too, is God's creature and her divine station is that she should bear and care for and rear children. So I am a man, created for another office and work. But should I be proud because of this and say: I am not a woman, therefore I am better in the sight of God? Should I not rather praise God for creating both the woman and me also through the woman and putting me in this my station? What an un-Christian thing it is that one should despise another because he is in another station or is doing something other than he is doing? It is like what happens among the Junkers nowadays; often one assaults another for trifling reasons, one calls the other a clerk and they can kill each other on this account; but they are more likely to do this to others, poor pastors, preachers, or humble people. Very well, but be careful and arm yourself against this saying: "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled." For God will not and cannot tolerate such pride and arrogance. What do you have that you should be so proud? What do you have of yourself?
And is not another just as much God's creature as you are, no matter who he is? He will not have him despised; for he who despises his creature also mocks his Creator, says Solomon [Prov. 14:31; 17:5], and he who scoffs at a station scoffs at the Lord himself.
Therefore, even where you would not otherwise give respect or regard, you should have regard for God. But if you despise him, then know that he can despise you and make you despised and will cast you down, no matter how high you are sitting. For hereby you have incurred the wrath, not of a man, but of the Majesty in heaven. If a secular prince entrusted an office in court to someone, and someone else were to mock, deride, or murder him, you would soon find out whether the prince would tolerate such a thing.
What would you, nobleman, do if somebody else were wilfully to mock and insult someone in your household? As strongly as you feel about your dog, your horse, your trooper, so strongly does God feel about his creatures.
Therefore, even though another station may be more humble than yours, you must nevertheless know that it, too, has been created and ordained by God. Contrariwise, you must know that you, too, have been put in your station in order that you may humble yourself and serve others, as, for example, a nobleman serves his prince at court or in the field, or a servant or maidservants serve their master and mistress; and you should do this for God's sake. This is really to humble oneself, as Christ calls it. Then God on his part will exalt you and lift you up before all the world with all honor.
Let this be sufficient to be said concerning this Gospel for the consecration of this house. And now that you, dear friends, have helped to sprinkle with the true holy water of God's Word, take hold of the censer with me, that is, seize hold upon prayer, and let us call upon God and pray. First, for his holy church, that he may preserve his holy Word among us and extend it everywhere. And then that he may keep this house pure, as it now is, God be praised, consecrated and sanctified through God's Word, that it may not be desecrated or defiled by the devil and his lies and false doctrine. And then also for all governments and public peace in German lands, that God may graciously preserve and strengthen the same, and guard us against the devil and his servants, the pope, bishops, papists, and wicked Turks; for here we have need of a strong prayer. For it is a grievous torment to see and endure such discord and arrant cunning of the devil and his rabble. And finally, also for our beloved government, the sovereign prince and the whole nobility and all ranks, high and low, rulers and subjects, that they may all honor
God's Word, give thanks to God for it, administer their offices well, be faithful and obedient, and show Christian love to their neighbors. For this is what God would have from us all, and this is the true incense of Christians—to pray earnestly for all of these necessities. Amen. in Merseburg, Heb. 13:4, August 4, 1545
In 1544 Luther had already declared his intention of leaving Wittenberg but was dissuaded by Bugenhagen and others. His disgust with the moral conditions in Wittenberg and his own physical debility prompted him to carry out his resolve and he left the city toward the end of July, 1545. On July 28, he wrote to his wife, "I should like to arrange not to have to go back to Wittenberg." "Away with this
- 142 Sodom!" Upon the urging of Prince Georg of Anhalt, coadjutor and canon of the cathedral in Merseburg, he went there to preach at the marriage of Sigismund von Lindenau, dean of the cathedral. Sigismund had lived in secret marriage for seven years "under cornpulsion" not to declare it publicly. Now by order of the coadjutor marriage of the clergy was permitted and concubinage strictly forbidden and the pair were married by the coadjutor in the cathedral. The sermon is printed with another preached in Merseburg and was given to the printer by Magister Matthias Wanckel, pastor in Halle, who may well have been the transcriber.
Text in German; WA 49, 797–805.
"Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for God will judge the immoral and adulterous" (Heb. 13:4).
This is a sermon concerning the holy estate of matrimony which is highly necessary, especially among Christians, that all men may know what the holy estate of matrimony really is and where it comes from, so that we shall not go on living so casually from day to day, like the heathen and dumb brutes who neither ask nor think about these things, but simply go on interbreeding and cohabiting promiscuously. No, among Christians, it must not be so; but rather as St. Paul says in I Thess. 4 [:3–5], "This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from immorality; that each one of you know how to take a wife for himself in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like heathen who do not know God."
Therefore Christians should live in sanctification, not like swine and animals, nor like the heathen, who neither regard nor honor this estate.
There is much to preach concerning this holy estate and divine ordinance of marriage, for it is the oldest of all estates in the whole world; indeed, all others are derived from that estate in which Adam and Eve, our first parents, were created and ordained and in which they and all their God-fearing children and descendants lived.
For there it is, written in the first book of Moses: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it' " [Gen. 1:27–28].
There it is; these are not my words nor those of any other man, but God's Word. This is the way he created and ordained it, and he who will not believe it, let him leave it. Moreover, the daily birth and arrival of all men proves that God wants his creation and ordinance, the holy estate of matrimony, to be maintained, in that little men and women are born and begin to grow up every day.
So every single one of us must declare and confess that we have not made or created ourselves; nor can we do it, neither could our parents do it. Who, then? The almighty, eternal God, the creator of all things, who first created and ordained little men and women for the marriage estate, he created us too for this estate. For I must freely confess and declare that I was created a male child, another a female child; I must confess that I am not a stone or a stick, but rather born and created a human being, man or woman.
No man in the whole world, from the first to the latest, can say anything else. The people, especially the papists, are still raging and fuming beyond all bounds against this glorious creation of God, as if it should not exist. And if it were in the pope's hand and power to create men, it would surely not exist; for he would not create or allow a single woman to exist in the whole world. What would happen then? Human beings would pass away. For it is certain that nobody is born without a mother; but what is born comes from the mother. And just as Adam did not make himself, but was created by God, so all men must be created by God in the womb and there sustained and later be born with God's help into the world.
Therefore all men should marry and be married, and since through the fall of our first parents we have been so spoiled that we are not all fit for marriage, yet those who are not fit for the married state should so live that they walk chastely and honorably and give offense to no one, though at the beginning it was not so and all were fit to become married. But now it happens that some do not want to enter the state of matrimony even though they are fit and qualified to marriage. Some, on the other hand, would like to be married and are unable to do so. Neither do I condemn and disapprove of these. The third group, however, who desire and want to be married and are also fit and competent to do so, even though they enter the marriage state contrary to human laws, do what is right, and nobody should be scandalized by what they do. For the married state should not be forbidden to anyone who is competent to be married, but should be free and open to everyone. And this estate should not be condemned and rejected as something foul and unclean, as the pope and his followers do. For to be married is an ordinance and institution of God, since
- 143 when God created man and woman, he himself placed them in this estate in which they not only could but should live godly, honorable, pure, and chaste lives, bearing children and peopling the world, indeed, the kingdom of God.
Who, then, would be so bold as to tear down the glorious, holy ordinance of God or to say anything against it? Who, then, is so bold as to condemn this ordinance and despise it as useless, unholy, and unnecessary?
The pope and his cardinals, monks, nuns, and priests have tried to improve things and ordain a holy estate in which they might live in holiness and chastity. But how holy, pure, and chaste the lives of popes, cardinals, bishops, monks, priests, and nuns have been is so apparent that the sun, moon, and stars have cried out against it. Pigsties are nasty, dirty places, but they are clean and pure compared with the cloisters; for they have been leading such a chaste and pure life in the cloisters that one cannot very well even speak of it. Why, then, did this happen? Because they tore down and despised God's holy ordinance of the estate of matrimony and they were not worthy to enter into marriage. But here those who have entered into holy matrimony in accord with God's ordinance should love and esteem this saying of St.
"Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, etc They should also pride themselves upon and comfort themselves with the fact that they are married; for here a man can say: I thank God that I have been created a man by God; or a woman: I thank God that I have been created a woman; and that we have also been placed by God in the holy estate of marriage in order to bring forth children according to his blessing and will. This honor, which those who are married have, is far greater. Therefore, nobody should hate or condemn this estate and ordinance of God, as the pope and his followers do, but rather highly exalt it and love and esteem it.
Here let the pope, cardinals, monks, nuns, and priests pull a sour face; what do we care about that? If they will not look at us with friendly and pure eyes, then let them look at the whorehouses and the impure, filthy, and befouled cloisters. We are content to know that we are esteemed by God and his only Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of God and rules all things, the one who ordained the marriage estate and placed us in it and watches over this estate until the last day. Because I know this and most certainly believe it, I am happy and confident, and I live in the holy ordinance of marriage with a good conscience and a happy mind. For here God says to the man: You are my man; and to the woman:
You are my woman. And because I know that God speaks so to me, I also know that all the angels speak so to me, and love me and respect me. I also know that the sun, moon, and all the stars look upon me and minister to me with their light and influence, even though this terribly vexes the devil with his scales, the popes, cardinals, and monks, who also are the devil's. I don't care a snap for them; even though they were a thousand against one, I don't care. If they don't want to regard me or listen to me, then in the devil's name let them take a look in Morolf's looking glass.1
Here it is written: "God will judge the immoral and adulterous."
It is not written that God will judge and condemn the married, but rather the whoremongers and adulterers. For if God were to condemn and judge the married people, he would have to condemn himself.
But God does not do this, but rather is well pleased with married people, as those who live and walk in his ordinance and creation. So, if God does not judge me, why should I care if the pope judges and condemns me; after all he himself was born of a woman and sucked a woman's—his mother's—breast.
At this point they bring forth a passage from the prophet Isaiah, who says in chapter fifty-two: "Go out from the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord" Isa. 52:11]. This passage they use to defend their celibacy (meaning that priests should not be married) and to condemn the married estate as unclean. It is in fact a fine, excellent passage, but it does not fit here at all. For in the Old
Testament the priests were required to have wives and be married; it is to these who were married that the prophet says, "Purify yourselves." Why then does the pope, the devil in Rome, use this passage against those who are married, when it was actually spoken by God to the married? The pope nevertheless uses it against those who are married. So our adversaries, the miserable papists, interpret purity to mean unmarried and without a wife, and thus want their priests to be pure, that is, not to have wives, despite the fact that God wants the priests to be married and thus to live purely in the marriage estate. Therefore, those who are married should be cheerful and confident and grateful to God that they are in an estate which has been ordained and blessed by God, of sure hope and assurance that God will keep his ordinance
- 144 and blessing, regardless of whether it annoys the devil, the pope in Rome, and therefore prompts them to condemn this estate.
But here you say: Yes, but we have vowed and sworn to God that we shall be chaste and live without women; I am obliged to keep this vow; therefore I cannot be married. My answer to that is: Right, do what you have vowed to do; be chaste and pure. Why don't you keep it, why don't you do it? Who is stopping you from being chaste and pure? Yes, you say, but I can't keep it. What a proper fool you are; why do you vow what you neither know nor can keep? There is only one thing I can vow which I can also keep, and that is that I will not bite off my own nose. Who commanded you to vow and swear something which is contrary to God and his ordinance, namely, to swear that you are neither a man or a woman, when it is certain that you are either a man or a woman, created by God. Why, then, do you swear that you are not a man or a woman?
If you are able to remain chaste and be pure by your own strength, why then do you vow to be chaste?
Keep it, if you can; but it is a mere nothing that you should want to boast about your vow and then plead that they have led you astray. Do you want to know to whom you have vowed to keep chastity? I'll tell you: the miserable devil in hell and his mother.
I say this for the comfort of all those who are in the married state, that they may be emboldened and encouraged. If all of you who are married are not rich, as not all of you can be rich, then be satisfied with what you have, and let it be your strong consolation that you have been married in accord with divine ordinance, and be assured that God will keep watch over this his ordinance and blessing. Nor do we desire to prevent or force anybody in this matter. Here we have a sure and strong word of comfort:
"Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled."
Hold fast to that, those of you who are married.
St. Augustine writes in one place concerning married people, that even if one of them is somewhat weak, etc., he should not be afraid of the sudden and infallible Day of the Lord; even if the Day of the Lord were to come in the hour when man and wife were having marital intercourse, they should not be afraid of it.2 Why is this so? Because even if the Lord comes in that hour he will find them in the ordinance and station in which they have been placed and installed by God.
Now, since this is so, nobody, no mandate of emperor, pope, or bishop, shall stand in my way and prevent me. I am content that I have a gracious God, who is pleased with this ordinance, and who also regards me and blesses and protects me. Who made them so bold and who commanded them to tear down this glorious ordinance of God?
Therefore it will not do for you to try and defend yourself by pointing to your vow of chastity, which you are not able to keep. If you have vowed it, you have vowed it to the devil, and you are not obliged to keep it, for it is against God. Besides, this vowing is not something ancient and of long standing. In the time of St. Augustine and St. Ambrose nothing whatsoever was known of this vow and vowing; rather everybody was free to remain single or to marry as he pleased. This binding and this vowing to keep chastity and remain unmarried is something new, invented and devised by the devil and the miserable monks, the defamers of God's ordinance and the holy estate of matrimony.
The marriage estate is God's ordinance and we shall stick to this no matter whether they hate and persecute us and will neither regard nor listen to us; this bothers us not at all. We have God; he regards us, along with all the angels and heavenly hosts, he also defends us against all the darts of the devil and our adversaries.
Then, if our dear God and Father in heaven grants you children, nurture and care for them, raise them up in the discipline, fear, and admonition of the Lord. Then you will be doing right and performing better and nobler good works than all the monks and nuns; then you will be living in God's vocation and ordinance and they contrary to God's vocation and ordinance. Because I am certain that I have a gracious
God, who regards me, nourishes me, and protects me, I do not care that the louse in Rome, the pope, and his lice, the cardinals and bishops, monks and nuns, do not regard or respect me. I pay no attention to it; I am content that God, my dear Father, sees me and has regard for me.
Therefore we also lead brides and grooms to the church, in order that they may publicly confess that they are entering into the holy estate of matrimony in accord with God's ordinance, that they do not intend to live in concubinage, and they are blessed, and they have no doubt that they are blessed by God. But - 145 they must take care that they remain blessed and lead their married life as married persons should, Godfearingly, purely, and unblemished, then they will remain blessed.
Now we know what the marriage estate is, namely, the creation and ordinance of God, and what is essential to it, namely, a man and a wife. Therefore it should also be considered pure by all men. And if the pope were a Christian, he, too, would hold the marriage estate to be holy and pure. But since he is not a Christian, but the Antichrist and the devil himself, he despises holy matrimony and considers it unclean.
But God, who ordained and appointed and blessed the marriage estate, honors marriage. Therefore, we, who are Christians and children of God through faith in Christ, should also honor, uphold, cherish, and esteem the marriage estate. And it should also be kept pure by all; which means that no whore nor adulterer should be found among you, but rather each of you should have his own wife. Moreover, it was for the sake of the marriage estate that God gave us the fourth commandment and made it the first commandment following the first table, thereby declaring that he wants marriage to be upheld and honored, for he says, "Honor your father and your mother, etc." [Exod. 20:12]. Why should I honor father and mother; after all they lead a carnal life? No, the life father and mother lead is an honorable and godly life. Just as it would be a dishonor for you, if you were born of a whore out of wedlock, so it would be a dishonor if parents lived together unmarried. Therefore to be married is honorable and pleasing to God.
But if for a time you have lived outside of this state in concubinage and led a life of fornication, ah, then stop it and repent, enter into marriage and henceforth live a married and godly life. Then you will be doing the right and Christian thing.
Those who bring forth children outside of marriage are parents too, it is true; but there is no honor in it. Therefore it is said, "Let the marriage bed be undefiled." In other words, let it not be a whore's bed or an adulterous bed. But here you object: How can the marriage bed be undefiled; after all, there is much impurity in the marriage bed too? This is true, there is not much that is pure in it. But if you want to see impurity, then look at the state of maidens and bachelors; everything is not pure there either, for as they eat and drink they cannot be clean; they must be hawking, sniffling, and snuffling, and whatever other uncleanness there may be. Look here, since you find it in the unmarried state too and are not troubled by such impurity there, why do you look only at the impurity that occurs also in the married state? Indeed, if we are going to talk about the purity and chastity which the angels possess, you will not find it anywhere, either in marriage or outside of marriage in the unmarried state; that kind of purity is gone. Nor are children pure; there you have nose dirt, filth, scabs, and much else that is unclean. But St. Paul is not speaking of that kind of impurity here; for in this respect all men are blemished and impure. He is speaking of the purity which should obtain in the marriage estate, that married people should not be fornicators or adulterers and adulteresses. Whatever else occurs in the married state God covers up, for, after all, it is done in order to bring forth children and God approves of this, for it is his ordinance. This kind of impurity, says God, I do not see. Here parents, fathers and mothers, or married people, are excused; God will not consider it impurity on account of inherited sin, nor will he consider it to be a sin.
God will rather build his kingdom of heaven over this work and cover up everything that is unclean in it for the sake of his ordinance and creation.
This is the kind of purity St. Paul means when he says: "Let the marriage bed be undefiled." He is not talking about cleanness in eating and drinking, but rather about marital faithfulness and duty, in which one trusts the other, keeps away from all other persons, and is content with his own spouse; this is what he calls purity. We should therefore thank and praise God, and we should also glory over against the miserable devil and the pope that we have been born of a pure and undefiled marriage bed; for the marriage bed is pure in the sight of God. Even though this vexes the devil, who would like to have it considered impure and wants to make it impure, this does not trouble us at all. This assurance and boast is given us by this text: "Let the marriage bed be undefiled among all." But this is followed by these words:
"God will judge the immoral and adulterous."
Here is pronounced the judgment that no whoremonger or adulterer will escape God's judgment. Here our adversaries, the enemies of marriage, must stop, and it will be no help for them to boast and appeal to their vows; for they are the real, true adulterers, who prevent marriage and forbid people to be married.
But when our Lord Jesus Christ comes on the last day to judge the living and the dead, God will not judge the married, for they are in his ordinance. Oh, what an unspeakable comfort that is for all married people in their estate! How confidently they can await the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christi For an apple
- 146 tree or some other tree which bears its kinds of fruit will not be judged on the last day because it bears apples or is defiled by caterpillars and worms. No, for it was created by God for the purpose of bearing apples and fruit. So married people, who are wedded and bear children and live pure wedded lives, will not be judged because of this.
But the immoral and adulterous, who live outside of this state in defilement and impurity, such as the pope and cardinals, bishops, canons, monks, nuns, etc., who forbid marriage and themselves engage in all kinds of abominable lust and vileness and so woefully befoul the holy estate of matrimony, God will judge on that day. Then the true judgment will be made. Indeed, God does not leave everything until that glorious day of Christ, but also punishes here in this life. I am not very old and yet I have lived almost three times longer than those in one or four convents I know of, where the bishop, canons, and vicars have passed away, and, as St. Peter says in II Pet. 2 [:1, 3], they "bring upon themselves swift destruction" and "their destruction has not been asleep." Our dear Lord God and Father in heaven does not grant and bestow upon them a long life, or at least very seldom, and few old people are to be found in convents, simply because they rage and rant against God's holy ordinance and violently tear it down and abominably befoul it.
You ought to thank the almighty, eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you can boast of the ordinance of God and the holy estate of matrimony. Keep it and raise up your children in the name of God. You don't need to worry about whether you are condemned by God for it, nor will he judge you for the work's sake; this I know for certain. Indeed, the fact that you are married, as long as you are a Christian, will be a great glory and honor to you on the last day. And now, and as long as you live, be confident in every hour that you are living in an estate which was instituted by God and is pleasing to him.
Let pope and bishops who are opposed to it fulminate and growl and the more they boast of their vow and condemn the married state the more let us be proud of the ordinance of God in which we live, for this God and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, is and will remain an everlasting God, whereas the pope and his rabble will wither like the grass of the field or quickly vanish away like a bubble.
But it is also required that every Christian should remain in the estate and calling in which he has been placed by God and faithfully discharge its duties; then God adds felicity and blessing. May God grant us this and be praised to all eternity. Amen.
THE LAST SERMON IN WITTENBERG The Last Sermon in Wittenberg, Rom. 12:3, January 17, 1546 The title of the printed version of this sermon reads: "The Last Sermon of Doctor Martin Luther of Hallowed Memory which He Preached on the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, January 17, 1546." It is the last sermon of which toe possess a transcript (Rörer's). The printed verion of 1549 was prepared by Stephan Tucher, pastor in Magdeburg, who heard the sermon himself but followed Rörer's transcript with remarkable faithfulness. After this sermon Luther preached five others before his death, on January 26 in Halle and on January 30, February 2, 7, and 15 in Eisleben. The present translation is based on both
Rörer's macaronic and Tucher's German text.
Text in WA 51, 123–134, compared with CL 7, 411–417.
"For by the grace given to me I bid [every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him"] Rom. 12 [:31].
St. Paul, as was his custom, taught first the great chief articles of Christian doctrine—the law, sin, and faith, how we are to be justified before God and live eternally. As you have often heard and still hear every day, namely, that there are two points to be taught and preached: first we must see to it that faith in Christ is rightly preached, and second, that the fruits and good works are rightly taught and practiced.
Faith requires that we know what sin is, what the law is, what death is, and what it does, and also how we return to life and abide in it. This is the way Paul teaches in all his epistles; first concerning faith in Christ. First he plants the good tree, just as anybody who wants to have a good garden must have good
- 147 trees. This is what Paul does; first he sets out the wild trees [cf. Rom. 11:24] and teaches how we should become good trees, that is, how we are to believe and be saved.
This he has been describing up to this point in the twelfth chapter. From here to the end of the epistle he teaches the fruits of faith, in order that we may not be false Christians, who have only the name of Christian, but rather real, true believers. This is the preaching concerning good works, which God commands, especially in the first and second table [i.e., of the Ten Commandments], that we, who have been redeemed through the blood and death of the Son of God, should live godly lives, as those who do not belong to this transitory life but rather to eternal life, provided that we rightly believe; in order that after believing we may not again follow the world, as Paul says in the preceding verse: "Be transformed by the renewal of your mind," etc. from. 12:2]. Review therefore the good works, which are to be done, to the end of the Epistle. First he deals with the good fruits which the Christians bring forth among themselves as if there were no government except the government of the church through baptism, etc.
Then in the thirteenth chapter he deals with worldly authority and the attibade of Christians toward it from. 13:3]. In the fourteenth chapter he admonishes the strong to receive the weak in faith from. 14:1].
Here he is teaching concerning the works of Christians. Now, he is saying, now that we have been made rich through Christ the Lord, transferred from the dominion of the devil and the world to his kingdom [cf. Col. 1:13], that is, into the church of Christ; now that we have the Word and the sacraments, now that we have been baptized, now that we are sons and heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ the Son of God [cf. Rom. 8:17], who has given us eternal life, now it is necessary that we look to and really devote ourselves to the glorious calling and gifts.
After baptism there still remains much of the old Adam. For, as we have often said, it is tame that sin is forgiven in baptism, but we are not yet altogether clean, as is shown in the parable of the Samaritan, who carried the man wounded by robbers to an inn [Luke 10:30–37]. He did not take care of him in such a way that he healed him at once, but rather bound up his wounds and poured on oil. The man who fell among robbers suffered two injuries. First, everything that he had was taken from him, he was robbed; and second, he was wounded, so that he was half-dead and would have died, if the Samaritan had not come to him. Adam fell among the robbers and implanted sin in us all. If Christ, the Samaritan, had not come, we should all have had to die. He it is who binds our wounds, carries us into the church and is now healing us.
So we are now under the Physician's care. The sin, it is true, is wholly forgiven, but it has not been wholly purged. If the Holy Spirit is not ruling men, they become corrupt again; but the Holy Spirit must cleanse the wounds daily. Therefore this life is a hospital; the sin has really been forgiven, but it has not yet been healed.
So there must be preaching and everyone must also take care that his own reason may not lead him astray. For, behold what the fanatics do. They have accepted the Word and faith, but then, added to baptism, there comes wisdom, which has not yet been purged, and wants to be wise in spiritual things.
They want to master both the Scriptures and faith by their own wisdom, and they perpetrate heresy. If we were wholly clean, we should not need everywhere the ministry of the Word. If we were altogether pure, we should have no need to be admonished, but would be like the angels in heaven with no need for a schoolmaster, and do everything willingly of ourselves. But since we are still confined to this miserable carcass—which in time the worms will devour, though it deserves something worse, to burn in hell eternally—it is necessary constantly to resist and put off the old man and his works and put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him [cf. Col. 3:10]. Usury, gluttony, adultery, manslaughter, murder, etc., these can be seen and the world understands that these are sins. But the devil's bride, reason, the lovely whore comes in and wants to be wise, and what she says, she thinks, is the Holy Spirit. Who can be of any help then? Neither jurist, physician, nor king, nor emperor; for she is the foremost whore the devil has. The other gross sins can be seen, but nobody can control reason. It walks about, cooks up fanaticism [Schwärmerei] with baptism and the Lord's Supper, and claims that everything that pops into its head and the devil puts into its heart is the Holy Spirit. Therefore
Paul says: As I am an apostle and God has given me the Spirit, so I appeal to you [of. Rom. 12:1; I Cor.
But you may say: Am I not a Christian nevertheless? Very well, but take heed, take heed to yourself, the sin has not yet been fully purged and healed. If I say to a young man or girl, "You should not have your father's or your mother's sickness," this is impossible. But if you follow your lusts you will become
- 148 a fornicator. Here the gospel admonishes you: Don't do it, don't follow your evil desires. The sin is forgiven, but see to it that you remain in grace. The remaining evil that still clings to the flesh is forgiven, but not yet fully purged, as in the case of him who fell among robbers. I am talking about lewdness, which is a gross sin and everybody feels it. Thus if a man does not heed the admonition of God to resist the devil when he is tempted, his sin has not been forgiven.
And what I say about the sin of lust, which everybody understands, applies also to reason; for the reason mocks and affronts God in spiritual things and has in it more hideous harlotry than any harlot. Here we have an idolater running after an idol, as the prophets say, under every green tree [cf. Jer. 2:20; I Kings
14:23], as a whorechaser runs after a harlot. That's why the Scriptures call idolatry whoredom, while reason calls it wisdom and holiness. How the prophets inveighed against this lovely whoredom, idolatry!
It is a wild thing which is not easily caught and its foolishness is inborn, but it considers itself the height of wisdom and justice, and still it cannot understand the things of God. We must guard against it, as the prophets say: You must not serve God on the mountains or in the valleys or under the trees, but in Jerusalem, which is the place that God appointed for his worship and where his Word is. But here again, reason says: True enough, I have been called, circumcised, and adjured to go to Jerusalem, but here is a beautiful meadow, a fine green mountain; if we worship God here this will please God and all the angels in heaven. After all, is God the kind of God who binds himself only to Jerusalem? Such wisdom of reason the prophets call whoredom.
Therefore, when we preach faith, that we should worship nothing but God alone, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we say in the Creed: "I believe in God the Father almighty and in Jesus Christ," then we are remaining in the temple at Jerusalem. Again, "This is my beloved Son; listen to him" [Matt. 17:5].
"You will find him in a manger" [cf. Luke 2:12]. He alone does it. But reason says the opposite: What, us?
Are we to worship only Christ? Indeed, shouldn't we also honor the holy mother of Christ? She is the woman who bruised the head of the serpent.2 Hear us, Mary, for try Son so honors thee that he can refuse thee nothing. Here Bernard went too far in his "Homilies on the Gospel 'Missus est Angelus.' "3 God has commanded that we should honor the parents; therefore I will call upon Mary. She will intercede for me with the Son, and the Son with the Father, who will listen to the Son. So you have the picture of God as angry and Christ as judge; Mary shows to Christ her breast and Christ shows his wounds to the wrathful
Father. That's the kind of thing this comely bride, the wisdom of reason cooks up: Mary is the mother of Christ, surely Christ will listen to her; Christ is a stern judge, therefore I will call upon St. George and St.
No, we have been by God's command baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, just as the Jews were circumcised. Therefore, just as the Jews set up all over the land their own selfchosen shrines, as if Jerusalem were too narrow, so we also have done. As a young man must resist lust and an old man avarice, so reason is by nature a harmful whore. But she shall not harm me, if only I resist her. Ah, but she is so comely and glittering. That's why there must be preachers who will point people to the catechism: I believe in Jesus Christ, not in St. George or St. Christopher, for only of Christ is it said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" [John 1:29]; not of Mary or the angels.
The Father did not speak of Gabriel or any others when he cried from heaven, "Listen to him" [Matt.
Therefore I should stick to the catechism; then I can defend myself against reason when the Anabaptists say, "Baptism is water; how can water do such great things? Pigs and cows drink it. The Spirit must do it." Don't you hear, you mangy, leprous whore, you holy reason, what the Scripture says, "Listen to him," who says, "Go and baptize all nations" [Matt. 28:19], and "He who believes and is baptized [will be saved"]? [Mark 16:16]. It is not merely water, but baptism given in the name of the holy Trinity.
Therefore, see to it that you hold reason in check and do not follow her beautiful cogitations. Throw dirt in her face and make her ugly. Don't you remember the mystery of the holy Trinity and the blood of Jesus Christ with which you have been washed of your sins? Again, concerning the sacrament, the fanatical antisacramentalists say, "What's the use of bread and wine? How can God the Almighty give his body in bread?" I wish they had to eat their own dirt.4 They are so smart that nobody can fool them. If you had one in a mortar and crushed him with seven pestles his foolishness still would not depart from him.5
Reason is and should be drowned in baptism, and this foolish wisdom will not harm you, if you hear the beloved Son of God saying, "Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you;6 this bread which is
- 149 administered to you, I say, is my body." If I hear and accept this, then I trample reason and its wisdom under foot and say, "You cursed whore, shut up! Are you trying to seduce me into committing fornication with the devil?" That's the way reason is purged and made free through the Word of the Son of God.
So let us deal with the fanatics as the prophets dealt with the spiritual harlots, the idolaters, the wiseacres, who want to do things better than God does. We should say to them, "I have a Bridegroom, I will listen to him. Your wisdom is utter foolishness. I destroy your wisdom and trample it under foot."
This struggle will go on till the last day. This is what Paul wants; we are to quench not only the low desires but also the high desires, reason and its high wisdom. When whoredom invades you, strike it dead, but do this far more when spiritual whoredom tempts you. Nothing pleases a man so much as self-love,7 when he has a passion for his own wisdom. The cupidity of a greedy man is as nothing compared with a man's hearty pleasure in his own ideas. He then brings these fine ideas into the Scriptures, and this is devilishness pure and simple. This sin is forgiven, but when it reigns in one's nature, not yet fully purged, then assuredly the true doctrine is soon lost, however willingly one preaches and willingly one listens.
Then Christ is gone. Then they fall down before the devil on the mountain and worship him (Matt. 4 [:8– Therefore I exhort you, says Paul, by the grace God has given me, not to think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think [cf. Rom. 12:3]. What he is saying is: You still have your own proud ideas, as well as other gross sins; therefore take heed to yourselves. Hitherto you have heard the real, true Word, now beware of your own thoughts and your own wisdom. The devil will kindle the light of reason and rob you of your faith. This is what happened to the Anabaptists and the antisacramentarians, and now we have nothing left but instigators of heresy. I have had more than thirty fanatics come to me and try to teach me; but I refuted all their arguments with this passage: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him" [Matt. 17:5]. And up to now I have by God's grace been sustained by this passage; otherwise I should have had to accept thirty different faiths.
The heretics are always looking for quarrels and dodges to make us retreat, and relax, and give in. But I say to them, we shall not do it, God helping us. When they hear this they say: You are proud dunces.
Well, I will suffer all kinds of reviling from them, but not one fingerbreadth will I depart from the mouth of Him who says, "Listen to Him." I foresee that, if God does not give us faithful ministers, the devil will tear our church apart through the sectarians and he will never cease until he has accomplished it. In a word, that is simply what he has in mind. If he cannot do it through the pope and the emperor, he will accomplish it through those who are still in accord with us in doctrine.
Therefore we need to pray from our hearts that God may give us pure teachers. Now we are so secure and we do not see how horribly the prince of this world is taking possession of us through the pope, the emperor, and our learned doctors, who say, What harm is there if we yield here? No, we should not yield a haws breadth. If they will stick with us, very well; if not, let them go. I did not receive the doctrine from them, but by divine grace from God. I have been taught wisdom by experience. Therefore earnestly pray
God that he may leave the Word with you, for some surprising things are going to happen. "Ah!" say the jurists and the wiseacres at court, "you're proud, the result will be an uprising," and so on. Our Lord God help us confidently to resist these perilous temptations!
You may think that you have been blessed above others with splendid gifts and sincerely thank God for them, but don't go too far, but only as far as accords with faith and is like faith. If an idea occurs to you, I would not throw it out altogether, but let it have some value. But go easy; St. Paul says, "in proportion" [Rom. 12:6]; don't be misled by it. How can I know, then, how far? Paul answers, "in proportion to our faith,"8 that is, as far as it is in accord with faith. So you must keep your own ideas in check. Just as the evil lusts of the flesh are to be bridled, so conceit is original sin. Thus one may have a desire for a young woman which is "according to the measure of faith." How? The answer is that you should love the young woman (or young man) only in such a way as to desire her (or him) as a married partner, for the sixth commandment prohibits illicit love. Lust is in our corrupt nature; but when you
"proportion" it thus: "I want to love the young woman, not to commit fornication with her"; then the desire has its proportion, namely, that it is not contrary to the sixth commandment, and the sixth commandment becomes the measure by which the desire is controlled.
So it is with this hellish, whorish lust of thinking that everything was fine under the papacy; you are taking pleasure in your own conceit. Hang a clog on the neck of that lust, set a limit to it, so that it will not - 150 become presumptuous, but rather remain subject to faith, which is the overlord of all the gifts we have, not only of our conceit. Everything should be subject to faith, or rather, the fine gift of conceit should not be wiser than faith. See to it that it is in accord with it.
When you hear a fanatical antisacramentalist say, "There is only bread and wine in the sacrament of the altar," or "Do you think that at your word Christ is going to descend from heaven into your mouth and your belly?" You just say to him, "Ah, I like what you say; what a learned bride the devil has! But what do you say to this: 'This is my beloved Son, listen to him?' And he says, 'This is my body' [Matt. 17:5;
26:26]. Go, trot to the privy with your conceit, your reason! Shut up, you cursed whore, do you think you are master over faith, which declares that the true body and the true blood is in the Lord's Supper, and that Baptism is not merely water, but the water of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?" Reason must be subject and obedient to this faith.
Likewise, those who say that we are proud and ought to give in; are they talking about material things?
No, they are really talking about matters of faith. But it is written here that we are to accept conceit and reason only in so far as it is not contrary to faith; you must not make faith a servant nor cast Christ out of heaven [i.e., rob Christ of his divinity].
Therefore Paul has exhorted us to withstand the high evil lusts, not only the low and mean ones. I must hang the word of faith like a clog on the neck of the high lusts. Reason, wisdom, would you lead up a green mountain, there to worship contrary to the commandment of God? No, I will not do it, I will worship him in Jerusalem. I don't care whether you can worship God in other places too: God has forbidden us to worship him under a green tree. I know very well that God is able to help us through the mother of the Son; but he does not will to help us except only through the Son, Jesus Christ the Lord, in whom we should put all our trust and hope. God could have said: If you say a Paternoster [the Lord's
Prayer] to this saint, you will be saved. But God doesn't want you to do this; in fact, he has sternly forbidden it. This is the evil which St. Paul means in this passage—that we should be on our guard, not only against the gross lusts, but also against the high lusts, which break the unity of faith and bring about whoredom, which is idolatry.
THE LAST SERMON, EISLEBEN The Last Sermon, Preached in Eisleben, Matt. 11:25–30, On the Saturday following the preceding sermon Luther set out for Mansfeld to mediate a dispute between Count Albert and Count Gebhard. Most likely his last sermon was preached on Monday, February 15, not on February 14, to a large crowd which gathered prom all over the countryside to hear him. On the day afterward while confined to his bed, he signed the treaty between the brothers, on the eighteenth he died, and on the twenty-second his body was buried in Wittenberg. The last four sermons, preached in Eisleben, were published in Wittenberg, 1546. Who the transcriber was cannot be determined.
Text in German; WA 51, 187–194.
This is a fine Gospel and it has a lot in it. Let us talk about part of it now, covering as much as we can and as God gives us grace.
The Lord here praises and extols his heavenly Father for having hidden these things from the wise and understanding. That is, he did not make his gospel known to the wise and understanding, but to infants and children who cannot speak and preach and are not knowing and wise. Thus he indicates that he is opposed to the wise and understanding and dearly loves those who are not wise and understanding but are rather like young children.
But to the world it is very foolish and offensive that God should be opposed to the wise and condemn them, when, after all, we have the idea that God could not reign if he did not have wise and understanding people to help him. But the meaning of the saying is this: the wise and understanding in the world so contrive things that God cannot be favorable and good to them. For they are always exerting themselves; they do things in the Christian church the way they want to themselves. Everything that God does they must improve, so that there is no poorer, more insignificant and despised disciple on earth than God; he must be everybody's pupil, everybody wants to be his teacher and preceptor. This may be seen in all
- 151 heretics from the beginning of the world, in Arius and Pelagius, and now in our time the Anabaptists and antisacramentarians, and all fanatics and rebels; they are not satisfied with what God has done and instituted, they cannot let things be as they were ordained to be. They think they have to do something too, in order that they may be a bit better than other people and be able to boast: This is what I have done; what
God has done is too poor and insignificant, even childish and foolish; I must add something to it. This is the nature of the shameful wisdom of the world, especially in the Christian church, where one bishop and one pastor hacks and snaps at another and one obstructs and shoves the other, as we have seen at all times in the government of the church to its great detriment. These are the real wiseacres, of whom Christ is speaking here, who put the cart before the horse and will not stay on the road which God himself has shown us, but always have to have and do something special in order that the people may say: Ah, our pastor or preacher is nothing; there's the real man, he'll get things done!
But is this behavior not a disgusting thing, and should not God grow impatient with it? Should he be so greatly pleased with these fellows who are all too smart and wise for him and are always wanting to send him back to school? As it says later in the same chapter, "Wisdom must be justified by her own children" [Luke 7:35]. Things are in a fine state, indeed, when the egg wants to be wiser than the hen. A fine governance it must be when the children want to rule their father and mother, and the fools and simpletons the wise people. You see, this is the reason why the wise and understanding are condemned everywhere in the Scriptures.
The pope has also done the same thing. For example, when Christ established and instituted the ministry [Predigtamt] and the sacrament of his body and blood in order that Christians should use it to strengthen and fortify their faith, the pope cried: No, that's not the way it should be; it must be wisely handled! For his decree says that it is not good that the sacrament should be administered for the strengthening of the faith of Christians, but that when the priest reads the mass for the living or the dead it must be a sacrifice; for example, when a merchant is about to go on a journey, he should first have a mass read for him, and then it will turn out fortunately for him.
Likewise, the fact that God instituted baptism is a trifling thing to the pope and with him it soon became lost and impotent. In its place he created his shavelings, who wear cowls and tonsures; they are the ones who were going to save the world with their orders and monkery, so that anybody who entered such an order possessed a new and better baptism, by which not only he but also other people were to be helped if they wished to be saved. Such is the pope's wisdom and understanding. So it is with our Lord
God in the world; whatever he institutes and ordains must always be not only perverted but also reviled and discredited by the devil and his followers. And then the world even thinks that God should be pleased and look with approval upon the fact that every fool wants to master and rule him.
In worldly affairs and government the same thing happens, as Aristotle too has written. A few people are often endowed with great wisdom and understanding, unlike ordinary people. Often God gives us a fine, noble, intelligent man, who could serve principalities and people with wisdom and counsel. But such persons flee from the business of government and it is hard to bring them to govern. On the other hand, however, there are others who want to be and to do it, but they have no ability. In worldly government these are called jackanapes and wiseacres. These fellows are inveighed against and we are quite rightly hostile to them; everybody mourns the fact that we can never be safe from these fools, for they are good for nothing and they do nothing but put flies in the ointment. That's why the people say of them: The devil has slobbered us with fools,1 And Aristotle,2 who observed in governments that few people are properly qualified to govern, makes a distinction between the truly wise and understanding and others whom he calls doxa, id est opinione sua sapientes, the wise who only think they are wise and understanding; just as we say in German: Conceit keeps the dance going. They imagine that because they are in the government and are higher-ups they must surely be wise. And one such fool in counsel hinders the others from getting on with anything at all; for he wants to be wise by force in the devil's name, and still he is a fool.
Now, if in worldly affairs one is quite rightly opposed to these people who want to be wise and are not, how much more irksome are those people, whom both God and men rightly dislike, who want to be wise in the holy Christian church and are not. For these people hinder the ministry, so that the people cannot come to God. Such in our time were Münzer,3 and the antisacramentarians, who prevent and obstruct the course of the gospel and mislead the people, imagining that they alone are wise and understanding because they are in the office and government of the church.
- 152 So the pope, too, wants to be a very wise man, indeed, the wisest of the wise, simply because he has a high position and claims to be the head of the church; whereupon the devil so puffs him up that he imagines that whatever he says and does is pure divine wisdom and everybody must accept and obey it, and nobody should ask whether it is God's Word or not. In his big fool's book,4 he presumes quite shamelessly to say that it is not likely that such an eminence, meaning himself, could err. So, too, the emperor, kings, and cardinals; because they sit in such high places, they too think they cannot err or be wrong.
This is just the kind of wisdom that Caiaphas had when he was in council with the Jews [John 11:49– 50]: You utter fools, you have no heads, you know nothing and understand nothing at all; is it not better that one man should die rather than the whole nation should perish? This was wise and shrewd counsel: better kill one man than ruin the whole country. But how did this counsel turn out? This was precisely the thing by which he brought it about that the whole country had to perish and go down. This is what all such wiseacres do in the Christian church and in the secular government.
This, then, is what the Lord Christ is saying here. He is opposed to the wiseacres, he will not tolerate them in his Christian church, whether they be pope, emperors, kings, princes, or learned men, because they want to make themselves masters of his divine Word and with their own wisdom rule in the high, great matters of faith and our salvation. We ourselves have experienced many such instances in a short time. These wiseacres have undertaken to institute agreements and reformations by which unity is to be achieved in the Christian church. And the reasons they bring forward are priceless: the emperor, the kings, the princes, and lords should do so and so; then the country and the people would be helped and much good would be accomplished in Christendom. But it is all too evident what is accomplished by such schemes and such wisdom.
But most of all and for the longest time it has been the pope and the cardinals who have promoted this kind of wisdom and understanding and wanted to be God's master and rule Christendom themselves. But this God will not tolerate. He has no intention of being a pupil; they are to be the pupils. He is the eternal wisdom and he knows very well what he wishes to do or not to do. They think that, because they sit at the top of the government, they are the wisest, that they see more deeply into the Scriptures than other people.
Therefore God brings them to terrible destruction; for he will not and cannot, nor should he, tolerate it.
And so he brings it to pass that the gospel remains hidden from the high and the wise, and he rules his church quite differently from what they think and understand, even though they imagine they know and understand everything and that, because they are in the government, God cannot get along without their counsel and rule.
It sounds almost as if, when Christ spoke these words: "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven," etc.
[Matt. 11:25], they were spoken with ill will. And yet there was no ill will or hatred in his heart; for, since he gave himself, body and life, for us, how could there be any ill will there? But his annoyance and displeasure comes from the fact that these miserable, foolish people presume to become masters of the divine Majesty. This he cannot and should not tolerate, and all devout hearts thank him for it, for otherwise there would be no end to this affected wisdom and mastery. The devil so rides these people that all they want from the Holy Scriptures and God's Word is a big name and their own praise and honor, and they want to be more than other people. But here we ought to say: Dear heavenly Father, speak thou, I am willing to be a fool and a child and be silent; for if I were to rule with my own understanding, wisdom, and reason, the cart would long since have been stuck in the mire and the ship would long since have been wrecked. Therefore, dear God, do thou rule and guide it thyself; I will gladly put out my eyes, and my reason besides, and let thee alone rule through thy Word.
But this cannot be achieved with the world. The sectarians rise up and at bottom seek nothing else except to gain great honor among the people, so that people will say of them: There's the right man; he'll do it! And with this praise they also want to strut and tickle their own vanity: This you have done, this is your work, you are the first-rate man, the real master. But that isn't even worth throwing to the dogs. For right preachers should diligently and faithfully teach only the Word of God and seek only his honor and praise. Likewise, the hearers also should say: I do not believe in my pastor, but he tells me of another
Lord, whose name is Christ; him he shows to me; I will listen to him, in so far as he leads me to the true Teacher and Master, God's Son.
- 153 Then things would be right in the church and it would be well governed, and there would be harmony all around. Otherwise there will be the same displeasure as there is in secular government. A city council will not tolerate a fool who frequently gets the whole town into confusion, but casts him out, and the whole country is glad about it. The same thing should happen here in the Christian church; none other should be preached or taught except the Son of God alone. Of him alone is it said, "This is my beloved
Son; listen to him" [Matt. 17:5]—and of no other, be he emperor, pope, or cardinal.
Therefore this is what we say: I grant that emperor, pope, cardinals, princes, and nobles are wise and understanding, but I shall believe in Christ; he is my Lord, he is the one God bids me to listen to, from him he bids me to learn what real, divine wisdom and understanding is.
But right here the pope and those who follow him cry out: No, no, this you should not do; you should be obedient to the governing authorities and do what we tell you to do. Yes, I reply, this I should do, but first you become one with the Lord, who here says: "All things have been delivered to me by my Father"
[Matt. 11:25]. Therefore, dear pope, emperor, king, prince, and lord, do not go on this way; I will gladly listen to you so far as secular government is concerned, but when you presume to be master in Christendom and claim power to determine what I should believe and do, this I will not accept, for then you are claiming to be wise and understanding at the point where you are a fool and nothing has been revealed to you. For here is the Lord, who is the only one we ought to hear in these matters, as he himself says: "No one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him"
[Matt. 11:27], that is, to the childlike and simple, who consider themselves neither wise nor understanding, but rather hear and accept his Word. So, if it is his Word you hold up to me and command,
I shall gladly accept it, even though it be spoken by a little child, or even the ass that spoke to Balaam [Num. 22:21–30]. Here I will make no distinction between the persons who speak, whether they be wise men or fools; for it has been decided and commanded: "All things have been delivered to me" [Matt.
11:27], I alone am the Man who should teach and rule, despite all the wise and understanding, who should allow their eyes to be blinded, and their reason too.
For our wisdom and understanding in divine things is the eye which the devil opened for us in paradise, when Adam and Eve, too, wanted to be wise in the devil's name. God himself taught them and gave them his Word, which they were to adhere to, if they wanted to be really wise. Then came the devil and made improvements; he closed the eyes with which they had previously seen God and not seen the devil. This is the plague which still continues to cling to us—that we want to be wise and understanding in the devil's name.
But to combat this we must learn what this means: "All things have been delivered to me." In other words: I must rule, teach, counsel, give orders, and command in my church. And when he said that, Christ openly confessed that he is true God; for no angel nor any other creature can say that all things have been delivered to him. It is true that the devil once tried to seat himself on the throne and be like God; but he was soon flung out of heaven for it. Therefore Christ says, "All things have been delivered to me," that is, to me, to me you must be obedient. If you have my Word, then stick to it, and pay no attention to anybody who teaches and commands you differently. I will rule, protect, and save you well. Let the pope, emperor, the mighty, and the learned be wise; but don't you follow them, even though they were a thousand times wiser than they are. Don't you do what even an angel in heaven dare not do, take over the sovereignty and the power of being wise yourself or exercising power and rule in God's government. And yet these poor, miserable people, the pope, emperor, kings, and all sectarians, do not hesitate to arrogate this to themselves. But God has set his Son at his right hand and said in Ps. 2 [:7], "You are my son"; I have made the whole world and all nations your possession; hear him, you kings and lords, if you would be wise; do homage to him as your Lord; and know that what he says to you I am saying to you.
This we Christians should learn and acknowledge, even though the world does not want to do it, and we should be grateful to God that he has so richly blessed us and granted that we ourselves are able to hear him, just as Christ himself here gives joyful thanks to his heavenly Father. In times past we would have run to the ends of the world if we had known of a place where we could have heard God speak. But now that we hear this every day in sermons, indeed, now that all books are full of it, we do not see this happening. You hear at home in your house, father and mother and children sing and speak of it, the preacher speaks of it in the parish church—you ought to lift up your hands and rejoice that we have been given the honor of hearing God speaking to us through his Word.
- 154 Oh, people say, what is that? After all, there is preaching every day, often many times every day, so that we soon grow weary of it. What do we get out of it? All right, go ahead, dear brother, if you don't want God to speak to you every day at home in your house and in your parish church, then be wise and look for something else: in Trier is our Lord God's coat, in Aachen are Joseph's pants and our blessed
Lady's chemise; go there and squander your money, buy indulgence and the pope's secondhand junk; these are valuable things! You have to go far for these things and spend a lot of money; leave house and home standing idle!
But aren't we stupid and crazy, yes, blinded and possessed by the devil? There sits the decoy duck in Rome with his bag of tricks, luring to himself the whole world with its money and goods, and all the while anybody can go to baptism, the sacrament, and the pulpit! How highly honored and richly blessed we are to know that God speaks with us and feeds us with his Word, gives us his baptism, the keys [absolution], etc.! But these barbarous, godless people say: What, baptism, sacrament, God's Word?—Joseph's pants, that's what does it! It is the devil in the world who makes the high personages, the emperor and the kings, oblivious to such things and causes them to allow themselves to be so grossly duped and fooled and bespattered with filth by these first-class rascals and liars, the pope and his tonsured shavelings. But we should listen to God's Word, which tells us that he is our schoolmaster, and have nothing to do with Joseph's pants or the pope's juggling tricks.
This is the first point in this Gospel—that Christ and God the Father himself are opposed to the wise and understanding. For they vex him greatly; they mangle the sacrament and the church, and set themselves up in God's place and want themselves to be masters. To such all the angels in heaven and all
Christians are opposed and we should say to them: If you want to teach Christ to me, I shall gladly listen to you, otherwise not, even if you were an angel from heaven, as St. Paul says in Gal. 1 [:8]. "Even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed."
When, therefore, the great lords, the emperor, pope, cardinals, and bishops are hostile and wrathful toward us because of all this, excommunicate us, and would gladly burn and murder us all, we must suffer it and say: We did not start this on account of the pope, the bishops, and the princes, nor shall we stop it on account of them. Christ says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden" [Matt. 11:28], and it is as though he were saying: Just stick to me, hold on to my Word and let everything else go. If you are burned and beheaded for it, then have patience, I will make it so sweet for you that you easily would be able to bear it. It has also been written of St. Agnes5 that when she was led to prison to be killed, it was to her as if she were going to a dance. Where did she get this? Ah, only from this Christ, from believing this saying, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." That is to say: If things go badly, I will give you the courage even to laugh about it; and if even though you walk on fiery coals, the torment shall nevertheless not be so severe and the devil shall nevertheless not be so bad, and you will rather feel that you are walking on roses.6 I will give you the heart to laugh even though Turk, pope, emperor, and everybody else be filled with horrible wrath and rage. Only come to me; and if you are facing oppression, death, or torture, because the pope, the Turk, and emperor are attacking you, do not be afraid; it will not be heavy for you, but light and easy to bear, for I give you the Spirit, so that the burden, which for the world would be unbearable, becomes for you a light burden. For when you suffer for my sake, it is my yoke and my burden, which I lay upon you in grace, that you may know that this your suffering is well pleasing to God and to me and that I myself am helping you to carry it and giving you power and strength to do so. So also say Ps. 31 [:24] and Ps. 27 [:14]: "Let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord," i.e., all you who suffer for his sake. Let misfortune, sin, death, and whatever the devil and the world loads upon you assail and assault you, if only you remain confident and undismayed, waiting upon the Lord in faith, you have already won, you have already escaped death and far surpassed the devil and the world.
Lo, this means that the wise of this world are rejected, that we may learn not to think ourselves wise and to put away from our eyes all great personages, indeed, to shut our eyes altogether, and cling only to Christ's Word and come to him, as he so lovingly invites us to do, and say: Thou alone art my beloved
Lord and Master, I am thy disciple.
This and much more might be said concerning this Gospel, but I am too weak and we shall let it go at that.
Abraham, 29, 82, 105, 316, 338 Absolution, 59, 99, 167, 299, 307, 326, 327, 391 Adam, 38, 39, 57, 62, 245, 316, 323, 358–359 old, 19, 146, 373
Adultery, 153–155, 191, 294, 299, 361, 374 Agricola, John, 103, 197 Albert of Mansfeld, Count, 197, 383 Albrecht of Hohenzollern, (Cardinal) Archbishop of Mainz, 84
Amsdorf, Nicholas, 69, 77 Anabaptist, 187, 224, 226, 299, 325, 337, 377, 384 Antisacramentarian, 213, 224, 226, 377, 379, 384, 386, 387
Aristotle, 22, 64, 65 Nichomachean Ethics, 6, 64, 385 Aspergillum, 326, 333 Augsburg, xiii, 236, 237, 238, 291 Augsburg Confession, 197
Augustine, xviii, 9, 16, 24, 78, 295, 296, 362, 363 Enarratio in psalmos XXI, 94 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John, 36, 37, 38, 42, 44, 45, 187, 189
Augustinian, xi, 5, 61, 69, 80, 113 Aurifaber, Johannes, xvi, 70, 291 Baptism, 11, 22, 99, 113–114, 116, 167, 172, 182–188, 242, 247–248, 294, 296, 299, 307–308, 315–329, 343,
373–374, 376, 379, 385, 391 Barnim of Pomerania Duke, 53 Bartholomew, St., 217 Beer, 77, 180, 296, 323 Bernard of Clairvaux, 186
Homilia II super "Missus est", 375 Bernhard of Anhalt, Prince, 315 Bishop, 73, 136, 137, 139–140, 154, 181, 184, 202, 206, 279, 295, 306, 354, 363, 366, 384, 391
Blindness, 37–43, 104, 109 Boehmer, Heinrich, 26, 35, 61 - 156 Bonaventura, 186 Bornkamm, Heinrich, xi Brotherhood of St. Valentine, 142
Buchwald, Georg, xi, xvi, 5, 136, 211, 221 Bugenhagen, John, xii, xv, 121, 357 Canonical hours, 65, 107, 171 Cardinals, 306, 311, 360–361, 387–388, 391
Carthusian, 81, 107, 109, 111, 115, 247 Castor and Pollux, 83 Catechism, xviii, 135–193, 335, 376 definition of, 135, 137–138, 182
Catechism, Large, xiii, 135, 136, 161, 163, 165, 166, 167, 177, 179, 186 Charles V, Emperor, 150 Chastity, 80, 81, 116, 154, 171, 362
Children, 146, 151, 159 Christ, baptism of, 315–319 commandment of, 104–110 cross of, 31, 198, 208 death of, 234–236 mediator, 277, 281–284 passion of, 197, 316 works of, 36
Christian, What it means to be a, 111–117, 164–165, 274 Christmas, xiv, xv, 211, 296 Christopher, St., 201–203, 375, 376
Church, 59, 78, 166–167, 168, 177, 180, 304–306, 386–388 dedication of a, 333–354 Fourth Ecumenical (Lateran), 93 Seventh Ecumenical, 82
Churching of women, 296 Circumcision, 78, 87, 105–106, 266, 270 Commandments, 23, 187, 285–286, 299, 342, 344 Ten Commandments, xii, 14, 137, 146, 149, 150, 158, 161, 162, 169, 188, 335, 372
First, 82, 138–141, 150, 161 Second, 141–143, 169, 173 Third, 143–145, 335, 342 Fourth, 146–152, 183, 365 - 157 Eighth, 158–160
Ninth and Tenth, 160–161 Concupiscence, 22, 25 Confession, private, 65, 69, 97–100, 107 Conscience, 20, 30, 46, 59, 79, 80, 93, 94, 99, 129, 131, 158, 178, 273–277, 341
Counterfeiting, 124, 177 Creation, 162, 163, 164, 358 Creed, 137, 142, 144, 162–169, 181, 188, 277, 349, 375 Cross of Christians, 31, 40, 41, 117, 198–208, 329, 392
Cruciger, Kaspar, xiv, xv, xvi, 259, 303, 333 Cursing, 142, 143, 155, 174 David, 21, 106, 160, 275, 350 Death, 41, 62, 70, 79, 93–94, 112, 114–115, 164–165, 180, 192, 200, 233–255 passim, 316, 319, 392
Devil, 38, 41, 45, 48–49, 62–65, 71–73, 78–80, 85–86, 90, 92–94, 98, 100, 111–115, 124, 126, 128, 138–139, 141, 143, 157, 165, 172, 175, 177, 180–181, 184, 187, 198, 200, 203, 205–207, 212, 217, 238, 240–242,
248–249, 264, 295, 299, 338, 354, 360, 362, 373–374, 377–378, 386, 391–392 Diet of Augsburg, 197, 217 Dietrich of Berne, 64
Dietrich, Veit, xiv, xv, 197 Drinking (drunkenness), 11, 97, 135, 157–158, 291–299 Ebeling, Gerhard, xi, xiii, xx Eck, Johann, xiv, 53, 54, 55, 212
Emperor, 78, 82, 89, 154, 160, 175, 189, 192–193, 271–272, 281, 307, 312, 350, 363, 374, 378, 387, 391–392 Erfurt, xii, xiii, xv, 5, 60, 61, 103
Eternal life, 8, 114, 115, 126, 147, 166, 174, 191, 293 Excommunication, 42, 66, 97–98, 131, 391 Faith, 59, 60, 66, 71, 74, 76, 89, 92–93, 99, 110–116 passim, 164, 171, 182, 187, 198, 247, 275–283 passim,
308, 372 and love, 71–72, 75 Fanatics, xx, 158, 176, 180, 184, 187, 188, 198, 199, 213–214, 225, 227, 373, 374, 377 Fasting, 62–66 passim, 74, 86–87, 105, 107, 110, 113, 116, 124, 131, 247, 270, 273
Fife, R. H., 5, 14, 53, 61 - 158 Flagellant, 113 Force, use of, 76–77, 81, 191 Forgiveness of sins, 20, 22, 59, 126, 130, 131, 166–167, 178–179, 190–191, 274, 277, 317–318
Fornication, 154, 176, 179, 191, 192, 364, 374 Francis of Assisi, St., 217 Frederick the Wise of Saxony, Elector, 55, 84, 231
Freedom of the Christian, 74, 79, 80–81, 86–87, 90, 135, 337, 339 Free will, 53, 56–59, 126, 128 Gabriel, archangel, 80, 376
Gebhard of Mansfeld, Count, 383 George of Anhalt, Prince, 259, 357 George of Saxony, Duke, 303 Germany, 78, 223, 292, 354
Gerson, John, 48, 186 Gluttony, 12, 179, 291–299, 374 God, alien work of, 19–21 Father, 162–163, 216 fear of, 138–141, 144, 146, 155 praise of, 142, 164, 173, 333 trust in, 138–141, 144, 145, 146, 156 what makes a, 138–139 work of, 18–19
Gogarten, Friedrich, xi, xix Good works, 26, 47, 58, 60, 62–66 passim, 105, 108, 110, 112, 115, 117, 127, 185, 191, 198–199, 217, 226,
Gospel, 111–115 passim, 126, 129, 165, 175–176, 198, 207, 242 Gospels and Epistles, xiv, xvii, xviii, 122, 221, 371 Government, 159–160, 170, 177, 181, 295, 354, 385, 388–389
Grace, 29, 43, 47, 53, 56–60, 112, 114, 115, 122, 187, 278, 328 Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, 113 Halle, xv, 84, 357, 371 Hamann, Johann Georg, 25
Hell, 62, 73, 92, 93, 114, 164, 200 Henry of Saxony, Duke, 303 Heretic, 175, 320, 373 Hirsch, Emanuel, xi, xiv, xv, 121 - 159 Holy Spirit, 46, 74, 81, 110–112 passim, 128, 130, 132, 162, 165, 166–169, 183, 186, 192, 216, 222, 224–225 passim, 227, 235, 248, 298, 304, 306, 317–324 passim, 373, 374, 376, 392
Holy water, 321, 326, 327 Humility, 14–17, 43, 73, 130, 351–352 Hypocrisy, 27, 76, 112, 127, 272 Iconoclastic Controversy, 82
Idolatry, 84–85, 139, 204, 294, 327, 346, 374, 380 Images, 41, 69, 75, 81–85, 88, 328 Indulgences, 26, 31, 35, 54, 55, 77, 142, 179, 390
Innocent III, Pope, 93 Italian, 292, 293, 294, 297 Jacobs, Charles M., 40, 49, 55 Jacobs, Henry E., 121, 161 James of Compostella, St., 61, 109, 179, 217, 327
Joachim of Anhalt, Prince, 259 Joachim of Brandenburg, Prince Elector, 259 Johann of Anhalt, Prince, 259, 315 John of Saxony, Duke Elector, 103, 177, 197, 231 characterization of, 232, 235–237, 239, 241
John Frederick of Saxony, Elector, 103, 231 Jonas, Justus, 69, 80, 197, 303, 312 Joseph's pants, 390–391 Judgment, 63, 98, 275–279
Justification, 19, 29, 63, 283 Karlstadt, Andreas, 53, 69, 80 Kierkegaard, Søren, 25 Kiessling, Elmer Carl, xi, 5, 17, 26
Kingdom of God, 71, 89, 165, 174–176, 345 Köstlin, Julius, 103, 295 Lang, John, 5, 12, 49 Lauterbach, Anton, xi, xvi Law, 78, 79, 104–108, 132, 227, 279
Law and Gospel, 20, 109, 132, 279–283 Law, canon, 88, 93, 108, 114, 386 Lazarus, 44, 45, 48, 233, 253 Leipzig, xiv, 53, 55, 56, 303, 312
Lindenau, Sigismund von, 357 Löscher, Valentin E., 30