ruled and done good by means of rascals, and 
He must think that it is now the time when Herod is selling 
the priestly office in Jerusalem, and the Romans are doing 
likewise ; nevertheless worship remains, and the Word. But 
if they wish to quench the Gospel or even to remain un- 
repentant, let them do it at their own risk; we shall preach 
what we will. If they are eager for misfortune, God will 
soon raise up another Muenzer, who will overthrow them 
entirely. If they will not be bishops in God's name, let 
them be bath-house keepers 1 in the devil's name ; we are not 
to blame, nor are we the cause of it. The Lutherans remain 
masters, because Christ is with them and they remain with 
Christ, though hell, world, devil, princes, and all should go 
crazy. 



To discuss more points now would take too long. God 
help you at the diet to act in such wise that it may not 
be necessary for us to go over everything again from the 
beginning; that is not good for you and we prefer to be 
spared the trouble. And yet, in order that you may not 
think that what I am saying is a mere threat, I should here 
set down the subjects that should be discussed by both sides. 



The Subjects with which it is necessary 
to deal in the true Christian Church, and 
which we discuss. 

What is the Law. 

What is the Gospel. 

What is sin. 

What is grace. 

What is the gift of the Spirit. 

What is true repentance. 

1 The bath-house keeper was also the barter and Wood-letter of the time. 



374 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

How true confession is made. 

What is faith. 

What is forgiveness of sins. 

What is Christian liberty. 

What is free will. 

What is love. 

What is the Cross. 

What is hope. 

What is Baptism. 

What is the Mass. 

What is the Church. 

What are the Keys. 

What is a bishop. 

What is a deacon. 

What is the preaching-office. 

The true catechism, that is, the Ten Commandments, the 

Lord's Prayer, the Creed. 
True prayer. 
The Litany. 

The reading and interpretation of the Scriptures. 
What are good works. 
The instruction of married folk, children, man-servants 

and maid-servants. 
Honoring the government 
Children's schools. 
Visitation of the sick. 
The care of the poor and of hospitals. 
The treatment of the dying. 

These subjects no bishop has ever dealt with, and they 
have never been thoroughly understood or taught by your 
party, and in part have faded out. You cannot deny this; 
we were raised in your schools, and your books, which bear 
witness to it, are still extant; and all the world is witness 
that these things were never preached before. Now it is 
certain that everything depends on these things, and that the 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 375 

Christian Church is cared for by means of them, and needs 
none of your unnecessary additions at all. 

In this connection I will not speak of the German hymns, 
the blessing of the bride, 1 and many good and wholesome 
books. What great abominations have been put down by 
them, and rooted out from among us, I shall not her e^ relate; 
enough has been said to show how many things we would 
have to speak about, if we wanted to take the time and 
the space. 



The things that have been use and cus- 
tom in the pretended Church. 

1. Indulgences. 

2. The sacrifice of the mass and the innumerable ways 
of doing it. 

3. The abuse of the ban. 

4. Purgatory. 

5. Ghosts. 

6. Innumerable pilgrimages. 

7. Vigils. 

8. Masses for the dead. 

9. Anniversary masses for the dead. 

10. The masses of the four weeks, 3 

11. Soul-baths.* 

12. The worship of saints, some of whom were never 
born. 

13. Saints* days without measure. 

14. Mary, made a common idol, with innumerable ser- 
vices, celebrations, fasts, hymns, and antiphons. 

15. Butter-letters. 4 



1 Probably a reference to Luther's own formula of marriage, the Trati 
b ti c h 1 e i n . See a. later Vol. 

* Masses said for four weeks after the death of the supposed beneficiary* 
Endowment of free baths as a good work. 

* Trivial dispensations, such as permission to cat butter in Lent. 



376 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

16. Innumerable relics, with lies. 

17. Innumerable brotherhoods. 

18. The celibate life. 

19. Dedications of churches. 

20. Dedications of altars. 

21. Dedications of images with indulgences. 

22. Baptism of bells, with two hundred god-fathers 
on one rope. 

23. Distinctions of foods; -^ 

24. Distinctions of days ; I regarded as necessary. 

25. Distinctions of dress; j 

26. The compulsory seven, or "canonical hours." 

27. The Sunday-procession, which is a play. 

28. Extreme Unction for death, not for recovery. 1 

29. The sacrament of marriage. 

30. The sacrament of priesthood. 

31. The sacrament of confirmation. 

32. Acolytes -\ 

33. Tonsurists / Consecration of these not to duties 

34. Lectors r but to liberty. 3 

35. Subdeacons J 

36. Prayers to Brigitta. 8 

37. Other prayers of the same kind, and all sorts of 
prayer-books, full of blasphemous and shameful dishonor- 
ings of God. 

38. Tonsures -\ All of these more than is need- 

39. Chasubles / ful and only as special services 

40. Albs r of God. This is contrary to 

41. Choir-vestments J faith. 



*Cf. Vol. II, pp. 284 ff. 

a Acolytes and lectors belong to the lower orders of clergy. All of the lower 
orders are included in one ordination, known as "the first tonsure." It ad- 
mitted to the liberties of the clergy,, but did not impose definite duties. 

8 The fifteen prayers to St. Bridget. See above, p. 345. 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 377 



42. 


Cowls. 


43. 


Churches. 




44. 
45. 


Chapels. 
Altars. 




46. 


Altar-cloths. 




47. 
48. 


Lights. 
Candle-sticks. 




49. 

50. 


Images. 
Tables. 




51. 
52. 
53. 

54. 

55. 


Crucifixes. 
Candle-sticks. 
Banners. 
Censers. 
Fonts. 


All of these beyond what 
is needful and as special 
services to God. This is 
contrary to faith. 


56. 


Monstrances. 




57. 
58. 


Pyxes. 
Chalices. 




59. 
60. 


Organs. 
Bells. 




61. 
62. 
63. 


Holy water. 
Holy salt. 1 
Incense. 




64. 


And all kinds of food. 




In 


Lent: 


65. 
66. 
67. 
68. 
69. 
70. 
71. 


Ash Wednesday. 
Hunger-cloths. 3 
Veiling of images. 
Keeping fasts (except the priests). 
Litany of the Saints. 
Hymns to Mary in the evenings.' 
The torture of confession.* 


72. 


Penance and satisfaction. 



1 Used in baptism. 

'The purple, or violet, altar-cloths used in the fast-seasons, Advent and Lent 
8 Customary especially in the month of May. 

*The plenary confession, demanded once a year, usually before the Easter- 
communion. 



378 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

73. Long preces. 

74. The palm-ass. 1 

75. Palm-shooting/ 

76. Palm-swallowing. 8 

77. Palm-crosses/ 

78. Compulsory confession. 

79. Compulsory communion. 

80. Kissing and adoring the cross. 8 

81. Burying the cross. 

82. Half-mass on Quiet Friday. 

83. Singing psalms at the grave. 

84. Dark-mass. 

85. Rattles instead of bells. 

86. Passion-sermons of eight hours. 

87. Consecrating the fire.* 

88. Easter-candles. 

89. Taking the cross out of the grave and carrying it, 
playing. 

90. The consecrating of cakes on Easter Day. 

91. The procession of St. Mark's day* "1 Both good for 

92. Cross-weeks. 8 J all unchastity. 

93. Ascension at Nones.* 

94. The Holy Ghost on Pentecost." 

95. Corpus Christi processions." 



1 The dummy on which a figure, representing Christ, was mounted, or dramatic 
presentations of the Entry into Jerusalem. 

a The throwing of grreen twigs, representing palms, after the 



8 Swallowing bits of the consecrated palms distributed on Palm Sunday; re- 
garded as a preventive of throat-affections. 

4 The bits of consecrated palm, fastened together in the form of a croe.% were 
used by the German peasants for blessing the fields. 

5 The customs referred to In Nos. 80*86 belonged to the observance of Holy 
Week, and especially of Good Friday. 

* Nos. 87-89 were customs of the Saturday before Easter* 
T The great procession of the year (April 25th). 

*The cross-week is the week after Rogate Sunday, observed with proccwlooui 

and prayers for the crops. 

* The hour of nones (3 P, M.) was said to be the time of the Atcension* ind 
the chief service of Ascension Day was held at that hour. 

10 The dramatic representation of the Pentecost miracle. 
"In the week after Trinity Sunday. 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 379 

96. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. 1 

97. Church-dedications. 

98. Festivals of patron saints. 

99. Community-weeks. 3 

100. St. Burkart's day. 8 

101. Ember days. 

102. All Saints' Day. 

103. All Souls' Day. 

104. St. Martin's goose/ 

105. Advent, more in honor of Mary than of Christ. 

106. The Rorate-mass.* 

107. The Conception of the Blessed Virgin.' 

108. The three Christmas-masses. 

109. The a p p a r u i t and music/ 

110. The blessing of oats on St. Stephen's day. 
11 L St. John's draught.* 

112. Candlemas and wax-sale.* 

113. St Agatha's lights." 

114. St. Blasius' lights." 

I shall stop here, for who can count up everything in a 
short space? But if they do not want to have peace, either 
I or another can keep on counting, so that the dear bishops 
and canons may not think that the monks are the only sin- 
ners, and they are the pure kitten. Not so ! For this time 
I have wished to point out nothing more than the things 
that are common usage In the parish churches, though these 



* Celebrated Attgmt 15th* 

*The week fUwto: the Sunday after St Michael's Day, The masses of 
th&t week were usually for the dead. 

* October Hth, 

4 It wan ctomnnr for the clenry to receive presents of geese on St. MJartln'a 
Day (November iHh). 
*See above, p* 3SO* 
March 25th. 

T A r> p a r ti 1 1 ("He appeared**) occurred repeatedly in the Easter liturgies. 
Wine coB&ecrated on n John's Day (December 27th). 

* Candlemas (February 2d) the day for the consecration of the candles for 
we throughout th year* In cQnte^uence there was ft lively market for candles 
on that day, 

W 0a St. Agtthfc's Bay It wm eutomary to bum candles on which prayers 
to the saint had been {nucdbetL 

^Candle* ixucribed with prayers to St BlasJus were believed to ward ott 
affections of the throat 



380 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

are the smallest part of your government and have been 
despised beyond all measure, and you have trodden them 
under foot. If, however, I were to take up the chapter 
churches, cathedrals, official houses, monasteries and preach- 
ing places, and then come to the mendicants, the sta- 
tionaries, 1 and finally the sophists in the universities : God 
help us! I do not wonder that you forget these abysmal 
abominations and now seek to adorn yourselves ! Did not I 
myself forget (by the dear God!), and did not I think that 
you were in the place where I see you to be? Be silent 
now, for God's sake, and reform, or things will go hard 
with you ! 

To be sure, it is a fact that among the things above men- 
tioned there are some which are not to be rejected, and some 
to D that have fallen out, which I did not want to fall, but which 
with the can easi jy come ] 3ac | Ci The best thing of all is that the fine 
Latin songs de tempore a have been kept, though they 
have been almost drowned out by the new sacred songs and 
count for almost nothing. 

To speak my mind briefly, this is the sum of what I 
think. If these things had been kept as play for the youth 
and for young pupils, so that they would have had a 
childish game of Christian doctrine and life, in the same 
way that we must give children dolls and hobby-horses and 
other toys ; and if the custom had been allowed to stay at 
that, as we teach the children to fast for the sake of the 
Christ-child and of St. Nicholas, so that they may give them 
presents on their nights 8 (for it was thus, as we can see, 
that our ancestors meant it to be) ; if it were to be left at 
that, the palm-ass, the ascension and many things of the kind 
could be tolerated, for then they would not lead anyone's 
conscience astray. But for us old fools to go about in 
mitres and clerical finery, and take it seriously,- so 
seriously, indeed, that it becomes an article of faith, so 
that whoever does not adore this child's-play must have 

1 Itinerant venders of relics: see Vol. II, p. 13S, xu 2, 

3 1 e, For the seasons of the Church Year. 

8 i. e. On Christmas Eve and St. Nicholas* Eve (December 5th), 



Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 381 

committed a sin and have his conscience tortured by it, 
that is the very devil ! 

It follows, then, that all the things above mentioned, how- 
ever childish and laughable they may be, do nevertheless 
fight against and corrupt the Christian faith and the really 
necessary things, which have also been mentioned above, as 
though there were no help for one who did not keep them. 
For, sad to say, it has been our experience heretofore this 
childs' and fools' play has been practiced more, and more 
seriously, than the things that are really important. This, 
then, is our opinion : If, for the sake of the young, we can 
help to retain these childish games which are tolerable, 
without injury to the really serious and important things, we 
shall gladly do it. But that we should hold them for articles 
of faith and even play the fool in bishops' hats, nothing 
will come of that, no matter who is angry or who laughs! 

I have spoken these things to you this time as a kindly 
and faithful admonition, and I ask with all diligence that 
you will join us in calling upon God that He may grant 
you grace and wisdom so to do and to act in these matters 
that it may be for His honor and the salvation of us all ; and 
also that He may prevent you from self-adornment, and 
from excusing, defending, or forcibly continuing your 
former misconduct. For what good is done by making more 
bad blood among the people ? Men's hearts are already too 
deeply embittered, and not without good cause. It is neces- 
sary to sweeten and soften and quiet them with humble con- 
fession and open reformation, and not to irritate them 
further* You know that, even if there were no Gospel, your 
order is so fallen and corrupt, even when judged by your 
own laws, that it cannot be endured if you try to brazen 
things through* 

You know, too, that Pope Hadrian himself confessed, 
through his legate at Nuremberg,* that the Roman See was 
the source of much evil, and offered to reform it- Why, 

*At the Diet of Nuremberg, 1323. The statements referred to are found in 
ANO JACO% Luther'a Correspondence, II, pp, 141 tt. 



382 Exhortation to the Clergy at Augsburg 

then, should you be ashamed to confess the same thing, 
and obstinately persist in your pride, and grant nothing and 
yield nothing, but carry things off with force, caring nothing 
whether the result is better or worse? For you know, or 
Rom. ought to know, that Christian rule or authority has been 
2 cor. ' ordained by God to make things better, not to corrupt them, 
isao as Paul says, and is not to be a tyranny, but a service. If 
you were to admit this, we could help to raise you in the 
opinion of the people. For I maintain that you cannot do 
without the Lutherans, those godly heretics, and least of 
all can you do without their prayers, if you are going to 
accomplish any permanent results. But if you are going to 
force your way through this business stiffly and stubbornly 
(which may God forbid!), then, together with all who 
believe with me, I hereby call God and all the world to 
witness that it is no fault of ours if you are dashed to pieces, 
when your pride fails you. Your blood be on your own 
head ! We are and will be guiltless of your blood and your 
condemnation; for we pointed out to you your offences, 
admonished you faithfully to repent, sincerely implored you, 
and made you every offer that could serve the cause of 
peace, seeking and desiring nothing else than that sole sup- 
port and comfort of our souls, the free and pure Gospel 
Thus we can boast with a good conscience that the fault has 
not been ours. 

But may the God of peace and consolation give you His 
Spirit, to guide you and lead you to all truth, through our 
Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be praise and thanks for all 
His unspeakable grace and gifts for ever and ever. Amen* 



INDEX 



SCRIPTURE REFERENCES 



VoL 1V.-45 



INDEX 



ABRAHAM, 39 

Absolution, 340 

Abuses (rites and ceremonies), 375ff 

Acts of God, 63 

Agricola, 327 

Alms, see Giving 

Anabaptists, 352 

Annas, 37 

Antichrist, SO, 77 

Apollos, 80 

Apostolic Canons, 351 

Aquinas, 347 

Aristotle, 127, 173 

Arius (Arians), 310, 311 

Athanasius, 311 

Augsburg Confession, 327 

Augsburg, Diet at, 327 
major purpose of, 327 
opportunity of clergy at, 329f 
"The Invasion of the Turks," 331 
subjects necessary to be discussed, 373f 
customary uses in the pretended church, 375 

Augustine, St., 39 

Augustinians, 181 

Authorities, 

administration of, punishment by, 41 

in connection with Church begging, etc., 49 

related to price-fixing, 16 

Avarice, 10, 14, 25, 26, 37, 53, 58, 166 

BACCHANTRN, 140 
Back-biting, 296 
Ban, 98, 352f 

the great ban, 352f 

the small ban, 353 

correct use of, 353 

abuse of, 353 
Baptism, 79, 351 f 
Barefoot Friars, sec Franciscans 
Begging, 44, 97 

abolition of, 49 

practiced by spiritual estate, 44 
Benedictines, 93 
Benefices, 357 

Bequests, see Monastic Foundations 

385 



386 Index 

Bishops, 

appointment and confirmation of, 83 

arrogated powers in judging doctrines, 76 

attitude toward universities, 366 

duties of, 367 

endowed episcopacy unnecessary, 365 

episcopal authority turned against Gospel, 371 

four proposals of Luther to, 370 

have power to teach, 77 

Nicholas-bishops, 367 

on consent of to call of preachers, 82 

really temporal lords, 96 

suffragan, 365 f 

unchastity of, 368f 

Blasphemy (Blasphemers), 249, 310 
Books, 126, 128, 129 
Borrowed money, see Capital 
Borrowing, 23, 32 

high living forces, 24 
Boye, Nicolas, 191 
Brenz, 208 
Bugenhagen, 208 
Business, 

uncertainty of, 34 
Buyer, 

poor imposed upon, 14 
Buying and_ Selling, 24 
Buying of Income, 56fF 

a cloak for avarice, 59 

a new and slippery Invention, 56 

as related to conscience, 57 

bad effects, 57 

buyer must take the risk, 63 

collateral must be specified, 61 f 

dealers in, 61 

should be abolished, 58 

violates natural and Christian law, 57 

CALL, 

of congregation, 80, 81 

on call of Christian to preach, 80f 

pastor's, 313 

Campeggio, Cardinal, 327 

Canon law, 39, 58, 76, 149, 154, 288, 355, 362 
Canonization of saint, 50 
Capital, 

borrowed, 32 
Cardinal of Ostia, 83 
Carlstadt, 298, 313 
Carthusians, 172 
Cash money, 24 
Caslmlr, Margrave, 268 
Catechism, 348 
Catholicon, 127 



Index 387 



Cato, 35 

Caveat emptor^ 63 

Celestines, 93 

Celibacy, 361ff 

Ceremonies, 312 

Charles, Emperor, 329, 333 

Cheating, 32 

Children, 

commended to us by Christ. 125 

entrusted to their elders, 109, 144f 

neglect of, 109 

sons trained for the legal profession, 162 

the wrong in keeping from the ministry, 151 

to be given to the ministry, 144 

turned from ministry, 176 
Christ, 

commandment, 42, 45, 50, 51, 53 

example, 37f 

gospel and preaching office related to, 176 

kingdom of, 322 

law of, 229f 

power conferred upon all men, 76 

satisfaction of, 342 

Christendom, bishops not necessary to maintain, 365 
Christian, 

a martyr here, 241 

a rare bird, 231 

all priests, but not all pastors, 314 

anointed by God to priesthood, 79 

does not fight, 233 

duty of, 80 

law of, 229f 

life, 184 

on call of, to preach, 80 f 

resists sin, 272fT 

the and borrowing, 23 

true rare, 21 

vast difference between, and world, 78 

where found, 22 

"Christian Association," 208, 225, 229, 230 
Christian Congregation, 

called the Deacons, 83 

cannot be without the Word, 79 

must have teachers and ministers, 79 

right, power, duty, 79 

right to call, 80f 82 

what it is, 75 
Church, 

customary uses in the pretended, 375 

endowments, 64, 66 

property confiscated, 354 
held unlawfully, 355f 
misused, 355 

tyranny of, 2871 

who is the, 359 



388 Index 

Cistercians, 93 
City, 

greatest -welfare of a, 111 
Clement VII, 369 note 
Clergy 

are the- Christians, 354 

complaints laid against at Worms, 334 

conceal the truth, 349 

defend error, 349 

misuse church property, 354f 

Preaching of, 346 

the and the ban, 353 f 

welcomed L's teaching against papal power, 331 
Cleros, 313 
Coburg, 327 
Commandments, 

second, 225, 235 

fifth, 145, 363 

seventh, 362 
Common Chest, 92ff 

evils abolished by, 97f 

providing funds for, 94flf 

uses of funds of, 95 
Common Law, 16, 53 
Common People, 

indifferent to education of children, 142 

pars imony, 1 77 

their ingratitude, 175f 
Communities, 292f 
Companies, see Trade Guilds 
Confession, 340 
C'onfessionalia^ 339 
Congregation of God, 292, 293, 294 
Congregational government, 74, 81 ff 
Conscience, 

judge of actions, 12 

ruling of, 76 

should govern selling, 14 
Constantine, 311 
Conveying, 56 

Cornering the supply, 26, 30 
Costs, 

related to trade, 16 
Council men, 

and education of youth, 121 f, 125 

capable and incapable, 112 

duty of, HOf 
Councils, 76f 

KTicsea, 310 

Cuntz Hildebrand, 303 
Customs, 375flf 
Cut-throat methods, 29f 



Index 389 

DANCING, 16 

David, 39 

De civitatc dei (Augustine's), 157 

Deacons, called by the congregation, 83 

Dealing in futures, 29 

Decree, 

observed only when tested and found good 78 
Deponatur, 356 
Despair, cause of, 44 
Devil, 105, 113, 139, 263 
Diet of Nuremberg, 9 
Dispensations, see Confessionalia 
Doctrine, 

judging of, 76 

observed only when tested and found good, 77 

the false, 185 

the true, 185 

Dominicans (Jacobins, preaching friars), 189, 193, 196, 198 
Dormi secure, 127 
Drinking, 16 
Duns Scotus, 347 

ECCLESIASTES, BOOK OF, 20 
Education, 

at Rome, 111 

compulsory, 177 

Devil opposed to, 105 

for others beside ministry, 153 

for the priesthood, 127f 

free provided, 137 

God's command in connection with, 108 

government support for, 106 

honor and wealth follow, 165f 

in schools vs,~- in the home, 122 

indifference to, 142 

languages in, 154 

libraries in connection with, 126 

methods, 122f 

neglect of, 105 

neglect to provide a sin, 109 

of men and women needed for good temporal conditions, 121 

profit and loss in, 142 

spiritual profit in, 142 

temporal profit and loss in, 1S8 

wrong attitude toward of children, 104 
Elders, 

responsibility of to children's education, 108f 
England, 13, 30 

English merchants, trade guild of, 30 
Each, John, 181f f 185 
Eternal goods, 43 
Excessive interest charges, 65 
Excommunication, Letters of, 287, see also Ban 
Extortion, submitting to, 21, 37 
Extreme want, 49 



390 Index 

FAITH, What true does, 20 

False teachers (prophets), 221, 222, 225, 229, 230, 231, 234, 236, 

240, 241 
Fanatics, 334 
Fasting, 341 

Ferdinand of Austria, 208 
Feudal customs, 241 ff, cf . 214ff 
Florista, 127 
Force, rule according to, 22f 

world must be ruled by, 28 
Forgive and forget, 46 
Foundations, -ecclesiastical, not Christian, 76 
Franciscans (Minorites), 196, 199 
Frankfurt Fair, 13 
Fraud, 31 

Frederick of Saxony, 207, 208, 327 
Frundsberg, George von, 169 

GAMBLING, 58 
George the Bookseller, 185 
Germans, 13, 16, 112, 129, 275 
Germany, 13, 174f, 177 
Giving, freely to needy, 21 
away goods, 43, 56 
"for God's B sake," 46f 
gospel distinction between lending and, 22 
in extreme want, 49 
refusal to give to enemies, 45 
three practices opposed to giving away goods, 45 
to the poor and needy, 47 
to those who do not need, 45 
God, 

almighty and terrible, 226 
provision in temporal matters, 43 
the enemy of presumption, 20 
the service of, 66 
Who is, 295 
His gifts, 13 
justice, 33 
kingdom, 265 
laws, 69 
Name, 225 
works, 20 
wrath, 262, 266 
Gods, see Rulers 
Golden Rule, 

applied to business, 10 
in connection with giving, 50 
in connection with temporal goods, 54 
Golden Year, 337 
Good Works, 150, 342, 351 
Gospel, The, 37, 39, 115, 157, 176, 229f, 288, 337, 339, 342 

preaching qf, the certain mark of Christian Congregation, 75 
rule according to, 22 



Index 391 

the languages, the means of spreading, 113 
Government, 

cont.nuance ofdependent on maintenance of law 160 

divine origin of, 290 

highest and most useful office next to preaching 298 

in hands of common people, 172 

interest in trade, 35 

paternal aspect of, 27 

purpose, 291 

temporal why needed, 22, 23 

the ministry an aid to, 148 

to be feared, 261 
Gracdsta, 127 

Gravamina, the, 334, 335 note, 353 
Greed, see Avarice 
Greek, see Languages 
Gregory, 343 

Grey Monks, see Franciscans 
Gruner, Johann, 73 
Gymnasium, see School 

HADRIAN, Pope, 381 

Hebrew, see Languages 

Heger, 307 

Heltcr, 16 

Henry of Zutphen, 181, 185, 187ff 

a fruit of his martyrdom, 186 

arrives at Dithmarschen, 192 

biography, ISlfl 

called to Dithmarschen, 191 

denounced for heresy, 188f 

his arrest, 198 

his condemnation, 199 

his martyrdom, 200 

his summary rejected, 190 

plot against, 197 

preaches at Dithmarschen, 194f 
Heresies (Heretics), 309 
Herman, 307 
High living, 45 
Holy See, 48f 
Holy Spirit, 113, US 
Honest living, an, 16 
Hospital, 301 

Hubmaier, Balthasar, 206, 207 
Human nature, 19 
Human teaching, 76 
Huss, John, 307 

INDULGENCES, 47, SO, 335-339, 346 
Inheriting, 56 
Innovations, 344 
Interest on investment, 59 
amounts of, 65, 68 



392 Index 

interest of loss, 60ff 

interest of profits, 59if 
Investment, see, Buying of income 

of church money, 65 
Irregulares, 355 

JEROME, 343 
Jonas, Justus, 327 
Joseph's Monopoly, 27 
Jurisdiction, ecclesiastical, 40 
Jurists, 161, 167, 173 
Justice, 299-301 
Justinian, Emperor, 166 

KARLSTADT, 73 
Keiser, Leonard, 307 
Kind, Heinrich, 73 
Kinderbishofe, 85 note 
Kingdoms, the Two, 265 
Kotteritzsch, Sebastian von, 73 

LABOR, 

related to price-fixing, 17 

related to trade, 16 
Labor and Wage, 15, 16 
Labyrinthus, 127 
Languages, 

classical, 112ff 

knowledge of required for correct interpretation of Scriptures, 
116 

pastors must know Latin, 154 

spread by means of Roman Empire, 113 

vehicle of the Scriptures, 114 
Last Judgment, 45, 48 
Latin, see Languages 
Law, 

against peasants, 226f 

necessary to peace and order, 229 

protection of country, 167 

rule according to, 22f 

suits, 41 

to control trade, 35 
Legal officials, 39 
Leibfall, 224 

Leisnig (Saxony), 73, 92 
Lending, 21, 32, 56 

first duty in connection with, 24 

gospel distinction between lending and giving, 21, 24 

limit of Christian, 23 

objections to lending without charge, 54 

three laws for, 53 

without charge, 51 f 
Liberal arts, 111, 112, 173 
Libraries, 126, 128 

claaftet of books in an ideal, 128 



Index 393 

Life, heavenly, 42 
Link, 181 

"Living off the street," 29 
Loan, 22 

what may be loaned, 23 
LocatCH, 140 

Lord's Prayer, the, 17, 20, 235 
Lords, see Princes 
Ludewig, 306 
Luther, 

absent from Diet at Augsburg, 327, 329f 

accused of causing the peasant rebellion, his defence, 334 

accused of strengthening the tyrants his answer, 316 

and the peasants, 200ff, 218ff 

attack on monastic life, 335 

condemned at Worms, 333 

denies responsibility for peasants* rebellion, 222 

justifies his many and varied activities, 315 

himself and work attacked, 259 

his cause, God's work, 103 

his divine commission, 104 

his "Gospel," 336f, 339f, 343, 348f 

his sermons used by opposing priests, 333 

not a rebel against pope and emperor, 232 

on the "spirituals," 93 

sang for bread, 172 

school-days, 172 

stand against the fanatics, 334 

teachings welcomed, 335 

the good results from his doctrine, 352 

under the ban, 103 

use of the term "finance/' 32, note 

view on "supply and demand/' 14 

views on economic questions, 10 

visit to Lcisnig, 73 
Luther's Hymns, 

Bin neucs Lied wir hcben an, 182 
Luther's Writings, 

Asscrtio omnium articulorum, 160 note 

Eight Wittenberg Sermons, 206 

Faithful Exhortation, 207 

On Temporal Government, 207 

On the Temporal Authorities, 23 

Open Letter to the Christian Nobility, 89 

Predifft, doss man Kinder sur $ chute halt en soil, 101 

Sermon on the Unrighteous Mammon, 279 

To the German Nobility, 223 

Treatise on Christian Liberty, 78 

Treatise on the Blessed Sacrament and on Brotherhoods, 89 

Vom Anbtitcn de$ Sakraments, 119 

Von Qrdwtng Gottesdientfs in der Gemeine, 73 

Wider den , . . . RathscMog der Mainsischen Pfaffarei, 367 

Wider die Mmmlescken Prophetcn, 119 
Lutherans, 311, 322, 332 



394 Index 

MAGISTRATES (see also CouncIImen) 
Man, 

powers conferred on, by Christ, 77 
Margaret of Savoy, 181, 190 
Marriage, duty, 17 
Martyrs, Evangelical, 185 

true doctrine certified by their blood, 185 
Mary, 

the crown of, 345, 348 

the psalter of, 345 

worship of, 196 
Mass, 343f, 350f 

for the dead, 346 

Golden Mass, 346 

not a "good work," 351 

our highest treasure, 351 

private masses (Winkelmessen), 343f 

sacrifice of the, 350 

sacrifice and communion, 344 

sale of, 343 

the ancient, 343 f 

the Rorate, 350 
Maxim, see Proverbs 
Maximilian, Emperor, 170 
Melanchthon, 208, 327 
Merchants, see also Trade Guilds 

a true Christian merchant, 24 

chief rule of, 14 

judgment of dishonest, 35 

on selling by, 15 

profit, 15, 16 

Scriptural admonitions not practiced by, 21 

what chief rule should be, 15 
Mercy, 262f, 266f 
Ministers, 

on call of, 79 

privations of, 157 

scarcity of men to become, 156 

support of, 155 
Ministry, 

blessing of, 148 

does great works for the world, 148 

instituted by God, 142 

responsibility for decline of, and preservation of, 145 

sons to be given to the, 144 

the ministry and temporal affairs, 148 

the profit of the, 146 

the service of God, 149 

true spiritual estate, 143 
Miracles, 146f 
Monasteries, 94ff, 105 

three ways of using possessions of, 94f3E 

provide sufficient funds for fhose^ leaving, 94 

applied to support of remaining inmates, 94 



Index 395 



all remaining to be devoted to common fund, 95 

in cities to be used for schools and dwellings, 97 
Monastic Foundations, 94ff, 147, 156 
Monastic houses, 

decline of, 143 

not Christian congregations, 76 
Monastic life, 335 f 
Monkery, on, 93 

fallen from original foundation, 143 

how to get rid of it, 94 
Monks, useless, 303f, 364 
Monopolies, see Cornering the supply 
Moratorium, see Quinquerncll, 31 
Mueller, Caspar, 259 
Muenzer, Thomas, 206, 207, 248, 298, 313, 332f 

NAMES, MEANING OF, 306f 

Heger, 307 

Herman, 307 

Ludewig, 306 

Hitter, Retter, 306f 
New Testament, 114, 115 
Nobility, 169 

Nobles, the, and the merchants, 33 
Non- Christians, 23 
Nuremberg, 136f 

Diet of, 149, 332 note, 333, 381 

OCCAM, 347 

Officials, Government, 161, 166 

Old Testament, 114 

the Library of the, 126 

worthies, 154, 157 
Opmiones, of the doctors, 347 
Ordinance of a Common Chest, The Leisnig, 89 
Organized Society, see Communittes 
Ori&en, 343 
Osiander, 208 

PALLIUM, 50 

Parents (see also Elders) 

duties of, 144, 162 

duty owed to God, 164 

duty owed to state, I62f 

neglect of and reason for, 109, 151 

selfishness of, 163f 

their trust, 109, 125 

warning to, 164f 

Pcttrtekenhengst (one who sings for bread), 172 
Pastor, 

choosing a, 239, cf. 212 

support of, 240 

virtues of, 299f 

wtoat one must be to be a, 313 



396 Index 

Pastoral office, see Ministry 
Pater noster stones, 345, 348 
Patriarchs, 13, 19, 39, 41, 154, 157 
Patron saint, 50, 51 
Payments in kind, 24 
Peace, 148, 149 
and rulers, 291 

blessings of, 3G2fT 

keeping, 42 
Peasants, 

address to, 224ff 

against constituted authority, 226f 

claims based on Gospel wrong, 237f 

discontent of, 207 

evil results of conflict, 243 f 

force innocent to join them, 253 

grievances of, 205, 211ff, 218 

making false protestations, 233 

means of settling strife proposed, 244 

must obey law of Christ, 230ff 

need good conscience, 224 

offer of terms,, 251 

on outbreak of, 248 

resort to violence wrong, 236 

summary treatment of, 251 

their rebellion leads to anarchy, 228 

their three sins, 248f 

warned against false leaders, 225 

would not listen to reason, 261 
Peasants 1 War, 205, 332f 

causes of, 205 

intimately connected with Reformation, 206 
Penance, 340, 342, 351 
Perjury, 249 
Physicians, 174 
Pilgrimages, 345 
Poor, 239, cf . 212 

Poor man, selling him his own poverty, 14 
Pope, 

election and confirmation of, 83 

has power to teach, 77 
Portents, 220, 244 
Portugal, 13 

Power of the Church, spiritual, 41 
Preacher, 

appointed by God, 295 

to stand in the congregation, 296 

two sins of, 296 
Preaching, 262 

highest office in the Christian Church, 84 

no dearer treasure on earth than faithful preacher, 146, 158 

no preaching without a call, 313 

of the monks, 346f 

office of, 79ff, 176, 295 



Index 397 

Prebends, 96 

Presumption, about the future, 20 
Price-fixers, 16, 34 
Price-fixing, 15, 16, 29f, 34 

advice concerning, 17 

authorities related to, 16 

commission for, 16 

conditions which affect, IS 

regulation of, 16 
Prices, 

higher because of scarcity, 26 

higher when selling on credit, 26 

raised in proportion to need, 14 
Priest, 144, 295 
Priests, 

forced Luther's condemnation, 333 

forgetful of their office, 332 

opposing use Luther's sermons, 333 

power and influence of, 333 
Princes, 220fT, 224 

blamed for peasants' discontent, 220 

deserving of and will receive God's wrath, 221 

exhorted to fear God, 222 

high office and virtues of, 298ff, 305 f 

ministers of God's wrath, 251 

position of, in religious disputes, 311 

pride of, 220 

their high names, 306 

to put down heresy, 309f 

to try conciliation, 223 

vices of, 307f 
Probus, 311 
Proficiat, 350 
Profits, 

estimating, 17 

forcing, 34 

honest, 16 

rjionest mistake in taking, 17 

legitimate, 15 

proportions of, 16 
Propst, Jacob, 181f, 187 
Proverbs, Book of, 125 
Proverbs, 

A cartload of hay must give way to a drunken man, 223 

A wise man commits no little acts of folly, 308 

Beneficium propter officium, non bcnefictum >propter maleficium, 
357 

Big thieves hang the little ones, 35, 308 

Bttrqen soil 'man wftrgcn (Standing surety should be slain), 18 

Do like others and you are no fool, 16 

Bin nachbar is dcm andern sin brand schuldiy (One is guilty of 
his neighbor's fire), 274 

He who resists is wrong, 227 

He who resists makes strife, 227 



398 Index 

If you help a man down from the gallows, he tries to put you 

on it, 334 

Nan minus est negligere scholarem qttaw, corrumpere virgincm. 
(It is just as bad to neglect a pupil as to corrupt a virgin), 

109 
Nummus non pavet nummum, (Money does not produce money), 

10 

There's sense in that, said the servant, 348 
Where peace is, there is half a heaven, 303 
Psalter, Jerome's Translation of, 116 

QUADRIVIUM, 111 (note) 
Quill, 168, 170 
Quinquernell, 31 

REASON, 39, 42, 2921 
Rebellion, 249, 278 
Rebels, 261 f, 277f, 309 
Regius, Urbanus, 240 
Regulation of prices, 16 

non-tolerance of, 16 
Relics, 346 

Rentenkauf, see Zinskauf 
Rights, 263 

Rites, 375ff; not to be observed, 380f 
Risks, 

in investments, 63 

related to price-fixing, 17 

related to trade, 16 
Ritter, (Retter), 306f 
Robber, barons, 33 
Roman imperial law, 160 
Roman See, 381 

Romans overthrown by Goths, 157 
Rome, 39, 49, 50, 111 
Rosary, 345, 348 

Rule of Merchants, see Merchants 
Rule, the right, 332 
Rulers, see also Temporal Rulers ; Government 

ancient, 289 

called "foundation of the land," 317 

criticism of, 296f 

establishment of, 294 

overthrown by God: the reasons, 317f 

public rebuke of, 297 

source of their power, 319 

subject to God, 295; to the Word, 296 

their punishment, 321 

upheld, also judged by God, 291 

SACRAMENT, 

two kinds in, 358f ^ 

one kind an innovation, 358f 



Index 399 



St. Ambrose, 50 

St. Augustine, 115, 116, 154, 157 

St. Bernard, 117 

St. Bridget, 345 

St Elizabeth, 301 

St. Hilary, 116 

St. Hilarion, 304 

St. James of Compostella, 49 

St. Jerome, 115, 116, 304 

St. Paulinus, 50 

St. Peter (Apostle), 231, 338 

St. Peter of Rome (the pope), 47 

St. Philip, 80 

St Stephen, 80 

Saint worship, 344 

Salbach, Franz, 73 

Satisfaction for sin, 342f 

Saxony, 155 

School, 

keeping children out of, a wile of Satan, 139 

the established at Nuremberg, 136f 
Schoolmaster, 11, 173f 
Schools, 

going to ruin, 104 

government support of, 106 

individual Christian's support of, 106f 

present opportunities, 107 
Schwarzenberg, Hans von, 169 
Self-defence, 39, 41 
Selling, 15 

on credit, 26 

should be governed by law and conscience, 15 
Serfs, 240, cL 213 
Serving love, 95 

Signet rancoris, (Signs of enmity), 46, 52 
Snicken, John, 193 
Soldiers, 167 

compared with scholars, 168 
Solomon, 20 

Sophists, 117, 120, 128, 149, 150 
Soul, 76 
Spalatin, 327 
Spengler, Lazarus, 135 
Spires, Diet at, 332 
Spiritual estate, 142f, 288 
Spiritual Rulers, 44 

Spirituals (I ., religious the orders), 93 
Staupitz, 181 

Subjects, obedience of, 291 
Supply and demand, 26 

prices affected, 26 
Surety for another, 18, 24 

the Holy Scriptures against, 18 

why it is condemned, 19 
VoL 



400 Index 

Swabian League, 208 

Sword, Temporal, 23, 159, 227, 251, 252, 264, 268, 270, 291 
see also Government, Temporal Power 

TAUBER, CASPAR, 185 

Taxes, 13 

Teachers, 

on call of, 79 

subject to judgment of hearers, 77, 78 
Temporal goods, 43, 54, 56 

three ways of dealing well with, 37fT: the first, 37; the second, 

43; the third 51 
Temporal power, or Government, 41, 78, 121, 288 

an ordinance of God, 158, 159 

function of, 159, 226, 227 

government not to be compared with office of preaching, 158 

indispensable, 158 
Temporal rulers, 44 

advice to about monasteries, 94 
Terminarien, 85 note 
Theologians, 

arrogated powers in judging doctrine, 76 

have power to teach, 77 
Tithes, 68, 239f, cf. 212 
Tonsures, 341 
Torgau Articles, 328 
Torneborch, Augustine, 193 
Trade, 

abuses, sins of, related to conscience, 14 

exports, 13 

foreign, 13 

imports, 13 

lack of government control of, 13 

London-cloth, 30 

necessary, 13 

raising of prices, 14 

regulations, 16 

spice-trade, 13 

tricks, 12, 25ff, 32 
Trade conditions, 9, 13 

Christian, 13 

unjust, 14 

Trade Guilds, 9, 30, 32, 34, 35 
Traders, 

patriarchs, 13 
Trading, 

four Christian ways of, 21ff : the first, 21, 37; the second, 21, 43; 
the third, 21, 51 ; the fourth, 24 

three sources from which evils in trading spring, 25 

working against existing evils in, 25 
Trafficking in spiritual and ecclesiastical things, 47, 48, SO 
Trickery, 32 

Trier, Holy Coat of, 345, 348 
Trivium, 111 note 
Trust in God, 44 



Index 401 

Turks, 331 

Twelve Articles, The, (Peasants'), 207, Text: 211ff; 218, 223, 236 

Address, 211, cf, 236 

The First Article, 212, cf. 223, 239 

The Second Article, 212, 239 

The Third Article, 213, 240 

The Fourth Article, 214, 249f 

The Fifth Article, 215, 249f 

The Sixth Article, 215, 249f 

The Seventh Article, 215, 249f 

The Eighth Article, 216, 249f 

The Ninth Article, 216, 249f 

The Tenth Article, 216, 249f 

The Eleventh Article, 216, 249f 

The Twelfth or Conclusion, 217, 249f 
Tyrants, 280, 288 

UNDERSELLING, 28 
Unfaithfulness, 296 
Universities, 

Erfurt, 156 

Leipzig, 156 

Wittenberg, 156 
Usurer, 22, 26, 53 
Usury, 10, 37, 52, 56, 57, 64f, 67, 96 

VOES, HENRY, 181 f, 185 

WALDENSIAN BRETHREN, 119, 120 

Wealth acquired by Sin, 58 

Wertheirn, George von, 169 

Wiclif, 205 

WinkclmosK-en, see Mass 

Wisdom, 167 

Word of God, 76f, 79, 108, 157, 174f, 184, 225, 295, 321, 334, 336 

Works, 

true, 12 

world's, 12 

World, ruling the, by force not by Gospel, 28 
World, Kingdom of, 26Sf 
Worldly Government, see Temporal Government 
Worms, Edict of, 333f 
Writer, 168f, 170 

YEAR OF JUBILEE, 107, 129, see Golden Year 

ZINSKAUFF, 56, see Introduction, lOf 
Zwbgli, 208 



SCRIPTURE REFERENCES 

OLD TESTAMENT 
Genesis 



1: 


213,214,215 


l:29f 


291,292 


2:19 


163 


19:21 


169 


20:24f 


110 


41:34 


68 


41:47 


169 


41:48ff 


27 


43:9 


19 


44:14ff 


19 


44:32ff 


19 


47:14ff 


27 


Exodus 




3: 


212 


14: 


212 


18:17ff 


130 


21:14 


266 


22:8 


289 


31: 


212 


Leviticus 




23:10,18,20 
24:16 


344 
311 


25:10ff 


69 


Numbers 




16:31ff 


242 


Deuteronomy 




6: 


214 


10: 


212 


15:4 


44 


15:7ff 


SI 


15:11 


49 


16:11 


44 


17: 


212 


17:18 


126 


18: 


216 




403 



404 



Scripture References 



Joshua 



Judges 



21:18ff 

25: 

26:2-4 

29:26 

31 : 25f 

32:7 

32:21 

32:35 



1:5 



9:22ff 



I Samuel 

15:23 

II Samuel 

18:14f 
20:22 



I Kings 



16:18 
20:42 



II Kings 

5:1 
23:8 

II Chronicles 
19:6 
24:22 



Job 



2:10 
39:14 
39: 16 
42 : 10, 12 



Psalms 



1:3 

2:4 

3:6 

4:6 

10:3 

10:18 

12:4 



108 
213 
344 
342 
126 
109 
260 
227, 229 



21 

242 
262 



242 
242 



243 
262 



169 
110 



290 
38 



275 

109 
109 

43 



119 

103 

225 

289 

289 

33 

289 



14: 3 (Vulgate) 42 
18:27 260 

29:9 119 

37:16 12 

37:25 43 

45; 7 79 



Scripture References 405 



50:15 


235 


50:15-20 


313 


51:13 


80 


52:2 


352 


64:1 (Vulgate) 


120 


68:6 


110 


72:14 


185 


78:5f 


108 


82: 


287 


82:1 


289 


82:2 


298, 304 


82:2-4 


298 


82:3 


305 


82:3f 


41 


82:4 


305 


82:5 


317 


82:6 


319 


82:7 


321 


82:8 


322 


91 : 15 


235 


104:31 


168 


107:40 


221, 223 


109 : 17 


268 


110:1 


157 


110:3 


116 


111:3 


168 


113:5-8 


171 


116:10 


80 


116:15 


184 


147:19 


114 


Proverbs 




l:24ff 


125 


3:9 


66,240 


6:1-5 


18 


8:14 


160 


20:16 


18 


22:26 


18 


24:21ff 


261 


25:21 


45 


27:1 


20 


27:13 


18 


30:21 


268 


Eccksiastes 




9: IS 


167 


9:16 


160 


9:18 


160 


Isaiah 




1:23 


35 


l:23f* 


41 


10: 


216 


11: 


216 


14:5 


266 



406 Scripture References 

28:20 35 

29 : 13 320 

40: 212 

40:7 104 

53: 214 

53:12 186 

55 : lOf 75 

58:1 248 

61 : 8 66, 97, 240, 353 

62: If 103 

65:2 124 

Jeremiah 

15:1 244 

26: 216 

44:16ff 157 

Lamentations 

3 : 22 275 

Ezekiel 

2:7 248 

14:14 244 

22:20 35 

Daniel 

6:27 166 

11 : 37 361 

12:3 146 

Hosea 

13:7f 370 

Amos 

6:10 309 

Jonah 

3:3 292 

Haggai 

1 : 13 143 

OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA 

Ecclesiasticus, or Wisdom 

6: 214 

26:28 12,17 

38 : 1-8 174 

Prayer of Manassah 

Verse 9 152 

NEW TESTAMENT 
Matthew 

3:11 271 

4: 214 

4:9 360 

5: 213,214 

5:3 279 



Scripture References 407 



5:9 


303 


5:11 


279 


S:39ff 


230 


5:40 


21,37 


5:42 


43,45,51 


5:44 


230 


6:11 


21 


6:16 


341 


6:24 


66 


6:31-33 


156 


7:1 


248, 297 


7:3 


227 


7:3-5 


297, 355 


7:12 


50, 53, 342 


7:15 


77, 360 


7:16ff 


58 


7:21 


320 


8: 


216 


9:13 


263 


9:15 


157 


10: 


213, 216 


10:10 


16, 18, 155 


10:13 


331 


10:14 


311 


10:23 


238 


10:35ff 


41 


11:10 


143 


12:34 


261 


13:43 


147 


15:14 


259 


17:5 


250 


18:5 


125 


18:6f 


109 


18:10 


125 


18:11 


263 


18:15 


342 


18:17 


353 


20:26 


78 


22:21 


294 


23: 


216 


23:24 


358 


24: 4f 


78 


25:31ff 


95 


25:35ff 


279 


25:42f 


48,152 


26: S2 


225,242 


28:19! 


295 


28:20 


144 



Mark 

8:5-8 4 

16: 15 313 



1:52 224,292 



408 



John 



Acts 



Scripture 


References 


2:34f 


260 


3: 


215,216 


3:11 


24 


4: 


214 


4:41 


314 


6: 


213, 216 


6:30 


45 


6:31 


53 


6:32ff 


45 


6:34 


51 


6:35 


55 


6:36 


263 


11:11 


23 


12:16-21 


20 


14:12ff 


45 


16:10 


44 


18: 


212 


19 : 12-25 


196 


20:25 


249, 250 


21 : 25-36 


194 


23:34 


232 


3:12 


259 


4:2 


84 


6: 


212 


6:45 


79 


8:44 


149,248 


10:1 


360 


10:5,8 


77 


10:8 


312 


10:27 


77 


13: 


214 


13:18 


334 


14:12 


146 


14:14 


235 


18:23 


37 


18:31 


38 


18:36 


277 


19:11 


38 


19:15 


222 


1:7 


20 


2:4 


113, 115 


2:44 


92 


4:32 


92 


4:32ff 


250 


5: 


214 


6:2ff 


83 


6:4 


84 


6:8, 10 


80 


7:2ff 


80 


10: 


214 


10:38 


273 


11:28 


157 



Scripture References 409 



14: 


212 


14:23 


81 


15:4ff 


358 


18:25, 26, 28 


80 


20; 28 


367 


Romans 




1: 


211 


1:2 


114 


1:9 


194 


2:1, 17ff 


369 


3: If 


114 


3:8 


227 


5:7 


186 


8: 


212 


8:11 


147 


8:20 


170 


8:28 


332 


10: 


215 


11: 


212 


12:19 


223, 230 


12:20 


45 


13: 


214 


13:1 


226, 249, 250, 290, 294, 309, 382 


13:2 
13:3f 
13:4 


226, 249, 262 
41,262,270 
23, 159, 227, 251, 252, 264, 268, 291 


13:13 


12 


14:17 


54 


15:1 


195 


16:13 


78 


16:18 


78 


I Corinthians 




1:17 


84 


4:8 


260 


4:11 


238 


4:20 


320 


6:lff 


230 


6:5ff 


233 


6:7 


23 


6:16ff 


41 


7: 


214 


9: 


213 


9:7 


18 


9:14 


155 


10: 


214 


10:14 


78 


12:8ff 


117 


12:10 


115 


12;28ff 


117 


13:5 


57 


14:26ff 


117 


14:27, 29 


U8 



410 Scripture References 

14:30 81 

14:31 81 

14:39f 81 

II Corinthians 

4: Iff 158 

4 : 13 80 

5 : 20 143 

6:1 329 

6: If 107 

9:2 92 

10:4 234 

11:20 230 

11:27 157 

12 : 9 234 

13 : 10 382 

Galatians 

2: 212 

3:4 78 

3:24 111 

3 : 28 240 

6 : 13 305 

Ephesians 

2:2 251 

4:11 117 

6: 216 

6:12 251 

6:17 114 

Philippians 

3 : 16 332 

Colossians 

2: 214 

2:8 78 

3 : 14 312 

I Thessalonians 

5 : 22 57 

II Thessalonians 

2:3f 77 

I Timothy 

3: 212 

3:1 37 

3:2 367 

3:2, 10 82 

3:5 372 

4:10 235 

4: 13 126 

5: 213 

5:22 81 

6:9, 10 12 

6:20 311 

7: 214 



Scripture References 411 



II Timothy 




2:26 


273 


3: Iff 


57 


4:2 


367 


4:13 


126 


Titus 




1: 


212 


1:5 


81, 313 


1:7 


82 


1:7,9 


367 


3:10 


311 


Hebrews 




The entire 




Epistle : 


212 


7:23 


196 


10:28 


266 


13:5 


155 


James 
4:13-16 


19 


4:15 


22 


5:16f 


235 


I Peter 




1: 


214 


2: 


214 


2:7 


227 


2:9 


80 


2:13 


294 


2: 13f 


159 


2:14 


268 


2:18 


352 


2:23 


38,232 


5:3 


313 


5:5 


331 


II Peter 




l:20f 


314 


2:18 


352 


2:19 


364 


3:3 


289 


Ij0h " 5:14 


235 


Tudc 
Verse 16 


305