Of emergency baptism and the baptism of foundlings.
Manuscript in Aurifaber, vol. III, p. 264; in Cod. Goth. 402 and in Cod. Jen. L 24, lol. 8. printed from the Börner collection in Leipzig by Schütze, vol. III, p. 86 and by De Wette, vol. V, p. 145. with significant deviations in Ericeus, Sylvula, p. 14, with the superscription: Pastori Ecclesiae Grimmensis; in Buddeus, suppl. epp, p. 264, and in Walch (German), vol. XXI, 1288, with the inscription: "An Johann Schreiner (Scriniarium), Pfarrer zu Grimma." Everywhere with the year 1539.
To the highly venerable brother in Christ, Magister Leonhard Beier, the faithful and upright bishop of the church in Zwickau.
Grace and peace in Christ! About baptism, which required you to ask me for advice, I have talked with our people, and so we hold: First of all, that you should teach publicly, just as we have done here for a long time, that women should henceforth abstain completely from such baptism, because he cannot be born again who has not yet been born; otherwise there would be no reason why a child should not be baptized in its mother's womb by water, which one pours over the mother when one fears danger before the birth. Mau shall pray, and command GOtte, the, Father of mercies, the child or fruit not yet born, or that shall die in childbirth. This is the first. Second. To this case of yours with the child that was baptized under childbirth, or rather, when he wished to be born, we want to put such a measure, because it is something past, that you baptize the boy anew, not as if his soul had been lost if he had died in the meantime, because he now, grown up, believes
1) If one compares the letters No. 2018 and No. 2036, there can hardly be any doubt that this letter is not to be dated from January 27, 1539, where the editions put it, but that the time determination given by us is the correct one. In No. 2018 Luther says that he "wants to consult the doctors", here: "I have talked with ours". Then, in both letters: the child in question has now grown up; finally, it seems quite unbelievable that Beier should have asked Luther's advice again in 1539 about a matter that had been completely settled by Luther in the years 1533 and 1534 by two letters.
and asks for baptism (if, for instance, his baptism were considered void); this faith would have preserved him; but because that baptism was not baptism, he must, not be rebaptized, but simply be baptized as if he had not been baptized. However secure he may have been hitherto without baptism, yet now that he can be baptized he must not despise the same. Thirdly. Women also sometimes deceive us by denying that they have baptized the child in danger of death after birth, as if they doubted the baptism given by the midwife or by a woman, and so they deny, either by silence or denial, that they have baptized. Here again you must teach that they should publicly confess whether the child was baptized by them. Then the child should not be baptized again, but brought into the church, and after the Gospel of Marci has been read and the Lord's Prayer has been said, the minister should confirm the baptism by laying hands on the child. For baptism is to be a sacrament, that is, a public sign of confession, therefore it must be received and administered either by the church minister, or by two and three women as witnesses (so that the word "in the mouths of two witnesses" [Matth. 18, 16] may exist). Now if it is bestowed by one alone, or by the mother herself, it is to be considered as nothing. So also, if 2) the women should be silent or deny that it was baptized, then it should simply be baptized, and such women, who afterwards gossip that it was baptized before, should not be believed.
The same is to be held of foundlings; even if a note attached to them should say: This child is baptized, nevertheless, because this baptism is given to the church without witnesses, not a public sign or sacrament, it is not to be believed, because it cannot be proved. And it is not a rebaptism here or a remedy for the rebaptizers. For these condemn baptism, which was evidently and lawfully given in the church, and this because they
2) Instead of etsi in De Wette, et si is to be read.
Letters from the year 1534. No. 2033a. 2034. 2035.
believe that it is a human, not a divine work. But we know and believe that not a man baptizes, but God Himself through the hand of the Church, therefore the action becomes God's own action. This is what we have had in this matter, what we could answer you among many businesses. Fare well and pray for us, as we do for you, in this last time. Monday after Paul's conversion [January 26 Anno 1534?)
Your Martin Luther, D.
No. 2034.