1. what is the use of concilia.
. 2 The Pope's and the Cardinals' humble letter to the King's preachers.
3. that no concilii are to be provided.
4. the Pabst's fame.
6. what happened in Salzburg, when the concilio was struck.
6. the extension of the concilii.
7. of the four most distinguished concilia.
8. what concilia have to order.
9. from human traditions.
10. comparison of the divine Word and the Fathers' Scriptures.
11 Of Concilio of Nicaea.
12. different time of the concilia.
13. what a proper concilium is, and why it is held.
14. of the disorders of a number of conciliums.
15 The pope wants to be about the Concilium.
16 The papists earnestly seek not to reform and improve the church, but to suppress it.
17. from the concilio.
18. D. Luther's conversation with Petro Paulo Vergerio, the Pope's legate, from the Concilio.
19. from the Concilio.
20 The pope does not allow a proper concilium.
21) When the proper concilium will be held.
22. a different from the Concilio.
23. the Papist fraud of the Concilio.
24. as in the Concilio may be acted.
25. a different one from the Concillo.
26th Papist Concilium.
The Pabst's opinion to hold a concilium.
28. right custom of the concilia.
29) Which is the right concilium.
30. what the papists are looking for.
31. M. Ph. Melanchthon's concerns were announced by the Pope's legate to the Elector of Saxony, Duke John Frederick.
1. what is the use of concilia.
In 1533, on the 21st day of March, the emperor's legate came to Luther's house in Wittenberg. M. Luther's house to Wittenberg, desired to see him, as he had orders from his lord to all princes and lords of the German nation. But he did not see D. L. Then M. Hausmann asked him: Where is the Imperial Majesty now? He said, "At Mantua, where he had long been dealing with the pope for the sake of the Concilii, so that one could
One of them was supposed to set it and write it out; but the pope would have excused himself for a long time, and would have postponed the matter a bit, and would have delayed answering. But when the emperor finally stopped with diligence, the pope wanted to determine a certain place; the pope would have secretly gone away, leaving the emperor there.
Then said D. M. Luther, when it was pointed out to him: "The pope is a rogue and a villain. I have always hated a concilium:
Not that our doctrine should be confirmed and ratified, for it has always been given and ratified by another, namely by God Himself, but only that in external things and ceremonies a unity and reformation might be made. But nothing comes of it.
Therefore, let no one be so foolish as to put people off until a future concilium. God's word is to be the foundation of our faith, on which we are to base ourselves and rely. It is also uncertain about the concilium. How many hundreds of thousands of people die before one is held? Therefore, people should be led by God's word and will, not by the concilium.
And just in the same year 1533, imperial legates were sent to the Elector of Saxony, H[archduke] John Frederick, to schedule a concilium; to which an answer was also given by S. C. F. G.: They wanted to appear with certain conditions, either personally, or through their envoys and advisors, since they were sufficiently assured of escort, and it would be a Christian free concilium 2c.
(The following Lauterbach, June 27, 1538, p. 91.)
On June 27, D. Luther and Mag. Philipp dined together in his house at a deposition. 1) They sighed and said many things about the future time when they would have many teachers. There will be a great confusion. No one will want to be governed by another's teaching or reputation. Everyone will want to be his own rabbi, like Osiander and Agricola, and from this will come the greatest annoyances and divisions. Therefore it would have been best that the princes had preceded by a concilium, if the fugitive papists had not so feared the light. To this Mag'. Philip sadly replied: "The pope will never be brought to a general concilium, he acts against us only by force and cunning. Therefore it is said that Nicolaus of Schoenberg, bishop of Capua, admonished the pope with the best of reasons that he should take up the matter of the church honestly and concede something to the Germans, that he should also not use his prestige against the
1) On deposition, see Cap. 67, §§ 6 and 7.
Germans; for they would be such people who would not yield in a just, honorable cause, and could not be overcome either by force or by cunning. But the pope despised this very pious advice of his. Oh, that our princes and estates would establish a concilium and a harmony in doctrine and ceremonies, so that each one would not break out with his audacity to the annoyance of many. As it already appears. It is indeed a very pitiful image of the church, which lies hidden under so much weakness and trouble.
2 The Pope's and the Cardinals' humble letter to the King's preachers.
(Lauterbach, Aug. 23, 1538, p. 118.)
Luther read the letters of the Cardinals and the Pope to Frederick Nausea, the preacher of Ferdinand, in which they humbly asked and admonished Nausea to assemble a council and accused the Lutherans as if they prevented it. He answered: "They themselves do not want a council, and none should be assembled, because they would have destroyed us before. In the past, the Cardinals would have considered it beneath their dignity to write to such an insignificant man, but now they pay homage to him because they do not have a good conscience; now they have to pay what they owed to the dear Christ. O Lord, you are just, and right is your judgment. May your name be sanctified and not ours.
3. not to be provided with a concilii.
(Lauterbach, Aug. 24, 1538, p. 119.)
On August 24, he said: "At this time there can be no concilium, for the pope flees judgment and the immodesty of others hinders it. Behold, how great reverence and modesty there was at the Council of Nicaea, where such a large assembly gave way to one Paphnutius, who said that the chastity of attendance was greater than the sanctity of celibacy! Such words I would never have dared to sayu: chastity in attendance; but would have said: in marriage. But Heb. 13 (v. 4.) says: "The marriage bed undefiled." Now, if a hundred people like Paphnutius were to resist, they would ver-.
because the Pope would conclude: Our Council is holy and the Catholic Church, which cannot err and must not yield to anyone.
4. the Pabst's fame.
The pope writes and boasts that he is a bishop of the Catholic Church, a title he was never allowed to give him before. For in the Concilio Niceno there was no pope at all, at that time the church was divided into three parts: First, Aethiopiam, the land of the Moors; second, Syria, which included Antioch. The third part was Rome with its associated cities. Soon after the time of the apostles they swarmed and established and ordered three kinds of concilia: 1. common or general; 2. provincial; 3. and diocesan, that is, which should be held in each diocese as far as its sprengwedels reach.
5. what happened in Salzburg, when it was suggested by the Concilio.
The archbishop of Salzburg had many bishops, about eight hundred persons, summoned and called together, and as they were conferring in the church of the Concilio, a great storm and thunderclap with lightning drove them away from each other, so that one ran out here, the other out there; after that, in the castle, the same thing happened again, and when they came together again, the thunder chased them away and scattered them.
6. the extension of the concilii.
(Lauterbach, Dec. 18, 1538, p. 194.)
On this day a printed note was brought about the postponement of the Council until the month of May, in which the most impudent lies were under the title and name of God. Luther said: Do not deny yourself to death. Rome and the Pope are greater in wickedness than the greatest eloquence can utter. No one believes it who has not experienced it. (Sil. Ital. Punic. VII, 395.) How the pope holds sway over the church and wants to build it from accidental things, namely according to outward appearance and success! But we want to judge the church according to the will, according to the word of God and the sacraments.
1) Ironic instead of "Sprengel".
May the pope boast of the council. But he omitted to bind the kings by oaths. In short: The Pope is kept for the judgment of God, therefore he is already strangled by the word of God. Duke George and others, also the King of. England, hate the Pope personally, but not in reality; they keep the soul of the Pope and kill only the body (Luc. 12, 4. f.). The pope can well stand this; after twenty years he hopes for his kingdom again. But we attack the Pope's soul with the word of God, we consider his body to be nothing, we do not pluck it, like Duke George and the King of England, but seek his throat, we want to put the goose on the spit. If you pluck it right away, it will soon quail again. That is why the devil hates us who strangle the pope. So does the king of Denmark, who is after the pope's soul.
7. four most distinguished concilia.
Anno 1'539, the 27th of January, D. M. Luther had a book in his hand, whose title was Liber Conciliorum, a book of concilia, in which he found sixty general and provincial concilia, held from the time of the apostles; among which four were the most noble and praiseworthy: Two defended the Trinity and Divinity of Christ, as the Nicene and Constantinopolitan; but two the humanity of Christ, as that at Ephesus and Chalcedon.
In the Concilio of Nicaea nothing is written about the bishop of Rome, that one had been there. Only one, Hosius, 2) Bishop of Corduba from Hispania, was there; the other bishops came from the churches in the Orient, as from Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, Africa 2c. Oh dear Lord God, the bishops' concilia and convent, what are they but only vain ambition and money, where they quarrel about titles, session and other loose childish puppet work? Look at what has been discussed at the conventicles for three hundred years so far, only about external things and ceremonies, nothing about right godly doctrine, right worship and faith.
2) In the editions Ozius; Stangwald: Osius.
8. what concilio have to order.
When M. Luther had in his hands the book of concilia, which had been compiled and made with great effort and labor, he said: "This whole book wants to defend the pope, since there are countless canons against the pope in his decrees. Above this, the Concilia have no power to make laws and order what is to be taught and believed in the church, nor of good works, as they have been taught and confirmed beforehand; but have only power to make order of outward things, customs and ceremonies: but no further, than as far as persons, places and time are concerned: when these are no longer and cease, then such orders are also no longer anything, but dead and abolished.
The Roman laws are now gone and dead, because Rome is no longer, but has been. For now it is another place. So also the "conciliar decrees" and ordinances are no more, because now it is another time. So St. Paul says Col. 2, 20. ff: "Why do you let yourselves be caught by statutes, as if you were still living in the world? Who say, Thou shalt not touch this, thou shalt not taste that, thou shalt not touch that. Which are all consumed with hands, and are the commandment and doctrine of men. Which have a semblance of wisdom, through self-chosen spirituality and humility: and in that they spare not the body, and do not honor the flesh for its need." Therefore the conscience does not bind such "decrees" and statutes, which are directed and set to person, time and place. For as the three, person, place, and time, cease and are changed, so also such ordinances are changed and cease. Such doctrines want to make an immortal man out of a mortal man; just as they have also called the pope an earthly god, and very properly and rightly so: for all his laws, rights, and ordinances taste of earth, not of heavenly things.
Truly, it is a great blindness that binds consciences to trust and build on it, since Christ clearly and clearly says Luc. 17:20: "The kingdom of God is a kingdom of God.
Do not come with outward gestures." The statutes, which are directed and set to person, place and time, are more political and domestic than to the church: they belong more to the secular and domestic regiment than to the church.
9. from human traditions.
Doct. Martin Luther once said that an Augustinian monk, Andreas Proles, Doctoris Staupitii Antecessor, an excellent learned man and fine preacher, would have said of the human statutes and the sophistical disputationibus: that such disputations reminded him of the same thing as if one were sitting and sharpening an axe, and he always sharpened and sharpened it, and yet never cut anything with it. By which similitude he meant to indicate that such disputations 1) can nowhere be used, but are mere words, and nothing else.
10. comparison of the divine Word and the Fathers' Scriptures.
Item, this Andreas Proles used to say about the divine word, if one wants to interpret, interpret and gloss it through the fathers: When the word of God comes to the fathers, it reminds me the same, as if a milk comes through a coal bag, because the milk must become black and spoiled. In this way, he wanted to make it understood that God's word in himself was pure and clear, bright and clear enough, but through the fathers' teachings, books and writings it was very darkened, distorted and corrupted.
11 Of Concilio of Nicaea.
The Concilium of Nicaea was, after the time of the Apostles, the very best and purest; but soon after, in the time of the Emperor Constantine, it was weakened by the Arians: for the Arians then signed themselves deceitfully, out of a false heart, as if they were of one mind with the righteous Catholic teachers; but it was nothing, and fictitious thing, they only put themselves thus in words, as if they were of one mind and understanding.
1) So Stangwald instead of: gemahnen und: Disputation.
The two were in agreement, and at that time there was a great hubbub and discord.
"For there must be multitudes among you," says St. Paul, 1 Cor. 11:19, "that they which are righteous may be manifest among you." Since the mobs are ready to come while we are still alive, what will become of them when we have laid down our heads and are dead? Moses also said, Deut. 9, 7: "Since the day I have known you, you have always been rebellious", what will you do after my death? Therefore, let us watch and pray; it is high time and need.
12. different time of the concilia.
The papists boast and defy the concilia very much, since they do not agree, but are often against each other; so that one cannot compare them well, nor agree. Many of the same argue and are most vehemently against the papists. Therefore, whoever runs them diligently and has respect for them, he will find three different times of the conciliarities.
The first is from the time of the Apostles until Gregory the First, which was still somewhat pure: although it had to tolerate and suffer many human things from time to time, it was still tolerable. The other time, from the first Gregory to Carolum Magnum. At that time, the pope was a spiritual lord, leading all kinds of superstition and superstition. The third period, from Carolo Magno, has been the worst and most harmful, since the Pope has taken both swords and has become an earthly god and a worldly lord in the whole Christendom. Therefore, if one respects the canons of the third time, one must say that it is all diabolical; for they have made order and law according to their liking, as they have only ventilated it, so that no one may protest against it, nor speak anything.
13. what a proper concilium is and why it should be held.
The pope has arrogated to him that he is over the concilium, and has power to make articles of faith. Item, to order of good works and services, which
pleases him 2c. But this is quite unchristian and against God. For the articles of faith, what and how one should teach about good works and worship, have been and confirmed long before the Pope's conciliarities; it is unnecessary to assemble and hold conciliarities for their sake, as it is neither proper nor fitting. Therefore, in my book, I refute the false opinion and fabricated authority and power of the pope, who in his conciliis always increases and multiplies new services, articles of faith and works.
A righteous concilium, however, is properly defined and described thus: That it is a consistory and court of the church, in which many church rulers, learned and godly men, both ecclesiastical and secular, come together, so that the pure doctrine of the faith is preserved and the church is swept and cleansed from new errors and heresies. Thus, many bishops come together as if to extinguish a common fire, since everyone, especially the chiefs and common watchmen, should rush to help. Therefore, they should not burden the church with new statutes, but purify it and punish the ungodly, heretics and false teachers. They may order ceremonies that are useful and good, but so far that they remain free and the consciences are not bound or entangled by them.
Thus the Concilium of Nicaea and Ephesus (which were almost the best) did not regulate anything about faith and works, as they were sufficiently and abundantly indicated and taught before in the holy Scriptures; but only purified the Church from the great abominable heresy of Arii, which was a common fire 'and poison, against the article of the holy Trinity. At that time the dear holy fathers and bishops did not first make the article of the divinity of Christ, but purified it when it was believed before. However, some ceremonies may well be ordered, but not in the opinion that they should remain common and eternal, nor that they should see and entangle the consciences; rather, they should be left free, as secular and domestic orders.
1) Of Conciliums and Churches. 1539.
The papists have taught about twelve articles in the infant faith; however, they have invented innumerable things about them, such as purgatory, the sacrificial mass, the invocation of the deceased saints 2c. Thus, one error always proceeds from another, so that there is no end to it, since it is soon not resisted in time, therefore we must bring everything back to the right form, according to God's word.
14. of the disorders of a number of conciliums.
Only four Conciliarities have been common and held, which concern the whole of Christendom: 1.) The one at Nicaea, which defended the divinity of Christ; 2.) the one at Constantinople, which defended the divinity of the Holy Spirit; 3.) the one at Ephesus, which rejected and condemned the heresy of Nestor; 4.) the one at Chalcedon, in which the heresy of Eutyche was rejected and condemned. The Tripartite Church History ends in the third Concilio. In the fourth, it is written, there were three hundred and sixty bishops, each of whom had his own special notary, cried out, and told him to record and write down his votes and concerns. There was a concilium and discussion without all order, respectability and discipline; only a wild murmuring and grunting, like swine: no one heard the other, but went out indiscriminately with unreason, as indignant, angry, envious, jealous, quarrelsome, selfish people, with great annoyance. One said: I will have it so; likewise the other, third, fourth, and immediately: I will have it so 2c. And if I did not read it now, I would not believe it.
I thought that the best and finest order would be kept in Conciliis, that everything would be done in a fine, honorable, modest, correct and orderly manner, since the most distinguished would speak and the others would listen, until the turn and order would also come to him, so that he would have to indicate his objections. So it is like a Kretschmar full of drunken peasants; just as Johannes Huß complains about the disorderly, wild shouting in the Concilio at Costnitz.
The noble Elector, Duke Frederick of Saxony 2c., is said to have said at the Imperial Diet in Worms in 1520 that, since he had made an unskilful
I had seen and read the scriptures: I can now well believe how it has happened in Conciliar, how the misgivings and voices have fallen; for they have preferred their loose, unnecessary complaints to the greatest and most necessary dealings. Summa, their pride and hopefulness is not from human weakness, but comes more purely from a godless heart that seeks only its own glory and honor.
15. pope wants to be about the concilium.
The papists exalt the four Concilia and compare them to the four evangelists. With such false praise and deceitful fame they want to confirm and affirm their authority and power, after which they have set themselves above the Concilia, as was also decided at Costnitz in the Concilio, and the work also proves that the Concilium is above the pope; that is why they deposed three popes at that time 1) and mentioned another. And one, Philippus Decius, an excellent jurist, in our memory and time, was expelled from Italy by the pope, because he had disputed and taught that the Concilium was over the pope.
And D. M. Luther looked up to heaven, sighed and said: Yes, a general, mean, free and Christian concilium. Well, God will do it, the matter is his, he knows and has all secret counsels, which we do not know, in his hand. Well, since he does not reveal everything to us, what is the point? He must also keep his divinity and majesty before us, after which we otherwise stand and strive.
16. papists earnestly seek, not that the church be reformed and improved, but that it be suppressed.
The meeting held at Nuremberg in 1532 did not please M. Luther at all, for he said: "The papists are using cunning and trickery only to oppress us and to smear our mouths, and they seek and want nothing less than that a reformation should be made.
1) Cf. §z 25 of this Cap.
Schmalkalden and have let them go out publicly by printing. For if we were to enter into treaties and settlements with them for the sake of external peace, we would shatter the pure doctrine of our church and make it suspect and doubtful, as it should not be bent with certainty, but like a reed, according to the circumstances. O no, not to me the comparison. If Emperor Carl set up a national council, something could still be hoped for; but it will not go away either. The papists should not give way, and only sit in it alone, and have the power to close it.
Then Philip said, "So it is decided at Frankfort, although it is hard to argue about it. If the papists or the cardinals were to come, and they alone would have the power to sit in it and close it, we would all rise up against it, for the pope shall have neither authority nor power in it.
D. M. Luther saw well that it was the bishop of Mainz, Albrecht's, poem and gear, therefore he said: We do not need a concilii for the sake of the divine word; for that is certain, about which one should neither dispute nor deliberate. Only it is to be done for the sake of external things. We can do the fasting without concilium. For this I will gladly do in the market, but without entangling the consciences, which should be free and not burdened or bound by it. For Christ has not instituted nor commanded fasts by law, but saith Marc. 2:20: "When therefore the bridegroom is taken from them, then shall they fast." Matth. 19, 21: "Go and sell all that you have" 2c. So then fasting is well found.
17. from the Concilio.
D. Gregorius Brück, Chancellor of Saxony, sent M. Luther a new newspaper from the Imperial Diet in Augsburg in 1530, how the Pope, through his legate and nephew, Farnesius, the Cardinal, had strongly urged the Emperor not to give peace to the protesting estates, because they had previously agreed to the concilium. But when the emperor refused him, Farnesius, in disguise, suddenly and hurriedly
of it. However, the emperor would have ordered the protesters to try whether they wanted to join the concilium, which the pope himself had announced from his power; and he wanted to persuade them to do so, because he did not want to applaud the pope's errors.
The protesters, however, discussed and considered the greatness of this deal and the pope's wickedness, also considered the emperor suspicious: they could not be persuaded nor brought to agree to it and to grant the pope so much that he should have power, right and authority to describe and assemble a council, even to be part and judge with it, and finally to conclude it at his pleasure: The pope and the pope's family, who were in favor of the Granvellen, asked that learned, understanding people from both parts be appointed to such a great, high, important matter, who would have voces decisivas and the power to conclude it.
When Granvel insisted that the protesters were not even one, that they had many sects among them. But they denied it, rejected it and said: There were no sects among them, but they were united, and taught simple, Christian and unanimous from one heart and with one mouth, without some delusion and error of the Anabaptists, Sacramentarians and other enthusiasts and red spirits. They had therefore rejected many objections, persuasiones and proposals, which the Granvel had endeavored to persuade them, and had proposed the emperor as a kind mediator, who had offered to be a good, cheap slider in the matter, and would not easily overreach them and wage war against them for the sake of religion. 2c.
Over all this D. M. Luther was astonished. M. Luther said: "It can be seen that the emperor acts with the pope as one cretin with another, in a vixen-like manner; he sees through his fingers to disgrace the pope; and so that he would not be considered as sleeping or slumbering, he sought means on both parts to compare them with each other. But there is no way to advise our people that they should commit themselves with oaths to accept what the pope decides against God and his word.
18. M. Luther's conversation from the Concilio with the Pope's legate, Petro Paulo Vergerio.
Six and twenty years ago, I roundly beat it off Cardinal Cajetano, the Pope's legate at Augsburg. And when Peter Paul Vergerius, the Pope's legate, was here in Wittenberg in 1533, and I went to him in the castle, when he cited us and demanded the Concilium, I said to him, and said: I will come. I said to him, "I want to come," and went on to say, "You papists labor and strive in vain, and strangle yourselves with your proposals and arguments. For even if you hold a council, in it you deal nothing of wholesome doctrine, nothing of sacraments, nothing of faith, which alone makes righteous and blessed, nothing of good works and honorable conduct and character; but only of foolishness and childishness, how long clothes and skirts the clergy and priests should wear, how wide the girdle and how large the plates should be, how monks and nuns should be reformed and kept harder, of the difference between eating and drinking, and of such puppet work 2c. When I spoke these things, he turned away from me, held his head in his fist, and spoke to his companion and fellow envoy: He meets, truly, the right purpose in the whole main trade 2c.
Oh, dear God, said the Doctor to us: They despair of their proposals, counsels and practices; for they see and grasp that Germany, now, praise God, enlightened by the Gospel and having opened its eyes, will henceforth no longer do what it previously suffered, having been deceived and bewitched by superstition and idolatry. They will not bring it there again, neither by congresses, nor by conciliation, however wise and learned they may be. May the merciful God preserve what He has wrought in us: the matter is His, and not ours. May God grant that we also be faithful and grateful for this revelation. The Pope has promised the Emperor through this legate to give a hundred thousand crowns against the Turk. This is called the birds grained.
19. from the Concilio.
If a concilium is held in another way, said Luther, the papists will have their
Idolatry and superstition want to defend and preserve: therefore it is highly necessary that we watch and pray that God may promote the course of the Gospel, that it may bear much fruit, and preserve His Church, so that we both may confess with mouth and life the bright light of the Gospel from the heart. If the papists force and coerce people into error, they will probably be driven by tyranny into superstitious piety: thus the service of God and the will will be forced, and this will not last long.
20 Pabst does not allow any right concilium.
(Lauterbach, Jan. 31, 1538, p. 17.)
Last January, Luther talked a lot with the licentiate of Magdeburg about the Walen Hoffahrt, who are going there in great security, and although they are obviously convicted by God's word, they are still not comfortable with letting themselves be reformed by the Germans. I often think to myself: How if one could come to a concilium, so that there would be some unity! but no means can be devised for this. For if the pope were to recognize himself in the obvious articles and the grossest, most palpable errors and submit to the concilium, he would lose his prestige, because he has prided himself as the head of the church, to whom all members must obey. Therefore, they accuse the Council of Constance of having arrogated to itself a prestige over the pope. Therefore, if they concede us the least article, the hanger on the wreath is broken, and all will cry out: Is it not said that the pope, the head of the church, cannot err? This is the principle and the main point of the Pabstium. As Sylvester Prierias, the master of the sacred palace [Magister sacri palatii], wanted to frighten me with this flash, saying: Whoever doubts a word or work of the Roman Church is a heretic. At that time I was still weak. I did not want to attack the pope. I honored such reasons. But now I will write from the Concilium and will give this advice to the emperor, that he should give full freedom to the Roman pope to set and decide what pleases him. This is the best way to get to the point
come. As little as the Pope can hand over, so little can I let up, because it is God's word.
21) When the right concilium would be held.
D. M. Luther asked at one time: Quando Papa esset convocaturus Concilium? One of them answered: The Concilium should be held and begin on all Holy Days. Then M. Luther answered: I let myself think that nothing would come of it before the last day, until our Lord God Himself holds a concilium. He had understood that the right day of all saints would be the last day, when all saints would rise from the dead and enter into eternal life with Christ.
22. a different from the Concilio.
(Lauterbach, Feb. 3, 1538, p. 24.)
The Elector said to me today about the future Concilium: What do we want to offend the Pope much? Let him make the Concilium at Rome, or wherever he wants, conclude what he wants, because if he admits us much, he will let up some cold, external ceremonies of blessed water, salt, palms, fasting, they will also not defend their celibate life much, but they will not admit the article of justification and of the mass. For as long as the mass stands, Luther is damned; if the mass falls, the whole foundation of the pope collapses. That is why they hold so firmly over the mass. As Campegius said at Augsburg, he would rather be torn to pieces than give up the mass. Truly, it is a horrible wickedness to hold so tightly to what, in their own judgment, are only human flimsinesses.
23. the Papist fraud of the Concilio.
(Lauterbach, March 29, 1538, p. 50.)
Then he mentioned the fictitious concilium at Vincenz, since it was written from Padua, which was only three miles away, that there was no talk of the concilium and no preparation for it. The boys are not serious. For they know that no king or duke can enter the territory of the Venetians.
will. Ah, they burned themselves at the Constance Council, where it was decided that the pope was under the Council. What have they done during the hundred years of chattering to keep this article: the pope cannot be mistaken, he is above the council; so that some have brazenly dared to doubt it, one does not know whether the pope is God or man! Just look, I beg you, at the miraculous artifices of the pope at the Council of Basle, twelve years after the Council of Constance, where the emperor and the cardinals forced the Council, but the pope Eugenius resisted in every way that it should not happen. He cannot and does not like it. I would resist myself if I were in his place.
24. as would like to be acted in the Concilio.
(The first paragraph of this § in Kummer p. 366 [Lauterbach, p. 82, note]).
Therefore, there is no hope for a true council, because the pope does not suffer a reformation, but reserves all authority for himself at the council. There are two voices at the council; one is a consultative or deliberative one, which all princes, kings and teachers have. The other is a decisive one, which only the pope and some cardinals have, and they simply decide according to their will. I am worried that we will never again come so close together as at Augsburg. These are terrifying times, and at last we will come to the cross, that we may be killed according to the flesh and not be proud, and He will be with us until the end of the world.
If the emperor despairs of the Council and sees that nothing will come of it, he will hold a Diet and perhaps not summon our princes, but will condemn them as disobedient and want to be executor. If, however, he dares to defend the pope's public scoundrels, he will be the most wretched and unfortunate; even though the pope, as a clever, treacherous fellow, poses as if he would like to have a concilium and be reformed. There will be a great clamor and indignation if the emperor wants to execute us, who are under ban at Worms and Augsburg.
I fear that the emperor will then have lost all favor and good will in Germany; for he has treated the Germans badly, has not dealt with them in a princely manner; he will not be accepted with such humility as has hitherto been the case. And even if he brings a warrior nation and a bunch of Spaniards, he will not be able to force and subjugate Germany in such a dissolute way. Hitherto he has overcome with his kindness, and has been mighty over her; but the Spaniards' cruelty and tyranny are insufferable. So even our princes will not help him against the Turk, but say: Lord Emperor, give us peace. Therefore, a great uprising and rebellion is to be feared. But God will avert it. Therefore, let us pray diligently, God has something great in mind and will inflict punishment if we do not mend our ways.
25 A different one from the Concilio. 1)
About the Concilium. In our time there is a great rumor that a council is to be assembled, which the papists do not like. For at the Council of Constance three popes were deposed and the fourth confirmed on condition that he be under the authority of the Council. The pope at Rome cannot stand this decision, but he boasts of the argument very much and stands on it: church, church, and it cannot err, as the Jews were proud under the title of the people of God. The papists alone want to be the church without the word of God and against the word of God; and we are not the church, although the clear text says Matth. 18: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name", which is a testimony for us; on the other hand, the most violent thunderclap against the papists Matth. 10: "He who hears you hears me", as if he wanted to say: The church cannot be without hearing and the word.
Anno 1538, the 12th of August, D. M. Luther spoke of Concilien, how the Concilium at Costnitz would have the authority, prestige, power
1) The first paragraph of this § in Kummer x. 363. (Lauterbach p. 82 another redaction of the next following paragraph).
and power of the pope were greatly weakened: for then three popes would have been deposed and the fourth elected, and it would have been decided and decreed that the concilium would be over the pope. There is a bar put in front of them, so that the pope does not long for the concilium. That is why the papists have worked these one hundred and twenty years with the greatest diligence, and have endeavored to raise the authority and power of the pope above the concilium. He is afraid of it, flees from it as the devil from incense, as they say. He will never make a concilium unless the emperor and the princes call for it; for the papacy is falling by leaps and bounds, and is gradually falling into disgrace. First the mendicant orders fell, then the princely monasteries; now the monasteries and bishoprics are perishing. Heli wants to sink. 2) For four kingdoms in Europe, England, Germany, Denmark and Hungary, have fallen away from the papacy; the others hold very little. For the patrons of the pope, because they have swallowed his thunder and lightning, the decree bull, will strip the papacy bare and flay it, and pull the skin over its ears: as now Duke George is snatching the ecclesiastical and church goods to himself; and will not allow money for annals, pallia 2c. to be led to Rome. So the pope will lose money and. will lose power.
And I am heartily pleased that it is done so neatly that he does not bring it to himself with the sword and war, as happened in Bohemia; but proceeds peacefully, with the chancery and reckoning pennies, as F[erdinand] and the Bishop of Mainz, and H[erzog] Georg do. The belly of the pope will pine away. But this is to be pitied, that the church goods are devoured and eaten under them, and the parishes and scholarships are left abandoned and unprovided for; which, however, our Lord and Prince and other princes do not do, but decree that religion be preserved; although it cannot happen in the same way. But those eat it up with skin and hair, and nevertheless pursue religion.
2) Perhaps to read: It wants to sink heil (i.e. gar); in the editions: "It wants to sing heli", with different, attempts of explanation.
Let us ask God to preserve His Church; the Pope does not respect the Concilium, nor is he to be trusted. Just as Annas and Caiphas confirmed and confirmed Christ's teachings, so will the papists do with us. Therefore, one hopes in vain for a concilium.
26th Pontifical Concilium.
One of them asked Mr. Luthern: Would the Concilium have any progress? He said: Yes, of course, the Pope's Concilium has already been decided, and we have already been condemned. F[erdinand] has already committed himself to it with an oath. So all kings, princes and lords shall swear to him. And the most noble proposition is to instigate and order lies and murder, to defend them with bloodshed and war.
Alas, it is not to be hoped that there will be a concilium, for the pope defends his lies and does not want to be seen to have erred. He always excuses himself with the fact that the Emperor and King of France are at odds. However, he prevents, as much as he can, that they do not become one and agree, so that no concilium will take place. For this reason, God has pulled through and awakened the Germans, English and Danes, who freely confess the doctrine of the Gospel without the decree and recognition of the Council.
D. M. Luther said to the Englishman Edwards, who was with him in the house and went to the table: If now the Pabst's Concilium will have a progress, then it is certain that they will condemn us, and order the emperor the execution.
27 Pabst's opinion to make a concilium.
(Lauterbach, May 21, 1538, p. 82 f.)
Pabst's greatest ambition is to suppress our doctrine. He flees that the matter should be carried out at a general council; he insists on a council under his authority, that he alone should assemble, bind, prescribe, and decide, since all others are silent, as is the custom and his procedure, which must be observed at councils. But it will never apply now. For it is' now a different time than before. That is why the pope does not want a council at all. He
chooses the most inconvenient places under the rule of the Venetians, where no nation will go, and so the pope loses his prestige by postponing the conciliar, as is already said of Duke George that he is said to have answered the Thuringians who are under him and asked for the gospel: If the pope postponed it longer, he would let them have something. In short, the Roman See cannot and should not be judged and admonished, but it must judge all, because it is itself the mother and lord of all churches. Against this presumption no prophet, apostle or preacher has a right of judgment against him, because innumerable passages in the decrees of the pope grant him this authority, and Gratianus, the scoundrel, thus concludes: The emperor Constantinus has called the pope a god. But he who is God cannot be judged by men; the pope is God, thus 2c. Thus he concludes from the general to the particular, from the 82nd Psalm, "I have said, Ye are gods." This the Pabst snatches to himself and calls himself an earthly God and a Lord of the whole earth. But one should reverse the conclusion [syllogismum] thus: The emperor and all authorities are gods, therefore it is not for the pope to trample them underfoot. That is why the one who denied the claim of the pope once did very well in the disputation, and when the other proved that he was an earthly god, he answered: Perhaps of the jurists, not of the theologians. The pope will never submit to the Concil. For the Pope John XXIII submitted to the Concil at Constance in the hope that he would be reinstated by his humility and abdication, but the other two rejected. But they were coarse asses; they took the little hat from him and put it on another, rejecting all three. This displeased him.
28. right custom of the concilia.
A concilium should be a purgatory, should reform and purify the church, and when new errors and heresies arise and want to tear down, confirm, confirm and preserve the old, right, pure doctrine, ward off new fires, and extinguish the same, and
condemn false doctrine. But the pope wants a concilium to be of this nature, and therefore to be held, in which new decrees, orders and statutes of good works are to be made and accumulated daily. But what better and good works can be found and taught than those commanded by God in the Ten Commandments?
29. which is the right concilium.
(Cordatus No. 1698.)
The right concilium is now, because Christ presides and the angels are assessors. We are accused by the devil and his world and answer with the word.
30. what the papists are looking for.
The papists do not desire a concilium. Yes, they will persecute us as damned heretics even without a concilium, because they will not drop their authority and idolatry, but will still preserve and defend it by force and tyranny.
31. Concern of M. Ph. Melanchthon by the Concilio, the Elector of Saxony, H[erzog] Johann Friedrich, announced by the Pope's legate.
(Not from Luther.)