1. D. Luther's thoughts on the last day.
2 M. Michael Stiefels Irrthum vom jüngsten Tage.
3. Luther's thoughts and account of the last day, that it can no longer be far away.
4. proclamation of D. Luther's Proclamation of the Last Day.
5. from the last day.
3. on the last day, the splendor of the wicked will all disappear.
7. of the last day.
8. The world will go wild just before the Last Day.
9 Another of Luther's concerns about the last day, about what time it will come.
10. what God's children are capable of in eternal life.
Whether the Christians will know about all the impiety of the wicked on the last day.
12. ask for the last day.
13. the last day will separate the righteous and the wicked.
1. D. Luther's thoughts about the last day.
Doctor Martinus said: 1) O dear God, come once; I always wait for the day, early around spring, when day and night are the same, and will become a very clear bright dawn. But these are my thoughts, and I will preach about them: Soon out of the dawn shall come a thick black cloud, and there shall be three flashes of lightning; and after that there shall be one stroke, and all shall be heaped together in one moment, heaven and earth. But praise be to God, who has taught us to sigh for the day and to desire it.
1) This prayer is already printed in the St. Louis edition, part X, Col. 1521.
should. In the papacy, all the world feared it, as they also sang in song: Dies illa, dies irae etc. This day, a day of wrath 2c. I hope that the day is not far away, and we still want to experience it.
Then one said, "Doctor, shall the gospel not be preached anywhere at this time? For Christ says, He will hardly find faith on earth. Yes, said D. Martinus, what does it mean that we have the gospel in corners? Where do you reckon that all Asia and Africa have no gospel, and in Europe, Greece and Italy, Hungary, Hispania, France, England and Poland no gospel is preached? The little spot, the house of Saxony, will not hinder the last day.
2 M. Michael Stiefel's Fallacy of Judgment Day. 1)
Anno 1533, Sept. 28, M. Stiefel came to Wittenberg, talked secretly alone with M. Luther and showed him his opinion and opinion with twenty-two articles, from the last day, that he would come on St. Lucas' Day. But he was told to keep quiet. This made him very angry, and he said: "Dear doctor, I am surprised that you forbid me to preach, and that you do not want to believe me when it is certain that I must say it, since I do not like to do it. Then said D. Martinus: "Dear master, if you have been able to bear the silence for ten years in the papacy, please keep quiet for a short time 2c. Oh, how gladly he (Stiefel) would have brought me to his opinion; for he said: Oh, how it grieves me, how sorry I am that you do not believe this. And he remembered a farmer who was a miller, and had also announced beforehand that he would come on this day, which passed yesterday. And I, said he, when I was early in the way, as the sun was about to rise, saw a very beautiful rainbow, and thought of the future of Christ. Then said D. Martinus said: No, it will not happen with rainbows, but in one stroke fire, thunder, lightning will consume the whole creature. It is only a matter of one stroke. In a moment we will all be dead and changed. A mighty, strong trumpet or dromet sound will renew and awaken us all. It will not be a friendly sound of a shawm, so those who are in graves shall hear it soon.
S. also sets in his book a certain time when the last day would come. Namely, the 1533rd year, in the tenth moon, in the forty-second week, on Monday at the eighth hour. Now let it come, said D. Martinus: M. S. said against me eighteen weeks ago that he should certainly come before Michaelmas. We have Michaelmas
1) The extensive narrative in the first three paragraphs of this § is most likely formed from Cordatus No. 1731, which we have included in Appendix No. II.
available except for one day, you may send yourselves. I would like to give away my children's patronage money, but I am afraid that no one will want to accept it, because tomorrow evening at six is the time when we will all be sitting in heaven. Oh, how ashamed we will be! After that, in the evening of Michaelmas, he said at noon, over the table, "We still have eight hours to the last day: for according to the Jewish or Hebrew way, the day begins in the evening at vespers: so Michaelmas is present.
M. S. also had this argument that he pretended that Christ as the Son of Man had not known the certain time when the last day would come after mankind, but after his resurrection, the forty days before his ascension, he had known it well and revealed it. And he (Boots) would be the last trumpet.
Then spoke D. Martinus: Yes, Christ knew it well even after mankind, but he should not know it to reveal it to men, because he was not sent for it.
(Cordatus No. 443 to "youngest days.")
It will yet become so evil on earth that people will cry out in every corner: O Lord, come with the last day!
And he, D. Luther, had a paternoster of white agate stones 2) in his hand, and said: If God wanted the day to come soon, I would eat this paternoster now, so that it would come tomorrow.
(The last paragraph, Cordatus No. 951, is transferred to the following 8, where it belongs).
3. martini thoughts and account of the last day, that he can no longer be far away.
(Cordatus No. 951. 952.953. 1246.)
The end of the world is here, it has come to the yeast. Whoever wants to start something, let him do it at the right time. The pleasures of this world are over. That is why the old peasants before Vienna will have thought: Lord God, has it come to this, that we are to be under the Turk? Everything is changing. If I were to come to my father's house, I would be looked at much differently.
2) In the editions: "Agtsteinen".
than before. The best thing that came out of my father's estate is that he educated me; for there is no greater good in housekeeping than to feed students.
The Scriptures are purely washed out, so that it cannot be that the last day is far, and I have had terrible dreams of the last judgment from the middle of the year. The present time, compared to the past, is barely a hand's breadth, a leftover little apple hanging on the tree.
Daniel has described the world by the world empires of the Persians, Greeks and Romans. The pope has received the Roman empire, that is St. John's last drink, 1) that also falls to him. In the sky many signs happen, on the earth there is building beyond measure, also planting and collecting treasures. The arts now go beyond all measure. I hope that God will put an end to it and not look at the astronomers who say that in the year 40 the golden age will come again.
It is destined by fate that all pastors in Lochau become enthusiasts. Michael Stiefel, a godly man, has fallen into this delusion that he is the seventh angel who precedes the last day with his divine revelation. He has the trumpet of the seventh angel and is certain when this day will come. That is why he gives away his household utensils to the people for free, because they are no longer necessary for him.
4. proclamation of D. M. Luther's Proclamation of the Last Day.
Anno 1536 spoke D. Martinus: It is in Apocalypsi come up to the white horse. The world will not stand long; if God wills, not over a hundred years. The Lord deliver us from evil, amen.
5. from the last day.
When the Turk (said D. M. Luther) begins to fall a little, then the last day will certainly come, because it must be there,
1) The feast of St. John the Evangelist on 27 December at the end of the year. Here St. John's drink - farewell drink.
de necessitate Scripturae, according to the Scriptures. He will then come, the dear Lord, as the Scripture says: Cum adhuc semel veniam, tum commovebo Coelum et Terram, et tum veniet desiderabilis omnibus Gentibus: "When I come once more, then will I move heaven and earth, then shall come the consolation of all nations", Hagg. 2, 7. 8. There are now enough movements in the political state. The lawyers have never had more to do than now. So there are all kinds of disputes in the household, even among the servants, item, our own sons and daughters; the church, too, has its movements.
6. at the last judgment, the splendor of the wicked will all disappear.
(The first paragraph of this tz in Lauterbach, March 3, 1538, p. 44.)
On March 3. March, Luther had the banquet of his kingdom 2) There they dined. Psalms were recited, Gospels, the Catechism, prayers, as each one had been instructed to do, but his servants were very timid in reciting them. He said: What will become there before the last judgment, where the godless people will be publicly condemned and will have to give account? It is a great majesty of that judgment, which all men will then be forced to fear; even if here the godless walk along in extreme presumption and contempt in their well-being, they must nevertheless be wary of that judgment. There all their glory and all men's counsel will disappear, and the thoughts even of the devil will come to light. Therefore, Paul and the other apostles look forward to this day of judgment with the greatest confidence against the ungodly 2).
On the last day there will be a great change and collapse: for then all the elements will melt and become ashes, and the whole world will again become a desolate lump, as in the beginning. There
2) The Kingdom. A festival according to university custom, at which young poets and orators gave their speeches and recited or sang their poems. Cf. Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 958.
3) Immediately after this follows the second paragraph of Z17 of Chapter 7.
will be a new heaven and earth, and we will be changed. But the devil will remain as he is, because he has nothing of elements. As St. Paul, who had great revelation, indicates.
7. of the last day.
Doctor Martin Luther once said: "I am quite certain that the day of the Lord is near, and that either we, or at least our descendants, will experience this day. For all great signs have now come to pass; the Antichrist is revealed and the world rages. And will it not be better in the world before the last day comes.
8. The world will go wild just before the Last Day.
(Contained in Cap. 1, § 12.)
0. another concern of D. M. L. about the last day, about what time it will come.
Around the Easter time in April, when people are least afraid of the rain, Pharaoh perished in the Red Sea and the people of Israel were led out of Egypt. At the same time the world was created. At the same time the year changed, and Christ rose again, and the world was renewed. So perhaps also at the same time the last day will come. I have the thought that this day will come after and around Easter, when the year is most beautiful and merry, and early, when the sun goes out, as in Sodom and Gomorrah. The sky will be cloudy, with thunder and earthquakes, for an hour or a little longer. Then the people who see it will say: Behold, behold, thou fool, hast thou never heard thunder? And so the world will suddenly be overtaken, and many a man's debt will not be paid. "We who are alive," says St. Paul in 1 Thess. 4:15, which must be understood of us who are still alive. For we are all alike in imputation before God, who counts us as righteous, and imputes Christ's righteousness to us: but there is a difference among the saints, of the gifts, of the things, of the things, of the things.
half. This is by grace, not by merit. For as there is a difference among the stars, in that one is clearer and brighter than another; so shall it be also among the saints, after this life, in eternal life. St. Augustine says: "God crowns his gifts in men; to whom he has given great and excellent gifts here, he will also be clearer and more glorious than others there: but those who have not had such gifts here will not be so clear, and yet will have perfect joy.
10. what God's children are capable of in eternal life.
In the life to come I will say: there will be cherries, grapes, birds, trees 2c., so shall it soon be; for we shall be children of GOD.
Item: After the revelation of the Antichrist, the world will do what it wants, and even get into an epicurean nature and life, not believing that there is a God. Then the last day will not be far away.
(11) Whether Christians will know at the last day of all the impiety of the wicked.
One of them asked: "Will the godly also know all the wickedness and wickedness of the wicked on the last day? M. Luther said: Yes, indeed; for we know in this life not only how God is disposed toward us, but also the secret thoughts of the wicked. I know what the pope, emperor, bishop of Mainz 2c. think, because they are godless, do not respect God, do not have certain thoughts of God, do not ask anything about Him.
12. ask for the last day.
Doctor Martin Luther said to Doctor Jonah: "Teach your church to pray diligently for the day of the Lord, for it has come at a good time, and so it is over; it will not be better. But God does not hear, for the cry for our redemption at the last day, and all signs agree that it is not far off.
The last day will separate the righteous from the wicked.
The true art of alchemy is truly the philosophy of the ancient sages, which I like very much, not only for its many benefits, which it brings to melting, separating, separating and preparing metals; item, herbs, roots and other things to distill and sublimate, but also for the allegories and secret interpretation, which is extremely beautiful, namely the resurrection of the dead at the last day. For just as in a furnace the fire draws from matter and separates what is best, even the spirit, spirit, life, juice and strength, it leads it upward so that it takes the top of the helmet, sticks to it, and then flows down; as one sees when one distills herbal water or that one distills something else; there the finest floats upward, and the best always floats upward. But the impure matter and yeasts leave it at the bottom.
as a dead carrion and nothing. In the same way, when distilled wine is made, all the substance and essence is extracted by the fire, and the power rises to the top; what is left remains at the bottom, and it neither smells nor tastes, but is an unformed water. In the same way, all power and strength is extracted and separated from the cinnamon bark and nutmeg, if one wants to burn water or prepare an oil from it; then the good is led upward, and what remains is without smell and taste, like rotten wood. God will do the same thing on the last day and at the last judgment, separating the righteous from the wicked by fire. The Christians and the righteous will ascend to heaven above and live in it forever. But the ungodly and the damned will remain in hell as the basic soup and yeast, and will be damned therein, and will remain in death forever.