Newly translated from the Latin.
Doctor Martin Luther to the Godly Reader.
I allow my disputations or theses, which have been treated from the beginning of my cause against the Pabstacy and the Sophists, who had the rule, to be published, primarily so that the greatness of the cause and the success, which is given to me by God in it, does not elevate me. For in these my shame is publicly shown.
That is, my weakness and ignorance, which in the beginning forced me to attack the matter with the greatest trepidation.
I was alone, and got into this matter through imprudence; since I was not allowed to withdraw my foot, I not only yielded to the pope in many and great articles, but also continued to worship him. For who was I at that time? A very miserable
*The first collection of disputations held at Wittenberg, to which this preface is attached, seems to be the one that has the title: Propositiones D. Mart. Lutli. ab inicio negotii Evangelici ab autore tractatae usque in hunc diem Vitembergae, M.D.XXXVIII.. At the end: I^xeuZurn 'iVittkukkr^uk, 3oannl8 cult. Vnuo LI.V.XXXVIII. V 16 u 8 SsptsmkE. Octav. The preface is found in Latin in the Thesensammlungen of 1538 and 1558; in the Wittenberg Gesammtausgabe (1550), tom. I, Io1.49k; in the Jena (1579), toru. I, toi. 487 and in the Erlangen, opp. vur. ur^., toru. IV, p. 329. In German, this preface appears in the editions under the heading: "Vorrede D. Mart. Luthers auf seine Disputationes oder Propositiones wider das Ablaß, Pabstthum und der Sophisten Lehre etc.", in the Wittenberger (1569), vol. IX, p. 6K, provided with the year 1545; in the Jenaer (1564), vol. I, p. 4, without time determination; in the Altenburger, vol. I, p. II; in the Leipziger, vol. XXII, appendix, p. 154, and in Walch under the heading: "An. 1516," and at the end: "Xnnu8 OkrisU 1516." Walch was under the misapprehension that our preface belonged to the 95 Theses published on Oct. 31, 1517, and therefore made the remark in the 18th volume of the old edition (Col. 254): "Luthers
I was a poor little monk, more like a corpse than a man, that I should act contrary to the majesty of the pope, before whose face not only the kings of the earth and the whole world, but also heaven and hell (as they say: trina rerum machina) feared, and on whose beckoning everything depended.
What and what my heart has suffered in this first and second year, and how great my not fictitious humility and almost despair has been, ah! how little do those know, who afterwards most confidently try to attack the wounded majesty of the pope. And although they had not made these verses (to use Virgil's words), they nevertheless carried off the honor, which I, however, gladly granted them.
But I, while those people were spectators and left me alone in danger, was not so joyful, confident and certain, for I did not know many things that I know now. Yes, I knew nothing at all about indulgences, what they were, just as the whole papacy itself knew nothing about them; they were held in honor only because of custom and habit. Therefore, I did not dispute in order to dismiss it, but since I knew very well what it was not, I desired to know what it was. And since the dead or dumb teachers, that is, the books of theologians and lawyers, were not enough for me, I decided to consult the living ones and to listen to the Church of God itself, so that, if there were any instruments of the Holy Spirit left anywhere, they would have mercy on me and, for the general benefit, also make me certain of the indulgence.
Now many good men raised my theses high, but it was impossible that I could have acknowledged them as the Church and instruments of the Holy Spirit. I looked up to the pope, the cardinals, the bishops, the theologians, the jurists, the monks, and expected the spirit from them. For I had eaten and drunk myself so full of their teaching that I did not feel whether I was asleep or awake. And having overcome all grounds of proof by the Scriptures, I at last, by Christ's grace, with the greatest difficulty and anxiety, scarcely got over this one thing, that the church must be heard. For much more stubbornly and reverently (for I truly did it from the heart) I considered the church of the pope to be the right church than these shameful parasites do, who nowadays extol the church of the pope against me. If I had despised the pope as much as his praisers despise him now, I would have thought that at the same hour the earth would have to swallow me up like Korah and his people.
But to come back to the point: since I was now waiting for the judgment of the church and the Holy Spirit, I was immediately ordered to be silent, and one invokes custom. Since I was frightened by the prestige of the name of the church, I gave in and offered to be silent against Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg, humbly asking that he also impose silence on the clamor of the other party. But he not only refused, but added: if I did not recant, he would condemn me and everything that I had always taught would be mine. I
The preface to this disputation is already in the 14th part. The Altenburg edition also gave Seckendorf the impression that our preface was written for a second edition of the theses just mentioned, which he stated in Ulst. I^utti., lib. I, p. 38, 866t. 13, § 28, likewise in the Incksx III suk anno 1517 (2). Walch now corrects his error in the preface to the 18th volume, p. 35, regarding the affiliation of our preface to the 95 theses on indulgences, by saying: "that it extends further", also the wrong year 1516: "since the Disputation against indulgences only came out in 1517", but maintains that our preface in the German parts "stands among the books of 1516". He arrived at this erroneous assertion through this (as it seems) correct conclusion: What precedes ,,Xnnu8 Okri8t11517" must in any case belong to the year 1516. Now, however, our preface in the Jena edition stands before these words, i.e. etc. But the matter is different. The first volume of the Jena edition actually begins with the words:
Everything that precedes is actually only an introduction and preface to the following writings of Luther, which begin with the year 1517. There are none from the year 1516. This could have been recognized, which Walch overlooked, from the first marginal note in the first part of Jena, p. 1: "These four writings, which follow one after the other, although all written after the beginning of these things, are nevertheless because [they are] almost the same. 1: "These four writings, which follow one after the other here, although all written after the beginning of these things, are nevertheless placed together at the beginning because [they are] almost one and the same: How one should direct oneself in the books of M. L.". The old translation is very extensive, therefore we have translated it anew.
But I had already taught the Catechism with not a little fruit, of which I knew that it did not have to be condemned and that I would not have to suffer this if I did not want to deny Christ. Thus it came to this necessity that I was forced to try and expect the utmost.
But I did not want to tell my story now, but to confess my foolishness, ignorance and weakness, so that no one (to follow Paul) thinks more highly of me than he sees in me, and does not doubt that I was and still am a human being in so great an offense, if anyone could doubt it; At the same time, so that by my example I might frighten the foolish, inexperienced (hopeful, I would say), wretched writers who have not come to know the cross and Satan, to whom it is nothing to overcome the pope, yes, the devil himself. Luther must be attacked, if he is overcome, then Satan is a mockery to them.
What should I do? How could I, even if I were an angel, advise that behind my back such enemies would rise up under my name? But what do I complain to Thor about this, since no worse enemies of Christ and God have been than those who have persecuted Christ and God under the name of Christ and God! Read the Scriptures and you will see what happened to the prophets, the apostles and all the saints. True , is the word of Micah, yes, Christ's word [Micah 7, 6. Matth. 10, 36.]. "A man's enemies shall be his own household." Christ would never have been crucified if he had not nourished the worst devil, Judas, among the apostles and raised him high.
But still I confess to you, dear brother,
this weakness and foolishness of mine, that thou also mayest learn to be of a humble mind, and know assuredly and truly that Satan is not dead, but that he is still a prince, not of one man, nor of one country, but of the whole world, to whose power, cunning, and malice every man is subject, except Christ alone, and those who in truth belong to Christ.
Therefore it does not take place that we are safe and act hopefully and admire ourselves in the glory of the excellent gifts that we have before other people. You see here, if I may at least boast, from how great weakness the Lord has brought me to strength, from how great ignorance to knowledge, from how great trembling to fearlessness, certainly not without heavy struggles and temptations, as these foolish, bold, wretched writers presume. Nevertheless, I have not yet come to where they, as they make themselves believe, have already come. For although I do not fear the pope and his majesty now, I am still forced to fear the god of the pope, almost more than in the beginning.
Summa, we are nothing, Christ alone is everything. If he turns away his face, we perish and Satan triumphs, even if we were holy people like Peter and Paul. Therefore, let us humble our souls under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt us in His time. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble [1 Pet 5:5 ff]. As a fearful spirit is a sacrifice before God [Ps. 51, 19], so a stiff-necked and secure spirit is undoubtedly a sacrifice of the devil. Fare well in the Lord, and if it is necessary for you, improve yourself by my work and examples.
Luther's preface before his farewell etc., which is found in the second volume of the German Wittenberg edition and has passed into all Luther editions except the Jena one, is spurious, therefore omitted by us. See about it in the preface to this volume.