The 5th of March Anno 1545.
Newly translated from the Latin.
Martin Luther wishes salvation to the godly reader!
Many times and for a long time I have resisted those who wanted to see my books or, more correctly, the jumble of my interpretations published, partly because I did not want the works of the ancients to be displaced by my new things and the reader to be prevented from reading them; Secondly, because by the grace of God there are now many well-prepared books available, among which the loci communes of Philip stand out, by which a theologian and a bishop can be beautifully and abundantly prepared to be able to present the doctrine of godliness, especially since the Holy Bible is now available in almost every language. My books, however, as this brought about the confusion of events, even necessitated it, are also a kind of raw and disordered chaos, which is not easy for me to order.
Moved by these reasons, I wished that all my books were buried in eternal oblivion, so that better ones would have a place. But the urging and the impetuous obstinacy of others, which were daily before my ears: it would happen, if I would not allow in my life that they would be published, but after my death certainly such people would publish them, who would not know at all the causes and times of the events, and so from one confusion very many would become: their urging (I say) has overcome me, so that I allowed that they would be published. For this is at the same time the will and command of our
res most illustrious Prince John Frederick, Elector etc., who commanded, even forced the printers, not only to print the books, but also to accelerate their publication.
But above all, I ask the godly reader, and ask him for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he read this with good judgment, yes, with much mercy. And he should know that I was a monk and an exceedingly nonsensical pope when I started this thing, so drunk, even drowned in the teachings of the pope, that I would have been completely ready, if I had been able, to kill everyone or to help those and to keep it with those who killed those who refused to obey the pope even with one syllable. Such a great Saul was I, as there are still many. I was not so ice and cold in defending the papacy as Eck and his kind were, who rather seemed to me to defend the pope for the sake of their belly than to have acted seriously in the matter; yes, they seem to me even today to ridicule the pope, like the Epicureans. I acted seriously, because I feared the last day in a frightening way, and yet desired from the bottom of my heart to be blessed. Thus you will find in these earlier writings of mine how many and great things I have most humbly admitted to the pope, which in later times and now I consider and curse as the highest blasphemy and atrocity. You will therefore, dear godly reader, this error or (as they blaspheme it) mutually contradictory speeches of time and
*Luther wrote this preface for the first part of his Latin writings, which came out in Wittenberg in 1545, printed by Johannes Luft. The title of the first volume is: Tomus primus omnium operum Reverendi Domini Martini Lutheri, Doctoris theologiae, Continens scripta primi Triennii, ab eo tem-' pore, quo primum controversia de Indulgentiis mota est, uidelicet ab anno Christi M.D.XVII. usque ad annum XX. VVitebergae Per Iohannem Lufft. 1545. It is found in Latin in the Wittenberg edition (1550), tom. I, lot. )(ij; in the Jena (1579), tom. I, tot. () 3 and in the Erlanger, opp. var. ar^., tom. I, p. 15. German in the Wittenberg (1569), vol. IX, p. 1; in the Altenburg vol. 8, preface; in the Leipzig, vol. XXII, appendix, p. 146 and in Walch. Individual parts of the preface are found in German in the Wittenberg (1553), vol. Ill, after the Jnhaltsverzeichniß, and in the Jena (1564), vol. I, p. 2d. We have retranslated according to the Latin Wittenberger.
to my ignorance. I was alone at first, and certainly quite unskilled and too unlearned to do such great things, for by chance, not willingly and intentionally, I got into this trouble; for this I call God Himself to witness.
Since in 1517 indulgences were sold (proclaimed, I mean to say) in these lands for the sake of the most shameful profit, I was at that time a preacher, a young doctor of theology (as one is wont to say), and began to dissuade the people and admonish them not to give ear to the criers of indulgences; they had better things to do. And I believed that I would have the pope as my patron in this, on whose reliability I relied very much at that time, since in his decrees he condemns in the clearest possible way the impudent activities of the indulgence preachers (quaestorum - the "Schösser" - that is what he calls them).
Immediately I wrote two letters, one to the archbishop of Mainz, Albrecht, 1) who received half of the money from the indulgence; the other half was given to the pope, which I did not know at the time; the other letter to the ordinary bishop of our place (ordinarium loci, as it is called), the bishop of Brandenburg, Jerome, 2) asking that they stop the impudence and blasphemy of the indulgence merchants, but the poor little monk (orator) was despised. 3) Since I was so despised, I issued a disputation note 4) and at the same time a German sermon on indulgences, shortly thereafter also the explanations, in which I acted in honor of the pope, that indulgences should not be condemned, but the good works of love should be preferred to it.
That was as much as if I had thrown down the sky and consumed the whole world with a conflagration. I am accused before the pope, a citation is sent in which
1) Walch, old edition, Vol. XV, 479.
2) Walch, old edition, Vol. XV, 498.
3) Erlanger: condemnabatur ftatt: contemnebatur.
4) These are the famous 95 Theses, St. Louis edition, vol. XVIII, 71; - The "German Sermon on Indulgences," is the "Sermon on Indulgences and Grace," ibid. col. 270; - The "Explanations" (resolutiones) of his Disputation on the Power of Indulgences are found ibid. col. 100.
I am summoned to Rome, and the whole papacy rises up against me as a single man. This happened in 1518 during the Imperial Diet held by Maximilian in Augsburg, at which Cardinal Cajetan was active as the Pope's legate a latere. The most illustrious Duke of Saxony, Frederick, Elector, turned to him and obtained that I should not be forced to go to Rome, but that he himself should summon me, investigate the matter and settle it. Soon after, the Diet was dissolved.
In the meantime, because all Germans were tired of suffering the plundering, the fair and the innumerable frauds of the Roman boys, they waited with great desire for the outcome of such a great matter, which neither a bishop nor a theologian had dared to touch before. And in any case, this mood of the people was favorable to me, because all of them already hated the artifices and Roman practices (Romanationes) with which they had filled and tired the whole world.
Therefore I came to Augsburg on foot and poor, provided by Prince Frederick with food and letters of recommendation to the council and several good men. I was there for three days before I went to the Cardinal, for these good people kept me away, and most strongly recanted that I should go to the Cardinal without a safe conduct from the Emperor, although he had me summoned every day by some orator. This made me very uncomfortable: that I should only recant, then everything would be fine. But it is too extensive, the unjust request, too extensive to tell his circumlocutions.
Finally, on the third day, he came and complained why I did not come to the Cardinal, who was waiting for me in the kindest spirit. I answered that I had to obey the advice of the good men to whom I had been recommended by Prince Frederick. But it was their advice that I should not go to the Cardinal without the Emperor's protection or public escort; when I had obtained this (but they worked with the Imperial Council to obtain it), then I would go to him immediately. Then he said indignantly: Do you think that Prince Frederick would go to him for your sake?
I will take up arms? I said: I certainly didn't want to do that. And where do you want to stay? I answered: "Under heaven. Then he said: If you had the Pope and the Cardinals in your power, what would you do? I would pay them all homage and honor, I said. Then he moved his finger with a French gesture and said: Hem. And so he left and did not come back.
On that day the imperial council told the cardinal that the emperor had given me protection or safe conduct and reminded him not to do anything too harsh against me. To this he replied: It is good; nevertheless I will do what is my duty. These were the beginnings of this trade; other things can be seen from the acts that follow 1).
In the same year, M. Philipp Melanchthon was called here by Prince Frederick to teach the Greek sciences, no doubt so that I would have a helper in the work of theology. For what the Lord has wrought through this instrument not only in the sciences but also in theology, his works sufficiently testify, even though Satan is angry about it and all his scales.
In the following year, 1519, Maximilian died in February, and according to the law of the realm, Duke Frederick became governor. Thereupon the storm ceased to rage a little, and contempt for the ban or the papal thunderclap gradually set in. For since Eck and Caracciolus had brought a bull from Rome condemning Luther, and they had made it known, that [Eck] here [in Wittenberg], that [Caracciolus] there to Duke Frederick, who was then at Cologne to receive the recently elected Carl with other princes, he [Elector Frederick's] was very unwilling, and with great valor and constancy scolded this papal knave, that he and Eck in his absence had disturbed the territory of his brother John and his own, and put them to the sword, so that they were put to shame
1) These are the Acta Augustana in the Wittenberg
Edition (1550), tom. I, toi. 66IIIIb-66Vb and
60VIII-OOX V. In Walch, they are found in the 15th volume.
and left him in disgrace. The prince, who was gifted with incredible intellect, recognized the tricks of the Roman court and knew how to treat these people properly, for he had a very fine nose and sensed more and further than the Romanists could hope or fear.
Therefore, from then on, they refrained from trying him. For even the rose, which is called the golden one, 2) which had been sent to him in the same year by Leo X, he did not dignify, but rather considered it something ridiculous; so the Romanists had to despair of their intention to deceive this so great prince. And the Gospel had a happy progress under the shadow of this prince and was widely spread. His reputation moved many, since he was a very wise and perceptive prince and could only be suspected by spiteful people that he wanted to cherish and protect heresy and heretics. This brought great harm to the papacy.
In the same year, the disputation was held in Leipzig, to which Eck challenged both of us, Carlstadt and me. But I could not obtain escort from Duke Georg through any letters, so that I entered Leipzig under the escort given to Carlstadt, as one who would not be a disputator, but a spectator. I do not know, however, who might have hindered me, for Duke Georg was not yet averse to me, which I certainly knew.
Here Eck came to me at my inn and said that he had heard that I refused to dispute. I answered: How can I dispute, since I cannot obtain an escort from Duke George? He said: "If I am not allowed to dispute with you, I do not want to dispute with Carlstadt either, because I have come here for your sake. How? if I obtained escort for you, would you then dispute with me? Obtain it (I said), and it shall be done. He left, and immediately he was given safe conduct and the opportunity to argue.
This thaf Eck, because he saw that he could hunt certain fame, because of my thesis, in
2) Erlanger: voeat instead of: voeant.
I denied that the pope was the head of the church by divine right. Here a wide field was open to him and the best opportunity to flatter with great pretense and to earn the papal grace, then also to shower me with hatred and disgrace. He did this bravely during the whole disputation; but he did not prove his case, nor did he refute mine, so that even Duke George said to Eck and me at the morning meal: "May he be pope by human right or by divine right, he is still pope. He would not have said this under any circumstances if he had not been moved by my reasons for proof, but he alone would have agreed with Eck.
And here, too, see in my case how difficult it is to wrestle oneself out of such errors, which are fixed by the example of the whole world and have become, as it were, nature through long habit. How true is the proverb: It is difficult to give up habitual things, and: Habit is second nature; and how true Augustine says: Habit, if one does not resist it, becomes a necessity. I, who at that time had already read and taught the holy Scriptures privately and publicly for seven years in the most diligent manner, so that I knew almost everything by heart; then I had also acquired the first fruits of the knowledge and faith of Christ, namely, that we are not justified and saved by works, but by faith in Christ; Yes, even that of which I am now speaking, that the pope is not the head of the church by divine right, had already publicly defended, but still did not see what followed from it, namely, that the pope is necessarily a consecrated man of the devil. For what is not of God must be of the devil.
I was so overwhelmed (as I have said) both by the example and the title of the holy church and by my own custom that I conceded to the pope a human right, which, if it is not based on a saying of the holy scripture, is a lie and devilish. For we obey parents and authorities, not because they command it, but because this is the will of God,
1 Petr. 2, 13. Therefore I can bear with a not at all angry heart those who are extremely stubbornly attached to the papacy, especially those who have not read the holy scriptures or even secular writings, since I have read the holy scriptures most diligently for so many years and yet have clung to them so tenaciously.
In 1519 (as I have said) the Pope Leo X sent the Rose through Carl Miltitz, who acted a lot with me, so that I would be reconciled with the Pope again. He had seventy apostolic letters (brevia), so that if Prince Frederick handed me over to him, as the Pope sought through the rose, he should post a breve in every city, and thus bring me safely to Rome. But he betrayed the counsel of his heart before me by saying: "O Martinus, I thought you were some old aged theologian, sitting behind the stove and disputing with yourself, but now I see that you are still young in years and strong. If I had twenty-five thousand armed men, I would not dare to bring you to Rome. For I have searched all along the way the minds of the people, what they thought of thee: behold, if I found one who held with the pope, three stood for thee and against the pope. But this was a ridiculous incident: he had also searched out the women and virgins in the inns, what they thought of the Roman See? Since they did not know this word, and thought it was an ordinary chair, they answered: How can we know what kind of chairs you have in Rome, whether wooden or stone?
Therefore, he asked that I also be mindful of what would serve peace; he would make every effort that the pope would do the same. I also promised abundantly everything. Whatever I could do in any way with an unblemished conscience, that I would not forgive anything to the truth, I would do most willingly. I also desire peace and strive for it, since I was drawn into this trade by force; driven by necessity, I would have done everything that I have done. The fault is not mine.
He had, however, summoned Johann Tetzel, Order of Preachers, the first author
The pope's words and threats so devastated this man, who had hitherto been a terrible man to everyone and a fearless screamer, that he pined away from then on and was finally taken away by the sorrow of his heart. When I first learned of this, I comforted him before his death with kindly written letters and urged him to be of good cheer and not to fear the memory of me. But perhaps he is defeated by his conscience and the wrath of the pope.
Carl [von Miltitz] was considered unfit, and his counsel null and void; but - in my opinion - if the Mainzer had taken this counsel from the beginning, when he was reminded by me, yes, if the pope, before he condemned me unheard and raged with his bulls, had taken this counsel that Carl took, albeit late, and had immediately quelled Tetzel's raging, the matter would not have become such a big hullabaloo. Only the Mainzer is to blame, whose wisdom and cunning deceived him, because he wanted to muffle my teaching, and wanted to keep his money, which he sought through the indulgence, unabated. Now one seeks counsel in vain, in vain one makes efforts. The Lord has awakened and sets out to judge the nations. Even if they could kill us, they would not have what they want, indeed, they would have much less than they have with our lives, and since we are unharmed. Some of them, who are not completely without a fine nose, feel this very well.
In the meantime, I had started again this year to interpret the Psalter, 1) trusting that I would be more practiced after I had treated the letters of St. Paul to the Romans, to the Galatians, and the one addressed to the Hebrews in school. I had, of course, striven with an extraordinary eagerness to understand Paul in the letter to the Romans, but it was not the cold blood that flows around the heart that stood in my way, 2) but the few words that are written in Cap. 1, 17 [Vulg.]
1) These are "Luther's Works on the First 22 Psalms," Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. IV, 198.
2) Virg. Georgica, lib. II, v. 484: Frigidus obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis.
revealed in the same." For I hated this word: "The justice of God", because I was so instructed by the custom and habit of all teachers that I should understand it in a philosophical way, from the formal or active justice (as they call it), according to which God is just and punishes the sinners and the unjust.
But I, who, however blamelessly I lived as a monk, found myself a sinner before God and had a very troubled conscience, and could not even grasp the confidence that He would be reconciled by my satisfaction, did not love the righteous God who punishes sinners; indeed, I hated Him. And even if not with secret blasphemy, I was certainly angry with God with tremendous grumbling, saying: "As if it were not enough that the wretched sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are burdened with every kind of misfortune through the law of the holy Ten Commandments, - must God also heap misery upon misery through the Gospel, and threaten us with His justice and wrath through the Gospel as well? So I raged in my evil and troubled conscience, but I impetuously knocked on Paul's door at this point, thirsting most intensely to know what St. Paul meant.
Finally, as I pondered this day and night, by God's grace I paid attention to the context, namely: The righteousness of God is revealed in this, as it is written: The righteous lives by faith. Then I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives through the gift of God, namely, through faith, and that this is the opinion: through the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, namely, the suffering (passive) righteousness, by which the merciful God justifies us through faith, as it is written: The righteous lives by faith. Then I felt that I was completely born again and that I had entered paradise through the open doors. Immediately the whole scripture seemed to me to have a completely different appearance. Then I went through the Scriptures, as far as I had them in my memory, and found also in other words the same expression (analogiam) as, the work of God, i.e., which
God works on us; the power of God by which He makes us strong; the wisdom of God by which He makes us wise; the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God.
With how great hatred I had previously hated the word "the righteousness of God", with such great love I held up this word as the one that was most dear to me. Thus, this passage of Paul was indeed the gate of paradise for me. Later, I read Augustine's writing "On the Spirit and the Letter", where, contrary to my expectations, I found that he also interprets the righteousness of God in the same way as the righteousness with which God clothes us by making us righteous. And although this is still imperfectly spoken, and does not clearly express everything that concerns imputation, it pleased me nevertheless that the righteousness of God is taught, by which we are made righteous.
Through these thoughts I was now better equipped, and began to interpret the Psalter for the second time, and the work would have become a great commentary, if I had not been compelled anew by the Imperial Diet, which Emperor Carl V held at Worms, since I was called there in the following year.
1 would have been to leave the work in progress.
I am telling you this, dear reader, so that when you read my works you may remember that (as I said above) I have been one of those who (as Augustine writes of himself) have progressed by writing and teaching, not one of those who from nothing at once become the highest, while they are nothing: neither having worked, nor tried, nor experienced, but by One Look at the Scriptures exhausting their whole: spirit.
Up to here, until the years 1520 and 1521, the trade in indulgences extended; after that follow the matters concerning the Sacramentarians and the Anabaptists, about which, if I live, the preface shall be placed in other volumes.
Fare well in the Lord, dear reader, and pray that the word may grow and increase against Satan, because he is powerful and evil, now also exceedingly angry and furious, knowing that he has only a short time and that the kingdom of his pope is in danger. But may God strengthen us in the error he has wrought, and may he accomplish the work he has begun in us for his glory, amen. March 5, 1545.