Whether men of war can also be in a blessed state.

1526.*)

To the Gestrengen and Ehrenfesten Affa von Kram, knight etc., my favorable lord and friend.

Grace and peace in Christ, austere, honorable, dear Lord and friend! As your

in the next electoral entry to Wittenberg (1525) spoke to us about the state of the men of war, under which speech various pieces concerning conscience were brought forward, on which you and others more

*) The report of Cyr. Spangenberg will appear in the chapter of Luther's dealings with Duke George.

I have asked for a written public instruction from me, because there are many more who complain about their status and nature, some are in doubt, and some consider themselves so completely and utterly that they no longer ask anything about God and throw both soul and conscience to the wind. As I myself have heard such fellows say: If they should remember this, they would never have to go to war. Just as if war were such an excellent thing that God and the soul are not to be thought of when war is present; but then, when in mortal distress and danger, God and the soul are most to be thought of.

So that, as much as is in us, the weak, stupid and doubting consciences may be counseled, and the reprobate may receive better instruction, I have granted your request and promised this booklet. For he who fights with a good, well-reported conscience can also fight well; for where there is a good conscience, there is also great courage and a bold heart; but where the heart is bold and the courage is confident, the fist is also the more powerful and both horse and man are fresher, and all things succeed better, and also all cases and things send themselves the more finely to victory, which then God also gives.

Again, where the conscience is stupid and uncertain, the heart cannot be bold. For it is impossible that evil consciences should not make one cowardly and timid, as Moses says to his Jews, Deut. 28:25: "If you are disobedient, God will give you a despondent heart, so that where you go one way against your enemies, you will be scattered seven ways" and have no happiness. So it comes to pass that both horse and man are lazy and clumsy, and no attempt is made, and in the end they are defeated.

But what raw, nefarious consciences are in the bunch, which are called daredevils and daredevils, with them it all happens plumply, they win or lose. For as it is with those who have good or evil consciences, so it is with such brute beasts, because they are in the heap. For their sake no victory is given, because they are the shell and not the right core of the war heap. Therefore, I am sending you this teaching of mine, as much as God has given me, so that you and others who would like to wage war, so that they may not lose God's grace and eternal life, may know how to prepare and instruct themselves. May the grace of God be with you, Amen.

(1) The first distinction is that another thing is an office and a person, or a work and a doer; for an office or work may be good and right in itself, but it is evil and unjust, if the person or doer is not good or right, or does not do it right. A magistrate's office is a delicious and divine office, be it the mouth judge or the fist judge, who is called the executioner. But if it is performed by someone who is not commanded to do so, or if he, who is commanded to do so, does it according to money and favor, then it is already neither right nor good. The conjugal state is also delicious and divine, but there are still many a rogue and knave in it. So it is also with the state of war, office or work, which is right and divine in itself. But it is to be seen that it

the person who belongs to it and is righteous, as we will hear.

(2) In other respects, I here condition that for this time I do not speak of the righteousness that makes people righteous in the sight of God. For this is done only by faith in Jesus Christ, given and bestowed by God's grace without any work or merit on our part, as I have otherwise written and taught so often and sometimes; but I am speaking here of the outward righteousness that stands and works in the offices and works, that is, so that I may make it clear that I am dealing with this: whether the Christian faith, by which we are counted righteous in the sight of God, can also suffer me to be a man of war, to wage war, to choke and stab, to rob and burn, as one would do to the enemy in war.

Whether such a work is also sin or wrong, of which conscience is to be made before God; or whether a Christian must do none of these works, but only do good, love, not strangle or harm anyone? This is what I call an office or work, which, even if it were godly and right, can still become evil and unjust if the person is unjust and evil.

Thirdly, I do not intend to write at length here about the office and work of war, how it is right and divine in itself, because I have written about it in abundance in the booklet "On Worldly Authority". For I would like to boast that since the time of the apostles, the secular sword and authority has never been so clearly described and gloriously praised, as even my enemies must confess, as through me; for which I have earned the honest gratitude to be rewarded, that my doctrine is rebellious and scolded and condemned as that which strives against authority, praise be to God. For since the sword is appointed by God to punish the wicked, to protect the pious and to keep peace, Rom. 13, 1. ff. 1 Petr. 3, 14. ff., then it is also proven by a great deal that war and strangulation are appointed by God, and what warfare and justice entail. What is war other than to bring about injustice and evil? Why does one war, because one wants to have peace and obedience?

(4) Though it may not seem that strangling and robbing is a work of love, because a simple-minded man thinks it is not a Christian work, nor is it proper for a Christian to do it, yet in truth it is also a work of love. For as a good physician, when the pestilence is so evil and great, must cut off or destroy the hand, foot, ear, or eye, that he may save the body: If one looks at the limb that he cuts off, it seems that he is a cruel, merciless man; but if one looks at the body that he wants to save with it, it is found in truth that he is an excellent, faithful man and does a good Christian work, as much as it is in himself. So also, when I watch the war office punishing the wicked, choking the unrighteous, and so

But when I look at how it protects the pious, wife and child, house and farm, property and honor, and preserves and keeps peace with it, I see how delicious and divine the work is, and I realize that it also cuts off a leg or hand, so that the whole body does not perish. For if the sword did not defend and keep the peace, it would destroy all that is in the world through strife. Therefore, such a war is no different than a small, short peace, which is a hindrance to an eternal, unacceptable peace, a small calamity, which is a hindrance to a great calamity.

(5) It is all true that many people write and say what a great plague war is, but we should also consider how much greater is the plague that is prevented by wars. Yes, if people were pious and liked to keep peace, war would be the greatest plague on earth. But where do you reckon that the world is evil, that people do not want to keep peace, rob, steal, kill, rape wife and child, take honor and property? Such common strife of all the world, from which no man could stay, must be controlled by the little strife called war or the sword. That is why God honors the sword so highly that he calls it his own order, and does not want anyone to say or think that men invented it or used it. For the hand that wields and chokes such a sword is then no longer man's hand, but God's hand, and it is not man, but God who hangs, cuts, decapitates, chokes, and wages war; all are his works and his judgments. Summa, in the office of war one must not look at how it strangles, burns, strikes and sows etc.; for this is done by the narrow, simple child's eyes, which do not watch the physician any further than how he cuts off the hand or saws off the leg, but do not see or notice that it is a matter of saving the whole body. So one must also watch the office of war or sword with manly eyes, why it so strangles and horrifically does, so it will prove itself that it is an office in itself divine and the world so necessary and

useful than eating and. Drinking, or any other work.

(6) But that some abuse this office, choking and beating without necessity out of sheer willfulness, is not the fault of the office, but of the person. For where is there ever an office, work or any other thing so good that the wanton evil people do not abuse it? Such people are like the mad physicians who wanted to cut off a healthy hand from a man without need, out of sheer willfulness. Yes, they belong to the common discord, which must be resisted with right war and sword and forced to peace. Just as it always happens and has happened that those who start war without necessity are defeated. For in the end they cannot escape God's judgment, that is, His sword; He finds and strikes them in the end, as has happened to the peasants in the uprising. (1525.)

7 We have the greatest preacher and teacher next to Christ to confirm this, namely John the Baptist, who Luc. 3:14, when the soldiers came to him and asked what they should do, did not condemn their office, nor did he forbid them to desist from it, but rather confirmed it, saying, "Be content with your office, and do neither violence nor wrong to anyone. Thus he praised the office of war in himself, but at the same time forbade and prohibited its abuse. For abuse does not concern the office. So also Christ, when he stood before Pilate, confessed that warfare was not wrong, when he said, Joh. 18,36: "If I were king of this world, my servants would argue that I should not be handed over to the Jews.

8 Here also belong all the ancient war histories in the Old Testament, as Abraham, Moses, Joshua, the judges, Samuel, David and all the kings of the people of Israel. But if warfare or the office of war should be unjust to him or displeasing to God, we would have to condemn Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David and all the other holy fathers, kings and princes, who also served God in them and are highly praised in the Scriptures for their work; as all of this is well known to all who have little knowledge of the Scriptures.

have read; therefore, it is not necessary to prove further here.

(9) And if anyone would say here that it was a different thing with the holy fathers than whom God had set apart from other Gentiles by his choice and word, and called them to fight; therefore their example would not be enough for a Christian in the New Testament, because they had God's command for them and fought out of divine obedience, but we have no command to fight, but rather to suffer and let all things go. This is answered clearly enough by St. Peter and St. Paul, both of whom also command in the New Testament to be obedient to human order and the commands of the worldly authorities. And as we have heard above, that St. John the Baptist, as a Christian teacher, taught the men of war Christianly, and yet let them remain men of war, only that they should not abuse it, do wrong or violence to anyone, but be content with their solde. Therefore, in the New Testament, the sword is confirmed with God's word and command, and those who use its right and fight in obedience also serve God in it and are obedient to His word.

(10) And think thou thyself, if the thing be admitted, that warfare in itself were unjust, we should thereupon also admit all other things, and leave them unjust. For if the sword were an unjust thing in fighting, it would also be unjust if it punished the wrongdoers or kept the peace. And in short, all its works would have to be unjust. For what is it but to punish evildoers and to keep the peace? If one punishes a thief, murderer or adulterer, that is a punishment over a single wrongdoer. But if one is justified, one punishes a whole multitude of evildoers at once, who do so much harm, as great as the multitude is. Now if one work of the sword is good and right, they are all right and good; it is a sword and not a fox's tail, and is called the wrath of God, Rom. 13:4.

(11) But when they say that Christians have no command to dispute, and that examples are not enough, because they have a doctrine, they are not enough.

have from Christ, that they should not resist evil, but suffer all things; I have answered sufficiently in the booklet on worldly authority. For Christians, of course, do not quarrel, nor do they have worldly authorities under them; their rule is a spiritual rule, and according to the Spirit they are subject to no one but Christ. But nevertheless they are subject to the temporal authorities with body and goods and are obliged to be obedient. Now if they are called upon by worldly authorities to dispute, they should and must dispute out of obedience, not as Christians, but as members and submissive, obedient people according to body and temporal goods. Therefore, when they contend, they do it not for themselves, nor for their own sake, but for the service and obedience of the authorities under whom they are, as St. Paul writes to Titus, Cap. 3, v. 1, "They are to be obedient to the authorities." You may read further about this in the booklet on secular authority.

12 For this is summa summarum of it, the office of the sword is right in itself and a divine, useful order, which he wants to have unnoticed, but feared, honored and obeyed, or should not remain unspotted, as St. Paul, Rom. 13, 4, says. For he has established two kinds of government among men. One is spiritual, through the word and without the sword, so that men may become godly and righteous, so that with this righteousness they may attain eternal life; and this righteousness he administers through the word, which he commanded the preachers. The other is a worldly rule by the sword, so that those who do not want to become godly and righteous to eternal life by the word may still be urged to be godly and righteous before the world by such a worldly rule, and he administers such righteousness by the sword. And though he will not reward such righteousness with eternal life, yet he will have it, that peace may be preserved among men, and reward it with temporal goods. For this reason he gives so much good, honor and authority to the authorities, that they rightly possess it before others, that they serve him to administer such temporal justice. So God is

himself of all righteousness, both spiritual and corporal, founder, lord, master, promoter, and rewarder, and is no human order or power in it, but vain divine thing.

(13) Since there is no doubt in his mind that everything is right and divine because of his office and position, we will now deal with the persons and customs of this position. For there it is most important to know who and how this office is to be used. And here it also arises that, if one wants to establish certain rules and rights, so many cases and excerpts (exceptions) occur that it is quite difficult or even impossible to define everything so precisely and evenly. As is the case with all rights, that they can never be established with such certainty, there are cases that win an excerpt. And if one did not let the extract go, but followed straight after the rights, it would be the greatest injustice, as the pagan Terentius says: The strictest right is the greatest injustice. And Solomon in his Ecclesiastes also teaches that one should not be too right, but at times not want to be wise.

14 So that I give an example of it: In the peasants' uprising next past (1525), quite a few were found who did not like to go along, especially if they were wealthy people. For the riot was aimed at the rich as well as the overlords, and it is fair to assume that no rich person was fond of the riot. Well then, some have gone along with it without their will and thanks. Some also gave themselves into such coercion, thinking that they could resist the mad mob and prevent it with good counsel, so that they would not do so much evil, for the good of the authorities and for their own benefit. Some have also gone along with them out of favor of their overlords, whom they have asked beforehand. And what other such cases may have occurred. For no one can conceive of them all, nor can he put them into law.

15 Now therefore, here stands the law, saying, All rebels are guilty of death, and these three are in fresh

That is what we found among the rebellious crowd. What should be done to them? Shall no excerpt apply here and the strict and rigid law apply, as it reads externally from the deed? Then they must also die, like the others who, together with the deed, had a guilty heart and will in it, even though these had an innocent heart and good will against the authorities. As some of our disciples have done, especially to the rich, when they thought they were doing something wrong, when they could only say to them, "You were among the mob, you must leave," and have thus done great wrong to many people and shed innocent blood, made widows and orphans, and taken away their property, and yet they are called of the nobility, yes, of the nobility. But the filth is also of the nobility and may well boast that it comes from the eagle's body, even though it stinks and is not useful. So these may well be from the nobility. We Germans are Germans and remain Germans, that is, swine and unreasonable beasts.

(16) Therefore I say: In such cases, as the three aforementioned people exemplify, the law shall give way and equity shall rule in its place. For the law speaks out arrogantly: sedition is guilty of death as Crimen laesae Majestatis (crime of majesty), as a sin against the authorities. But equity speaks thus: Yes, dear right, it is as you say, but it can happen that two do the same work, but yet with unequal heart and opinion. When Judas kissed the Lord Christ in the garden, Matth. 26, 49, which outwardly is a good work, but his heart was evil and betrayed his Lord with the good work, which Christ and his disciples otherwise practiced with each other out of a good heart. Again, Peter sat down with Annas' servant at the fire and warmed himself with the wicked, Luc. 22, 55. that was not good etc. Now if strict law were to go here, Judas would have to be a pious man and Peter a mischievous one. But the heart of Judas was evil, and the heart of Peter was good, therefore equity must rule the law here.

17 Therefore, those who have been among the rebels of good opinion, this speaks the

Not only do they get rid of them, but they also consider them worthy of their mercy. For they are just like the pious Hussar of Arach, who gave himself up to the rebellious Absalom and was also very obedient to David's command, all in the opinion that he helped David and defended Absalom; as all this is finely written in the other book of Samuel, 15:32 ff. and 16:16 ff. Outwardly Hushai was also rebellious with Absalom against David, Cap. 17, 5, but he deserved great praise and honor eternally before God and all the world. If David had had Husai judged as a rebel, that would have been just as praiseworthy a deed as our princes and disciples do now to such innocent, even well-deserving people.

18 Such virtue or wisdom, which can and should guide and measure the strict law, according to the cases, and judge one good or evil work according to the difference of opinion and hearts, is called aequitas in Greek and Latin, I call it equity. For since justice must and should be set forth in simple, short words, it cannot include all coincidences and obstacles. Therefore the judges and lords here must be wise and pious and measure equity by reason, and then let justice go or stand. For example, a householder sets a law for his servants as to what they are to do this day or that day; there the law stands, and he who does not do or keep it shall suffer his punishment. Now if one of them is ill or otherwise prevented through no fault of his own, the right ceases; and he would be a furious landlord if he wanted to punish his servant for such failure. Thus all rights, which are based on action, must and should be subjected to equity, as the master, for the sake of the manifold, innumerable, uncertain coincidences that can occur and that no one can depict or grasp beforehand.

19 Therefore we say of the law of war, or of the custom of warfare of persons, First, that war may be waged by three kinds of persons: As when an equal fights against his equal, that is,

Since neither of the two persons is sworn to or subject of the other, although the one person is not so great, glorious, powerful as the other; item, when the superior person wars against his inferior person; item, when the inferior person contends against his superior person. Now, the third we take before us first. Here the law says that no one should fight or quarrel against his overlord, for one owes obedience, honor and fear to the authorities, Rom. 13, 1. ' For whoever heaps stones above him, they fall into his eyes, and as Solomon says, Proverbs 26, 27: "Whoever throws stones into the air, they fall on his head." This, in short, is the right in himself, which God Himself instituted, and which is accepted by men. For it does not rhyme to be obedient and yet resist; to be submissive and not want to suffer the Lord.

20 Now that we have said that equity should be the master of justice, and that where chance demands it, justice should be guided, called, and allowed to go against it, the question here is: whether it can also be just, that is, whether a case might also arise that one should disobey the authorities against this justice and fight against them, depose them, or bind them? For there is a vice in us men called woman, that is, cunning or guile. When she hears that equity prevails over justice, as has been said, she is completely hostile to justice and searches and ponders day and night how she can come to market and sell herself under the name and appearance of equity, so that justice will be nullified and she will be the good woman who has done well. Hence a saying goes: Inventa lege inventa est fraus legis: If a right concerns, as soon as virgin Fraus also finds itself.

The pagans, because they did not know anything about God, nor did they recognize that worldly rule was God's order, because they considered it to be a human fortune and deed, they took a fresh hand in this and considered it not only fair but also praiseworthy to depose, strangle and chase away useless, evil authorities. Therefore, the Greeks also awarded jewels and gifts by public law to the tyrannicidis, that is, to those.

who stabbed and killed a tyrant. The Romans have followed this in their empire and murdered almost all of their emperors themselves, so that in this praiseworthy empire almost no emperor has ever been slain by the enemies, but they themselves have left a few of them on the bed to die of natural causes. The people of Israel and Judah have also strangled and killed some of their kings.

(22) But we are not satisfied with such examples. For we do not ask here what the Gentiles or the Jews have done, but what is right and just to do, not only in the sight of God in spirit, but also in the divine outward order of the temporal government. For if even today or tomorrow a people arose and deposed their lord or slew him; well, that would have happened, the lords must wait and see whether God would prevent it. But from this it does not yet follow that it is therefore right and just. I have not yet encountered such a case, since it would be just, and I cannot think of one this time either. The peasants in the uprising claimed that the lords did not want to let the gospel be preached and were abusing the poor people, therefore they should be overthrown. But I have answered for this: that even though the lords were doing wrong, it would not be right nor just to do wrong, that is, to disobey and destroy God's order, which is not ours; but one should suffer the wrong, and where a ruler or lord does not want to suffer the gospel, go to another principality, where it is preached, as Christ says, Matth. 10:23: "If they persecute you in one city, flee to another."

(23) This is reasonable when a prince, king, or lord becomes insane and is deposed and imprisoned. For he is no longer to be taken for a man, because reason is gone. Yes, you say, an angry tyrant is certainly also insane, or even worse to be respected than an insane one, because he does much more harm etc. Here it wants to be stuck with the answer. For such speech has a powerful appearance and wants a fairness.

out of it. But nevertheless I say my opinion on it, that it is not equal with a madman and a tyrant. For the madman can neither do nor suffer anything rational, nor is there any hope, because the light of reason is gone. But a tyrant nevertheless does much to it; so he knows where he does wrong, and there is still conscience and knowledge with him, and also hope that he may mend his ways, let him be told and learn and follow, which is none with the madman, who is like a block or stone. About this there is still an evil consequence or example; that where it is approved to murder or chase away tyrants, it soon breaks down and becomes a common will of courage, that one scolds tyrants who are not tyrants, and also murders them, as it comes into the mind of the mob; as the Roman histories well show us, since they killed many a fine emperor only because he did not please them or did not do their will, and let them be masters, and held themselves as their servants and muzzlers, as happened to Galba, Pertinax, Gordian, Alexander and more.

(24) One must not whistle much to the mob, for otherwise they are fond of trifling, and it is cheaper to cut off ten cubits from them than to give them a hand's breadth, or even a finger's breadth, in such a case; and it is better that the tyrants should wrong them a hundred times than that they should wrong the tyrants once. For if injustice be suffered, it is to be chosen to suffer from the authorities, than that the authorities suffer from the subjects. For the mob has and knows no measure, and in each one there are more than five tyrants. Now it is better to suffer injustice from one tyrant, that is, from the authorities, than to suffer injustice from innumerable tyrants, that is, from the mob.

It is said that the Swiss have also slain their overlords and freed themselves etc. And the Danes have recently driven out their king, both point to the unbearable tyranny as causes, so the subjects have had to suffer etc. But I have said above that I am not dealing here with what pagans do or have done, or what is like the same examples and stories; but what one should and may do with

in good conscience, so that one may be sure and certain that such action against himself is not wrong before God. For I know well in good measure, and have also read not a few histories, how often the subjects have strangled or driven out their authorities, as the Jews, Greeks and Romans, and God has thus let it go and let them grow and increase over it. But in the end it was always found in the sweepings. For the Jews were finally oppressed and destroyed by the Assyrians, the Greeks by King Philip, the Romans by the Goths and Longobards. The Swiss have truly paid for it with much blood, and are still paying; how it will turn out can be easily determined. The Danes are not through yet either. However, I do not see a permanent regime, because the authorities are held in higher esteem than the Persians, Tartars and the like peoples, who have not only remained before the Romans and all violence, but have also destroyed the Romans and much more land.

26. my reason and cause for all this is that God says, Rom. 12, 19: "vengeance is mine, I will repay"; item Matth. 7, 1: "do not judge. In addition, in the Old Testament it is so strictly and often forbidden not to curse or speak evil of the authorities, Ex 22:28: "You shall not curse the ruler of your people." And Paul, 1 Tim. 2, 2. Apost. 23, 5, teaches Christians to plead for the authorities etc. Solomon also teaches in his Proverbs and Ecclesiastes everywhere to obey the king and be subservient, Prov. 24, 21. Now no one can deny this, when the subjects quarrel against the authorities, that they avenge themselves, make themselves judges, Eccles. 10:20, which is not only against God's order and commandment, who will have judgment and vengeance himself, but also against all natural rights and equity, as it is said: No one shall be his own judge; and again: He who strikes again is unjust.

27 Here you may want to say, "Yes, how it is to suffer everything from the tyrants, you give them too much, and their wickedness only becomes stronger and greater through such teaching. Shall one then suffer, that thus every man's

504 E. 22, 261-263. Whether men of war can also be in a blessed state. W. X, 588-sso. 505

Wife and child, body and possessions in danger and disgrace? Who will do a righteous thing when one must live like this? I answer, I teach not thee, thou that wilt do as thou thinkest and pleasest; go thy way, and slay all thy masters; see how thou succeedest. I teach only those who would do right. To such I say that the authorities are not to be resisted by sacrilege and rebellion, as the Romans, Greeks, Swiss and Danes have done, but have other ways.

28 First of all, when they see that the authorities hold their own souls' salvation in such low esteem that they rage and do wrong, what do you care if they destroy your property, body, wife and child? She cannot harm your soul and does more harm to it than to you, because she herself condemns souls, since the destruction of body and good must follow. Do you think it is not already smelled high enough?

29 Secondly: How would you do if this authority of yours had war, when not only your property, wife and child, but also you yourself would have to perish, be captured, burned or strangled for the sake of your master? Would you therefore strangle your master? How many fine people must Emperor Maximilian have lost in wars all his life, because nothing was done to him; and where he would have tyrannically killed them, certainly nothing more atrocious would ever have been heard. Well, he is still the cause that they perished, for they were slain for his sake. What, then, is a tyrant and a madman but a dangerous war, as it applies to many a fine, honest, innocent man? Yes, a wicked tyrant is worse than a wicked war, which you must approve if you ask your own reason and experience. I believe you would like to have peace and good days, but how can you have them if God denies you war or tyrants? Now choose and calculate whether you would rather have war or tyrants? For you deserve both and owe it to God. But we find such fellows that we want to be boys and remain in sins, but we want to avoid the punishment for sin, for this purpose.

We must also resist and defend our sin. We will succeed, like the dog that bites the thorns.

(30) Thirdly, if the authorities are wicked, then God is there who has fire, water, iron, stone and innumerable ways to kill; how soon has he strangled a tyrant? He would also do it, but our sins do not suffer it. For he saith thus in Job, He maketh a knave to reign because of the sin of the people." We can see very well that a knave rules; but no one wants to see that he does not rule because of his own sin, but because of the sin of the people. The people do not see their own sin and think that the tyrant rules for the sake of his evil. The world is so blinded, perverse and mad, that is why it happened to the peasants in the uprising, who wanted to punish the sin of the authorities; just as if they themselves were completely pure and blameless. Therefore, God had to show them the beam in their eye, so that they would forget another's splinter.

(31) Fourth, the tyrants are in danger that by God's decree the subjects will turn out, as has been said, and slay or drive them out. For we teach here those who want to do right, of whom there are almost a few; nevertheless, there remain the great multitude of heathens, wicked and unbelievers, who, if God decrees it, set themselves against the authorities with injustice and cause misfortune, as the Jews and Greeks and Romans have often done. Therefore you must not complain that through our teaching the tyrants and authorities gain security to do evil; no, they are certainly not secure. We teach, then, that they should be sure, God granting, that they do evil or good; but we cannot give them such assurance, nor afford it. For we cannot force the multitude to follow our teaching where God does not give grace. We teach what we want, the world nevertheless also does what it wants. God must help and we must teach those who would gladly do well and right, whether they could help stop the heap. Because of our teaching, the overlords sit just as securely as they would without our teaching. For, alas! it so happens that

Your complaint is not necessary, because most of the people do not obey us, and stand alone with God and in God's hands to receive authority, as he alone has also ordered it. We have also experienced this in the peasants' revolt. Therefore, do not be mistaken that the authorities are evil; punishment and misfortune are closer to them than you may desire. As the tyrant Dionysius confessed, his life would be as one who had a mere sword hanging over his head on a silk thread and a great ember of fire burning beneath him.

Fifth, God has another way to punish the authorities, so that you may not avenge yourself. He can raise up foreign authorities: as, the Goths against the Romans, the Assyrians against Israel etc. So that there is vengeance, punishment and danger enough on tyrants and authorities everywhere, and God does not let them be evil with joy and peace; he is just behind them, yes, around them, and has them between the spurs and in the bridle. And this is also in accordance with the natural law, which Christ teaches in Matth. 7, 12: "Whatever you want people to do to you, you do to them. Of course, no householder ever wanted to be chased out of his house, strangled, or destroyed by his own people for his own wrongdoing, if they did it out of their own sin and violence, to avenge themselves and to be judges themselves, without first complaining to other higher authorities. It should be just as wrong for any subject to act against his tyrant.

33) To this I must give an example or two, which are well to remember and useful to follow. One reads of a widow who stood and prayed for her tyrant most earnestly, that God would let him live long etc. The tyrant heard it and was surprised, because he knew well that he had caused her much pain, and such a prayer was strange. For the common prayer for tyrants does not tend to be so. He asked her why she prayed for him like that? she answered: I had ten cows when your grandfather lived, and he took two from me; so I prayed against him that he might die and that your father might become lord. When that happened, your father took three from me.

Cows. Again I prayed that you would become master and that he would die. Now you have taken four cows from me, so I pray for you, for I fear that whoever comes after you will take the last cow from me, along with everything I have. So the scholars also have a parable of a beggar who was full of sores, and many flies were sitting inside, stinging him. Then a merciful man came and wanted to help him and chased all the flies away from him; but he cried out and said, "Oh, what are you doing? These flies were so full that I was no longer so afraid of them; now the hungry flies are coming in their place and will torment me much worse.

Do you understand these fables? Changing authority and improving authority are two things as far apart as heaven and earth. To change may be easy, but to improve is difficult and dangerous. Why? It is not in our will or ability, but only in God's will and hand. The mad mob, however, does not ask much how it will get better, but only that it will get different. If it then becomes worse, then he wants to have another one. So he gets bumblebees for flies and finally hornets for bumblebees. And as the frogs before times also did not like the block to the master suffer, they got the stork for it, which hacked them on the head and ate them. It is a desperate, cursed thing about a mad mob, which no one can rule so well as the tyrants; they are the shillelagh tied to the dogs' necks. If they were to be governed in a better way, God would have set other orders over them than the sword and tyrants. The sword probably indicates what kind of children it has among them, namely vain desperate boys, where they are allowed to do it.

35Therefore I counsel that every man that will in good conscience go in this and do right, be content with the temporal authorities, and do not trespass against them, seeing that temporal authorities cannot hurt the soul, as the spiritual and false teachers do; and follow in this the pious David, who suffered so great violence from king Saul, as thou canst ever suffer, neither wouldest he lay a hand on his king.

as he might often have done, but commanded God, let it go as long as God would have it so, and suffered to the end. Now if a war or a quarrel arises against your sovereign, let whoever wants to fight and quarrel; for, as has been said, if God does not hold, we cannot hold the troops. But if thou wilt do well, and keep thy conscience safe, let armor and defence lie down, and fight not against thy lord or against thy tyrant; rather suffer all that may befall thee: but the company that doeth it shall well find their judge.

(36) Yes, you say, but how, if a king or lord binds himself with oaths to his subjects to govern according to the articles presented, and does not keep them, and thus wants to be guilty of leaving also the regiment? As it is said that the King of France must rule according to the parliaments of his realm, and the King of Denmark must also swear to special articles etc. Here I answer: It is fine and fair that the authorities rule according to laws and administer them, and not according to their own will. But add this, that a king not only vows to keep his law of the land or articles, but God himself also commands him to be pious, and he vows to do so. Well then, if such a king does not keep either God's law or his law of the land, should you attack him for it, judge him and avenge him? Who told you to do it? There would have to be another authority between you, who would interrogate both of you and condemn the culprit, otherwise you will not escape the judgment of God, since he says, Deut. 32, 35, Rom. 12,9: "Vengeance is mine"; item, "Do not judge", Matth. 7, 1.

37 And because the example of the king of Denmark, whom the people of Lübeck and the maritime cities expelled together with the Danes, applies here, I will also give my answer for the sake of those who may have a false conscience in this matter, so that some may think better of it and recognize it. So be it, the king is unjust before God and the world, and justice is entirely on the side of the Danes and Lübeckers. That is a piece in itself. Above this is now the other piece, that the Danes

and Lübeckers have approached as judges and overlords of the king and have punished and smelled such injustice, so that they have refrained from judgment and revenge. Now here comes the question and conscience. When the matter comes before God, he will not ask whether the king is unjust or whether they are just, for this has become evident; but he will ask: "Lords of Denmark and Lübeck, who ordered you to take such vengeance and punishment? If I commanded you, or if the emperor or the sovereign commanded you, then put on letters and seals and prove it. If they can do so, they are in good standing; if not, God will judge them so: You rebellious thieves of God, who have encroached upon my office and who, out of sacrilege, have submitted to divine vengeance, are guilty of laesae majestatis divinae, that is, you have sinned against divine majesty and forfeited it.

For there are two things, being wrong and punishing wrong, jus et executio juris, justitia et administratio justitiae (law and execution of law; justice and administration of justice). To be right and to be wrong is common to everyone, but to give and to distribute right and wrong is up to him who is the wizard of right and wrong, who is God alone, who commands the authorities in his stead. Therefore, no one shall refrain from doing so unless he is certain that he has been commanded to do so by God or by His servant, the authorities.

(39) If it were so, that every one that had right should punish the unjust himself, what would become of it in the world? It would be that the servant would beat the master, the maid the wife, the children the parents, the pupil the master; this would become a praiseworthy order, what need would there then be of judges and secular authorities, appointed by God? Let them consider for themselves, the Danes and Lübeckers, whether they think it right that their servants, citizens and subjects should stand up against them when they are wronged. Why then do they not do to another what they would have done to them, and not exalt another that they themselves would be exalted, as Christ, Matth. 7, 12, and the natural law teach? Although the Lübeck and other cities

would hereby remedy themselves that they had not been the king's subjects, but had acted as enemy with enemy and like with like. But the poor Danes, as subjects, have acted against their authority without God's command, and the Lübeckers have advised and assisted in this, burdened themselves with the same foreign sins and mixed and entangled themselves in the rebellious disobedience of both divine and royal majesty. I will keep silent about the fact that they also despise the emperor's commandment. They also despise the emperor's commandment.

(40) In this case I am speaking as an example, because we act and teach that the subordinate should not set himself against the superior. For it is a remarkable story about the expelled king, and it serves well here to warn all others to beware of the example, and to stir the consciences of those who have done it, so that some may amend themselves and forsake their evil ways before God comes and takes vengeance again on his robbers and enemies, lest they all turn back on it; For, as has been said, the great multitude does not turn back to God's word, it is a lost multitude that is only prepared for God's wrath and punishment; but I am content that some take to heart and do not mix with the Danish and Lübeck deeds, and even if they had been mixed, come out of it and are not found guilty of other people's sins. For we all have more than enough of our own sins for ourselves.

41. here again I will have to endure and hear my judges crying out, "I mean, yes, confidently pretending to princes and lords, now you crawl to the cross and seek mercy; are you afraid? etc. Well, these bumblebees I let purr and pass by. He who can, let him do better; I have not now resolved to preach to princes and overlords. I am also well aware that my hypocrisy will earn me bad grace, and they will not be very happy about this hypocrisy, because I put their position in such danger, as they have heard. I have said it enough, and it is, alas, all too true that the majority of princes and lords are ungodly tyrants and

They are God's enemies, persecute the gospel, and are my ungracious lords and sovereigns; I do not ask much about that. But this I teach, that everyone knows how to keep himself in this piece and work against the overlord and do what God commands him, and let the overlords see and stand for themselves, God will not forget the tyrants and overlords, he is also equal enough to them, as he has done from the beginning of the world.

Moreover, I do not want my letter to be understood by the peasants alone, as if they alone were the subordinate and not the nobility. Not so, but what I say about the sub-person should apply to both peasants, burghers, lords, counts and princes. For all of these also have overlords and are subordinates of one another. And as one cuts off the head of a rebellious peasant, so one should also cut off the head of a rebellious nobleman, count, prince, one as well as the other, so no one is wronged.

Emperor Maximilian, I think, could have sung a song about disobedient rebellious princes and nobility, who would have loved to have rotted and bumped heads together. And the nobility, how often have they lamented, cursed, wished and sought to defy the princes and rot? What is the cry of the Frankish nobility alone, how they do not give much neither to the emperor nor to their bishops? Such little disciples need not be called red-blooded or rebellious, even if they were; the peasant must suffer, he must take the blame. But if my mind were wrong, it is true that God has punished the rebellious lords and nobility through the rebellious peasants, one boy by another, because Maximilian had to suffer and could not punish them, even though he had to stop his life. And I might bet something on it, if the peasants' revolt had not come in, a revolt among the nobility would have risen against the princes and perhaps against the emperor as well; so completely was Germany in a balance. But now the peasants have fallen in, they alone must be black, nobility and princes go away fine, wipe the mouth, are beautiful and

have never done anything evil. But with this God remains undeceived, and he has warned them with this that they should learn from the example to be obedient to their authorities as well. This is my hypocrisy to the princes and lords.

44 Here you say: Should one then suffer such from a sovereign, that he would be such a villain, to let ruin country and people; and that I speak of it in noble: devil, St. Vitus' dance, pestilence, St. Anton, St. Cyrin! I am of the nobility, who would let it happen that a tyrant would ruin my wife, child, body and property so shamefully etc. I answer: Listen, I teach you nothing, always continue, you are wisely full, because of me there is no lack, it costs me no more effort than that I watch you sing out such a high song.

To the others, who would gladly keep their conscience, we say: God has thrown us into the world under the devil's rule, so that we have no paradise here, but must await all misfortunes every hour in body, wife, child, goods and honor. And where in one hour not ten misfortunes come, even that you can live one hour, you should say: Oh how great kindness my God shows me, that not all misfortunes have come to me this hour; how is that possible? I should not have such a blessed hour under the devil's rule etc. This is how we teach ours. But you may make yourself another, build yourself a paradise, where the devil may not come, so that you may not expect such desolation from any tyrant; we will watch. We are only too comfortable, the tickle stings us; we do not know God's goodness, nor do we believe that God protects us so and the devil is so evil. We want to be vain bad boys and yet have vain good from God.

46 This is what is said about the first part, that no fencing or fighting can be right against the leader. And although it has often happened and is in danger of happening every day, just as all other misdeeds and injustices also happen when God decrees them and does not prevent them, it still does not end well in the end and does not remain unscented, even if they are lucky for a while. So let us now consider the other part, whether

I have heard that it is not right to make war according to the head of every foolish lord. For this I have said before all things: He who starts war is unjust, and it is right that he should be beaten, or at least punished, who first draws the knife. Just as it has happened and continues to happen in all history that those who have started the war have lost, and those who have had to defend themselves have very rarely been defeated. For temporal authorities are not appointed by God to break the peace and start wars, but to keep the peace and prevent wars, as Paul says in Romans 13:4 that the sword's function is to protect and punish, to protect the pious in peace and to punish the wicked with war. And God, who does not suffer injustice, also sends it so that the warriors must be warred against, and as the saying goes, "No one was ever so wicked as this, nor did he find a wicked one;" so God also lets him sing, Ps. 68, 31: Dissipa gentes, quae bella volunt: "The Lord scatters the peoples who have a desire to war."

Beware of him who does not lie, and let this be said to you, that you separate far, far from each other will and must, desire and need, desire to fight and will to fight. Do not let yourself be accused of being like the Turkish emperor; wait until need and necessity come without desire and will; you will still have enough to do and wars enough to win, so that you may say and your heart may boast: Well, how I would like to have peace, if my neighbors wanted it. Then you can defend yourself with a clear conscience. For there is God's word: He scatters those who desire to get. Behold the right warriors who have been in the reproach, they do not soon flinch, they do not defy, they have no desire to strike; but if they are forced to, beware of them, they do not reproach; their knife is stuck, but if they have to twitch it, it does not come without. Blood again in the scabbard. Again the mad fools, who get first with thoughts and start it splendidly, devour the world with words, and are the first with

Knife twitching, but they are also the first to flee there and pocket the knife.

The Romans, the mighty empire, won almost most of all by the fact that they had to fight, that is, everyone wanted to attach themselves to them and become knights, so that they had to defend themselves. Hannibal, the prince from Africa, hurt them so badly that he almost destroyed them. But what can I say? He had started, he had to stop. The courage of God remained with the Romans, even though they lost. But where courage remains, action is sure to follow. For it is God who does it, and wants peace, and is hostile to those who make war and break the peace.

Here I must remember Duke Frederick of Saxony, Elector, as an example. For it is a pity that such a wise prince should die with his body. Since he had to suffer many an evil trick, both from his neighbors and from everywhere else, and had such a cause to get that another mad prince, who has air to get, would have started ten times, he nevertheless let his knife stick, always gave good words and acted as if he was almost very afraid, and almost fled and let the others bang and thump, but nevertheless remained seated in front of them. When he was asked why he let himself be poked like that, he answered: "I don't want to start; but if I have to start, then you should see that I stop. So he remained unbitten, even though many dogs showed their teeth. He saw that they were fools, and could hold it too well for them.

If the King of France had not started to fight against the Emperor Carl, he would not have been so shamefully beaten and captured; and now still, because the Venetians and the Whales sit down against the Emperor - even though he is my enemy, the injustice is not dear to me - and start, God grant that they may at last also have to stop at the first and let the saying remain true, Ps. 68, 31: "God scatters those who delight in war."

(51) God confirms all this with excellent examples in Scripture. For this is why he gave the kingdoms of the Amorites and the

Cananites through his people to the first peace and did not want his people to start fighting, so that such his doctrine would be confirmed. Again, since these kingdoms began and forced God's people to fight back, they all had to go to ruins. O! to fight back is a just cause to fight, therefore also all rights approve that self-defense shall be unpunished, and whoever slays someone out of self-defense is innocent before everyone." Again, when the children of Israel sought to smite the Canaanites without necessity, they were smitten, Num. 14:35; and when Joseph and Azariah sought to quarrel and bring honor, they were smitten, 1 Macc. 5:56 ff. Amaziah king of Judah also wanted to fight against king Israel because he wanted to; but how it went for him, read from Cap. 14 in the other book of Kings, v. 8. ff. Item, the king Ahab began against the Syrians to Ramoth, but lost and remained over it, 1 Kings 22, 2. ff. And those of Ephraim wanted to devour Jephthah, and lost 42,000 men, Judges 12:6. 12, 6. And so on you find that almost all lost those who started. The blessed king Josiah had to be slain because he began to fight against the king of Egypt, 2 Kings 23:29, and had to let the saying remain true: "The Lord scatters those who desire war." Therefore my countrymen, the Harzlings, have a saying: I have ever truly heard: he who strikes will be struck again. Why is that? Because God rules the world powerfully and does not let injustice go unpunished; he who does wrong does not atone and does not do enough for his neighbor, he has his punishment from God, as sure as he lives. I think that the coiner with his peasants should also have to confess it.

The first thing to be said in this matter is that war is not right, even if it is like against like; unless it has such a title and conscience that it can say, "My neighbor forces and urges me to war; I would rather refrain from it, so that war may not only be called war, but also dutiful protection and defense. For war must be separated, as if some are started out of desire and will before another attacks; but some will be

The first may be called a war lust, the second a war of necessity. The first may well be called a war lust, the other a war of necessity. The first is of the devil, whom God will not give happiness; the other is a human accident, whom God will help.

Therefore let it be said to you, my lords, beware of war, except when you must defend and protect, and your appointed office compels you to war. Then let it go and strike, then be men and prove your armor, then it is not a matter of war with thoughts. The matter itself will be serious enough that the teeth of the angry, defiant, proud iron eaters will become so blunt that they will not be able to bite fresh butter. The reason is this: Every lord and prince is obliged to protect his own and to make peace for them. This is his office, for which he has the sword, Rom. 13, 4. This should also be his conscience, on which he relies, so that he knows that such work is right before God and commanded by Him. For I do not teach now what Christians should do. For we Christians are not concerned with your regiment, but we serve you and tell you what to do in your regiment before God. A Christian is a person for himself, he believes for himself and for no one else. But a lord and prince is not a person for himself, but for others, that he may serve them, that is, protect and defend them; although it would be good for him also to be a Christian and believe in God, then he would be blessed. But it is not princely to be a Christian, therefore few princes must be Christians, as they say: prince -, game in heaven. Even if they are not Christians, they should still do right and well according to God's outward order; that is what he wants from them.

54. but if a lord or prince does not exercise such an office and command, and makes himself believe that he is not a prince for the sake of his subjects, but for the sake of his beautiful yellow hair, as if God had made him a prince for this reason, that he should rejoice in his power, good and honor, have pleasure and defiance in it and rely on it; he belongs among the heathen, indeed, he is a

Fool. For he should make war for the sake of a numb nut, and see nothing but the atonement of his courage. Now God has warned him that others also have fists, and that there are also people on the other side of the mountain, and so one sword keeps the other in its scabbard. But a reasonable ruler does not look at himself; he has enough if his subjects are obedient. Whether his enemies or neighbors scrape and throb, let go of many evil words, he thinks, fools always grow more than wise men. Many words go into a sack, and much is answered with silence. Therefore he does not ask much about it until he sees that his subjects are being attacked, or if the knife is drawn with the deed, he then fights back as much as he can, should and must. Otherwise, whoever is such a sissy that he wants to catch all words and seeks cause, he certainly wants to catch the wind with his coat. But what peace or benefit he will have from it, let him confess himself at last, and you will know it well.

That is the first thing in this piece. The other is ever so necessary to remember. Even if you are sure and certain that you will not start, but will be forced to get, you must still fear God and have Him before your eyes, and not go out like this: Yes, I will be forced, I have good cause to get, want to rely on it and plunge foolhardily into it; that is not valid either. True, you have good cause to fight and to resist, but you do not yet have a seal and a letter from God that you will win. Yes, just such defiance should make you lose, even though you have good cause to win, because God cannot suffer pride or defiance without one who humbles and fears Him. It pleases him that one should not be afraid of men and devils, that one should be bold and defiant, courageous and stiff against them when they start and do wrong. But that this should be won, as if we were the ones who would or could do it, nothing will come of it, but he will be feared, and sing such a little song from the heart: Dear Lord, my God, you see that I have to get it, I want to get it.

but I do not rely on the just cause, but on your grace and mercy. For I know that if I trust in a just cause, and if I am defiant, thou shouldest let me fall more cheaply than he who falls cheaply, because I trust in my own right, and not in thy mere grace and goodness.

(56) Hear what the heathen, Greeks and Romans, who knew nothing of God and the fear of God, say in this case. For they thought that they were the ones who warred and won; but through manifold experience, when often a great armed people was defeated by few and unarmed, they had to learn and freely confess that there is nothing more dangerous in wars than to be safe and defiant; And so they conclude that one should never despise the enemy, no matter how small he is; item, one should not give away any advantage, no matter how small it is; item, one should not let down any guard, watch or attention, no matter how small it is; just as one should measure all pieces with the gold scale. Fools, defiant, careless people serve no purpose in war except to do harm. The word non putassem, "I did not mean it," they consider the most shameful word a man of war could speak. For it indicates a confident, defiant, nonchalant man who can ruin more in a moment with one step, with one word, than his ten might bring back, and then wants to say, I truly did not mean it. The prince Hannibal, how horribly he beat the Romans, as long as they were defiant and safe against him. And there are countless histories of this, even daily before our eyes.

Now, the pagans have experienced and learned such things, but they knew neither cause nor reason, without blaming it on luck, which they nevertheless had to fear. But the reason and cause is, as I have said, that in all and through all such histories God wants to have testified that He wants to be feared, even in such things He cannot and will not suffer defiance, contempt, presumption, or security, until we learn to take everything we want and should have from His hands through pure grace and mercy. Therefore

It is a strange thing: a man of war who has a good cause should be both brave and timid at the same time. How can he fight if he is despondent? But if he fights boldly, there is great danger again.

(58) But this is what he must do: he must be fearful and humble before God and command him to do it, not according to our rights, but according to his goodness and grace, so that God may be won over first with a humble and fearful heart. Against men one should be bold, free and defiant, as they are wrong, and thus strike them with a defiant, confident mind. For why should we not do to our God what the Romans, the greatest warriors on earth, did to their idol, Fortune, of whom they were afraid? And where they did not do it, they even fought dangerously or were even badly beaten.

(59) Let this be the decision of this piece; warfare against equals shall be a necessary thing and shall be done with the fear of God. But coercion is when the enemy or neighbor attacks and begins and will not help that one offers himself to justice, to interrogation, to treaty, to bear all kinds of evil words and treachery, and to keep too well; but will badly with the head through. For I always condition myself to preach to those who would gladly do right before God; but where there are those who would not offer nor accept justice, they are none of my business. The fear of God is not to rely on just causes, but to be careful, diligent, and cautious even in the smallest thing, even if it is a pipe. With all this, God's hand is not bound, that He may call to war those who have given us no cause, as He called the children of Israel to war against the Canaanites; for there is need enough to war, namely God's commandment. However, such warfare should not be done without fear and anxiety, as God shows in Joshua 7:1 ff, when the children of Israel marched safely against the Aites and were well beaten. Such distress is when the subjects fight by command of the authorities. For God commands to be obedient to the authorities, and His command is a necessity; but that it may also be done with fear is a necessity.

and humility. -We will say more about this later.

(60) The third part, whether the superior may justly war against the inferior? We have heard above how the subjects should be obedient and also suffer injustice from their tyrants; that therefore, where things are right, the authorities have nothing to do with the subjects except to use the law, court and judgment; but where they revolt and rebel, as the peasants did next, it is right and just to wage war against them. So too, a prince should act against his nobility, an emperor against his princes, if they are rebellious and start a war; but that it should also be done with the fear of God and that one should not rely too defiantly on the law, lest God decree that even through injustice the overlords should be punished by their subjects; as has often happened, as we have well heard above. For to be right and to do right do not always follow and go together, indeed never ever, God grant it. Therefore, although it is right for the subjects to sit quietly and suffer everything, and not to rebel, it is not in man's hands that they also do so. For God has set the subject to be entirely alone for himself, and has taken the sword from him and put him in prison. If he rots over it and attaches others to himself, and breaks loose and takes the sword, he is guilty of judgment and death before God.

(61) Again, the overlord is set to be a common person, and not to have for himself alone the adherence of the subjects and the wielding of the sword. For if a prince turns to the emperor as to his overlord, he is no longer a prince, but a single person, in obedience to the emperor, like all others, each for himself. But if he turns to his subjects as to his subjects, he is as many persons as he has heads under him and attached to him. So also, the emperor, if he turns against God, he is not emperor, but a single person, like all others before God. But if he turns to his subjects, he is emperor as many times as he has under him.

(62) So also of all other authorities it is to be said, that if they turn to their overlord, they have no authority, and are stripped of all authority. If they turn down, they are adorned with all authority; so that in the end all authority comes up to God, of whom it is alone. For he is emperor, prince, count, nobleman, judge and all, and divides them out as he wills against the subjects and raises them up again against himself. Now no individual person shall set himself against the community, nor shall the community attach itself to him. For if he heaps them up, the chips will surely fall into his eyes. And from this you see how those who "strive against God's order, who resist the authorities," as St. Paul teaches, Rom. 13:2. And so he also says, 1 Cor. 15:24, "that God will abolish all authorities," when he himself will rule and turn everything back to himself.

This is what is said about the three pieces. Now come the questions. For since no king or prince can rule alone, he must have men and people to serve him, no more than he can administer justice and law; he must have counselors, judges, lawyers, marshals, executioners, and all that belongs to the court. Is it right for a man to take pay or, as they call it, service money or man's money, and be ordered to serve the prince when the time demands it, as the custom is now and will be? To answer this, we distinguish these war servants.

64 First of all, there are subjects who are already obligated to assist their overlords with body and goods and to follow their command, especially the nobility, and who have fiefs from the authorities. For the estates held by counts, lords and nobles were divided up and enfeoffed by the Romans and Roman emperors long ago in such a way that those who held them were to sit in constant armor and readiness, one with as many horses and men, the other as much as the estates could provide; and such estates were their pay, so that they were paid; that is why they are also called fief estates, and there are also still such charges on them.

The emperor allows such estates to be inherited, which is also all fair and fine in the Roman Empire. But the Turk, as it is said, does not leave any inheritance and does not suffer any hereditary principality, county or manor or fief; he sets and gives as he pleases, when he pleases and to whom he pleases, that is why he has so much gold and good beyond all measure, and is, in short, lord of the land or rather a tyrant.

Therefore those of the nobility must not think that they have their property for nothing, as if they had found it or won it in a game. The weight on it and the feudal obligation show well from where and why they have it, namely borrowed from the emperor or the prince; not that they should show off and flaunt it, but that they should be ready for battle, protect the land and keep the peace. If they now boast how they have to keep horses, serve princes and lords, when others have peace and quiet, I say: "Well, my dear, let yourselves be thanked for it, you have your pay and fief and are thus endowed with such an office, and take it well paid. But don't others also have enough work for their little property? Or is it you alone who have work, since your office is seldom used, but others must exercise themselves daily; but if you do not want it, or if it seems too hard and unequal, then let your property go; one can find those who gladly accept it and do for it what it demands.

For this reason, the wise have divided the work of all men into two parts: Agriculturam and Militiam, that is, the work of agriculture and the work of war, as it naturally divides itself. The work of agriculture is to nourish, the work of war is to defend; and those who are in the ministry of defense are to take their interest and nourishment from those who are in the ministry of sewing, so that they may defend. Again, those who are in the sewing ministry shall have their protection from those who are in the ministry of defense, that they may feed. And the emperor or prince of the land shall look to both offices and keep them in order, that those in the office of defense may be strong and travelers, and those in the office of sewing may act honestly to improve the food; but they shall not suffer useless people, who serve neither to defend nor to feed, but only to eat, to be idle and to go about idly; but they shall be driven out of the country or sent to the

They do the same as the bees and kill the bumblebees, which do not work and eat up the honey of the other bees. Therefore, in his Ecclesiastes, Solomon calls the kings builders who build the land, Ecclesiastes 5:8: for it shall be their office. But God protect us Germans, so that we do not soon become wise and do this, so that we remain good honeysuckle for a while, and let us be honeysuckle and honeysuckle, whoever has a desire for it or cannot avoid it.

67) That these first have rightly their pay and feudal goods and also do rightly, that they help their lord and serve in it as they are obliged, was confirmed by St. John the Baptist, Luc. 3, 13. When the men of war asked him what they should do, he answered: "Let yourselves be content with your pay. For if their pay was unjust or their service contrary to God, he would not have had to let it remain so, allow it and confirm it, but punish them and keep them from it as a godly, Christian teacher. And this is the answer to those who, out of a stupid conscience - although rare among such people nowadays - pretend that it is dangerous to accept such an office for the sake of temporal good, which is no different than shedding blood, murdering and causing one's neighbor all the harm that warfare gives. For they should tell their conscience that they do not do such an office out of selfishness, lust or unwillingness, but it is God's office and they owe it to their ruler and God. Therefore, because it is a right office, ordained by God, he is due his pay and reward for it, as Christ says, Matth. 10, 10: "A laborer is worthy of his wages.

68 This is true when a man serves in war with such a heart and mind that he neither seeks nor thinks of anything else but to acquire good, and good is his only cause; so that he does not like to see peace, and he is sorry that there is no war; he certainly goes off the track and is of the devil, even if he wars out of obedience and by the command of his master. For he turns a good work into an evil one for himself, with the addition that he does not pay much attention to how he serves out of obedience and duty, but seeks only what is his. Therefore he has

There is no good conscience that can say, "Well, for my sake I would have stayed at home, but because my master demands me and desires me, I come in God's name and know that I serve God in it, and I want to earn my pay or take what is given to me for it. For a man of war should have such a conscience and comfort with him that he is guilty and must do it, so that he may be sure that he is serving God in it and can say, "Here it is not I who strike, stab or choke, but God and my prince, whose servant is now my hand and body. For this is also the meaning of the slogan and the shouting in the conflict: Hie Kaiser, hie Frankreich, hie Lüneburg, hie Braunschweig. So also the Jews cried out against the Midianites, Judges. 7, 20: "Here God's sword and Gideon's sword."

(69) If such a miser spoils all other good works, then he who preaches for temporal good is also lost, and Christ says, Matt. 10:10, Luc. 10:7, 1 Cor. 9:14: "Let a preacher be nourished by the gospel. To do something for temporal good is not evil, for interest, pay and wages are also temporal good, otherwise no one would have to work or do anything to feed himself, because everything is done for temporal good; but to be stingy for temporal good and to make a mammon out of it, that is always wrong in all classes, in all offices and works. Forsake covetousness and other evil opinions; then warfare is not sin, and take for it your pay and what is given you. That is why I said above that the work in itself is right and godly, but if the person is wrong or does not need to be right, it will also be wrong.

70 The other question: How if my Lord is wrong? Answer: If you know for certain that he is wrong, then you should fear and obey God more than men, Acts 5:29. 5:29, and thou shalt not covet nor serve, for thou canst not have a good conscience before God. Yea, sayest thou, my lord constraineth me, taketh away my fief, giveth me not my money, my wages, nor my pay, and I shall be despised and dishonored as one that despiseth, even as a faithless man in the sight of the world, who forsaketh his lord in his afflictions.

lets etc. Answer: You must dare to do this and for God's sake let go of what you are leading to, he can give it back to you a hundredfold, as he promises in the gospel, Matth. 19, 29: "Whoever forsakes house, farm, wife and possessions for my sake shall receive it back a hundredfold" etc. Such danger must also be expected in all other works, since the authorities force one to do wrong. But since God also wants to have left father and mother for his sake, one must of course also leave Lord for his sake etc.

If you do not know or cannot know whether your Lord is unjust, you should not weaken your uncertain obedience for the sake of uncertain justice, but rather do what is best for your Lord according to love. "For love believeth all things, and thinketh no evil," 1 Cor. 13:7. Thus thou art safe and doest well in the sight of God. If anyone disgraces you or reproaches you unfaithfully, it is better for God to praise you faithfully and honestly than for the world to praise you faithfully and honestly. What good would it do you if the world thought you were Solomon or Moses, and you were counted as evil in the sight of God as Saul or Ahab?

(72) The third question: Whether a man of war may commit himself to service more than to one lord, and take pay or service money from any one? Answer: I have said above that avarice is wrong, God grant that he go in good or evil office. For the work of the fields is one of the best offices, nor is a stingy husbandman unjust and condemned before God. So also here: Taking pay is cheap and right, serving for it is also right; but stinginess is not right, even if the year's pay would hardly be a florin. Again: To take and earn pay is right in himself, be it from one, two, three lords, or however many they are, as long as the hereditary lord and sovereign is not deprived of his fee and others are served with his will and favor. For just as a good craftsman may sell his art to whosoever will have it, and serve with it, provided it is not contrary to his authority and community: so, because a man of war has the skill of God to get, he may use it, as with his-

ner art and craft, serve whoever desires his, and take his reward for it, as for his work. For this is also a profession that springs from the law of love: if someone needs me and desires that I do him will and take my fee for it or what is given to me. For thus says St. Paul, 1 Cor. 2:7: "No one travels in his own pay," and thus approves such a right. Because a prince needs another subject and desires to fight, he may well serve him with his prince's will and knowledge and take pay for it.

(73) But how would it be if one of the princes or lords were at war with the other, and I were obligated to both, but would rather serve the one who is wrong, because he has shown me more grace or good, than the one who is right, because I enjoy less of it? Here is the short, straightforward answer: justice, which is God's good pleasure, should take precedence over good, body, honor and friend, grace and enjoyment, and no person is to be considered here, but only God. And here, too, it is to be suffered again for God's sake that one is held ungrateful or despised. For here there is an honest excuse, namely God and the right, who do not want to suffer, to serve the most beloved and to leave the most unworthy; although the old Adam does not like to hear this, nevertheless it should be so, where it wants to be otherwise right. For against God there is no dispute; but he who disputes against the law disputes against God, who gives, orders and administers all law.

(74) The fourth question: What shall we say of him who gets not only for good but also for temporal honor, that he is such a white man and is esteemed? etc. Answer: Ambition and avarice are both avarice, one as wrong as the other, and he who gets in such vice gets hell. For we are to leave and give the glory to God alone, and be content with the bread and fodder. That is why it is a pagan and not a Christian way to admonish the warriors before the battle, from this way: Dear companions, dear servants, be fresh and confident, we want, if God wills, to give honor today.

and become rich. But in this way they should be admonished: Dear fellows, we are gathered here in the service, duty and obedience of our prince, as we owe it to God's will and order to assist our lord with body and goods. Even though we are poor sinners before God, as well as our enemies; but nevertheless, because we know, or do not know otherwise, that our prince is right in this matter, and are sure and certain that we serve God Himself in such service and obedience, let each one of us be fresh and undaunted, and do not think otherwise, because his fist is God's fist, his spear is God's spear, and cry out with heart and mouth: Here God and Emperor! If God gives us victory, then honor and praise shall be ours, not ours who does it through us poor sinners. But let us take the spoils and the pay as given and given to us unworthy ones by His divine goodness and grace, and let us thank Him for it from the bottom of our hearts. Now let God be with you, and let us go up with joy.

For without doubt, if one seeks the honor of God and lets it remain with him, as is right and just and should be, then the honor itself will come more than anyone could seek, because God has promised, 1 Sam. 2, 30: "Whoever honors me, I will honor again, but whoever dishonors me, he shall be honored again"; that he certainly cannot leave it, according to his promise, he must honor those who honor him. And one of the greatest sins is to seek one's own honor, which is nothing else than crimen laesae majestatis divinae, a robbery of divine majesty. Therefore let others boast and seek honor; be thou obedient and quiet, thy honor shall be found. Many a quarrel is lost, which otherwise would have been won, if vain honor had done it. For such ambitious warriors do not believe that God is in the war and gives victory, therefore they do not fear God, are not joyful, but insolent and foolish, and are also defeated in the end.

(76) But these are the very best of fellows to me, who, before the battle, are admonished and exhorted by the laudable devotion of their wooers, and let them say, Huy now,

Each one thinks of his favorite lover. I say this, if I had not heard from two trustworthy men, experienced in such a game that such a thing happens, I would never have believed that a man's heart should be so forgetful and careless in such serious business, since the danger of death is before his eyes. And indeed, no one does it when he fights with death alone, but here in the crowd, one irritates the other, so that no one does not pay attention to what is important to him, because it is important to many. But it is frightening for a Christian heart to think and hear that in the hour when one has God's judgment and danger of death before one's eyes, one first tickles and comforts oneself with carnal love. For those who are thus stabbed or die, of course, send their souls straight to hell, without any delay.

Yes, they say, if I were to think of hell, I would never have to go to war. This is even more terrible, that one wilfully puts God and His judgment out of mind and does not want to know, think or hear about it. For this reason, a large part of the warriors belong to the devil, and some are so full of devils that they do not know how to prove their joy better than to speak contemptuously of God and His judgment, as if they were the real iron-eaters, that they may shamefully swear, martyr, curse and defy God in heaven. They are a lost multitude and the chaff; just as in all other classes there is much chaff and little grain.

It follows from this that the peasants who run wild in the land and seek war, even if they would like to work and do their crafts until they are challenged, and lose their time because of laziness or out of a raw, wild spirit, may not be at ease with God. For they can neither declare a cause nor a good conscience of their walk before God, but only have a foolhardy desire or audacity for war, or to lead a freely wild life. After such a journeyman's manner, they must in the end become knaves and robbers. But if they were to go to work or do crafts and earn their living, as God has commanded and enjoined all men, until the sovereign comes upon them.

If they were allowed and desired to do so for themselves or for another, they would rise up with a clear conscience, knowing that they were serving their sovereign in favor of him, which they otherwise could not do with a clear conscience. For this should be a comfort and joy to all the world, and even a mighty cause to love and honor the authorities, that God Almighty has shown us great mercy and has set the authorities before us as an outward mark and sign of His will, since we are certain that we please His divine will and do right as often and as often as we do the will and pleasure of the authorities. For he has committed and bound his word and his will to them, saying, Matt. 22:21, "Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's," and Rom. 13:1, "Let every man be subject unto the authorities."

Lastly, the men of war also have many superstitions in dispute; one commands himself to St. George, the other to St. Christoffel; one to this, the other to the saint. Some can conjure up iron and a box stone; some can bless horse and rider; some carry St. John's gospel or something else on which they rely. All these are in a dangerous state. For they do not believe in God, but rather sin against God with unbelief and disbelief, and if they die in this way, they must also be lost. But this is what they should do: when the battle is over, and the exhortation I have just given has been fulfilled, they should simply place themselves in God's grace, and now present themselves as Christians in this matter. For in the foregoing exhortation only the form is given, how one should do the outward work of war with a good conscience; but since no good work does not make one blessed, each one should now, after such exhortation, say thus in his heart or with his mouth: "Heavenly Father, here am I according to thy divine will in this outward work and service of my overlord, as I owe thee before and the same overlord for thy sake; and thank thy grace and mercy that thou hast placed me in such work, being sure that it is not sin, but is right, and obedience pleasing to thy will. But because I

I know and have learned through your gracious word that none of our good works can help us, and no one must be saved as a warrior, but only as a Christian; so I will not rely at all on such obedience and works of mine, but freely do them to serve your will, and believe with all my heart that only the innocent blood of your dear Son, my Lord. JEsu Christ, redeems and saves me, which he obediently shed for me according to your gracious will. There I abide, there I live and die, there I contend and do all things; uphold, dear Lord God the Father, and strengthen me in such faith by thy Spirit, Amen." If you want to say the faith and the Lord's Prayer, you can do it and let it be enough. And with it, deliver body and soul into his hands, and then pull off the leather and strike in God's name.

If there were many such men of war in one army, who would harm them? Dear, who do you think would harm them? They would eat up the world without all the swordplay. Yes, if there were nine or ten of them in a troop, or three or four, who could say such things with a right heart, they would be better to me than all the guns, spears, horse and armor, and would let the Turk come with all his might. For Christian faith is not a shame nor a small thing; but, as Christ says in the Gospel, Marc. 9, 23: it is able to do all things. But, dear one,

Where are they who believe and do this? But even if the multitude does not do it, we must still teach and know this for their sake, however few there are who will do it. For the word of God does not go forth in vain, says Isaiah, Cap. 55:11, for it brings some to God. The others, who despise the salvific teaching for their salvation, have their judge to whom they must answer. We are excused and have done our part.

I will leave it here for now. For I also wanted to say something about the Turkish war, because it had come so close to us, and some reproached me for my words, that I would have resisted against the Turk. For I have long known that I would also have to become a Turk; and nothing helps me that I have written so clearly about it, and have been taught in the booklet by secular authorities, how like may well war against like. But because the Turk is home again, and our Germans no longer ask about it, it is not yet time to write about it. Such instruction, my dear Lord Assa, I should have made long ago; but it has been so long delayed until now that we have become fathers by God's grace. Which delay you may give me credit for; for I myself do not know well how it has dragged on so long. But, I hope, it shall not have been an unfruitful delay and shall have furthered the cause all the better. Hereby commanded by God.

5. of the resistance, if the evangelicals were to be overrun with war for the sake of the gospel.