Martinus Luther, Doctor.
(1) We must admit, all of us who want to be Christians and be saved, that in Christianity there is no rest nor cessation of sects, false brothers, and all kinds of devilish rages; Satan wants to and must be among the children of God, Job at first, v. 6. But where Satan comes among them, and gets leave from God and the decree to tempt the godly children of God, then it happens that the sheep are stolen from dear Job, that the thunder strikes his servants to death, that the wind comes from midnight and tears down his houses, and strangles all his children. But this is not enough; after this his body and soul also suffer all manner of affliction, until even his own friends afflict him, and his own wife mocks him.
2. read the Historia ecclesiastica, together with the like, and look into it diligently, and you will find how, from the beginning of Christianity, there has been such a chaos of sects, error, and
2) There has been all kinds of trouble, that even among the heathen, where the devil reigns in the flesh, there has been better, quieter and finer government to look upon than among the Christians, that the great rulers in the Roman Empire have been able to say with mighty pretense and glamor: Behold, the boys, how they devour themselves among themselves, and yet want to bring the world under themselves to their faith.
(3) Just as Job's friends were so greatly angered by his great misfortune, and were sure that Job was the worst wicked man on earth, whom God had to be hostile to and punish so horribly. And even if God sometimes punishes the worldly regime, so that they also have to have war and suffer all kinds of misfortune among each other, they do not consider it so great, nor do they have such great annoyance as it has among the Christians, who are supposed to be pious, quiet, united and peaceful, according to their own teachings and all the prophets' prophecies.
2) Erlanger: all.
*The text to which Luther wrote this preface is entitled: "Wie ein iglicher Christ gegen allerley lere, gut vnd böse, nach Gottes befelh, sich gebürlich halten soll. With a preface by D. Mart. Luther. Justus Menius. Wittemberg M.v.XXXVIII." 6 quarto sheets. At the end: "Gedruckt zu Wittemberg durch Nickel Schirlentz, M.D.XXXVIII." The writing itself, along with Luther's preface, is printed in the Wittenberg edition (1551), vol. II, p. 480k; the preface alone in the Wittenberg (1559), vol. XII, p. 367k; in the Jena (1568), vol. VII, p. 30; in the Altenburg, vol. VIII, p. 32; in the Leipzig, vol. XXII, appendix, p. 127; and in the Erlangen,
4. that in this matter there is neither counsel nor help, except (whoever can) look to God's word, keep to it, and judge everything according to it. For since God's word is of great power, that it rumbles and exercises its mighty power among devils, death, and sins (who do not suffer it, but confidently rage against it), how should it not also rumble among the human sects of carnal wisdom and holiness, which also cannot suffer it. In such a rumor, of course, it must happen that it can be seen as if no one could know who is cook or waiter, who is God's or the devil's, who is church or end-Christ.
5 God does all this so that he will not look at men or human beings, but at his word, and honor and keep it under, above, and apart from everything; so that when a man dies or is otherwise in need, he must forget heaven and earth, sun and moon, father and mother, money and goods, honor and honor.
The only thing they can do is to take hold of God's word, dare to do it alone, and thus go there. Heaven and earth may remain behind or in front, they can neither advise nor help here, nor guide, much less save.
(6) So, too, in these troubles of the churches, one must not pay attention to what people suffer or do, not look at whether they are many or few, whether they are Turks or Popes, but where and with whom the word of God is. There he will stop and be sure that Job's house and the children of God, the holy church, are there; then let him who does not want to stop be annoyed by the works of Satan, who roams so wildly in Job's house that it seems to be the devil's house, and all the other houses are God's houses. But Job's house remains at last, when all the others perish. For it is said, "God's word abideth forever." Item, "Heaven and earth pass away, but my word does not pass away," Amen. And that is true.