To the worthy Doctor Johann Heß, pastor of Breslau, together with his fellow servants in the Gospel of Christ, grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Your question, which you sent to us in Wittenberg, namely, whether it is proper for a Christian man to flee in mortal danger, we have long since received and should also have long since answered; but God Almighty has kept me so hard in discipline and distemper for some time that there has not been much reading or writing in me. So I also thought that because God, the Father of all mercy, has gifted you so abundantly with all kinds of understanding and truth in Christ, you would be able to decide and judge such and even greater questions through the same spirit and grace, even without our help.
But now your persistence does not cease and almost humbles you, that you also desire to know our opinion in this matter, so that, as St. Paul teaches everywhere, 2 Cor. 18, 11, the same sense and doctrine may be found among us all, Phil. 2, 2.We hereby give you our opinion, as much as God gives us and as much as we can always understand, and with all humility we want to subject it to your understanding and to the judgment of all pious Christians, as is proper. And since there are more cries of death here and elsewhere, we have let it go out through the print, whether perhaps others would also desire and need such our instruction.
(3) First of all, some firmly believe that one must not and should not flee in the days of death; rather, because death is a punishment from God, sent to us because of our sin, one should keep God quiet and patiently await the punishment in right, firm faith, and consider it to be unjust and unbelief in God. The others, however, think that we should flee, especially those who are not bound by office.
(4) The first I do not blame for their good opinion, because they praise a good thing, namely, a strong faith. And they are to be praised in that they would like to have all Christians in strong, firm faith. Nor is it necessary to have a milk faith, that one should wait for death, of which almost all the saints have been and still are terrified; and who would not praise those who are so earnestly minded that they do not greatly esteem death and willingly give themselves under God's guidance? provided that such also happens without God's temptation, as we shall hear.
(5) But because it is so done among Christians that the strong are few and the weak many, it is true that all cannot be charged with bearing the same thing. A strong believer can drink poison and not be harmed, Marc. 16. 18. but a weak believer drinks death from it. Peter could walk on the sea because he was strong in faith, but when he doubted and became weak in faith, he sank and wanted to drown. A strong man, when he walks with a weak man, must be careful not to walk according to his strength, or he will soon run the weak man to death. Now Christ does not want to reject his weak, as St. Paul teaches, Rom. 15, 1. and 1 Cor. 8, 9.
(6) And to be brief and to the point: dying and escaping death can happen in two ways. The first, if it happens against God's word and command, as if someone were imprisoned for the sake of God's word and, in order to escape death, denied or recanted God's word; in such a case, everyone has a public command and command from Christ that he should not escape, but rather die; as he says, Matth. 10, 33: "Whoever denies me before men, I will deny him again before my Father in heaven", and Matth. 10, 28: "Do not fear those who kill the body and have nothing to do after that" etc.
7 Similarly, those who are in the spiritual ministry, as preachers and ministers, are
to stand and remain guilty in death and mortal need; for there is a public command of Christ, John 10:12: "A good shepherd layeth down his life for his sheep, but a hireling seeth the wolf coming, and fleeth." For in dying one needs the spiritual ministry most of all, that with God's Word and Sacrament the conscience may be strengthened and comforted to overcome death in faith. But if there were so many preachers and they united among themselves that they urged some of them to leave, as those who remain without need in such danger, I think it should not be a sin, because the ministry would otherwise be sufficiently provided for, and they are willing and ready to stay where it is necessary; just as one reads of St. Athanasius that he fled from his church, so that his life would be saved, because otherwise there were many who were waiting for the ministry. Item, St. Paul was let through the wall in a basket by the brothers at Damascus, so that he escaped, Apost. 9, 25, and Cap. 19, 30, he let the disciples stop him from going to the market in danger, because it was not necessary.
(8) Accordingly, all those in secular offices, as mayors and judges and the like, are guilty of remaining so; for there is again God's word, which establishes and commands the secular authorities to govern, protect and manage the city and country, as St. Paul, Rom. 13:4, says: "The authorities are God's servants, to manage peace" etc. For it is a great sin to leave a whole congregation, which someone is charged with providing for, to sit without headship and rule in all danger, such as fire, murderers, riots and all kinds of accidents, which the devil might bring to pass, because there is no order; and St. Paul says, 1 Tim. 5:8: "He who does not provide for his own denies the faith and is worse than a heathen." But let them flee from great weakness, that they may watch, and put in their place stewards sufficient to keep the church well provided for, and to take care of it, as is said above; and let them diligently watch for it, and see that it goeth thus.
(9) Now what is said of these two offices shall also be understood of all other persons connected with service or duty.
A servant shall not flee from his master, nor a maid from her wife, except with the knowledge and permission of the master or wife. Again, a master shall not leave his servant, nor a wife her maid, unless they provide for them sufficiently elsewhere. For in all these things it is God's commandment that servants and maidservants be obedient; and masters and wives are bound to provide for their servants. So also father and mother against children, and again, children against father and mother are bound by God's commandment to serve and help etc. Item, which are common persons, on pay and wages gedingt, as a city doctor, city servant, mercenary, and as they may be called, may not flee, they appoint other capable and sufficient ones in their place, who are to be accepted by the Lord.
(10) For where there are no other parents, the guardians and next of kin are obliged to remain with their friends, or to provide diligently for others to take their place in caring for their sick friends. Indeed, no neighbor can flee from another where there are no others to wait and care for the sick in their place; for in these cases, however, Christ's saying is to be feared, Matt. 25:45: "I have been sick, and you have not visited me" etc. From which saying we are all bound to one another, that neither should leave the other in his distress, but is obliged to stand by him and help him as he would have helped himself.
(11) But where there is no such need, and there are enough who wait and provide, whether by their own duty or arbitrariness, or by the provision of the weak in faith, that they are not needed, and before that, if the sick will not have it, but refuse it; there I respect, whether it be free both to flee or to remain. If anyone is so bold and strong in faith, let him remain in the name of God; he certainly does not sin thereby. But if anyone is weak and fearful, let him flee in the name of God, because he does so without detriment to his duty to his neighbor, but with sufficient restitution from others.
For to flee death and dying and to save life is naturally implanted by God and not forbidden, if it is not against God and one's neighbor; as St. Paul says, Eph. 5, 29: "No one hates his flesh, but waits and cares for it." Yes, it is commanded that each one preserve his body and life and not neglect it as much as he always can, as St. Paul says, 1 Cor. 12, 12, that God has set the members in the body, so that one always cares for and creates the other.
(12) It is not forbidden, but rather commanded, that we seek our daily food, clothing and all necessities by the sweat of our brow, Genesis 3:19.And to avoid harm or hardship where we can, provided this is done without harm or detriment to love and duty toward our neighbor; how much cheaper it is to seek to preserve life and to flee death where it can be done without detriment to our neighbor, since body and life are more than food and clothing, as Christ himself says, Matth. 6, 25. 6, 25. But if someone is so strong in faith that he can willingly suffer nakedness, hunger and hardship without God's temptation and does not want to work out whether he can, let him also go his way and do not condemn those who do not or cannot do this.
(13) But that to flee death is not in itself wrong is sufficiently proved by the examples of the holy Scriptures: Abraham was a great saint, yet he feared death and fled it with the appearance of calling his wife Sarah his sister, Gen 12:13. But because he did this without harming or neglecting his neighbor, it is not counted as a sin. His son Isaac did the same, Gen 26:7. Jacob fled from his brother Esau so that he would not be killed, Gen 28:1 ff. David fled from Saul, 1 Sam. 19 ff, and Absalom, 2 Sam. 15, 14. Uriah the prophet fled from Jehoiakim the king in Egypt, Jer. 26, 21. Elijah also, 1 Kings 19, 3, the foolish prophet, when he had slain all the prophets of Baal through great faith, but when Jezebel the queen threatened him, he was afraid and fled into the wilderness. And before him Moses,
When the king sought him in Egypt, he fled to the land of Midian, Genesis 2:15, and so on. All these fled from death where they pleased, and saved their lives, provided they did not deprive their neighbor of anything, but paid what they owed beforehand.
(14) Yea, sayest thou, these examples speak not of death or pestilence, but of death, which cometh by persecution? Answer: Death is death, it comes by what it comes. Thus, God draws his four plagues or punishments in the Scriptures, as pestilence, famine, sword, and wild beasts. Now, if one may escape one or some of these with God and a good conscience, why not all four? The foregoing examples show how the dear holy fathers fled the sword; for it is evident enough that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with his sons fled the other plague, namely the famine or Theurung, when they went into Egypt before the Theurung; as we read in Genesis (1st book of Moses). So, why not flee from the wild beasts? So I hear that if a war or the Turk came, no one should flee from a village or town, but await God's punishment by the sword? It is true that he who is so strong in faith should wait, but he should not condemn those who flee.
(15) So also, if a house were on fire, no one would have to run out or run to save it, for fire is also a punishment from God. And whoever falls into a large body of water would not have to swim out, but abandon himself to the water as a divine punishment? Well, if you can do it, do it and do not tempt God; but let the others do what they can. Item, if one breaks a leg or is wounded or bitten, he should not have it healed, but say: It is God's punishment, which I will bear until it heals itself. Frost and winter are also God's punishment, which makes you want to die; why do you run to the fire or into the parlor? Be strong and stay in the frost until it gets warm again. In this way, one would not have to have an apothecary, nor medicine, nor physicians, for all diseases are God's punishment. Hunger and thirst are also great punishment and torture; why do you eat and drink?
Do you drink and not let it punish you until it stops? Finally, such thoughts should lead us to give up the Lord's Prayer and no longer pray: "Deliver us from evil, Amen," Matth. 6, 13, since all kinds of evil are also God's punishment, and henceforth we would not have to pray against hell, nor avoid it, for that is also God's punishment; what would become of this?
16 From all this we take such instruction. We should pray against all kinds of evil and also guard against it as much as we can, provided that we do not do it against God, as was said above; if God wants to have us in it and strangle us, our guarding will not help; so that each one may set his heart thus: First, if he is bound, so that he must remain in death to serve his neighbor, then he should command himself to God and say: Lord, in your hand I am; you have bound me here: "Your will be done," Matth. 6, 10. For I am your poor creature, you can kill and preserve me in this, as well as if I were bound in fire, water, thirst or other danger.
17. But when he is free and can flee, he commands himself again and says: Lord God, I am weak and fearful, therefore I flee from evil, and do as much as I can to keep myself from it; but I am nevertheless in thy hand in this and all the evils that may befall me; Thy will be done; for my escape shall not do it, because there is evil and disaster everywhere, for the devil feasts and does not sleep, who is a murderer from the beginning and seeks to do evil and disaster everywhere.
(18) For in this way we must and are obliged to act with our neighbor in all other needs and dangers. If his house is on fire, love calls me to run to it and help put it out; if there are enough people to put it out, I may go home or stay there. If he falls into water or a pit, I do not have to go, but run toward him as far as I can and help him; if there are others to do it, I am free. If I see him hungry or thirsty, I must not leave him, but feed and water him, and not consider the danger, whether I am poor or well off.
will become less so as a result. For he who will not help and assist another sooner, let him do so without danger or harm to his property or body, will never help his neighbor, for it will always seem as if it were a break, danger, harm or neglect to himself. No neighbor can live with another without danger to body, goods, wife and child, for he must dare with him that a fire or other accident come out of his neighbor's house and destroy him with body, goods, wife and child and everything he has.
(19) For if anyone does not do this to another, but leaves his neighbor in distress and flees from him, he is a murderer in the sight of God; as St. John says in his first epistle, Cap. 3, 15: "He that loveth not his brother is a murderer"; and again, v. 17: "If a man have goods of this world, and see his neighbor in need, how abideth the love of God in him?" For this is also one of the sins which God imputes to the city of Sodoma, since He speaks through the prophet Ezekiel, Cap. 16, 49.: "Behold, this was the sin of your sister Sodoma: idleness, abundance and sufficiency, and did not reach out to the poor." So also Christ will condemn them as murderers at the last day, when he will say, Matt. 25:43: "I was sick, and ye visited me not." But if those are condemned who do not go to the poor and sick and offer help, how will they fare who run away from them and leave them lying like dogs and swine? How will they fare who take away what they have from the poor and put them to the sword, as the tyrants do now to the poor people who accept the gospel? But let them go, they have their judgment.
(20) It is true that where there is such a goodly government in cities and countries that common houses and hospitals can be kept and supplied with people who are waiting for them, then all the sick are ordered out of all the houses; as our forefathers have so sought and meant with so many foundations, hospitals and infirmaries that not every citizen would have to keep a hospital in his house; that would be fine,
praiseworthy and Christian, since everyone should also give and help charitably, especially the authorities. But where this is not the case, except in a few places, we must be each other's nurse and caretaker in their needs for the loss of salvation and God's grace; for there is God's word and commandment, Deut. 19:18, Matth. 22:39, Marc. 12:31, Rom. 13:9: "Love your neighbor as yourself"; and Matth. 7:12: "Whatever you want people to do to you, you also do to them.
(21) When death comes, we who remain should prepare ourselves and take comfort, especially that we are bound to one another, as was said above, that we cannot leave nor flee from one another. First of all, that we may be sure that it is God's punishment, sent to us not only to punish sin, but also to try our faith and love. Faith, so that we may see and experience how we want to stand against God, and love, so that we may see how we want to stand against our neighbor. For although I respect that all pestilences are brought to the people by evil spirits, as well as other plagues, that they poison the air or otherwise blow with an evil breath and thus shoot the deadly poison into the flesh, it is nevertheless God's decree and His punishment, to which we submit with patience and thus put our lives in danger for the service of our neighbor, as St. John teaches and says, 1 Corinthians 1. John teaches and says, 1 Ep. 3, 16: "If Christ gave his life for us, we should also lay down our lives for the brethren.
(22) But if anyone is offended by the horror and fear of the sick, let him take courage and strengthen and comfort himself, so that he will not doubt that it is the devil who arouses such fear, dread and horror in his heart. For he is such a bitter devil that he not only seeks to kill and murder without ceasing, but also wants to atone for his lust by scaring us, frightening us, and making us fearful of death, so that death may become most bitter for us, or that life may never have peace or rest, and thus push us out of this life with filth,
Whether he would bring it about that we would despair of God, become unwilling and unwilling to die, and in such fear and anxiety, as in the dark weather, forget and lose Christ, our light and life, and leave our neighbor in need, and thus sin against God and man; that would be his heart and desire.
(23) Knowing then that the devil's game is such terror and fear, we shall again take the less of it, take courage in defiance and displeasure of him, and drive his terror back upon him, and turn it away from us, and with such armor defend ourselves, saying, "Lift thee up, devil, with thy terror; and because it vexeth thee, I will in defiance of thee go the sooner to my sick neighbor to help him, and will not look upon thee, and will insist upon two things against thee: The first is that I truly know that this work is pleasing to God and all the angels; and where I do it, that I am walking in His will and right worship and obedience; and especially because it is so displeasing to you, and you oppose it so harshly, it must certainly be pleasing to God in particular. How willingly and gladly would I do it, if only it pleased an angel, who would watch me and rejoice over it. But since it pleases my Lord Jesus Christ and the whole heavenly host, and is the will and commandment of God my Father, what should your terror move me to do, that I should hinder such joy in heaven and the pleasure of my Lord, and should make thee laugh and mock me with thy devils in hell? Not so, thou shalt not end it. If Christ shed his blood for me and gave himself to death for my sake, why should I not also for his sake put myself in a little danger and not be allowed to look upon an impotent pestilence? If thou canst terrify, my Christ can strengthen; if thou canst kill, Christ can give life; if thou hast poison in thy mouth, Christ has much more medicine. Should my dear Christ with his commandment, with his good deed and all consolation no longer be valid in my spirit, because you sorrowful devil with your false terror in my mind?
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a weak flesh? God never wants that. Get behind me, devil; here is Christ and I am his servant in this work; let him do it. Amen.
The other is the strong promise of God to comfort all those who take care of the needy, saying, Ps. 41:1 ff: "Blessed is he who takes care of the needy, whom the Lord will save in the evil time. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and make him prosper on earth and not give him to the will of his enemies. The Lord shall refresh him in the bed of his affliction; all his camp thou shalt walk in his sickness." Are these not glorious, mighty promises of God, poured out with heaps upon those who take care of the needy? What should frighten or move one against such great comfort of God? It is indeed a bad thing about the service we may do to the needy against such a promise and recompense of God; that St. Paul says to Timothy, 1 Ep. 4, 8: "Godliness is profitable for all things, and hath promise of this life and of that which is to come." Godliness is nothing other than service to God; service to God is, of course, serving one's neighbor.
25 Experience also proves that those who serve such sick people with love, devotion and earnestness are generally protected; and even if they are poisoned, it does not harm them, just as the psalm says: "You change his whole bed in his sickness," that is, you make a healthy bed for him out of the sickbed and bed of the sick. etc. But he who waits for a sick person for the sake of avarice and inheritance, and seeks his own in such works; it is no wonder that he is poisoned at the end, and that he is besmirched, and that he goes away and dies before he possesses the goods or the inheritance. But whoever does this on the basis of this comforting promise, even if he takes a more fitting reward for it than he needs, since "every day laborer is worth his wages", Luc. 10, 7. 1 Tim. 5, 10, has here again a great comfort, that he will be waited for again, God Himself will be his keeper.
and also be his physician. O what a keeper is this! O what a physician is this! Dear, what are all physicians, pharmacies and attendants against God? Shouldn't that give you courage to go to the sick and serve them, even if there were as many glands and pestilences on them as there are hairs on your whole body, and even if you had to carry out a hundred pestilences on your neck?
(26) What are all pestilences and devils against God, who here joins and commits himself as a guardian and physician? Fie on you, and fie on you, you wretched unbelief, that you should despise such rich consolation, and let a small gland and uncertain danger frighten you more than strengthen such divine, certain, faithful promise! What good would it do if all the doctors were there, and all the world had to wait for you, but God was not there? And again, what harm would it do if all the world ran away from you and no doctor stayed with you, but God stayed with you with such a promise? Do you not think that then you will be surrounded by many thousands of angels who will watch over you, so that you may trample the pestilence underfoot? as it says in the 91st Psalm, v. 11, 13: "He has commanded his angels over you, that they will keep you in all your ways; on your hands they will carry you, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone; on the lions and vipers you will walk, and on the young lions and dragons you will tread."
(27) Therefore, dear friends, let us not be so despondent, and let us not forsake those of us who are under obligation, and let us flee so shamefully from the terror of the devil, whereof he delights and mocks us, and God, without doubt, with all the angels, is displeased and displeased. For this will certainly be true again, that whoever despises such a rich promise and God's commandment and forsakes his own in trouble will be guilty of all God's commandments and will be found a murderer of his forsaken neighbor; and then such promises will turn around, I fear, and turn into cruel threats, and interpret the psalm against them thus: Wretched is he who does not take care of the needy, but flees and forsakes; neither will the Lord save him from evil.
time, but also flee from him and forsake him. The Lord shall not keep him, nor preserve him alive, neither shall he prosper him out of the earth, but shall deliver him into the hands of his enemies. The Lord will not rest him in the bed of his affliction, nor change his bed in his sickness. "For with what measure we measure, it will be measured to us again," nothing will turn out differently. Such things are terrible to hear, even more terrible to wait for, and most terrible to experience. For what else can there be, when God removes his hand and leaves, but vain devils and all evil? Now it cannot be otherwise, where one thus forsakes one's neighbor against God's word and commandment, it will certainly be the same for everyone, if he does honest repentance for it.
(28) I know that if Christ himself or his mother were now sick, everyone would be so devout that he would want to be a servant and helper; everyone would want to be bold and courageous; no one would want to flee, but everyone would run to him; and yet they do not hear that he himself says, Matt. 25:40, Matt. 22:39, "Inasmuch as you do it to the least of these, you do it to me. And speaking of the first commandment, he says, "The other commandment is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Then you hear that the commandment to love one's neighbor is equal to the first commandment, the love of God, and what you do or leave for your neighbor is to be called as much as God Himself did and left.
29 If then thou wilt serve Christ thyself, and wait for him, well, then thou hast thy sick neighbor before thee; go to him, and serve him, and thou shalt surely find Christ in him, not in person, but in his word. But if you do not want to serve your neighbor, believe that if Christ himself were there, you would do the same and leave him there. And there is nothing in thee but vain thoughts, which make thee a useless conceit, how thou wouldest serve Christ if he were there. They are vain lies, for he who would serve Christ in the flesh would serve his neighbor well. Let this be said to admonish and comfort us against the shameful fleeing and terror, so that the devil may accuse us against God's word.
and commandments to do unto our neighbor, and to sin too much on the left side.
30. Again, some sin too much on the right side, and are too presumptuous and bold, so that they tempt God and leave everything to it, so that they should ward off dying or pestilence, despise taking medicine, and do not avoid the place and persons where the pestilence has occurred and arisen, but drink and play with them, wanting to prove their joyfulness and say that it is God's punishment, that if he would protect them, he would do it well without all the medicine and our diligence. Such a thing is not called trusting in God, but trying God. For God created the medicine and gave reason to preside over the body and to care for it, so that it may be healthy and live.
(31) He who does not need them, if he has them and can do them without harming his neighbor, neglects his own body and sees to it that he is not found guilty of murder before God. For in the same way a man might leave food and drink, clothes and house, and be bold in his faith and say: If God will protect him from hunger and frost, he will do it without food and clothes; of course, he would be his own murderer. Moreover, it is even more horrible that such a one, who thus neglects his body and does not help the pestilence as much as he can, would also throw and poison many others with it, who would otherwise remain alive, where he would have waited for his life, as he is guilty of, and would thus also be guilty of his neighbor's death, and many times a murderer before God. Truly, such people are just as if a house in the city were burning, which no one fought against, but left room for the fire to burn the whole city, and wanted to say: if God wills it, he will extinguish and protect the city without water.
(32) Not so, my dear friend, that is not well done; but have need of the medicine, take what may help thee, burn incense in house, court, and gates, also avoid persons and places where a neighbor has no need of thee or has arisen, and stand as one who would gladly help to quench a general fire. For what is the pestilence in
than a fire that devours not wood and straw, but life and limb? And so think: Well, the enemy has sent poison and deadly things into us by God's decree, so I will pray to God to be merciful to us and to defend us; then I will also burn incense, help sweep the air, give and take medicine, avoid places and people where I am not needed, so that I do not neglect myself and perhaps poison and set fire to many others through me, and thus be the cause of death for them through my negligence. If my God wants to have me over this, he will find me well, since I have done what he gave me to do and am not guilty of my own death or that of other people; but if my neighbor needs me, I will avoid neither place nor persons, but go to him freely and help, as is said above. Behold, this is a right godly faith, which is neither foolish nor insolent, neither tempting God.
(33) Again, he who has had the pestilence and has recovered his strength should also avoid people himself and not want to suffer in himself without need. For though he be helped in his trouble, and not forsaken, as it is said, yet when he is come out of his trouble, he shall also keep himself from others, that no man for his own sake enter into his danger without trouble, and cause another to die: for he that loveth danger, saith the wise man, Sir. 3:27, shall perish within. If, then, one were to be bold in faith in a city where one's neighbor's need demanded it, and again cautious where it was not necessary, and if each one thus helped to ward off the poison with which one could; there should certainly be a merciful death in such a city. But if it happens that one part is too despondent and flees from his neighbor in distress, the other part is too foolhardy, and does not help to fight, but to increase; then the devil has to make good and the death must become great. For on both sides God and man are highly offended, here with attempts, there with despair; so the devil hunts down the one who flees, and nevertheless keeps the one who stays, so that no one escapes from him.
34 Some are even worse, who, having the pestilence secretly, go out among the people, believing that if they could throw it on other people and poison them, they would get rid of it and be healed; so they both go into the streets and houses in this name, wanting to hang the pestilence on the necks of others or their children and servants and save themselves with it. And I want to believe that the devil does this and helps to drive the little wheel, so that it goes and happens. I am also told that some are so desperately wicked that they run among the people or into the houses with the pestilence only because they are sorry that the pestilence is not also there, and want to bring it there, just as if this thing were such a joke as if someone were to put lice in fur or flies in the parlor for mischievousness.
I do not know whether I should believe it; if it is true, then I do not know whether we Germans are men or even devils; and indeed, one finds rude, evil people beyond all measure, then the devil is not lazy either. But my advice would be, where such are found, that the judge take them by the head and hand them over to Master Hans as the right-willed murderers and evil-doers. What are such people other than rightful assassins in the city? Just as the assassins thrust a knife through someone here and there, and yet no one must have done it, so they also throw a child here and a woman there, and no one must have done it, and yet they go along laughing as if they had done it well. It would be better to live with wild animals than with such murderers. I do not know how to preach to these murderers, they do not respect it; I order the authorities to watch and help and advise them, not the physicians, but Master Hansen.
(36) Now if God Himself commanded in the Old Testament, Deut. 13 and 14, to put away the lepers from the congregation, and to dwell outside the city, to avoid the dangers of the dung, we should do much more in this dangerous dung: that, if any man catch them, he should immediately be put away by the people themselves, or have himself put away, and be carried away with them.
The pestilence here in Wittenberg is only of shit origin; it is to be helped and not left in such distress, as I have sufficiently indicated above; so that the poison is dampened in time, not only for the benefit of one person, but also for the benefit of the entire congregation, which would be poisoned by it if it were allowed to break out like this and come among others. For our pestilence here in Wittenberg is now solely of the origin of shit, the air is, praise God, still fresh and pure; but out of sheer foolishness and neglect, it has poisoned some and their few; even though the devil has his game of joy with the fright and fleeing that he does among us. May God prevent him, amen.
[A short lesson on how to behave in dying situations, even for the sake of the soul].
This is our understanding and opinion of fleeing from death; if you think otherwise, God would reveal it to you, amen. Since this letter is to go out in print, so that our people may also read it, I think it would be good to add a brief instruction on how to conduct oneself in such dying processes for the sake of the soul, as we have done orally in the pulpit, and continue to do so daily, so that we may also do enough for our ministry, as we are called to be pastors.
First of all, the people shall be admonished to go to church and hear the sermon, so that they may learn the word of God, how they should live and how they should die. For care must be taken that those who are so crude and reprobate that they despise God's word while they are alive are also left lying in their sickness, unless they prove their repentance and contrition with great earnestness, weeping and lamentation. For whoever wants to live like a heathen or a dog and has no public repentance, we will not give him the sacrament, nor accept him among the Christians; he may die as he lived, and beware, for we should not throw pearls to swine, nor the sanctuary to dogs, Matth. 7, 6. Unfortunately, one finds so much coarse, stubborn rabble, which neither lives nor dies for the sake of the Holy Spirit.
The people who care for their souls go to and fro and die like logs, since there is neither sense nor thought in them.
39. Secondly, that each one send himself in time and prepare to die with confession and taking of the sacraments once every eight days or fourteen days, reconcile with his neighbor and make his will; so that if the Lord knocks and he is hurried before the pastor or chaplain can come, he may nevertheless provide for his soul and not fail to do so, but have commanded God; For it is not possible, where there is a great death and there are only two or three pastors, that they may go to all of them and first tell and teach each one all the things that a Christian man should know in mortal need. But those who will be negligent and tardy in this, they will account for themselves, and it will be their fault, if one cannot hold a daily special preaching chair and altar in front of their bed, because they have so despised the common preaching chair and altar, to which God has called and demanded them.
40 Thirdly, if it be desired of the chaplains or pastors that they be required, or that the sick be announced in time and in the beginning, before the sickness get the better of them, and there be sense and reason. I say this because some are so negligent that they do not demand or announce until the soul is on the tongue and they can no longer speak and there is little sense left. So they ask: Dear Lord, tell him the best before etc. But before that, when the sickness begins, they do not wish anyone to come to him, but say: There is no need, I hope it will get better. What should a pious priest do with such people who care neither for body nor soul? live and die like cattle. Such people should then be told the gospel and given the sacrament at the last moment, just as they were used to under the papacy, when no one asked them whether they believed or knew the gospel, but shoved the sacrament down their throats as into a sack of bread.
41 Not so, but he who cannot speak or give signs, especially if he does so.
If a man wilfully neglects to believe, understand, and desire the gospel and sacrament, we will not give it to him anywhere; for we are commanded to give the holy sacrament not to unbelievers, but to believers who may profess and confess their faith. The others may go as they believe, we are excused, because there is no lack of preaching, teaching, exhorting, comforting, visiting, nor of any of our offices or services. Let this be the teaching we give to our own, not written for you in Breslau; for Christ is with you, who will teach you abundantly through his anointing all that you need without our help; to him be praise and glory with God the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever, amen.
Since we have come to talk about dying in this matter, I cannot refrain from talking about burial as well. First of all, I will let the doctors of medicine and all who are better experienced judge whether it is dangerous to have churchyards in the middle of cities. For I know and understand nothing about it, whether from the graves steam or vapor goes, which disrupts the air. But if this were the case, there are enough reasons from the warnings that the churchyard is outside the city. For, as we have heard, we are all obliged to resist the poison with which one is able, because God has commanded us to take care of our bodies in such a way that we spare and wait for them, if He does not send us distress; and again, to dare and put them on confidently, if distress demands it; so that we may be ready both to live and to die according to His will. For "no one lives to himself, no one dies to himself," as St. Paul says, Rom. 14:7.
I know that it was the custom of the ancients to bury both Jews and Gentiles, saints and sinners, outside the city, and they were as wise as we may be. For the Gospel of St. Luke shows that Christ raised the widow's son from the dead in the gate of the city of Nain, and the text says: Luc. 7, 12: "They carried him out of the city to the grave, and many people went to the grave.
with her", that of course it was the way of the country in those days to have burials outside the cities, also Christ's grave itself was prepared outside the city, Joh. 19,41. The same Abraham bought his burial place on the field Ephron at the twofold cave, Gen. 23, 20. where the patriarchs all let themselves be buried. That is why the Latin language calls it Efferri, that is, to carry out, which we call carrying to the grave; for they not only carried them out, but also burned all the people to powder, so that the air would remain most pure.
44 Therefore, my advice would be to make the burial outside the city according to such examples. And indeed, as we have a churchyard here in Wittenberg, not only necessity, but also devotion and respectability should drive us to make a common burial outside the city. For a burial ground should be a fine, quiet place, which would be separated from all other places, where one could walk and stand with devotion to contemplate and pray about death, the last judgment and resurrection; so that the same place would be, as it were, an honorable, yes, almost a holy place, that one could walk on it with fear and all honors; because without a doubt several saints lie there, and there on the walls one could have such devotional pictures and paintings painted.
But what is our churchyard? It is four or five streets, and two or three markets, so that there is not a meaner or quieter place in the whole city than the churchyard, since people walk over it every day, day and night, both men and cattle, and everyone from his own house has a door and guests there, and all sorts of things happen there, perhaps even such things as are not to be said. This completely destroys the respect and honor for the burial place, and no one thinks more of it than if someone were to walk over a shingle, so that the Turk could not hold the place as dishonorably as we did; and yet there we should have vain respect, consider death and resurrection, and spare the saints who lie there.
46) But how can one do this in a common place, since everyone has to think about
that if honor is to be sought in the burial, I would rather lie in the Elbe or in the forest. But if the grave lay outside in a separate, quiet place, where no one would walk through or on it, it would be quite spiritual, honorable and holy to look at, and could also be arranged so that it would inspire devotion in those who wanted to go there. That would be my advice; whoever wants to do it, let him do it; whoever knows better, let him always continue; I am no one's master.
In the end, we exhort and beg you, for Christ's sake, to help us fight with petitions to God and teachings against the real spiritual pestilence of the wicked Satan, so that he is now poisoning and polluting the world, especially through the blasphemers of the sacraments, although many other kinds are also rising up. For Satan is angry and perhaps feels the day of Christ present; that is why he rages so horribly and wants to
take the Savior Jesus Christ through his spirituality. Under the papacy he was vain flesh, so that even monks' caps had to be holy; now he wants to be vain spirit, so that also Christ's flesh and word shall be nothing. You have long since answered my booklet, but I am surprised that it has not come here to Wittenberg to this day. I will, if God grants, answer it once more and then let it go. I can see that they only get worse from it, and are like a bug that stinks badly from itself, but the more one grinds it, the worse it stinks; and I hope that whoever is to be preserved will have enough written for him in my little book. How then, praise God! many are thereby snatched out of their jaws and many more are strengthened and confirmed in the truth. May Christ, our Lord and Savior, keep you all in pure faith and fervent love, undefiled and blameless until His day, together with all of us, amen. Pray for me poor sinner.