First halste 1535.
Preface.
(1) So many strange and wondrous things have been said about the Anabaptists, that many have thought that the poor people were being used by their adversaries without truth, in order to disparage them and make them hateful to everyone. Some of them still came and defended them, and neither rebels nor heretics wanted to ring the bell, and considered them to be pious, honest people and good Christians. But because the case with Münster has now come to pass, and they, as the head of these Anabaptist mobs, out of well-considered courage and counsel, have printed and publicly issued a book of fifteen sheets, in which they have written all kinds of shameful, blasphemous, annoying articles, both against the gospel and the police, in clear words, as some of them have understood in this: it is without any contradiction that nothing so bad can be said of such people, the Anabaptists, it is much worse in itself.
(2) For what more can the devil himself do, if he needs all his power and strength, than first to destroy and devastate the kingdom of our Lord Christ, and then to cause mischief, war, bloodshed, and all disorder in the temporal government? These two things the people of Münster have set forth in their letter without any hesitation, and teach that the kingdom of Christ here on earth is not to stand in faith, but is to go in works, and is to be a worldly kingdom, where the Christians (who want to be alone) alone are to rule and exterminate all the ungodly. But if this is true, where is Christ with his word, who so long before and in so many places faithfully warned his Christians that they should give themselves to it and send themselves to suffer; for nothing else would come of it, they should have tribulation and distress in the world, and peace in him alone? Where are other sayings more, so here are attracted
That one should be obedient to the authorities, even to the wicked and unrighteous, as Peter calls them; without where they have imposed something contrary to God's commandment, one should obey God more than the authorities?
But the wretched possessed people are so taken in by the devil and blinded that they neither hear nor see, and against God's command they have made unheard-of innovations, elected a tailor as a king, made prophets, and murdered a hundred men in the city who did not want to agree to this innovation with the king. Therefore, whoever has not yet seen enough of the Anabaptists' intentions and plots, let this Münsterian being be a counterfactual and painting for him, since all Anabaptists' hearts, opinions, and minds are conceived and painted in such a way that all their actions, wherever they may find room and place for them, are directed toward eradicating the gospel and awakening all disorder and disruption of all praiseworthy, just regimes and laws.
4 Do not think otherwise of any Anabaptist! For you must not regard them as people who are still in their right mind, but as people who are possessed, as they are in truth, who have been brought by the devil out of God's wrath, so that they do and want everything that the devil himself does and wants. For there is their book, which bears witness to both of them, without all shyness, that they desire to reverse church and worldly rule, and to cause all kinds of disorder. And it does not help to say: They are not all like that. But because the devil has torn them away from the right doctrine; as little is one devil more pious than the other, but all strive against God's kingdom and worldly discipline and rule every moment: so also one Anabaptist is like the other; and that they do not all make such noise and innovation, it is only because they do not have space and convenient time for it.
*This writing, an extension of the "Propositiones" (No. 38 in this volume), was first printed in Latin in 1535, as Melanchthon reports in his preface, but then also translated into German, probably by Melanchthon himself. Walch reports (introduction to the 20th volume, p. 81) that at Nuremberg in 1535 both redactions of the "Propositiones" were printed together and "the new newspaper of the Anabaptists at Münster" was prefixed with Luther's preface. Our writing also went out before the fall of Münster, that is, in the first half of 1535. It is found in the Wittenberg edition (1551), vol. II, p. 391 d; after that we give the text.
Therefore it would be necessary for the Christian authorities to have good regard for it and not to despise a small seed that the devil throws into the field. For this poison is of such a nature that before you know it, it has penetrated and damaged a whole field; so that it does not take long to wait and see, but quick and urgent counsel and help must be available to ward off such filth. But this help is not only in force and the sword, although it must also be there to control the rebellious leaders; but primarily in pure and righteous doctrine, which is the right preservative, so our Lord God has arranged by grace, from his heavenly pharmacy, to escape this pestilence. For one can also see that such terrible insanity has broken out most in those places where the authorities have not wanted to suffer God's word, and the preachers together with the poor Christians have been driven out, drowned and burned. It is not necessary to name such places, it is unfortunately in the daytime, and it is very much to be feared that such devil's play with Münster will not cease, because, after such horrible punishment, one shows oneself so ungrateful to the dear Gospel.
6 For our Lord God does not take away the rod before the child asks for mercy and stops sinning; otherwise he will always punish without any mercy. And especially this rod of error is bound to the sin of despising the gospel. For thus says St. Paul in 2 Thess. 2:11, 10: "They will not accept the love of the truth, that they may be saved; therefore God will send them strong error, that they may believe the lies; that they all may be judged who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness." There is the cause indicated by St. Paul, from where the mobs and such troubles originate; namely, not from the Gospel, as our adversaries may brazenly lie: but from God's wrath against the world, which will not accept His word for its benefit and salvation; therefore it must accept the devil's word to its harm and eternal damnation.
For (dear God!) how do they want to preserve and defend themselves? They see for themselves that their papist preaching and teaching is nothing but human sand and quicksand, since it is impossible for a conscience to stand or build upon it. And yet they do not want to give room to the Gospel, so they let the poor people go without God's word and Christian doctrine, which then accepts what comes before it, and goes, as Moses says in Deut. 29:19: that a full man comes to the Lord.
a thirsty man. He has them preach to him and believes what he hears, because he does not know any better and his authorities do not want to preach any better to him, until the country becomes full of riffraff and the wrath of our Lord God comes upon it with force, so that no one can control it, and both teacher and student go down with each other with a whole country that must pay for such sin. Otherwise, it would be enough sin and bad manners in the world if people would humble themselves against the word of our Lord God and accept it with thanksgiving, and not rage against it so wantonly.
(8) Therefore let every man be warned that he may take care of his own welfare and that of his soul, that those who are in authority may faithfully provide for their country and people and what they have with the word of God; to prevent and control such harm and wrath as has already spread too far; and at the same time to pay diligent attention to the lurkers, the Anabaptists, and to deal with them as with public agitators and those who do no good in the community. For truly here we do not want to sleep, nor do we want to wait long. Then let the subjects also beware diligently of the poison, and let their right preachers, who hold forth the gospel to them pure and true, command them faithfully, and hear them diligently, even for the sake of their own souls' salvation. For there is no lack of the wicked devil's will; he would gladly entangle everyone, high and low, small and great, young and old, in these nets. And for the sake of these causes, these articles, which went out in print in Latin in Wittenberg this year, have been translated, so that, as much as possible, the devil's intentions may be resisted and Christ's (our God and Savior's) kingdom may be increased. Amen.
Against the blasphemous and shameful book, which recently went out in print in Münster, some propositions, put by
Philipp Melanchthon at Wittenberg.
1. a book has gone out in Münster, full of blasphemies and sedition, against which I have wanted to place these following articles, so that everyone may see what shame, vice, and nonsense lie behind the Anabaptist revolt and doctrine, and may be able to guard and protect themselves all the better from such error.
2) First of all, they teach that before the last day the kingdom of Christ must be established in such a way that only the pious and elect (which they want to be) will reign and all the ungodly will be destroyed.
Regents who do not want to accept their faith should be exterminated and killed.
3. secondly, that the subjects shall take the rule from their overlords and depose them.
Thirdly, although the apostles had no command to arrogate to themselves the temporal regiment and ride with the sword, yet the present preachers are to take up the sword and establish a new regiment by force.
(5) Fourth, that no hypocrite, false Christian, or ungodly person be or be tolerated in the church.
6 These four pieces they clearly put in one article; and I have therefore wanted to tell them here, so that everyone may judge what kind of spirit it is that drives them; because they publicly confess such horrible lies and errors and let them go out in print.
Laying of the first piece.
(7) It is an unchristian error that Christ will establish such a kingdom before the last day, when only the godly shall reign and all the wicked shall be destroyed with the sword. For since the kingdom of Christ is a spiritual kingdom, where the poor consciences are to seek comfort and salvation through faith, against the horror of sins, death and misfortune, such a promise of God and exercise of faith would be completely wiped out, if one wanted to make the kingdom of Christ a temporal kingdom.
8. there is also enough testimony from the scriptures that the kingdom of Christ is not to be a worldly kingdom. For the Lord Christ Himself says Joh. 18, 36: "My kingdom is not of this world. And Joh. 20, 21: "As my Father has sent me, so I also send you." Since Christ was not a worldly ruler who ruled by force, but only a preacher who suffered violence, it follows that all those who are called to preach his word and are sent by him should renounce all worldly authority and in patience and suffering become accustomed to their Master Christ. But those whom the devil sends, as the Anabaptists now, may take the sword for the word, and preach lies and devilish errors for the truth; as they are now doing publicly at Münster, and will be subject to do more in other places, where the authorities of each place will not do so in time, and will control the possessed mad people by force.
(9) So also with clear words he reproves all violence and vengeance to the apostles and preachers, since
He says Matth. 20, 25. Marc. 10, 42. f.: "You know that the worldly rulers and the overlords have power, but among you it shall not be so." And Matth. 26, 52: "Whoever takes the sword shall perish by the sword." Item Matth. 5, 39.: "I tell you, 'you shall not resist evil." 2 Cor. 10, 3. f.: "Though we walk in the flesh, yet do we not contend carnally; for the weapons of our knighthood are not carnal, but mighty before God. "2c.
2 Cor. 3, 6. "We carry on the ministry of the new testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit." Hebr. 8, 10.: "I will put my law in their hearts." Col. 2, 20: "If ye then be dead with Christ unto the statutes of the world, why are ye entangled with statutes, as though ye lived yet in the world?" And after that Col. 3, 8. 10. 11.: "Put away from you all anger, wrath, malice 2c., and put on the new man, who is being transformed into the knowledge in the image of Him who created him, not being Greek, Jew, circumcision, foreskin" 2c.
(10) These testimonies all teach that Christ's kingdom is separate from the worldly kingdom, and that Christians should not only refrain from violence, but also gladly suffer all violence for God's sake, and not do anything new in government or other civil and worldly affairs.
Interpretation of the second piece.
(11) This article is quite inflammatory, that the subjects should take the rule from their authorities and put themselves in their place. For so says St. Paul, Romans 13: "Let all men, every one, be obedient to his authority." And Matt. 26: "He that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword."
12 Secondly. Since it is now evident that the Anabaptists are rebels, those who sit in regiments should punish them as public land robbers and defend themselves against them.
Transfer of the third piece.
(13) This is also an indication of a terrible delusion, that they hold and teach that preachers may use the sword without and against the command of Christ, even though Christ forbade it to his apostles. For the ministry of preaching shall be no different now than it was before; and this saying shall remain forever in the church of the preachers of the gospel, John 20:21: "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you."
Relocation of the fourth piece.
14 This is also certain enough from the holy Scriptures that before the last day no such separation is to take place, that the pious are to be separated from the evil and false Christians; and that this separation belongs only to that life and is impossible here on earth. For thus Christ says Luc. 18, 8. about His last future: "Do you think that the Son of Man, when He comes, will also find faith on earth?" And Luc. 17, 34: "Two shall lie in one bed, and the one shall be accepted, but the other shall be forsaken." I think this is clear enough, that bad boys will remain among the pious Christians until the end of the world.
(15) So Matthew 13:40 and following, in the likeness Christ says: "The harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels: the Son of man shall send his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. But it is very ridiculous that they say that they are the same angels who are supposed to do this, because they can only kill the body and not throw the soul into the hellish fire, as the text says.
16 But what may it much testify? For it is evident that Christ warns us and proclaims beforehand how the last days will be very perilous, and himself says: "If those days were not shortened, no man would be saved. And St. Peter in his other epistle testifies that the wicked will remain and reign until the last day, and the pious will have to suffer persecution from them. From this it is clear that the pious are not to reign. It is also to be noted here that it is impossible for men to separate all false Christians from the church. For the church will never be so pure here on earth; there will always be bad boys among them. But in that life it will become quite separate.
(17) Here you may say: How should one understand the prophets, who often speak of the kingdom of Christ as if it should become a worldly kingdom, therefore also the disciples in the Gospel [Matth. 20, 21. 24.], and the Jews to this day hope for a Messiah, who would establish a worldly reign and make them worldly rulers?
18 Answer. The gospel interprets the prophets correctly, therefore one must interpret such figures from the gospel and not follow the letter alone, because the text itself forces a different understanding than the words read. For the prophets themselves testify that
Christ shall die; therefore he shall not reign in the flesh. Item, they say: The Christians shall be comforted spiritually. But no man shall be comforted, except he that is in anguish and distress; therefore Christians shall not be worldly lords; as he saith Isaiah 61:1. f.: "He hath sent me to preach to the afflicted, to deliver them that are bound, to open them that are bound; to preach a pleasant year unto the Lord." Item, they prophesy how the true church must suffer persecution. Item, that Christ's kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom. All this cannot and may not be interpreted to the worldly kingdom.
19 About all this, Christ very often chastises the apostles in the Gospel for being under the delusion that Christ's kingdom should be a temporal kingdom, like other kingdoms on earth, saying: "Christ must suffer" and not "reign". And the apostles themselves afterwards point to a spiritual and eternal kingdom in the sayings of the prophets. Apost. 2. and 13.
[Relocation of the fifth piece.] 1)
Fifth, the Anabaptists of Münster conclude in their book: "Let no one be saved unless he has nothing of his own and gives away all his money and goods to the commonwealth.
This article is not only ungodly and contrary to the gospel, which leaves all civil order and law unchanged, and which Christians are commanded 2) to keep, but is also conducive to sedition.
[Relocation of the sixth piece.]
22) Sixthly, they allow and command that a man may and should have more than one wife. Yet Christ in the Gospel wants to keep marriage in clear words, according to the first institution in paradise. For he says: Erunt Erunt duo in carne una, 3) "Two shall be one flesh." There he wants that the marriage should be only of two persons, man and woman.
(23) Although it was forbidden for the Jews to have more than one wife in the Law, it is still against the natural law. For it is most like and according to nature that marriage be only between two persons, as God first instituted it in Paradise, if it is to be otherwise a kind, honest and chaste marriage. As the Greeks also spoke of it,
1) This and the following two headings are missing in the Wittenberg edition.
2) With Walch: "Peace".
3) So the Vulgate. Wittenberger: 1" oarnsva unaw.
and other barbarians as a special disgrace, that they take many wives.
(24) And here it is well to note that Lamech, who was of the ungodly lineage of Cain, 1) first began this, and Abraham did it afterward because his Sarah was barren. According to these examples, it was further torn down, and God allowed it to continue in patience.
[Relocation of the seventh piece.]
(25) Seventhly, this is a terrible blindness and blasphemy, that they may say without all shame: Christ did not take his flesh from
1) Wittenberger: "from the godless lineage of Cain".
The Bible testifies that he was born of the seed of Abraha, and that he calls himself the Son of Man everywhere. But one senses here that the Anabaptists have even more in mind to blaspheme against Christ, the Son of God, and yet they are not yet allowed to do so.
Decision.
(26) These terrible errors and aversions are undoubtedly a punishment of the great certainty and blasphemy that is now everywhere in the world. Therefore, what devout God-fearing hearts there are that watch and pray, that they may persevere in the temptation and not also be deceived. Amen.