The Wittenbergers inform the Nuremberg clergy how they will respond to the upcoming settlement negotiations with
Letters from the year 1540. No. 2629.
The Pope's position is that they do not want to give in on essential matters, and he asks them to make their opinion known to them as well.
From Epistolae selectiores aliquot Phil. Melanthonis ed. a Peucero, Witeb. 1565. 8. p. 186 (without day and year) in De Wette, vol. V, p. 260 (datirt: "12. Februar 1540" according to a manuscript at Munich); in Aliquot epistolae Rev. Patris Doct. Martini Lutheri, quibusdam Theologis ad August. comitia a. 1530. scriptae. (No place) 1549. 8. at the end; from it in Corp. Ref., vol. III, 958, datirt: "Feb. 17"; in Melanthonis Consilia Iat. ed. a Pezelio, P. I, p. 359 (without year and date) and in MeIanchthonis Epist., lib. I, p. 224. this letter is written by Melanchthon.... We have followed Bretschneider's dating because Melanchthon (Corp. Ref., Vol. III, 955, No. 1928) tells Veit Dietrich on Feb. 12 that "the summa of our opinion is written in a letter" that will soon reach him.
To Mr. Wenceslaus Link, Doctor, Mr. Andreas Osiander, Mr. Thomas Venatorius, Mr. Veit Dietrich and their other colleagues who teach the Gospel in the church at Nuremberg, his extremely dear brothers in Christ.
Hail! If only God would have the churches everywhere to agree on the right doctrine of the Gospel, as your church, by God's grace, has been preaching Christ with us in one voice for many years. We do not doubt, however, that this agreement has been beneficial to many godly minds and has served as an example for many churches. But what is more desirable, what is sweeter to a godly heart, than to see flourishing churches in which God is rightly worshipped and the salutary doctrine is presented, and whose praiseworthy examples, to use a word of Paul, glorify the glory of Christ? Since we are most desirous of maintaining harmony forever, we thought it necessary to consult with you at this time, since it is believed that consultations on the settlement of public disputes are imminent. For the [bishop] of Lunden has written to our princes that the emperor is coming to Germany, not to provoke a civil war, nor to credence the bishops with the blood of the blessed to drink, but to discuss how to establish harmony by mutual yielding (moderatis rationibus), and he has exhorted ours to think diligently in what matters yielding is a firm and lasting
could promote peace. It is a great praise for Emperor Carl, if in truth one assumes that Christ's honor is glorified and the salvation of the whole church is advised. For it is a glorious word in tragedy that is said of an excellent ruler: To advise the fatherland, to spare the citizens, to refrain from cruel 1) bloodshed, to govern morals, to restore tranquility to the world, peace to his time: this is the highest virtue, this is the way to heaven. But we are moved by many things that we suspect that this rumor is either spread quite falsely, so that the adversaries acquire goodwill and applause among the people by pretending a very beautiful thing, or that an ambush is laid by the pretext of peace negotiations. For first of all, how is it consistent that they want to negotiate peace, although it cannot be achieved that the banishment of Minden is ended, although it is certain that everything is being prepared for war, although the kings are invited to participate in the ungodly and exceedingly shameful alliance that has been made in your city, yes, although the iron minds of the bishops can no more be moved to equity than could be done with Pharaoh? For such obstinacy is wont to accompany blasphemy and murder. But since the will of the emperor is unknown to us 2), we must certainly believe von Lunden that the consultations on concord are not falsely promised, but even these are not without danger. As it is to be desired that Carl in truth and from the heart will that the light of the Gospel be restored, and that he obey the divine voice which preaches to the kings, saying [Ps. 2,10.]: "Let yourselves now be instructed, O kings", so it is to be feared that, 3) as now the courts are full of deceit, it is intended to shower the right doctrine with new deception by an artifice.
1) Instead of fratrum in the Corp. Ref. we have assumed fera with Peucer, Pezel, the Munich Codex and De Wette.
2) Instead of nota in De Wette, ignota is to be read, as the misprint in Peucer indicates.
3) ne is missing from De Wette.
At the Sirmium Council, when Constantius sought to reconcile the conflicting churches, not by removing but by concealing error, the Nicene Creed was changed and an ambiguous common word was sought which neither party would reject. It was decided that instead of xxxxxxxx the following should be inserted
xxxxxx; but shortly thereafter the evil broke out again much more violently, and this very ambiguity created new fights. The same thing will happen now, when the concord will be negotiated. You have undoubtedly seen the Cologne writing, in which more convenient interpretations are attributed to the abuses. And it is considered the praise of a good head to think up these subtle glosses, and so already in Rome and in France the makers of these glosses stand in the greatest admiration. One will therefore take recourse to them: articles will be presented so that the errors and abuses, painted with several colors, will be restored. Perhaps, so that we, won by some bait, will agree, they will also let us have some of our articles. Then they will tell us to care not only for ourselves, but also for other nations that might be deterred from the better doctrine if we were too eager to defend all that is ours. They will say of the dangers of civil wars that it is better to have mediocre churches than none. We know that such words are said in the conventions also by ours, and these reasons are valid among worldly-minded people who fear for their treasures or well-being, of which there is a great number everywhere. Perhaps the intrigues are also aimed at dividing our people, who, as the adversaries see, do not otherwise hold together in the best way. Therefore, there will be some who want to be relieved of worries, expenses and dangers, and for this reason will interpret the emperor's service as the best, and will say that they do not want to quarrel for the sake of other things; a civil war is to be avoided. Since these deceitful proposals for settlement will entail so many dangers, it is truly necessary for the godly,
They need to bring with them well-equipped and strong hearts, and they also need a firm agreement among themselves. Therefore, in order that we may consult with one another, we have deemed it good that you be informed of the sum of our opinion and our deliberations, and we ask again that you make your opinion known to us. For although there may be among you, 1) as elsewhere, worldly-minded people who judge that these disputes are futile wars of words, useless for the commonwealth and for the life of men, and for this reason take pains to wriggle out of them in any way they can, just as a predatory fish, having swallowed the fishhook, nevertheless escapes by wounding its mouth in order to tear itself free from the hook: these people's judgment is none of our business, nor that of the church; we seek your assent and do not doubt that the will of your church is in agreement with you. But it is most to be wished that the harmony which has hitherto existed between our church and yours may be an everlasting one.
But we at least have divided the whole discussion into three parts. Either they will request that something be changed in the doctrine, or in external things that are necessary, or in external things that are completely mediocre. With respect to doctrine, we have decided entirely that we will not permit any change in any article of the Confession and Apology, no matter under what pretext this may be. At Augsburg, they had drawn the matter to the point that we should at the same time place ambiguous articles that could be interpreted at will (flexiloquos). The matter was similar to the example at Sirmium. But our things have already been made known and explained with quite a lot of explanations, so that it is sufficiently known what we hold in truth. And if they should miss something, we will present our opinions to them in word and writing. But with them we will by no means put new articles, lest the truth, which was clearly indicated before, should now be buried by new circumlocutions. If they
1) Corp. ref.: vos; De Wette: nos.
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seek the truth, as they boast, they may agree with the correctly developed teachings. If they only deal with it by pinching off something of the prestige of our doctrine by new subtleties, then we want to flee them as hateful intriguers. It says 1) the old man in the comedy, how one can have the usurer to the mockery by the trick with the day, where the old month changes with the new (de the xxx xxx xxx). From the church such quibbles should be far away; far be also that word of Sinon: 2)
Aut versare dolos, aut certae occumbere morti [either use intrigues, or succumb to certain death]. It behooves us rather to offer the necks of tyrants to be cut than to falsify the gospel of the Son of God. There are the catechisms of your church and ours, in which the summa of doctrine is presented, testifying in no obscure manner that we accept and maintain in truth the agreement of the general church of Christ with regard to doctrine. We retain the Symbola; we restore purely the opinion of all the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures concerning repentance and faith; we have restored the right use of the Sacraments. We show what is to be kept from superstitious customs, we direct the godly again to truly good works, we show the dignity of civil offices, the difference between the law and the promises. Finally, we have brought light to many articles of Christian doctrine. The adversaries cannot deny this, and if they want to judge without slander, they will be forced to admit that we teach godly and useful things. Therefore, if they will, let them agree; if they will not, we must follow Paul's rule [Gal.1:8.f.]: "If any man teach another gospel, let him be accursed."
The second part of our estimate is about the external things that are necessary. As these we mention the abolition of all masses, where people are missing, who are involved with the
1) The editio princeps reads: dicit and has the marginal note: Aristoph. in Nub. The other editions read: discit.
2) Virg. Aen., lib. I, v. 62.
The abolition of the canon, which commands that this ceremony be performed for others, living and dead; the abolition of any invocation of the dead, direct or indirect; the abolition of vows and monasticism; the restoration of priestly marriage and the whole sacrament; the abolition of magical customs, as the consecration of water, herbs, bells and similar things; as well as of sacrifices for the dead.
The kings care less about doctrines than about the outward appearance of the churches. Therefore, they will fight most fiercely for the preservation of private masses, for the use of one form of the sacrament, for the invocation of the saints. Perhaps they will also quarrel about the celibacy; because it is very suitable to preserve the spiritual goods and the splendor of the priests, we can see that the bishops and the kings have a great abhorrence for the marriage of the priests. Nor will they wish to see the monastic system abolished altogether. Finally, they will present us with Mosheim's 3) or Wicel's moderations (moderationes), which retain the main aspects of the godless nature. Incidentally, they will permit that some common vices be improved, which cannot be eliminated if the roots remain. Although we do not think that they will grant us anything with respect to the mass and its observance, we can imagine that some will turn to the French advice that a mass be held daily in the parishes, even if there are no communicants. For they claim that these
3) Rupert von Mosheim, Doctor zu Strasbourg (Bretschneider). - At the end of the fifth volume, De Wette says among the subsequent remarks: "A good-natured and, as it seems, benevolent man, Robert von Mosham (or Moshaim), cathedral dean at Passau, an ancestor of the chancellor of Mosheim, believed himself called by higher revelations to lead the apostates back into the fold of the church, and at the end (154t) wandered through the Protestant cities of the Confederation. He accused most Christians of believing much less in Christ than in Luther, the Pope or Zwingli, and was therefore considered a fraud by both Catholics and Protestants. He wanted to found his own sect, but died in 1543" (Müller's Memorabilia from the History of the Reformation, vol. 2, p. 219. Hottingeri hist. eccl., IX, 322.).
Letters from the year 1540. No. 2629.
Ceremony is a work and a spectacle by which thanks are given, by which the memory of the death of Christ is preserved. It can therefore be performed by an individual, they say, just as individuals, either for the sake of remembrance or to give thanks, can read the history of Christ's death, or any psalm, for the same reason. This is brought forward with great pretense by worldly men, who are well equipped with science and eloquence, and they compare these customs with the Roman or Attic plays, which are instituted for the sake of memory. For we see that good minds incline to evil opinions. But we have decided that we will not accept a mass (liturgiam) without communicants, because no one is allowed to establish services without the command of God. Such a spectacle, however, would be considered a necessary service of the Church, and one that must be distinguished from the meal of the people; therefore, this is not to be accepted at all. Under this assumed form, they would bring up again all the abuses of the Lord's Supper, for it would immediately be said that this spectacle of the service was ex opere operato. 1) And the example of the Levitical ceremonies need not be drawn here. These were a discipline (paedagogia) for the people, and had to be held for that sake, not as a service of God. But in the New Testament, no ceremonies are acceptable without faith. The use of this ceremony is to be free, as Paul says [1 Cor. 11, 28.]: "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of this bread." And it shall remain the form of administration (ministerii) instituted by Christ and observed for quite a few centuries in the early Church. Nor can the adversaries complain that we depart from the church when we will not accept that spectacle. Rather, they depart from the true and ancient church by adopting a manner that was unknown to the ancient church. They will
1) That is, it pleases God, in itself, by being accomplished. Cf. St. Louis Edition, Vol. XIX, 944.
We also demand that we approve the use of the One Part of the Sacrament, but we cannot agree to this, because we are not allowed to deny the institution of Christ. We have learned that they are very unwilling to be called idolaters because of the invocation of the dead. Therefore, they will look for a new pretext; they will say that it is permissible to speak: Pray for us, Saint Peter. But we will not accept this form either, because every invocation of an absent one attributes omnipotence to him. Finally, we believe that they will devise all sorts of deceptions in order to excuse and maintain the root of the ungodly nature, and, like Proteus, will be whimsical in all things. But we have absolutely decided that we will not admit anything to the adversaries even of these outward things which we have enumerated. To this we also add that we will never approve of the power of the Roman Pontiff, which he assumes over the other bishops. If he may want to grant us barbarians, as he calls us, something, he will forbid the same in other realms, will order that the godly be killed, and will not cease to be the Antichrist, as Paul indicates. Therefore, his tyranny must not be strengthened.
The third part of the deliberation is about the means, as there are some godly lessons in the churches, clothing and similar things; likewise about the reputation of the bishops, the jurisdiction and the ordination. Nothing can be done about these things if there is no prior agreement about the doctrine and the necessary things. If the bishops will stubbornly hold on to the errors and ungodly ceremonies, then we must obey Paul's rule: "If anyone teaches a different gospel, let him be accursed. They would not edify our churches either, but rather lay them waste. But if there were bishops who, like Rahab, feared the judgment of God, and wanted to look at the poor churches and the fatherland, accept the gospel for the sake of the glory of Christ, and rightly conduct their ministry: with them it would be easy to come to an agreement about the middle things, just as now we too have to deal with the inequalities in
neutral customs everywhere, as long as there is no ungodliness and the purity of the doctrine is preserved.
You remember the history of Attalus of Pergamus. When a certain Alcibiades, out of a thoughtless desire for piety, prescribed for himself a new, exceedingly hard way of life, and ate daily only bread and salt and drank very little water, the martyr Attalus was sent by God to the prison, and he was commanded to tell Alcibiades that he should eat of the common food. And as a reason was added: so that he would not be an offense to the brethren, that is, so that others who were more rude would not admire this new and apparent way and think that such works were worship, and forget the doctrine of proper worship.
Therefore, we also praise those who, even in matters of means, do away with inconsistent customs, as fasts, which cause some error to the inexperienced. But nevertheless the whole form of the church system will have to be discussed among the godly when some [bishops] will accept the gospel. For also the form of ordination must be improved, and the canons of digamy must be amended, and the papal laws on divorces must be freed from their errors. Of course, the laws cannot be of [eternal] duration which are not given by God. Those people will also have to be admonished that they remove from the churches ceremonies that are unseemly for Christian seriousness, such as the carrying around of images and other similar things. We do not want to follow pagan but apostolic examples and love the ceremonies handed down by God, whose summa is seriousness and benefit. Godly and instructive sermons shall resound in the churches. The people shall have hymns from which they can learn; there shall be earnest prayers; the Lord's Supper (synaxis) shall be celebrated as often as godly people desire the sacrament. But private absolution should precede it, which is to be maintained and restored for many reasons. Also the excommunication shall be restored, not, as before, in
We do not judge them for their disputes over worldly matters, but for their openly disgraceful deeds, in that in every church the elders are summoned to this judgment. These are serious and necessary ceremonies to establish discipline; we cannot yet deal with the adversaries, to whom we cannot grant any authority in the church as long as they oppose the gospel.
There you have the summa of our opinion, in which we will not change anything, God willing. Nor are we afraid of the worldly judgments of those people who cry out that the stubbornness of a few will ignite a civil war; they cry out with a loud voice: mau must give way a little for the sake of public tranquility; it is better to have only some churches than none at all; we must prefer unity to these disputes so that the war against the Turks can be undertaken. Yes, we know that many things are brought together by the wise to reproach us. Nor are we so devoid of common sense that we alone should not see our own and the common dangers. But we must obey the commandment of God, which demands the confession of right doctrine, and that ungodly worship be punished, and wills that we command it to go forth. However, although we do not doubt that you will, as before, unite your opinion with that of our church, we ask you again and again to make your will known to us, and we hope that your church will follow your decision, although we know that there are certain other people there who are oligarchs, who, like the church, are not well-disposed (aequi) to the aristocracy of the very beautiful city, who, seeking with a new and immoderate zeal to gain the favor of the enemies of the Gospel, who should curse them for their murderous deeds, indicate sufficiently that they would also gladly destroy you if they could. How much more honorable it would be for them to join in the fight for the gospel than to strengthen in the adversaries the hatred against the right doctrine and the hope for the apostasy of others!
Therefore, we do not write anything to those oligarchically minded people, but only consult with you and ask you to give us your opinion.
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God will guide the outcome and will not abandon the true church, but even though it will have to suffer the cruelty of the adversaries because of the confession of the Gospel, we would rather do this than throw away the godly doctrine and disgrace Christ. Why should we flee these praiseworthy battles when we see that the Son of God has suffered the lamentable execution for us? If we truly worship God, we must be especially mindful of the fact that we are required to become sacrifices, as most of the fathers, prophets and apostles have been, and the martyrs of all times, who would rather be killed than throw away the confession of right doctrine. The aged Isaiah, having ruled the church for almost eighty years and freed the fatherland from tremendous wars, is finally cut with a saw. Jeremiah, having ruled the kingdom of Judah for forty years and preserved the remnants, is finally stoned to death. Those so great and so deserving men had to suffer the cruel treatment. We should be ashamed to be so tender-hearted as to think that God acts unjustly with us when He allows us to be plagued. But this philosophy is not cared for by those oligarchic men whose softness and lusts we know you particularly detest. We see that as the world grows old, godlessness and Epicurean opinions increase. With all the greater struggle all godly people should protect the right honors of God, not only the teachers of the churches, but also others who preside over the communities, who should also use their power for the honor of Christ. The adversaries have always done this cunningly, and if they propose any moderation, they seem to do it mainly to divide ours, knowing very well the speech of Antigonus about Eumenes, in which he told this fable: A certain lion, who loved a girl, the daughter of a shepherd, desired that she be given to him as a wife; he tells his love, and promises that for this reason no danger will threaten her, but that she will live safely and pleasantly with him. The shepherd answers:
He said that the beginnings of love were very ardent, but afterwards there were often quarrels between the lovers. If this happened to him and the girl, he would fear the lion's claws and teeth. Therefore, the lion goes away and has his teeth pulled out and his claws blunted. After that he returns to the shepherd and desires the girl again for marriage. When the shepherd sees that the lion has been deprived of his weapons, his claws and teeth, he beats him with a club. Thus you see that the adversaries aim to deprive the individuals of their weapons and thus to oppress them. But let those watch to whom this care is incumbent. It is incumbent upon us to prove steadfastness in the confession of the right doctrine, and for the sake of the honor of Christ not to flee the torture when the fury of the adversaries drags us to the death penalty. We have written this to you out of the best and most friendly spirit, and we ask that you interpret our letter for the best and answer us as soon as possible. Be well. Anno 1540, February 17. 1) Martin Luther. Justus Jonas.
Johann Bugenhagen. Philippus Melanthon.
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