End of July 1530.
A recantation from purgatory.
To all our descendants, Martinus Luther.
Grace and peace in Christ our Lord! Because I see that the sophists with all their diligence are hiding their false preaching, shame and abominations, so that they have corrupted Christianity, and now they are preening themselves as if they had a good reason for it.
never committed an iniquity; hoping, because we kept silent against them for a while, and fought with the spirits of the Reds, that they would sneak out of their hole of shame, and that all their blasphemous teachings and nature would be forgotten, and so, unpunished, unimproved, unawares, and unashamed, they would in time reintroduce all their doctrines of the devil.
*) In 1530 four single editions of this writing came out, three in Wittenberg, namely with Hans Lufft, Georg Rau (Rhaw) and one without indication of the printer; the fourth with Georg Wachter in Nuremberg. In the "Gesammtausgabe" it is found: in the Wittenberg one of 1554, vol. 7, toi. 436 V; in the Jena one of 1566, vol. 5, toi. 160 d; in the Altenburger, vol. 5, 291; in the Leipziger, vol. 20,237; in the Erlanger, vol. 31,184. According to the latter we have reproduced the text comparing the Wittenberg and Jena editions.
I must, on the other hand, again pull out the old register and bring their praiseworthy virtue back into the sun, so that it does not rot so blackly, but is well bleached, so that one does not forget it as they hope.
Because the desperate blasphemers and murderers shed much blood daily, lie and deceive, but do not want to honor God so much that they confess, atone for, or amend some things (which they themselves know and feel how they have erred in them and deceived the world). Yes, they do not want to give way in one piece; but rather, by sinning in the Holy Spirit, in defiance of the truth and of God Himself, they want to protect, defend and handle public lies that they themselves know well, and to murder, burn, persecute, rage, be mad and foolish about all those who do not follow such public lies as articles of faith: then I must, for the warning of our descendants (whether the world should stand any longer), place a register and stock for history, in which they will see what Luther was condemned about by the pope, and what the holy pope's teaching was, so that they will know to beware of it, if God gives grace.
I am also quite comforted by the fact that I will do a special service to the sophists themselves, because they feel so good now, and the skin is so much in pain, and perhaps they are almost hostile to me, that I have not yet painted them properly and enough, but have only torn them badly on a piece of paper; and for this reason they request that I should also paint them. God help me, and hear their desire. I will try it and start all over again from the beginning. And because the pure saints do not know why they cry out so, I will help them and give them to cry out, if God grants me life. And to begin with, I will first take purgatory before me, to expose their shameful lies; for I have never written anything special against them. And after that of the other lies and abominations, in the order 1) and order of each other.
1) D. i. series.
Of the sophists lies and abominations with purgatory.
The first chapter.
They have a text, which is almost their cornerstone and best reason, 2 Maccabaeorum 12, [43. ff.], which reads thus: Judas, the honorable, collected a tax, and sent to Jerusalem twelve thousand 2) drachmas of silver, that one should sacrifice for the sin of the dead, as he had a right and divine opinion of the resurrection of the dead. For if he had not believed that those who were slain would rise again, it would have been futile and useless to pray for the dead. Therefore it is a holy and good opinion to pray for the dead, that they may be freed from sins.
But you must not think here that the Sophists used this text as an epistle in their masses for the sake of the twelve thousand drachmas; otherwise evil thoughts would occur to you, as if they had done it out of avarice, and if this text had been their snow mountain, fright mountain, Schwotz and all silver and gold mountains: but they did it out of great love and devotion, to comfort the poor souls, and to honor God (not the shameful mammon); as can easily be seen from their works and fruits.
To the first.
Although this book Maccabaeorum is not in the number of the holy scripture, also by the old fathers is not accepted for holy scripture; as also the kind of the language itself shows enough: that with it their unfounded shameful lie may be sufficiently condemned, as they consider a text as certain and as article of faith, teach and preach, which nevertheless cannot be certain; in addition over such uncertain, rejected text the people heresy and murder, as if they had power to put article of faith, what and how they wanted: nevertheless we want this time to the abundance and to the service of the liars this
2) That is, one thousand and five hundred florins. A drachma is five sword groschen or 30 lion pennies, Meissen. (Marginal gloss.)
text, as otherwise a pious holy man's speech, who nevertheless might sometimes speak something good and true, although one is not obliged to believe it, because he speaks without Scripture and God's Word; and therefore is not to be condemned as a heretic.
But the first deliberate lie of the sophists, except the one now told, to make an article of faith from the uncertain book, is this: that they interpret this text to mean purgatory, and also want to justify and prove it with it, although neither word nor letter is in it about purgatory: but they penetrate and brew such a lying understanding from their own head, for the sake of the twelve thousand drachmas. The text says of the sins of the dead, and praises Judas for the article of the resurrection; that the good man who made this book wants to praise the noble article of the resurrection of the dead, which at that time (as well as still) was very despised. This is how the papists prefer purgatory. For they do not regard the resurrection as great as the twelve thousand drachmas, which shine before their eyes more than resurrection and eternal life.
The text itself shows that it does not think anything of the torment or purgatory of souls. For he says thus: "It would be vain and useless to pray for the dead where there is no resurrection. This clearly indicates whether there are sins of the dead that might harm them in the resurrection, but not before the resurrection. For before and without the resurrection he thinks it vain to pray for the dead. For if they do not rise, and before they rise, it is in vain to pray for them. So that this text is not only uncertain, but is also directly against their purgatory, misfire, or fire of lies.
Moreover, this is a loosely lazy dialectica, and does not follow and conclude finely: A dead man is in sins, therefore he is in purgatory. Wherewith shall one prove or enforce this consequence? The twelve thousand drachmas would do it; otherwise the text does not give it, so one helps to drive a lie into it. For the bodies of all the saints lie in the earth, having died in sin and in sins,
As St. Paul says in Romans 6: "The body died because of sin"; nevertheless it is not in purgatory; the devils are also in sin, and yet neither in purgatory nor in hell. Therefore it does not follow: Judas lets pray for the dead; therefore they are in purgatory. The prayer can certainly go, and also goes to the resurrection, and whoever points it to purgatory, speaks his own, without proof. This is as much as a blasphemous lie, especially because they want to make it an article of faith.
The other lie.
Although Judas would have done such a sacrifice in his time in the Old Testament, how come we have to do it afterward? Do we want to go back and become Jews again? Do we want to become Jews again? Who has given us the authority to make an example, even a commandment and article of faith, out of the work of a man (let him be holy), and to burn heretics for it? Is this not tempting God too high, and passing over God with unheard-of presumption? This text does not say that one must or should do it afterwards, or that God has commanded it; but only tells a story of what Judas did for himself; and we go on, quickly making a commandment and article out of it, out of our own thirst, iniquity, and willfulness, which God has not commanded us, but forbidden.
So did the Jews of old; when they found in Genesis (Gen. 22, 2.) how God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, they did not wait until God commanded them to do so, and, like the foolish, they quickly made an example, a commandment and an article out of it, sacrificed their sons and daughters until they filled the land with blood, and strangled all the prophets, who punished and defended them, just as the raging bloodhounds do now, and kill the innocent for the sake of fire, when they have no word of God for themselves, and also lead this text falsely, and still do not have the example of Judah (which they use). And even if it were an example, it would still not be enough for a commandment or article.
But it is the right minting spirit, that Dialectica and Theologia was in this also entirely
sophistical. For so he teaches: David, Gideon, Joshua and the like have slain the ungodly kings, and have done well in it, and are praised of God; therefore we also will and shall slay the princes, according to this very example, as these liars teach: Judas sacrificed for the dead, therefore we Christians should do the same. And it is uncertain whether Judas did right before God or not, because the whole book is uncertain and rejected by the ancients. But the twelve thousand drachmas have the heartache to make articles and commandments as they wish.
There is nothing more harmful in the world than where the work of the saints is used as an example, commandment, doctrine and article without God's command. For we are not to follow any example, since they had a special command, which we do not have. We have our command before us, as to believe, to love; in this we are all to remain the same, says St. Paul Phil. 3:15, 16, until he gives us something further, as he did to those. Since we have neither a word nor a command from God to believe in purgatory, it is an accursed blasphemy and lie to make a commandment and article out of it by ourselves, even if it were snowing and raining holy examples. If Judas did it 'out of his own devotion, let it stand on him; he is not our God nor teacher. Gideon also made an ephod out of his own devotion, but failed. Judg. 8, 27. And who knows whether Judas also had to fall and be slain because of his own devotion. Without God's word there is no joking with the work of men and the examples of the saints.
The third lie.
Is the very finest. Judas himself, of whom this text says, did not believe that there was a purgatory, nor could he believe it; for there was no purgatory in the Old Testament, nor in the New Testament, in the time of the apostles, and long after. And the Sophists themselves say that there was none in the Old Testament. Are these not fine faithful shepherds and teachers, who introduce a foreign text (besides the holy scripture), which they themselves must know and confess, that it does not speak nor can speak of purgatory;
yet out of their own thirst and iniquity, with wanton: Lies and deceit, interpret and force to confirm Purgatory, so furious and nonsensical, that they also put such their knowing lie to the article of faith, and murder the people who do not worship such obvious, knowing lie as God's word? Doesn't this mean that they have most brazenly sinned against the Holy Spirit, and have put certain lies of their own above God?
The fourth lie.
So they also lie in that they do not keep such a forbidden and uncertain example of Judas himself. For Judas, like a Jew, sacrificed according to the old law, which sacrifices have now ceased through Christ. And where Judas now lived, he should no longer do so. How then do our liars come to raise again this example of the old sacrifice, which has long since ceased? If they want to follow Judah, they must go back to the Old Testament and sacrifice sheep and oxen with the Jews at Jerusalem; otherwise the example is dead and nothing at all. Because Judas himself would not do it now, where he lived, and also did not believe in purgatory, it is an impudent blasphemous lie to follow his dead and now unfit example, to make an article out of it. If they wanted to follow the example of the Jews, they would have to be circumcised and forced to follow all the laws of Moses, so that Christ would be completely denied by them. "For he that keepeth the law in one piece must keep it in all." Gal. 5:3.
Now they go even further. They do not follow Judas' example, which they nevertheless praise; but crucify Christ for it, make Christ and the mass a sacrifice instead of the cancelled sacrifice of Judas. This rhymes well with Judas' example. But more about this when we come to the mass.
See now, the book is rejected and uncertain, the text says nothing about purgatory, and Judas has no word of God for himself, does not say it to us, does not believe in purgatory himself, and everything happened in the Old Testament where there was no purgatory.
1) In the old editions: enhindern.
and such an example and work is no longer valid in the New Testament; so they do not follow his example either, invent the mass for a sacrifice, and nevertheless lead this text to purgatory. How disgraceful all this is, drunk and lying, and completely groundless with lies and blasphemies; yet they deliberately make articles of faith out of such lies (which Judas did not do in his sacrifice), and murder people over them as heretics; are these not cursed, disgraceful blasphemers and murderers?
They cry out: the church, church, church says it! that is also a lie. The church is a pillar of truth, says Paul, and is holy; therefore it is impossible that it should deal with such wanton, tangible, public lies. But the church, where such lies reign within, is its own church. For they read this epistle through all the monasteries, convents, churches, chapels, altars, in the Masses of Purgatory, as their missals testify, and in the daytime. Therefore, be sure that they are liars, blasphemers, apostate enemies of God, traitors to Christ and murderers, and beware that you do not participate in their lies and murders.
The other chapter.
They also have a beautiful text from the 66th Psalm [v. 12], which reads: "We have passed through fire and water. Because the word "fire" is there, it must mean purgatory, and the word "we" means we poor souls in purgatory. Then you have certainly confirmed purgatory; now go and say that the Sophists speak without Scripture and are unlearned asses. But that "water" is also written there, you must meanwhile pay no attention, but look at the word "fire"; otherwise you should probably laugh, how the Sophists can bring water into purgatory. I tell you for certain that they are skilful people; everything here is done with the wise art and not with bad herbs.
Well then, I could well suffer that they thus juggled and deceived with the Scriptures, if they did it secretly with themselves, on their own adventure. But now there is such an earnestness (as I have said), that they are openly to be found throughout the whole of Christ.
They make articles of faith out of it, and people murder, burn, blaspheme and condemn over it; and with such sayings they found their accursed lies, and eat up the world's goods with it, and mislead the Christian souls miserably: for on such foundations stand almost the monasteries, convents, churches, altars all at once.
The first lie.
Everyone can now see in the Psalter itself that this saying does not speak of purgatory at all; but is falsely led to it by the lying sophists. It speaks only of the suffering of the saints in this time; as it says: "God, you let men pass over our head. Now the papists themselves say that not men but devils torment the souls in purgatory.
The other lie.
Thus the psalm actually belongs to the saints in the Old Testament, and was also made in the Old Testament and recorded in it; but purgatory did not yet exist at that time: therefore he cannot speak of it. How then can he prove it to us in the New Testament?
The third lie.
Those in purgatory will not offer those sacrifices of which the Psalm says, "I will enter your house with burnt offerings, I will prepare oxen and goats," which are Old Testament sacrifices, now all dead and gone: but pennies, pennies, florins, and twelve thousand drachmas will answer for it.
The fourth lie.
That the Psalm also says of water, as indicated above. But Mammon is able to turn all things in these holy Sophist churches, even lies, into truth, and to make a god out of the devil. They have found cold water also in hell, as they prove from Job 24:19, where he says, "They go in great heat from the snowy water; and let it be thought that souls must go from heat to cold, and again. But Job says: As the snow takes a
End, and become water from the heat of the sun; so also the adulterers on earth perish in body and goods. But now it is an article of faith: that the heat of the sun and the water of the snow are in hell, you must believe that, or you are a heretic, for Job told the Sophists so.
But I wonder why they do not prove the purgatory from Daniel 9:8, since he laments so heartily and prays for the sin of the deceased fathers, so that God will forget them; and God Himself in the first commandment prophesies Exodus 20:5: "He will punish the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation"; so that He will admonish the children to atone for the sin of the fathers. From this also a purgatory is to be built, if it is so masterly carpentered from the example of Judah. And if they have such a sharp vision that they can see water in purgatory and snow in hell, even without glasses and lanterns, they should at least see the bright fire in such darkness. But I think it is lacking, that in these places there are not twelve thousand drachmas, nor of the sacrifice; where these do not shine, there is no purgatory to see, the right lantern is not there.
The third chapter.
Revelation Jn 14:13: "I heard a voice saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, the Spirit saith, that they may rest from their labor, because their works follow them."
This is the text that does it, that goes in the ministry of souls in the right pregnancy, and rhymes with the souls in purgatory so evenly that it is a pleasure to see: also it pushes the whole heretical teaching of Luther to the ground. For here it is clearly stated, "that their works shall follow them," that is, as they have done, so shall they be rewarded. But especially it is the works that are done after them through vigils and masses for the souls 2c What else should this text have to do in the ministry of the souls? For the fact that the same works follow afterwards, when one is dead, must certainly be true, is not to be believed; it is well seen, even so one hears it from the priest's mouth, when he speaks before the priest.
Dear friends, help me to pray for the soul of N. N., which is now celebrated with vigils and masses, so that God will consider the good works that have been done for him. 2c Yes, this following of the works has truly earned and hunted down many thousands of drachmas. But they are called the works of the deceased, because he ordered them and founded them, or others because of him.
Dear, just ask here all the sophists from all the high schools, foundations, monasteries, parishes, whether they believe that the souls they pray for are different in the Lord or not? they must say that they are different in the Lord. Because they do not pray for the unbelievers, who are not different in the Lord. There must be only true Christian souls in purgatory; the others are all damned. And it is also true that one should not nor can pray for the souls of unbelievers. That is one thing.
Now here the text says that such dead as die in the Lord are blessed; how then do they ask for money for the blessed? And whether they want to pretend a lazy gloss, that such souls are blessed in hope,1 ) not yet in essence, that is nothing; for their own glosses cannot prove it either: so neither does the text suffer it, which says, they are thus blessed, that they rest and are at peace; as also Isaias Cap. 57,2 ) 2. says, that the righteous (but a Christian is righteous, Rom. 1.),
1) Erl.: would be.
2) Here the old Walch edition erroneously offers 56, 2. This and other printing errors of the Walch edition, in this and in other writings, the Erlangen edition has reprinted, because the Bible passages have not been looked up by the editor. Already in the "Tischreden", Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XXII, Introduction p. 38 s., we have provided evidence of the degree to which this was done there, and stated that Walch's comparison (as in Förstemann and Bindseil, so also) in the Erlangen edition had to serve to insert the biblical passages. The Erlangen edition played this game for a long series of years; we at least can throw it for the years from 1830 to 1854. The reprinting error given here belongs to the year 1842: Erl. Ausg., Vol. 31, p. 195; to the year 1830: "Matth. 10, 15. instead of: Matth. 10, 24. 25." Erl. Ausg., Vol. 27, p. 209 compared to Walch, alte Ausgabe, Vol. XVIII, Col. 1543; right after that aüf p. 210: "Joh. 8, 8. statt: Joh. 8, 48." 2c In Scripture alone: "Auf das überchristliche 2c Buch Emsers," Erl. Ausg. 27,221 ff, there are fifteen such errors.
When they die, they go into peace, as into a bed; and Wis. 3, v. 1. also testifies: The souls of the righteous are at peace. So also the Scriptures testify from time to time, as of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Josiah, that they shall die in peace; and for this cause also they are called sleeping, and their death a sleep, throughout all the Scriptures.
And what especially does the whole New Testament say, but that he who believes in Christ is righteous? As Paul powerfully proves to the Romans, and John in his Gospel. Therefore he who dies in the Lord must be righteous and blessed, if it were not written here in Apocalypsis; or God himself would have to lie. And if the comfort and faith should be nothing, that he is blessed who dies in Christ, what then is our Christian faith? I would just as soon be a Turk, a Jew and a Gentile. What do such excellent, glorious promises of God help me, that whoever believes in Christ shall not be judged, John 3:16, but shall be righteous, blessed, holy, have forgiveness of sins and eternal life? Let us also seek another God, who does not lie and deceive us like this.
Well, this is the other thing, that they are blessed who die in Christ, as the text and the whole Scripture says here, and the mighty example of the butcher on the cross also testifies, to which Cyprian teaches in many places, which is now too long to tell. Now ask my dear sophists why they say that God should look at the good works that happen after them, and not at dying in the Lord. For he does not say that they will be saved by works, but by dying in the Lord: not by dying alone, but by dying in the Lord, that is, in the faith of Christ, which does it. Our dying alone will never do it; as deceivers everywhere deceive the poor people, who are judged and put to death for their iniquity.
Do you see what the twelve thousand drachmas are capable of? They obscure this beautiful, comforting, living saying by their shameful whispering and avarice, so that the Christians do not keep nor learn to die in the Lord, but deter them by their purgatory from such consolation that they must abandon faith in Christ, and such comfort
and promise, but instead rely on subsequent works, and die on them, and thus perish eternally. Behold, this is what the devil wanted with purgatory, that Christians at their end, when they need faith most of all and most urgently, would have to drop it altogether and rely on their own works, even though they had had such faith all their lives until then. And for such faithful teaching of the wretched devil, they have earned the world's goods and brought them to themselves, and thus their ingratitude for Christ's grace has been honestly paid for and well punished by the ungrateful world.
If you now ask why they ask for the blessed souls who are different in Christ, what do they want to say? They must say that God is not more than poorly simple holy; but the Pope is the Most Holy, therefore he gives the blessed souls much greater blessedness than God Himself. And if his devotional vigils, which they pray sincerely for the sake of God, were to do so, the blessed souls would have to be unhappy, and the quiet ones would have to be restless, even if God Himself had made them blessed in the first place.
How do you like these fellows? I mean, they hit the mark. Still it goes, who does not believe their lies, must be a heretic and burn. St. Augustine also says that it is a shame where one prays for the martyrs, because they are blessed. And this is also true. For, to pray for a martyr is as much to say, as, he did not die in GOD. God also does not keep His word, since He said that they shall be blessed who die for His sake, Matthaei 5, 2. ff., Luc. 6, 20. ff. and in many more places. But St. Augustine did not understand this article, which the Sophists teach that the following foreign works make the blessed, different in God, blessed. He is also certainly a heretic, and all who hold with him.
So the asses' heads, the sophists, look at all Scripture, that they publicly force the text against themselves, and nevertheless make articles of faith out of it, and murder the people over it. John wants to say this much: The Christians who die in the Lord are blessed, as also the 116th Psalm, v. 15, says: In the sight of the Lord the death of his saints is delightful; how
They are cursed and condemned before the world and must die as heretics, and therefore all their teachings and deeds must also be put to shame. But just as they die, and thereby go to salvation and glory beforehand; so their works will also go afterward, and also become glorious in all the world, as Paul also speaks of 1 Tim. 5:25. So John Hus was blessed for his person, when he died in the Lord: now his works follow after, and are now also called blessed and holy, which hitherto were blasphemed and condemned: for there remaineth nothing of the saints, not a hair of the head; all must follow after, and become blessed and holy also.
So they have also (because I am in the same 14th chapter) made a mistake when John Revelation 14:3 speaks of the 144,000 virgins who follow the Lamb, and make them physical virgins, when the text clearly says that they are images of men, and are therefore virgins, because they follow the Lamb. For thus he saith, "These are they which are not defiled with women: for they are virgins." Now if he meant females, he would have to say, "These are not defiled with men. And even if the most accurate teachers understand this to mean females, the text itself is clear before our eyes, and says: "They are virgins who are not defiled with women"; these must be men? Otherwise, what kind of virgin virtue would it be not to be defiled with women? Let it go its way; it is enough to see how the catmasters and murderers are so diligent in the Scriptures, and how certain they are of their drunken dreams, therefore they strangle the people so shamefully.
The fourth chapter.
Saint Paul 1 Cor. 3, v. 15. says: "He will be saved, but only through fire", (that is) through purgatory. Here you do not have to look at anything that Paul talks about before, and what kind of fire he means: but because you hear that he calls the word "fire", you do not think about it any further, nor look around, and badly believe that it is purgatory. So it is an article of faith, and you must be a heretic and die if you believe otherwise.
For the fire of the goldsmiths is water compared to this fire, since their fire melts little silver and gold, but purgatory melts twelve thousand drachmas; indeed, all monasteries, convents, churches, chapels, altars, with all their goods and honor, are melted out of purgatory. Therefore, to confirm the above, put it in the Scriptures where the word fire is written, and then do not doubt that the Scriptures speak of purgatory, and whoever says otherwise, let him be damned and burned, like a heretic.
But because my dear lord and friend, Johann Pommer, our archbishop in Wittenberg and probably in more places, has interpreted this text abundantly, and has powerfully chased away the apostles of purgatory and tyrants: so this time I will have directed the readers to the same booklet, in which they will find how honestly and well the blind leaders have dragged St. Paul's word into purgatory and with such shameful lies sucked out the world's good and deceived the poor souls so miserably; about which they have not yet repented or repented. Paul's word into purgatory and sucked the world's good out of it with such a shameful lie, and deceived the poor souls so miserably; yet they do not want to repent or repent, but remain obdurate protectors.
If anyone reads the text for himself, he will feel the great diligence and the faithful heart of the Sophists toward Christianity, as they earnestly sought the salvation of souls. For the text clearly states that it speaks of the preachers and teachers who are to build the Christian church with their doctrine, and calls some doctrine gold, silver, precious stones, but some wood, hay, straw: Not the gold, silver, precious stones, which women wear on their necks, nor the wood, hay, straw, which cows and calves eat; for the doctrine and preaching of the Christians will not eat a cow, nor hang a woman on its neck; which a cow may well reckon for itself, if it be not already a sophist: So also the fire, that the doctrines may be proved, is not the fire, that gold, silver, hay, straw may be proved, but another fire, which proveth in the day, in the which it shall be revealed what is right or wrong. But enough of that, and on to the Pomeranian booklet.
Because it is now actually certain that St. Paul speaks in this place of the doctrines.
I would like to know why they ask for the souls of the common Christian people, of which this text says nothing. And not much more do they let the common man ask for themselves, and do they themselves give money for it? For when Paul speaks of purgatory here, it affects only the teachers, preachers and pastors, that is, the clergy who have the office of preaching, and not the common Christian man. Is not this text then finely directed to purgatory? which speaks only of the fire that must be suffered not by the common man, but by the pastors, teachers, and clergy; and they seal and draw it on a fire that the common Christian man must suffer. Yes, dear fellow, Mammon is an almighty God and a learned theologian who knows how to interpret the Scriptures correctly, as you see here.
But here they cry out (and what else can they cry out?): The holy fathers and the Christian church have interpreted it thus, and understood it for purgatory, as Augustine, Gregory, and their many others; and also the great father himself, Mammon, the greatest coin-master on earth, who saw the twelve thousand drachmas shining in the Old Testament, and by his alchemy makes good for all the world out of the same in the New Testament. Here you should say, and notice it well: The dear holy fathers have not only in this place, but also in more places, guided the Scriptures according to their meaning and good opinion; not that they want to put articles of faith, nor have they murdered or condemned anyone over it; as especially St. Bernard often uses the Scripture sayings from the measure abundantly, although it is not the actual opinion of Scripture, and yet may be understood without harm so far that one does not make serious nor articles there. I must prove this with examples.
As if Augustine speaks, on Psalm 4, v. 9: In pace in id ipsum dormiam, and indicates with long words, that iä ipsum means God himself; although there is no such thing in Latin and Greek, much less in Ebraic. Should the good man
because he has no error there, but vain good Christian thoughts, whether they are not founded in that place, but elsewhere. But if a mad sophist were to base himself on this, and make an article of faith out of it, and burn the people over it who do not want to believe that id ipsum means God: do you think that this would please Saint Augustine, where he now lived? Do you think he would say, I have commanded it, and have for an article of faith what I say, and whoever does not keep it should be burned? Yes, beware of that; he should well say: Who has called you to make my words an article of faith?
Item, if St. Gregory says: five pounds (Matth. 25.) are the five senses, and two pounds are understanding and work, and one pound is understanding alone; and someone says: Dear father, do the animals also have five senses, how can it then be called five pounds, which Christ gives to his apostles? whom he not only sets higher than all animals, but also masters over all men's understanding throughout the whole world, and shall not give them anything higher than five senses, which they had before, and which the lice and fleas also have? Well, now St. Gregory teaches this; but do you think that he would have set this as an article of faith, and murder all those who do not believe it?
Item, when St. Jerome writes that virginity fills heaven, but the married state fills the earth. Do you think that he wrote this with such seriousness or in the opinion that it should be an article of faith, and that everyone should believe it? What could be said more unchristian and heretical than that the marriage state does not belong to heaven but to earth? If no married man should be saved, where would Abraham be, and all the fathers and apostles? And if virginity should help to heaven, then Christ and his faith should be nothing, and many heathens, who were unbaptized, unchristian and godless, would have to be in heaven; for they truly had many virgins. Who does not see here that
St. Jerome speaks much too mildly 1) in this? Nevertheless, he did not mean it in a bad way, and is therefore not a heretic. But much less should it be an article of faith that forces us to believe such things.
Item, when St. Ambrose (Ps. 19, 3.) Dies diei eructat verbum: "One day tells another, one night announces it to another", thus interprets: one day, that is, one Christian tells another; one night, that is, one Jew tells another. . Do you think he wants to force me to believe it as an article, that day means a Christian and night means a Jew? since the psalm does not exist, nor does it suffer in the text.
Such a way of conducting Scripture is called catachresis, abusivus modus loquendi, a misunderstanding that one sometimes borrows a saying from Scripture, and with it makes a folly (as we call it), but without harming the text and the right understanding, which should have the seriousness without all folly. As one has made of the Alexandro of such farces very much, as: U non mutabis, donec plurale videbis: one should not throw away old shoes, one has new ones. Indeclinabile vulgus: the rabble is a naughty thing. However, it would be better to leave the holy scripture unadulterated with such antics, or to handle it with greater reason: for there is danger that one will finally get away from the text, and lose the right sense, and from the misunderstanding and antics become an article of faith, as the Sophists and Papists do here in Purgatory, indeed almost vainly have such catachreses in their articles.
And if Gregory, Jerome and the old teachers take a lot from Matth. 13, that the seed (God's word) of some carries thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold, then they understand that thirty means the married state, sixty the widow state, a hundred the virgin state, which states are all three before in the world (without such seed of Christ), created and appointed by God. And it is ridiculous that Christ's word should not do more than give these three ranks that are there before. Well then, these things are yet sung and sounded throughout all Christendom. And
1) I.e. unfit.
Whoever would take it seriously, there would be no greater heresy on earth: for Christ and his word would be and would be nothing more than what was there before, among all the heathen, the ungodly, and the servants of devils.
Who then will say that this must be an article of faith about which people are to be put to death? How much better to say that the dear fathers spoke such things thoughtlessly, but not in an evil, heretical way? For as St. Augustine says, "To err does not make heretics; but to err knowingly and obstinately makes heretics." "To err I may (he says again), but to heresy I will not." Why? He does not want to make error an article, nor to defend it, but to let himself be guided. I would have brought up more than a thousand such sayings of the dear holy fathers, in which they may have erred, and also may have had good thoughts, but not in the right place: in which they would not have remained stiff-necked, nor hard on it, if they had been reported otherwise: much less did they want to make articles out of it and condemn and kill Christians over it, as our nonsensical bloodhounds do.
And what can we say? We must not dare to follow all the work and word of our Lord Christ, who never committed any sin, nor erred or failed, as St. Peter 1 Epist. 2:22 and Isaiah Cap. 53:9 say, that he "committed no sin, nor was ever found false in his mouth. For I certainly may not fast forty days and walk on the sea as he did. Neither did he have house, nor home, nor wife, nor child, nor anything of his own on earth; nor did he command any to follow him. 2. He also taught about the three kinds of people, Matth. 19, 12, in which it is not necessary to keep everything. Why then should we be compelled, but for articles of faith, what the dear fathers do and say, without scripture, who may yet sin and err, yea, must often and daily sin and err, that they may keep the Lord's Prayer and the nineteenth Psalm true and right?
2) I.e. something.
And if they want to follow the example of the saints in all (even unnecessary) things, why don't they rather follow the Lord Christ Himself and let go of monasteries, convents and all their own property? Yes, see you in good health, come back tomorrow! Here it lies, it sticks and it clings. What serves mammon, we can use the example and word of the fathers; but what does not, that must be heresy. If you are torn, dear papists, let the devil mend you. Now it is no wonder that you all turn the sayings of the fathers into articles. So also the preacher monks have charged their Thomas Aquinas to Christianity, that all letters must be articles, which is full, full of error, until the high schools themselves could not stand it, and had to condemn some pieces of him, and had almost come to the point that we had to let articles of faith be, when a full monk's belly cured, or let a foul wind drive. But now everything is forgotten, have never done anything bad.
Now, if one leads the fathers on this text of Paul 1 Cor. 3 about purgatory, that is not enough; but they must further prove that the same fathers intended such things for articles of faith, and not for their mere thoughts: in addition, they must also prove that the fathers were commanded by God to set new articles of faith apart from Scripture, and to force the Christians to do so, or to kill them. Where this does not happen, all the fathers and saints, however great they may be, remain with all their doctrine and life under this saying 1 Thess. 5, 21: "Test all things, and keep that which is good"; for then the Holy Spirit casts them among the Christians and forbids them the power to put articles of faith.
St. Augustine himself confesses the same, and writes to St. Jerome thus: "Dear brother, I do not think that you would have held your books like the books of the apostles and prophets; for I read all the other books besides the holy Scriptures in such a way that I do not believe everything they say, no matter how learned and holy they may be. Unless they prove it to me with Scripture or with sound reason.
point out. In the same way I want to have readers over my books, as I am over the other books". Haec Augustine.
Since it is clear that the dear fathers often stumbled and had good thoughts in an uneven place, but were never heretical, stiff-necked, much less commanded, set or taught such their stumbling and thoughts to articles of faith (about which to burn the Christians); so it is easy to reckon how honestly and faithfully the sophists deal with the Christians, who out of their own foolish head, out of sacrilegious thirst and devil's input, without God's command, against the will of the fathers, without any cause, make everything they want to be articles of faith, in the holy fathers, and murder the people over it, disregarding and trampling underfoot the Holy Spirit, who says 1 Thess. 5, 21: Test everything and keep what is good. Then it must not fail, because they confirm the error of the fathers, without their will and command, that not the fathers, but they themselves are heretics, under the name and appearance of the fathers, as it is said, He that reproacheth lies, reproacheth still more. For he does not lie who speaks falsely or erroneously, but he who persists and acts stubbornly is a knowing liar.
The fifth chapter.
Here you have St. Gregory in his Dialogo, who is almost the first and most powerful one who instituted and caused the purgatory and the sacrificial masses: he shows many examples of the spirits that appeared, which he (as a good, pious, simple man) believed, and also believed in the flying lights and the spirits as if they were souls, which the pagans did not believe to be souls in the past, and now it is obvious that they are devils. And of these things he sets much, the good man, and believes everything, without Scripture and testimony of God. And this is almost the strongest and most fundamental reason for the whole purgatory, which all the world has followed, and has thus been torn down, so that almost no worship, no good work, no money has remained on earth, it has had to go to purgatory, and help the souls, and in my opinion no richer lie has come on earth than purgatory,
until they have betrayed themselves with the indulgence and pushed themselves to the ground.
Here I say, as above, let St. Gregory be a pious man, who held all this without heresy, nor forced anyone to do so, nor made an article of faith out of it, nor ever proved it with scripture or miracles. But how would I come to think that I should consider this an article of faith, over which I should have lost life and limb, which St. Gregory himself does not want to have considered an article of faith, has not commanded it to me anywhere, nor has he had any command to command it? But that one makes articles of faith out of it, and murders people over it, that is not St. Gregory's opinion, nor the opinion of St. Gregory himself. Gregory's opinion, nor of the Holy Church, nor can anyone prove it; But it is a boshastic addition, overkill, and the own little sin of the miserly, lying sophists, who saw and kill the world's body and goods, soul and salvation with it, and thus act out of their own thirst with dear Christianity not only as arch-heretics and liars, but as the desperate traitors, evil-doers, murderers, and blasphemers, who would rather have the whole world condemned by their lies than be without the twelve thousand drachmas.
And whether they pretend: The church has approved and confirmed such fathers' books; they themselves know well that the church, by confirming them, does not add more to the fathers' books than is written in them, as the sophists do here: nor do they themselves hold that everything is right that is found in a confirmed teacher. Exemplum de Thoma Aquinate. So this is also an addition, that the church makes articles of faith with her confirming; the sophists invent such.
Thus the pope himself has set in his spiritual right, from St. Augustine's Proverbs, 9. s. Noli, that one should not believe any fathers, because they prove it with the Scriptures. If one is to follow this spiritual law, then one must truly believe nothing of St. Gregory and Purgatory. For there is no scripture, but vain thoughts of one's own. But now again, where one does not believe St. Gregory of Purgatory, body and soul are lost. Is it not a strange
Wonder about the sophistical pabstacy? It wants its spiritual right to be believed, or one must be a heretic and burn; if one believes it, then one is a heretic again and must burn, because here it forces me not to believe St. Gregory, and yet to believe; which I now do, then I am damned and lost. So let the devil be a pope in my place! But all this is the fault of the sophists alone: for what they teach, the pope and bishops must believe, and the whole world; for the pope and bishops take little notice of teaching and preaching.
The sixth chapter.
There they have the whole scripture before them, with all letters and jumbles, and nothing is left before purgatory. For look at their vigils and spiritual testimonies, and you will find how masterfully they draw and interpret the whole Scripture to Purgatory. Everything that has ever been in the New and Old Testaments must be called purgatory. I must tell you here some psalms and texts, which they use in their vigils and pastorals, so that you can see how shamefully they have cheated God and the world.
They have chosen fifteen noble psalms for the vigil, which you may now read yourself in the German Psalter, I will show them to you. And if you find a letter in it that rhymes with purgatory or with the departed souls, I will no longer be worthy of any man. And how can they, because they are all made in the Old Testament, since there has never been any thought of purgatory? But they must now, Mammon can well teach them.
But it is these:
1. the fifth: Lord, hear my words.
2nd The sixth: Oh Lord, do not punish me. 3rd: The seventh: In you, O Lord, I trust. 4. The 23rd: The Lord is my shepherd.
The 25th: To you, O Lord, I rise.
The 27th: The Lord is my light.
The 40th: I wait for the Lord.
The 41st: Blessed is he who accepts.
The 42nd: How the stag cries.
After these 9 psalms, they have 9 lessons from the book of Job, of which a special book would have to be written against them, as they draw them so blasphemously and shamefully. Then follow the Lauds Psalms.
1. 51st: God, have mercy on me.
The 62nd: My soul is silent.
The 63rd: God, you are my God.
4. 130th: From the depths.
5 Is 38: I said, now I must.
6. the last three psalms.
Dear, take a sophist to you, and read all these Psalms of the Vigils, or one of them, and let him show you in which word of Purgatory it is said, or how many souls in the Old Testament were redeemed from Purgatory by it. For you can be sure that some of these Psalms, such as the 40th and 41st, go alone and nowhere else but to Christ's own person, as they are introduced in the Gospel of John 13, v. 18, and Ebr. 10, v. 5. The others all speak of the suffering and consolation of the saints here on earth, and there is no way to suffer the Psalms to waver (where it should be done seriously), so that they should speak of Christ and not of Christ at the same time, so that our articles of faith would become uncertain, and faith would have to fall, and all our consolation would come to nothing in times of need.
I will leave the vespers of the dead and the masses for the souls, but especially the blasphemous collections, in which they ask heaven of their benefactors: for it is groundless with lies and blasphemies in purgatory, so that others may also have something to think about in this, and whether they come back, I may further force them 1) and bathe them.
I am sorry for the noble and precious Psalms that they have to serve the stinking avarice and unseemly belly in such shameful, blasphemous, manifold misuse. First of all, that the right understanding of Christ and his saints must be darkened, prevented and corrupted for the sake of purgatory, and the hearts of Christians deprived of it; which alone would be cause enough for the extermination of all vigils, together with foundations, monasteries, chapels (if it would not be otherwise),
1) d. i. zwacken.
so that no memory of them would remain. For the Psalms were made to exercise and learn faith in them, and not to deliver souls from purgatory through misunderstanding.
Secondly, that they must be sung and read in vain and in vain delusion, to mock God and to harm Him. For since purgatory is nothing, nor can it be proven, and yet one prays to God about it with these psalms, it is just as if I were to ask a prince for some prisoners in a tower, and he himself knew neither of the tower nor of the prisoners; then I would have to be nonsensical, or would certainly mock the prince as a fool, with beautiful words that do not rhyme with that. If they do not want to mock God as a fool, then they must certainly make purgatory certain beforehand: think God knows nothing about it, because he has never said a word about it. But when do they want to make it certain?
Thirdly, because they do not need the Psalms for faith, as they cannot from misunderstanding, it follows from necessity that they read them plainly, without heart, without prayer; and act with them as with a work, by which they want to drain the souls of God. Now a work in worship without faith is a real idolatry and temptation of God, as well as a mockery of God: so it is obvious that their vigil is not prayer. For if they wanted to pray in it, they would probably appoint other persons to do so, who would not act so frivolously in it, even so many psalms, lectures and sounds would be of no use everywhere; one psalm would do.
But in order to see that it is a work, so that the people's mouths are opened and the more money is carried, the best vigil must be the one that is the longest and the one that babbles the most; just as if God had a desire for great and much babbling, when he says in Matth. the sixth, v. 7: "When you pray, you should not babble much, like the pagans. And the priest, who says before the altar that God wants to see the good works that are done according to him, freely confesses that his vigil, mass and ministry is a work so that God should be reconciled, and may
Christ's mediator nothing to it; God must well go away and hear them Himself, with their unbelieving works, without Christ.
Fourth, because such misunderstanding, vain labor, and unbelieving work is in their vigils, external misuse of these psalms must also follow, namely, that one sings and performs them with indolence, unwillingness, displeasure, and unwillingness, so that even such unwillingness spoils a work, even if it were done rightly and well in pure faith. For God wants to have happy and willing servants, and does not like forced and unwilling services. Now one sees before one's eyes how they sing vigils in monasteries and convents; there they cackle the dear psalms like geese cackle the straw, so that they do not make a whole word; as then the devil himself mocks them with the saying: It would have to be a poor devil to whom they should pray away a soul.
Fifth, because there is misunderstanding, error, unbelief, effort and unwillingness in the work, it must also follow that it must be sustained with money and done solely for the sake of money and not for the sake of God. Otherwise the work would be in vain and would not stand. And this is also the true God of the vigils; for this reason they are kept, otherwise they would not be seen. We can see that no vigil is kept without money, and is endowed with all special interest, and they sell it also truly impudently like another commodity, without it not having to be called bought. And you should see where the money turned, whether there should not also soon turn the vigils and Seelmefsen.
Of such blasphemous abuses and abominations I would well denounce more, if I were to reckon them against all the commandments and teachings of Christ; and the dear noble Psalms must serve for this purpose, and court the wretched idol Mamman, to seduce the souls of Christians; to mock and blaspheme Christ and God, and for all that help to devour the world's goods and to consume them shamefully with harlots and knaves.
And so that all the virtues of the papal church come together in one heap, they do not let them suffice with these abominations, that they
They misunderstand the Psalms, hinder faith and the consolation of the spirit, deceive the souls, mock God with faithless, foul, vain works, and serve their belly and mammon, robbing the world's goods with them and squandering them shamefully; but they go on, and whoever does not want to worship such abominations and consider them right, must be a damned heretic and burn. So they are children like their father. For how is it possible that he who is a liar should not also become a murderer? because the devil, his father, is a liar and a murderer, John 8:44.
And for the surrender 1) they make no conscience over it, repent and atone for it never, but defy God for it, and praise it as the highest worship, which will crown them above all saints in heaven for such murder, lies and bloodshed. And with such a piece they surpass the devil himself, their father, and improve his kingdom with it, since he cannot. For even though he is obdurate, he still cannot grasp the pride and defiance that God will reward him gloriously for his murder and lies in heaven, as they do, his dear little children.
So much will I have indicated this time for the supply or beginning of the histories, for the strengthening of ours and for the warning of our descendants, that they may have a knowledge of how the papacy teaches about purgatory and what virtue they have committed about it; and that they may know how to beware of it, lest they consent to its blasphemous abominations and make themselves partakers of all the blood that is shed by the papists. For he who consents to the work of the papacy must also take upon himself and be partaker of all the abominations, blasphemies, lies, murders, and seductions that are therein, even of all the innocent blood (as Christ says) that has been shed on earth from Abel until now. For it is One Body, One Spirit, One Will, One Exemplar of all holy murderers; I will be excused, and faithfully warned.
But what I have said too little here, I will say further in the article about the mass and others. For because they are ob-
1) I.e. what goes beyond the measure.
Psalms and proverbs may be drawn to their purgatory, how should they not draw more proverbs there? Can one draw the whole scripture (who wants to do it) on a lie. Mammon is the most powerful god above all gods, says Paul and Daniel; therefore it is no wonder that he also exalts himself above our God, and makes of the holy scriptures what he wills. For you should see that if Mammon were my God, that I could give enough of the twelve thousand drachmas, I would give them all to him.
I can convert sophists and heretics in one day and abolish not only purgatory but also the entire papacy before a moon has passed. Therefore, my doctrine lacks nothing except the divinity of the great god Mammon; if I had that, it would not be heresy nor error, but the dear pure truth. But now it is erroneous and heretical. Why? Because it is poor. Poverty is my error and heresy. That is enough of that; I will remain with my poor God, to whom be praise and thanksgiving forever, amen.