At the prince's request, Luther speaks out about the ceremonies.
Printed by Beckmann, Historie des Fürstenthums Anhalt; by Lindener, Mittheilungen, Vol. II, p. 96, No. 66 and by De Wette-Seidemann, Vol. VI, p. 378.
To the reverend father in Christ and noble prince and lord, Lord George, the right and fair bishop of the church at Merseburg, prince of Anhalt, count of Ascanien and lord in Bernburg, his gracious lord.
Grace and peace in the Lord! Doctor Augustin has very diligently urged me to write a letter to E. F. G. about the ceremonies. And I confess that I am not fond of the necessary ceremonies either, but an enemy of the non-necessary ones. Experience has burned me and still burns me, not only in the papacy, but also the example of the old church. For it happens easily that ceremonies become laws; but after they are issued as laws, they soon become cords of conscience, and pure doctrine is obscured and overwhelmed, especially if the descendants should be cold and unlearned, who quarrel more about ceremonies than that they should kill the carnal sense, as we see it even while we are still alive, and see divisions and discord arise, since everyone follows his own sense. Summa: the contempt of the word on our side and the blasphemy on the side of the adversaries seem to me to announce the time that John foretold to his people, namely [Matth. 3, 10.]: "The axe is already laid to the root of the trees" 2c. Since the end is at hand, it seems to me, at least at this blessed time, that it is not necessary to be too concerned about setting up ceremonies and bringing them into conformity, and even to fortify them by a constant law, but that this one thing must be done, that the word be taught purely and abundantly, and learned and capable church ministers must be appointed, who first of all see to it that they are one heart and one soul.
Letters from the year 1545. No. 3238. 3239.
in the Lord. This will naturally make it easy for the ceremonies to be brought into agreement or tolerated. Without this, there will be no end nor measure of disagreement in ceremonies. For the descendants will use the same force that we use, and it will be flesh against flesh, as the corrupted nature brings. Therefore I cannot give this advice, that in every place there should be uniformity of ceremonies everywhere, but where obviously ungodly or unrighteous ones have been done, one may tolerate unequal ones, as if some have fallen somewhere, they should not be restored; if they have remained, they should not be abolished. Such is the case with the altars, which are set in their usual places, and with the sacred or secular garments of the preachers, and similar things. For if there be One Heart and One Soul in the Lord, the one will easily bear the unformity of the other in this. If there is no striving for unity in heart and soul, the outward unity will be of little avail, but will also not last long in the descendants, since these are customs that are subject to the place, the time, the person, the coincidences, in which the kingdom of God does not stand, since they are changeable by their nature. However, whatever they may be, one must be careful not to turn them into necessary laws. And it seems desirable to me that, just as a schoolmaster or a householder governs without laws, but corrects the faults of either the school or the house according to the law of God by good supervision alone, where they see that one steps out of discipline, so also in the church everything should rather be governed by present supervision than by laws that are left behind. For where the supervision of the father of the house ceases, there also ceases the discipline of the servants, as the proverbs say: The eye of the Lord maketh the horse fat, and: The footsteps of the Lord fertilize the field. Thus, all power lies with capable and (as Christ says) wise and faithful persons. If we do not call such persons to govern the church, we will try in vain to govern by laws without such persons. And what necessity is there that everything should be done in the same way?
The Greek churches have always been different from the Latin churches in how many ways. And in how great unevenness have the Greek churches always been different from the Latin. This is why we insist on the establishment of schools and, above all, on purity and uniformity of doctrine, which unites hearts and souls in the Lord. But the people who study are rare, many are nothing but bellies seeking pasture to feed themselves, so that more than once the thought has occurred to me that it would happen that because of necessity the village pastors would have to be reduced, and instead of them some learned and faithful man would be appointed, who would visit the neighboring villages several times during the year, preaching loudly and diligently, while in the meantime the people would go to their mother church to receive the sacraments, or the sick would be administered [the sacrament] by the deacons. Thus, the matter and the time will teach many things that cannot be predetermined or established by laws. There E. F. G. have for this time briefly what is my opinion. But the Lord, with His Holy Spirit, "without whose power of God there is nothing that man can do, there is nothing that is not harmed" 1), guide E. F. G. on the way of salvation and peace to the praise and glory of God, Amen. July 10, 1545.
E. F. G. devoted Martin Luther, D.
No. 3239.