From July 1537 to September 19, 1540.
Sermons on several chapters of the Evangelist Matthew.
[First sermon1 ) on] the eighteenth chapter.
[Early July 1537.]
At that same hour the disciples came to Jesus and said: Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
This sermon, which the Lord Christ preaches to his disciples with great earnestness, is frightening to those who are obsessed with sorrowful hope and want to be something before others. For to them the Lord Christ earnestly forbids and reproves that in the Christian faith one should be
1) In the first fourteen sermons, we find no indication in the original of where the individual sermons begin: the designations "First Sermon" etc. are our conjecture. Since Luther preached on Saturday, the
Church shall not be exalted. For he did not make his kingdom a worldly rule, as the pope and the heretics abused it, who exalted himself in the name of the devil and raised himself above all emperors and kings on earth, even though Christ, our dear Lord, did not shed his blood to make his Christians great lords and nobles in the world, to give them good days, and they only sought money and goods here. Such would have
If we assume that the sermon on the Gospel of John, which began on July 7, 1537, began either on the Wednesday before or on the Wednesday after (i.e. either on July 4 or on July 1, 1537), then we can assume that the sermon on the Gospel of Matthew began either on the Wednesday before or on the Wednesday after. Only the 15th sermon (which is the sixth on the 19th chapter) has the date "Wednesday afterouanium sanetorum", i.e. November 7, 1537. Therefore, the first 14 sermons (namely nine sermons on the 18th chapter and the first five on the 19th chapter) are to be distributed over the period from the beginning of July to October 31, 1537.
*Just as earlier Luther's sermons on the 5th, 6th and 7th chapters of Matthew were prompted by Bugenhagen's longer absence from Wittenberg, in that Luther stood in for him as a "stopgap" (cf. note Col. 346 of this volume), so too these sermons on the 18th to 24th chapters of Matthew. Bugenhagen had left for Denmark in July 1537, in order to organize the church there, and remained there until 1539. Luther still preached quite a number of these sermons after Bugenhagen's return home (Köstlin, Mark. Luther, Vol. II, 437), namely the sermons which were no longer preached on weekdays, but on Sundays, after the 14th Sunday after Trinity, September 7, 1539 (Erl. Ausg., Vol. 45, p. 30 ff.), are to be counted among them. Köstlin rightly says: "Whoever wants to get to know Luther's way of preaching or to be edified by the depth and fullness of his word, must not put it and especially the one about John next to his postils and other sermons about the ecclesiastical pericopes." These sermons are printed for the first time in their entirety, from the manuscript available in the library at Wolfenbüttel, in the Erlangen edition, vol. 44 (in its entirety) and vol. 45, pp. 1 to 202. This manuscript was bought by Duke Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from the widow of Johann Aurifaber and brought to Wolfenbüttel. Later it came to the university library in Helmstädt, then to Göttingen and finally back to Wolfenbüttel. In 1796, the last university librarian at Helmstädt, P. I. Bruns, had a part of it printed under the title: "Ungedruckte Predigten Dr. Martin Luthers über etliche Kapitel des Evang. Matthäus" ("Unprinted Sermons of Dr. Martin Luther on Several Chapters of St. Matthew"), which the local pastor, 1)r. G. K. Bollmann, published in 1817 once again, increased by 13 sheets. A continuation of this was delivered in 1847 by the library secretary Dr. Höck at Wolfenbüttel under the title: "Or. Martin Luthers ungedruckte Predigten" (Martin Luther's Unprinted Sermons), First Volume, Sermons on Joh. 3 to 4, 10. and Matth. 23, 37-24, 34. Berlin 1847. The manuscript, which has the title: "Predigten D. M. Lutheri über etliche Kapititel Matthäi vom 18. bis in das 24. Kapititel. Have not been printed", is written from sheet 1 to 272 by Aurifaber, then to sheet 338a by another and from there to the end, sheet 347, by a third. We reproduce the text according to the Erlangen edition. The indication on the title of the 44th volume of the Erlangen edition "Ch. 18. v. 24. to Ch. 23. v. 23." is a printing error, because the sermons begin at the first verse of the 18th chapter. We have not included the variants of the printings given in the Erlangen edition and the notes on the deleted passages, nor the marginal glosses, which neither come from Luther nor contain anything essential. The time when the sermons were preached has been determined by us for a large number of them more precisely than this has been done in the Erlangen edition.
God could well have used reason and human wisdom, as the world does, and should not have given us such a high treasure as his dear Son, who suffered many a bloody sweat, died for us, and persecuted and killed his dear disciples, as well as all other Christians who believe in him, if it were not for something greater and higher.
Therefore Christ did not acquire such a kingdom for us, where we should rule and reign in the world, and where the pope, the devil's head, lets him kiss the feet, and wants to be the head in the holy Christian church, because Christ does not want to have a foreign head in it. He wants to be and remain the only one, and all Christians should be equal, one having as much as the other. He is not concerned with money and goods or temporal honor. He does not ask for this dirt (as gold and silver are nothing but dirt). In this sermon he wants to present an image to his Christians, so that they should be afraid of it and not think of becoming great lords or seeking dominion through the gospel. For he cannot and will not suffer any headship or lordship in his church, nor will he tolerate that one man should be higher and better than another, or that one should exalt himself and trample all others under him. Christ wants to be and remain alone.
This is how he wants to distinguish his kingdom from the world kingdom. In the world there must be a difference of people, that some sit on top and rule, but the others let themselves be ruled. So also in one house there are various people and offices. The wife is subject to the husband, the daughter to the mother, and the son to the father. Servant and maid shall honor their masters and wives, and the countryman shall be subject to his lord. This is how the world must be governed.
But in the kingdom of Christ [it] does not take this form. For it [the church] is not founded and built on the world, but on the blood of Jesus Christ. There is one like another. For there is one Master and Lord, who is called Christ. Therefore whosoever will be greatest, let him be the servant of the Lord, that we all may have Christ and his
Treasure, which we have acquired, at the same time. For there shall be one Lord, one baptism, one gospel, and one sacrament; yea, we shall all have one Christ. In the sight of the world it is a different thing with the people. A priest or preacher starts from the top, but he has no better baptism, nor is anything better than the least peasant. I old fool have no better baptism than the young child lying in the cradle and baptized. For such a child, who still eats milk and porridge, is as well washed from sins by the blood of Christ in baptism as I am, indeed, that same one is often more pious than I old fool. For it knows nothing of the wickedness in which I am old. There it is that we are all equal, equally noble, equally highborn. For we are all called Christians at the same time.
Therefore the Lord Christ does not want to have any dominion in his church, but all our work should be directed to this end, I with preaching and you with listening, so that we may learn to know Christ. For we all have one Christ, just as we all have one baptism. So let us also make every effort to have one word of God, and to be all alike in the knowledge and all things 1) that are of the Lord Christ. But that we are outwardly rich in the sight of the world, and poor in the sight of the world, this does not belong to the kingdom of Christ, and therefore sets before our eyes an image or mirror of his kingdom or of the Christian church, that he may separate it and separate it from the worldly government, and that we may also learn to divide these two kingdoms from one another, and take heed which is the right church or not. For the devil always wants to boil and brew these two kingdoms into one another. Thus the pope has also mixed the secular kingdom and church rule, and has become emperor and king in the world. And all the fanatics and the spirits of the pagans would still like to have a worldly rule; they start the thing with great holiness, that they want to be more pious than other people, as also all those do who think themselves good evangelicals and let themselves dream.
1) Erlanger: everything.
2) Erlanger: Evangelical.
But Christ does not want us here in this text to seek one rule, and one to be papal, the other otherwise to make an 1) attachment to him. And for this reason, 1 Corinthians 3, S. Paul scolds the Corinthians for causing such strife among them, and if one wanted to be better than the other, each boasted of the one he was taught or baptized by. The one said he was Petrine, the other Pauline, the third Apollonian. Then said S. Paul: "What do you call yourselves Peter? what do you call yourselves Paul or Apollo? Did Peter or Apollo suffer for you? Did I Paul die for you, were you baptized in Peter's name? Neither Peter nor Paul nor Apollo is valid here, but only the one Lord and Master, who shed his blood for you, and from whom alone you were called Christians. You are not called Petrists, Paulists or Apollists, but Christians.
The pope has also led us away from Christ, and instructed us to call upon the Virgin Mary, to rely on my holiness and yours, and to defy the intercession of the saints, and to seek all kinds of saints who have never lived on earth, such as S. Barbara, Catharina, Margaretha, S. Christopher and S. George, who are only imaginary saints, so that nothing would be taught about Christ.
But let every Christian learn to make a right distinction between the church, which is the true Christian church, and to separate it from the one that has only the mere name of church and deceives all the world with its appearance. The true church knows of no other Lord and Master than Christ alone. In him she believes, as Christ himself says: "My sheep hear my voice," and John says in his epistle: "He who confesses that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is of God; but he who does not confess that he came in the flesh is not of God." In this church, Christians are all equal. Here no one is better than the other. No one is to exalt himself above the other. Even if one is a little child, it still has its adornment and wedding garment and lordship.
1) Erlanger: one.
I am not to be proud that I am a doctor, nor another that he is a prince or lord. I should not be proud that I am a doctor, nor should another be proud that he is a prince or lord, but I must say: In that life a child is just as much as I am. For it is not at all fitting that in the Christian church one should want to be higher than the other. It means both, namely: When this little child is born, bring it to the mother, the Christian church, and if I am a great or old man and am admonished by the church, then I should be brought to rights. This shall be the emblem of the church. Where this happens, there is the true Christian Church.
Since the true church knows nothing but Christ, it follows that the church of the devil is the one that leads us from Christ to something else, as the pope and his crowd do. If they want to do it in the best possible way, they say with their mouths that Christ died for our sins, but then they teach us that we should call upon the saints, of whom they have gathered so many, that they have been worshipped and celebrated for saints who were never born, like St. Anne, St. Margaret 2c, who were yet to be born. Here the pope appears and says: You should consider me as the head of the Christian church. He only points the people to the invocation of Mary and says: If you do not believe in the saint I have raised, and if you do not celebrate him, then you are of the devil and eternally damned. For I have power and authority to forgive and to retain sin, to open and to shut heaven. Whoever then is a sinner, let him do this or that which I call, go to Rome for indulgence, go on pilgrimage to St. James. This does not mean to bring the people to Christ and to subject them to him, but to the wretched devil. And a Christian will answer and say: I hear well here that you are a devil's head. For you do not want to make me a Christian, but a Romanist, Jacobist, Papist and such fools. I, on the other hand, want to stay with the bunch, since they tell me about Christ, my Lord and Savior, apart from whom there is no other helper. You Pabst with your bunch may stay where you can. I can see that you are a good man.
You are a great lord, and subject to much authority; so my Lord Christ was not. Neither did he want his own to rule in the world and be great lords. You are not the right church, because you want to persuade us otherwise, against Christ's teaching and commandment. Though you and yours call yourselves the Christian church, yet you are a house of fools, wearing pointed hats and greased plates and flasks, 1) and I find nothing of this written in my dear Lord Christ's word and doctrine.
If salvation were based on the pope and his statutes, as if one had to be a Romanist or a Jacobist, how should the Christian be saved who is in India or at the end of the world, who knows nothing of the pope at Rome and of his foolish work alone? But as he who is at the end of the world shall be saved, so shall I also be saved, through the knowledge of Christ, in whom I believe, whom I confess, in whom I have been baptized, whose word and gospel I have, as well as he who dwells at the beginning of the sun, at noon, or at midnight. There no one has any advantage over the other, but there is one faith, one Christ, one baptism, and if one came from India or from Moorland or wherever he came from and said, "I believe in Christ," I would say, "So I also believe, and so I also will be saved," and in faith and confession the Christians agree with one another, whether they are otherwise scattered from time to time throughout the world. For it is not called a Roman church, nor a Nuremberg church, nor a Wittenberg church, but a Christian church, into which all who believe in Christ belong.
In the world, it is right, and shall be so, if I say: I am a citizen of Wittenberg; therefore I am Saxon and Elector. Another says: I am a Bavarian; therefore I am Bavarian or Palatine. The third says: I am a Hessian; therefore he is called landgraviate. That is right, because the subjects are also called after the lord of the land. But here in this regiment, where Christ is a Lord, neither Palatine nor Saxon applies,
1) Erlanger: träget.
neither young nor old, neither rich nor poor etc., there it is all one cake and one dough. Whoever is baptized and believes in Christ, may God grant that he is from the east or the west, no one has any advantage over the other. Therefore, why do we pride ourselves and perform many miracles, as if one were better than the other? 2) Just as the red spirits do, who separate themselves from the common Christians, and want to make them their own in the face of great wisdom. It should make me humble when I consider that I have nothing more in Christ, nor am I better before God than a little child lying in the cradle. There is no merit or advantage.
All here is One Lord, One Master, One Father, as Christ says in the 23rd chapter, v. 8: You shall not become masters or fathers, and 1 Cor. 8, 5: There are many gods and many lords. We Christians have no other Lord than Christ alone, who is the most certain Lord. For he is ordained by God to be our Lord. He alone is our Father and Master in heaven. But we are brethren one of another, and have one gift as great as another. For we have one Christ, one baptism, one inheritance, and are all heirs of Christ at the same time. This is the color by which the Christian Church can be recognized.
From this we conclude against the pope that the papacy cannot be the Christian church, but is the church and bride of the wicked devil, or Christ would have to lie, because Christ says we should not rule. But the papists want to rule not only worldly, but also spiritually, and the pope wants us to believe what he gives us, namely that he is the head of the church, the holy Roman church and chair is a mother, teacher and master of all other churches in the world. Therefore, the pope wanted to be a master and doctor also over Christ. Should I grant him that? These are masters and teachers of the church, who alone preach Christ, in whom we all place our comfort and confidence. I also want to recognize these for masters and teachers, not those who say: Become a monk or nun, keep the three vows, poverty, chastity,
2) Erlanger: better.
Obediently, call this or that saint, but say: There I do not hear the right mother, the dear church, nor the Master Christ, but the cuckoo, namely the devil, who calls out his own name, and does not let the dear nightingale sing. This bird is known by its beak and song; one soon hears which is the cuckoo or the nightingale, the devil or the Lord Christ.
The Lord Christ says: My church hears my voice and believes in me, as S. Paul also says to the Corinthians: "No other foundation can be laid than Christ. Item: "There is none other name under heaven given among men for salvation, but the name of Christ." And the church has no other Lord, Master, Father, or Head, except Christ Himself; there is no other, as is preached and believed everywhere. On the other hand, the Pope says: "Christ is not only the Father of the Church, the Master of the Church, and the Lord of the Church, but I am also the Head, Master, and Lord of the Church. Therefore believe that there is a purgatory. Call the saints, as I raise. But say thou, Thou art a devil's head, a destroyer, an enemy, and an abominator of the church, not a lord, father, or master; else haste another lord, who saith what shall be preached, let him be heard, and follow no other 1).
Says the pope, "The apostles did not teach and preach all these things; the Holy Spirit is in the church, and the Holy Spirit has reserved many things for him, which he has subsequently revealed through me, the pope. To this you answer: Where is this written? In the smoke hole, there read it, because it is dark, in the night. The papacy is a great misery. I can testify to it; and thank God, you young people, that you have not lived in it, nor have you been in this mire and abomination in which we have been brought up. You are still like a clean, unpolluted and unsoiled piece of writing paper, like a beautiful white piece of paper, in which one can write and record something good about the pure, wholesome teaching of Christ. You have a great advantage over us old people. We are a sullied, crumpled piece of paper or a crumpled, crumpled
1) Erlanger: no other.
2) in which the papal filth is rooted, and can hardly be swept out and eradicated with great effort and work. Therefore be grateful to God, and see to it that you stay with the pure teaching of the divine word, and do not let yourselves be torn from the Christian church back into Pabstism or into an angry error.
In this text, the Lord Christ also gave his disciples a good chapter, because they were even in carnal and worldly thoughts. When they had heard of the Lord Christ, that he would suffer and die, and that until now he had been among them as their Master and Lord, then they thought that they also had to see who, after his death, should be the most noble among them, to whom they should give the rule and the mastery. The poor wretches know nothing else than that Christ would set up a worldly reign, in which they would be made great princes and lords in the world, and would be free from the power of the Romans, and would bring all kingdoms under themselves; they are under the delusion that if Christ were gone, a strife and discord would arise among them over the reign: to which they now want to come forward as with wise counsel, and get a judgment or report about it from the Lord Christ, because he is still present. For otherwise each would want to have an advantage, and see his advantage in presuming to rule.
S. Peter would say he was the first to be called to the apostleship. Andrew would not want to be the last, because he was Peter's brother and the other one who was called to the apostleship. S. Philip was the smartest and the chancellor of the Lord Christ. For he said to Christ, "Show us the Father, and it shall be enough for us." And when Christ fed many people in the wilderness, and asked him 4) how he would have the people satisfied, he soon calculated that there was not enough bread among them for two hundred pieces of silver. He is the Lord Christ's counselor.
2) Maculature - paper unusable for printing.
3) In the original: too seen.
4) Erlanger: them.
This clever and wise man of the regiment would not have wanted to forgive himself. Likewise, John would have said that he was even closer to him, because in the Lord's Supper he would have been sitting at the Lord's side, even lying on his chest. What would the brothers and cousins of the Lord, S. Jacob and others, have done? Every one of them would have had something so that he would have wanted to be better than others.
Just as the Corinthians also quarreled about this, that some said: S. Paul baptized us, others said: We were baptized by S. Peter, they disagreed with each other about the person, as if S. Peter was better than S. Paul. But S. Paul answered, "Why do you disagree? Have you not all been baptized into Christ? and he takes away Peter and Paul, and puts Christ in their place, into whom they were baptized. The apostles also have such dreams here. They think: When our Master Christ is dead, then it will be called S. Peter's kingdom, S. Philip's kingdom, S. Andres' 1) kingdom. Therefore we want to prevent this quarrel, discord and great trouble, and let the Lord himself order and set one who is the greatest among them. This is wisely considered, but it is a childish and foolish thought.
To this the Lord Christ answers and goes straight through and says: You foolish apostles, you have only Jewish thoughts of my kingdom. But always away with them. They do not belong here. Why do you magnify yourselves? Here one shall not be greater nor smaller than the other, and whoever wants to be greater, I will not suffer him in my kingdom. It shall be quite equal here and one shall have as much part in it as the other. I alone shall be in charge of the regiment. For into my hands the Father has given everything. I alone am Master, Lord and Teacher. You shall not be called Master, as he says in the 23rd chapter: "For one alone is your Master and Teacher, who is Christ; but you are all brothers. Neither shall ye call any man father on earth. There is One your Father, who is in heaven.
So the dear Lord Christ takes his
1) Erlanger: Anders.
He pushes them back and gives them a completely negative answer, saying: "You should not set your sights on ruling, nor should you ask who should be the greatest. I do not want to have great ones, and I do not want to know any master or lord but me alone. No one can help but I alone, but you shall serve one another as I have served you. Majority and glory cease here. One must have respect for the word and teaching of the Lord Christ and be governed by it. The word must do it; otherwise we are all equal. What Paul believes, Peter also believes, and what Andrew and Philip preach, John and James also preach. That John alone lies on the breast of Christ and not also S. Peter does not hurt. The word must do it. For if the church were to be governed, instructed and preserved by our thoughts and words, the devil would have turned and devoured it in a moment. For we are too small, and our adversary, the devil, too great. Therefore the doctrine of invoking the saints does not hold the sting, but deceives us. For men cannot do it. Christ alone must do it. Therefore he also says, "I give you my word and the Holy Spirit, which I have from the Father, that through me you may rule other people and be my kingdom. This is the difference of Christ between his kingdom and the kingdom of the world. In the world there is a difference. The imperial law is a different law than the law in France or in Turkey and Persia. But in the kingdom of Christ, the right of the smallest child is different from the right of the greatest child, or from the right of Saint Peter, or from the right of any other Christian living in the Orient. For the Christian who lives at the end of the world believes just what I believe, and the Christian in India, who hears me praying the Lord's Prayer and recounting the articles of faith, believes just what I believe, and if I heard him speak such things again, I would have to say: This is also my faith. So Christians soon recognize each other, even though they are all the same.
2) Erlanger: them.
are scattered in the world, so that they have only one Master and Teacher, the Lord Christ.
On the other hand, the pope says: It is not enough that you believe in Christ, but if you do not consider me to be the head of the church, 1) you are condemned. If I or any other Christian who lives in India or Moorland, or otherwise is at the end of the world, hears this voice, we do not believe it. For the pope is the enemy of the Lord Christ, and the persecutor and adversary of his word. He knows nothing else to teach, except: Go to St. James, run to St. Peter in Rome, do this or that. But it is decided that Christians come from there, if one believes in Christ, the Lord, Father and Master, and it is not important that one is at home here in the evening or there in the morning, because the church is scattered in the world from time to time, but the Christians are nevertheless all the same and bear all one name, and have all the goods of Christ in common. It is One faith, One baptism, One Christ, One hope, love and kindness, to Ephesians at the 4th chapter. Thus Christ instituted and commanded it, and preceded the pope and all the mobs in this, that they should not mix their filth into it, and set a worldly rule in the church, but preached to the Christians that this is the church, where Christ the Master is heard, whoever believes in him, hears him and worships him, is a member of the church.
From this there is a certain difference between the true Christian church and the papist church, and it is quite easy to conclude which is the true Christian church, namely, the one that knows of no other Lord nor of any other head but Christ, and throws itself under the protection and protection of Christ alone. On the other hand, it is clear that the papal church is the church of the devil and not the church of Christ, for it does not consider Christ to be its head, nor does it teach anything about him, but even persecutes the true church. I say all this so that one may learn to recognize the papal whore and beware of her. For she now has all her
1) Erlanger: holds.
2) Erlanger: them.
They have lost the words of defense with which they thought they could protect themselves. They now see for themselves that all their articles lie in ashes, and confess that much error has come into Christendom, and that the pope's division does not agree with the holy Scriptures, and must themselves reach into their own bosoms and smell their error. Now great rulers must say it themselves: "We know well that there is much infirmity and error in the church. But it is not for us to start and change something, and say: There are a lot of loose boys in Wittenberg who teach differently than the pope. Oh, that does not matter. But if a common council were assembled, and the whole Christian church came together and decided what should be done, then the matter would be settled. They still cling to this and cry out concilium, concilium, church, church; they make do with this, and do not think who the church is. For if one asks them: What is the Christian church to you? they answer: the pope, his bishops and cardinals, point to the pointed hats and plates, and thus insist on the name of the church.
Therefore, in this eighteenth chapter, we will see whether they are also the church. For this is not the Christian church, when asses come together who know nothing of Christ, nor understand his word, but blaspheme it and persecute it as heresy. The church is not called the Babylonian or Wittenberg church, but the Christian church, and it takes its name from Christ. It has in common the Word, the faith and all the goods of Christ. This is not found in the papacy; therefore, the papists must be stripped of their hammer and armor and thrown out of their hands, since they boast that they are the Christian church, so that in these annual times people may see better, and not be deceived by the great appearance of the false church, nor be offended by the small, miserable form of the true church, of which kind and actually painting it is otherwise (as it conterfects Christ here 3), and that it believes in Christ etc.
3) Extenders: conterfat.
This admonition was given by D. M. L. in the common prayer in the first 1) sermon:
It seems as if a terrible punishment could not remain outside for long because of the shameful ingratitude in which we are up to our ears. You go along so safely and do not inquire anywhere, and yet you see that the punishment is at the door, and you feel it every day. Our Lord God has let us spoil half of the fruits of the field by the water. How soon he has taken the other half away from us, and we are not getting any better. We act as if we don't care, so we don't even 2) feel any punishment anymore. When our Lord God hits us on the head so that it works, we still say that: We feel nothing. Are these not harder 3) than iron and stone heads? Well then, let us continue, let us see to it that God does not again visit us horribly and deprive us again of the divine word, since the devil becomes Abbot. The pagans even held in high esteem a pestilence, a theurge, a war or wild animals, and wanted to counsel such 4) plagues with all kinds of penitent life, and we Christians have become so stony-faced that we neither ask for God's benevolence nor for the punishment, but the punishment will one day become so great that we will have to feel it. Therefore it would be better if we turned back and became more pious, and because the time of grace and the day of salvation are still present. Follows:
[Second sermon on the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
V. 2-5. 8) Jesus called a child to him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. He therefore that humbleth himself, as this child, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives such a child in my name receives me.
1) This remark of the writer shows that this still belongs to the first sermon.
2) Erlanger: even.
3) Erlanger: hard.
4) Erlanger: such.
5) The text of the 4th and 8th verses is added by us.
This answer of the Lord Christ shows that he did not come because he wanted to start a worldly kingdom, as the Jews were under this delusion and the world already had such a kingdom, which God ordered, appointed and sufficiently provided for, as well as it could be, and gave to the world kingdom the authority, the marriage state, father and mother. These two estates can rule well, if they only want to. Father and mother have orders to raise and feed the children well, to do their trade and to feed them; they also have rulers to punish and educate the children, and to prevent bad behavior. They have enough to do with this, and they have reason and understanding for this, as well as God's commandment, which they can follow in their state. They would have plenty to do if they only wanted to. God has given the secular authorities wealth and power, and in their hands the sword, so that they may govern the land and the people, punish evil and help the pious, and protect them against violence and injustice. If they do enough for their status, they can do it well, for they have the sword and enough money and goods to do so. God either gives princes and lords wisdom and understanding himself, as he did to David and Solomon, or gives them other people who have a special understanding.
And the world is well enough ordered and arranged in its regiment by our Lord God, that it is not necessary for God to send His dear Son down into our miserable flesh into the world, that He had to shed His blood for the bodily, worldly regiment. For the same kingdom was established beforehand by the. For this kingdom was previously established by the spouses and the authorities. Therefore Christ the Lord wants to strike out this carnal and coarse sense from his disciples and all Christians by placing a child in their midst, to show that his kingdom is such a kingdom, in which children are received, and since one must also become a child inside, as the Lord Christ says: "Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And this word is well to be remembered, which the Lord Christ says: "He that receiveth such a child in my na-.
he receiveth me. This does not rhyme with the rule that princes and lords have in the world, who have more to do than to deal with children, or to deal with those whom Christ calls and who believe in him 1). The worldly authorities and the spouses do not know much about this kingdom of Christ if they are not godly.
With this image, the Lord Christ depicts both himself and his Christians, as he (as Marcus says in the 9th chapter) kindly calls the child to him. He takes the child in his arms, embraces it as his greatest and best treasure, as if it were better than he himself is; he sets it beside him, as he was a kind man; he tells the apostles to see who is greatest in heaven; he makes himself low; he calls to himself a poor, despised, unintelligent child; he sets it with him; he embraces it and considers it his treasure, as if it were almost like him. I mean, I, your Lord and Master, am like this little child. So shall ye be, or shall not be my disciples and Christians.
With this he admonishes the apostles to let the world have its way, and to know that this kingdom is much different than they think, and that they should separate Christ's kingdom from the world's kingdom. For Christ's kingdom is the kingdom of the humble, or of children, as here the Lord makes himself a child, and kindly loves the children, holding them for his treasure. For he also came for their sake and shed his blood. This image should strike them in the eyes, that they may remember: Behold, the great Lord of heaven and earth is like a little child. Why doesn't he caress a great man, a king or any other saint, but he takes a child, a little child, who still has little understanding, and caresses it. But with this he shows that his kingdom belongs to the children, and that he, the Lord, is a duke and prince of the children, and wants to be found among the children, and wants to say, "If you want to know who is the greatest, I will tell you: If you hear me, you are great, because I am all; and whoever hears me, he is great.
1) Erlanger: them.
receives the Father who created heaven and earth, yes, he receives heaven and earth at the same time. He receives God with all His heavenly gifts and glories.
Oh, dear Lord God, would someone like to say, how do I come to the great honors that I should have Christ and his heavenly Father and all his goods in heaven and earth? So one comes to it, that one first accepts the little child Christ and through him also gets the Father in heaven. For you will not see me for and for with bodily eyes. Therefore I will set another thing before your eyes, which you shall esteem the same as me; namely, He that receiveth such a child in my name receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth my Father. Compare yourselves to a poor little child, who is not a king, nor has much honor or authority or great wisdom, nor does anything special; for when he is called by his father and mother, he comes and is led and guided. He makes himself like such a child.
So the Christian church is depicted here as a group of children and lowly, humble people, who are not able, know or able to do anything of themselves, except what the Father calls them to do. They hear the father and go where he leads them. That is it. So also the head is Christ. He knows nothing else to advise nor to do but what he hears from his Father. All Christians are like this. They know nothing else to speak and to do than what they hear from their Lord, the little child Christ. This is what the holy Christian church is called, finely painted and also comforted, when we see that Christ Himself wants to be a little child, and does not take a great man before Him, hugging and kissing him, but a simple, miserable little child, and says, "Thus I am formed, and so are all my Christians. He that seeth the little children seeth me, and he that seeth me seeth my Father also; as if to say, The little children are my best treasure; they are my dwelling, my house, and my tabernacle. 3)
2) Erlanger: him.
3) Erlanger: Herwerge.
where I will dwell. As often as I see Christians and children who have been baptized, I often look at Christ, and I also have Christ and in Christ the Father. As often as I would, I could find and take hold of Christ. For even if Christ were torn away from my bodily eyes, he would still have left me an image behind him by which I should learn to recognize him, and I could see him according to all my desire when I look at the children who have been baptized. For here the world is full of the Lord Christ. Therefore it is also said in Proverbs: A man can earn heaven and be saved in his own children; not because it is his natural child, but because it is baptized, and because it is a Christian child or Christian man. And here is the saying of Christ: Whoever receives a child in my name receives me; that is, whoever shelters, clothes, feeds, teaches or carries such a child receives me.
What may I now seek far from Christ or run to heaven? I should not wander through the world and go to St. James, or travel to the holy land of Jerusalem and there 1) be knighted, and on such a journey be annoyed by great food, and there see nothing but earth, wood and stone. For Christ no longer preaches in Jerusalem. He has gone to heaven and no longer performs miracles there. Why should I dare to do so much useless tasting, since I have so much more advantage at home? For there I see so many Christian children and Christian people, who are the mirror and dwelling place of my dear Lord Christ, and if I see them, I see Christ; if I hear them, I hear Christ; if I give them a drink of water, I give it to Christ; if I feed them, I feed Christ; if I clothe them, I clothe Christ, and thus in the Christian church I have the world only full of God and full of Christ. Wherever I look around and there are Christian children, I often have Christ, if only I could believe it. For Christ does not lie to us when he says: "The Christian church is where there are children, and where one receives the other as Christ Himself.
1) Erlanger: himself.
scold the same heretical and the devil's bride or not.
But the pope boasts that he is Christ's church, but hold him 2) against the church, since Christ speaks here of, you will see that he asks nothing about the gospel, also respects the children and other Christian people nothing, that he should teach them God's word. And if he would receive the little children, he would honor Christ. But he does not want to be a child, he does not want to receive Christ or a child in his name, but he wants to be a great emperor and king, yes, a lord over all. He reaches for the crown and worldly rule and power. He does not look at a child, let alone receive it. And if you look through all the papal law, you will not find even once in his teachings that you should believe in Christ, but his books are full of the fact that you should consider him alone as the highest Lord and accept his commandments.
Now hold the pope against this, and you will see that God speaks there, but here, on the pope's side, the devil. But where Christ is, and where his word is heard and the little children are taken up and baptized in his name, then I conclude that the Christian church is there, let the pope and Turk say what he will against it. And ask further: Dear pope, who is greater and higher, you or Christ? There is no doubt that Christ is greater than the pope, even than all kings and emperors on earth, and a Lord above all the angels in heaven, for he is God himself; and the pope himself must confess this. Since he calls himself Christ's governor and vicar on earth, the governor is in no way above the one whose place he takes, and has all power and authority from the one who uses him as governor.
Let us now see how it rhymes with each other that you, Pope, with your cardinals and bishops, say that you are the Christian Church because it keeps what you command. Now I hear nothing else from you, but how one should not eat meat on Friday,
2) Erlanger: them; also further on, almost throughout, "them" for "him" therefore we will not note it anymore.
how to celebrate such and such a day, how to wear a cap and disguise oneself like a carnival larva, how to see sourly and live without a wife, and what else is foolish. With this, one should do God a special favor. But what does the Lord Christ say about this, who is more than you, the pope? I hear nothing of this kind from him, for he does not say, "Whoever receives meat or fish, whoever receives a cap, whoever receives a Friday, is a Christian;" but he says, "Whoever receives me and then receives all the children in my name. So then I will obey Christ here, who is more than you devil-headed Pabst, yes, more than the Turk and all devils; and ask nothing of you Pabst anywhere, though you curse me so much. For what do the children know of Pabst, whom one carries from baptism? The child is baptized into Christ and not into the pope. After that he learns to pray his Lord's Prayer; he has prayer and faith; he knows nothing about the pope, but only about Christ. Christ calls this child to Himself and caresses it, so it will be blessed. So must I also be blessed, for I am as much a child as one lying in the cradle and bound in swaddling clothes, and I have Christ; he is my own. For Christ's kingdom is nothing else 1) but a child's kingdom.
Let the pope, with his servants and crown, go back to where he came from. I do not want to know anything about him, even if they call themselves the church. For I do not hear anything special from them, but only about food, drink, clothes and shoes; on these they build their church. That should be a fine church for me! If the pope condemns me as a heretic, I will not ask anything about it. For, if I do not know what the Persian, the dodderer or the Turk believes, it does me no harm either, if I do not know what the pope's faith and doctrine is. A child lives and dies without the pope, because he lives and dies in Christ.
Therefore this is the Christian church, which has Christ and receives him and also receives the children in his name. The papists do not know that whoever accepts Christ
1) Erlanger: not Anders.
The church is the church, and he who receives Christ receives the Father, and he who does good to the least of these does it to Christ; which is quite another thing from the kingdom of the pope, who does not consider this treasure; and also the pope, the cardinals, the tarter, the Turk, the magistracy, and the married state are not the church, but only corporeal, worldly estates. They are estates that belong to this life alone and not to the life to come. The status of princes and lords, men and women does not make one a Christian, just as clothes and shoes, food and drink do not.
This should be distinguished. The Christian church is where Christ is the head, and where his word is, also where he calls children to himself; and those who are called become his brothers, sisters and joint heirs. Therefore, in every parish, where children are baptized and the Gospel is preached, and Christ is presented to the people so that they may receive him, there is the Church. Therefore, our church here in Wittenberg is also the right, true, Christian church. The Roman church of the pope, the cardinals, even the bishop of Mainz is a boys' school. For Christ does not say: Whoever receives the pope, cardinals and bishops, receives me. This is how we can recognize the true church: where the word of God is preached correctly and people are baptized, there is a piece of the church. And what we believe here, the Christians in Constantinople also believe, under the Turk or Tartar.
It is true that Christians may be married and married to men, for worldly rule and marriage should not hinder Christianity. For the married state must be so that the human race may be preserved and nourished, and especially so that our Lord God may fill the number of Christians and children may be begotten. Thus, princes and secular governments must serve for peace, so that God's word may be taught and people baptized, which cannot happen without peace. Marriage and secular government should serve so that more Christians may become and remain; for children must be fed and protected, and must also eat.
and drink, must have clothes, shoes, house and yard. But that does not make one a Christian. Such statuses do not promote the Kingdom of God or Christianity, for the reason that they are worldly statuses and do not belong to the Kingdom of Heaven. They also do not prevent, as the pope and the unholy monks have taught, that married couples who are baptized and have accepted Christ live in a carnal and sinful state that is not pleasing to God; they are not the right core. This is blaspheming Christ. The priests and monks want to be something higher and better, so they pretend that they do not eat meat on Fridays; that a Carthusian does not wear a common garment all his life, but disguises himself as a fool, looks sour and lives differently from married couples and worldly rulers, wears special clothes and uses special food, abstains from marriage and worldly rulers, has nothing of his own; boast that these are holy people, and such make perfect people.
But a prince can remain a prince and still be a Christian. He can be baptized, hear the gospel and absolution, and go to the sacrament; and can be a Christian even if he is not a monk or a priest. So also husband and wife can be a Christian, hear the gospel, use the sacraments. For Christianity has a different origin than from the worldly rule or from the marriage state. We Christians may eat and drink what we like, and if necessity demands it; and the Christian church does not build itself on eating and drinking, on clothes and shoes, and does not say: whoever takes up meat, eats clothes, calls on saints, and chooses special days, that this makes one a Christian; but first looks around for Christ, and points to the living children, whom one takes up in Christ's name. This may well be believed, for Christ, the chief and only Master, teaches thus, saying, Whosoever shall receive such a child in my name receiveth me.
The pope and the monks speak of it much differently, and say: The Christian church has it
1) Erlanger: beautiful.
2) Erlanger: one.
thus ordered. Here ask: which? of the pope? as S. Franciscus, S. Benedictus, S. Dominicus and Bernhardus? But say thou: I hear another church teaching, which saith, He that receiveth me in the name etc. and after that: He who receives a child in the name of Jesus Christ is the Church. Nevertheless the papists conclude: they are the right church, and the forbidden eating of meat, that is right. But give me one letter from the pope's books, decrees and laws, also one point from all lawyers' law, where they taught that one should receive Christ. Therefore they do not point to the right Christian church, do not teach that one should believe in Christ and be lowly and humble of heart, nor receive us one among another, but all say: Consider the pope to be the head of the world, and to have power and authority over all kings. Well, say thou then, what is that to me? I shall not become a Christian by it; but I must hear what Christ says and how he says it, and keep my ears open to it. I have learned it well, you young people know nothing about it yet. But read the whole spiritual law of the pope, there you will find it well inside. Christians and preachers are not commanded to govern the German land, or how else one should build houses, eat, or clothe oneself; for what is that to do with us? who also commanded the pope to concern himself with such things, and to gape at who might be the greatest? Does it do anything for the glory of God? No one ever becomes a Christian from knowing how princes are supposed to govern the land and people and settle all matters. In the worldly regime and in the married state, people deal with it. But we are commanded to hear the gospel, where Christ alone is to be heard, and where it is preached how he calls children to be baptized and to believe in him, and that the people receive the Lord's Supper and, if they have sinned, hear absolution. The other things, how they should take up fields and meadows, they may learn from their parents. But from us preachers they should learn how to believe in Christ and hold up the children,
and know that in Christ I have God the Father Himself and in the little children I receive Christ Himself.
But the pope says, "Well, you don't have to eat this or drink that. Then you answer, "My father and mother know this beforehand, and it would not have been necessary for you to teach me. He says, "If you do not eat meat, you are a good Christian and better than other people. Others are like geese to you, or like poor worms. O, that is a delicious thing! surely a maid in the house knows how to clothe the child. For when it is too hot or too cold, she takes off or puts on its clothes, so that it does not suffocate or freeze to death. In the same way, if the child is hungry, the mother knows to give him food, or if he is sick, she can soon judge him and say, "Dear child, you should not drink wine now," or, "When you get better, you may drink it again. A mother can know that well. What in the name of the devil does the pope come here and want to teach me that the maid in the house, even father and mother, can do? yes, the secular government and the married state know? and he wants me to consider it a special holiness, a perfection and the highest and greatest thing.
In the same way, one may speak of other papal statutes, such as holidays, pilgrimage, monks, rules and the like. For those who keep these things are the best people in Christendom in the eyes of the pope. The other common people, who live in the married state or in the secular regime, they hardly consider as footcloths in the kingdom of heaven, and the married couples must live badly in the grace of the 1) clergy. But it is true that husbands and wives and worldly authority must be here in this life, but in that life they are not needed at all, there they will cease altogether. These two things do not make anyone a Christian, but husbands and wives must be godly and become children and accept baptism. Then they become Christians; that is what it does, that we preach the word of Christ, our head, listen to it, let ourselves be baptized.
1) Erlanger: spiritual.
call from him and believe in him. Therefore Christ also says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." But if he falls into sin, hurry again for absolution, and heaven will be opened to him.
Thus, in this text, the Lord Christ goes through the marriage state and the worldly government, and does not ask anything about the household or the worldly government. John 2, at the wedding in Cana, when there was a lack of wine and his mother interceded, he says to her, "Woman, what have I to do with you? and Luke 2, he says to his parents, who were looking for him in the temple because he was lost, "Why do you look for me? must I not be in my father's house? And when one said to the Lord Christ that he would first go and bury his father, and then come again and follow Christ, he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead, and follow me." So he also rejected him who asked him to divide his goods with his brother, saying, "Who made me a judge over you?" etc. So he always refused the affairs of the worldly state and conjugal life, and waited for his profession.
But this is what Christ does, that he calls to himself both the country and the house; he wants the rulers and the spouses to recognize him and to hear his word, for then they will learn what they otherwise did not hear in the house or in the country, namely, that these are the Christian church, which hears God's word and believes in Christ JEsum, and receives him and in Christ the Father; also receives himself among them. Whoever teaches from another church and makes Christians in a different way than the worldly wise do, is a deceiver; just as the pope and the monks have been such fellows, who do not want to be in the married state nor in the regency state, and yet may boast of being Christians. But has this also been taught and preached by Christ? They are doctrines of the devil; in addition, they tell gross lies, that they have vowed chastity and obedience and want to be poor beggars, for who has been richer than they? I mean, they suffer great poverty, that an-
The monasteries were built in the middle of the country, and the other people gave them as much as they wanted, and they were able to build churches and houses from it as if they were castles, which no prince would be able to build now. How many thousand guilders did a field monastery have to earn annually? If they were poor, the abbots would not have to wear such beautiful infuls, would not have so many fields, meadows, villages and peasants. How beautiful poverty is that to me? We would also accept this poverty of monastic life. None of us would be so rich if he could be fortunate enough to have everything for free, food, drink, clothes, shoes, money and goods, if he did not leave his fields and everything, and reward others for their toil and work and accept this poverty.
The pope has been a crude fool, but there will be other more subtle spirits who will pretend, as the Anabaptists did, that one should not have one's own goods, and other things. And such spirits have been from the beginning of the world, therefore also the disciples say in the Gospel: "We have left everything" etc. But what thinkest thou, who doeth these things, that for this cause he should become a Christian? We teach that one does not become a Christian because of this, if he is poor or rich, married or a widow, living in the household or in the world. For something else belongs to Christianity. It does not help you there if you are married or illegitimate, but only if you receive Christ and receive the Father Himself in Christ, and then love your neighbor as Christ Himself. And Christ says: Through me and through my word one becomes a Christian. The rest, which is in the worldly government and in the marriage state, does not belong here.
Thus the Lord Christ paints the church, that he may give us armor and defense in our hands against the mad, nonsensical cries of the papists, when they speak: The church has said it, set it and ordered it. But say thou: I hear it well; but where? In this or that concilio. Are they also the Christian Church? Yes. From where? Because they are in office. Oh, so the Turk and all the wicked may also be Christians! But even if a hundred thousand concilia were held, they would not be Christians.
my Lord Christ is greater than they; but so say the Christians, if ye receive Christ.
But the arch-heretics of Rome speak thus: that whoever does not consider the pope to be the Lord Christ's governor, does not accept and keep all his laws concerning clothing, food, drink and other things, and does not believe that a cardinal is greater than a bishop, is not a Christian. Oh, that works out very well! We know much differently where the church is, than when one teaches God's word purely, has baptism and sacrament. Therefore we say that the pope's teaching (since he leads me to eat and drink) is vain doctrine of the devil. For if the pope and his cardinals with their pointed hats pretend to be the Christian church, and make such things a Christian, then the swine, asses and dogs would have it good; one would also put pointed red hats and caps on them and say that they were also Christians. Therefore, where there is a crowd that does not hear Christ's voice and does not receive the children in Christ's name, I should conclude that this is the devil's church, for this is the true color of the false church.
This beautiful comforting speech and sermon is preached by the Lord Christ about the church or true Christians, that is, about those who receive Christ, and through Him also receive the Father, and then for His sake also receive all little children and new Christians, for such is the kingdom of heaven. And the great treasure of the church is so close to our eyes that we can find Christ in our own homes and among our brethren and neighbors, and must not go to Jerusalem or to St. James. And the Lord Christ wills that all right-minded Christians also have the children's way. And the Lord Christ wills that all true Christians also have and follow the manner and simplicity of children, for children abide in the truth, and a child is drawn with hearing, and there is neither wisdom nor disputing in him. It does not ask whether what is said to it is right or wrong, but believes it all. Christians should therefore hang on the word alone, and not argue whether God is lying or telling the truth, but believe it because Christ says so. Follow:
[Third sermon on the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
V. 6 But whosoever shall offend one of these least of these that believe on me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the deepest part of the sea.
He said above, "Whoever receives such a child in my name receives me. But here he contradicts this, saying, "Whoever offends one of these least ones who believe in me and does not receive Christ not only does harm, but also becomes a devil in the church and drives Christ away. Therefore the Lord Christ speaks terrible things about him and says that it would be better for him if a millstone hung on his neck and lay in the sea where it is deepest. This is a fearful word, for if it is so bad for him who offends one of the least of Christ's children, how will it be for those who offend not one or two, but a whole multitude, or even the whole Christian church?
And the Lord Christ has well seen what the pope, the heretics, the red spirits, monks and nuns would do in future times for an abominable being, so that the world would become full of trouble and especially from those who would sit in the apostle's place. For this reason the dear Lord is so hard on the apostles, and is so hard on all pastors and those who sit in the apostles' place, that they may beware of the trouble; for it is a dreadful thing about trouble, since not only one person is annoyed, by pushing Christ and inviting the devil as a guest, but also a whole church and congregation are annoyed; so that it is not an easy sin.
But in order that the young people, who do not know what "trouble" is, may understand such a word all the better, we will speak and act a little roughly and clearly about it. Anger is called by us what is otherwise called an evil example, so that one brings another down by words or deeds and makes him evil. Now this is a gross annoyance, from which people, but especially Christians, are still afraid.
can guard. As when in a city there is a public adulterer, fornicator, or usurer who goes unpunished; he sets an evil example, so that others say, "If he goes unpunished, he can go free; why should I not do the same? Item, if one is a thief or murderer, and is tolerated, that is a case or offence, at which others run and are angry, because they think: Does he do it, why would you not also do it? Such an outrage occurred in the papacy in the past, when the priests had whores with them and led a boyish life; then they said: If it is permitted to the priests, it shall also be permitted to me, why will I not also do it?
This offense can still be easily resisted, for the world knows it, and can reprove and punish it, for it can punish the case; and the heathen have abolished such offenses, much more should we Christians refrain from such offenses. Therefore, such offenses do not do great harm in Christendom, for there are none of such offenses among those who are Christians. And Christ does not speak primarily here of this offense, where people are brought down by outward evil examples; but he speaks of another offense, which is the real offense, by which one is against God and his word with unrighteous doctrine and life, and with a pretense or cover of the divine name deceives simple-minded people, and under this pretense sells the devil, and makes such offense idolatry.
As in the prophets, idolatry is everywhere called vexation, as the prophet David says in the 140th Psalm, v. 6.He also says: "Those who hope put ropes on me and spread me ropes for nets, and set traps for me by the way"; and he complains that they have put and set an evil image beside his way, that is, by false doctrine and evil examples they have caused him to stray from the right way to salvation and to go astray or into the woods.
Such a thing is a spiritual nuisance, and causes one to get off the right track, military road, and country road onto crooked paths or byways, 1) as is said in the common proverb:
1) Erlanger: gerieth.
Where our Lord God builds a church or temple, the devil soon sets up a chapel next to it, and where there is a church, there is also a chapel, that is, where God's word is preached purely and loudly, the devil comes and sets up byways, both to doctrine and to life, and must still have the name that it should be a service of God.
This is how it has been in the world from the beginning. How long did Adam have the right worship? As long as he was alone with his Eve. As soon as the first son Cain came, he separated himself from his father and set up a different service and church for him in the name of the devil, so that the devil ruled so powerfully in the world that in the end there were no more than eight people left before the flood who served the right God. So you may go through and through, from the beginning of the world to our time, you will find such trouble enough of the doctrine and worship, by which people are annoyed, that is, seduced, that they worship and honor the devil for God.
And when the devil wants to cause trouble against the right doctrine and faith, he does not do it through little people who are of no account before the world, but through those who are the very best, the wisest, holiest and most learned; they do great harm here, as it is said, "No little man causes heresy, but great men. Item, great, high people commit great folly, and fool gross works. For if a public adulterer, a murderer, or the like, were to appear and do something special in matters of faith, he would not accomplish much; but great and noble men in the sight of the world cause the trouble of which the Lord Christ speaks here.
When Jeroboam the wicked, who was king in Israel, would not suffer his subjects to go to the feast at Jerusalem to worship in order, for he feared that if his people, the ten tribes, were to rejoin the tribe of Judah, he might lose the kingdom: therefore he left the true worship and the word of God at Jerusalem (for God alone would dwell there), and built separate
He consecrated priests, set up two calves of gold, two idols in Beer-saba and in Dau, and said, "Behold, your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of Egypt"; he did not take this service out of the temple in Jerusalem; just as Ahab, the king of Israel, also established the Baal service in Samaria and set up his own service against the one in Jerusalem, 1) which was commanded by God Himself.
First of all, the reputation of the person, because Jeroboam was king in the land and well kept - for they had chosen him as lord against Solomon's son, Rehoboam, 2) after that Jeroboam said: Here are not idols and devil services, but here is the God of Israel, who led our fathers out of Egypt. Then his idolatry was adorned and decorated with the name of God, so that his priests cried out, Here one teaches rightly, here one sacrifices to our Lord God, and then the people also ran to him with heaps, for it was the right color, so that he should paint the devil, so that he would be sold for God, that he should be painted white, otherwise one knows the devil when he remains black; and God wanted to be recognized [know] and called by this sign (that he had led them out of Egypt): Therefore the people were soon deceived and led away from the true God, sacrifice and service, which God alone had placed in the temple at Jerusalem, and then ran to the idols, since they had arranged their own service, their own priests and Levites.
Such things are called snares, blocks, and vexations put in the way of the people, that they should fall away from the right way, from the faith, and from the service of God; so the vexation becomes an offence and a fall.
There are many examples of this kind of offense not only in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament. How many heresies arose in the time of the apostles and much more after that, besides the divine word, by which the Christian church was so miserably torn apart and torn apart that it was finally almost wiped out. And that the other aversions should be left aside, because whoever
1) Erlanger: those.
2) Erlanger: Roboam.
wanted to tell them all? How much trouble has the pope and his monks caused in the church in our time, and led Christians away from the right way, which is Christ Himself, now to this saint, now to another saint, all (as I said) under the pretense that it was God's word and the right way to heaven; when otherwise the right way was that Christ speaks: "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved"; item, he who receives a child in Christ's name, that the same receives Christ himself; item, that one alone believes in the one Savior Christ, and thereafter does good to his neighbor. This would still be the right road, one could perform this service without much effort, one would not have to run to Jerusalem afterwards, one would only stay at home with wife, child and neighbors, there one would have Christ and the church. But then S. Gregory came, who caused a lot of trouble with his purgatory and mass, which is the basic soup of all the trouble that had been under the papacy. After that S. Franciscus, S. Benedictus and Dominicus came and also caused trouble, and pretended that one had to vow chastity, poverty, obedience, and established new rules that made the way to heaven closer. Such new doctrine was then puffed up and seriously practiced, and thus the whole world was filled with monasteries, churches and hermitages.
But it is a different doctrine than that of the Lord Christ, if one pretends to accept the rule of Francisci, not to live like other people, but to do something new and own, and then affirm this with the name of God. In the Holy Scriptures, this is actually called annoyance, because the pious souls are annoyed, who otherwise are born anew and live righteously, and then fall back to humanity, becoming more annoyed than they were before. The pope caused much such trouble, and the monks and cathedrals helped him, and he had to be a living saint who ran to Rome or to the holy land and vowed to become a saint. No one else could break this vow, but only the pope. But what devil told him to teach this, that whoever went to Compostela would be a saint?
in Hispania, he would find forgiveness of sin. It is a horrible annoyance and shameful case. For Christians have in their churches the Lord Christ and in Christ God the Father. But the pope says: "This is nothing, where baptism and the preaching seat are; 1) there in Rome and Compostel, there is the perfect forgiveness of sin. And with such a false and forged indulgence at Compostel he opened the mouths of the people, so that the people ran to the pilgrimages as if they were mad and nonsensical, because it all happened under the appearance of the divine name.
The pope made S. Franciscum a saint and gave indulgences to those who called on S. Franciscum and celebrated on his day. Franciscum and celebrated on his day. For it is said that shortly before he died, he asked God to be merciful and forgive the sins of all those who came to Assisi in the church where he was buried. If S. Franciscus did this and in his last end was not otherwise minded, but thus: I do not hold it with him and I would not like to change or prey with him 2) although I am not as holy as he; and may have been blessed, but in such a way that he kept to baptism and communion at his last hour. Gregory may also have been blessed, but not through his diabolical mass and purgatory, but that he clung to Christ.
Thus the pope has set and commanded one idol after another and led them astray from the right way, and commanded and taught something else than Christ has done. For he instructs me that I should not seek forgiveness of sin from Christ, item, [not from] baptism and the Lord's Supper, not from the church, where Christ has placed it, but from elsewhere. Young people know nothing about it, but we old people know, who have bathed in the bath and sweated quite a bit.
What do you think the Sacramentarians, Anabaptists, and other red spirits have done? They all bring a different way and hang all the
1) In the Erlanger falsch interpungirt: Ei das ist Nichts; wo die Taufe und der Predigtstuhl ist, dort u. s. w.
2) i.e. exchange.
the name of God. This means trouble, cases, harm, ropes and offences, when people are seduced by idolatry and are led astray and misled from Christ, the one and right way. For if I am to place my comfort in S. Francisci's merit, and I keep S. Francisci's rule, which the pope has confirmed as a great sanctity, I find nothing at all in it about faith in Christ. For so it goes, as it is said in the proverb: Where there are many ways, there is none good; none of these ways has led us to Christ, but have only thrown trees, ropes and blocks in our way, over which people have fallen and broken our necks in two.
This is what the Lord Christ prophesied in the 24th chapter of Matthew, that false Christs and false prophets would arise and perform great signs and wonders, and that even the elect would be led astray (if it were possible). Therefore, no one is to make an example of his holiness and wisdom, so that one would want to follow him, be he Ambrose or Augustine or whatever else he is called. I consider S. Gregory a pious man; yet his teaching is full of error and trouble, and if God did not give it to him by grace, then he is not from the elect number, but from those who may be brought into error. For it is of no avail to say, This is what the fathers said, this is what the Roman see commanded; no, says Christ, look at me, and not at the harlots of Rome. For there shall come strong errors by the mightiest, wisest, and holiest men, and whatsoever else is great in the world. And the pope has the devil before and for his own good, who is the head, yes, God of the world. For this reason we are not excused for going ahead, as the fathers said; Christ did not command us to believe in the pope, fathers, Jerome, or others, but in him of whom the Father says, "Him I am well pleased to hear, even in Christ. For if thou art apart from Christ, thou hast lacked God; and if thou hast lost Him, what is the use, though the Pope, S. Augustine, S. Bernard and others stand with thee? For
Whoever seeks God apart from Christ falls into error and trouble. Therefore, without Christ, all high doctrine is nothing but error and darkness.
V. 7: Woe to the world because of trouble. Trouble must come. But woe to the man through whom trouble comes.
Here the Lord Christ prophesies and proclaims how great calamities will come, but we live safely as if there were no need; and the papists do not consider it a calamity or error to teach how to call on the saints and not to eat meat on Fridays. But the Lord Christ alone wants to lead us to Himself and show us that He is the head of the church, item our Master and Father. For to put on the church, concilia, fathers, will not help, and is nothing else than to put on the devil's neck. But this is the true Christian church, which believes in Christ who suffered for it, and through him alone one obtains forgiveness of sins. Then they are baptized and go to communion, live and die on it. The true church knows of no purgatory or invocation of the saints.
On the other hand, a false doctrine and evil living is taking the wrong path or side road over the right path, which is called Christ, or going to chapels that the devil has erected and going to a monastery and leaving his parish church at home. This is called Christ's trouble, because it leads from Christ to the devil and makes a mistake or offence, so that one does not stay on the right path, but falls there. And this is a spiritual case, because one leads a shem and name of God, his word and holy Christianity.
In the papacy, the painters painted the Virgin Mary to show the Lord Christ her breasts, which he sucked, and to gather emperors, kings, princes and lords under her mantle, to protect them, and to plead with her dear Son to drop his wrath and punishments against them. That is why everyone called her and honored her more than Christ. Is therefore the
Virgin Mary to an abomination or an idolatrous image and annoyance (but without her fault). This has been confirmed by the pope. That is why he is the founder and father of all the ailments that go against Christ. And I believe that the time has come when our dear Lord Christ prophesied in the Gospel of Matthew 1:13, where he says: "The Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all offenses, and sweep his threshing floor; and they that do iniquity will cast them into the furnace of fire, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For God has sent preachers, and is still sending them daily, who will remove such a nuisance and draw people to the true religion, and sweep out the pope with his filth, which he (speaking with leave) has shat in our way. Praise God, the papacy is a good part and in many places it is almost swept out by the angels that God has sent, and will send more until the last day, who will also sweep out the rest. I mean, we have swept out the dirt here in Wittenberg, that we had not a little, by which we and others are deceived with us; and have cleaned up the holy service, the masses, pilgrimage, monasteries, and what else of trouble more was present, and have put such aside, so that now the teachings of Christ go purely in the Schwang. For he intends to sweep his church clean of trouble, and to bind the hearts to him alone. For he is the only right way to live and die. The other troubles are gone, because a false, evil doctrine has been adorned under the name of God; but it now has no more power.
But we also pray against the anguish when we say in the Lord's Prayer: "Hallowed be your name. For God's name is profaned by false teaching. And the pope does nothing less than sin against the first two commandments, and leads people from God to the devil, and makes all his devilish teachings and commandments appear as if they were all divine, when in fact they are devilish, lies and devilish teachings. For he says: Run to Compostel; this must be a
have divine name and are called God's name sanctified. So it goes with all heresies. Against this we pray. For no one is rightly called by the name of God except the one who is holy, the Lord Christ. He alone is righteous and holy, and his word is also holy; his sacraments, as baptism and the Lord's Supper, as well as absolution, are also holy, and there is given that which truly makes holy.
Therefore, the church, which is God's people, does not have to be brought upon itself. The pope and the red spirits boast that they are the church, but they are the school of the devil. The name of God is blasphemed atrociously by the desperate boys. They regard us no differently than heretics, and must also bear the name that we are children of the devil, who nevertheless rely on Christ and boast of His true goods, such as the holy divine Word, Sacrament, Holy Spirit and other gifts and goods. But before God we have another name, and actually know that they are the church of the devil, even though it does not appear so to the world; everyone considers them to be children of God, even though they are an abomination before Him. Therefore it is highly necessary to pray diligently for the sanctification of the divine name, and to distinguish the true church from the false church, who only take the title of church to themselves and sell their merits and good works to others, thus deceiving the world. But we place our blessedness in Christ, the Son of God, who has given us his gospel, baptism, and the Lord's Supper; we abide by this.
But the Lord Christ has been very angry here, that he cries out for trouble and woe against those who offend someone, that is, who use God's name and the title of the church, but deceive the people with it; As the pope and all his bright crowd, cardinals and bishops, also monks and priests, have not vexed one Christian, but have almost made the whole world full of vexation, and have snatched away Christ, baptism, the Lord's Supper and the gospel; and yet the pope has had the name before the world that he is God's people and the true Christian church, and has condemned the rest of us. There are simple-minded people who take the name of God and the
Church, and do not think otherwise than that it is all right, deceived by the devil very soon.
But how is it that people are seduced so soon? The reason is that Christians are children. For the Lord Christ likened them above to little children, which children obey their parents, hearing them only, believing what they say, and obeying their commandments. If then the pope says, "Oh, where there is a council, and where many good, holy, learned men come together and conclude something in matters of religion, there is the church, and there is the doctrine right; just as a child is deceived and led away by a beggar with a piece of bread, so simple-minded Christians are very soon deceived, seduced, and grievously vexed by heretics through the appearance of a divine name.
Therefore, one should get to know the rogue, the devil, who adorns himself and sells himself under the name of God. For all false teachers and heretics bear the name of God, as you see in the pope, in the Sacramentarians, in the Anabaptists and in all the red spirits. But the Christians are not excused with it that they let themselves be seduced. Christians should be childish, but in Christ and not apart from Christ. For the Lord Christ has warned them enough that they should beware of the false degenerates who would come, for they would deceive them under the name of Christ. So also S. Paul warns that Christians should not always be children, but should grow and become strong until they become men and reach a perfect old age, and says to the Ephesians in the 4th chapter that they should not let any wind of doctrine blow them now and then, as happened under the papacy. Here S. Franciscus blew away one heap, and there S. Dominicus and Benedictus blew away the other heap. Here one blew away with pilgrimage, there the other with masses, invocation of the saints and other things, until one finally lost Christ and honored and held Mariam for the most high. For other winds and spirits of doctrine are always blowing, so one should not let oneself be blown now and then, as the reed is moved by the wind.
This has been Pope's trouble and his various winds of doctrine, against which Christians should be prepared and take good care, and be children as far as Christ is concerned, so that they may hear the word of Christ with simplicity and hold fast to it. . But apart from Christ they are not to be children everywhere, but wise and understanding men who are not easily persuaded and seduced like children. Thus we are easily preserved against all the vexations of false doctrine and life, when we alone hear the voice of the Lord Christ.
Although children have the nature and manner to know their father and mother by their speech, even though a child does not see them. For if a hundred women address my child and say to it, "Dear child, dear son or daughter," it will not speak to them again: Father and mother. But if his natural father and mother say to him, "Come here, son," he will follow. So we Christians also shall hear the voice of the Lord Christ alone, and if any doctrine be not his voice, say, Thus speaketh not my father. We are not to be children who are moved, but we are to be men and stand firm, not weak nor humble here.
But here the world cries: O, should Christians not be humble! You are stiff-necked, obstinate, stubborn, gnarled, stoici; and complain that you do not want to hear the pope, the concilia, ancestors and fathers. Now it is true that humility is a fine virtue, above all virtue, and holy Scripture also says that he who humbles himself will be exalted; item, S. Peter says that God gives grace to the humble, but resists the hopeful etc.: for this reason we should be humble toward God and all become children in Christ. But against the devil we are to be as proud, stubborn and gnarled as we ever can. I should not look at anything, because it is apart from Christ. Here it shall not be said: This one suffers nothing; he is not humble. Let all humility here be condemned to the abyss of hell. In Christ and for his name's sake, one should do and suffer everything that is to be endured and suffered.
1) Note by Bruns: Something seems to be missing here.- The addition is added by us.
and to be humble, even to let ourselves be trampled underfoot. But if we are to practice humility in another's name, let us trample it underfoot, as it is written in the 91st Psalm, v. 13: "You will walk on lions and vipers, and trample on young lions and dragons."
[Fourth Sermon on the 18th Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
So we know what is the trouble, that is, false doctrine, which corrupts and leads astray from the right way to the wrong way, taking sin for righteousness, or vice for virtue, and deviating from the truth and the right worship of God to falsehood and idolatry. Now this is a great case. For other sins are judged and punished by reason, such as theft, adultery, fornication, and such other sins as are known. But this adorned sin sees it no other way than as pure holiness. Therefore the Lord Christ is very angry with them and speaks so vehemently against these future devils, who would deceive the church, that he cried out against them and said: Woe to the world because of trouble! It would be better for those who cause trouble to have a millstone hung around their necks and to be drowned in the deepest part of the sea.
That they might not be astonished at the astonishments, he declared them here before, and told the apostles so, that he might indicate that those who would take their place would not be fathers of the house, masters or teachers of the church, but popes, cardinals and bishops, who would have power, authority, authority, the ministry, the preaching chair and baptism, and yet do the greatest harm to the church; as in the 8th chapter of Matthew, the Lord Christ also warned against these astonishments, saying: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing. [7. chapter of Matthew, the Lord Christ also warned against these aversions, saying: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves"; there he also indicates that false apostles will come, and in the 24th chapter of Matthew he says: "They will say, 'I am Christ,' and will deceive many: I am Christ, and shall deceive many." Therefore, it is not strange that such astonishments will come.
men. For the world remains the world and prays for and for the devil for their God. And just as God does not cease to preach and teach the truth and faith, so the devil does not cease to preach lies and trouble under the cover and appearance of God's name and the church. For tares want to be among the good seed. So also mice droppings mingle with pepper, and next to the temple of God the devil always builds a chapel.
And that the Lord Christ is angry about it shows what an abominable thing false teaching is. For it teaches another way than Christ is, and deceives those who otherwise believe in Christ. For they say, the heretics: I am Christ, and under this name the whole papacy and all monasteries are also founded. But woe to those who are like this and misuse God's name for this purpose and make the saints of the Lord Christ into devils. And so the people are sufficiently warned. But they have despised the mouth of the Holy Spirit and have accepted the laws of the priest, and the saints have become devils.
Therefore, Christ cries out, "Woe is me!" that the world is such a shameful kingdom and can do nothing but cause trouble. It wants to be very clever. But S. Paul says: It lets itself be seduced by the fact that the spirits of the wicked say: I am Christ. For that is what it does. If the devil said that he was, and turned himself black as he is, who would follow him? Now he practices his poison and false doctrine under the name of God and with a greater appearance than the true doctrine is practiced. That is why S. Peter, in his other epistle, says of the pope and his hordes that they lure poor souls with good words to seduce them who had barely escaped them.
Christ and Belial are completely against each other. So it began in paradise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, and the serpent would bite him in the heel. And so it is. What our Lord God corrects, the devil annoys, and does it all under the guise of the divine name and the Christian church. No defense nor punishment will help. But God must intervene with His final judgment, or else.
The scandal is too finely adorned, it blinds people so that they swear an oath that it is the truth. Therefore one must wait until God takes the judgment and the sword in his fist. Reason cannot judge that it is unjust, as it otherwise defends against and punishes other outward aggressions. For if a man has beaten a man to death, she strikes off his head again; if a man has stolen, she hangs him on the gallows; if he has broken his marriage, she punishes him. But she cannot prevent this trouble, for she does not stand for it; indeed, she helps to strengthen it, and she draws her sword to defend it, as in the time of Arii. Not only did his heresy become a great fire, but many of them poured oil on this fire, protecting and defending his error as true doctrine, until our Lord God came with his judgment and wiped it out. This is what happened at that time, that the terror was protected, since the emperors at Rome were Christians, nor was the sword drawn, not against Arium and his mob, but against the right teachers and preachers.
Learn to be prepared for this, and do not think that you will have good peace and vain security, and that the true doctrine will always be preached, even if you have God's word pure and righteous. For many of them will storm against it and teach the opposite. See then that you are not deceived by them. For we must not think that everyone will believe what we believe, but if you are in the church of God, and God's word is pure and righteous, know that the devil is after you, and goes about as a roaring lion day and night, so that he may cause trouble and put a stumbling block in your way. For the spirits of the wicked do not go among the Turks and the deputies to establish new doctrine there, but where God has begun to build a church and the right worship, the devil soon sets his chapel by its side, and the spirits of the wicked endeavor to bring forth their false doctrine and to draw the people away from the right doctrine. Therefore, when you have heard God's word, do this also, namely, pray diligently so that God's
name be sanctified, and say: Dear God, keep me in the pure doctrine. Keep us that such doctrine may not be falsified, and that thy kingdom may not disturb nor hinder the heretics. For the two things always go together in the world. As God continues with the true and righteous doctrine, so the devil also continues with his doctrine, which he puts forth and sells under the appearance of divine name and word.
But the world does not go out so freely that it annoys the Christians in this way; and the false teachers, who cause trouble, should not bear it in this way, they should not remain unpunished. For if they are not punished by those who rule, God will punish them with the eternal hellish fire, which is threatened by the Lord Christ here, saying: "Woe to the world because of trouble! Trouble must come, but woe to the man through whom trouble comes. etc. Those who give trouble and take it away from Christ, who were otherwise brought to him, will get the hellish fire; as S. Peter says in the other epistle in the 2nd chapter, vv. 1-3., also says: "There shall be false teachers among you, which shall bring in corrupt sects, denying the Lord that bought them, and shall bring upon themselves swift condemnation, and many shall follow their destruction, by whom the way of truth shall be forsaken, and by covetousness with fanciful words shall they deal with you, upon whom the judgment of long time is not abated, and their condemnation shall not sleep," that is, they shall be punished as they deceive others. For they lure to themselves the poor souls who had barely escaped the world's impurity through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, in that they had been baptized and redeemed from all sins, death and damnation through baptism and the blood of Christ, and, having escaped from the devil, had now been made children of God again: they are again wrapped up and entangled in the world's uncleanness, and are overcome in it, fall seven times deeper into it, and with them the last is worse than the first. The same then say: There is nothing wrong with the ministry or with baptism,
One must be obedient to the Roman Church, what it says, believe it. One must go on pilgrimage to St. James, praising the saints' merit, so that God will be merciful to us through their intercession. These, who before had truly escaped the devil and were brought to Christ, are now led 1) to Compostel etc. These are not apostles, but real highwaymen. Therefore I shall not hear them, for the Lord Christ reproves such errors and aversions under the penalty of damnation.
So now the devils creep along, since 2) the gospel is preached purely, and since people come to Christ, the Savior and Shepherd of our souls; and since He Christ has made everything pure, improved and edified, they want to change and improve it; and the devils do nothing against the pope, but act straight against ours. The devil does not roll into the wilderness, but sits down hard at the door of the Lord Christ. Therefore we must take care that we preserve our blessedness and do not allow ourselves to be wrapped in sin again, from which we have escaped and been cleansed. 3) For it is not in vain for us to be saved. For it is not a vain word that the Lord Christ saith, Woe to the world because of trouble! For trouble does great harm in Christendom. It distorts the doctrine and draws people away from Christ. The world cannot punish this damage caused by it. Another punishment belongs here, namely the hellish fire. Murderers, thieves and adulterers can be defended with the sword and punished with judgment and justice, but who can punish the seduction and damnation of a single soul? The sword and the punishment of the world are too small. Therefore woe belongs to it, that is, the eternal hellish fire.
So we see that the Lord Christ warns us with great diligence, and grievously afflicts those who do harm. For there must come a great trouble. Someone might say that God could well forbid it, so that it would not be
1) Erlanger: "fuhren nun" with the note: "In Orig. added: man."
2) In the Erlanger wrongly interpungirt: "dahin. Da "rc.
3) Erlanger: derer.
He would be a pain in the neck and kill all the heretics. Why doesn't he do it? Well, I certainly cannot tell you why he does not do it. But it is also true that because these two kings and potentates, the Lord Christ and the devil at the same time, have two armies at war against each other on earth, there is no other way to suffer, and there is no paradise or kingdom of heaven here, but in this temporal life and being there is evil and good through each other, and the devil is not yet locked up in hell. He still reigns mightily in the world and is God's enemy and the enemy of all God's children. We, who are born in this world, are not all blessed from the beginning. There, in that day, it will be said: Here heaven, there hell. But here on earth it is so, that some are evil, some are good. Because this is still the case, the devil and the world can do nothing else but cause vain trouble, and the devil keeps on by force, so that he deceives people from the pure word of God through his trouble and false teachings. This battle will remain until the last day, when the devil and all of his members will be well resisted, so that they will leave the Christians undisturbed. However, let us beware of the devil and pray to God that he will keep us steadfast in his dear word until the end.
We Christians have to suffer the upsets about which Christ cries woe, and the devil and the world are not excused if they cause upsets; they shall not have done it in vain. But they shall not do much harm to the true Christians, for S. Paul also says: "Error and heresy must come into the world, so that the elect may be proven and revealed. It is for the good of the Christians, if they do right; and St. Augustine, who has been sufficiently vexed by the unholy,: red spirits, says, that when heresy and trouble come, it only creates much benefit in Christianity, because they cause the Christians to read diligently in the holy Scriptures, to follow them diligently, and to stay with them 4), which otherwise might well be called "error" under the "heresy".
4) Erlanger: "may" and shortly before: "the same".
If they were to leave the Bible on the bench, they would be sure and say: "We have God's Word and the text in our hands, we do not need to read the Holy Scriptures. But then they are made lively and courageous by the heretics and the trouble and understand God's word better than before in the quarrels and fights. That is why this warning is given to us, so that we may follow it and not be frightened by it. We have to suffer, but those who put us through the hardship of having to suffer the adversity should pay the price.
By the word world do not understand the common man, Lord omnes, the common rabble, who are burdened with gross sins; for from silly and unlearned people one must not take any trouble, as it is also said in the proverb: It is a simple good man, who does not cause heresy. But the world is called the best who are in the world, as the most learned bishops, the greatest and wisest rulers, the leaders of the people, who have much following, and they are considered to teach the way to heaven rightly; and as they lead the people, so it goes afterwards. The poor people do not cause trouble, but they suffer trouble. Christ therefore grievously dreads them that cause such vexations: for they cause the name of Christ to be blasphemed, and deceive them which are redeemed by the death of Christ.
Follows further in the text:
V. 8, 9. 2) But if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life lame or crippled, than to have two hands and two feet, and be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, than to have two eyes, and be cast into hell fire.
Here we hear what the Lord Christ calls woe, namely to be thrown into the hellish fire, and that the Lord does not want to excuse anyone.
1) Maybe: carousal?
3) The 9th verse is missing here in the original.
It is a common speech nowadays to say, "How can I do it, I am a layman and not a doctor, I do not understand religious matters, how do I know who is right or wrong? how can I beware of trouble? I go to church and listen to what my priest tells me, and I believe him. Item, one says: I would like to be with the Gospel, but my father refuses me, my prince and Lord is also there, and wants to force me to believe something else, because of God I must be obedient; then they say: I am excused, because I hear my priest and obey my parents and authorities. Now, when the princes forbid both forms of the Lord's Supper, those who obey the secular authorities are excused. Item, they say: My parents want to disinherit me, if I use the Lord's Supper in both forms, shall I then become a beggar? what is God helped by that? then say: I will be obedient to the authorities, God will not impute this sin to me. Yes, if you had seals and letters for it. We also preach that one should obey parents and authorities. We also preach that one should be obedient to parents and authorities, yes, we preach something more about that, that we should be obedient among ourselves, one to the other and serve. That is something more.
But what does the Lord Christ say here? If thou seest that thine eye, foot, or hand offend thee, pluck out thine eye, cut off thy hand and foot. Here you must not roughly understand the bodily members, the bodily eyes, feet and hands, when Christ says: It is better that you go to heaven with one eye, with one foot etc. than with both to hell. For it is certain and clear that in that life we will not be blind, deaf, lame or crippled as we were here in this life, but will have all our limbs whole and healthy. There we will have a beautiful, transfigured, holy body, like the sun, and much more beautiful. There will be no limping or crippled person in heaven. Therefore, it cannot be understood from the bodily eyes, arms and legs: of our own body; unless one would want to say per hyperbolic: If I am the
If I should have one, I would rather be blind or lame and hunchbacked in heaven than go to the devil with all my limbs, or, as they say, it is better to be crippled in heaven than to be healthy in hell; item, it would be better to give an eye, hand or foot, so that one could escape from hell, as they also use to say in the proverb: it is better to have red eyes than to be in a pit; that is, it is better to have evil eyes than to be blind.
But the Lord Christ speaks allegorically here, and in the holy scripture the eye is called the one who teaches or preaches, who should lead and guide others, as a preacher, master or bishop who preaches. Then the pastor is my eye, he should lead me to salvation. If the same priest now says: You may well receive the sacrament under one form, as the desperate boys in the land of Meissen teach, and also say: If it is not as I say, then I will pledge my soul to you. Then the good people think they have just enough that their pastor says it, who is their eye, whom they should follow and obey for God's sake, think they will be excused with that. Yes, whoever has a letter and seal over it would not be in a bad position. But who will make me certain that I am excused before God if I follow my pastor, who teaches against God's word, angers and deceives me? Yes, he gives me his soul as a pledge. Then you say: Put it together with the body at the top of the gallows in the name of the devil! What can I dare on his soul, which is the devil's own? I shall hear and believe God's word in these matters alone. So you say to me: I give you my soul as a pledge; that is why the devil speaks out of you. Here you are to preach God's word and say: Listen, brother, do not believe me in this matter, but believe my God and your God, who calls me to the kingdom of heaven by his word. Nor do we have to listen to them swearing, saying: I pledge my soul to you etc., and the common man then says: Ei, he is my eye, my priest and pastor. Yes, where is Christ, who is certainly my pledge, and here says, "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it away? It is better that
you go to heaven with your eye, but go to hell with your eye"? If you cannot go to heaven together with the priest, let him rather go, that you may be saved, and let the priest rather go alone to hell to the devil, than with you, where he also belongs. Therefore, let your bishop put his soul in hell.
They do it now so roughly that one can notice the annoyance. For, that we remain with the single example of the sacrament, they themselves freely confess that Christ has ordered it in both forms. Nor do they say publicly: Although Christ has thus ordained it, and it is thus right, yet it shall not be right, for the popes, fathers, and conciliar authorities have commanded it to be given to the laity in one form only; for this reason they forbid the laity to use both forms; they blaspheme it and call it heresy, and they also strangle the people to death over it; And what Christ has commanded they forbid, and do not leave it at that, but they blaspheme it and revile it in the highest way, and call it heresy, strike Christ freely in the face, and are not satisfied with it yet, but persecute it publicly, drive it out, strangle and torture the people over it, which is a sure sign that the last day is not far off, in which Christ will hold judgment with such public rejecters of God.
Then men may say, Verily I see it, and take hold of it, that they deceive men, because they speak against the right eye, the Lord Christ, who is the true light and the right sun; and in him, as he teacheth rightly, I have my two eyes; and therefore shall men say unto false bishops and teachers, Thou art mine eye that vexeth me; therefore I cast thee before the devil, and follow the Lord Christ. But the commandments of men are not to be obeyed.
And he will not be excused who pretends that the bishops, fathers and concilio have thus ordered it. Because it is an annoyance, you are not excused. But say: God is above all, Apost. 5, and one must be more obedient to God than to men. If the two of you are at odds with each other, parents and God, you should say, "Dear parents, I owe it to you to cherish you;
But if ye will set yourselves above and against God, I am bound to pluck out mine eye, and in short, Father, I will see no more through thine eye. That is why the Lord Christ says in another place: I have come to make strife between the Father and the Son. Then one must judge oneself to be more obedient to God than to all men, called parents, authorities, preachers, yes, even the whole church, if it were possible for them to oppose Christ. I let alone that one should not wjder one bishop, who would be in addition a rough ass. Such an eye should always be plucked out. But whoever follows authorities, parents and pastors, who command, call and teach trouble, it happens to him that he goes with his eyes and with everything into the abyss of hell.
So also what follows is to be understood by the hand and foot. Hand means every good friend who protects, nourishes and helps me, by whose advice and help I do my advertising, feeding and handling, and I have my being under him, as there are princes and lords, father and mother and other such friends. Nor shall the excuse of those be valid here who say: How shall I do to him? It is my lord, my authority, it is my father and mother. God wants me to be obedient to them 1). Now they force me with loss of their favor, my goods and food: I shall take the sacrament under one form. If I am not to disobey them, I must do it. It is God's command. But if I act against them and do not do what they want me to do, my food and handicrafts will be reduced. The prince drives me out of the country. We also teach that one should be obedient to the authorities; we also teach that one should honor father and mother, and that one should serve and help the other in whatever way he can. But you must also remember that your father and mother, your ruler and lord, are not above God. God has not given so great a power to the authorities and what is higher in the world that they should be God, and God should be a fool. Here it is said: You shall obey God more than men.
1) "them" put by us instead of: "him".
otherwise you will go to the devil. Therefore say, You are my hand. It is true that I cannot do without thee, neither can I do without thee, even as the hands of man cannot be lacking, for they must work to feed him. But because you rage against God and provoke me and force me to do what is against my conscience, I will cut you off. But if you are not against or above God, I will gladly obey you, and you shall not put too much on me. Otherwise God shall be the supreme Lord, who teaches me and you to be obedient to him; and we also shall gladly do all that he commands us, and shall not forbid it.
Feet are called the members that bear the body, or that which is among us. As when a lord says, I cannot accept the gospel before my subjects or people. I must do as others do. He that doeth as other men doeth not err, saith the Proverbs. Therefore, by the feet are understood all kinds of people with whom we do our business and trade. One is the foot of another. But if the foot, the common man, also wants to act against God, then say: I will cut him off with my eye and hand, that is, with the preachers, princes and parents, because it is better that I go to heaven with Christ than go to hell with the doctors, parents, authorities and common men. For one must be more obedient to God than to men, who are called preachers, father and mother, big Hans or little Hans. For it is not a gray skirt or a bushel of grain, or two, a healthy body or anything else, that counts; but it is a matter of either burning eternally in hell or being saved. Now, you shall say, for your sake I will not cast my soul into the abyss of hell. But the pope and the bishops still want me to keep an eye, hand and foot against God. I do not want to do that, that I should keep a water bubble, a mortal man for a friend, and leave the Almighty God. Is it not enough that for the sake of a man I am willing to do everything I can, and for the sake of my sovereign, to bargain for life and limb, to go to war, to kill my wife and child, and to kill myself?
and goods and serve him with them? Yes, they say, you shall also go to hell to please me. God has forbidden me that, and he wants me to go to heaven, even if it has to be without eye, hand and foot. Well, they say, you are not going to hell, but to heaven. The devil thanks you that you can decorate the hellish fire with the divine name.
I have said this about both forms, and it can also be applied to all other articles of our faith. Now one does not leave it at that, that one forces one to receive only one form, but both forms must also be badly wrong: thus one is deprived of the other part of the Lord's Supper and must also bear the sin that it is heresy and wrong to use the Lord's Supper under both forms, one blasphemes it and desecrates it in addition. Here, for the sake of a bishop, prince or father, one should bear the sin that our Lord God, His Word and Sacrament are heresy. But a Christian does not let himself be burdened with this. For it has become not only an offense, but also a prohibition and a blasphemous word; before which one's heart would burst. We must hear this so that our ears ring with it.
Our adversaries say: We know that your teaching is the Word of God and is founded in the Gospel, and yet it is not to be considered right. They call it heresy, and God says it is right. This is the last time; it cannot get any worse. They say it is false and heresy, and yet it is God's word. It is not an annoyance to them. One should also say publicly that it is not an offense, and yet it is a great offense, and even more a public blasphemy. I hope that the last day is not far off, as we have an example of it under the cross of Christ. When the blasphemy of the hag on the left side, also of the chief priests, Pharisees and warriors, went against Christ, the sun became black and darkened. So after this blasphemy will also follow what the Lord Christ says: "You will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven.
Therefore let us only hold fast, and not vex eyes, hands, and feet. Say to them: If you do not want to go to heaven, I must go. I would rather go to heaven without a hand, without a foot, without an eye, that is, without a preacher, without authorities, and without father and mother, than with a pastor, princes, father and mother into the hellish fire. If we cannot have them with us in heaven, we should also let them go. This is what the Lord means by this similitude, when he preaches so harshly against the abominations that happen in the world that he also curses them with eternal woe, that is, with hellish fire, because it follows that it is such people who destroy the church. But he means false doctrine and heresy, which by a great and glorious appearance departs from Christ and leads into the abyss of hell.
[Fifth sermon on the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
V. 10. See that you do not despise any of these little ones. For I say to you: Their angels always see the face of my Father in heaven.
This text has been interpreted in two ways, firstly when Christ speaks of little ones that he means the humble, as there are the Christians who believe in him. This is not an evil interpretation, for it is true that all believers are humble and obey the word of God. These are also like children, of whom the Lord Christ says, "He who humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. But we want to stay with the simple mind, as the words are, that he speaks of the little ones, who are half children in age; that he thus wants the little children to be understood first of all. For above he set a little child in the midst of the multitude, and said, "Take heed that ye offend not one of these little ones." Therefore the dear Lord Christ is still concerned about the same little children who are young, whom he has commanded the old men to bring up, teach and instruct, so that they may know Christ and walk in the right way, and not by false doctrine or false teachings.
They would be seduced by carelessness before they would come to strength and the right knowledge of God, because this is easily done. Thus it is the youth that is most needed. We old people are not worthy that the earth should carry us, or that bread should grow out of the earth; it has been best with us. But if God is to preserve His Church and Word, it must be through the youth that grows daily and is born into the world, for whose sake God still does good to the world. This same youth God places in our bosom; it is commanded to us by God that we should teach them to fear God, as is earnestly commanded in the 78th Psalm. And that the youth may be educated, so that God may yet do good to the world, and when grain grows, there must also be peace in the land. Otherwise, as for the old fools, God should not let the sun or the moon shine, nor should a grain grow in your field. But that it should happen, he does it so that the dear youth may be educated and nourished and brought to his kingdom, for otherwise they cannot govern themselves: so he commands us old men the youth, that we should neither vex nor seduce them, but instruct them, so that they may know and fear God, and not fall away from baptism, but may also raise up others in the fear of God and honorableness. For it is easy with the little children. We, who are now grown up and a little practiced in the Word of God and faith, cannot be deceived so soon. But if the youth does not get proper schoolmasters and teachers, the devil will soon win the game with his mobs. For this reason, the little children are strictly commanded to all, especially the pastors and preachers, and they are urged not to let the children be deceived.
And the Lord here looks upon baptism and praises it, that through it the children become believers. For he speaks clearly: "of these little ones who believe in me". This was a very little child, standing there in the midst of the disciples, yet because it was circumcised and had come into the number of the elect, the Lord says, "It believes. And how else could the children of the Turks and the Jews be recognized and distinguished from those of the Christians, for their children do not find Christianity.
children, because they are not baptized. And God has therefore poured baptism into the world, that those who are baptized should be His own, and woe to those who fail to do so; we are commanded to speak the word that our Lord God will find faith well. Teach them to pray. He says: The children believe in me, I command them to you, see that they are not deceived. Take good care of them, that they may be instructed aright, and brought to the true knowledge of God.
So let these words be a simple speech, for we are also children and believers, if we stick to them, and then it is all the better. But if we are deceived with false doctrine, it is said: Beware that you do not despise one of these little ones, for know that they 2) belong to me, therefore do not despise them; as if to say, See to it, you preachers, parents, and authorities, that you all do this, that the children learn to pray and to know Christ. For this is your office; you are to bring up such little children for me, and I entrust them to you.
But the Lord Christ adds another cause to the first, that the children who believe in him should not be offended, for, says he, their angels always see the face of my Father in heaven. From this saying I once had a special sermon printed, 3) in which the ministry of the angels is discussed. But the Lord Christ wants to say here: God the Lord has such great diligence for the little children and for the believers, he loves them so much that he does not let anyone be kept with guns or spears, but he gives them great lords and princes as escorts, who are to wait for them, as the dear angels, who look upon the child against the devil, the evil angel. These pious angels are mighty spirits, since all emperors, kings, princes and lords are nothing compared to them; and these angels always see, not the face of a king or emperor Carl the Fifth.
1) Erlanger: Learn.
2) Erlanger: me.
3) This sermon is found in Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. X, 1020. Cf. the appendix to this volume, No. 11.
but of the great Lord God in heaven, the high divine majesty. Therefore, if you will not be afraid of the children, be afraid of their guardians.
So the world does not look at a child, although also the pagans and philosophers said, who did not know anything about the angels, but as in the dream slurred and talked about it, every man is governed in particular by a good or evil genius. They may have heard ringing, but not beating together. But we Christians have a certain knowledge of this from the Word of God; therefore we should not regard the children so badly and lowly, but open our spiritual eyes and see how the little children have such excellent great princes and lords around them, who if we could see them with bodily eyes, I would be much more afraid of a child than of a great emperor; which should ever move us, that we do no evil in their sight, nor speak evil, that they may be deceived; and if thou shouldest see with bodily eyes a child's guardian, an angel, thou wouldst be more afraid of the child than of a king.
Beware, therefore, of trouble, especially lest the little children be vexed, for they are more easily seduced than the aged; and if the youth be seduced, I would not care much for the aged. If a good government is to be established, the youth must be well instructed and brought up, who can serve the world in the church, worldly government and housekeeping. Therefore, everything depends on the youth being well educated. It is a great lament and unfortunately all too true that the youth is now so wild and wild, and no longer wants to be drawn. How little they now ask of their parents, schoolmasters and authorities; they know nothing of the Word of God, baptism or the Lord's Supper; they go about in a foolish way, have been brought up wildly and wildly, and grow up in their own fashion and will to be brave. It is not a good sign, for when they come to rule, war, bloodshed, misery and distress will result; and when war comes, all the more all discipline will fall away and one with the other will fall to the ground.
goes. And if only the body would be damaged, it would still be forgettable, if only the soul would not be lost. For what do you learn now for discipline and honor in wars? The people of war are like wild, unreasonable cattle, stabbing and strangling each other to death. It follows from this, when one grows up so raw and savage, that one does not want to let oneself be drawn. So one dies like the cattle. This is what happens when one despises God and when one blasphemes God as soon as he praises him; when one grows up not in discipline but in indulgence, eating and drinking, then such people come out of it who could not govern a sow. When peace and discipline have been established, a very fine character will emerge, as cannot happen otherwise when wild, naughty youth comes to rule. Therefore, if great cities, kingdoms, countries and people are to be governed, parents should bring up the children with all diligence and preside over the youth well, so that they are not deceived, so that the terrible and horrible cursing and clamor, which is spoken here about those who annoy the youth with false teachings or lewd life, does not come over them. If the children will not let themselves be instructed and pulled, nor obey their father and mother, then they must finally obey the executioner, or perish in wars or other misfortunes; for God will not let this will of courage go unpunished, should we become mad and foolish about it.
So then one cries out: Oh, there is war, theurge, pestilence, and evil everywhere. But look behind you at your record, and see what you have done in youth. You did not let yourself be drawn into it, nor did you let the mercy of God, held out to us in His word, entice and provoke you to repentance. So you may go and die and perish without mercy; and if God does not punish you, the executioner or the soldiers will.
For this reason, we old people (who are called to both the secular government and the household, and even to the church office) may fear God and raise our children rightly, for God wants us to do this and has therefore created all the need for this.
Life is given so that the children may know God. If the parents are lazy and indolent, and let the children go unruly, they must answer for it and expect the curse to be pronounced on those who offend the youth; and the parents must be careful that the children are not deceived. Again, the children are also told to be obedient and to let themselves be guided and drawn, for thus says God: "Honor thy father and mother, that it may go well with thee." Follows:
V. 11: For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
There the Lord touches another reason why he is so angry with those who despise, annoy and deceive his Christians, the baptized children, or let them stand in line, so that they are not brought up in discipline, that the dear Lord should cry alas and woe over them ten times over; for he says: I have come into the world to help. This is my office, that I have come to earth for their sake, to redeem them with my blood. So the devil's heads come with their false teaching and do the opposite. For since God the Father sent me out of great grace and mercy to be the Savior and Redeemer of those who are lost, the devil's spirits follow the devil and destroy what I have redeemed and tear away from me what I have purchased with my precious blood. Item, which I have barely brought to myself through baptism, and which I have bought with my suffering and death, they destroy and corrupt. Therefore he would like to cry out one more thing: Woe to the world for its trouble! For the world is not only evil and wicked in itself, but also willfully destroys the sheep of Christ, whom he redeemed with his blood. Then he says: I am come to be a Saviour; they are the sorrowful devil that teareth all things asunder. Is it not sin enough that you are ungodly and wicked for yourself and do not believe in this Savior, but also want to destroy others and lead them with you to hell? As the Lord Christ also says to the Pharisees in another place [Cap. 23, 13]: "Woe to you Pharisees, you do not want to go to heaven and also prevent others from going in." These are unspeakably great sins.
If one now looked at the world in all seriousness, it is no wonder that he would die of pain in a moment; for the pope and the bishops now not only live godless and damnable lives, but also force and coerce their people away from Christ by force; and the pope does nothing else but teach that the world cannot be saved, unless it keeps his statutes and commandments; He paints and blows his filth upon the people, so that they remember neither Christ their Saviour, nor baptism, nor sacrament; yea, he makes Christ an angry judge, who can do nothing but punish; and then he directs the people to the intercession of the saints, and causes as much trouble as many raindrops fall from heaven: His kingdom, therefore, is nothing but trouble. For he is idolatrous in himself, full of blasphemy and contempt of divine word, but not satisfied by it, but he also forces the whole world to his godless nature and to eternal damnation; and if you look at this aggravation, the papacy is a horrible sight. I do not like to think about it. Therefore we should ask God to keep us in the right path, so that we will not be caught and deceived by them, as such heartache, which would be caused in the church, S. Peter in the 2nd epistle at the 2nd chapter [v. 20.He lamented that the little children should be deceived, because he says that those who escaped 1) escaped and were caught up out of the uncleanness of the world through the knowledge of Christ, will be caught up again into the same 2) and thus overcome.
Then S. Peter confesses that the little children who have been baptized and have been made blessed by the blood of Christ, and are still young and new [can easily be deceived]; 3) immediately, when they come to their years, understanding and reason, the pope chews his cud and puts his filth into their mouths, and says: You cannot be saved unless you believe that I am the head of the church; item, that you call on the saints and do good works. Then it shall be told thee of Christ, or that thou
1) Erlanger: escaped.
2) Erlanger: the same.
3) Bruns suggested this addition. '
He does not say a word about being baptized into him or being redeemed from sins through him, but teaches plainly how he alone is lord and head of the world. This is what a boy of fifteen had to learn. How can a boy of fifteen resist? For they can remember neither baptism nor Christ their Savior. God has therefore earnestly commanded the preachers, the authorities, and the parents to educate the children in the pure teaching of the divine word and to keep them in it.
"The Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. Christ wants to say, "My office is to save"; and he can also speak exquisitely and gloriously of his craft as a master, for he who learns well can also speak properly of his craft, so that everyone must say that he is a good master. Again, whoever speaks unformally of something, one soon concludes that the master is not at home. So Christ is also the right master. He speaks quite comfortingly of his office and says: "I have come to help all who are lost. This is my craft and my office. I am not to bring a new law, as the pope and Mahomet do, to burden the world with it, even though they preach a different law than Moses taught. There are enough laws in the world, more than people can do. So also the worldly government, father and mother, schoolmaster and disciplinarian, is there to rule by laws. But the Lord Christ says: "I have not come to judge, to bite, to murmur or to grumble and to condemn people, for the world is already too condemned, for it is under the power of the devil and hell; nor do I want to rule over it with commandments, as the pope does, but I have come so that with my future and death I may help those who are lost, and also free and set free what is overloaded with laws, judgments and condemnation.
This is a very comforting saying, in which the Lord Christ portrays Himself sweetly and lovingly, and agrees with the saying of John in chapter 3, where the Lord Christ says: "God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be judged.
The world will be saved through him," as if to say, "The world has been judged and condemned enough before, if it does not believe. I am coming into the world that was condemned before, that has enough judgment and judges, that is, has many false spirits, but I will even remove the judgment, so that the condemned may be saved.
We must have such sayings for our need, not only against the pope and the fanatics, but also against the devil. I was more afraid of Christ in the papacy than of the devil. I did not think otherwise, because Christ would sit in heaven as an angry judge, as he is also painted sitting on a rainbow. I could not call upon him, indeed, I could not hear his name called, and I had to take refuge in our dear women and crawl under their mantle, call upon my messenger of twelve, S. Thomam, and then I thought: Oh, I will confess, keep my measurements, and satisfy God Himself with my good works. The desperate pope has torn our dear Savior Jesus Christ out of our eyes and taken him away, and painted his friendly and lovely color with a horrible black color, so that we were more afraid of him than of the wretched devil; and such a clear text, which a child can now understand, did not help, because the false teaching and poison goes and penetrates through marrow and bone, as an oil, as David also complains about it in the Psalter. But woe to the teachers, so with subtle strong poison the 1) hearts have forgiven!
S. Bernard also taught that the saints should be used as emergency helpers and the Virgin Mary as mediatrix. She should be called as the mother of the Lord Christ, so that she would show her breasts to the Son and he would be merciful to us 2) and let go of his wrath. No, it is not directed with breasts, it must do something else. Therefore we should be well aware of these sayings, since Christ portrays himself as coming not to judge and condemn, but to save those who are already lost and condemned. If we now understand this wholesome, true teaching of the
1) "the" put by us instead of "the". - forgiven - poisoned.
2) Erlanger: was.
When we hear the Gospel, we are refreshed again, and now we no longer ask anything about the saints. But I also feel that I do not pray to God with the same earnestness and diligence now as I did to the saints a long time ago. But has it not been a great and abominable heresy that we have all put our trust in our dear Lady's mantle, since she has not shed her blood for us? and even if she had shed it, she is too enough to redeem the world with her blood. It is idolatry to put people full of Christ under the mantle of Mary, as the preaching monks did. They painted the Virgin Mary in such a way that the Lord Christ had three arrows in his hand, one of which was pestilence, the other war, and the third was the time of the world, so that he would punish the people. Here Mary held out her mantle so that the people would not be hit.
S. Francisci's brothers also preached a great lie full of the Virgin Mary, that Franciscus had a dream of entering heaven, and Mary uncovered her cloak, but he found none of his brothers under it. When he was very frightened and did not know what this meant, Mary said to him: "Your brothers are in a more perfect state than the others, therefore they do not belong under this cloak. To this the pope laughed into his fists and had his joke about it, and confirmed it for the truth. But (as said above) whoever could look at it with spiritual eyes, it is a terrible, horrible error, so that the devil has led us away through the pope and monks full of the glorious comforting sayings of the holy scriptures, that we have had to consider Christ badly as a judge, wishing only that Christ had never been born, and have fled in fear to the saints, and thereafter have martyred ourselves with scourging, hair shirting, fasting, and praying, all of which is derived from false doctrine.
But the Lord Christ will appear as a judge on the last day, so that he may help us. But now he comes through his gospel to serve us. Whoever does not want to serve him and be helped, he will send him body and soul to the grave at the last day.
But in the papacy they paint the Lord Christ with this terrible image, that he should judge us, since he died for us and shed his blood for us. Why does one make him so terrible that one would not like to see him? All this was done by the wretched devil, who took away the beautiful colors of the Lord Christ from our eyes and painted black colors over them. But praise be to God that we now know that the Son of Man has no other office than that which is fully commanded to him by his Father, namely, that he should save what is lost.
Let us therefore sweat out again the poisoned oil, which we have drunk into us from the pope; and you young people, if you are not yet so corrupt, and still have something of this idolatry, and are pure scribes, take care that you stand firm against the pope and the devil, and defend yourselves, for they deal in corrupting what Christ has acquired, and the devil sends ravening wolves in sheep's clothing. But Christ is come to redeem and save that which the devil hath devoured. Therefore he says: "Woe to them, they do not want me to be their savior, to help them. Let the wretched and miserable life of our elders be an example and a warning to you, young people, and fight against the devil and the spirits of the mob, and see to it that you can make good use of this right article of our Christian faith, that Christ has come to save sinners, when you are in mortal danger.
These texts belong to it, if one wants to recognize Christ correctly. In the papacy, one only acted that the pope was the head of the church. Whoever did not believe this was condemned in all books, chapters and sheets. But should not the pope rather lead the preaching of Christ, that he is our Savior and without him we are nothing? Truly, he should teach such things above all things. Thus he points to himself. Therefore, young people, who still have simple hearts, learn to grow up in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, so that, when false prophets come, you may remain in Christ, the true light, and darkness may not take hold of you, and, as S. Paul says,
that we have not received the grace of God in vain, that we also send ourselves to the pleasant time and to the day of salvation, and that we do not let the light shine and pass us by in vain. We now have the blessed light, but the devil does not celebrate it, but thinks about it, how he raises up the spirits of the devil, which again darken and suppress the teaching of the Gospel. Then say, "This is my faith, that the Lord Christ is God and man, and is not a judge or a punisher, but came into the world to redeem sinners from the death into which we had fallen. With this you can easily repel what the devil teaches wrongly through the pope and his fanatics. For this teaching must remain. Here also see what harm has been done by the Sacramentans and Anabaptists, for they have not kept people on the right path, but have led them to damnation.
The parable of the lost sheep and the penny, which the Lord Christ uses to pour out His great love for us, is based on this. It is abundantly deleted from the fifteenth chapter of Luke, and otherwise preached on the third Sunday after Trinity, when the Lord says thus:
V.12-14. What think ye of any man, if he have an hundred sheep, and one of them go astray, doth he not leave the nine and ninety upon the mountains, and go and seek the one that is strayed? And if he should find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more over it, than over the nine and ninety that are not gone astray. So also it is not the will of your heavenly Father that any of these little ones should be lost.
Here the Lord goes through briefly and says: "This is my office and work, which the Father commanded me to do, that I should seek for one that was lost, for we are so dear to the Father that he does not want one 1) of the little children to be lost; and if I fetch one and find it, God is more interested in it than in ninety others; and in the fifteenth chapter of Luke it is said that the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner and one child.
1) Erlanger: One.
He that repenteth more than nine and ninety righteous.
Know from this what the will of God is, that he says: "Let the little children be content with me, for the Father does not want one of them to be lost, for he sent me to help them. For this reason my Father will not suffer one of them to perish. He will save those whom the devil has corrupted and lost, and will say to the devil and to all heretics, "You are not doing this against me, but against the Father who sent me.
These words are said to those who are in temptation, because they are not in the number of the sheep, item, more to the feeling of their heart, even to the false prophets than to the Lord Christ. Let them know that the Father's will in heaven is not that any of these little ones should be lost; and if one Christian should say to another, "Why do you trouble yourself with your thoughts, as if God did not want you? He does too much for this, because he wants you to be lost. He lets it cost the very best, namely his dear son, who sheds his blood for you. The devil wants you to be lost, he puts such thoughts into your heart through the spirits of the wicked that you should despair of God's grace; which will of the devil is contrary to the will of God. For God does not want anyone to be lost, and that is why He made you come to His baptism, brought you to His gospel, and made you come to the Lord's Supper, so that you would hear the divine word daily, so that He would make you sure and certain that His heartfelt will and good pleasure was that all who were lost would be saved.
This glorious and comforting saying must be diligently remembered, not only against the false apostles who falsify the doctrine, but also against the devil and against the evil conscience that says, "How do I know that God wants me to be saved? so that one can answer it: Hear, behold baptism; item, the gospel, the Lord's Supper, the power of the keys, and that God has given me His Son. These are true
Witnesses of his fatherly will. This should be the office of the pope, this is what he should teach, so that these innumerable abominations and errors of the pope would not come to pass. Our dear Lord God still leads his sheep out, as he has given us his word for this purpose, also faith and his knowledge, so that we should not be lost.
[Sixth sermon on the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
Follows on:
V. 15-17. If a brother sins against you, go and punish him between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have won your brother. If he does not hear you, take one or two more to you, so that the whole matter may rest on two or three witnesses. If he does not hear them, tell the community. If he will not hear the congregation, count him a heathen and a publican.
In this text, the Lord Christ precedes his disciples and answers a secret question, which does not happen, because his disciples and disciples would have asked him such a question at the first sermon and would have said: Dear Master, if there were such a stiff-necked one among the Christians, who would not seek nor be found, but despised the gospel, and would be unattached, and go astray, as to this counsel? how then should we do to him? To this the Lord answers, for he will have his church well kept and sufficiently instructed in all things, and says: "If thy brother sin against thee, go and punish him between him and thee alone. If he hears you, you have won your brother," that is, if he wants to be a sinner, punish him between you and him alone. Now you must realize what sin means. For if anyone sins, he does not sin against my person alone, but he must also sin against God and his word. For every Christian is guilty of being obedient to the divine word. But if he has not sinned against God and his word, he has not sinned against me.
1) In the original: the.
sinned. Therefore, the Fathers, as Augustine and others, described sin correctly and said: peccatum esse dictum, factum et concupitum contra legem Dei, that is, sin means to speak, think or do something that is against God's commandment.
Otherwise, if I act and argue against the pope, it is not a sin, because his statutes are not the commandments of God, for he says: I want you to abstain from eating flesh on this day, which he has devised from his own head and did not devise from the word of God. Therefore, what is to be sin must be contrary to the divine word. But if it is not contrary to it, it is not sin. As the pope, the Antichrist, makes sin out of that which is not sin, and God has otherwise left it free. That is why S. Paul calls him a man of sin, because where there is no sin, he makes sin; item, that he barks at us (against God's command) to do something that is otherwise left free to us, and frightens people with sins, where there is no sin.
Therefore, sin is called transgression against God's commandment, as because I do not obey my father and mother, do not honor the authorities, that is sin, because it is against God's commandment. The fourth commandment is to honor my father and mother, which is not the word of a man, but the word and commandment of God. But if parents make me do something that is against God's commandment, I do not sin if I am not obedient to them. So also, if I am not obedient to my authorities, I sin, for God has subjected me to the authorities and commanded me to do what they tell me to do. For it is the will of God that the sword shall be for the protection of the pious and for the punishment of the wicked. So it is right. But if they want to tyrannize and force people to do something against God and his commandments, then there is no more sword, and I do not sin if I am not obedient to them. Otherwise, because the sword punishes vice and protects virtue, be obedient, for you obey not men but God.
So Christ says: "If your brother sins against you", that is, if he lives publicly against God and His word. For this also shall be against thee and all
Christians are called sinners if anything is done against God's honor, or if anything is done or sinned against God, as if someone despises God, blasphemes His word, or sins against the other table, as if he steals, robs, hurts, lies and deceives. If this comes to your attention, punish him between you and him. Do not shout at him in public, in the marketplace or wherever you are, in front of everyone, but remember that he is still your brother, and shut up with others and go to him, take him alone in front of you, admonish him kindly and punish him, saying, "I have heard this from you; see to it that you refrain from it, so that God does not punish you. Then it may well happen that he will hear you gladly and you will win him over and bring him back on the right track. If he does not want to accept these words of comfort, then you should still be patient with him and take one or two witnesses to you who can testify that you have admonished and punished him and told him so. And if then he still will not hear you, and this admonition to him is of no avail, then say: I am now innocent, I must publicly do my part in the pulpit, and name him before everyone, so that the whole congregation may know what to hold him for, and he himself may know that he is not of the little group called the holy Christian church, which, though it has weakness in it, does not sin against God and his word knowingly and out of malice. Then one should say, "This sin he has committed, and no one wants to hear about it yet;" and here everyone should condemn this vice and pronounce the verdict that it was not done right by him, so that such a public sinner will not be deceived and think that he is nevertheless a Christian, and thus remain stuck in sins. If he still does not listen, he is to be condemned and let go, and held as a Gentile and a tax collector, and as one who is not a sheep, nor one who wants to be sought, but remains lost. First I shall preach, forgive, seek. If he will not, then I have this rule: What will be lost, let it remain lost; keep him as a Gentile, that is, as an exile.
The papists and decretists have two kinds of ban, the small and the great. They call it the small ban, which Christ means here, which He Himself has established, that you consider a public sinner to be a tax collector and a pagan, to whom heaven is closed and hell is open, and he goes as one who is no longer in the congregation of the saints, because he does not want to listen. The Christian church considers him to be not in the grace of God and the fellowship of the saints, but to be under the disgrace and wrath of God, and also to be in the devil's kingdom and power.
This is what they call a small ban, but it is probably the most severe and greatest, for it corrupts the soul: if I forbid a man to be a godparent at baptism and to carry children to baptism, or to be admitted to the Lord's Supper, or to enjoy the common prayer of the church, or to have any other office in Christendom; but he may go to church and hear a sermon, whether he may be converted. But if he does not, I deny him all that the holy Christian church has, as the forgiveness of sins; item, that he also shall not partake of the suffering, death and bloodshed of Christ, deny him the fellowship of the saints and eternal life, that he must renounce heaven and Christianity and be deprived of all graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit, all of which S. Paul calls to Corinthians in harsh words: given to the devil. For it is said to the exiled that he no longer belongs among the multitude, since Christ with his Word and Sacrament is the Lord, but that he has been smitten from the Christians to that multitude, since the devil is a lord.
And in the time of the apostles and afterwards, our Lord God insisted that the ban had power, for the devil got into such people that they became mad and insane, and they had to be bound, as the devil also got into Judas Iscariot; item, S. Ambrose, the centurion Stilliconis' scribe, also put them under ban, and he became furious. They were also soon taken by the devil; and the Christians then prayed to God for them, who were possessed by the devil, that they might be loosed again,
regained their sanity and were brought to repentance and correction.
In this way, we are to stand up to hardened and hardened sinners and tell them that they are condemned before God and the church because of their sin, and that they are the devil's own and hell's fires. This is the ban of the Christian church, which Christ himself instituted, and which is also mentioned in the 16th chapter of Matthew. It is called the ban, so the pope called it. But in truth it is the greatest and eternal ban, for whoever is in it has received baptism and the Lord's Supper in vain, and is not redeemed from sins and death by the blood of Jesus Christ. God protect everyone from this spell.
After that is the great ban, as the pope called it. It is nothing else, when seen in the light, than the emperor's eight. For since some wild, rough, stubborn, and wilful people have been found in Christendom, who have been put under the ban, and have asked nothing of it, they have not been frightened with God's wrath, though they have been forbidden baptism, the sacrament, and one with another, they have remained in murder, hatred, envy, and other sins, and have not respected the ban at all. In sum, they had no conscience at all. Then the pope devised a trick and a harder ban (as he thinks), so that he also controlled the same rude fellows, and imposed such a punishment on them that they would have to ask for it more than for the first ban. For he forbade them the streets, the [food that] 1) goes into [the] belly, so that they did not have to stay in their house, neither eat nor drink, and made that they had to be expelled from the country. Thus the pope has interfered with the secular authorities. For the emperor has the power that if he deprives a person of the market, kitchen and cellar, he is not allowed in the city, country and empire; that is, in German, the country is forbidden to exclude a person from the bodily assembly, and he does not have to use the city and country law. That is, banished, so that he would leave the city, the country and the whole world.
1) Vyn us supplemented.
So the world's ban and the emperor's watch had to serve to keep the people in check when the Lord's ban would not help. Now, I do not put the small ban, which the Lord Christ gives to the church here, because Christ himself has instigated and caused it. Nor do I want to inflict the other, great ban, for this belongs to the secular authorities. But when the princes and lords became sleepy and careless in their punishments, the pope fell into their hands and made a mess in the church, so that the sows would not have eaten it. The pope is guilty of this, as he was subject to a foreign regiment. The secular princes helped with their negligence. If, however, they had faithfully resisted public sins according to their office and diligently maintained their regiment, the tyranny of the pope would not have been so far off. But the pope did not do right, it was not due to him; and did not use the ban to punish adultery, fornication, murder and other vices, which sins he even despised and considered as no sin, when God had forbidden such sins, because they are against God's word; but because one owed another and could not be paid by him, they cited the debtor before the official for the sake of the debt, so they put the debtor under ban, which brought them a good roast in their kitchens. This usually belongs to judges, mayors and princes, that those who did not pay, the city servant and district judge were sent to the Hans, and rushed with them to the hole. But they even took the secular punishments to themselves, that the ban of the Pabst and [the] bishops was nothing else in the Pabstthum, but only to Loche, and drove the ban only that they lived splendidly, had a full cellar and kitchen.
And if the world were still to be made pious, it would be right to forbid a rogue to walk the streets and not to suffer or tolerate him anywhere in the country. With this, one can chase one to the choir and subdue him, for the belly wants to have food and drink. But the authorities should lead such a construction and not the clergy. There the pope is admitted...
and [has] made the belly dry with the ban of the world. This means that the temporal authorities were lazy and did not wait for their office. Therefore the pope has taken the ban to himself, and has done so well with it that it is sin and shame; and is the fault of both the pope, as he has thus abused the ban, and also of the secular rulers, who have not waited for their office. If both had done what was their due, the pope would not have been allowed to intervene in this way.
The great ban banished the belly alone and did not punish the soul. He has not passed a sentence against the soul, for the emperor does not take care of souls, but says: "You shall not be in the city, in the country, in my empire and kingdom, nor have a morsel of bread or drink in it. The spiritual government alone shall rule the soul, that it may come to baptism, and come to the sacrament, gospel and right faith, over which emperors and kings have no power. They have no power to cast my soul into hell or to raise it to heaven. So we clergy have no command to take people by the head if they do not want to listen, but leave it to the secular authorities in their court; if they do not want to punish, they can leave it, and give an account for it once.
Now where there are narrow consciences that let them be told, they can still be frightened with the spiritual ban, that one says to them: This danger is before your hand; then one thinks: "Shall I be eternally damned? I will mend my ways; I will do it no more.
But we are to learn to separate the spiritual and temporal government as far apart as heaven and earth, for the pope has made it very dark and intertwined, so that no one has known which is the right construction; item, which is the pope's sin, or sin against God's commandment. The small ban seeks the conscience and frightens it, and says: "The church passes its judgment that your sins bring you to death, hell and eternal damnation, because you have fallen away from God and come under the power of the devil; therefore a public judgment has been passed against you, so that you will be condemned to death, hell and eternal damnation.
you could not carry a child to the sacrament of baptism, nor could you yourself be partaker of the church's prayer.
The Pabst's ban is an imperial punishment, as when one is forbidden the land, that is a secular ban, since one is put in the eight. It does not concern us. We are not commanded to rule over physical things. The spiritual ban, so that Christ has to preach and to create, belongs to us. We are not to step over this ban, nor are we to arrogate to ourselves the ban that belongs only to the authorities and Master Hansen. They shall keep their ban and their sword. For diligence must be taken so that they are not mixed together, as has happened under the papacy. The emperor cannot condemn souls, but he can pass judgment on a thief that he be hanged on the gallows. Item, he can punish a person for a hundred guilders or expel him from the country, all of which goes to the stomach. For the belly, body and goods are subject to the emperor.
Therefore says the Lord Christ: He is to you as a pagan. Tell him this sentence and judgment, that he is separated from the church, and deprived of all the graces God has given to the church, and what more shall the Christians have. But if he despises this and gives nothing in return, shall I take him by the head? No, the emperor shall do it. But if the emperor falls in his office, then keep your fist quiet and let the emperor rule the belly, and you, preacher, rule the soul. If the emperor does not do it, then I should not ask anything about it and let him answer for it; only that I should nevertheless admonish him where my office requires it.
Where then did the church ban get this power? All these words that follow in the text:
V. 18. Verily I say unto you: Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
As if to say, "Let yours be one binding on earth, and mine in heaven. What you bind on earth I will not loose in heaven, and what you loose in heaven I will not loose.
On earth, that shall never be bound with me in heaven above. This shall he know that is hardened, and respecteth not the ban, saying, Thinkest thou that thou canst take me from our Lord God, and give me to the devil? You say that I am of the devil; who gave you authority to condemn me? You are not right to judge me in this way. But you say: Dear fellow, I do not take you away from our Lord God, but I tell you from Christ's words the judgment that you are taken away from God by your sins and given to the devil. These same sins make you a tax collector and a Gentile. It is your fault. And hear what power and authority Christ has given to his church and to the preaching ministry, saying, "Truly whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven"; as if to say, "If you have punished one, and he does not respect it, but murmurs against it, saying, "Who gave the priests the power to bind and banish me? and even if they do, God will not be ungracious to me in heaven for their sake. If I am well with that, why do I ask for the ban? Then Christ answers and says: "Those whom you consider to be condemned on earth and to be the devil's own, I will also consider to be such in heaven. For whatever is bound by you on earth shall be bound by me in heaven. For thus have I confided in the church, that whatsoever is bound among you shall be bound also among me. There shall be one binding on earth below and in heaven above. Here God binds Himself to the judgment of the holy Christian church, if it uses it correctly, so that the judgment of the church is God's own judgment. Therefore, it is not valid for someone to say, "My dear, no one will tear me away from God here on earth and give me to the devil," as many such speeches are now heard, both among the nobility and from others. They are so strong on their feet, in the name of the devil, that they may say: Yes, what do I ask about what the priest washes? etc. You hear here that the Lord Christ establishes such a fine regime in the church, that he and they are in public.
He does not say that he wants to reserve something for him, but what the church closes, that shall also be closed with him. This and no other. What you speak, that I also speak; what you loose, that I also loose; what you bind, that I also bind, for your word is my word. Therefore he does not say, "Whatever I bind or loose in heaven, that shall be bound and loosed in your house, for then we would not know what and whom he would bind. But we know that the Christian church is in his esteem, that its binding is as much as if God had spoken it Himself in heaven. For in another place He says, "He who hears you hears Me." What I say, that God says in heaven; and here He says: What you bind and loose on earth, that shall be bound and loosed with Me in heaven. A hardened sinner may not take comfort in the fact that he is not rejected, even if the church has banished him, as many say today: "Yes, one may not tell me what I should believe. I have learned so much that I know in my heart how I will be saved, even though my pastor puts me under a spell. Yes, you can count on it, the Lord Christ will not judge differently than the Christian church judges.
This goes against the stubborn minds that accept neither punishment nor admonition, but despise everything. Let it be proclaimed to them that Christ has confirmed this judgment. And there are examples of it this day, and these examples, though they be grievous, are not to be rejected, for many of them who have thus despised the ban have fallen to the ground in terror, for Christ is above his word and above his bond. Therefore know how to deal with him who will not be found anywhere, but still defies and insists with words when he is put under ban.
The other piece is about absolution: if the sinner is frightened by the ban and is converted, should he be accepted again? Of this S. Peter will ask afterwards, saying, "How often shall I forgive my brother? is it enough seven times?" etc.,
And such a piece is out of all measure comforting, because Christ teaches that he and the Christian church do not so bind and banish that it should last forever, but if a man is converted by such a terrible sentence and banishment, he is sick of sin, and seeks forgiveness of sins through Christ, and desires another sentence and sentence: Let him be taken from the devil again; let him not be cast out at all, as if he could not be made right again, but let the door be opened to him, and let him be loosed from his sins; and when this is done, and he is loosed on earth, he shall be loosed also in heaven. Then he who is absolved from the church shall be sure that he shall also be absolved in heaven before God.
Thus the Lord Christ has finely established the Christian church out of measure, so that what it does with binding and loosing on earth, it says yes to above in heaven. For this reason, this is a beautiful and comforting chapter for all poor consciences that are troubled by their sins, so that they may know: God in heaven, who sees everything, approves and accepts as right his church's sentence and absolution over a poor sinner. What could be more comforting than that God says yes to absolution when a man speaks; and God wants men to speak absolution? When this happens, you, the sinner, are again partaker of all the graces of God and His sacraments. In the papacy, people did not have this consolation, but when the pope made the world full of sin, and burdened the people with that which is not sin, and they immediately desired to be absolved from sins, then a new plague and torture began with the satisfaction, so that the people were not helped. But we hear here how the Lord Christ lays down the absolution and forgiveness of sins with my brother, since I should and can get it; and when I hear it, I shall be sure that God has forgiven my sin up in heaven, and will never remember it, laugh at me too.
Let us therefore be diligent that no sinner be condemned, but that they be converted. But if they despise it,
Do as the Lord Christ taught, but see to it that he loses the kingdom of God without your fault. You have sought him out, admonished him, punished him, and passed judgment on him; again, if he repents and seeks mercy and forgiveness of sin, Christ commands that his sin be forgiven him; and he who receives forgiveness must surely believe that his sin is forgiven him in heaven.
So this text tells us, first of all, what sin means, namely transgression against God's commandment; as if one disobeys father and mother, even the authorities, that is a sin, because it is against God's commandment. God wants you to honor your father, mother and authorities, unless they command something against God. Then parents would not be parents, but devils, and the authorities would not be authorities, but devils; and if I disobey them, it is not a sin, because they tell me to do something to serve the devil. Then I am not guilty of obedience.
And here one must distinguish between sin that goes against God's word and commandment and sin that men forbid. For the pope condemns God in his commandments and teachings, doing the opposite of Christ's teaching. Christ wants Christians to be free to eat and drink what God gives them, as he also says to the apostles: "Wherever you go, eat what you are given. If it is not fish, [let it be meat. If it is not meat, let it be milk. If it is not milk, let it be cheese, all the same. God has made it free by his word; everything that enters the mouth is pure. Then the priest says, "No, it is not the same, but whoever eats meat on Friday shall be condemned, he sins mortally; so strike our Lord God on the mouth. In other things, too, he wanted to make a distinction and forbid what Christ had left free and made sin out of it, as in clothing, in caps, in plates, and whatever else is filthy. Christ says that one should not trust in works, but the pope gives the opposite. Therefore he weighs down and fills the world with sins, as a flood of sin.
He teaches nothing else, but that is strictly against God, and what he teaches has no testimony from God's word. This misery would have remained, if one had understood what is sin and what is not sin, and if the pope, the devil's head, had not been granted so much. Therefore, one must speak definitely of things and describe correctly what sin is, namely, that a deed, word, desire, thought and lust is against God. Then one should say to the pope's commandments: I will not do it, because you have commanded it. If this difference had been taken into account, the world would not have become so full of abominations and idolatry; and the bishops would have slept soundly, and would not have asked what was rightly sinful.
On the other hand, this text keeps us from two kinds of banishment, that we should distinguish between the small and the great banishment. The small ban is the ban of the Lord Christ, and belongs to the spiritual regiment. The great ban is the pope's; if some are so stiff-necked, stubborn and knotty, and even without conscience, that they ask nothing of it, they are to be ordered into the emperor's custody, and punishment and master Hansen. This is the worldly punishment, when a prince or judge punishes a person's property and honor. Such is the abdominal ban, and it applies to the great heaps, to the multitude of the people, whom otherwise an emperor should have governed; and the pope has taken the same ban. If the difference between spiritual and secular government had been maintained and practiced in the church, the papal essence would not have been torn down so much, in which the pope had made such a mixture and concoction that it was a disgrace; but the secular authorities and the spiritual estates would have reached out their hands to one another and governed themselves among themselves.
[Seventh Sermon on the 18th Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
V. 18: Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.
Christ gave the keys to the apostles and the Christian Church, leaving behind such glorious text of the Church for comfort. On the ground stands the holy Christian
church. For the Lord Christ did not build it on straw or on fur, but on a firm foundation, that it should not stagger or falter, or be uncertain how it should relate to poor sinners. Then he wills that the church keep his command, and hath kept it carefully, that it may be sure of that which it doeth, on both parts, both he that bindeth and looseth, and he that is bound and loosed; and shall therefore say, Thou that hast 1) the keys of the church, if thou seest a public sinner, thou shalt say, I bind thee not; thou hast bound thyself with thy sin, and art departed from the communion of saints; therefore I say unto thee, Thou shalt have no more part with her. This is a true Christian ban or binding, which is based on these words. Again, if one of the Christians sins and would like to rise again and know whether God would be merciful to him or not, and he would like to live and die on it, he also has this comfort in the church: What you will solve on earth, that shall also be solved in heaven; as if he should say: You shall be sure, if you forgive your sin, that I myself will do it in heaven, and if you are absolved from sins on earth, you are also absolved from sins with me in heaven. Here one must not gape at perfect works, merit and satisfaction, but since you are sorry for sin and believe in Christ, be sure of God's grace, favor and atonement, and let the church pronounce absolution or judgment for you, and know that God in heaven Himself absolves you of sins.
And it is fitting that Christ has given this certain command to the church, so that both the absolver and the one who is absolved may know this. For if this were not so, we would have to begin to pray, fast, fast and do penance, as one asked in the papacy, and yet be and remain quite uncertain of the forgiveness of sins. 2).
Therefore, this text is full of comfort.
1) In the original: "da". Bruns had already changed it to "du". Erlanger:- "da".
2) "remain" put by us instead of: remained.
If I see one who does not repent and is a reprobate, I shall know: if I put him under ban and bind his sin, then God Himself has bound it. If he then does not hear me and the church, I will let him go and consider him a pagan, and say that he is excluded from Christ and baptism, and God will hold over it as if he had said it himself, so that you are sure that you are not doing injustice to the despiser of divine commandment by binding him. If he then says, "What do I ask about that?" then let him go, you are excused, he will find it well.
The secular ban should be reinstated by kings and emperors, because we cannot reinstate it now. But we have been commanded to put a ban on anyone who sins against God's commandment and does not want to hear that his sin is bound. But if he is restored, it shall be said unto him, Thy sins be forgiven thee. But the world (praise God!) is now so pious that one is not allowed to banish it, even though it is flooded with sins. For it is full of avarice, hatred, envy, deceit, yes, full of shame and vice. There is still no sin that can be banished. Everything is now called honestly and truthfully acted, food sought, everything must be holiness, and in the devil's name all have become pious. Therefore, for the sake of life, this ban of ours no longer takes place. We cannot lift this ban. But if we cannot banish and punish the sin of life, we banish the sin of doctrine. We have nevertheless kept the ban by saying that Anabaptists, Sacramentans and other heretics should not be heard; banish and separate them from us. This is the most necessary thing. For where doctrine is evil, life cannot be helped. But where the doctrine remains pure and is preserved, life and the sinner can still be well advised. For there one has absolution and forgiveness when it comes to doctrine. But if the teaching is gone, then one goes astray, and one finds neither 1) banishment nor redemption. Then all is lost. If the authorities then let him go.
1) Erlanger: ref.
I don't ask anything about it. I am excused and have admonished her; she may answer for it.
But now that we have laid this foundation, we must also refute what is contrary to it, so that one may not be deceived by the right understanding of the words and command of Christ. For one must not despise the slightest error against God's word, let alone where a whole flood of error is in one heap, as has happened in the papacy, so that it has flooded and drowned the world; and here especially the doctrine of the keys has also been misused and falsified. Therefore, we must keep the doctrine of the power of the keys right and pure.
You should now notice the first abuse that the pope takes from this text. He presumes in his decrees that he is the head of Christendom, and that he has the keys and power to bind; for Christ says to S. Petro: "What you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven"; therefore roars in his decrees as a lion that the Christian church is built on the chair of Rome; that the keys to the kingdom of heaven are given to S. Petro and his descendants who sit on his chair; speaks that the Christian church is built on the chair of Rome; says that the keys to the kingdom of heaven are given to S. Petro and his descendants who sit on his chair. The keys to the kingdom of heaven are given to S. Petro and his descendants who sit on his chair; he says that the Christian church is built on the chair of Rome, and says that no other man, priest, preacher or bishop, nor anyone else should have any authority to do or not to do anything in Christendom, because he has it from him: He therefore snatches to himself alone this power of the keys, which belongs to the whole of Christendom; steals it from the church, as a desperate villain, thief and robber, and says that no one can use it, because he has received such power from him; says: I alone have the keys, that I may forgive and retain sin; and if another also receives this power from him, then he may use it rightly. There he sins not only against God and the Holy Spirit, but also against his conscience. With what does the devil's head want to prove that this power belongs to him before all other Christians? With this shameful lie he snatches the keys to himself and gives them to no one, so that he can get them from him, since he is the one who has the right to them.
The Lord Christ said here in general and to all at the same time: What you bind and loose, not: What you Pabst loose and bind. Item, to whom ye remit or retain sins; and after the resurrection the Lord Christ blows upon his disciples, saying, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them."
But here the pope says: Yes, I came in the place of Saint Peter, and the keys were given to Saint Peter alone. Listen, Pope, S. Paul was not present when this command was given, because he did not see Christ in the flesh: nor does he have the power of the keys, and S. Paul has done more in the gospel, preached more and planted more churches than the other apostles. The pope knows all this well, that the new apostle S. Paul does not take the power of the keys from S. Petro, since he is the apostle of the Gentiles, as he boasts and writes, he has his apostleship from no man, but without means from Jesus Christ, and yet he is the most noble apostle. For he has done more good than all others. It follows that the keys are not Peter's alone, but the other apostles have the same power and authority to forgive sins with Peter. The pope knows this well. How can he boast that he alone has the keys?
Nowadays the churches under the Turk in Greece also have the power of the keys to bind and loose sin, and yet they have not received such power from the Pope, but have it from the Lord Christ, as the text reads Matthew 16: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven", so that S. Peter did not give the keys to the other apostles. Therefore the words of Christ spoken to S. Peter have a different meaning. For Christ does not say to Peter alone, "Who do you think I am?" but to the whole multitude, "Who do you think I am? Then S. Peter also answered, not for himself alone, but for all the apostles, saying, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Yes, they say, S. Peter answers all alone here. No, all the fathers have said it like this.
Augustine also says finely that what Peter answers alone is to confirm the unity of the church, and that he answers all instead of the others. For this reason, the Lord gives him the power of the keys for the sake of the confession, and to all who have such a confession.
But the pope says: "All the churches of the world are under me. To this I say no. For the text in the same chapter belongs to all at the same time, since he says: "To whom ye remit sin" etc. Item after his resurrection he says to all apostles: "Receive the Holy Spirit" etc.; and the highest apostle, S. Paul, did not receive it from S. Petro, but he says to the Galatians that he received it from Jesus Christ himself. Why then does the Pope say that he alone must give me the power of the keys, and no one else? He does not have the keys, the pope, if it were true that he sits in S. Peter's place, but he sits in the place of the wicked devil, as a liar and murderer, as his father, the devil, is also, from whom he has the Dieterichs or keys, and not from Christ. Therefore he also wrongly carries the two keys in his coat of arms. He should have a mud or a devil's head in it, because the keys belong to the Christian church, as he, the pope himself, must confess that they are called the church's keys, and not the pope's keys; and yet, with this lie, he has brought the Christian church into all misery. For it is not because he wants to have a lot of trouble and work, but that he is a lord and sits on top in Christianity, when the Lord Christ has said, as we have just heard in the beginning of the 18th chapter, that whoever wants to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven should become the servant of all etc. But the pope has reached for violence. For who would do it for the sake of money, and take such trouble upon himself, that by comforting, scolding, and banishing, he thus troubled himself with the people? It is a very annoying office. I would rather learn a ministry for it than incur such disfavor for the sake of money, which is otherwise inflicted on a preacher.
1) Instead of "office" would probably like to read "craft".
selleth. He must be like an owl on which all the other birds sting. But they did not take it to themselves, because they wanted to have much trouble and work, but sought the regiment.
The other abuse is this: After the pope has placed himself at the top, and thought that he alone has full power to do and not to do anything in Christendom, and interpreted the keys in such a way that he may banish and solve whatever he wants: So he now takes it further, and will exercise his power according to his pleasure, and makes one law and statute after another, as much as he wills, and what he wills, and says: whoever does not keep these his commandments, he shall be banished; but whoever keeps them, he shall have so much and so much indulgence. As: one should celebrate St. Francis' day, and before that one should fast one day; on Fridays eat no meat, eat no butter nor cheese, go on pilgrimages, satisfy the poltergeists with masses; and the pope says: I have power to do this; if you do not keep it, then I say to you by divine power, which is given to me from above: You shall be under ban; for it is written: "What you shall bind on earth, that shall be bound in heaven" etc., and what he knows how to use for great, mighty thunderbolts more (as everyone may read it in Pabst's law books). Yes, dear Pabst, one should shit on you and put you in the sun and let you become dry again.
This does not mean binding and loosening. You may order laws according to your liking and add to them: I give this authority, for I am God on earth. Item, if he sold butter letters, no one could persuade him. Yes, dear, if a poor weak conscience, which is not properly instructed, hears such excellent words, should it not be frightened and do what it can according to its body's ability? Would that one could run from it through a fire! For there one hears nothing, because: God is called, or God wants to be angry. But one should put glasses on one's nose, and talk finely about what sin means, and also about what binding is. That is what it says, namely, that sin is called such a deed that is done against God's commandment. From this, then, I can easily conclude that the
it is not a sin if I act against the pope's laws and do not do what the pope tells me to do. For it is not God's commandment that I should abstain from eating meat on Fridays, or save souls from purgatory and dissolve brotherhoods among the monks; but it is the pope's filth, so that he has shat in the church. His laws are not God's commandment and word, so that he (praise God!) does little. He has other things to do than to teach the Ten Commandments; but he does what he can against them, because he is the Antichrist, who sets himself against God.
Therefore, it is right to condemn such laws of the pope outright, for they are not God's laws, therefore no one sins who does not keep them. I once burned the pope's decree here in Wittenberg, and I probably want to burn it again; And so should the laws of other bishops be done, who want to follow the pope's example, and put them in the sun with the pope and all their laws and throw them on the ground, because they have thrown their filth (with leave) into Christendom, in which we are up to our ears, and which is so deeply rooted in us that we cannot yet get it out of our hearts. For we poor fools have thought that it is God's commandment, and we have been tormented and troubled by it, so that I have seen many die miserably because of it.
You can't bring people back to you now, because I don't want to go back to them myself. But it is sour and difficult that one should fall away from the mass, calling the saints, purgatory and other things. So deep his inland has gone. For he said: "If you do not respect my binding, you do not respect God's binding. But here you easily know what binding and unbinding sin is, as banishing sins that are done against God and his word. But to loose is when you are absolved and absolved from the sins you have committed against God's commandment. The other keys you shall not accept, for they are the keys of the devil, who is the god of the pope. For God has given the keys of comfort to His Church. Thus, the pope uses them to terrorize and terrify, namely, to corrupt and oppress the Church and
the key. For the pope saith, I can smite a commandment upon thee, and make it sin, if I will. No, you see, it is not sin to eat meat on Friday, but the priest says, "I want it to be sin," so he has flooded the world with sin, like a flood of sin. Is this the right use of the key? No one is to be banished or bound, unless he is in fact a sinner against the law of God. God does not want sin to exist, since the pope makes sin. But one cannot sin against the pope, because his power does not extend into our church. If one already burns his decree and dirt with fire, and also treads on it with feet, then it only serves him right. For he uses to make sin, since God does not want sin, but we had sin enough before.
Just read his Decretales, and you will find how he boasts: I am the supreme and have power and God's dispensation, therefore I may command whatever I want; and finally he says: God has commanded him the power, and out of his power and command he commands all his laws to be kept. If you do not do this, you fall into God's disgrace and are eternally damned. Who would gladly sin against God's commandment? and who would not be terrified by such thunderbolts? But say you to the pope: Where is it written that you boast so much? In the smoke hole. If you give what you want, I will let it go, and do against it what you forbid; and shall the Pabst's commandments be as valid as if the parents command the children something that is against God, since all obedience also ceases.
So the Lord Christ gave the keys to his church, and not to the pope, to make laws and sin according to his pleasure, and to abuse the power of the keys. Therefore he also had two keys in his coat of arms, so that he, as a robber and evil-doer, put terror and fear into the whole world, and thus he also became the Antichrist; and therefore also S. Paul makes him the man of sin, not indeed for his person, but that he is a causer and founder of all sin.
in the world, and makes people to be condemned because of it. For when men hear him and follow him, they do sin, when there is no sin. That is why he is called the child of perdition.
It has done the pope good that the whole world has been so stupid and fearful of his threat, and has had to live only by his grace; and here the power of the key has been forgotten. But it is not a human error and a small pity, but the devil himself is there; he could not make it worse, as he is a murderer and liar with the pope. Therefore, look at this comforting text here, and let the pope have the heartache; and know that Christ has given the keys for this reason, so that one has power to redeem sins that are done against God's commandment, and not other sins.
The third abuse of the keys (so that the pope has done it so crudely that I am surprised that one has let it be good for him; but God has wanted to punish the world with it) is: When Junker Pabst now brought the game so far into his hand that he placed himself on top in the church of Christ, and became a supreme lord in Christendom, and had full power with making sin and releasing it again, and threw the people into the flood of all sin, and thus came to power that the whole world trembled before him: Then he approached the emperors and kings and grabbed the crowns and kingdoms in the worldly regiment, and led the keys against emperors and kings and pretended that he had the power to bind and dissolve even in worldly matters and estates, whatever he wanted. Therefore, whichever king he did not like, he commanded that he should cede his kingdom, and deposed them and restored and confirmed others. Thus he deposed several kings in France and England, and also played with the emperors in the same way as with dice, as one may read in the chronicles, and got to know the devil's head, how he dealt with emperors and kings under the pretense that Christ had even handed over the temporal rule to him, since the laudable emperors often had more holiness and piety in their smallest finger or toe.
The same is true of all the popes and cardinals in the whole of their bodies. Therefore it is blasphemy that he pretends to have power and authority not only in heaven, but also on earth to bind and loose; and thus wants to be a lord over the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth. I do not find a word in the Bible that the pope should have right and power over heaven and earth. It is written that the Lord Christ does not want his disciples to be worldly lords, but to become like children. They shall not take anyone's 1) own, nor exercise any power against anyone. But according to God's word they shall bind those who want to be Christians and yet lie in public sins.
The pious emperors and kings had no understanding before the times of our Christian teaching. If they had understood, they would not have suffered. It was God's wrath over the world at that time, otherwise it should be impossible that he would have brought it there. He lies so horribly that all devils could not lie more horribly; and, what is even more, the arch-villain of Rome was allowed to command the angels as his day laborers that whoever of the pilgrims died in the golden year on the way to Rome, they should carry him from mouth to heaven. For he spoke thus: Angels, I command you because of Christ, that you carry these pilgrims from the mouth up to heaven. How could he climb higher? It is such a frightening thing that I do not like to speak of it. For the devil himself could not make it worse, if he were sitting in Pabst's place, nor could he hold our Lord God in more contempt. It is horrible to hear that a poor sack of maggots should rise and ascend above all the angels in heaven, where Christ sits and reigns, and make himself completely equal with God, and want to be Christ's governor, and also want to have the power to command the angels, which Christ alone has over them. That is, to rise above God. It would be no wonder that the earth would rise up and engulf the evil one in the abyss of hell, which will be his reward in the end.
1) "His" put by us instead: Yours.
This must truly be known from the pope, so that one will no longer be afraid of the bogeyman 2) who misuses the name of God and the Lord Christ in this way; for he is not a lord of the earth, so he should not drive peasants and citizens out of their houses and take something from them, much less depose emperors and kings. How could he command the angels in heaven? It is not called having power over goods, body, life, angels, heaven or earth, but over sins that have been committed against God. Sin is not called heaven or emperor, but an evil deed done against God; that one says to the one who has sinned: Thou hast sinned and afflicted thy soul with sins, thou hast deprived thyself of the Lord Christ and of all his goods and graces; over this thou art not at all better, but is still sure: therefore I proclaim to thee the wrath of God and eternal damnation, even the punishment of hell. One does not pronounce such a judgment on him that one forbids him the house, field, skirt or food, as the pope did to the kings; that belongs to the worldly regiment, to the princely office. The secular authorities have this ban, that if a citizen or peasant steals, he is taken from the house of his wife and child and hanged on the gallows; if someone has 3) murdered, his head is cut off again. But no preacher shall dare to do this to any man, let alone to kings and emperors. For Christ speaks much differently about the office of preachers; he also has not ordained his keys to take wealth, dominions, body and goods, but to those who sin; and here we also have the right, true reason for the keys, so that we may know how to beware of the 4) devilish threats and lies that the pope has devised.
This third abuse of the keys has made that the pope has snatched over the worldly power still also an angelic dominion to himself, and has happened, as S. Paul in
2) Nutze (Putze, Potze) - Popanz, scarecrow.
3) "someone" put by us instead of: man.
4) So put by us instead of: "dem ... Dräuung", because "Dräuung" is always feminine gender in Luther.
in his epistle to the Thessalonians prophesies that he has set himself above God and against God's word 1) and fills the whole world with sins. Therefore we call him the Antichrist, that is, the Counter-Christ, and his lies can be easily resisted, if you stay with the word sin and with the true knowledge of the power of the keys, but if you lose the right understanding of the word sin, as what sin is, you will soon lose the keys. But if you know what sin really is, then you can bind and loose it, and say to the sinner that he condemns his soul as long as he persists in sin. If then they say, What is thy judgment to me? know thou that here is the sentence, What ye shall bind on earth etc. shall be bound in heaven also." If you absolve someone of sin and proclaim God's mercy to him, saying, "Let your sins be forgiven you and go in peace," know that in heaven he will also be absolved and have a merciful God.
The Lord Christ left this comfort to his church behind him, that we might know what the power of the keys is, how sin should be bound or kept, forgiven and loosed, and that those also might know whose sins are loosed or bound on earth, that it should also certainly be loosed and bound in heaven, and thus the church might know what it should do and accomplish with the keys. But the pope and his patrons have shamefully misused and lied about this glorious text and consolation in three ways: first, that he alone wanted to have power to loose and bind; second, that the pope has made sin where there was none; third, that he has also bound and banished emperors and kings, and thus caused so much misery that no one can excuse it. You young people, if you bring a pure heart from all devilish and papal idolatry to the Gospel, thank God and take care that you are not deceived, as we are. For we old people feel well what
1) Here we have erased "themselves".
it costs to expose the Pabst's flesh, for the whole world has been drowned in these abuses of the keys that the Pabst has wrought.
[Eighth Sermon But the 18th Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
Now he will divide the keys into each house, saying:
V. 19, 20. Further I say to you: Wherever two of you are made one on earth, why it is that they should ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Here the Lord Christ extends this comfort further, but in such a way that he does not leave the community of Christians. For he said above that sin should be punished and banished in the church, and that forgiveness of sins should be preached, so that people may know what sin is. Now he says that he does not want it to be like this in the church alone, but that this right and this freedom should also be given to two or three of you who are gathered in his name, so that they can proclaim and promise comfort and forgiveness of sins to one another; So much more abundantly pour out his Christians, and fill them every corner with forgiveness of sins, that they may find forgiveness of sins not only in the church, but also at home, in the field, in the garden, and where only one comes to another, there shall he have comfort and salvation; And let it also serve me, that when I am sorrowful and sad, or in affliction and infirmity, that I lack any thing, what hour and time it may be, and there be no public preaching in the church at all times, and my brother or neighbor come to me, then shall I complain of it unto him that is next unto me, and pray him to comfort me: Whatever comfort he then gives me and promises me, that shall also be yes with God in heaven. Again, I should also comfort another, and say: "Dear friend, dear brother, why don't you leave your sorrow? it is not God's will that some suffering should befall you. God has set his
Son die for you, not that you may mourn, but that you may rejoice. Therefore be of good cheer, and be confident that you will do God service and favor; and kneeling down with one another and praying one Our Father will surely be heard in heaven, for Christ says, "I am there in the midst of them. He does not say: I see it, I hear it, or I will come to them, but: I am already there. So if you comfort me and I comfort you, and both do it for our betterment and salvation, then I should believe you and you me, that God the heavenly Father will give us why we ask and what we lack. How could the Lord Christ shower us more abundantly and provide for us better?
This should apply so that the special spirits, such as the monks and Anabaptists, are not admitted, who have taught that one should separate himself from the people, run into a desert or monastery, sit in a cell, and also withdraw from his neighbor, to whom the Lord Christ is pointing here, and one should gape and wait for God to give him a special revelation, which others do not have, item, God should send them an angel who comforts them and talks to them. God does not want to have such corner saints, who do not want to be in the community and with the church, but hide themselves away in a corner. For no one should stand on his secret comfort. He has provided for us abundantly enough; do not require that we wait for a revelation from heaven and tempt God. He has said: What you will solve on earth, that shall also be solved in heaven. Those who are with the Christian Church can learn abundantly what God's will is; and when one hears the preacher, one hears God Himself. What need have you to crawl into a corner? Item, if brothers comfort one another, this is also God's will and word. The whole world is full of comfort, and every corner is full of revelation; and if God speaks to me from the pulpit, he speaks to me through my neighbor, through my good friends and companions, through my husband, through my wife, through my master and through my servant, item, father and mother etc. My word and your word shall be as powerful as if it were
God Himself had spoken to us. Why then will I despise such great and abundant grace of God, and in the name of all devils run to S. Jacob or to Rome and Jerusalem, and without command and word tempt God, or else seek in the wilderness and corners that which I may have in the church, in the house, in the garden, and wherever I am?
Well, what is it more? they say, and so they throw to the winds the glorious consolation of absolving in the public sermon. But Christians should not do this, but hold fast to the consolation that you have in your house, as if a brother or a devout Christian came to you, not for the sake of money and goods, but in the name of Christ, and heard this consolation from you. Here the Lord Christ says, if he secretly desires forgiveness of sins and comfort from you, then it should be yes. Therefore it is not necessary to run to St. James for your comfort, but if you have an affliction, go to the priest or to your neighbor, if you have one, and say, "I am in pain. Then he shall comfort him, saying, Christ will have cheerful servants, and therefore he died not for thee, that thou shouldest hang thy head and frown, but give thanks unto God. Then you hear God Himself speaking to you.
But the devil plagues other people, as monks and Anabaptists, that they hate God and want to seek special revelation and enlightenment without and apart from God's word. For there he gets them without God, unless they handle God's word and pray. That would be another. But if they leave God's word, as the same miracle spirits or special spirits do, who seek revelation apart from God's word, and wait for it in corners alone, they find what they want, that is, the devil, in the form of an angel, who leads them into the abyss of hell. For there belong all those who tempt God, which is the devil's way.
Many journeymen have come to me in the past, boasting of these things, and when I asked them where they got them, they said: The Holy Spirit revealed it to me. When I then asked, Where? they answered: In my closet or in the corner. That is
tempt God. But it serves them right that they are thus blinded, and the devil gives them such thoughts in their hearts, which they take for the certain truth, because they have let go of God's word.
Thus one reads in the legend of St. Martin that he had a brother in his congregation, who ate and walked with him; for at that time there were not yet monks. He also wanted to lead a holy, contemplative life, and hid from the people in his own chamber, from which he had not come for several days, and in which he sat without eating or drinking, silently silent. For there was a saying: If you like to stay alone, your hearts will be pure, which is a good saying if it is understood correctly. The same brother asked God to appear to him and to give him a special revelation. Then the devil came and put thoughts into his heart that he was in paradise and in the kingdom of heaven, and that he was wearing a beautiful garment, much better than any silk, and that no one had ever seen such a beautiful garment. When the other brothers came to him, and found him sitting alone in great devotion, and saw that he had such a beautiful garment on, they asked him where he got it. He said, "The angel of God spoke to me and put on the garment himself. Then they thought it must have been the devil, and ordered him to go before the bishop S. Martinum. When the same brother heard this, he said, "Oh no, our Lord God has forbidden me to do it," and when he resisted, they dragged him by force before St. Martin. As soon as he got there, the dress disappeared. Thus the devil had deceived him, that he did not want to go to his ordinary bishop and hear God's word from his mouth, but sought his own revelation. For such enthusiasts mean no other than that they alone are wise, but the whole world is wrong.
Similarly, one reads of a nun who had locked herself in her cell and stayed there for some time without eating or drinking, did not come to the other nuns, and fell into these thoughts as if the Lord Christ were coming to her in the chamber. Now that the other
When the nuns came to her cell and knocked, she said, "Silence, silence, Christ the bridegroom is with me and is talking to me. Since she did not want to open the door, the same sisters looked in through the castle and saw that she was wearing an old, torn, dirty fur, and (to speak with leave) a cow dung on her head. When they asked her what she was doing, she said, "Don't you see how my bridegroom Christ has adorned me with a golden crown and beautiful clothes? Thus the devil deceives with visions and dreams. And that is right; those are worthy of such adornment and costume, who want to try God and find Him, since He does not want to be, and despise Him, since He does want to be, as in the church, and with every man who is baptized, who knows the Lord's Prayer and has the Christian faith. He does not say that he wants to be in Compostel, Rome or Jerusalem. He may have been there and been crucified, but here, he says, he wants to be, as with every Christian who has his word and baptism. But if I seek him in a different way, as the special spirits and the pope teach, then I am lacking God. He does not want to have a special one, he says that I should seek it among the people, among my brother, who has one baptism, one faith, one Our Father and Gospel with me. I cannot thank God enough for that.
We have the right light, that we come together in the name of God and seek his word, item, that I come to my neighbor, and lament my distress to him and seek comfort from him. Whoever then comforts me, even if he does not have as much art in one finger as I or another scholar, comforts me in God's stead, and God Himself speaks to me through him, and often my neighbor finds a saying and tells it to me for comfort, which otherwise I would not think of. Therefore, one should be glad to be with one's dying neighbor; one should not become a monk and seek desolation or a corner, but should admonish the dying to surrender willingly to death and to trust their soul to Christ. That is to seek God's glory and Christ's praise. But when one comes to the dying, and asks about the
Testament, saying, What will ye humble us for? that is, to come into the devil's name.
Therefore, this text also proves the emergency baptism, which is done by nurses or wives. When children who have recently been born are in danger of life and want to die, the women baptize them; this is also a true baptism, because it is done with the right words; and so the women are not gathered there to dance, but that they would gladly help the child, so that it would not be lost, but would come to Christ, because they are also the Lord's Christ etc.And even if the women who baptize are not pious or godly, the baptism is still right, because they are not offering their own baptism, but that of the Lord Christ. This is well and rightly done. For God does not want His word, consolation and sacrament to be spoken and administered in vain, but to be communicated to everyone. But if someone wanted to baptize in a corner, and despised the revelation and comfort that is in the Christian church, he would do evil.
Therefore, children who have been baptized in this way are not baptized again. One reads about St. Athanasius, who was the finest bishop that Christianity ever had after the time of the apostles, and who did a lot. He was baptized young and often watched his bishop and pastor. Now he once came to pagan boys who were walking and playing by the sea, for at that time the children of Christians and pagans were walking and playing among themselves. Then Athanasius sows a game with pagan boys, and baptizes the pagan boys, just as he saw his bishop baptize the children in the church, as children are accustomed to do everything they see, and then the word is spoken to them: Go and play by the water. Then he tempted and enticed the children of the Gentiles to be baptized, poured water on them, and used the same form and words that he had seen and heard from the bishop in the church. When the bishop went out of the window
1) "sähet" put by us instead of: "sehet", because we assume that in the original "sehet" will stand. On the matter, compare Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XIX, 1274, §117. '
When he saw the game and became aware of it, he brought all the children before him and asked what Athanasius had done, he answered: I baptized all the children. When the bishop heard that he had used the right words, as: I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit etc., then he decided that it was a right, true baptism, and pronounced the pagan children to be baptized correctly.
It is almost a child's play, but an innocent one, since there is no injustice inside; therefore, God also counts it as a true baptism. So richly does God distribute His gifts that, although they are given to us in a joking and playful manner, He makes a serious matter of it, and He does not care by what people such gifts are given to us, if it is only done according to His command, and it is serious to the people who receive them.
One also reads that at one time an emperor in Rome had a fool of a stick who was to be baptized, and this was made a mockery of the Christians by some courtiers, for they said how the Christians were such great fools that they drank water over each other and considered this to be great holiness. If this means holiness, then let us bathe ourselves, and we will be greater saints than they. When many people came together, they prepared a baptism in mockery of the emperor, and each one wanted to do the best in this mockery. One stood who was to baptize, the other who was to be baptized, the third held the book, the fourth the water, some of them were godparents. The joke was meant to ridicule baptism and to show what fools the Christians were, that they wanted to be holier and better than the pagans by baptizing with water and bathing. What happens? When the jester was baptized, an angel appeared and held a book before him, in which were written the words of S. Paul to the Ephesians in the 4th chapter: "One God and Lord of us all, One faith and One baptism. Then he, who before had been a fool with a stick, was frightened and went to it, accepted the joke baptism for a real baptism and said that he had been baptized correctly, and the joke turned into a loud seriousness. Then the other people started to laugh
And they thought that he had spoken the words to make a mockery of baptism, to make a mockery and a mockery of baptism: and he said again that he had been baptized aright, and had become a Christian. Then the emperor starts and scolds the crowd, asking what they were doing, whether they thought he was a fool, because he was there to mock such baptism, and they were all there, too, and wanted to mock the Christians with this baptism. So the jester thought it was a right baptism and mocked him, the emperor, and the emperor accepted it as a great mockery, because the jester wanted to think the baptism was right for his shame and dishonor. When the emperor asked the others if they also wanted to become Christians, they pulled their heads out of the noose and went before the emperor: They began to rebuke him, even to the point of depriving him of life and limb, cursing and blaspheming him, and saying, "The fool of the stick is mad and foolish. Finally, the fool was seized and put in prison, where the emperor had him severely tortured, but he died in the confession of Christ. Our Lord God calls him to salvation in the gospel baptism.
Such history is not unlike faith, but agrees with it. For God wants His word and work to be unnoticed. He keeps it up so that he makes even mockery and jesting, as I have said, serious, so that he may also make us certain that the person is as he wishes when his word and command go, so that we then do not doubt that it is a true sacrament. Even a priest who is drunk can nevertheless administer a true and proper baptism; and it is wrong that it was once said that if a child was baptized by a drunkard, the child would become restless, would not be able to sleep at night, and would climb onto the roofs, because the baptism had not been administered properly; therefore such children should be baptized differently. Know that baptism is not attached to the baptizer, but to God's order. God does not build His sacraments on men or on their holiness, for then we would never be sure of them, but on the word and command. Therefore let the priest be drunk or commit fornication, but his baptism is right, if the words of baptism are spoken rightly, as: I baptize you in the
Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit etc., then it is right; I also suppose that the baptism would be given by a woman, a virgin, and a drunkard, or by Athanasio, who was still a little boy, but that you would not make a joke out of it: so it is all the same, let whoever wants to absolve you. If it is God's word, we can be sure that our sins are forgiven.
Therefore, God has abundantly provided us with strength and comfort. Even when we are in our homes, the wife in distress can be comforted by her husband, and again the husband by his wife. For here is the text: If two are with one another and ask anything, it shall surely be heard in heaven; especially if we are in the congregation and in the company or assembly, where we can have comfort from priests openly and secretly; and there is no need at all for us to become erring spirits or vagrants who sought such comfort in Compostel or Jerusalem, for we have this comfort in our churches and homes; and God says to us: If you want to seek me, do not go to the desert, but to your church, and listen to what is preached or read. Where you have baptism, you have me in it. What you hear in the: Pulpits from: Preacher, that you hear from me myself. The preachers are only servants, I am the speaker and baptizer. And if you cannot come to the pastor in a hurry to get comfort from him, you have your neighbor, your wife and your servant to give you a kind word from God's word, and you are not allowed to go anywhere on the journey to Rome, so that people may go up to heaven from their mouths, as the pope, the prankster, has invented, and by such a way want to lure people to heaven. No, those who are in the city and in one house, and have baptism, also hear the word of God, use absolution and the Lord's Supper, that is where the right Christians are found.
Then comes the pope and cries out: Here, all Christians, if you want to be saved, go to Rome, do this and that, you say: That is, torn from the faith to the work, and the most glorious sayings, which are full of consolation, put under the bench, and gave us his dirt for it. And the same, so him
can never find comfort, because they come from Rome just as holy, pure and pious as they went. For there they have no word of God or faith, but there everything is done against God's word and faith, so there is no foundation for it. But here one has the certain consolation that the Lord Christ says: "Whatever you forgive and redeem, that shall also be forgiven and redeemed before me in heaven. This is not a floating log in a body of water, but a certain hard rock. It is not as the pabst's muck, since some may think that it has something certain about it, and that it has a good ground on which one may set foot; but it is a log that floats in the water and looks out a little, but if one wants to step or jump on it, or seek safety on it, so that one may be preserved on it in water distress, such a log then goes under the water and one must drown.
Therefore be absolved, and when thou art absolved, Christ saith, Ye have no more sin before me: and as the Christian church saith, I absolve thee, so saith Christ in heaven. So also go to thy neighbor and seek counsel and comfort from him, and so it shall be in the sight of Christ, for he saith, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them; there am I, and there will I be and have my dwelling. And, that is much more: every Christian soul is the dwelling place, palace and temple of God the Father, of the Lord Christ and of the Holy Spirit, as S. Paul says in the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians in the 6th chapter: "You are a temple of the living God, sanctified and consecrated for this purpose, that God wants to dwell among us. He wants to be the father of the house of the believers, to teach, to name, to create and to forbid. If we have His Word and Sacrament, He is our Father and we are His children.
But S. Paul says that the Antichrist sits in the temple of God, that is, in the holy Christian church; since Christ says: "Listen to me alone, look at me as I comfort and rebuke you by my word, and whatever else I do, judge yourself by it, for you are my temple, I will dwell in you. Against this
The Pope cries out: Come to me, go to Compostel and to St. James, there you will have forgiveness of all guilt and pain. This means that he actually sat down in the temple of God, that is, in the hearts of the pious Christians, and ruled there with his lies; he filled the souls with Christ, because with the Pope, the Gospel, baptism, and the Lord's Supper are not valid, but he who is obedient to the Roman chair is a true Christian. But we are to expel the pope from the church, and let Christ teach again among us alone, so that we may be and remain his church; and if we hear his word, we are also his children. For he gives us his sacraments, that he may preserve us, and that all things may be done according to his will and command. Wherever you see God's word preached and the sacraments administered, that is where Christ dwells, that is where he gives the consolation of the keys, that is where prayer is heard, and that is where you walk the right path to life without error. Follows:
[Ninth Sermon on the 18th Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
P. 21. 22. Then Peter came to him and said, "Lord, how often must I forgive my brother who sins against me? is it enough seven times? JESUS saith unto him, I tell thee: Not seven times, but seventy times seven.
Until now, the Lord Christ has given a way and measure how the church should deal with loosening and binding, and how it should deal with sinners; and he has abundantly instructed and provided for the church in this matter of doctrine. For he has well seen that because we live here on earth in the flesh, sin always accompanies us, and Christians can never become so pure because they live here that they no longer need forgiveness of sin. So the devil does not celebrate either, so that he may tear us away from faith and salvation; and so the Lord Christ knows well that it will not happen with us without sin. For this reason he also established his kingdom in such a way that the Christian church knew where it stood and what would loosen and bind it, so that Christ in heaven would also let it be loosed and bound; and I
I have admonished you above with all faithfulness that you keep this text of the evangelist in the right understanding, namely, that it is to be understood of the sin that goes against God's law. For the pope has made sin where there is none, and forgives sin where there is none, as when he spoils the food and then dispenses and permits to eat meat again. Therefore, it is necessary to know what sin is, and what it means to remove and bind sin.
Now the Lord Christ continues and expands the forgiveness of sins, makes it even more extensive, does not put it into a number or end, as he has expanded it above, as wide as the world is, does not want to have it bound to a certain place, as the Pope has done, but in all corners and places, where only people who are baptized are, there one shall find forgiveness of sins; as then S. Peter also wants to deal with it quite wisely and make a certain number out of it. Peter also wants to act quite wisely with it, and to make a certain number out of it, stands up and says: I hear that one is to forgive, and to loosen and bind sin. If therefore one sinned three or four times a day, should he be forgiven all the time? would it not be said, I will no more loose or forgive, because thou fallest and sinnest the longer? thought, if one would always sin, whether one would also always leave the door open, and be ready to forgive sin: is thus S. Peter hastens wise man, and wants to master the Lord Christ, wants to grasp it and bring it into a certain number, whether it is also enough that he forgives three times or seven times. Christ answers, "Yes, you should forgive him as often as he comes back after he has sinned and seeks forgiveness. For to forgive seventy times seven times is as much as to forgive without ceasing. As often as your brother desires it, you shall be ready to forgive him.
This is an annoying text, and all wise and prudent people are offended by the sermon, because it reads thus: that a man may sin four times in one day, and hereby everyone is left free and given room to sin incessantly and to do what he desires. Thus all discipline would be abolished. For when they hear that everything should be
If they are forgiven for what they do, they will live according to their will without any shyness. And many fine bishops, and especially the Novatians, have resented it. For that is where Novatus, the heretic, came from, a Roman canon who followed these beautiful thoughts. In order that a discipline and respectability would remain in the world among the people, he taught this opinion: If a man after baptism falls into mortal sin in haste, then the church does not have power and authority to forgive sin, and closes heaven without all mercy; for whoever is baptized should think that he remains in the holiness which he received in baptism, if not, then sin would not be forgiven; and he used the saying from the epistle to the Hebrews in the 10th chapter. Chapter, which reads thus [v. 26. f.If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, we have no more sacrifice for sin, but a dreadful waiting for judgment"; and to Hebrews, chapter 6 [vv. 4-6.It is impossible that those who have been enlightened once, and have tasted the heavenly gifts, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, should fall away, and again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and hold him up to ridicule, that they should again be regenerated unto repentance." From these sayings they have concluded this error, that whoever sinned after baptism would have no forgiveness of sin. In baptism he would have forgiveness of sin, but not after the fall.
This must be known, so that one could beware of such spirits rising again. For when the pious bishops opposed it, and Novatus and his followers were resisted, and his error was cast down, and Novatus and his followers were driven out of Rome, and they themselves saw that it could not be as they had prescribed, then they softened their doctrine a little, and made it much worse. For they then began to say that it was true that sinners could not be barred from heaven, but that if one had sinned after baptism, they had no power to put away the same sin.
But the sinner would repent for himself until God might be merciful to him and obtain forgiveness of sins from him. But they could not obtain forgiveness of sins from the bishop because of the power and authority of the keys, so they took away the authority of the keys and deceived many with it. The pope still teaches today that in baptism no more than original sin is forgiven. But what a person sins after baptism, he must do for himself with his works, with the help of the priests and nuns.
So the Novatians and Papists wanted to grasp these things, because they saw that it is not good and useful to give people room to sin. For if one does not compel, the people become desolate and wild. Therefore so many laws of fasting and so many little prayers have been made, which afterward have become vain snares of the consciences, and the pope has filled all the books with them. Therefore it is a difficult thing to preach God's grace and forgiveness of sins, and yet keep the people in discipline and punishment; and yet the sinner should be free, when he returns, to have his sins loosed.
These lead people far away from the keys, and even nullify Christ; and one may see, if one follows the Novatian and Papist doctrine, as, weep and repent, until so long that one has forgiveness of sin, whether one is then also certain of the forgiveness of sins? I cannot follow this doctrine, for Christ set the keys so that we would not doubt His will, but would be sure that when God was angry, He would then also be merciful again, and that we could surely die on this forgiveness of sins. They have done very well and wanted to find relief from their error, but we do not want to accept them, but rather avoid such false teaching.
But if you want to preach comfortingly to someone, send yourself in such a way that he who hears you may be sure that he is pleasing to God, or else keep silent. For it is better for you to be completely silent than for you to preach a doubtful, uncertain
Preach. As the pope says: If you do this or that, you are in the right, if not, you sin against God and the Church. Yes, how do you know? Did God say so? No, he says, but I say it. How do you know that God is angry with me and that I can reconcile God with my repentance and satisfaction? He cannot prove it from God's word, but leaves me in doubt and uncertain delusion. But, dear, tell me, what kind of life would it be if a man did not know whether he pleased God or not? If in the household the man said: I do not know if the woman is mine, and the woman said: I do not know if the man is mine; item, if the child, this house, this field, garden or meadow is mine? What kind of a being would it be if one did not know who he was and what his possessions were? But it is highly necessary that he knows it, and can say: This woman is mine, and publicly given to me. For one must not stammer or doubt here, but also be able to say before God that God Himself has given me this wife and house or other goods etc. Therefore, all preachers who make you doubt are useless, because in the kingdom of God you should be sure whether you have a merciful God, forgiveness of sins and eternal life. I had toiled for fifteen years in the priesthood with masses and fasting, and when I had already done everything, I knew just as much as before whether God would be merciful to me, because I was pointed to my works. Christ should be of no use to me after baptism. Thus, the pope had forbidden the certainty and assurance of divine graces, and still used as a pretense and cover the saying from Ecclesiastes: Nescit homo, utrum amore aut odio dignus sit, etc. The devil was supposed to be baptized. So the pope should preach to the devil, and not to me.
God does not like sin; for example, if I am an adulterer, God will not have it. Item, if I steal another's goods, that also displeases God; and if servant and maidservant are unfaithful, that also God will not have. If you also sell yours in a fair purchase, he is pleased with you. So you can be sure here that I am
either ask for forgiveness of sin, or know that my sins are kept. For if a brother or a servant of the divine word promises you a consolation that God will forgive me the sin, if I want to stop sinning, then know that God Himself is talking to me. That is why it was right and just that the Novatians were condemned as having the certainty of the keys, and only brought to despair, as the Pabst's kingdom was a mere uncertainty.
I have seen many who, because of uncertainty and doubt, have gone mad and been deprived of their senses. There was no one who said, "Dear brother, God has commanded that you be forgiven of your sins; only hear the same word from your brother or your preacher, and believe that God is your merciful God and Father, as He Himself says, "Truly, what you will redeem on earth, that I will redeem and forgive in heaven. For God Himself speaks through the mouth of the preacher to him who is in need of forgiveness of sin. Therefore, if the preacher forgives your sins, know that they are also forgiven you in heaven.
But many more foolish questions have been raised here. For the power of the keys has been so trampled upon that in all schools and churches nothing at all has been known about it; and we have allowed ourselves to be absolved from sins that were not sins at all, and have bought the letter of butter and indulgences, and had mass said that we were free of sin. But the Lord Christ has certainly established His Church; it really knows where it stands, is certain of the forgiveness of sin, and that it has a God. For this reason God's Son became man and died for me; and we also confess in our articles of Christian faith the keys of the church, namely, that in the church there is forgiveness of sin', and that the forgiveness of sin should come to me not once or twice, but as often as I have sinned. Therefore, this most powerful text remains before the Novatians. For Novatus is not yet as pious as S. Peter, who nevertheless asks if he can be forgiven seven times.
Novatus wants to forgive the sin only once, and whoever wants to be forgiven the second time should try with his own repentance to see if he could obtain God's grace, thus wanting to deny the sinners absolution altogether. Such a teacher should be banned from his office, who wanted to teach people to despair and despair.
Yes, they say, it is nevertheless written in the 6th chapter of Hebrews: "It is impossible that those who were once enlightened etc., when they fall away etc., should be renewed again" etc. If you look at this text carefully, you will find that it is nothing against us, for it teaches: "If anyone has fallen away from Christ, who is the true sacrifice for sin, and seeks another way or means of salvation and going to heaven, he will never come to it; he will accomplish nothing. For if we are brought to Christ, we must not lose sight of him again. For if one loses sight of him and climbs up to heaven in another way, it is impossible for anyone to come to forgiveness of sins, for he runs away from the doctrine that alone gives us forgiveness of sins. He speaks here of doctrine and not of works, and we also teach in this way, as if I said: "The Turks believed in Christ before, but they have allowed themselves to be seduced by their Mahomet, and have fallen away from the doctrine of Christ and the forgiveness of sins, and have turned away from Christ to their works: just as the Turks lead a hard, strict life, and do more good works, so that our monks are all sinners against them. Therefore, because the Turks have denied Christ and thrown Him behind them, who alone is the way, the truth and the life, it is impossible that they should be saved, for without Christ not the least sin is forgiven. Therefore, in the same text, it soon follows that the Hebrews would have no more sacrifice for sin, but would receive hellish fire.
So we should stay with the Lord Christ when we have sinned and not turn our backs on him, otherwise we will lose the forgiveness of sin. When I was in the monastery in the cap, I was so hostile to Christ,
that when I saw his painting or picture of him hanging on the cross etc., I was frightened by it and cast down my eyes, and would rather have seen the devil. For my heart was poisoned with this papist doctrine, that I had defiled my vest shirt, lost Christ and baptism, and would now have to help myself, as they still preach in the papacy today: Christ has only done enough for original sin, but whoever sins after receiving baptism may do enough himself, and has only become a devil from Christ the Savior. That is why people crawled under the mantle of Mary, went on pilgrimage to the saints, did this and that; but it is not called going to heaven, but to the abyss of hell.
Therefore, the Novatians are really blind people who take this text to mean that after baptism there is no more forgiveness of sin, and Christ is no longer of use to those who have fallen after their baptism, even if they repent. You should be warned of this, and prepared with this 18th chapter of Matthew, whether the devil wants to drive new Novatians again, as he always seeks out the old heresies again, so that you may beware of them; and although the Novatian heresy is condemned, the pope has nevertheless brought it back on track, as he has gathered all heresies together and scattered them over a heap 1). But think of Christ as gracious and merciful, who forgives your sins, if you desire otherwise. If your brother has fallen and rises again, seeking mercy, then Christ the Lord should be presented to him as the one who carries the lost sheep and seeks the lost penny. For Christ has instituted forgiveness of sins in his church, and has established such a kingdom, which is called forgiveness of sins. The church is such a multitude that where a sinner lets him be told and punished, he has forgiveness of sin, and this forgiveness is valid as often as he desires and seeks it.
But here it is said, "Shall we do nothing but always forgive and shower people with forgiveness of sins?
1) i. e. scraped.
then the world will be full of rascals and ruthlessness, and in the end there will be no more discipline in the world. What may the wise people of these worries? 2)
[First sermon on the nineteenth chapter of the Evangelist Matthew.
V. 1. 2. And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished this discourse, he arose out of Galilee, and came into the borders of the land of Judaea, beyond Jordan. And much people followed him, and he healed them there.
This belongs to the legend of the Lord Christ, for you know well that the Lord was born in Bethlehem and brought up in Nazareth, and lived there with his mother Mary until the thirtieth year, and always remained there, without traveling three times every year from Galilee up to the Jewish land to Jerusalem according to the law of Moses, For every boy who was the firstborn had to appear before the Lord at Jerusalem every year for the three feasts, which journeys the evangelists have not described, except for one, which he made in the twelfth year of his age, when he debated in the temple with the scholars and was lost from his mother, as is reported in the second chapter of Luke. Chapter such is reported. After that, when he was thirty years old, he went into the Jewish country to the Jordan to John, by whom he was baptized; and immediately he went again to Galilee, accepted apostles and disciples, preached and did the first miracle at the wedding in Cana, turning water into wine. Then he went with his mother to Capernaum and lived there for the next three years. There he began his ministry and preached for the next three years. This was his bishopric and parish, which is why Capernaum is also called his city. From the same city he traveled to Galilee and passed through that country, terminating there, preaching the gospel everywhere and healing many diseases.
2) The section of the 18th chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, v. 23-35, is the pericope for the second and twentieth Sundays after Trinity; Luther's sermons on it are found in the postils.
He did not enter the Jewish land without coming to Jerusalem according to the law of Moses, but did not preach there until the fourth year; as S. Peter, Acts of the Apostles, chapter 10, also testifies that Christ did not begin to preach and perform miracles in Judea, but only in Galilee.
When the three years were over and the fourth year was present, during which he was to suffer, Matthew the Evangelist says in this text that Jesus rose from Galilee and came to the borders of the Jewish land; He preaches the last sermon in Galilee, full of the forgiveness of sins, and also wants to preach in Judea, and remains in Judea for this half year, and when the half year was over, he was crucified, as this text indicates, that after these speeches the Lord arose from Galilee, and came toward the middle of the day to the borders of Judea, and passed through Jericho, as it is written in the 18th chapter of Luke. After that he went to the Mount of Olives, and then to Jerusalem. This is the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, where he will do what he did in Galilee. And many people went with him, especially many women followed him, who served him and gave him food and fed him; who also went to the tomb and anointed him, as Mary, Joanna [Luc. 8, 3. 1, Salome and [Mary] Jacobi [Marc. 16, 1.], who will be rich widows, for they endured the Lord in Galilee and also in the Jewish country with their goods, which they will have sold and made into money; and after His resurrection and ascension they moved out of Judea again into Galilee. With these women went many other people, especially those who were sick and infirm and wanted to be healed. During this journey the Lord Christ healed all of them; he cleansed the ten lepers and gave sight to the blind man in Jericho. Otherwise, he did not perform many more miracles described by the evangelists, but only the sermons of the Lord, which he had preached for half a year in the Jewish country, are mentioned.
The Lord's words were spoken in the land of Judea and Jerusalem before and after His passion, for Christ was almost vainly 1) preaching and teaching in Judea.
Now when he comes to the Jordan, where the border of the land of Judah was, since he has not yet been over the Jordan, this is what happens:
V. 3-6 Then came the Pharisees unto him, and tempted him, saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for any cause? But he answered and said unto them: Have ye not read, that he which made man in the beginning made that there should be one man and wife, saying, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall be one flesh. So they are not two, but one flesh. What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.
Because the future of Christ could not have been hidden with such a great tramp 2) into the Jewish land; for since he had given the last in Galilee, and did not want to come back again, the more people hastened after him: then the Pharisees became aware of it, and meet him in the border, want to test him and prove their masterpiece on him. For it did not turn out so badly. They must have heard a lot about his teaching and miraculous works that he had done in Galilee, because many considered him to be an excellent man and a prophet. Therefore they meet him at the border and want to ask him a question, about which they will have quarreled in their schools and quarrelled among themselves, and one will have thought this, the other that man and woman should separate so easily. They would have liked to be right on both sides. Then they would ask the Lord Christ, and they would seize him finely, so that he would be caught, God granting that he would say yes or no, as they also do with the nest egg afterwards. If he had said yes here, they would have said, "What kind of a prophet is this?
1) Erlanger: eitelm.
2) Dragging - entourage.
If every man, as often as he wished, could let his wife go. They would soon have let the door fall shut behind the Lord, if they could cast a grudge against him, especially with the wives, if he would approve the letter of divorce. For they would gladly have decorated their hypocrisy and error with his displeasure. If he had said no, he would have been condemned again, as if he wanted to teach against Moses. So they could have taken both, yes and no, and brought the Lord Christ into disgrace. But he not only precedes them and proves himself to be a master, but also gives them a good beating, so that they pull in their pipes and go their way.
Moses had given a law [Deut. 24:24] that if a man found a grievous affliction in his legitimate wife, he should give her a bill of divorcement and put her out of his house, as it is written in the fifth book of Moses, chapter 24, in these words [Deut. 24:1-4]: "If a man take a wife and marry her, and she find no favor in his sight for any grievance, he shall write a bill of divorcement, and put it in her hand, and put her out of his house. If then she has left his house and goes to be another man's wife, and that other man also becomes angry with her and writes a letter of divorce and puts it in her hand, and lets her out of his house; or if that other man dies who took her as his wife, her first husband who left her out cannot take her again to be his wife, because she is unclean. For such is an abomination in the sight of the Lord." The same was Mosi's law of the bill of divorcement, and the Jews made good use of this law, taking wives and putting them away again, taking others, and not keeping the marriage and the taking of wives otherwise than as an exchange of horses. If a man took a wife and did not like her, he put her away; and when he had put away the first wife, 1) and did not like the other, because he was disgusted with the change, he would soon have another, or would desire his first wife.
1) Erlanger: has.
They did a lot of divorcing. Then Moses put a stake in front of it, forbidding such a man to take the first wife again, to prevent them from divorcing so easily; and because of this annex in the law, the first wives kept many of them. For they thought: If you get a worse one, you must not take the first one to yourself again. Because the Jews were a very hopeful and wicked people, and because they did not want to kill their wives by strangulation or poison, Moses gave them a letter of divorce, and the divorce became so frequent that they even stumbled at it themselves.
The Turk still has a lot of divorce today. If a woman is not obedient to the man, nor does she do the man's bidding, he soon chases her out of the house and takes one, two, three or four wives at a time, and makes do with Moses; have taken out what is soft and does them good; force the wives hard in the Turkey, so that which does not want to stay, they soon push away; play with the wives, like dogs with a lapping. When they are tired of a woman, 2) they quickly beat her into the grass and take another. But Moses did not say so. I also hold that there is no marriage among the Turks, but only whoredom. It is a great tyranny, especially because of God's blessing that they beget children, and yet the mother is divorced. That is why it is not a proper marriage among the Turks. The Turks are now, in my opinion, all whores' children.
So Christ wants to interpret the law here, even though he is a preacher of the gospel, who is to preach about the forgiveness of sin and God's grace; and he did not come to establish the marriage state. Nevertheless, if the law is wrongly understood, it belongs to an evangelical preacher to interpret it and give good instruction, so that people may understand the law correctly. For a preacher is to do good to everyone and to serve and be useful according to his office, so that the people may understand the law and know how
2) Erlanger: be.
one should live. The same is done here by the Lord Christ. He clearly expresses the opinion of the law, and says that there can be no divorce, for only one cause, namely adultery, which, if it has happened, is the penalty that the woman should not take another, or there should be no marriage. In this case it is not good that the man should have toil and labor, and the woman should consume his sour sweat, and in addition lay strange eggs in the nest 1) and inherit this man's property. Therefore, only away with such whores, if they ever have no desire to live as married women and honest matrons with their husbands.
They say to Christ, "Is it right?" as if to say, "It is so with us that each one pushes his wife away and chases her for all kinds of reasons," when 2) even Moses does not permit this. For Moses says only because of an evil affliction or other unpleasant cause. So they made the divorce often from envy and hate, also sometimes father and mother to spite, and made thereby the hole, that it would be slack in the law of Moses. For this is the way it is: if a shawl is given a finger's breadth, it takes a span; if it has a span, it takes a cubit's breadth. Therefore it seems as if they wanted to get into him, so that he would pronounce a judgment, whether it is right or not. But he truly comes and enters the game as a master, yes, as a lord. They think that they want to catch him. If he answers: No, then he acts against Moses; but if he says yes, then he tears up the marriage, so that the people run away from each other, and then the land becomes full of fornication: they want to clip him and catch him, but he tears through as a master and lord.
They reproach him with Moses, but he anticipates their reproach and says: "How do you read in Moses?" How did God command in the beginning? namely, that from the beginning of the world God's creature and order is much more delicious than what Moses says afterwards, and writes a law for the sake of your hardness of heart;
1) Erlanger: Nehest.
2) Erlanger: Ifs.
3) Erlanger: Yes but.
I want to say: Put glasses on your noses and look at God's word, what God spoke in the first creation and when he ordered the marriage state; I want to say: Have you scholars not also read what he did who created man and woman? Do you also know him? Do you know who he is and what his name is, namely God? Do you also think that his command and order also have power? Is it not true that when he created man in the beginning, he created them male and female? And he said afterward, "Man shall leave father and mother, and cleave to woman," and woman to man, "and they two shall be one flesh. If they have become one flesh, they cannot be divided. What then do you ask about divorce? God says: It shall be undivided and, what is more, man and woman shall be one flesh, therefore they cannot be two, but only one body. This was said by Him who created everything from the beginning, by God Himself this is spoken: "The man is no longer powerful of his body, but the woman, and the woman also is not powerful of her body, but the man". Item, "a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife." This word was spoken by Adam when God brought Eve to him, saying, "This is one leg of My legs and flesh of My flesh, and shall be two in one flesh." But it is not Adam's words alone, but also God's words. God Himself speaks them through Adam's mouth. Adam was full of the Holy Spirit before the sin. Therefore, what he spoke was spoken by the Spirit of God, and was just as much as what Adam spoke, as if it had been spoken by God Himself. His heart, tongue, mouth and all his members were holy, therefore everything he spoke was holy. Therefore God spoke through the mouth of Adam; this is what is to be noted in Moses.
There is no example found in the holy Scriptures of righteous men and saints who have separated or cast off their wives, but they have kept themselves in such a way that husband and wife are one flesh. Therefore the Lord Christ confirms here
the marriage state, just as a preacher of the gospel does, that he teaches about external things, if there is any unrighteousness of the law or abuse. Thus, with the work of creation, he confirms and concludes both that God created man and woman, and that he forbade that man should not separate. For it is not Mosi's thing, but God first created the husband and wife and then joined them together, and also forbade that they should not divorce.
And add to this Christ speaks:
What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.
As 1) he shall say, Thou, man, shalt not divorce thee from the woman, for he that created thee, man, hath made thee a woman; and he that created thee, woman, hath given thee to man to help him etc., and will have no divorcement. Because it is so, that what God puts together, no man shall separate; man and woman God puts together, He makes you a man, and makes you a woman, and by His order man and woman become one body: therefore this order of God no man shall separate, let God call him Moses, or whatever he will; but here it is said: If you have taken me, you must be separated from me by death alone. If ye be angry one with another, and be divided, be ye reconciled again, as Paul saith; but there shall be no separation among you.
I do not want to say any more about this text here, because it is often repeated and acted upon.
But there the Pharisees come with Moses and want to catch him, as follows in the text:
V. 7. 8. Then they said: Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorcement, and [to] divorce her himself? He said to them: Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts. But from the beginning it was not so.
1) "As" put by us instead of "so".
As if they should speak: What sayest thou? shall not a man divorce? will reprove and rebuke his words which he hath spoken hitherto; say: Why then did Moses command that a woman should be given a bill of divorcement and let go, that she might have a testimony that she had not run away from her husband as a harlot, but had honestly divorced her husband? Oh, how one has played under the law here as under a little hat! Every man has wanted to adorn his wickedness with it; every pious and honest woman here has had to be wicked and disobedient. If a wicked man did not like his wife, because he liked another better than her, he soon found a reason to push her away; and if a man liked another man's wife, he could teach her and advise her that she would do her husband no good, until he had cause and opportunity to give her a bill of divorce, and she would come from him and he would have her. That is where this law came from. But the devil on the head, it has to be this law of all Büberei shame lid.
The Lord Christ answers and says: Moses has allowed you to separate because of your hardness of heart; as if he should say: What Moses? he goes through as a Lord; says: Moses to, Moses to, God is over Moses. Because ye are wicked Jews, wicked and desperate wretches, and cannot keep that which God hath commanded; that there be no evil, neither that ye smite your wives to death, nor that ye forgive them with poison: Moses hath not commanded you these things, but hath permitted you to do them: Moses hath not given you the law for your righteousness, honor, and godliness, but hath permitted you, and looked upon it through the fingers, for the hardness of your heart. It is not commanded of him, but Moses thought, This people is such a proud and wicked people, that they would commit murder one upon another. If they will not keep God's commandment, let them separate, that murder and poison may remain. If any man will not have his wife with him in goodness, let him put her away, lest an evil man come to him.
2) Erlanger: them.
If you do not want to be married in God's name, then you are harlots and knaves in the devil's name. You are such pious, stubborn, shameful and hard-hearted people that no hammer can soften you.
Thus, in the secular regiment, one must often look through the fingers of a bad boy in a city and not punish him, otherwise his head would be cut off. But one cannot justifiably do this, lest, if one punished him, other twenty innocent people should come to grief and suffer harm; as it commonly happens that a wicked man cannot be punished without harming many poor people. Therefore, it is better to spare one or two of the wicked than to put the whole city in danger.
It is said of Emperor Maximiliano that when the Frankish horsemen were causing a lot of trouble, he said: If I did not have the care of pious people, and if I did not spare other people, I would soon control them and punish them. It often happens that one has to give a wicked, desperate man a piece of malice, to let up a little, so that nothing bad happens, as if a rope were hanging from one's neck, and one wanted to cut him with a sword, one would certainly take the neck with him. Therefore, it must either be cut up gradually and neatly, or left uncut.
But he who is not punished in the world does not escape punishment. For even if the authorities do not punish, the devil punishes in the end. Now if you Jews are such a little herb, and have such a hard and hardened heart that cannot be led or taught, then Christ says let yourselves be divorced, and interprets the law so that Moses does not call it divorcing, but only allows it for bad boys.
So one should preach of divorce, and if they had looked behind them, they would have found that it was not so from the beginning, rather than Moses ever was. Neither did the prophets and the holy kings; they left no examples of divorce behind them to prove that they had left their wives. So the Lord Christ comes through in a fine way. For they think that they want Christ
He will tear through the ropes and nets as through a spider's web, saying, "Moses to, Moses to, God is more than Moses," and will excuse Moses for having had to give in to wicked men, so that no harm will come to those who are innocent. For it sometimes happens that one has to give in to a prankster, and, as they say in the proverb, to put on two lights for a prankster, otherwise one would only need one for a pious man etc.
Now the Lord decides, and even knocks them on the head and says:
But I say unto you: Whoever divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries the divorced woman commits adultery.
What is this said? Moses said that a man may put away his wife, but Christ says here that whoever puts away his wife and takes another is an adulterer with the one he has put away, because the first one he put away is his. Moses said that they should be put asunder. No, says the Lord Christ, such a one has become not only an adulterer but also a fornicator. For this reason Christ not only completely abolishes the law of Moses, but he also says: Whoever takes another commits adultery; he is judged that the other is not his wife. If he takes another, he cannot have a marriage with her for the sake of adultery; and if they come into a public adultery and do not mend their ways afterwards, the devil has put a stop to it. For the woman was one body with the man, and he is her debtor; so he goes and cuts off her part, and gives it to another; thus he tears up the unity of the body. Item, God's will is that husband and wife be one body, but an adulteress separates herself from her husband's bed, and just as she tears herself from her husband and separates her body from him, so she wants to make the conjugal state a lid, and be a wife under the life of a whore. There may be a divorce, but by those who are in authority, and a man does not divorce himself,
For God will nevertheless have prevented the whoredom. A whore drinks and eats with a man, and under the holy name, which is a wife, she still wants to be a whore, and then bring foreign heirs into the house and property. Always away with the whore, put her in a sack and throw her into the Elbe! She shall consume the man's goods, if she has not been angry to acquire them? and have the name that she is the wife? shall enjoy everything? shall have the man's money and body, and above that bring foreign heirs into the house? Such a one shall be divorced, and no one shall take her. If she wants to be a whore, let her hurry. Is it not enough that God has given her the grace that she may have a husband? otherwise he has created wives and husbands enough. If husband and wife are with each other, keep together, stay with each other, you may lie and live together; and that otherwise is a sin to others who are not husbands and wives, let it be holy to you, good work. And you do not want this freedom and glory, since God adorns this estate with it, and would rather be a stranger's whore with sins and shame, even incurring the wrath of God, than be a married housewife with a good conscience and honor? And if you do that, you have divorced yourself.
If a husband and wife become angry and disagree with each other, they should not divorce. The jurists draw other reasons for divorce from the spiritual law of the pope, such as if one of the spouses becomes a leper and the like. But it belongs to an evangelical preacher to interpret how this law of Moses should be understood. For the Lord Christ speaks here of the law or right, how God created the man and the woman, and that God gives them together according to it. For it is a divine order and foundation, which he does not want to be torn apart, but united until death.
This is the first teaching of Christ when he came from Galilee to the Jewish land, after he had risen from Galilee, preaching until the third year.
And follows:
[Second sermon on the 19th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
V. 10-12 Then said the disciples unto him, If the case of a man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. But he said to them: The word is not for everyone, but for those to whom it is given. For there are some who have been made asunder, born out of the womb; and there are some who have been made asunder by men; and there are some who have made themselves asunder for the kingdom of heaven's sake. Whoever can grasp it, let him grasp it.
This is not a funny sermon, but because the text gives it, and the Lord himself preaches about it, we must also speak about it.
Above, the Lord Christ has abolished the bill of divorcement, except when it had to be used for adultery, because that is when husbands and wives divorced themselves. Therefore, one should no longer follow the law of Moses, which was given to the hard, hardened people; and Christians and pious people, who think to be saved, should not follow the law of Moses, but Christ says here: If a woman commits adultery, she divorces herself, and is justly cast out by her husband; for she is an adulteress, and he who takes her again to wife is also an adulterer. This is said clearly enough that God wants husband and wife to remain together. For what God has joined together, let no man put asunder; this is God's commandment and will.
Now when the disciples hear that both the man and the woman are adulterers, and that they have no hope of dwelling with one another, they marvel, for they were not accustomed to such words from him before; therefore they ask, saying: Lord, would it not be better not to take a wife at all? For if one should be so hard bound to a wife with whom one could not get along, who had a strange and whimsical head, that would be hard for one. Therefore the apostles confess with this question first of all that the bill of divorcement was a very common thing among the Jews at that time: as it is still common among the Turks that if a man has a wife, he is to be married to her.
If a man does not like his wife, he pushes her away and runs to the market and buys another. So the Jews also put away wives, just as one puts away a 1) bad horse with a heart. Secondly, they confess that a good marriage is seldom found, just as the pagans complain about it, and the whole world also cries out about it, that when a couple of people come together who love and value each other, they say: This is a good marriage. They also say: It is a strange herb, a good marriage, and it is not so mean as the stones in the streets. So also the disciples of Christ consider it a strange thing, and therefore think that it is not good to be a husband: for he that taketh a wife may be in danger of catching a wicked wife, and after that cannot get rid of her.
And it is well ordered by the ancient fathers in the Church that common prayer be made for the new spouses, so that God may grant them happiness and blessing in marriage. For the devil is not pleased that there should be unity among the spouses, and that they should live in peace with one another, and bring up their children in the fear of God, discipline and respectability; and this is one reason why a well-married couple is a strange thing, for the devil does not like it that spouses should live well with one another, since otherwise harlots and knaves remain together longer in peace. On the other hand, original sin and our flesh and blood cause this misery and heartache among married couples, so that people soon get tired of marriage and are unstable in love. Our old Adam does not like what God gives, and what he does not give, he wants to have. S. Augustine also speaks of this and says: "The great lust of the man for the woman, and again of the woman for the man, is out of all proportion. The woman that is given to me I do not respect, there is no desire for her, and those whom God has forbidden me I want to have. So there is great disobedience in the flesh beyond measure, therefore it cannot stand. The man soon gets tired of the woman, and thinks: "If you had her, I would be content; and if he has her, I would be content.
1) "Herzschlächtig" is the name of the fault of a horse suffering from shortness of breath. In the Erlanger: "haarschlächtig". Low German: .chartschlägsch".
the love and lust would soon be over and atoned for, and she would look for another. So also a woman soon tires of her husband whom God has given her, and throws her love on another, and if she had the same one, she would not put up with him for long either; for the natural evil and misfortune, which is called weariness (that one soon tires of a thing, becomes full and weary of it), does not remain outside.
I have often experienced that their two came together with great ardor and love, and with love one wanted to eat the other; but before half a year had passed, he was an adulterer and she an adulteress. Otherwise I have known her to be at enmity with her husband, who had begotten five or six children with each other, and not only was marriage one thing to another, but also the fruits of the womb: nevertheless they ran away from each other; and now one has more to do with matrimonial matters than with all other affairs. We cannot read, preach or study before it, which is a sure sign that the devil has a heartache with this state. For one comes together with ardor and desire, and when one has recognized the other for a while, then weariness sets in, and they run away from each other again.
We experience this every day. Therefore the apostles of Christ are also displeased when someone has a wicked wife, who is of a stubborn head, and not only wants to have the house rule in his fist, but also grows over the head of the man, although God says the opposite in the first book of Moses, where he says: "The will of the woman shall be subject to the man. Item, the man shall have vain displeasure in the woman, and the smoke in the house shall bite him. Therefore they ask: What should a man do here? Is it better for a man to remain unmarried or to become married? and conclude that it is much better for a man to remain alone, without a wife. For it is altogether too dangerous and not to be dared, and he can get one who leaves him neither peace nor rest; if then it should apply to vain beating and running, then it is not fine either. Now this comes from the devil's temptation, and after that also
From the evil that is called wantonness. Therefore it is not good to free a woman, but better to leave her, as the Turks do, who force the women to become pious, so that they stay in the house and have food and drink. This is a right way to make the wives humble and subdued. Because the Lord Christ preaches to the devout Christians that Christian women are honest matrons who fear God, he answers whether it is good to live without a wife or to have a wife, and says: "Not everyone understands this word. For Adam has caused a displeasure in paradise, that we soon get tired of one thing. Therefore it is not at all advisable to preach that it is not good to become married, for this gift is not given to everyone to live chastely, for it is a special gift; and if this gift is not there, that God has pulled you out of the evil heat, in which otherwise the human race is, and adorned with the jewel that you, woman, do not ask for a man, and you, man, do not respect a woman: Dare not, or thou shalt make thyself an adulterer and an adulteress, and defile thyself with dumb sins, and shalt not be pure, but shalt deal foully with thyself; and such also is found.
Many clumsy things were written about this a long time ago, which I am not allowed to tell here, and it also belongs to the secret confession. And Christ says to his disciples: You say it is not true. Yes, if anyone had the grace and gift of chastity. But if it is not there, the need to be married presses you. If then thou wilt say, I will not give myself in the bit; yea, thou shalt hereafter suffer the heat and evil air, that, 1) when thou seest a boy, thou shalt feel that thou hast not the gift or endowment of chastity. So then your heart is a whorehouse, which day and night intends to fornicate, and does not lack the good will, but only the space and place to fornicate, and then falls on you.
1) Original: "das", which the Erlanger has changed in the text into "da", which seems to us not to be permissible. - We think that the text is incomplete here. Perhaps is to be supplemented in the following: "see, [you will desire his, 1 and will feel" etc.
than a mad dog. Is it not better here that you lead an honest, godly being in marriage, and then would not have cause to be stuck in this rut and restlessness, than that you remain without a wife?
Thus answers the Lord Christ, and the same is said of widows by S. Paul, 1 Tim. 5:14 ff, when he says: "I will that the young widows be free, beget children, keep house, and give no cause to the adversary to reproach them, for some are already turned away after Satan. Therefore it is better that you live with your husband, and again you, husband, cleave to your wife, that you may be free from heat, evil desire, and harlotry. For the Lord Christ says, "The word is not for everyone," as if to say, "I exclude no one from this creation, since God made man and woman, but only those to whom grace has been given by God; and there are not many found who have this gift. I have also had it, although many evil thoughts and dreams have come with it. Outwardly I was pious and chaste, but inwardly I was full of evil desire, from which I was not removed. And where someone has the grace of chastity, he has the finest life and good rest than anyone may have. In sum, such a one has a precious jewel and ornament, and to such belongs the answer of the Lord Christ, which he gives to the apostles here. But I will not let it be said of all, unless he has this gift. It must be a gift over nature. In nature, God creates a woman and a man and blesses them, wanting them to be fruitful in marriage and to multiply. But if there should be unrest, strife and quarrels among them, let them live together in the fear of God, praying diligently; if they will not do this, let them quarrel, I will not separate them, says Christ here. It is Adä's fault who made this noise with his fall in paradise.
And saith, There are some that are cut off, which are so born of the womb. The word
2) Here we seem to be missing a "not". Compare Luther's sayings, Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XIX, 691 f., § 54; idiä. Col. 724, s 143.
We do not have eunuchus in the German language. It is called a chamberlain or a chamber servant, who serves with an emperor, king, prince or lord in a chamber. The kings in the Orient invented this word, and they had eunuchos in their chambers. So that their queens and princes might remain pure and not become whores or sleep with the chamberlains, they made the chamberlains into cocks, for nature teaches that when a man is copped, he is not much good for a woman. Therefore the kings of Babylon and the kings of Persia and Egypt devised this wickedness against men.
But there are two kinds of cocks, the first which are born in this way, of which there are many, so that they are like stones and blocks against women, that as one is born blind, so one is born circumcised, that he is cold and frozen against a woman's image: this is a natural cock, he can be of no use either for service or for marriage. The other lunuodi are made with human hands, as they were used in the courts of kings for chamberlains. These are unworthy of women, but they love women very much, for they cannot enjoy women or be satisfied with them. For what is forbidden to us, we long for. What is not given to us, we want to have straight away, as the pagans also said: Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata.
The Turkish emperor is said to have one and a half hundred queens. There is also such a great Hanfe chamberlain; and because they are good for nothing, they love the women very much, and they serve faithfully, and wait for them most diligently day and night, so that the women could not have better guards than such cocks. But one should not do it, nor spoil the male images in such a way that one takes away their natural birth, and they are then unfit for marriage. Nevertheless, they love women out of all measure. The first are grudging against women, the others love them, and are forcibly cut off from men's hands. But it is not good. The Turk, the devil, has now brought it into the world, that it is again quite mean.
After that, some godly men in the church cut themselves off (because they felt that they did not have the gift of chastity, of which Christ says here), so that they would be overtaken by heat and evil desire. In the first church, this was so violent that the pope had to forbid it, even though he subsequently approved and confirmed the state of chastity, living without a woman; and it was a beautiful virtue in the eyes of the pagans that those who served the church lived in chastity. But after this the bishops went and held a concilium, and issued a mandate in which they commanded that all those who had made themselves 1) chaste should be put under ban, and should never again be fit for the church office; and. Origen, an excellent, learned man, and of an honorable and chaste life, when many women and virgins went to his preaching, and he was told that many of them did not go to his preaching to hear him and learn something from him, but for fornication; So that he might not give them cause for fornication, he cut himself off; and Origen was therefore put to death, for because he was a great man, others also wanted to imitate him, and his example was very dangerous.
Now the pope confirms that the servants of the divine word should not let themselves be cut; but he also forbade that they should not have wives. What followed from this, one can see that the priests became mad rutting devils and vain whoremongers.
I have known one who wanted to counsel him himself with a vow, and may well be, 2) by capping, and afterwards confessed that he had never felt such great heat as when he did this. Now we hear here that the Lord Christ does not like it; so S. Paul 1 Cor. 7 also says of it, "It is better to free than to burn," because burning and evil desire makes a troubled heart and life; and we do not cut ourselves off today, as they did in the old days.
1) Erlanger: trimmed.
2) The text seems to be corrupted here. If one deleted the words: "with a vow and might well be," it would be in accordance with Tischreden, Cap. 43, §133. Walch, St. Louis Edition; Vol. XXII, 1188.
Even if we do it right away, we are not rid of the burning, but we get much more heat. Thus, when one wants to change or improve what God has made, it ends up being such a mess.
But the righteous Eunuchi are those who cut themselves spiritually, not with their hands, as those in the other degree do, for here no human hands come into it, but they are willingly chaste, and have this grace that they voluntarily remain virgins. It is also very good and fine for them to live chastely, but in such a way that they do not make a worship or pride out of it. They should do it, says the Lord Christ, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Yes, they say, we also do it for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. There strike the infernal fire! We abstained from women in the priesthood and in the monasteries also for the reason that God should think more highly of us than of Abraham and Isaac. It was for the sake of their own hope and righteousness that a monk and nun wanted to be higher and holier before God than another Christian. This means to elevate bodily chastity above spiritual chastity, yes, to elevate it above faith. But if you cut yourself off in faith, so that you may serve the Christian church, the gospel, and your preaching ministry all the better, and abstain from womanhood, so that you may be of service to the kingdom of heaven, and have all the better rest, that would be remiss. For he that is an honest man, and hath not a salary of the church, and shall work his trade and study, cannot do both at the same time. For this reason kings and princes have provided for the preachers that they be paid their wages, so that they might have their food and entertainment without the labor of their hands, and so that they might be all the more diligent about the Bible. For God, in the Old Testament, took from the priests and Levites all care of food, and commanded that they should tithe, that they might study the better. Since it is thus done for them that they have to study, it would be well for him who wanted to serve the church, and would have all the more rest, to remain without a wife, for then he would have neither wife nor child to support, and
could say: I will let myself be used for the gospel and the kingdom of God; not as monks and nuns who want to acquire and earn the kingdom of heaven through the worthiness of chastity; for this is given through Christ alone, and if it is given to us, we should accept it with gratitude: but that we may study, pray and read diligently, and the church may be edified by it. S. Paul also says in 1 Cor. 7:34: "He who is single cares for what belongs to the Lord and how he may please the Lord. He cares nothing for the fields or meadows, but how he serves God; otherwise he would have to care for his house and servants.
Thus far we have dealt with this text, of which Christ himself also spoke, and heard that he who is chaste does not set himself higher than others who do not live without wives, but they should serve others with their gift of chastity. But this was not taught in the papacy, but chastity was praised as such a good work, which God especially rewarded with the Kingdom of Heaven; and at that time no one studied it in the Bible, they did not preach, nor did they visit churches, nor did they accept the Gospel or the Kingdom of Heaven. That is, to be chaste for the sake of hope, that one might be better than other Christians, that is, in a perfect state higher than the ten commandments and the gospel of Christ. Yes, if a bishop should keep five or ten harlots! For this reason they are devilish classes, the devil has raised them with this cap. But the Lord Christ says here that the true cappers want to serve the kingdom of heaven, not that they want to obtain a special crown in heaven, because they have heaven in a different and better way, namely through Christ. For many of the Gentiles have also lived without marital status, but they have not been saved by it.
For this reason the Lord Christ concludes and says: "Whoever can grasp it, let him grasp it. This word is good to remember. And say not, Christ saith this, therefore it is good. It means, if you can grasp it, and if grace is given to you. But if thou canst not grasp it, stay from it, for
it is better to be free than to burn. For he who is in heat is not able to reason. This can be seen in the students and prostitutes. The monks have the heat and evil desires want to force with fasting, praying the rosary and with hard clothes; but the fire can not be extinguished.
S. Jerome speaks in this case of himself. I poor fool did not lie down in a bed, but slept on the hard earth, and smashed my breast with stones, as he is thus painted, nor, when I fell asleep, did I think otherwise, that I was in Rome at the singing dance; as S. Bernard and Franciscus also made children and women of snow and laid them beside themselves, that they might be rid of the heat. But it does not; for Christ, the very best teacher, does not present us with ropes or anything else, but places it on the gift of God. He who has the gift of being able to live without a wife is an angel on earth, and he has a quiet life. Whoever cannot grasp it, it is not good for him to be without a wife, but let him become a husband and take a wife.
[Third sermon on the 19th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
Now a new question arises, as with the little children, so that the Lord Christ may also be tempted. But he makes his report and answers it, and the evangelist writes thus:
V.13-15. And little children were brought unto him, and he laid his hands upon them, and prayed; and the disciples came upon them. But Jesus said, Leave the little children, and do not hinder them from coming to me, for such is the kingdom of heaven; and he laid his hands on them, and departed.
S. Marcus describes this history in the tenth chapter with more words, which we usually also read in the baptism.
And this text is one that the devil and the heretics, but especially the Anabaptists, have harshly contested. Therefore, we must take a good look at the text, and give the blasphemers the
For they will not stop, and this and that heresy will stir up even more, and the Anabaptists go about in their great wisdom, saying: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved. From this they make such a conclusion:
He who has no reason cannot believe;
The children have no reason or intellect:
Therefore children cannot believe, and therefore they should not be baptized; and if any children were baptized, they must be baptized again when they come to their male age.
After that, the Anabaptists continued to slobber and worry even more about this text and interpreted it back and forth, and got into even greater foolishness, so that they would even want to abolish infant baptism, and pretend that in this text infants are not called natural children, and that they are half children in age, but called all Christians in general who are humble, and have a childlike, simple heart, and believe in Christ. Such unholy spirits are the ones who rumble along. But pious hearts see that such interpretations do not hold the sting. They are foolish and foolish people; they do not see that Christ is speaking here of those who are half children, and who are carried in the arms, for old people do not carry one another. Now the evangelist Marcus says that they carried children to him, and he took them in his arms and embraced them, and they were brought to him because they considered him a prophet. Therefore the text must be understood that great men carried the children, because otherwise one child does not carry the other, so the children were not so great that they could have walked by themselves. This stands quite clearly and brightly there, nor does it help anything, but Hans reason and Hans sausage comes along and says: Children are not called small children here, but grown humble people. But anyone who has a little sense sees that the Anabaptists are possessed by the devil, for they want to call the children unreasonable in the name of all hangers-on, and they themselves are not only unreasonable, but also unreasonable.
They are foolish and foolish, because they do not want to be children carried in their arms, as this text clearly says: "They brought little children to the Lord, and he blessed them and laid his hand on them, and the apostles took them (men and women) as they carried them. Therefore we say: There were little children, which are not yet of sound mind, neither able to speak, nor to walk, neither knowing how to live. For in children of two years there is not much reason, there is not great wit and high sense, but reason is as yet buried, or scorched deep into the earth. Nevertheless, here the Lord Christ says: The little children should not be rejected, but they should be brought to him. Here the Anabaptists would say: "What is this? They have no understanding. Hear thou here, it is not for thy reason, nor for thy presumption, to judge how Christ may bless them and give them the Holy Spirit. He does not want to be mastered. Therefore, the text concludes that the children, who are not yet rational, will nevertheless be blessed and receive the Holy Spirit. He says, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for such is the kingdom of heaven." From this it can be seen that the Anabaptists did not have a good spirit, because they wanted to prevent children from being baptized.
So it is also clear from this text of the evangelist Marci that the baptism of infants is not to be despised, because there it is said: "Verily I say to you: He that receiveth not the kingdom of God as a little child shall not enter therein"; that is, he that killeth not his reason, and burieth it, and becometh as a little child, shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. If they bury their reason and have their eyes put out, and are carried and led to Christ, the kingdom of God is theirs. If Christ will not save anyone, if he becomes a child, how much more will he save those who were children before?
Yes, they say, the children do not believe. You deny this, because it does not follow that they do not believe because you do not see and feel it. It is enough that Christ sees and knows that they believe.
Item, they pretend: How can children believe, if they have not yet reason? and they put reason for faith. To this Christ answers, "For this very reason they are all the more apt to do and believe, since they have no reason, for reason is radically contrary to faith. Therefore reason must be abandoned, it must be killed and buried in the believer. But the Anabaptists make reason a light of faith, that reason should shine for faith wherever it should go. Yes, I mean, it shines like dirt in a lantern. Christ wants us to become children if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven in any other way; that is, just as in children all reason and understanding that can be reckoned is still dead, so in all believers in Christ reason should also be killed; otherwise faith has no place among them, because reason fights against faith.
When, for example, the Scripture says that there is only One God, and in the One Divine Being there are three distinct Persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, but One Being and Substance. Soon the Turk comes along with his reason and asks how it could be possible that one could be three and three could be one? they say that in One Hanse there must be no more than One Lord and Host, thus also in Heaven there must be only One God. This is all spoken from reason. But here you, Christian, must become a child and say: I can't rhyme it together, but I must become a child and let myself be carried, let Christ touch me and bless me, and believe, but close the eyes of reason and not see how it could be possible or impossible, but believe the simple simple word and accept it.
It is the same with all the other articles of faith. The heathen, when they hear that God's natural Son became man, say: It is not possible. Yes, if you ask reason for advice; but here you must abandon reason, and know nothing of it, and even kill it, or else.
1) Erlanger: had to.
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. These things cannot be grasped or understood by reason; you must believe the article that Christ was born a man when the time was fulfilled. You must be carried and led to Christ by the divine word, then you will be partaker of the kingdom of heaven. You must become children, little children belong here, little children are carried by the Lord Christ, he caresses and embraces them, and gives them the blessing, saying: "Such is the kingdom of heaven. If then I let myself be carried, Christ gives me his works and merit and the kingdom of heaven.
The Turk also says of the Lord's Supper that there is only bread and wine, item, in baptism there is bad water, which is poured over the hand, and says: "Shall this be called a bath of regeneration, as is written to Tito in chapter 3? This is a ridiculous thing to them, for one cannot wash a spoon white with this water, how should one bathe body and soul with it? Reason cannot comprehend the articles of faith, even the doctrine of the sacrament of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Therefore it is said, Thou shalt become a child, saying, I understand not; I see but water, and how the same is poured upon a child; but that he saith baptism hath power and authority of regeneration, and remission of sins by the word, in this will I believe, and will gladly be a fool and a child.
Why then do the desperate red spirits want to bind faith to reason, when it is impossible that faith and reason should agree with each other? For Christ says here expressly: If you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, become a little child, for I came into the world to make all children, and to make them fools. For those who see clearly and are wise and prudent do not need to become children. But we bring the little children to baptism and bring them to the Lord Christ. The preacher speaks the words of baptism and pours the water over the child; but God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are present and baptize themselves, as can be seen every year from Chapter 3.
Matthew preaches about it. At the baptism, it is the Holy Trinity that baptizes, as the words read: in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If the Holy Trinity baptizes, blesses and touches, why should not everything happen that is reported in the text? Especially since Christ says here: "Such is the kingdom of heaven.
Yes, say the Anabaptists, but I do not see how they are set free from the devil's snare and placed in eternal life; item, how they are blessed by Christ. Yes, what you cannot judge with your reason, faith tells you; it closes the eyes of reason and says that it is not a man who baptizes, but God who baptizes; item, there is the external water and also the divine word. Yes, I do not see God, so I do not feel His work; nevertheless it happens. If we were not to be blessed before, if we had understood everything with our reason beforehand, we would be blessed slowly; we do not have to brew faith and reason into one another. What happens to us old people who have reason and five senses, since we do not understand everything? Our life is not half in faith, according to the Anabaptist way. We do not spend the seventh part of our time and life remembering God and His Word. But shall you not be a Christian for this reason? What does man spend time with his childhood without reason! What time does a man spend sleeping, when he has neither reason nor wit, but lies there as a dead man and like a log? Man spends half of his life with sleep. If I suddenly die in the night, where do you think I will go? For, according to the judgment of the Anabaptists, there is no reason, therefore there must be no faith, for they want faith to be a work of reason. But if you lay down in bed, and command Christ, and lie there in bed like cattle, like a cow and a sow, or some other unreasonable animal, and there is no sign or token of faith and the Holy Spirit in your sleep, but lie there like a pig on the bed, should I not therefore be a believer, and
not be preserved in God's grace, or be a child of eternal life?
What does a craftsman spend time on his craft and handling, if he puts all his reason and thoughts into it and uses them for this purpose? For if a carpenter were to think elsewhere and hew with an axe, he should strike himself as soon as the wood. So it is with other crafts and trades also. Now if it were true that the Anabaptists say, "Reason must be with faith," then one would be lost and corrupt if he died at his craft or in his sleep; how many would be saved? No, my reason does not have to promote me to faith, and my faith remains, even if I do not have my reason with me. I sleep or wake, read in the book, and have my thoughts wherever I want, so faith is there and can be there, and God sees it, even if the Anabaptists do not see it.
Thus baptism washes my body and soul, although the Anabaptist says he sees nothing but water. So in the sacrament is the body and blood of the Lord Christ, although a sacramentarian sees nothing but bread and wine. If then thou wilt believe nothing but what thy mind teaches thee, thou must put away all articles of faith in one heap, for there is none so small, thy reason will say it is impossible. Therefore, even if I sleep and an Anabaptist does not see my faith, Christ sees it in my heart. If I think that this child does not believe (for I cannot see it), Christ who baptized it is standing there.
So it is also with those who are at their work, or writing some letter, or otherwise burdened with business, who are doing their trade, and do not remember Christ. Let reason be there," they say, "and let it give light to faith, how it should see. Then you must not say, This craftsman who cuts with his axe or works in any other way is not a Christian, for he is cutting and cutting with reason. Remember that we spend most of our lives sleeping, eating, drinking and working, because we are busy with reason.
If a man does not remember the Bible every moment, he is not condemned.
So they argue about reason, and become foolish and foolish about it. But the Lord Christ says the opposite, that these are the right Christians, who do not follow reason, and we must also become such people, that we are unreasonable most of our lives, and deal with things that do not belong to the kingdom of heaven. Even if one is very godly, and even if we are in church and hear God's word, we must still drop reason and hear God's word alone.
All heresy has flowed from and originated from the fact that reason wants to master and supersede the holy Scriptures. 1) But reason is far too blind to judge from the Scriptures, and if a man follows reason, he becomes a carnal man and judges all others to be carnal and unreasonable. But if the children are considered unreasonable by you, you are seven times more unreasonable; for the Lord Christ considers them reasonable. Go therefore with your reason to Babylon; Christ himself says: "Let the little children come to me," etc. I will touch them, and by this they will be children of eternal life, and the kingdom of God will be theirs.
Yes, they cannot believe, because they are not so reasonable as an old man! Yes, not so great and foolish, as you, age, are. They can believe the better, if they are not so reasonable. I know, though I sleep, that I am in faith, and am compassed about with Christ, who loveth me, and calleth me to the kingdom of heaven: for faith is in the heart of him that sleepeth, though he die in a moment.
Therefore, the argument of the Anabaptists does not conclude: "A child is not rational, therefore it should not be baptized. Rather, Christ says, for this very reason that children are not rational, they should be baptized, for faith cannot hold nor stand where reason rules and reigns.
1) Maybe: overclock?
Now let us say this for good measure: If it were true, if it were not, that baptism given to infants without faith is nothing, and if it were so that infants believed nothing at all, and were not rational, and could not grasp the word of God, should baptism therefore be unjust? should baptism be rejected when it is given to those who do not believe? How could baptism be more desecrated and blasphemed than that it should not be a truly good baptism given to an unbeliever? For how would God come to base His own work on my person and on my worthiness and unworthiness? Because I did not believe, should baptism be nothing? should the gospel be nothing? should the sacrament and the forgiveness of sin be nothing? indeed, should God Himself be nothing in heaven? What could the devil himself teach or preach that is more annoying and blasphemous? The Anabaptists and the red spirits are still filled with this doctrine. But if a Jew were to accept baptism (as is often the case) and did not believe, would you say that baptism is not right because he does not believe? That would not only be fooling with reason, but also blaspheming and desecrating God. But God's baptism is not like that, and God's work and word does not stand on our work, unworthiness or wickedness. As I preach the divine word, many who hear my sermon do not accept it and do not believe in it; so I hear that the word I preach is not true, because one or the other does not believe or understand: that would be an abominable thing. Item, I preach the ten commandments, that one should be obedient to parents; but there is some disobedient child that dishonors parents; therefore the fourth commandment is not true. But how can it be that because of some wicked people who do not keep God's commandment, God's commandment and word should be nothing? No, God's word and work should not be nothing because he who receives it does not ask for it, despises it, or does not understand it, nor does he believe in it.
So when it comes to common worldly things
1) Erlanger: can.
If I were to buy beer, or bread, or a few bushels of grain from a man, and were to number him gold and silver coins, and give him good money for them, and he said, This is neither gold nor silver, I will not take it; and I said, Why wilt thou not have it? And he said, Because I will not take it; and if such gold or money should not be right or good for thy not taking it, should not every man carry a rope and chains, and bind him as a foolish man? How much more senseless and foolish then are the Anabaptists, who act in this way in the eternal and greatest things, in which they blaspheme and defile God to the highest degree, when they pretend out of pure malice: God's gifts and works are not right, so that people do not respect or accept them? They preach such impudent lies, and bring them to the people, that if anyone does not accept a thing, therefore it is not right. They do not do right by not accepting it, but nevertheless the thing offered to them is not evil.
What is this for an introduction: You don't see the sun in the sky and also don't want to see it, therefore so is no sun. The sun nevertheless remains a sun, if I would not believe it to be a sun and would be blind. So I also say that even if the infants do not believe, as the Anabaptists say, their baptism is still right, because it is not in the receiving, but in the one who gives baptism, who does it and speaks, which is God. Therefore his word and work is always right, whether a Christian or an ungodly person uses it.
If the foolish and foolish drops taught thus: This child did not believe when it was baptized; therefore, because you are now grown up, still believe and become a Christian. Therefore the child shall not be baptized again, but shall be taught the faith. For baptism, once given, is right in itself, and an eternal right baptism; therefore it shall not be repeated.
So we should teach: If God teaches, gives, baptizes something that affects a right or wrong person, it is the truth.
If the sun shines, it remains and is the sun; let one die or sleep, let him see it or not. Your wife remains and is your wife. Your wife remains and is your wife, even if you do not want to take her for your wife. So the prince is your authority, even if you do not consider him a prince. Baptism and the gospel are right, though I do not believe it. Baptism is right, even if a Jew receives it for the sake of money, as often happens; then I, the preacher, will not say that it is the devil's baptism, if afterwards the Jew comes and says, "I have sinned by being baptized for the sake of money; now I will believe, teach and instruct myself in Christianity;" but he has received the right baptism. Therefore, in all ways one should distinguish God's work and the person. The person is ours, and be that as it may, it does not therefore make God's work and word unjust.
This should and must be known, not only against the Anabaptists, but also against other groups, such as those who pretend that the oral word is a dead letter; as Muenzer also said that the word was not right and true, because if one preached for the same length of time, the people would not become more devout, and few would believe in it; if 1) this should be true, then it would not be God's word. So they want to judge God's word according to the people, who will soon become devout when they hear it. But God's word is true, even though not all listeners believe it. On the last day, they will certainly realize whether the gospel they heard was not righteous, and whether it could not harm them, even if they did not believe it to be the true word of God, because the word will judge on the last day and condemn the unbelievers and the wicked, as the Lord Christ says: "I judge no one, but the word will judge them on the last day. If the word of God were not true, because I did not believe, then I could not be condemned according to their dream and delusion, and so I could not help those who believe.
1) Erlanger: Ifs.
believe, nor condemn those who do not believe.
So the wretched devil fantasizes in the world, but distinguish God and the people. God is true, so God's word also remains true, likewise 2) baptism, the Lord's Supper and absolution are right. The fact that people do not accept them is not the fault of God or His gifts, but of the people. Therefore, distinguish them from God, do not judge God for not hearing, nor judge His word for not being accepted. On the last day we will hear whether God's word is not true, whether baptism is right, and whether the power of the keys is valid.
Reason has a pretense for itself, and says, "What good is baptism to him who does not believe? But faith says, "If the one who receives it does not believe, it does him harm, but it does not follow that baptism should not be effective because of this.
So the pope also taught about the keys of the church; he went to them and said that the solution key, the absolution, could sometimes err. This has been a right Anabaptist grip; taught thus: I absolve you from all your sins if you have sufficiently repented of sin, and then absolution is right; but if you have not sufficiently repented, then it is not right. Now who can say here that he has repented and sorrowed enough for his sin? and I shall not be absolved sooner, unless I have repented enough, and preceded by the confession of all sin, a sufficient repentance and contrition. I can never know that I have properly confessed and repented of everything. So the pope places the power of absolution on the repentance, confession and satisfaction of the one who receives it. Mau should hang the pope on the light gallows, and hang his keys to it on his neck. For why do you, priest, forgive guilt and punishment in the devil's name, if you do not know that the keys are certain and right? But this is what the money does, which he has taken out of the people's pockets. This
2) Erlanger: the like.
does not mean absolved, but people thrown into despair and abyss of hell.
Let everyone know, then, that God's forgiveness is not to be relied on my confession and the new, as the pope and his doctors have done, and have been natural Anabaptists in this matter, for they have also said that baptism is not right unless the one who receives it believes. If an old man wanted to be baptized and said, "I believe," and yet I did not really know whether he believed or not, should he not be baptized because I was not sure that he believed? So I should not absolve either, because I know beforehand that one has confessed and repented enough? What kind of teaching is that? The pope still bleats and roars in all his books: Clave errante tibi remissa peccata, and still rules the whole world with it. That is, the keys and absolution nullified, because I cannot be assured of the forgiveness of sin, because I do not know when I have repented enough.
Learn this well, because the devil will come back through his enthusiasts and heretics. Against this you must be prepared and know what God speaks and does, that is certain. As when he says: Your sins are forgiven you in the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the power of the keys does not err. Therefore the word of the pope, errant keys, should be scraped out of the books and hearts, because there is nothing in it. And if you Pabst have such a key, you are the devil and not a pastor, and if you rule with this key in this way, you are the Antichrist. Christ does not know about any false key. Absolution is truly certain and eternal, even if you do not believe in it, just as the sun truly shines and glows in the sky, and is the right sun, even if you do not see it, or if you are in a cellar, so that you cannot see it, which is not the fault of the sun, but of you; God nevertheless considers it to be the right sun, which he created for the light of the world. It is his sun, you sleep or sit in a dark deep tower, or otherwise close your eyes, so that you do not see its light. So God also knows nothing about the wrong key
of the pope, but absolution is quite certain. If you do not believe in absolution, it is not their fault, but yours. Why do you not accept it? If I give gold or silver, if you accept it, you have it; if not, if you despise my gift and reject it, it still remains gold and silver in its essence and dignity. So God is not lacking, but we are lacking; we often receive absolution without faith, but it does not become ashes and dirt, but is God's gift. On the other hand, the ban or binding key will also judge me on the last day, and will not apply, so that I will say: "I have despised the key and have not believed in it, therefore the power of the key is nothing.
And even if in this matter the Anabaptists and the pope are right, that they do not know whether a child has faith or whether one has repented, they should not say that baptism and absolution are wrong, because baptism and absolution are right, even if you do not believe it. Therefore one should not be foolish and foolish to rebaptize the children; or that the pope would say: The forgiveness of sins or absolution is wrong, therefore I will absolve you again. Yes, the key has struck, even though you have not believed. Here you distinguish our unbelief and human wickedness from the mercy and truth of God, and we see from this that the Anabaptists and the pope do not know what God is and what he does, or what his work and word is; otherwise they would say, "Baptizing is God's work, therefore no one should be rebaptized; item, the key or absolution is God's work, therefore it is right and certain. But if one considers God's work to be man's work, then God's knowledge of His word and work is lost.
Secondly, we see here that the infants have faith, so baptism is right, because Christ says here: "Let the infants come to me, for such is the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, the first baptism should not be condemned. Even if one does not believe now, he can believe later.
And let one stay with the first baptism and not blaspheme it, for it is God's work, who baptizes and administers the sacraments, therefore it is a righteous baptism.
The pope bases absolution solely on human repentance and confession, which he does not know, and yet he absolves; he says: If I meet, I meet; if I fail, I fail. But so he shall say, My forgiveness of sins, which I speak unto thee, is not mine, but God's; now if thou hast not repented enough, it is thy fault. So also when I preach, I shall not say, If one believes, the word of God is true; if one does not believe, it is false. No!
[Fourth Sermon on the 19th Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
So far we have heard in these two chapters, as the 18th and 19th, how the Lord Christ has paid his disciples and the Pharisees some [about] many questions 1) which are nevertheless highly necessary to know in Christianity. For one must be certain of the doctrine, that Christians may have a reason to judge of all doctrine. For there is no doctrine so certain and strong that it does not grow with questions, and if Christ himself had not resolved these questions, much ghastly raving would have resulted, even though one has not yet stayed with it.
So the first question that was discussed was who should be bound and loosed, and that this should also be perfect in heaven, and whoever despises this binding and loosing, that he should be considered a Gentile and a tax collector. If Christ had not settled this question himself, no one would have been able to get involved. Therefore it is a necessary report; otherwise some heretics would have stood up and pretended that one should only redeem and forgive sin and not bind or punish sin: that would have been of no use at all everywhere, therefore it is a necessary report; and the Lord Christ wants to prevent such heresies, and to have that in his church not only the heretics, but also the heretics and the heretics of the church are to be considered.
1) paid - put in the right direction, taught.
The sinner is forgiven his sin, but if there is anyone who persists in a life of public shame, it is an offense to the gospel that he should be forbidden everything that Christians have for goods from Christ.
The other question is about chastity, whether it is good to be married, or to live in virginity or widowhood, and the Lord Christ also gives his instruction on this, saying that there are three kinds of chastity: one is innate chastity, the other is man-made and forced chastity, and the third is willing chastity, since one has a desire for chastity of one's own accord, the better to wait for the profession. This answer served to control the heretics, who considered the conjugal state to be no other than adultery or other such sins, and wanted no Christian to enter or remain in the conjugal state, as does the pope, who is much worse than those heretics. For he confesses that the conjugal state is a good order of God and a divine thing, and yet he continues and forbids his clergymen, monks and nuns to marry, and condemns the state as a carnal and sinful state, which doctrine has caused much unhappiness in the church, as the pope still insists that one should not be conjugal; and the pious bishops in the church have had enough to do to preserve the married state, and have therefore made the married state a sacrament. For this reason, Christ provides his church with teaching and instruction on this question, and wants marriage to be forbidden to Christians, and wants those who cannot live purely outside of marriage to be counseled against unchastity through the marriage state. So this question is also answered.
The third question is whether children should be baptized, whether they belong to the church and to Christ, whether they should be brought to Christ. He also gives necessary instruction against the Anabaptists and against the pope and other red spirits, so that one may have a certain understanding of this.
Now in this 19th chapter a new question arises again, which causes a lot of misery and evil.
This is the question: Should Christians deal with temporal goods or should they leave everything and throw it away? The answer to this question is given to the Lord Christ by a young man, of whom the evangelist writes here, whom the Lord Christ tells to go and sell everything and follow the Lord Christ.
For so follows in the text:
V. 16-22. And behold, one came to him and said, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? No one is good except the one God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Then said he unto him, What? And Jesus said, Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honor thy father and mother, and love thy neighbor as thyself. Then said the young man unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth: what lack I yet? Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. When the young man heard the word, he went away grieved, for he had much goods.
The question caused much unhappiness among the works saints and superstitious people, until the Barefoot monks came and pretended that S. Franciscus had said that the Barefoot rule was according to the Gospel of the Lord Christ; item, the Barefoot kept only this rule of Christ, and therefore his rule also applies. But S. Franciscus was a good, rough fellow, and unlearned and inexperienced in the Holy Scriptures, for neither he nor his brothers kept this Rule of Christ correctly. There would be none of us who would not accept this condition, that he should have nothing, and yet find all corners superfluously full, as has happened with the monks. They think that they leave goods and come in the middle of the goods, because they have built large houses and had a need of all things; they leave a party at home and get everything in the monastery.
the abundance; who would not like that? I would accept it myself, if it could become so good for me, I would leave axe and hatchet, so that I would have had to feed myself before, and accept 1) a prepared table and a need of all things etc. The fantasists have still fallen into this blindness, that they have been allowed to boast of the gospel alone, and said that they live according to the gospel, which says that one should leave everything etc.
So the Lord Christ teaches here how one should be poor and not rich, item, how one should leave all things. This must be thrust under the noses of the unlearned rude spirits.
But it is clear from the foregoing that one cannot be given temporal goods, for if the married state is to be preserved, there must be goods, for Christ did not forbid the married state above, but confirmed it when he said: "Not everyone grasps this word" etc. Item: ["From the beginning it was not so, but God created them male and female."]. God created man and woman to be joined together and to be married; so it is well known that children will follow from the marriage state; now children must eat and drink and have housekeeping, a little house, field, meadows and garden, and what more belongs to food, how can it be thrown away? and S. Paul says: "He who does not take care of his household is worse than an unbeliever", 1 Tim. 5, 8. You wives, be subject to men, and you husbands, love your wives, bring up your children in discipline and admonition to the Lord. This will never happen without goods, and that the wife runs away from the husband and leaves the children, since God Himself has joined them together.
Therefore, it depends on the right understanding of what Christ means here, and we should not dispute what S. Franciscus said, because Christ did not only preach to the barefoot monks, but also to all men, women and children, just as he did not die for the barefoot monks alone, but for all men, and let it be known to the Franciscans that he died for all men.
1) "nähme" put by us instead of: "take" in the Erlanger.
It is not good that they alone keep the rule of Christ, have Christ and the sacraments. It is the bells that hang around their caps and sound, that they draw the whole gospel upon themselves for the sake of a saying. Therefore it is wrong for them to draw this text on their corners, caps 1) and dirt, and exclude the gospel from all other ranks of men. Many martyrs have not only been driven out for the confession of Christ, but also suffered death, before St. Francis was born, or his order was.
The text says that there came to Christ one of the rulers, a young man who had lived a good life and was pious, who said, "Master. The good journeyman did not want to study and learn anything here, for he had already jumped far over all the arts; but his hump itched on his back, and he was looking for someone who could cure it. He thought Christ would praise and extol him, crucify and bless himself before him as a living saint, praise him and say, "You are righteous and have kept all the commandments. Therefore the world would be angry that Christ did not say, "Oh, what a good saint is here; that was his opinion, but he lacks the art; he does not find the man he is looking for here. With the Pharisees, this young man would have been better off, they also wanted to be very holy and pious; but with Christ no saint of works is pleasant, but he wants poor sinners, the weak, the infirm, and those who cannot boast of much good, such Christ wants. He does not receive the other saints with sweet words, but makes them ashamed and sinners, as here he does not let anything be good for this young man, and reads him a good chapter; although S. Marcus says in the 10th chapter that the Lord looked at this young man and loved him, because he was much better than the others, who only dealt with sacrifices and other ungodly works, but he took the commandments of God before him, and kept the ten commandments higher than everything else.
1) Erlanger: "her angle caps".
For those who practice the Ten Commandments are better off than those who put on a gray monk's cap and tie a hairy rope around themselves, which is not strange to the peasants, but they hold the rope in such high esteem that they also tie cows and horses to it; And he that ruleth his house in the fear of God is better off than he that runneth to Rome to the golden year; which is much better of the two, as the Lord Christ commanded that young man in Marco to sell all, and to give to the poor, and to follow him, as if almsgiving were better than sacrifice. In the papacy, it was held in high esteem to redeem indulgences and to buy soul measurements in order to redeem souls from purgatory. But they do much better to give such money to their poor children than to give it to the monks in the monasteries, as my father once said when he was terminally ill.
Therefore, this has been a pious fellow who has not defiled himself with strange and useless works that men have invented, but he has above all let God's commandments please him and kept them. He has come close to the core, or to the purpose, and it is a fine degree when one can separate God's commandments from the statutes of men and say: What God has commanded must be better than all men's commandments, even if they were the most beautiful.
But the Lord Christ answers: "No one is good, but God alone. The young man therefore asks Christ, so that he may know that he has kept the commandments of God, and would gladly have heard that the Lord Christ would have said: "That is enough, stay with what you already are. But the Lord does not let him have one word of good, he snaps at him: "What do you call me good?" God alone is good, therefore he alone is wise, just and almighty. Here he gets a master who sees sharply and tells him that he is no more than a hypocrite and proud saint who has never begun to keep the law in truth, let alone accomplished it, as the fool boasts that he has kept the commandments of God, and that he has also heard about
2) i.e. the nail, the center in the disc.
of his youth. There the Lord does not want to suffer the word "good", because the Pharisee does not ascribe it to God. This is the first error in which he is stuck, that he regards Christ as a bad person and wants to call him "good". Soon he reproaches him and does not want to be praised; and that is almost as if Christ wanted to deny that he is God, for he does not want to be called "good," does not want to have the proper title.
The Arians have come here, and from this text or saying want to conclude that Christ is not God, as the devil can soon find a hole where he wipes through. But they do not look at the circumstances why Christ does not want to be approved. For this is the way in which the Lord Christ keeps, that he draws us to the Father through himself; so then he does not want to be separated from the Father in any way, and through him we are to come to the knowledge of the Father, just as Christ also says to Philip, "Whoever sees me also sees the Father"; and in the 5th chapter of John it is said, "Whoever hears me hears not me, but my Father." What is this? Are you drunk, dear Lord Christ? when I hear you, I truly hear no one else but your person, and you still say, "He hears not me, but my Father"? and, which is even more strange and foolish, he says, "My speech is not my speech"; what is this speech? for I truly know that when you speak and preach, you speak yourself. He speaks so absurdly, and bites his own cheeks and teeth, that in the eyes of wise men he would be considered a fool. But he speaks thus for our sake, that we may know that the Father and the Son of God are one, that he, Christ, is in the Father, and the Father is in him, and that we seek no other God in heaven but the Son. He wants to say: Do not take me for a bad man alone, nor do not follow me, as you would otherwise follow John the Baptist, but consider my words that come out of my mouth, so that the Father in heaven also speaks them; just as the Father also does all the works in me that I otherwise do. Therefore do not regard my words as the words of others.
phets; but that the Father speaks in me, the same word I also speak. So the Lord Christ draws all things home to the Father, for the Lord Christ's deity is shown here, that he was born of the Father in eternity. But here he distinguishes the persons in the Godhead, and yet he also wants them to be mixed; otherwise he would not be considered the one, right, true God with the Father. Therefore, what he speaks or does, he always refers to the Father, as he also says to John in the 8th chapter [v. 19]: "If you knew me, you would also know my Father."
Therefore he does not want to suffer the word "good Master" here, nor to leave it on him, as the Pharisee means it with his mad sense, since he separates and separates the Son from the Father, considers him only a man; and gives the Pharisee one over the muzzle, wants to say: You do not consider me good according to your carnal sense, do not consider me God, do not recognize the Father speaking and being in me. So the Lord Christ's divinity is not denied in this saying, but the blindness and misunderstanding of the Pharisee is punished, because Christ does not want to be separated from His Father nor honored alone. This is that Christ punishes, and does not deny that he is God. Now follows the other. You ask me what you should do to be saved? I will soon tell you:
"If you want to enter into life. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments. Then said he unto him, What? Jesus said, Thou shalt not kill.
This is the text on which all those who deal with works insist and defy, as if one must be saved by it; and this is the foundation on which the papacy, though not firm, is built and based. This text has the quarrel that has been from the beginning of the world, and still lasts to this day, until the end of the world; and this saying has been badly stretched, and the pope still says: See, there it is written. What faith? Faith? Christ says: Keep the commandments if you want to be saved. Therefore good works make us blessed. What do you think of that? Then they go on and become even more foolish and obstinate, and have not only taught in this saying, that
They say not only that salvation can be obtained by works, but also that man has free will to do or not to do the Ten Commandments, as if Christ said, "It is in your power to do and not to do what you will, good and evil. For, they say, so are the words, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Therefore man has a free will to do or not to do what he wants. Item, if you want to enter life, do good works that you can do.
But if the mind be thus right, that we are justified by the law, and have a free will, say thou against it: What then hath Christ done, who suffered and pleaded for us on the cross, saying, All men are sinners and condemned, conceived and born in sins, and Christ must take sin upon himself and pay for it; how shall we rhyme this together? If we could do it, Christ could not do it; but if he has done it, we will not have been able to do it.
But the whole holy scripture is full of testimony that Christ has executed everything; as Isaiah in the 53rd chapter: "The Lord has thus crushed him, and laid all our sin upon him. The punishment is upon him, that we might have peace. We all went astray like sheep." Item: "He bore many sins"; and the Scriptures are full of these testimonies. Shall I then throw a single, dark and obscure saying, which is not properly understood, against all the other many, light and bright sayings of all the Scriptures and of Christ, which say that no one is justified before God by works or by his own strength? What is it, then, that one should inflate this saying in such a way as to prove that works deserve the kingdom of heaven and that man has free will?
This saying is the best reason and foundation of the pope's own righteousness, although the monks have risen above other common Christians, and taught that this saying belongs to the married couples, to the laymen who are in the state of marriage; but they can still do opera supraerogationis, because they can do much more, than in the ten
The world did not want to enter into this strict life. The world did not want to enter into this strict life; the laity should only practice the ten commandments. This filth still stinks, that the monks have done many more good works than a common Christian who keeps the ten commandments would do, and have had so many good works left that they have sold them to others for money and goods. This was the teaching of the pope and his followers.
But this text wants to indicate that God sent His Son into the world for this purpose, that He should merit everything. Therefore, since we did not keep the law, and no one could fulfill it in the world, Christ did it for us all, and paid for it, and by his holy blood took away our sin.
Therefore we do not have free will, except for evil. But that a man may resist sin and the devil by his own efforts does not happen, for man always falls from one sin into another, as if a man keeps himself chaste, so that he resists the evil heat, he soon falls into hopelessness or into other sin; and God's word and my own experience testify, when we are in mortal danger or other misfortune, that we have no free will to keep God's commandment.
After this, the other teaching here is also to be noted from this text, which follows just as little as the first, but that this saying does not say that the commandments of God are to be kept by us, but reads thus: If you want to enter into life, then keep the commandments of God. Christ does not say: You keep them, but: You shall keep them; indicates what we owe to God. If we do not keep them, let no one think that he will enter the kingdom of heaven. If they were not blind, mad and foolish, they should see that Christ does not say what I can do, or have done, but what I should do. It does not follow, if one says: Christ tells us to keep the commandments, therefore they can be kept by us. He tells me what I should do, and they say I can do it. Not by a long shot, journeyman, there is a great difference between "ought to do" and "can do.
do". So, I owe a hundred guilders, I'm supposed to pay them, can I do it for that? how, if I don't have a hundred guilders? I won't be able to pay it for a long time. I ought to do it, alas! I know that well, but where to get it? the beggar's dance rises. They don't say here what I have done, whether I have paid it and given it, but what I should do, namely, pay the hundred guilders. Such words are also here, namely, that Christ says what I should do; but why do you say I can do it? Where did you learn to read from Christ's words that he did not teach?
But Christ says, "The law must be done, the commandments must be kept, if men are to be saved in any other way, that not one iota or dot be spared in that life, lest there come into it some wart, blemish or wrinkle, but that the law here on earth be fulfilled, or the kingdom of heaven be lacking. Truly, with sins, blemishes and wrinkles you must not enter, or you belong in the abyss of hell. No one will enter heaven who loves something above God, or who disobeys his father and mother, or otherwise sins against the law. But from this saying one cannot therefore enforce that one has kept the law.
Therefore it is 1) nothing with their loose talk, who pretend: Here you hear that one comes to the kingdom of heaven by works, and that one has free will; these two things are laced into the text, but Christ says that one should keep the commandments of God; if not, then you will not be saved. Therefore, a Christian can keep the commandments of God out of free will, but that does not follow from it by a long shot; for it is said as much as this: Man is not allowed anything by Christ and his death and redemption, for he has free will, which can lead him to heaven. It is a pity that this saying should not have been understood, but should have been set against the main article of our Christian doctrine, so that men might forget the Lord Christ and all his benefits;
1) Erlanger: is.
and have even suppressed the teaching of the Gospel by saying that we have regarded Christ as an angry judge, and have crawled under the mantle of Mary, have called upon other saints as intercessors and helpers in need, have founded chapels, have gone on pilgrimages, and have pressed for the saints to reconcile us to Christ; and everything was still based on our works, so that God should be merciful to us because of our works. That is to say, I trampled the Lord Christ and the Gospel underfoot and buried nine cubits under the earth, because I did not take refuge in the Lord Christ, who redeemed me, but in His Mother Mary's mantle. May God grant us grace to be grateful for the bright light of the divine Word that now shines upon us.
And you say thus: I hear Christ say, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments of God. But I do not understand it in any other way than that Christ says I should do it, I should keep the Ten Commandments. I owe you a hundred guilders, and I have not to pay, where shall I take it? So also the law is there, requiring you to pay, but therefore you do not have it, nor can you do it. Therefore, I hear here what I should do, but where to take it? You have free will. Yes, you will realize that when death and an evil conscience find each other, and it won't help that I would then crawl under the mantle of Mary and call upon the saints. Your free will is nothing, so are your works. For if I could keep God's commandment, I should accept death with joy, praising God always; but I see that my heart is afraid of death, yes, even afraid of Christ. I used to hear Mary or S. Hieronymum mentioned rather than the Lord Christ. I only thought of the mace and his judgment seat, since I should have all confidence, heartfelt joy and comfort in him.
The Barefoot monks, when they had brothers in their monasteries who were struggling with death, joined together and said to them: "All the good works I have done in my order, I give to you for the austere life of my brother.
judgment of God. Is it not surprising that one should stake his journey and death on another's works? That is, pointed to the abyss of hell.
Item, if one executed malefactors, whom one wanted to kill, then one presented them with a Crucifix, and then one said to them: O, you poor sinner, you have stolen and must now die on the gallows, the merciful God set this your shameful death for your sin. Where was Christ then? and yet they presented him with the image of the Crucifix. But so sis should have said: Before the world you have forfeited your neck, there you must do enough, but before God not; there look only at Christ, who has done enough for your sin.
This all came from the foundation that they understood this saying thus: a man can earn the kingdom of heaven by his good works and his free will, because he can keep the law of God. But do you say thus: I see the text well written, and look at the great register of what I owe, what I should pay, and what I should do, just as a usurer reproaches the debtor that he owes him a hundred florins; but he has not the hundred florins; now the law must be kept, for the text here says all that I should do. But if I have done it, Christ says much differently, namely, "If you had been able to purchase something for yourself, what would I have been allowed to die for you? 1) There is no satisfaction with me, for I cannot keep or fulfill the law.
This is what I say against the heretics who have misused this text, causing heresy and error, and have even obscured and hidden Christ; for this purpose God's Word must have served them, even though the text strongly insists on Christ, and does not want Christ to be suppressed, but points to Him alone to be sought, as the One who has done everything that was otherwise impossible for man, and has kept and fulfilled the commandments of God, and has given us the fulfillment.
But how Christ kept the law
1) From the song: "Jesus Christus, unser Heiland". St. Louis Hymnal, No. 205.
have, that is often said and taught elsewhere.
At the word of Christ the Pharisee starts and says: "I have kept all these things from my youth, what do I still lack? Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have.
The Pharisee thinks that he has done everything. Therefore he continues to ask, as if to say, "What Moses commanded, I have done all. Then Christ goes to him and shuts him up, bringing out the works of the other table, which were the easiest of all. But behold, what a fine simple-minded preacher Christ was, that he should give such a silly bad answer to the Pharisee, who asks of high things, as if he were a child; and this answer testifies what Christ means by his words, that he knows the Pharisee by heart and inwardly, that he does not understand the law in the least, much less keep it, since he stood in the proud! puffed-up thoughts that he had even kept the ten commandments of God. But he gives him to understand that he still lacks far, therefore he became master too early.
Now therefore learn these commandments; he saith first, Thou shalt not kill. If thou shalt do this, thou shalt be blessed. This commandment is preached every year on a special Sunday, and it depends on one to keep the commandments, for we must not only believe, but also love our neighbor. But what man can do this without Christ and the Holy Spirit? And whoever does not do it is a murderer, as S. John says in his epistle [1 John 3:15]: "If anyone hates his neighbor, he is a murderer. Here no one can escape. Go into thine own heart, and ask whether thou lovest thine enemy; and if he hath hurt thee, and it be evil in him, whether thou canst be sad? and again be glad when it is well with him? Item, whether you feel no revenge in you, that you would not like to get into his hair again? There one finds vain anger, hatred and envy among us. But the Lord Christ says: He who is angry with his brother is a murderer. Whether it is not in deed, or in word and deed,
so it is with the heart. So the whole world is minded, that it is full of sin in this fifth commandment; nor may the Pharisee say that he has kept the ten commandments.
"Thou shalt not commit adultery." A Christian who has the Holy Spirit does not commit adultery. But those who live apart from Christ do. But if adultery were a great honor, as it is a sin and a disgrace to commit adultery, who would live chastely? they would commit fornication. Who would keep marriage? How many do it otherwise, that they are chaste, have a pure heart and body? One can hardly control the heat, the natural evil, in the state of marriage. A husband always wants to have another wife, and when he gets her, he soon tires of her; so the heat is an evil evil, even though it is kept and forced by punishment and shame; and it is said in Matthew, Chapter 5, who is an adulterer. But such a one is not to be found in the world; therefore this holy Christian scholar thought that he kept the ten commandments, just as a barefoot monk thinks that because he has no wife he is chaste; item, he is poor and has no money, because he does not touch the money.
To this the Lord Christ says: Keep the commandments of God. But where to take them? Nowhere, unless I am a true Christian; then one begins to keep the law, and yet not perfectly. For one has not met it, if one keeps it only outwardly, but it also wants to have an inward obedience. The outward keeping is the least of it. The Pharisee still says, "I have done all these things. How can this be lacking? Let all the bells ring, the mother and the father have not been allowed to push this son with rods. Such husks and hypocrites come out of it, who are not only hopeful in outward holiness, but they also cover up their shameful vices, and do not want to know about any sins.
Christ saw this well; he knows the same fellows, therefore he gives the Pharisee a good carver, saying, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast etc.; there it is found in the sweepings whose shoe it is. If thou
If you love your neighbor so much that you can sell and give to the poor, and then take up the holy cross and let yourself be martyred and crucified, then you are perfect. Let him try whether he will leave over goods and honor, life and limb, and follow him, that is, suffer and die. Yes, let the devil do that! The Pharisee still says that he has kept all the commandments, and wants to be perfect, yet he cannot bring so much upon his heart that he would sell temporal goods and give to the poor; and rather leaves God and the kingdom of heaven, and wants to go to the devil, and also lets his neighbor die of hunger.
To love your neighbor as yourself means to love him so that you put no art, good or honor into it, but rather seek the benefit and welfare of your neighbor and prefer it to your own benefit. A Christian must come to that point when necessity demands that he also lay down his life for the sake of the confession of Christ and love. If I live under a godless ruler and he drives me out of the country or banishes me, what shall I do here? Not only should I forsake my goods, my wife, my children, my father and my mother, but I should also risk my own neck on them: that is right beginning to keep God's commandment; but I will not do that unless I have Christ in whom I believe. Therefore he also tempts the high saint, the Pharisee, and says here that he should bear the cross for God's sake, and also lay down his life, or lay down his life for the sake of his neighbor, as is said in 1 John 4. Do you dare to do this? For we are not to look upon our lives either, that we may confess our faith unawares. But this Pharisee hangs his head over it, as follows in the text:
"When the young man heard the word, he went away grieved, for he had much goods."
Do goods and riches harm him? No, but that he does not love God, and steals from his brother, and does not do to him what he owes him; he does not keep the commandments of God. Outwardly, indeed, he has kept it well, but it is a hypocritical and loose keeping, but the right keeping is that you be ready 'not to run out of goods alone,
but also to leave father and mother, life and limb, property and honor. Before I let God go, I should rather put aside wife and child and everything. So the martyrs did, and husband and wife sooner parted, and husbands strengthened their wives in prison, and wives also comforted their husbands. Otherwise they are to stay together; but if it should happen that your wife, child, property and honor are to be left for Christ's sake, then it is said, "Follow me. O, they say, I cannot do that. It is too difficult for me. But one must get there and do it. But when it happens that one leaves what he has for the sake of God, it is not with joy and gladness, but with sorrow and trembling; but because they are under the cover and shadow of the Lord Christ, it is not imputed to them.
So far we have heard how the saying should be understood: "If you want to enter life, get the commandments of God"; namely, that we do not keep the law and commandment of God, but it is only held up to us that it shows us what we should do. For it does not follow, I ought to do it, therefore I can do it. But where we are to take what we are commanded to do, you will hear hereafter.
[Fifth sermon on the 19th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
V. 23, 24. And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven; and I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
We have just heard how the young man asks the Lord Christ what he should do to enter eternal life, and the Lord answers that he should keep the Ten Commandments, for whoever keeps them will enter the kingdom of heaven. Then the young man burst out, saying, "I have kept all these things," and asked if he lacked anything else. Then the Lord decided that if he wanted to be perfect, he should go and sell everything and give the ark.
then he will have treasure in heaven and will come and follow Christ. If you do not do this, you have not yet kept the Ten Commandments, for it is a sign that you do not love God above all things with all your heart, because you cannot leave honor, goods, body and life for His sake. Then you will have to keep the Ten Commandments for a while; for you have a god in your heart called Mammon, whom you much prefer to the right, united God, and before you leave Mammon, you would rather abandon God and all his commandments.
This text, "Sell everything," has also been very much falsified in the papacy and interpreted to the effect that it is not a commandment that belongs to the Ten Commandments, but is only a counsel, and whoever wants to keep it would have a special treasure in heaven before other common Christians, to whom alone the Ten Commandments were due, if they wanted to be saved. But whoever wants to be something special and perfect, and do something else, for which a special crown would fall in heaven, let him keep this, as the Lord said here to the young journeyman. The monasteries are built on this delusion, and especially the mendicant orders, among which Franciscus founded the first. For of St. Francis one reads in his legend that he had come to a church at one time, and had heard this text: Go, sell everything, where you want to be perfect and enter into life. Then a special devotion and fervor should come to the dear Franciscus, so that he immediately threw off his belt and bag, skirt and everything, and gave it to the poor. So he started his order on this text, in which one should have nothing of one's own (because only, with leave, the filth that the brothers carry with them), therefore they would now be perfect and have a greater treasure in heaven than other Christians; and S. Franciscus and his brothers were not satisfied that they would have universal blessedness with us, but wanted to have something better in heaven. For this reason they did many more and better works than were commanded in the Gospel, and they still gave to others their
The good works were sold to help them to eternal life, since they could not enter it themselves.
Thus the beautiful text had to serve the evil-doers, for which they wanted to have it, without its fault, but that they got into it with their desperate thoughts, and sucked the poison into themselves from the beautiful flower and rose, and built their monasteries from quicksand 1) and water. They have made this sentence the consilio, council or arbitrariness, and have set it above the ten commandments, that it is up to each one to leave it or to do it; if he did not want to be a barefoot monk, then he should accept another order and follow this council here. This has gone through the entire papacy, and I have also spent fifteen years in the thought that I thought I was in a state that far exceeded the ten commandments.
But we Christians know that the Lord Christ does not speak here of any advice that one might do or not do, and that would be at his discretion, but it is his serious opinion and commandment, as the words before and after testify. The Lord Christ truly takes it for a fault, as if he wanted to say: I still have a fault, that you cannot leave everything for God's sake; that he says: "If you want to enter", that is truly not arbitrariness. By this he shows that he still has a fault, namely, that he has not kept the ten commandments fully and correctly, since they must be kept fully; and so I must not leave it up to my discretion everywhere whether I want to be blessed or to be damned, to go to the devil or to go to heaven; but there is a commandment here that is to be kept strictly and harshly, that for the sake of God's word one should forsake everything, or thou shalt not think that thou hast perfectly and righteously kept the commandments of God; but if thou hast not kept them, then the judgment is already there: No one shall enter into life unless he has kept the commandments.
Keep the commandments of God. The law will
1) Erlanger: Trub Sand.
The law is kept in two ways; first, that the young man may live so that the judge cannot punish him, as it is said in chapter 18 of Exodus: He that doeth the law shall live in it; as, if he be not an adulterer or a thief, he shall not be punished, slain, or hewn; the law helpeth him to live; these are not in Master Hansen's school, or in the judge's punishment. So the rogue, this youth, has also kept the law. Secondly, that God says: You shall not only keep my commandments before men, but also before me, that is, fully. So, if you want to keep the law fully and follow me, go and sell everything. This fulfillment is required of the whole world. The righteousness of God has a testimony from the law and the prophets, and the Lord Christ is also a teacher of the law here. The Law speaks what we owe to Him, and teaches us where to take it, but from the Lord Christ; therefore says to the Pharisee: You do not love God above all things, therefore you are not perfect. Thou shalt have nothing above all things rather than God alone. You do not do this perfectly. You sacrifice oxen and calves to me in the temple and give tithes, but by this you are not perfect, nor do you keep the first table, but in the meantime you have another god in your heart, Mammon, whom you hold higher than God. Therefore the first commandment is nothing in your heart. Gold and silver is your god, which I prove with this: If thou wert commanded to forsake all things for my sake, then thou art grieved: how then shouldst thou love God? Then he should have said: Master, you have spoken rightly. It is truly so. If I am to love God above all things, then I must dare mammon and strike at the entrenchment, for a pious heart says: God has given it to me; if I am to lose it for His sake, then He can give it back to me a hundredfold today or tomorrow.
In the history of Job it is shown that all his possessions were taken from him, his children were strangled, and his house and farm were burned. But when he was delivered from the temptation, God gave him everything twice over.
He would have beautiful daughters again, and he would see the other children again on the last day. So a Christian heart should also stand and think that it loves God above all things. But no one does. That is why we are all condemned, for everyone is so minded that if he is not instructed otherwise by the gospel, he loves money and goods more than God. For the world has its idol, which is called Mammon, or money and goods. If God does not light another fire in the heart that says: I will use the goods of this life in such a way that I will not lose the kingdom of heaven over them, nothing will come of it. The light of the divine word must set the heart on fire, so that the desire to love God above all goods will arise; and so I begin to fulfill the first commandment.
Therefore it is not a counsel, but a commandment, when Christ says that we are to love God above all things; just as it is also said in the Gospel: Thou shalt love God above all things, which is the first commandment; therefore it cannot be a counsel. But Moses said what it is: you shall not have other gods, that is, you shall love God above all things, that you may have more pleasure, joy and love in Him than all that God has given you otherwise; therefore you shall not love His gifts and goods any more. This agrees with this text, "Go, sell all things"; just as I, Christ, have forsaken my Father, and am crucified. This means loved above all things.
Notice this because of the abuse of the papists, who taught that their status was higher and better than that of other Christians, and did not see what it meant: "I am the Lord, your God", and that one should love him with all one's heart. Soon they would have understood that there was no monk on earth who had kept this. Truly, the monks in the monasteries were tempted with anger, hatred, envy, greed, unchastity and all kinds of temptation, as they testify in their books, that their spiritual life was full of temptation. Now if they had loved God with all their heart, they would not have been plagued with such fleshly temptations.
Therefore, it is an unspeakable God
blasphemy, and establish orders that are much better than the Ten Commandments. Therefore it is all devil's work and ghosts, for we know that no man on earth keeps the Ten Commandments; and the young man here has rightly understood what the law requires, for when he hears this: "Sell everything and follow me," he is saddened by it, and hangs his head and goes away, for he realizes what a strict commandment this is, that blessedness should cost him all his goods, including life and limb. If he had understood it in the same way as Franciscus and his barefooters, one could well be blessed with the other commandments, this would only have been said as a surplus for those who wanted to be something special: then this Pharisee would not have had to worry about anything, but would have been satisfied that he would have been blessed. But it is no advice, but he considers it the greatest piece of the Ten Commandments, and sees well that a hard peg is set before it, and that he cannot come to keep this commandment, and yet knows no other way to be saved; therefore he becomes sad. But he ought to have been glad of it, and to have said. You say rightly, dear Lord, that the ten commandments are truly like this. I shall love God above all that is in me, and forego goods, life and limb, and all things with one another, rather than deny God. Thank you for reporting this to me. I see that I still lack the greatest thing. No, there stands the other god, Mammon, who sits so deep in the heart that the right God has no place. Therefore, the young man goes there and prefers his penny to God's, and will not be saved. Truly, this means no advice to me, without which one cannot be saved.
Now, if Christ meant it in the way that S. Franciscus would have understood it, that it would be a counsel, when it is not, the words cannot have the meaning that they, the boys, give him, that to sell goods means to run to the monastery; for if they want to keep the words straight, they must also sell their monastery, which is theirs, then also their caps with their shirts, and go naked, even the piece of bread that they wanted to eat,
Yes, even sell their body, which is theirs, and it would follow that they would have to die of hunger at the end. That would become a fine order for me, that would not be called people, but stone and wood. So blind and foolish are the fools, that they interpret the text, where it is not possible to bring any man. They have their monasteries, their table and clothes, and have what they need. If they do not have it in the monastery, they have it with the townspeople and peasants, where they can get it; this is not called having, it is only called having robbed and stolen, What a poor man has acquired with his sour labor, and he and his children have to do without, these idle drops consume afterwards, and want to be called holier and more perfect than other people in the name of all the hangers-on; And even if they righteously forsake all, go naked, drink and eat nothing, and even if it were possible, and yet they do not do it, die of hunger, yet they would not receive their opinion, and it would not follow that they would thereby become blessed, much less that they would gain anything special for others. For a thief may be thrown into prison, stripped naked, and given nothing to eat or drink, and die of hunger; is he therefore blessed? Who would say so? How if he were impatient, blasphemed God, grumbled in his heart, cursed and would gladly be rid of, and desired to have better food and drink than any king would have? In this impatience the heart is impure and sins. Therefore it does not rhyme at all with blessedness, and great errors have been spun out of this text, and violence and injustice have been done to it. But we are to keep the right understanding that this text is a commandment, and wants that one should have nothing on earth dearer than God, and that one should leave everything for his sake, which is otherwise dear to us.
The Lord speaks of it modestly, namely, that not only "sell" should be there, but also: "Come and follow me". In this is the commandment that the Pharisee should follow Christ. If we could attain the kingdom of heaven by
If you threw away money and goods, it would not last long, you would throw away that you would no longer have food and drink. Christ did not do this; he did not sell everything, but ate and drank, had clothes, and what was given to him he kept. Judas was a master of coffins, and he also gave it to other poor people, and he kept bread for the necessities, and if this were the opinion of the Lord Christ, as S. Franciscus dreams, then one would have to say: Physician, help yourself, because if one should sell everything, why do you keep it all? Thus S. Paul was a craftsman, a tapestry maker, and went to the masters of his craft for lodging, and earned his bread with his hands; that would ever be vain foolishness.
Therefore the meaning of this commandment is to be understood and interpreted spiritually, firstly, that the heart should be separated from goods, that you should esteem God more highly and place Him above them; secondly, if the need arises, that you should not only sell everything, but also follow Christ, leaving body and life for His sake; as then follows in the text, that one should not only deny father and mother for his own sake, but also leave his life above them.
How, one might say, shall I hang myself from a tree, or cut my throat with a knife and kill myself? No, you shall love your life. But if God who gave life should be denied, or if life should be taken away from you, you shall deny life, for I shall love nothing so much as God, and shall say: Before I deny my God, I will rather leave my body and life over it.
This is the right understanding, that Christ speaks of the right and spiritual fulfillment of God's commandments, in which the godly are only abecedaries 1) and learn to spell it out, so that they turn their hearts away from riches and goods; with Christians it begins a little, and remains so until the last day; no one will be perfect sooner. Otherwise, husbands and wives should stay together, and father and son should stay together.
1) d. i. ABC shooters.
and mother shall educate the children and shall not listen to each other; but if a tyrant comes and says: Deny God and His word, or have everything you have taken away from you; or that father and mother want to prevent their children from salvation, then let the tyrant, father and mother, and what may be more, let everything go and have a good year, so that one may keep God's grace and mercy, and say: God has given me father and mother, money and food; if I lose it for God's sake, let it go forever.
But if this need does not arise, and you can stay with your wife and child, father and mother, and your goods, and you must not deny God, then God will grant you your wife, child, goods, and also your life. I shall remain with my wife, and we two shall be one flesh, subject to the authorities. Item, I shall not go and take a knife and cut my throat, it is not of that opinion; but if the cause of God falls, that one should forsake father, mother, brother, sister (as the Lord Christ says) for my name's sake, that he forsake all these rather than me, and deny himself also: he is my disciple, and he shall take it again a hundredfold.
This is still lacking for this Pharisee, the master Hippocras 1) here does not want to do that, that he could do without his goods and lack for the sake of God, who after all had kept the ten commandments for a long time, but goes away sad, does not like the soup, it does not taste good to him. What is the reason? The reason is that he was very rich, he turns up his nose at it, it hurts him to leave everything. They say, "I know what I have, but I don't know what I'm going to get; you can't find money and goods in the street, so you have to throw them away. Yes, then go also, and go to the devil with your good, if it is dearer to you than your God and the eternal goods.
So far, we have wanted to say this about the text, which has been strangely twisted in the papacy. For all bishoprics and monasteries stand on the ground, and are built on this puddle.
1) What is meant is probably k^poorita.
for it is not according to God's word; there never was such a one on earth who sold everything. Ei, they say, one must understand that he kept only food and drink. There the devil strikes, that I may have full where I come. This is a bad poverty, this is the game of the end of Christ.
"Verily I say unto you, A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven; and again I say unto you, It is easier for a cameo! to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
Now, a camel is very adept at going through the eye of a needle, especially with its hump on its back and large long neck, so that it can hardly go through a large city gate. The Lord Christ sets up an impossible thing, as if to say, "If you can make a camel with a humped back go through the eye of a needle, it is also possible for a rich man to be saved, so that you can bring him into the kingdom of heaven.
This is truly hard enough said, and is frightening to hear. Therefore the disciples are also frightened by it and say:
V. 25. Who then will be saved?
They hear that it is impossible, and think, "Behold, if it be thought that the rich do not enter heaven, no one can enter it; for our Judaism is to boast that when our Messiah comes, we will become great lords, and have the whole world under us, and all the goods of the earth will be ours; for we shall be rich when that happens. What kind of Messiah would that be, who would make us rich here, and [we] would lose our blessedness and eternal life over it? We Jews would have waited for the Messiah, but what is the matter with the Messiah's kingdom? Dar-
2) "honest - hardly.
They conclude, "If this is so, the kingdom of heaven has been built in vain.
Otherwise all men, except Christ, have one God; if it is not the true God, it is an idol, since man puts his trust in it, and since he has his pleasure and play in it, and thinks that he can feed himself with it, and the pope and Turk are also servants of their god, Mammon. Who then will be saved, because all are attached to mammon?
To this Christ responds, and gives an account:
V. 26. With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Behold, what a kind, faithful teacher Christ is, says: With men no one can attain salvation, or keep the ten commandments of God, but by nature they consider mammon a god, and, as the evangelist Marcus says in the 10th chapter about this text, those who put their trust in riches. For in the same place we see whom Christ calls a rich man, namely, one who asks nothing of God, but sets his trust in money and goods, a godless man who prefers to let his penny be his own, and takes him for his idol and lord, honoring and celebrating him, as all miserly men do, who would rather let a poor man die of hunger than bring a penny to his heart to give.
Therefore the word rich man is used in the holy scriptures for an ungodly man, as it is written in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah about the suffering of Christ: "He was buried like the ungodly, and died like a rich man. There the prophet puts the ungodly, the rich and the thief as one; in the Scriptures they are the same people. For if anyone sets his date on his goods, God granting that they may be much or little, he has already 1) denied the right, true God: how then can he be baptized and called other than an ungodly man? Therefore the prophet wants to say: The rich are commonly all godless and of the devil, because they rely on their wealth.
Therefore, he who has a lot of money and goods is not called rich here, but he who has
1) Erlanger: beautiful.
trust in his goods; for trust belongs to God alone, who has given life, goods and everything, as it is written in the first commandment. Otherwise your trust and comfort shall be in no one; in God alone shall you have your delight and joy. But men do not do this, for this reason they are all rich, that is, ungodly before God, and they are reprobates; they do not put their trust in God, but in money and goods.
Abraham, David and other fathers were also rich, and a prince, king and emperor can have wealth, land and people, yes, a householder can possess physical goods; for how can a household be kept without temporal goods? and it is important to the authorities that they have rich subjects and that they themselves are also rich; for without money and goods neither the temporal government nor some households can exist. Therefore it cannot be understood that all rich people who have goods are condemned. No man would ever be saved, as the disciples also say to the Lord Christ, but a rich man in Scripture is called an ungodly man, who would not lose a penny for the sake of our Lord God, and hangs on to wealth with his heart, which the Psalm also describes when it says: "If wealth, money and goods fall to you, do not hang your heart on them. For wealth is God's gift; one should not throw it away, but thank God for it and use it in a Christian way.
If the Lord Christ interpreted this commandment as a barefoot monk understands it, it would be difficult and impossible. But he does not want it to be understood in this way, because one must have food and drink; and in Matthew Christ says: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all the rest shall be added to you. He does not say that Christians should not have and possess something of their own, but he complains that one should not set one's heart on it, nor make an idol out of it; and if one could do that, that one could use money and goods, fields, grain, house and yard, as God has given and created them, it would be without any harm to us.
And if I also enjoyed my good ones in this way, it would be fine. But we make
We make an idol out of it, and put our trust in the creature and not in the Creator; therefore we do not enter the kingdom of heaven. For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. For it is impossible for God and Mammon to be in man's heart at the same time. If God is within, then the idol must wander; and if you want to be saved, you must have only One God. Therefore the first commandment requires that you should not be a rich man, that is, that you should not dwell on riches, nor rely 1) on them, as this Pharisee sadly departs, yet shortly before he had said that he had kept the Ten Commandments; but the penny is his idol. For all the rich are of this mind: they would rather let a poor man die of hunger than give him a penny.
These rich people are idolaters and the most shameful people, because avarice is an unnatural sin. For other sins are still a little natural, as when a man is drunk with pleasure and falls into drunkenness, for there is still a natural pleasure in it; item, that a young boy loves a penny, and again a penny loves a boy, that is natural. But to become a miser, and to hold the penny so high that you do not allow yourself and others to use it, and forget God and your neighbor above it, against the first commandment, that is a shameful vice, and the devil calls people by it. It is impossible for such a one to become blessed if he remains so, for he is without God and has no part in the kingdom of God, for such a one puts God out of his heart and mammon in his place.
[Sixth sermon on the 19th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
Wednesday after omnium sanctorum. 2) [Nov. 7, 1537.]
Next, we heard how the disciples were terrified when they heard that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.
1) Erlanger: himself.
2) This superscription in the original offers us the first clue to a closer definition of both the individual sections, which constitute a sermon in themselves, and also
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven; that is just saying, It is impossible for a rich man to be saved. Yes, who then wants to be blessed, they said, since the whole world does nothing but seek riches, which is all its care, toil and labor; everyone wants to bring something before him. The Lord looks at them as if to say, "You are good sheep to me, and a good simple-minded people who do not understand much about the secret things I am talking about. I am not talking here about those who have money and goods; I am talking about the whole race, which is so corrupted by original sin that it relies far more on temporal goods and other creatures than on its Creator. Man's heart must have a God, that is, something on which he places his comfort, on which he relies, so that it has its joy and play. Now it must have either the right God or a false God. Since nature is more attached to God's gifts and creatures than to God Himself, it is not possible to become blessed by human ability and strength. God's hand must come to this, and he must prepare the heart of man anew and take it in, so that he can say: I have, praise God! I have money, I have a healthy body, I have a wife and child, God has given them to me. But none of these shall be so dear to me that I should seek my comfort and joy in them. I will use it, as long as God grants it to me, 3) in His honor, in mine to determine the time when the sermons were preached. The first year we encounter in the original (Erlanger Ausg., vol. 44, p. 228), though only in passing, is: "Mittwochen nach k'udiuni [n. 38.", that is, January 23, 1538. Therefore, the word which stands there at the end of the preceding sermon is to be interpreted thus: End of the sermons which were preached in 1537. If this is correct, it follows that all the preceding sermons belong to the year 1537. The sermons that follow, Erl. Ausg., vol. 44, p. 228 to p. 358 ff, belong to the year 1538; the last of these was preached on Wednesday after Mauritii, September 25, 1538. Only on Wednesday po8t Viti, that is, June 18, 1539, did Luther continue with the Predi'gts on Matthew. The sermons, which are found in the Erl. Edition, vol. 44, p. 366 to vol. 45, p. 181, are to be placed in the year 1539. The sermons that followed were preached in 1540; the last one on September 19, 1540.
3) In the original: 'gann'.
But if not, I would rather be poor, I would rather suffer hardship and shame, and be without all God's gifts and creatures, than my Creator who gave them to me. If a man's heart is to be so minded, God must take a hand and give His word, so that the Holy Spirit may work, and give birth to us anew and make us fit; otherwise it is lost. As far as my and man's ability and powers are concerned, no one can tear himself away from the creatures. Therefore, it is impossible for a rich man, that is, one who has something apart from the right, true God, on whom he relies and prefers it to God Himself, to be saved; it must be God's power and might that do it. So it is just as much to say that a rich man cannot become blessed as: It is not possible for anyone to be saved out of his own ability and strength. For all the harm of original sin is spoken of, by which nature is more attached to creatures than to God; and if anyone is of this mind: if he has anything, he is happy and of good cheer, let God remain where He wills. If he does not have what he would like, he is sad and despondent. And this is best seen in the rich and the stingy, how a human heart is minded. He has no greater desire or joy than to have plenty of florins; he strives for them day and night, and when he gets them, he withholds them with all diligence. Before he would give a poor man one fl. [Before he would give a poor person a florin, he would go and hang himself, as you see often happens. If a loss occurs, that he comes by 100 fl. or two, there is misery and distress, then he does not sleep, then he does not eat, then he grieves ill. In this one sees how a man's heart does, which forgets God altogether, and has its idol in temporal goods, as St. Paul calls it idolatry; and such a miser and penny-pincher 1) cannot have the right true God in his heart, as the Lord also says: "It cannot be that you serve God and mammon at the same time. One must give way, nothing else will come of it.
1) i.e. penny-pincher; synonymous with miser.
So, whoever seeks honor, and has his pleasure and joy in it, has an idol in it. But a Christian, even if he has honor, does not put his trust in it, but if necessity requires it, he can say: Go, dear honor, I will gladly do without you, and have all this shame, before I want to hand over my God. Yes, the heart is not born with us, but it is given by God. So go through other gifts of God, as there is painting, healthy body, wisdom and what is more, to which a man is attached and clings as a man: that cannot be beaten into the entrenchment by nature, but must be done by God's power and the Holy Spirit, if it is to be done otherwise from the heart and with earnestness.
For you can find people in the world who throw away their goods of their own will, as the Anabaptists do and the barefoot monks. Yes, it has probably thrown away with them. A monk leaves his father's party basket at home and goes to a good prepared kitchen, where he is idle. This is supposed to mean willingly poor, 2) since one gets a good roast for a party. Well, how well he threw away his parsnip! With one hand he has thrown it away, and then with ten hands he grabs it again, as it is written about the wind of Coecia, which blows from the corner between morning and midnight; it is said to be such a wind that it first blows the clouds away, and then quickly blows them away and brings them back to him. Just as the wind blows, so do the hypocrites; they pretend that they do not want any goods, blow them away, and do not resist for long; they quickly grab a rich prebend with ten hands and pull it to themselves. In this way, beautiful houses and monasteries can be hewn, and the world's goods can be brought to them with such willing poverty, since one has more guilders than I and you; it's a mess with them. So the Anabaptists are also peelers with their nature, they also pretend to leave everything for the sake of God. But it happens to some of them, as I have seen, that they are pulled away from their wives and children, and their goods are mown down.
2) Erlanger: called.
The Anabaptists had taken the best of it and had given them what they wanted. 2) Now that the property had been eaten up, they came back and said that the Anabaptists were boys. Now that the property had been consumed, they came back and said that the Anabaptists were boys. But was it not right for them, and would they not have been mocked and laughed at? I would have it so with all of them. Why do they run away from the wife and child they should feed and raise? as God has commanded them, and has not commanded them to leave the same without necessity, out of their own will and courage.
So one also finds fools who forgive themselves all honor, 3) as they pretend, the hypocrites! They do not want to be called doctors, they want to be called brothers of Andre, 4) they put on a gray skirt, put on a gray hat, and yet their heart is full of hope and begins to strive for greater honor. They do not want to be called doctors, but they would like those who wear velvet and golden crowns to humble themselves before them and say: Dear brother Andres, good morning, you are a holy man to me, it is nothing with the others, there you have 20 fl., there you have 100 fl. There we want to go. If we have the honor, we want to become rich, for if we are so excellently humble, the rabble and the world open their mouths and noses against our holiness, and take what they have, Yes, that is the whirlwind, which acts as if it blows the clouds away, and then blows them away. Among the Greeks there was a philosopher named Diogenes, who was so excellently holy in the name of the devil that he did not want to live in a house because of his great holiness; he cut a barrel in two and carried half of it with him wherever he went, under which he lived. Under his belt he had a bowl, 5) so that he could draw water for him when he wanted to drink. Now he once saw a child pass by, and with his hand the
1) "Moravia" put by us, instead of "mehren" in the Erlanger. Cf. Köstlin, Martin Luther (3rd ed.), vol. II, p. 440: "in Moravia also Anabaptism had found a particularly fertile ground."
2) Erlanger: this.
3) Erlanger: show.
4) Allusion to Carlstadt.
5) Erlanger: Rappen.
Draw water and drink from it. Then the holy man went away and threw the cup against God's ground, and cursed him himself for being such a good holy man, and did not yet know that nature had given him a cup from which he could drink, and could nowhere close the wooden cup. This made him such a clamor throughout Greece that even the great king Alexander, is it otherwise true, once went to him and offered him an imperial gift. Then the king attacked him, saying that he should not take what he could not give him. What would it be? He stood in front of the hole, so that the sun could not shine into the barrel. Such proud, hopeful drops are made of such hypocrites that they are allowed to throb and defy everyone, even kings and emperors; they want no honor and yet seek honor, and that all the world worships them for their holiness. God does not want such hypocrites, but leaves you your wealth, leaves you what you have, and wants you to use it for His glory, for your need, for everyone's benefit, for no one's harm, so long as you do not set your heart on it, as David says in the Psalm: "If wealth flows to you, do not set your heart on it. Therefore it is our Lord God's duty to keep your heart pure, to put all your comfort and confidence in him, and for his sake, if need be, to gladly put your life and limb there. This is called being willingly poor and is, as I said, only God's gift and work in us, that we know nothing with us and apart from us, on which we set our heart, but only on God. Therefore, S. Paul does not teach Christians to abandon or throw away their goods, but not to set their hearts on them. For so he writes to his disciple Timothy: "Admonish the rich not to become proud, and not to put their hope in uncertain riches; for they do not know how long they will have the money, nor does the money know how long it will remain with them; but teach them to trust in the living God. In this way, a Christian should also understand this text about the rich who put their trust in wealth, not those who throw it away. For the Lord himself had money, but he used it.
He did not mind that Judas stole what he could from him. He was also obedient to his father. So a Christian can take a wife and also keep her, and beget children and nourish them, that is what God wants; but with the knowledge that he is not attached to them. So then, as Saint Paul says, a Christian has a wife as if he did not have one; he has money and goods as if he did not have them. Why? Because he does not build on it; because God leaves it to him, he needs it, and is ready to step aside for God's sake, if he is never to have it again.
From this it is easy to understand many sayings in the Holy Scriptures, such as those in Luke: "Woe to you rich, for you have lost your comfort. There the Lord also indicates what he means by the rich, who have their comfort not in God, but in their mammon; if not, they may well remain rich, that is, have goods, without harm to their blessedness. So also afterwards, to be satisfied, to laugh and be merry, and to have good praise among men, is punished by the Lord.
Shall one not eat and drink? Shall one not adorn oneself at a wedding, dance and be merry? Shall one then help oneself, that one should not say good things to others? Oh yes, that would be a fine life indeed; eat and drink what God provides, be merry with your wife and child, but do not let it remain so, as if that were your comfort. Do you think: Now I am full, I ask for nothing more, let God remain where He wills, then you will be granted the aches and pains, and will hunger and starve forever. But whoever is full, whoever is happy, whoever is rich, and does not set his date on it, and is ready to leave everything before he would anger God, is quite poor in the greatest wealth, he is hungry in the 1) great abundance, he is sad in the great joy. Therefore he is blessed: "Blessed are the poor, the hungry and the mourners.
For all the saints and godly have been like this. Look at the examples of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David, who have goods to the full.
1) Erlanger: in dem.
Especially the dear David, who wears a golden crown, has perhaps also golden chains on his neck, golden pieces even full, and under the jewelry, since everyone thinks that it is nothing but vain joy, vain jumping and dancing, there is a heart that gulps, weeps and howls without ceasing because of lamentation and heartache, and does not know where to stay because of misery. If you don't want to believe it, just read the Psalter, which is full of it. So it is with the pious Esther, who must also and must without her thanks be led to the king in her jewelry, which she did not have in her chamber all, and her heart was illdeß full of weeping and crying. Doesn't that mean to be poor over poor in the greatest wealth? Yes, that is how it is with all rich people; if they are otherwise Christians, and want to do right by their own things, then you should see what joy they derive from it. If you could look into their hearts, you should say, "Not to me, I will gladly do without the garments and the gold, I will gladly wear a gray skirt and drink coffee, take a flail in my hand and thresh so that I sweat. I can go to my field, I can work and sing a little song; when I come home, I taste a little bread in my heart, since a king or emperor does not taste the very best; I lie down and sleep a good night's rest, since great lords have nothing but weeping in their hearts. Dear lords, wear golden chains on my account! But if they are not Christians, and leave their office, seeking only their joy and pleasure in it, as the whole world seeks only goods, of them also the Lord says: "Woe to you, you have lost your comfort"; and: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Let the rich therefore see to it that they do not make a mischief when they hear that they may keep their goods, and that David, Abraham, and others also were rich; item, that seeking food is not forbidden to Christians: lest they conclude from this that they may scrape up for themselves what they can, and only gather money willy-nilly, for it is said to them, "Woe to you," and, "It is easier for a camel. "etc. Do they want to follow these words?
If they do not respect the law and take it to the wind, they will find out what they have done. Item, in other such things, eating and drinking and being merry is not forbidden to Christians. But if they do as the rich man does in the Gospel, and take pleasure and joy in it, so that they do not ask where God is, they will be like him. Enough of that now.
[First sermon on the 20th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
Wednesday after Catharinae [November 28, 1537]. Propter infirmitatem capitis admodum breviter.
We have heard next 1) how the saying is to be understood, where the Lord says that one should leave father and mother, from which out of lack of understanding so many factions and sects have followed in the Christians; and is not the opinion, as you have heard, that we should therefore run away from ours of our own free will. This is God's command that I obey my father and mother, that I stay with my wife, with my husband, with my children, and feed them, which cannot happen without house and farm, without other goods. If, however, it is possible that I should either deny my Savior, or leave my father and mother, or even my own soul, that is, body and life, then I should say: Goodbye, good night, dear father, dear mother, dear brother, dear sister, dear lord and prince. I will gladly dwell with you and remain with you; but where you urge me to deny my Lord Christ, you shall no longer be my father; I would rather be separated from you here in time than there from my Lord forever. Here it is not good to exchange, to lose the eternal for the sake of an hour or two. Therefore, 2) necessity teaches us that we must do according to this saying.
1) Here Bruns made the remark: "This sermon is missing", but we think that the next preceding sermon is meant, which deals entirely with the fact that "a monk leaves his father's party basket at home and runs to a good prepared kitchen" etc. - The beginning of this sermon is only a recapitulation of the previous one and a transition to the first sermon on the 20th chapter.
2) Erlanger: lernet.
If I have to do it without my gratitude and without my will, then it is right; not rolled up and spoken out of my own arbitrariness: Yes, it is written, one should leave father and mother, so it will come back to us a hundredfold, therefore I will do it. Then God's commandment, "You shall honor your father and mother," is left aside. Behold, this is one sin, after which comes the right one, that they thereby want to be something special, and let Christ be Christ, and think to become blessed by themselves; that is not following Christ, it is denying him.
Therefore the other saying will pass them over: "Whoever does not confess me before men, him again I will not confess before my 3) heavenly Father." But I should know that I should remain with my father and mother, with my wife and child, as long as I can have this, that I confess Christ. If anyone wants to drive me away from this confession, then I should risk everything, not only goods and friends, but also my life. For thus saith the Lord himself, He that loveth his life forsaketh it; but he that would keep it grudge it, and deny himself, and follow me."
You must keep this right and certain understanding, especially if you intend to teach other people in time. For even great people have fallen into the error of interpreting this saying like the monks and the spirits of the mob. Saint Jerome was a great doctor, but when a young man from Rome came to him and asked him for good advice, he freely told him to run into the desert and not to ask about his father and mother, and to run over them. Well, dear Lord, what kind of advice is that from such a great man! The man could have stayed in Rome and kept his father and mother; and if he had wanted to leave his father and mother and everything for the sake of Christ, the citizens and emperors of Rome and the executioner would have taught him much worse than what happened to him in the desert. Therefore be warned, and let the right understanding of this text be commanded to you. This is from the 19th chapter.
3) Erlanger: mine.
The Twentieth Chapter of Matthew.
[V. 20-23.] 1)
The parable of the laborers in the vineyard and what follows, how the Lord tells his disciples about his suffering, we want to leave, because they both come after Christmas; then we want to save it, and now take before us the text of the two sons of Zebedee, which 2) one used to preach in times past on St. Jacob's Day in autumn. Since we do not keep this feast, we do not preach about it, so we cannot pass by it now, because we come to this text. The two sons of Zebedee are John the Evangelist and the great S. Jacob. Jacob; they were close friends of the Lord, but how close I cannot know. For it was said of S. Anna a long time ago that she had three husbands, and from the first, called Joachim, she gave birth to Mariam, the mother of our Lord; from the second, Cleopha, to Mariam Cleophä; from the third, Salome, to Mariam Salome, although Salome is the name of a woman. Such coarse, impolite jokes they have made. These are vain lies and fables. For one does not find anywhere in the Scriptures which of our dear women was the father or mother, and yet they have done so much with St. Anne and Joachim that cities, such as Annenberg and Joachimsthal, have been built in their honor. If Anna has not been elected, the other account of her three husbands and of the family will also be wrong. Be it as it may, the two disciples are close or far friends of the Lord, we do not ask anything about it. But from this we see that they belonged to him a little closer in cousinship or affinity than the others, because they wanted to be something special with him. It says of their calling in the ninth chapter above that when the Lord called Peter and Andrew, he called them,
1) This sermon was preached on the same day (November 28, 1537) as the previous recapitulation, because the next sermon falls just one week later, on Wednesday after St. Andrew's Day, December 5, 1537. - The beginning of this chapter is not interpreted here, because it is preached on the Sundays of Septuagesimä and Quinquagesimä.
2) Erlanger: which.
When he finds Zebedee and his two sons mending their nets by the sea, he calls them. Now they had heard much and often of him, how he was a king, and would have a kingdom, which they had understood as good rough fellows of a worldly kingdom, as they are also still m the delusion, as it is written in [the] stories, after the Lord had risen. Therefore they also make a clever plot, are truly clever fishermen, and think that they must do it in time before others come and take away their honor; now they think how they would like to get ahead of others and become the next in bread. But if they think that they will stand with honor, they will persuade the mother to offer the thing, thinking that if we are lacking, he will say that the mother has acted foolishly, as a woman; but if it comes to pass, we will stand with honor. But he will not be able to refuse the mother, as it is common for women to ask for something more easily than men, because they can do it wisely. They go, the mother and sons, and make the request, as you have heard. Then the Lord gives them a blunt answer: "You are a good wife to me, you and your two sons, otherwise all three of you are fools. You know a lot of what you are saying. However, he takes this foolishness into account, because they do it not out of malice and pride, but like children out of ignorance. From this we are to learn for our comfort what we have for a Lord who deals with his own in this way. Though he strikes them a little on the forehead, he does not cast them away for it, but bears and endures their weakness and foolishness. As a father does to his children, to whom he must give much credit for being fools, so he does here to these poor fools, the two disciples, who therefore are foolish and foolish, and do not know where they are at home; then he says: Ye are good foolish men unto me, what shall I do with you? ye are full of rude things, and stumble: as it came to pass, even after the resurrection of the Lord. What happened before, that they denied him, and all ran away from him? Yea, when they had the Holy Ghost, about eighteen years after, Peter made a good gross fall at Antioch, and Paul and Barnabas were divided, that they stumbled from one to another.
I think it is rough enough. All is still forgiven and forgiven. Thus the evangelists everywhere describe to us the dear Lord, who is kind and gracious, and able to do much for his own. Saint Paul calls it with fine words φιλανθρωπίαν and έπιείχειαν, because έπιείχεια means, that
One can see through the fingers, and does not act according to the sharpness, bears, tolerates. Again, when the Pharisees and the proud saints come before him, he is not at all the former man, and is so obstinate, so disruptive, so unkind, that enough is enough. He calls them vipers, and cries woe on their necks, and does not let them have a word; as they come to him, they have lost, and no one has mercy on them anywhere, unless they are converted; why then? They are his worst enemies, and cannot suffer him in any way, who are proud and hopeful, and insist on their own holiness and piety, and do not want to be wronged, even if they are baser in heart. With these he can have no compassion. But here he has patience with his own, who sin out of ignorance and rudeness, and remain with him, not setting him apart. Let every man therefore see that he sin not wilfully, and abide with his dear Lord; if he sin through weakness, let him take comfort in this example of the dear Lord here, who doth not rumble with his own, nor deal unkindly with them, now as little as before. For even if he were not so kind, we would come to measure badly. We are just the people who are the disciples here, have good rough clicks on us, ask also just as foolish things often as they ask here, that God must often say: If I gave you as you ask, I would be a fool as you are. We often ask like this when we pray the Lord's Prayer. But our dear Lord is so kind, so gracious, that he does not hold our foolishness against us, as he did not hold it against his apostles and other saints, who were the same flesh and blood as we are. So the dear saints are comforting to us, not like the monks paint their Franciscum, so pure and pure that they even make a wood, stone and iron out of him. However, this is not the opinion that we learn sins from the saints, but that we learn sins from the saints.
But that we may be comforted by their example; as their sin is forgiven them by grace, so shall they also forgive us, if we will but abide under this father of the house, who is called Christ, in his house; where only this is done, there is no need of our weakness and infirmity. For he does not become any the more hostile to these two disciples, even though they are good, rough fellows, and speaks to them again quite kindly, since he had made them a little ashamed before: You take care how you come to great honors, that same will be found by himself. The chair has long been made for you to sit on, for in my Father's house there are many dwellings; see how you get there. But you will come to it as I will come to it. I will have to suffer and die; now can you also drink the cup and be baptized with baptism? Yes, yes, they say, should we not be able to do this? Well, do not worry where you will stay, you will be well provided for. In the Scriptures, the cup is called suffering, which is given to everyone. Our Lord God, as it says in the Psalm, pours out to each his measure, which he must drink up. Each has his own, one less, the other more, often a woman more than a man. Others are physically afflicted and persecuted. We here have no outward persecution, but we have something else in the meantime, that the devil torments us in our hearts and consciences. This is a harder affliction than being outwardly afflicted. So each one will have his own, even if it is only in the last hour, that he must suffer and thereby confess his Lord Christ. That is his cup and also his baptism, in which he must bathe himself, until the old Adam is drowned in him and washed and cleansed. Every man therefore shall see, and bear his own, and not depart from his Lord and Saviour; and afterward take no thought where he shall abide; he shall well find his throne and crown in his time.
[Second sermon on Matt. 20.]
Wednesday after St. Andrew's Day. [5 December 1537.)
Next we have the pieces left standing, as the Lord says to the two disciples,
The sons of Zebedee said that it was not in his hands to put them on the right hand or on the left hand. Then the pope goes on and says that the scripture cannot be understood without his gloss, because it is contrary to each other, therefore one should follow his gloss. Not yet, dear Pabst, you do not have to master the Scriptures, nor I, nor anyone else, according to our head, the devil bless us. We are to let the Scriptures govern and master us (not to be masters ourselves according to our mad head, and to set ourselves above the Scriptures, as the pope has done with them), 1) so I shall do to him here also. I find in one place of Scripture that Christ says: All that the Father has is mine; what the Father does, that do I also; the Father works until now, that do I also; here he says that he has no authority, but the Father alone; item, he did not come that he might be served, but that he might serve everyone. Now rhyme these and such sayings together for me from time to time. I will do this well, and only go into my faith 2). He preaches to me about Christ in two ways, that he is truly God and truly man. According to the Godhead, he is like the Father, eternal and powerful; according to humanity, he is inferior; and yet he is one person of Christ, inseparable, even though there are two natures in him. So my faith is: I believe in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God the Father; then the Lord is pictured to me according to His glory; then: He who was conceived, born, suffered, died, and was buried; this belongs to the human nature, which He took to Himself for this reason, so that He might serve us, and suffer and die for us, as He says here in the text; then: Who rose again, ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God his heavenly Father; which again is said of his glory, and yet the human nature is nnseparated from it, which now also sitteth at the right hand of God, for the deity of Christ is in humanity et contra, and now can never be separated.
1) These brackets are set by us. The Erlangen edition has incorrectly interspersed: "As the pope has done with it, so shall I do to him all here.
2s "into my faith" i.e. I will refer to the apostolic, Symbolum.-Equally following, the Erlangen edition has: "sermon" instead of "preaches."
Now you have all such sayings to rhyme easily, although they seem as if they were against each other. So now the Lord speaks here as a man, he has no authority, he is a servant, and gives the disciples an answer, how they regard him. . They regard him as a man, therefore he also answers them and speaks as a man, so he has no authority, as they regard him there, to put them on the right hand and on the left hand. But when he comes in his glory on the last day, then he will honor his own as a mighty God; and now he is here, not to show his glory, but to serve everyone with teaching, living and dying, and finally to give his life.
Now it follows in the text that the other ten disciples become quite angry with the two, as if they alone wanted to be masters, and the others had to be their servants. The good, silly people stumble and are quite fed up with them, but the dear Lord still tolerates and suffers them, and is quite friendly toward them, even though they make good, lazy jokes, because they are only attached to him. He will make them well according to his pleasure when he sends them the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. We must not have such a Lord who snaps at us and throws thunder and lightning at us; we are afflicted enough without that; but who speaks to us in the kindest way, and does not ask whether we are poor, foolish creatures 4) who are lacking here and lacking there. But he is hard enough on others who do not keep his word and doctrine; he has no patience with them and cries woe on their necks: Therefore let us rather see that we are found among those multitudes against whom the Lord is kind, who do not set their trust in him.
He instructs them smoothly and says: "Oh, you good people, what do you think, that I want to lead and establish such a regiment as the worldly princes and lords have? The same is before established and ordered, as it should be, since Adam in Paradise the power over all that was created em-.
3) Erlanger: again.
4) i.e. fools. In the original: manure.
For this purpose, those who sit in the regiment must have power and authority, without which they would not be able to carry out their duties, nor would they be able to fulfill their office. According to the appearance, trust, as it can be seen, so let them serve worldly lords, but if they want to maintain their office righteously, it would be the greatest service that is on earth. Such a rule, says the Lord, I do not want to outline, I let lords be lords; that is why I am not here, but I have come to serve everyone; and in my kingdom it shall be so: whoever wants to be a great lord, he shall only serve much, much, and whoever wants to come to great honors, he shall be everyone's servant; that's how it goes.
So now my ministry and that of every preacher and pastor is not in any kind of rule. Therefore, my and every preacher's and pastor's office does not consist in any rule, but in serving all of you, that you may learn to know God, that you may be baptized, that you may have the right word of God, and finally that you may be saved, and I am not subject to any worldly rule, which princes and lords, mayors and judges shall order and provide for. My office is only a service, which I should do for free, neither money nor goods, neither honor nor anything else. For if I should preach that I should be given much, that I should be made a king or emperor, I should not be brought into the pulpit with ten horses. I did not want to take a thousand florins [for] every 2) sermon, because I knew that I would lead to the devil if I sought nothing more from it than how I would become rich. For as soon as I preached for the sake of money, I would speak what people liked to hear, so that I would get money. Therefore I preach freely, for free, which I also owe to do, and seek neither honor nor good from it; otherwise I would just as soon have learned something else, become a craftsman or a merchant, I could even today still be a
1) Erlanger-, im.
2) Instead of "all" it should be read "for one". Cf. Tischreden, Cap. 22, K 127. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XXII, 684: "I did not want to take a thousand guilders for one sermon."
3) Erlanger: "a SHreibers ampt."
I am commanded to teach you and whoever I can. But I am commanded to serve you and whomever I can with teaching, comforting, exhorting, with God's word. I am commanded to serve you and whomever I can with teaching, comforting, exhorting, with God's word, so that you may be saved, "so that I do not rule over you, but bring you together with me 4) under one Lord, whose name is Christ, and apart from service I seek nothing else.
But if I do this, you are then again obliged to feed me. For since I am to preach and serve you with it, I cannot wait for food; so you are obliged to feed me with it, even for nothing; for he who serves the altar, says St. Paul, should live from the altar. This is what the pious kings and princes of old did abundantly, and donated enough for the maintenance of churches and schools, because the common man, as now, would not do it. These have now stolen and robbed the devil's people, who devour the same goods in the cathedrals and monasteries in all disgrace, and there is no one who would think of preaching about it, yes, they persecute and blaspheme and disgrace those who do it in the highest way. We barely have the bark or the bread on our plates to feed ourselves, they have taken the best. But I would not gladly grant someone whom I loved to have the same goods as they do. The pious people who founded it did not only do it royally or princely, but also Christianly, that they thought for all their descendants to preserve the preaching seat and schools. The names of the founders still remain, as Scholasticus, Cantor, Prepositus, Decanus; they have dropped the offices. Well, they have it away. Now the audience, where otherwise the preachers cannot be preserved, is obliged to feed the preachers of their own free of charge, so that they both remain under one Lord, their Savior, who first served all the world by dying for them and redeeming them from sins and all heartache, and then also served us as an example, that we Christians should serve another free of charge, as he has done for us.
4) Erlanger: "me" and immediately following: "except the service".
[Third sermon on Matt. 20.]
Wednesday after Conceptionis Mariae. [12 Dec. 1537.] Rediit ad principium cap. XX. de operariis in vinea
We wanted to have this gospel left over, because it is customary to preach it soon after the holidays 4) on one Sunday. However, since this church ordinance requires that baptism be preached on the same Sunday in order to preserve it in Christendom, and therefore this gospel must be omitted, we want to speak of it now, so that it will not be omitted, because it is a necessary and useful teaching.
First, however, we must learn to understand the language, because the number of hours, as they are counted here, does not rhyme with our Seiger hours. With the Jews the day had twelve hours, which they counted from the exit of the sun. In order that we may have a better understanding of the three, let us set the first hour at the time when we hear at 6 o'clock, the second at 7 o'clock, the third at 8 o'clock, and so on. According to this calculation, the first are hired into the vineyard at 6, the others at 9, the third at 12, the fourth at 3, the fifth only one hour. Shouldn't it make one's eyes cross that the wages are given equally for such unequal work? that seems unreasonable and unjust before all reason. If I had had to work a whole day, and should not have received more pay than the one I had worked one hour, and in fine, cool weather, I could hardly have left it, I would have grumbled. But grumbling does not help the workers to get more, it makes the father of the house ungracious to them, because they want to force him to give them more than the thing was done; as if one did not have the power to give what he wanted from his own. I can give ten guilders to one whom I am fond of; but if I give another scarcely ten guilders, 3) it is not unjust. A father gives a child everything he wants to give his child.
1) Erlanger: "Care.
2) Erlanger: first hours.
3) d. i. pennies.
Leblang has acquired with great effort and work, although the child does nothing for it.
The Fathers, and Gregory in particular, have interpreted this equation in such a way that the first who were sent into the vineyard were Adam and Adam's children up to Noah, at the time of the flood; the others, however, from Noah up to Abraham; the third, from Abraham to Moses and Aaron; the fourth, from Moses to Christ; the fifth, who were only a few hours in the vineyard, those who came shortly before Christ and at the time of Christ, who were all saved at the same time as the others. Now I do not dispute this opinion; whoever wishes to hold it may do so. But I follow the Scriptures, which everywhere call the Jewish people a vineyard in the prophets now and then, as in Isaiah and others. The Jews were well accustomed to this, therefore in the Gospel it is written in another simile of the vineyard, that the Pharisees well understood that it was spoken full of them. In John 15, the Lord Christ calls himself the vine, and his Christians the branches. Therefore, we do not want to interpret the vineyard so broadly, but only to the people whom God has especially chosen for Him; this is His vineyard, in which He has sent His workers, that is, His prophets, far and wide, through whom He has restored the right word and the right service of God everywhere. After Moses and Aaron the word fell, after that it was raised up again by the judges, after that it went out again until David, after that it went down again until the time of Isaiah the prophet, but after that Jeremiah came, finally Haggaeus, Zacharias, who were the closest before Christ, until Christ himself finally comes, who sends his apostles and has his vineyard planted as far as the world is, and makes a vineyard out of Jews and Gentiles. As far as the teaching of this parable is concerned, this is the sum of it, that we should learn from it that God does not want to deal with us according to our work, according to our merit, but that by grace, God gives to each one at the same time, whether he has worked much or little, the promised penny, that is, His Son Jehovah.
Christ, forgiveness of sins, redemption from death and all heartache, gives us his Holy Spirit, and finally eternal life. The penny he has promised by grace to all who are in his vineyard, that in his Christianity each one may do his work with all diligence and faithfulness. But for the sake of his work he shall receive neither more nor less; all shall have this penny at the same time. If God wants to do something special for you for your work, which you do more than anyone else, he will know how to reward you; but the penny that is promised, Christ and the forgiveness of sins, shall be given to all of us at the same time, there shall be no difference.
But our flesh and blood, to which it is innate, has a heartache: 1) it either wants to have its work and its honest conduct in Christianity rewarded, or it says it does not want to do anything at all, and looks with disgust and sourness when it sees that another, who has been in Christianity for barely a year or half a year, should have just as much in Christ and in eternal life as one who has had a lot of trouble and work his whole life long. At this time, since God has again let his dear word shine upon us, I have seen many, praise God, who have been Christians for half a year or a whole year, and who have happily died to their Lord Christ, who are certainly blessed. I have now endured twenty or thirty years of preaching, schools, and much more work and heartache, so I get just that, that those who have died in time and have only spent one hour in the vineyard. I would also like to look askance and grumble about what God is doing to me, 2) that he is making me work so long and endure so much sweat, for which I should have nothing more than a child that lives one or two days when it is baptized. Yes, if it would help to see or to grumble, I would do it easily; but I have to put up with the fact that God is so pious and merciful that he gives as much to the one who works little as to the one who has worked much. If he imposes more work on me than on a man
1) Erlanger: "the heartache to which it is innate."
2) "Ziehe" is imperfect from "zeihen" - to blame. Cf. Col. 486.
He will know how to reward me for it; it must be done now, but that is why I should have no more in Christ, nor should anyone else have less. Would not the angels also look askance and murmur that the high majesty, the Son of God, has not become an angel, which creature is so much higher and better than a man, and lets itself into our mud and filth, who are enemies of God by nature and kind. I think they would have reason enough to grumble and look askance, and to interpret this as if God had despised them and held them inferior to us. But the dear little angels are so pious that they let everything please them from the heart, as God does, and fall at God's feet, and worship Him who has become a man, and are heartily and exceedingly glad about it, as their singing at Christmas indicates: "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill to men. Shouldn't we be ashamed of ourselves, we poor mud sacks, who want to rise up as soon as we know a little more that we have done than another? and yet we should be pleased with ourselves from the heart, as God does. But the wicked devil strengthens us in our evil ways and nature, which wants to be seen; if it feels wavy that it has led an honest, upright life, which another has not done, or otherwise accomplished more good in the world or Christianity, it will hardly leave it, it wants to be right with God; so God is much too poor to reward its good works and labor, and resents it that another still comes to measure at its deathbed. I must tell a fable about this, which is written in vitis patrum, because I do not consider it to be a true story, but it is nicely and well-penned from the measure, it was done by whoever wanted it, and now rhymes very well with this simile. There was an old hermit who had fallen ill. Now another monk wants to go to him to visit him. He takes another young monk with him, so that he has a companion, but he is wiser than both old fools. It happens that at the same time a murderer comes out of the forest in front of the sick hermit's house. He was not allowed to dare to go to the holy father in
He did not go into the cell like the others, but stayed outside and looked in from the front through a small hole, and said to the sick man: "Oh, Lord God, if it were as well with me as with you! The sick man answered: "Yes, of course, you may well wish it. Then the young monk started to cry bitterly, but he did not say why. Finally, as they were going home, the murderer hurried after them from afar, wanting to confess to them and ask for absolution from them. In his haste he jumped over a ditch and broke his neck. Then another hermit, who lives on the side, sees that the angels came down from heaven and took away the murderer. They came down and took the soul of the murderer and told these two what he had seen. Then the young monk laughed; the other scolded him for crying there at the hermitage, and here he laughed. The young monk said: "Shouldn't I weep there, when I saw that the other one had gone beyond his piety and was condemned, but this one, who was heartily sorry for his sins, has gone to heaven? Then the other brother, who had seen the face of the angels, said: "Why do I torture myself and toil all my life, if I could live according to my will and still be saved, like this murderer? and ran out of the forest and lived as he pleased. This is a very fine poem, I say, because it indicates just that, that all this likeness. The murderer also comes slowly into the vineyard, and gets his penny. The monk, who had worked a lot, loses the work with the penny. It was the same with the sick man, who took comfort not in his father's grace, but in his work, and went to the devil over it, for God cannot suffer us in any way to insist on or defy anything but His grace. Therefore he lets us see such examples that he is merciful to poor sinners who have done nothing good all their lives, when they cry for help, and gives them just what he gives to those who have spent their lives honestly and well, and worked hard. For even if he wants us to live a virtuous and honest life, for he does not send us to a tabernacle or a whorehouse, no work shall be done for him.
He will reward them with other gifts, both temporal and eternal, as he knows. If any man therefore murmur, let him see that he be not last, and that they which are last be first.
xims.r)
[First sermon on] the twenty-first chapter.
Wednesday after Fabiani Ao. 38. 2) [January 23, 1538.]
V, 1. f. When they came near Jerusalem to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them.
The beginning of this chapter has been left out to be interpreted, because the same text is preached twice else in the year. '
Then follows the life of the Lord Christ, what he did when he rode in and entered Jerusalem with his glorious splendor and stirred up the whole city. For when he came so powerfully, the people went out to meet him with multitudes, cutting down the palm branches and the olive branches, and carrying them to meet their king and Messiah, and scattering them also in the way. The simple children and people sang to him the beautiful Confitemini, in which Hosanna etc. is written, shouting and calling for Christ, their Messiah, to come; and when he entered the city, there was a crowd everywhere, so that people ran to see what was available. The chief priests, scribes, councillors and elders of the people were furious that he was allowed to ride in with such splendor and did not ask them first. He did not greet them, nor did he ask for permission: the Pharisees, priests and councillors of Jerusalem did not like this at all.
1) This should indicate that this is the end of the sermons preached in 1537.
2) These words are in the margin of the original. - That this timing is correct is confirmed by what Luther says on February 9, 1538, in the 17th sermon on the Gospel of John, where he refers (in § 9) to this sermon. Walch, old edition, vol. VII, 1730: "nächst in der Mittwochpredigt." Buchwald, Ungedruckte Predigten, vol. 3, p. 212 erroneously places this sermon on [Saturday)! 26 January. He was not aware that the sermons on Matthew were preached on Wednesdays, those on John on Saturdays.
It seems as if it were a part of a riot that the Lord hangs the people on him, and asks nothing of the great lords who had the rule at Jerusalem; and if someone else had done it, it would certainly have been a real riot. But the Lord Christ is prepared here with a good answer, as will follow. For when the Pharisees came to him and asked him about it, asking him for what authority he had, whether he wanted to make a noise or a riot, he asked them again, saying, "I will tell you, if you want to know; first tell me, "Where is the baptism of John from? is it from God or from men? Then he shut their mouths, and they drew in their pipes. For John the Baptist's sermon and course were that after him the true Messiah would come; this had been sufficiently proclaimed to them, and John's testimony had recently come to pass. John had been dead barely a year, so they still had John's testimony in fresh memory, that when he was dead, they should pay attention to the one who would come after him, and who was already present, for whom they should wait. Therefore they should not ask who he was, as if they did not know. They knew very well that he was the true Lord and King of this people; therefore he also entered Jerusalem as his royal city. They willfully did not want to know. It is a very clumsy thing, since they had recently heard from John that the Messiah would follow him on his heels, so they should think: John proclaimed it, he will be the Messiah. But they despised John's preaching and voice, so Christ despised them again, because they did not ask anything about him, nor did they want to know anything about him, and he rode into Jerusalem, God granting that it would be good or bad for those in Jerusalem, as it greatly displeased the chief priests and the citizens; and he forcefully interfered with the chief priests. They should have accepted him with great joy and brought him into the council house and into the temple, just as little children accept him. Since they do not do this, he mocks them again with his answer; and they ask him the same question.
The poor and the young people rejoice in their king, whom John the Baptist had proclaimed to them and actually showed them with his fingers; and the Lord makes the Pharisees afraid, as there was a new fear that he rode into Jerusalem so powerfully, and it was seen as if a riot was about to break out of it. But the saying of Zachariah was fulfilled, for Christ was to ride into Jerusalem with such splendor and glory as the true Messiah. Therefore he did not greet Annam and Caipham. For they were supposed to have gone to John the Baptist at the Jordan and asked him what should be done with Christ. He would have told them, as he had told many others before. But because the people listened to him, and the temple and the city were his, he also went in as one called by God and announced to them by John the Baptist.
For this reason it is a shameful question that they say, "Who is this?" as if they did not know him, and as if the temple, the city and everything were their own. But then he asks them again, holding up John's baptism to them, asking them where John's baptism came from. The common people and the children give them a fine answer, saying: Have you not heard of the testimony of John? It is Jesus, the prophet from Galilee. Then they must be silent. Neither may they say here, in answer to the question of Christ, that John the Baptist's baptism was of men, for the people took him for a prophet; as they say here, The prophet cometh out of Galilee. They would rather have heard the people say, "Behold, here comes a rebel, a fool, who despises the chief priests and the council of Jerusalem. But when the people said, It is Jesus the prophet, as if they should say, If ye think him a rascal, ye may know it; we think him a prophet; and the very word prophet is to them a thunderbolt, they were not to be joked with, for there was a prophet among the people so held that he had the chief rule in spiritual things; what he ordered and wrought, of that they had to be sure.
The name Prophet went over all kings; therefore they have to draw in their pipes, otherwise the people would have thrown stones very soon, if they had said that he was not a prophet; and that they also fear, although it would have had no need, because the Lord was not ridden in, that he wanted to cause a riot And take the regiment to himself, only the temple he wants to sweep and reform. That is why he only attacks those who are in the spiritual regiment, for which he was called; he enters the temple as the true Messiah and Lord, as follows in the text:
V.12. And he entered into the temple, and drove out all the sellers and buyers in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the changers, and the seats of the dovecatchers.
Regardless of how it pleases the Pharisees and the others, the Lord continues, and takes it even more violently, goes into the temple, and reaches in with his fist, rumbles inside, strikes, which he has never done before. For it is not read anywhere that he thus struck with his fist, and of course it must have seemed strange and evenly taxing that the man, who was otherwise so kind, gracious and merciful, has so completely forgotten himself here, because even his disciples are appalled by it. But the dear disciples excuse him afterwards, as John is clearly described in the 2nd chapter, and the cause is drawn from them, namely that he was moved by a holy and divine anger, because he saw in the temple, where one should honor and call upon God, such a shamefully desolate being. Therefore he violently beat buyers and sellers, moneychangers and pigeon-chasers, chased them all out of the temple, overturned benches and tables, scattered the money, and made them wonderfully full. But they were not so bold as to attack him before the people who had sung to him with the eighteenth psalm.
And this has been the cause of the deed of Christ. God had divided the Promised Land into twelve tribes, and the thirteenth tribe, Levi, was to wait on the temple and have nothing of its own. But in front of the cities they had gardens and stables, where they kept their livestock for sacrifice, and beside it butter and
They made cheese to feed them. Then God ordered the tithes to be given to the priests, and three high feasts were instituted by Moses: Easter, Pentecost, and in the fall the Feast of the Breasts of the Leaves, when they sat under the May trees. At the feasts, by God's command, they had to make special sacrifices in the temple, each according to his ability and good will. Whoever was not able to sacrifice an ox could sacrifice a calf; whoever was not able to sacrifice a calf could sacrifice a lamb, or whatever he wanted, for each one was free. Item, if a woman went out of the six weeks, if she was rich, then she had to sacrifice a lamb, or a few turtle doves, or other birds, as sparrows or otherwise, and about the sparrow it went out most; and all this was directed, so that the priests would have their entertainment from it, because they otherwise got no inheritance. They, the priests, had no part in the land of Canaan, but what was sacrificed belonged to them. Everything had to go to the priests and Levites so that they would be maintained, fed and provided for, and these were named and designated sacrifices.
Here the priests were so stingy that they finally did not stop at the sacrifices that God had commanded them to offer, but went on and offered other sacrifices to the people that God had not commanded, and taught the people that such sacrifices were the best service; And the people also put all their diligence into sacrificing, and sacrificed not only on the three high feasts, but as often as they pleased, and at last came to sacrifice every day, not only the time that God had commanded and appointed, and when the women carried their children into the temple after the six weeks, so that there was neither measure nor end to the sacrifice; They did nothing else, as if there were no other work that pleased God; and so the Ten Commandments, the love of neighbor, and all other good works 1) were forgotten. In addition, the priests had persuaded the people for the sake of their avarice, as the Lord Christ also reproaches them elsewhere, and scolds them for it, that with their commandments and statutes they had disobeyed God's commandment.
1) Erlanger: all.
especially the fourth commandment, where God requires one to honor one's father and mother. They taught that if there was a poor father, a poor mother, or a poor friend in need of help, it would be better to put money, clothing, and food (to be given to parents and friends) in the offering than to give it to friends. For what was offered in the temple was given to God Himself, but what was given to father, mother and poor people was given to men; therefore it would be much better to offer it, and so they should excuse themselves against their parents and friends if they wanted something from them, and should say Corban, as it is written in Marco.
The Lord Christ is angry at this, and if he had not been so holy, he would have cursed that everything should be adorned with the name of God. Thus the devil is a master in that he can masterfully pervert the right service of God and turn it into idolatry, so that they walk in avarice and belly service and are led away from God's word in such blindness that they think they are doing God a favor and service by snatching the morsel of bread right out of the parents' mouths and offering it to the priests alone. That was a fine sacrifice, because they put God's commandment far out of sight, and people thought of their own convenience: One may well leave it to honor one's parents and to love one's neighbor as oneself; and all that God had earnestly commanded was to be obedient to father and mother, to serve, advise and help poor people, when one should have said to the priests: This is a voluntary sacrifice, which is not commanded in the law of God, I may well refrain from it, I have poor parents and friends, to them I will give it. But the priests made a great pretense of their sacrifices, and adorned them with the name of God, and snatched the morsel of bread out of the mouths of the poor, scanty people, and drew all to themselves; and the people gave the sacrifices into the temple, and smeared the fat sow's behind.
My father was once dead at Mansfeld-
1) Erlanger: would.
When the priest came to him and admonished him that he should give something to the clergy, he answered out of a simple heart: "I have many children, I will let them have it, they need it better. So the pope also scoured and scraped the people, and brought all goods to himself, and whoever had unjust goods was taught that he should also give it to the church. So the devil perverts the right worship, and puts his filth in its place. This is what happened to the Jews.
Here the prophets go on, and rebuke in multitudes because of this false worship, and reject such sacrifices in the temple. When, in the first chapter of Isaiah [v. 11 f.], God says: "What do I want with the multitude of your sacrifices? I am full [of] burnt offerings of rams and of the fat: of the: Fattened:, and have no desire for the blood of farces, of lambs, and of goats. When ye come in to appear before me, who shall require such at your hands, that ye should tread in my court?" etc. How shall not the prophet be put to death? for it is written in the law that one should sacrifice; if we come and sacrifice, he saith, Who commanded you? Why do they condemn us? And Jeremiah the prophet saith in the seventh chapter [v. 21 to 23], Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Put your burnt offerings and other sacrifices in heaps, and eat flesh. For I told not your fathers the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, neither commanded I them of the burnt offering, and of other sacrifices: but this commanded I them, saying, Obey my word, and I will be your God." Does Jeremiah mean to say, Take your scoops and eat your own flesh, I have not commanded you of this, that is, your chosen and self-willed devotions and sacrifices, but this I have commanded you, that you should obey my word and voice. I have given you my commandment that you should honor the parents and servants of the divine word. For God wants us to direct our lives so that each one may know his turn with God. He shall not of his own choice devise works to do, but shall live in such a way that if the neighbor is in need of you, God's word says I should love the neighbor. If I see a poor
Virgin, God has told me to love my neighbor, and then one walks in the commandments of God and in His obedience. Otherwise, one will want to get indulgences, go on pilgrimage to Rome, and serve God. But how do you know that it pleases God? Well, it is a fine work, even a chosen work. Who ordered it? You leave your wife, child and neighbor at home.
Thus the devil delights to turn men away from the right worship and to make them choose their own works. So the priests in the temple were not satisfied to have the Paschal sacrifice, item, on Pentecost and the Feast of the Breasts, as God commanded, but taught the people that they should do nothing else but sacrifice, and so throughout the year there was a fair in the temple, and booths were set up where pigeons, sparrows, goats, lambs, calves and oxen were sold; and when the people came from the country and said: I would gladly sacrifice, but I have no cattle, then one said to him: Go before the temple, there you will find it for sale, there is a cattle market. There the priests got money for the cattle, and got the cattle also again. This was a sacrifice that served the priests for avarice. They took the meat from the sacrifices along with the money. For those who came from afar could not carry cattle with them, and Moses himself commanded that they should bring money, especially at the feast of Easter.
But they were not satisfied with this, for their avarice had neither end nor measure. If someone had neither money nor cattle, and wanted to have sacrificed, they said: Thou shalt not appear single before the Lord, even on the day of Easter, and on the day of Pentecost, and on the feast of Tabernacles etc., and brought him into the temple, and said: There is a money exchange, where they will lend you money for a profit and interest, so that the sacrifice will not be lacking, or they exchanged the foreign coin, because they had to pay a premium, because otherwise the same coin would not be common and given in Jerusalem.
than as a department store where people traded, bought and sold.
The Lord was angry at this, and he attacked them and rioted in the temple, throwing everything into a heap and beating them out of the temple with the merchandise, overturning the tables and scattering the money. They were well worth it. For if they had left it at the order of the old sacrifices, the Lord would have granted them that. But they interpreted it, that whoever sacrificed daily, did such a service to God, which was pleasing to him; they led the people into the temple, and first deprived them of money, and then also of their souls. Should not Christ be angry at this?
Therefore Christ did not reject the sacrifices which Moses commanded and instituted, for when he cleansed the leper, he said to Matthew in the eighth chapter, "Go and show thyself to the priests, and do the sacrifice which Moses commanded thee"; which word he adds with diligence. But he does not confirm their stinginess, but the sacrifices commanded by the law, as when a leper was cleansed, he then did his sacrifice; item, the sacrifices for the firstborn, and whatever else there was, for everything had its statute and order. This is how it should have remained, for these were sacrifices that God had commanded, not those that men had chosen for themselves. They did not leave it at that, but made such a rich service, that the people laid on the sacrifice alone, because of their shameful avarice.
Therefore God chided and punished the sacrifices in the prophets everywhere, but no crying or preaching helped; They took one prophet after another by the neck and killed them, and then continued with their sacrifices, until at last there was a merchant and a merchant's business, and there was not room enough in Jerusalem for sacrifices, But wherever there was a fine piece of ground, a hill, a mountain, a meadow, a wood or a pasture, a pleasant tree or water, there they built a chapel and set up an altar, and the people ran there with oxen and sheep to sacrifice, as the prophet Jeremiah said on the day of the sacrifice.
Chapter 2 [v. 20] complains about this, saying: 'There is not a corner where there is not an altar, nor a town so small, item, on all the hills and mountains, under the trees, where there should be no more than one place for sacrifice, namely the temple. This was the result of the greed of the priests, for they stole with power at Jerusalem, and then those in the countryside stole the sacrifices from those at Jerusalem, and there was no end nor measure to the theft and blasphemy; this is what false teachers do.
And what wonder that at the same time such a thing happened, since the priests took God's command from the sacrifice, and thus misled the people into an abuse, so that they filled their avarice, and the devil seduced the people under the name of God? The wretched pope has also taken advantage of this and has almost taken over the whole world with his error. There was almost no corner where there was not a monastery, church, hermitage or pilgrimage, where all the money, silver coins and other superfluous things were brought, so that in one or two years a church as big as a castle was built. The pope and the bishops were happy to see this, and who can tell all about the buying of indulgences, the pilgrimage, the calling of saints, the endowment of churches? all of which the pope did far beyond God's commandment and sold his stuff well enough and at a high enough price that, on the other hand, baptism, which the Lord Christ himself had endowed, and the ten commandments were nothing at all. The ten commandments belonged to the peasants and common Christians. Some abandoned their father and mother and ran away to a monastery without God's commandment, out of their own conceit; the devil of the oak tree 1) was more important than God Himself, and whoever would have said: Dear, you are now in a city and church, where you hear God's word, the sacraments, as baptism and communion, also have the absolution, it has in Rome the Pope or Mary to the oak no better, stay at home and keep your money, hear God's word from your priest, honor your parents and authorities, and you see poor young-
1) "zur . Eiche" em place of pilgrimage four hours from Leipzig. Cf. silk
Wives, companions, friends, give your alms. What will you give to the light-whores at the oak tree? for she is the devil; but listen to God's word here, which teaches you 2) how to do good deeds: the pope would soon have struck you with the tree and lightning, and for this reason he has also put me under ban.
In Welsh land there is a chapel, named S. Maria de Lauretto 3), of which 'they lie that it floated, I do not know from where, on the sea into Welsh land. There have been so many pilgrimages to it that they have collected as much gold and silver there as three kings would have had in their treasures; and it is said to be the chapel where the angel Gabriel brought the greeting to the Virgin Mary'. This chapel was spoliated and plundered by Pope Clement, 4) and great goods were found inside. Now the pope did not know how to get the treasure, so he thought of this: he pretended that the church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome was the main church, or the highest parish church, so he wanted to keep the chapel of St. Mary of Lauretto in the parish church, because it belonged to the church; and he quickly went and got the unspeakable treasure out of it. Why did he not do the same to this church in Wittenberg, that he bequeathed it to the Roman church? This means that he would have brought less of it here, but there he lifts the great treasure, and I think that the king of France still gets it; God forgive me otherwise, if it is not true.
But are these not frightening things, that one collects so unchristianly much money by lies? For this reason, the pope has always set his date and all the proposals on money, and the devil, as a mighty lord, has blinded the people so that they can give enough, since now, when the eternal truth, God's word is preached, the citizens and peasants in towns and villages cannot well support a pastor and preacher,
2) Erlanger: lernet.
3) In the church of Our Lady of Loreto (in the Papal States) is the 6u8u suntu or holy house, supposedly the dwelling of the Blessed Virgin in Nazareth, which angels are said to have brought from Galilee to Dalmatia and from there to Loreto.
4) The last time the extremely rich treasure of this church was plundered by the French in 1797.
Since we are commanded by God to feed them, and also to raise our children to be preachers, and to use what we have of goods to raise up people who will also receive the word of God after us, and who will be able to ward off heresies, for you see that it is a great need.
Before, when we were still in error, we gave with both fists. In my memory, the great being of S. Anna arose when I was a boy of fifteen. Before that, nothing was known about her, but a boy came and brought S. Anna, quickly she goes on, because there was everyone to it. That is why the magnificent city and church on S. Annaberg were built in her honor; and whoever wanted to become rich had S. Anna as a saint. Such saintly service brought the pope enough money. But now that Christ begins to overturn the banks of exchange with his word, and we are his whips and scourges, so that he destroys the Pabst's whorehouses, and teaches the people 1) how they should live a Christian and blessed life, also that we may know that we have such a Lord, who died for us, and thus Christ has begun to sweep and cleanse the temple again: then no one wants to give anything more for the entertainment of the service.
But the fair is destroyed for the pope. The pope could do no special harm to baptism, for it is given to a person only once; but with the mass, as the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, there has been bad housekeeping, and all kinds of sin have been fabricated, and only a fair has been made out of it; Even the absolution, that is, the forgiveness of sins, which the Lord Christ, the Son of God, purchased for us through his blood and gave us free of charge, was sold for money; the same has also borne much money, and has sinned a thousand times more than Judah the traitor. We have also laid hold on him, and now he is angry because of it; he may do this all his life.
The hermits have long ago moved to the deserts and the woods, and lived there, and have partly done so out of
1) Erlanger: lernet.
Fear of torture, so that they would not deny Christ in torment. Others did it so that they would atone for their sins in the wilderness and desert with their austere lives. After that, the world became a fair, full of monasteries that sold their good works to the people and persuaded them that if the laity built churches and monasteries for them, they would thereby obtain remission of their sins. That is where the great monasteries came from. Isn't this the wretched devil? More than half the world's goods came to the monasteries and convents, all because the priests and monks had superfluous good works that they could sell and give to other people. Is this not an exquisite, well-fed, fat lie, that those who want to lead a strict and penitent life should be in a state of perfection? Is it not all the other way round? and on the other hand, where Christ is, and absolution, and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is administered, and the office of the mediator is performed, this is said to be mere child's work.
There is nothing left in the papacy that is not an abomination, for even the forgiveness of sins or absolution has been turned into a department store and a fair. Such an impudent avarice the pope has practiced in the midst of the church, and yet it has had to have the name as if it were all indulgences, since he has bought money out of it; but he has to give away the indulgence of sin in vain, and if the last day does not come, I think he would gladly set it up again if we were dead, because we are now driving him out of the church with his filth. Therefore S. Peter said rightly in the other epistle in the other chapter, that false teachers would come, who would deal with us through avarice with fabricated words, they would be drowned in avarice, and their heart would be driven with avarice, and for the sake of it they would deceive the people.
Whoever looks at Rome sees what stinginess is. The stinginess of the Germans is child's work compared to this, although there is also great stinginess among peasants, citizens and those of the nobility that would make one's hair stand on end. But the popes can get the money out of the kings.
The pope was able to bring out the chests and treasures through the indulgences and butter letters. I do not know how many tons of gold England had to give annually to the pope, so called St. Peter's penny; and what did he have annually from France to annals? 1) Also many hundred thousand crowns. So the German country had to give him much of the palliis and otherwise. Still it was all called forgiveness of sins. It is the pope far above Judas, the traitor, even a thousand times worse. But we have destroyed his theft and indulgences. May God grant us His grace to recognize Christ's good deed and to thank Him for having cast out the pope and restored to us pure baptism, His holy word, the sacrament of the altar, and absolution; may we see to it that we keep it and educate our youth in it. Whoever does not help to do this, and may well do so, so that people may be educated who, after us, could also receive the Word of God and resist the heresies, will cause the old nature, the abominable idolatry, the outrage and the abomination to be brought back to its feet.
Our forefathers did it, demanded parish priests, built churches, and gave a lot of alms and tax for it, and meant well. But it turned out badly. But whoever will not now give to the Lord Christ, nor help to promote and improve his kingdom, let him go and give it to the devil. But the ungodly being and this idolatry have been cruelly punished, and they well deserve it. For the sake of our ingratitude, a spirit of iniquity may soon come and do wrong what we have taught to be good and righteous, and again set up avarice.
Therefore, just as it is said here in the text that the Lord Christ rumbled in the temple at Jerusalem, and became so angry that he struck it with his fist, and forcibly expelled those who made the temple a storehouse, so God has also in our time with the papacy
1) The one who received an ecclesiastical benefice had to pay half of the income of the first year to the pope; this tax was called annals. Cf. Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. X, 285, H 38.
God has now intervened in the Pabst's haggling through His loving word, by which He has begun to purify His church again from all the filth that the Pabst has led into it. But he now 2) pushes them out of the church and cleanses it again, and just as the Lord did not leave it there with words alone, but also reached in with his fist, so now we do not leave it with words alone, but also reach in with deeds, and throw in the idolatrous images that were worshipped and honored in God's stead, and throw them into the furnace, break down the altars. For what would it be to teach the pure word of God, if one let go of the works that are contrary to it, and did not put the offense out of sight? in time the devil would cause idolatry with it. Therefore it is right to take one idol here and another there, where special worship has been practiced, and put them in the furnace; and it would be good to break down all the devil's nests, where special pilgrimages have been made, so that the devil does not sow them again and make it seven times worse than before. This was to be done in order to prevent trouble and to get out of the way. This attacking does not happen any further than the abuse; otherwise the sword is left in place. For we sit still and do no harm to anyone; nor should we do it, nor should we do violence to anyone. But this is not done by the pope and his crowd; he leaves the word and the doctrine, and wants to preserve his avarice and idolatry, and wields the sword by force, strangles and murders us, and confirms his idolatry and abominations with the sword, so that he has made the dear temple of God the Most High a veritable pit of murder. But we do no harm, but give them alone with their abominations to the devil, and destroy their churches, or turn them to another use, lest idolatry be practiced therein again.
2) Erlanger: stößets.
[Second sermon on the 21st chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
Held Wednesday, January 30, 1538. 1)
Follows in the text:
V. 13. and said to them: It is written: My house shall be called a house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
The Lord takes the saying from the prophet Isaiah, who says in the 56th chapter [v. 7]: "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations, says the Lord. For the temple at Jerusalem was also built and endowed for this purpose by King Solomon, as can be seen in the prayer that the king makes in the temple. Now that it was finished and he dedicated it, as is written in the eighth chapter of the third 2) book of Kings, the temple was built. When the temple was full of mist and the priests could not stay inside, Solomon said in clear words that he had not built this house because our Lord God needed it, since all the heavens could not understand him, but that he had the promise of God that he would be in the temple and live for the benefit of the people, so that they would be sure where to find God and present all their needs to him, and he would certainly answer their prayers; He then told of the dangers that one should ask God in the temple to alleviate and take away; and Solomon did not want the temple he had built to be a house of sacrifice, but God should hear there all who would call upon him.
That is why he called it a house of prayer, where people sought help and counsel, and God promised that he would help and answer their prayers, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles who would call upon him in faith. This house of prayer is now a holy place where God wants to be found and thus show Himself as a common helper in need. Therefore, whoever prays here, will find the
1) Buchwald, Ungedr. Predigten, vol. 3, 216, has given this sermon the date: "1, Februar", but erroneously. Compare the note to the heading of the previous sermon. He could not set it for Saturday, February 2, because the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated there. Cf. Buchwald, I. 6. p. 218.
2) i.e. in the first book of Kings.
right GOtt, who can also help there. So God also paints from the 65th Psalm [v. 2. 3.]: Te decet hymnus in Sion, "To you all flesh will come, praise is due to you, God in Sion, for you are a hearer of prayer"; and gives it a name, that it is called auditor orationis, that this is the actual work of our Lord God, that he hears prayer and helps those who cry out to him, and therefore, he says, all flesh comes to you. There was no other house in the world that bore the name of a house of prayer, except the temple at Jerusalem. Whoever lived far from Jerusalem, or could not get there in a hurry, knelt down and turned his face toward the temple, and made his prayer toward Jerusalem, and it was heard; for their faith was that God had chosen that place, and would hear those who worshipped him, and though they could not get there with their bodies, yet they were there with their hearts.
This has been a great, mighty grace and mercy of God, that he lets say/he wants to be found in the place, and that he has thus bound himself to the certain place, since he wanted to be found for sure. Now whoever comes to the place in this temple, and if he has a need, whatever it may be, and presents the same [need] to God there, and asks him for mercy and help, he will hear him, whether he is a Jew or a Gentile; And this was not a chosen work, as we have done in the papacy, but God so ordained and commanded and commanded that the house should be built, and gave it a name, that it should be Solomon's house of prayer; and Solomon also said in his prayer that he had built this house that men might have a certain place where they might meet with God.
The temple at Jerusalem was built primarily for this purpose, not for sacrifice, although this was also done, but for prayer, so that this church would be a house of prayer, that is, a hospital for the whole world, so that whoever could not be there with his body could lament his distress in his heart and turn his thoughts to this place, for there he would find the Lord,
3) Erlanger: those.
as to whom: God himself had promised that he would listen to all of them. But what happened? The temple stood there and was consecrated to be a house of help, a house of prayer and a house of comfort for all those who wanted to pray there. Then my beloved Jews could not enter the temple or the church, but only the smallest group; and first of all the tyrant Jeroboam, king in Israel, soon after the death of King Solomon, began to build his own chapels or churches in Samaria at Bethel and Dan, against God's command, and set up two calves, saying: Here are the gods who brought the people of Israel out of Egypt; and he sacrificed and drew the people of Jerusalem to himself from the house of prayer that God himself had established, so that he would dwell there, and he made a promise to the place that whoever sought him there would not make a false prayer. But when some of these examples came to pass, and people ran there and worshipped the golden calves, and Israel left the temple at Jerusalem standing, the true God was despised, and the Jews followed this example of Jeroboam, building churches everywhere on the mountains and in the forests, There was not a single city in the land that did not have its own worship service, and at last, wherever there was a beautiful and pleasant place, a fine oak or linden tree, they quickly went and took a priest with them, sacrificed and held a service there. There they gave money and goods with heaps, the same new service had to be right, because it pleased them. But the one God had established in Jerusalem had to be unjust; they did not inquire about it, because it was not pleasing to them. Then the land was full of idolatry, for the great multitude made a special thing of it, and built churches and chapels in every street and corner. 1) But in Jerusalem they left the right main church, the temple in Jerusalem, it was not valid, God sat there and waited in vain, as he himself complains in the prophet Isaiah at the 65th chapter, and S. Paul to: Romans at the 10th chapter [v. 21.], where God says: "All day long I stretch out my hand to the unbelieving people, who are waiting for the Lord.
1) In the Erlanger wrongly interpungirt: "chapels at Jerusalem: but" etc.
walks in an unrighteous way according to his liking."
Now God watched them for a while. He also sent prophets to them, who were supposed to lead them from such fictitious worship to the right worship in Jerusalem in the Temple. They did not want to believe them, and beat them to death, thinking that the heretics were trying to control the people of God. God had to be with them; because they were His people, they could not destroy them. Yes, they did it so well that God destroyed the true temple in Jerusalem and the false worship in the countryside, and had the Jewish people led away captive to Babylon because of their trust in the false, imaginary worship. After the Babylonian imprisonment, there is nothing special to be read, since the temple was rebuilt, that they built chapels now and then, but they were pious afterwards, and kept to the same temple alone. For the distemper and the rut had hurt them so much that they left the idolatry standing at the streams, woods, meadows and mountains, and found themselves at the temple until such time as avarice possessed the priests again, who remained at the same temple and did not go to the mountains, for they were still afraid of the former punishment; But they made the temple they kept so full of idolatry that the proper service of calling on God and giving thanks was suppressed, and it became a house of idolatry and a den of murderers, since they kept a public market and all kinds of merchandise and exchange in the temple, even though Solomon had made the temple a house of prayer by God's command; but they made it full of idolatry.
This is what the Lord finds when he comes, that people no longer came together in the temple to present any need to God and to pray, but that they worshipped an idol and idol of all idols instead of the right God, that is, avarice, and did nothing else in the temple, except for very few pious people, such as Hannah and Simeon,
2) Erlanger: Den.
3) Erlanger: not nothing.
Zacharias, Elisabeth, and others like them, who came and still needed the temple, prayed there and served God. The other great multitude, forgetting to pray and give thanks, bought and sold a covenant, and the chief priests went and drove the people to sacrifice much to them, so that their avarice might be fulfilled, ordered the sacrifices before the temple, had oxen, goats, sheep, calves and pigeons for sale in public, made exchange bellies, and did nothing else in the temple but avarice; so that S. Paul also rightly says that avarice is idolatry. And it is true, a miser puts his trust in the penny, asks nothing of God, does not complain of his need to God, but has his idol in the 2) box. If a man puts his trust in money alone, which is due to God, he serves Mammon. Thus the chief priests, the miserly ones, have done, they have served mammon and have not asked anything for God's honor and man's happiness, therefore they have made of the temple a storehouse, a miser, a pit of murderers and idols, because they had put the idol, Squire Avarice, in it. The temple was not built or arranged for this purpose, but for the afflicted poor consciences, who had to suffer hardship because of sin, were sick, and were otherwise in misery and in need of God's help, so that there in the temple God comforted all the afflicted, heard them and helped them; not that they practiced their avarice there, but that all the afflicted and the afflicted prayed there and received help in body and soul from God.
Since the Lord does not find it so, he is justly angry that the house that was supposed to be a house of prayer has been turned into a pit of murder, in which the right faith and trust in God and the pure confidence in God's promise have been put to death in the hearts of the people, and they have been shown their hope by God's grace, so that they relied on their sacrifices and works, which they themselves invented. Then God's honor was stolen and robbed, and the people's souls were struck dead.
1) Maybe: dieweil?
2) Erlanger:, in.
3) Erlanger: den.
So the pope has also made such a pit of murder out of the holy Christian church. For after that temple has been dug, and our Lord Christ has built him a church as wide as the world, and he himself has become the temple in which God wants to hear our prayer, the desperate evil-doer, the pope, has come, and has taken the Lord Christ out of our sight, and no longer let him be our Savior, but made him an angry judge, whom we had to propitiate with other mediators than the deceased saints and through living monks and priests, item, through his indulgences and our pilgrimages and other charms; and all this for money, so that it 4) could not be filled.
It is the same with us. God has given us His Son and all His goods, as, His Word, the Lord's Supper, baptism and absolution, and through baptism people should be washed and cleansed from all sins and obtain forgiveness of sins. The Lord's Supper was instituted so that those in need of consolation might be refreshed and strengthened in faith, and the forgiveness of sins might be better known from day to day, and the rest of sin and filthiness might be swept out of us. 5) The Lord's Supper was instituted so that those in need of consolation might be refreshed and strengthened in faith, and the forgiveness of sins might be better known from day to day. Thus also absolution and the other things more are all instituted that the Christian church might be strengthened thereby; for all this is a house of prayer, that our faith might be strengthened. Thus the devil's head in Rome, since all these things should serve the soul, makes a junk out of them all, seeking his profit and benefit, and sells the forgiveness of sins for money, takes money out of everything, as sacrament, baptism, preaching ministry and everything else that is endowed in the church. So he also made the Lord's Supper a sacrifice for the living and the dead. He forbade the priests to marry, nor did he ordain anyone without a lot of money; and since this could not fill him, because his heart, as St. Peter says, is smitten with avarice, he also made a sacrifice for the living and the dead out of his own desire and favor.
4) "him", namely the pope. Here, too, the.Erlanger, as almost throughout, has "them" instead of "him".
5) Erlanger: "übrigen".
He has set a law above the other, forbidding the third and fourth degrees in marriage, so that he could make money out of it if he dispensed with it; forbidding to eat cheese and butter, taking money, and giving out liberty to eat cheese and butter again; which is contrary to God's word. But this is even more shameful, that he sells his laws, binds and unbinds whom he pleases, thus playing with his own laws, like a rogue with the dice; has also forbidden some degrees, which are not allowed to marry together, but if one gave him money, he soon let it go, and if one gave him money, he gave out forgiveness of sin and indulgence. It was all about 1) the money that he had to do, whether it was in the things that Christ had given or that he had commanded in his laws. Whoever came to Rome and brought money received forgiveness of sins. I, as a fool, also carried onions to Rome, and brought back garlic. Because not all the people could come to Rome, out of great love and devotion he sent out his cardinals to all the countries with his stinking indulgences, and yet he was not concerned with indulgences everywhere, but with money. Is this not called hucksterism? It was nothing with the priests in Jerusalem, the pope has almost bought the world with princes and lords, kings and emperors to himself. Therefore, the pope is a real miser, and there has never been anyone in the world who has so shamefully made use of the sacraments, priestly ordination, as he has; he has made many laws on it, but everything for the sake of money.
And such a little bundle is not human, to sell everything for the sake of money, but devilish. This is how it was then with the Jews in Jerusalem, and this is how it is still in the church of the pope. He cannot get any profit from the teaching of faith, because there everything is given and given for free, otherwise he would have made a fair with it. But the right church is founded for prayer. We also have our temple here in Wittenberg, where we come together, hear Christ's word, and are baptized,
1) Erlanger: umbs das.
And Christ himself is there, as he says in the 18th chapter of Matthew: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And the Lord Christ is not to be sought anywhere, for where such a people come together, where the gospel is preached purely, and where the sacraments and the power of the keys are used in the right way, there Christ is certain. Otherwise he does not have a certain place, that is true, because the temple is now as wide as the world. For the word is also preached everywhere. For the word is preached everywhere and the sacraments are administered, and where these things go right, be it in a ship on the sea or in a house on the land, there is God's Hans or the church, there God is to be sought and certainly found. So one should preach.
But the papists cry out against it and say: If you want to find the church, run to St. James, go to Ach, to Trier, where the skirt of our Lord Christ is supposed to be, to Jerusalem to the holy grave, to Rome to St. Peter and Paul, to Loretta to St. Mary, or to Mary to Regensburg, or to the oak tree, as there has been no certain number of pilgrimages, all for the forgiveness of sins, which the pope has put in these places. But answer this: "Listen, you will not find a better treasure there than the one you already have at home in your parish church. Yes, everything in the pilgrimages there is falsified, and is the devil's religion; there is no baptism, no Lord's Supper, forgiveness of sins, nor gospel that teaches about these things. Therefore, it is the same game with the pope as with the Jews, when they built churches and chapels under the trees, by the waters and on the high mountains.
The pope has also consecrated us to the dead saints who are not there, for no one can say for certain that St. James is buried in Hispania, for those who know his histories say that he never came there; and let it be that he is buried there, what is it to me? what can he do for me? did he die for me? did he receive baptism, communion, and absolution?
But he, S. Jacob, must stand beside me, and just as well have and receive from one Lord with me baptism, the Lord's Supper, the power of the keys, as I; if he has it, he is a joint heir with me of all God's spiritual goods. Therefore, you do not have to gape at whether S. Jacob is buried in Compostela, nor run to the oak tree of Mary, but say: I know better, God's word directs me to a savior, to the right bishop of our souls, to the Son of God, to whom we should run; he is found (as I said) where one preaches God's word, administers the sacraments, prays the Lord's Prayer, and speaks the faith, and worships before the man who says: Here you shall find me and not in Rome. Look only at the word of God, at baptism and absolution, where Christ is certainly found, for if he were not there, baptism and the Lord's Supper could not exist; but because they remain, it is a certain indication that he is present. Therefore say: I will leave the holy apostle S. Jacob lying, also S. Peter and Paul may remain in Rome, because the Romanists themselves do not know where they are buried; therefore I will keep to the place where Christ himself preaches, baptizes and absolves me; and even if you go on pilgrimage there, you will not hear S. Petrum or Jacobum, but to me the pope and his Romanist laws and statutes. S. Peter and S. Jacob are now dead; they cannot preach to me, nor administer the sacraments and pronounce absolution. Only a priest or monk appears, and tells me a dream, and then comes, holds mass before the altar and gives me the sacrament, but does not give it to me etc.
But who can tell all the wickedness and lies of the pope, so that he has filled and flooded the church, and yet adorned everything with our Lord God's name; for who would otherwise have believed the evil-doer's insolent and abominable lies? and by his abominations and idolatry has torn the people away from the right house of prayer, and led them to his abominations. Is this not a desperately wicked piece of fiction? We may well pray that God will not let us fall again into these cruel errors.
I have also been to Rome. There the pope says: S. Peter and S. Paul are buried in Rome, the heads shall lie there, and the bodies in S. John Lateran; but it is an impudent lie, he does not know it to be true. They may well have been in Rome and martyred and killed there, but under the tyrannical nature they were rejected, so that no one could be so sure where they remained, God also hid it, so that one would not know where their bodies remained. The pope gives people wooden heads for this. But if it were true that they were buried there, let the dead rest there, and say to Ulan: I will let the dead saints sleep, they are where they want to be. I have the true living saint, the Lord Christ, my dear Savior, the fountain and source of all holiness, who speaks to me, whose baptism, sacrament and gospel I have. If I go there, I lose him and fall into the devil's jaws, because the pope has created a pit of murder and killed souls, as he still torments all those who do not want to follow his teaching.
But God has punished the world for its unbelief and contempt of the divine word, as S. Paul prophesied in the 2nd chapter of 2 Thessalonians, that since they did not want to believe the truth, they must now believe strong errors. Thus we in the papacy must believe the filth, of which not a word is thought in the Gospel. There is nothing written in the Gospel about the pilgrimage to St. James, but the pope thought it up so that he could give out indulgences and get money, and become lord of the world. Our forefathers deserved this with their ingratitude against the divine word. It is a grave error that I should run to Rome and get forgiveness of sins (yes, a dirt), since I had everything here before, as Christ's blessing and his sacraments.
The pope has made a great fuss about this and said: "Here is the holy city; why? because many martyrs are buried here. Oh, if there is no other reason why a place should be called holy than that it is a holy city.
that the saints are buried there, o then the place is much more holy, where God Himself dwells with all the chosen angels and distributes His sacraments. Otherwise, all other cities in the world are not holy to the Pope, but only Rome. But this is blindness beyond all blindness, if one wants to call a place holy, where Christ is not, and his Christians do not dwell there; and where he is, there is then no place holier than the other; for everywhere baptism is the same, also the divine word is the same. Therefore the pope leads the people from the true holy places to the false sanctities, and then the people are deceived with such bluster and pompous words. For that the apostles should lie in Rome has a much greater appearance than where baptism is administered, and here the true holiness and true baptism is obscured, and in contrast this filth must shine in the lanterns. Judge for yourself whether Christ alone with his sacraments is not better than the pope's pilgrimages and masses. Therefore, defend the pope, whoever can, so that we keep Christ and his gospel. For no one will bring it about that S. Jacob's church in Hispania is better than baptism. Therefore, where there is baptism, the Lord's Supper and the divine Word, there pray, for the church is a house of prayer, and Christ has made this house as wide as the whole world.
So the Jews of old also made the temple a murderer's pit, just as the pope has done now, because they have stopped praying in his church. He does not say in the Lord's Prayer: Hallowed be thy name etc. Therefore he is a murderer, who leads souls away from faith to fictitious good works with lies and false preaching. He is the arch-murderer, and has made laws where one can practice idolatry under the guise of great holiness, and he also murders the bodies, sheds the blood of the Christians, incites the kings against each other, item, whoever does not want to believe in his idolatry, he banishes. That is why he first filled the world with avarice and idolatry against the right worship of God, and secondly murdered the Christians in body and soul. Whoever thinks about him would faint.
But it all happened because of our ingratitude. But let us not take this for a joke, but give thanks to God and be pious that he still speaks to us, for we only know that the ministry of preaching and baptism are not human; so we also know how we should behave toward our authorities and parents. Therefore we can say that Christ is in our churches, for we preach Christ and present him to the people, so that his name alone may be sanctified, and his kingdom come to us, his will be done, he also give us our daily bread, leave our guilt, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all evil. It is vain need that we present to Him, and where Christ is, there He is as a hearer of our prayer. May God help us to remain in this house of prayer and not fall into the pit of murder again because of our contempt.
This is now the severe punishment of Christ, because he is angry with the chief priests and with those who suppressed the right worship and invented another for the sake of money, by which they led the people away from the right worship, and thus made the temple a pit of murder, because they sold the cattle for sacrifice, and turned the souls from faith to the statutes of men and their tradition. For God commanded that men should be taught His only saving Word, and not human wisdom; for human statutes do not keep the sting. In the sight of the world it may be a pretty, beautiful thing, but God's word is eternal, not man's statutes, as the Lord Christ says in Matthew: "Every planting that my heavenly Father has not planted shall be uprooted." Therefore one should stay with God's word, there alone one will be saved.
And it is a terrible judgment that Christ here passes on all the doctrines and statutes of men, that he calls them murder, and the place where they preach and practice theft of men a pit of murder. And so it is, nothing more is done there, but that one murders body and soul. For, dear Lord God, how can men give or promise life who are themselves mortal, and
not be able to resist death for a moment? Therefore, if we are to live, we must receive life from Him who lives Himself and has life in His fist, who alone is the true eternal God and Creator of us all, who has life and can alone give life, and to His word one should give glory, and believe that He is almighty and can save from eternal death. The rest is all vain dead things, vain murder, murder and a murder pit, as the papacy is full of murder pits and murderers. But God has shown us where life is, namely, in His Word. For in the statutes of men there is death and eternal murder, since under the appearance of great holiness souls are eternally murdered. Therefore, we should watch, pray and diligently see to it that we keep God's word in the church and in our homes.
[Third Sermon on the 21st Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew].
[Held on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 1538.] 1)
Now follows in the text:
14-16 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the miracles which he did, and the children crying in the temple, saying, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant, and said unto him, Hearest thou also what these say? Jesus said unto them: Yea, have ye never read: Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou praised?
Here you see what the Lord Christ did when he rode into Jerusalem with such splendor that the people sang to him outside the city and in the city, and the people around him shouted, "Blessed be the Son of David! Matthew says nothing else about his sermons, but how he rumbled in the
1) Regarding this timing, compare Buchwald, Ungedruckte Predigten, vol. 3, p. 226, who erroneously places this sermon on Saturday, February 16. For the correction, compare the notes to the superscriptions of the two preceding sermons. - This sermon is in Buchwald only in a short, insufficient version.
Temple, and cast them all out; even as the young children that ran after him sang until he went into the temple, crying out: Hosanna! This is the right Te Deum laudamus. And the others, who had seen his miracles before, were strengthened by this shouting, so that they shouted even more: Hosanna, happiness to etc.; as if they should say: Here we have the King and the Lord. But he, the Lord Christ, was silent and let them sing as they had done before the steel. When the Pharisees saw him, they said that he should tell his disciples that they were silent, as if they were saying, "They are shouting at you as if you were the mightiest and most powerful king, and they thought that because he was a poor beggar, the praise was too great. But he says, If these should not cry out, the stones would cry out; as if he should say, If these children should not cry out, it would not be good for you; for there must be praise and singing, and even if the stones should do it, that is, the Gentiles, who are not God's people. So much does he like the praise. He accepts it and proclaims himself king in Israel, and that the kingdom of Israel is his own kingdom and people. This will make them mad and foolish, which the chief priests and great lords of Jerusalem could not suffer; this is what most offends them, that they cry out in the temple: Hosanna! They did not ask too much about miracles; they let him give sight to the blind. But that he should ride into the city with song and pageantry, and ask nothing of them whom he should have asked leave of before, that was no good at all everywhere. For all the spirits of the mob can easily judge others, they are poisonous people, they see the splinter in other people's eyes, but they are not aware of the beam in their eyes; they think that doing miracles is something, but that one should sing that he is a king and lord, that does not befit a prophet. If he had gone before to the chief priests and asked their permission, he would have gone; but that he does it without their permission, and the poor bungler and beggar, who had not his own donkey, makes himself so powerful against their will, and does not see them.
They are annoyed by the fact that he asked them for it.
Thus it goes: what God does is not right until the world says and commands it; then our Lord God takes pleasure in it, so that he must allow himself to be justified. One must also confess in the papacy that our teaching is the word of God; but since the popes, cardinals and bishops have not yet said yes to it, it must be nothing. But if one were to fall on one's knees before them and worship them, so that they would let us preach, that would be delicious, especially if we wanted to preach what they would like. But before I would preach from their commandment, I would not preach or write one letter. It is called preaching what God means and commands, we will not suffer nor accept their commandment, nor preach what the Concilium decides. Let the pope and the Concilium remain disciples, and all of us too. Therefore the Lord does not ask anything everywhere for their wrath, and helps them to wrath, if they want to, and says: If the children were silent, the stones would cry out.
They run him over the snout and read him a good lesson, what he shows himself; 1) speak: Do you hear? as if they wanted to say: You are a prophet and want to be held great; how do you then give such a great and evil example of ambition, that you presume such honors, and let yourself be called a king and Messiah? Thou wretched beggar and bungler, thou art from Nazareth, and comest thither to Jerusalem with such violence, as if the government were thine, and goest into the temple, and askest not the chief priests and counsellors? Where did you learn that you should be so trustworthy? Is it pleasing to thee that such great words should be sung of thee, that thou art the Son of David, the true Messiah, and King in Israel, and that the children and all the world should thus commend thee? What do you think you are? Should you be a prophet? Yea, hellish fire upon thy head! For this is the manner and nature of hypocrites, that they pretend not to desire glory, and are exceedingly
1) i.e. what he takes for himself.
humble, do not give credit to anyone to whom any honor is done, who does not quickly say that he is not worthy of the honor, and reject people with bad words, and yet such are the most desperate peelings in the skin and the most hopeful drops.
The Lord answers them briefly, and meets them again finely; as they give him words, so he gives them back to them, piece by piece, nothing in vain. If they scold him deafly, as if he does not hear the cry, as they say, "Do you not hear what these say? or do you hear it and can you bear it? then he gives them another blunt answer, as if it were not necessary for them to ask him, and that he should keep the children silent and shut the people's mouths, that he is not therefore a rebellious villain; and approves the cry, and calls them blind against it, introducing a saying from the 8th Psalm. Psalm, which was much too high for them and did not rhyme in their ears, and says: "Are you then blind, that you do not see, as it is written in the Psalter: "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have prepared praise"? as if he should say: "You ask me whether I hear the children crying, and think that I am deaf and a fool. If I am deaf and a fool, then you great learned doctors are blind, for you do not read the Scriptures; or if you do read them, you do not understand them, and if you do understand them, you would not ask me about this, and say that I should silence the cry of the children and the people, for otherwise the stones would have to cry out, for there must be shouting, praising and singing here; If Abraham's children do not, then the stones, that is, the Gentiles, will have to praise and glorify God; this you will not understand, you who are blind, mad and foolish. 2)
And' here we see that the Lord Christ is portrayed and held up to us in two ways in the holy scriptures. First of all, he is so kind, merciful, gentle and gracious that nothing friendlier or more loving could be imagined; no one is too small for him, he helps and counsels, comforts and does the best he can, as we see in the Gospels everywhere.
2) Erlanger: seiet.
Here in the temple he is a servant of all servants. There is only kindness in him, especially toward those who desire his help. There is no lack, he is more willing than willing, and there is love and friendship. They get more from him than their hearts would have desired. Again, he is unkind, obstinate and, thus to be reckoned, almost tyrannical at times; if one condemns his office and blasphemes all his miracles and works, there is then no mercy with him, he calls them fools, hypocrites and viper-breeds, and does not do wrong. He pours it on them, for they do not come to him to seek his advice or to learn from him, for Christ is too bad and low for them, but they want to be his masters, he should be their disciple, but he does not want to do that, so they will never be one.
The Pharisees cannot do what Christ does, and yet they do not want him to do it. But he is the man who was sent and called to be the Savior of the world, and they will not suffer it. Let the whole world be judges, because he is sent to do this, and will help, and they cannot help that he does not do wrong, if he does not give them a good word, and let them go in all the devils' names. This strife and contention continues throughout the gospel. They speak evil words, and he strikes them again on the mouth so that it splatters; the longer they do so, the more they take offense at him, because he will not do what they want. He should advise them what he wants to do and what he doesn't want to do: he doesn't want to do that, if they get nonsensical about it; and one would also have to order the squires, as they would like it. They are not ordained to master and teach the man; they should be his disciples, but they do not want to do that; so they accept it as good, if he again does nothing that pleases them; and because it annoys them that the people and the young children are so happy and good-humored about him, he lets it happen all the more, otherwise he could have kept them quiet.
Then they cry out, "He who wants to be a true preacher must teach humility. This is what Christ truly taught. Whether he
Even though he is respected here, because he makes people like him, as if he were extremely proud and hopeful, he still tells people in other places not to say that he has helped them. As to the blind man, when he had given him sight, he said, "Go, tell no one. Item, to the parents of the deceased maiden he says, they should tell no one; and Marci 7, when he made the deaf and dumb to hear and speak, he also forbade the people that they should not repeat it. So the Pharisees also wanted to teach Christ that he should also do it here, and the people and the little children should be silent.
And it is true that a preacher should not be ambitious, as every Christian should be. For a Christian is not baptized and called to eternal life because he seeks his own honor, much less a preacher. Nevertheless, it is a common nuisance that the doctors and teachers of the church want to get out of the top and nowhere to be seen but at the mint and others. There is no greater poison on a Christian, yes, much more on a preacher, than when he seeks honor in temporal things, which honor is due to God alone. Ambition is a harmful vice, but nowhere so dangerous as when it comes among preachers. In other matters, too, it is yearly enough if one seeks nothing but honor. But God can easily overthrow this honor. A fair woman prides herself on her beautiful face and beautiful body, but soon a fever or pestilence may come, or death and some other disease, and make you hideous and ugly enough. A rich man defies and insists on his property, but once a thief, fire or water comes and takes it away from him, so that his house is burned down and nothing is left. God can soon control such a hopefulness and overthrow it. But here it is the devil who causes a preacher to fall into this temptation, so that he seeks his vain glory in the Gospel. For the devil makes his avarice greater the longer, so that he causes one misery after another. And such a desire for honor does not suit him. If he succeeds in inflicting it on God, then it is an unspeakable wrath; for God
He did not give his word to make honor, business and commerce out of it; and if a preacher seeks honor and riches, it is impossible for him to preach or believe rightly, as the Lord Christ John also says in the 5th chapter, "How can you believe, who seek honor among men? He who seeks honor in the ministry of preaching, and wants to be held great, learned and wise before the world, is unbelieving. If he himself is unbelieving, how can he preach rightly? He must keep silent about everything that may harm his honor and reputation with the people; and he will always mix his leprosy and poison into the wine and adulterate it; if this goes along with it, then the ministry is not pure. Therefore, there is no greater harm nor poison than vainglory, as St. Augustine says: Ambitio mater est omnium vitiorum, vainglory is a mother of all vices, it is the devil's bride.
This vice does great harm to preachers. For that is why people say, "Well, you have to preach something special so that people will talk: This one will become a fine man. He cannot preach the word in harmony with the others, but he brings something special and new, so that people open their mouths and noses and say, "This is a fine preacher, he knows how to do it; I never heard it like this from anyone before. So he puffs himself up and tickles himself with it, and thinks he is an ox, since he is hardly a toad. After that, he must do his best not to spoil things for the people, and because they praise him, he must praise them again. So they praise each other until one goes to the devil with the other. Then it has honored itself very well.
These are filii kenodoxiae, which are begotten by the beautiful Miss Eitelehre. They do not keep it with other people, but want to be something special and better. But we Christians, and especially the preachers, should let them be satisfied with the future honor, since they will hear this joyful voice on the last day: Come, ye blessed, into the kingdom prepared for you from eternity, and then they shall be with Christ in the air.
and then [it is] 1) not only emperors and kings, but also the angels or devils, who will hear our judgment, not as the children, but that they must be damned. If we could expect this, we would have honor enough. Therefore the petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Hallowed be thy name," should always be in our mouths, so that our name may not have honor, especially the preacher. But because it is not so, it is also a certain indication that we do not believe nor pray. But it is preached to us that we should sanctify and magnify the name of God, for in the 7th chapter of John [v. 18] the Lord Christ says: "He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him." When he says with mouth and heart, Hallowed be thy name, and seeks not honor on earth, he is true, and there is no falsehood in him, for he gives honor to Him to whom it is due. So pious, God-fearing 2) preachers seek only that alone, as in the fear of God the Christians would be instructed. But where they seek their honor, they are lying people, and there is no truth in them, for they do not believe. Why? They are hopeful and seek only their own honor and glory.
One reads in the book of the Old Fathers about a man who was called to the office of preacher. Since he resisted for a long time, and was finally persuaded through pleading, for those who are called to such an office should be obedient and follow, he was afraid of kenodoxia, and said: because it could not be otherwise, and he would have to become a pastor and preach, then protect me, dear Lord God, that I do not seek my honor in it, and that this vice does not seduce me; I will do it gladly. (As I have asked the most against the same devil, God has graciously protected me from it until now; I hope that He will protect and preserve me until the end). Now the same hermit was told to reach behind himself. As he did so, he caught a black and gruesome monster.
1) This intercalation is made by us to give meaning. Cf. 1 Cor. 6, 3.
2) Erlanger: god-fearing.
behind the neck, he pulled it out and threw it to the ground and kicked it to death with his feet. After that, the tender mutier kenodoxia, the vain doctrine, which has many children in the world, no longer challenged him 1).
This may or may not be true, but it is nevertheless the truth and a fine poem or poem invented by a wise man of some sort, that those who are in offices and professions, and especially in the preaching office, have the black ugly plaster 2) on their necks and do great harm, if they do not overcome it 3) and throw it under themselves. Therefore, a preacher and every Christian cannot humble himself enough for his own person, and beware of the shameful devil, the evil one, and pray: Hallowed be thy name. But now preachers are not allowed to say a word to anyone, but they usually go about with other thoughts and business, and are afraid that they will not come to harm if they have to punish the great Hansen or attack other vices. It has been my prayer daily since the beginning that I would not become hopeful, and God has heard me until now, and at times has humbled me more than I could bear. If you now hear those who seek their own honor, you have heard the filth and the poison.
However, honor must also be sought, and where it concerns God's word and honor, a preacher and a Christian should raise his head high and be only proud and hopeful enough. For if one is to be a preacher, he must say: This is the truth, that is the lie, and if he stands firmly on the fact that the pope has lied and deceived the world, then honor follows soon after from the listeners, namely the judgment of the God-fearing that such a preacher teaches rightly and Christianly, and has the truth for him. Again, of the Pabst's teaching they also judge and pass judgment that it is error and lies. We have nothing here to forgive nor to leave that is ours, but it is our Lord God's; who will hold fast to his word in such a way that heaven and earth will be more like it.
1) Erlanger: have them.
2) d. i. Popanz.
3) Erlanger: overlorded.
must lie over a heap, for that one jot and the least tittle of his word perish. Therefore, we should not joke or be humble here, because the wicked devil takes away the humility that departs from the word of God.
But the adversaries interpret it to mean that we seek our honor with it. This is what happened to S. Agatha. When she was brought before the court, she said to the great Hansen: "Your worship is idolatry and foolishness. I believe in Christ, who alone is the eternal wisdom. Then she had to hear: O it is a loose, frivolous maiden, she still wants honor and glory from it. So it seems in the eyes of the world, when we seek God's honor, that it appears as if we are seeking our own. But where there is truth and righteousness, there must come the cry from pious hearts: "This is right, and we think much of it, we honor the word, and we also honor the preachers and ministers of the word. There we are praised by the pious, but otherwise we are scolded and condemned by the wicked, evil world as desperate boys. I cannot prevent the evil from scolding me and the pious from praising me, as St. Augustine also says: "If I am not praised, it is dangerous; but if I am praised, I am in danger. How it is done, it will not be good; if one is godly, one must praise it, then one becomes proud. Doctrine is like the head of a thistle; where you throw it, the thorn will stick to it forever.
When it comes to the point that I should preach and confess the word of God, one must stand confidently and say: Here is truth and there is falsehood, and then say: O heavenly Father, it is your word, you want me to confess it freely and say: Hallowed be your name. But if others say that I am ambitious and proud, they lie about it, for then I seek the glory of him who sent me, for the word is not my word, but God's. If it were my word that I preached, I would curse my honor. But it is God's word, therefore lift up and pray: Hallowed be thy name etc., and is proud and hopeful.
Otherwise, one should not humble oneself for the sake of the people; if the emperors, kings,
Princes and D.octoribus do not like our doctrine, because they want me as a Christian or preacher to give in and give way in the doctrine, and shall humble myself here, there I shall say: Dear pope, dear emperor, and whoever you are more, you kiss me on the little mouth, I did not think up this word, I did not write it either, take glasses in your hand, and open the holy scripture, therein you will find it, I will not deviate from it anywhere, but you shall remain my pupil of this book and obey it, or go to the devil forever.
Yes, they say, you should nevertheless be humble. Yes, you answer, I am obliged to obey, not only the wise, prudent Doctoribus, but also a child, if it strikes my senses, for God can give a child the understanding he takes from me. Then I will obey Junker Pabst and his cardinals, emperors, kings, princes and lords, who desire such things from me, as from one who is called Martin Luther, and gladly say yes, and humble myself to the utmost, and only gladly fall at their feet. But if I am a Christian and a preacher who is commanded by the word of God, and they want me to humble myself here as well, and let the word of God go, then say: Here I cannot be humble and follow. The devil wipe the ass of this humility! God forbid that I should be so humble as to say: I will gladly hear the Council and the Pope, for I am a man who can err; but so shall I say: If it is my word, I will gladly hear it and follow it, and all shall be dirt; but if it is not my word, but God's word, then you must come and accept it, that and no other; if you will not with grace, then you must with disgrace; both forms of the Lord's Supper you must leave, or go into the abyss of hell.
Then, says the pope, do you want to teach me? I do not teach you, but I point out a teacher to you, on whom I trust, and tell you: You must listen to this one alone, and against it let go of your thoughts and laws of men, or be eternally of the devil. All here
1) Erlanger: sollest.
I am proud, therefore, I am almost like a god, and judge the greatest power on earth, as pope, emperor, Turks, all heretics, and seek honor for the sake of the Lord Christ, whose word I preach; and every Christian must therefore be proud, but especially a preacher, because it concerns God's honor, there he should stand firm as a wall, and not move a hair's breadth away from it, otherwise he will stand cold, if he wanted to be humble there.
So every Christian is still a judge over the whole world and over the devil, because he leads God's word; that is the master, so everyone teaches and judges. There I do not seek my honor, nor do I trust in myself and my art, but in God, for I can say: God has given me the word, whoever does not obey it, goes to the devil. Well, they say, do you think that God has seated great kings and popes, and commanded you alone? Well, if you find the divine word with them, follow them; if not, let them go.
This is the reason why the Lord Christ resists as often as the Pharisees and the great saints want to put a bit in his mouth. Now judge for yourself whoever you will, whether the Lord is not right in not letting anything be good for them, and he also gives them one after the other on the snout, if they want to rule and govern him. God had commanded Christ to ride into Jerusalem as a king on a donkey, as the prophet Zechariah had proclaimed in the 9th chapter: "Behold, your king comes to you meekly, righteously" etc. There is God's word, the entry is commanded to him, there he is obedient to the Father, rides in, and the word becomes true: "Rejoice, thou daughter of Sion" etc. This he must do. But then they cry out, "Oh, you are a beggar, and you enter here as a king? why do you not humble yourself? Oh, there is no hope, so it is written. It says, "He who hears me hears my Father." The teaching is not mine, but my Father's. Now that the Father has commanded all these things to be done, you must also accept me as a king, and not only allow the children to cry out, but also recognize that I am the true Messiah and King of the Jews, if you do not do this,
You will be given to the infernal fire; so the Lord Christ punishes the Pharisees, the great prelates, because they should have done with singing and shouting what this people and the small group of children do.
One must separate the honor of God from the honor of man. When it comes to God's honor, do not be humble. Do not listen to others who are greater and more learned than you. Let it happen that they have the same gifts, but still they are not more learned nor higher than the divine word, which alone is God's, for the same is a master of all masters. You are not greater nor mightier than this Word. You and I shall be under the Word. The word is not mine and thine, therefore say, I will not set thee above the word of God, nor let thee be right, because thou art wrong. They are still doing it to us today; we shall do as they wish. If we then say that we have God's word for us, let them speak: We have it too; ei, you are proud, you want to resist the emperor and the king. Now, if we serve God and confess His word, it is not pride, but great humility. But if it is a pride, it is a divine and Christian pride, and there let me not be sworn. Here I will not do what any man calls me, for I speak the word of a man who is another man than you are. But if it would affect my human temporal honor, then I would gladly be humble, every one of you.
maml hear, follow and yield, and fall underfoot etc.
So the Lord here also rejects them quite bluntly and meagerly, if it concerns his office, and does not let him resist anything, is quite proud and hopeful. We are to learn to live up to this 1) pride, so that we hold fast to God's word, and be steadfast and not move a hair's breadth. This is what God wants, for there is no humility here. If the Pharisees say, "Do you not hear that these are crying out?" Christ answers, "Have you not read what is written in the Psalm? It is like this, when they cried out before the city, Hosanna etc., and he answered and said, If these did not cry out, the stones would cry out. So he says to all of them: If you foolish fools will not praise me, let the children do it; so he still raises up preachers from the stones, as he makes singers and preachers from the children here. For God's word wants to be preached and Christ to be praised and honored. The children are fools and humble, but you are wise and hopeful. You do not want to, so let them do it. If they will not cry out who are of Abraham's seed and are living men, then the heathen or the stones must do it, for our Lord God will not let his honor perish for their sake; and Christ says, "I walk in my heavenly Father's obedience, therefore I suffer no master here.
1) Erlanger: Diesem.
Here over three pages in the manuscript are left blank. (Note by Bruns.) - Missing here are the two sermons Luther preached on Matth. 21, 23-27. and Cap. 21, 28-32, probably on March 20 and 27, 1538. We insert them here (translated from Latin) from Buchwald's "Ungedruckte Predigten", Vol. Ill, p. 247 and p. 256.
Fourth sermon on Matth. 21.
Held on March 20, 1538. 2)
V. 23: By what authority are you doing this?
It is our reason exceedingly foolish, which wants to comprehend the wisdom of God;
2) Buchwald places this sermon "between March 17 and 20. The last mentioned day is a Wednesday, therefore we have dated the sermon on this day. - Overwritten, printed in capital letters, this sermon by Buchwald has the following words: "Prayer must be done in such a way that one is quite sure of the answer and does not doubt it at all. With other Christian works, there may be some weakness, but with this one, there is no doubt.
She balks at it and breaks [Isa. 8:15]. There the most distinguished people of the people were present, both, the highest ecclesiastical authority and
one must be quite certain." These words have nothing to do with our sermon, but undoubtedly belong to the immediately preceding sermon on the Cananaean woman, which in Buchwald I. e. p. 247 concludes with the words: "follow the example of the woman who relies with full confidence on Christ." Should the above passage also be separated from the previous sermon in such a way in the manuscript, then we would dare to assert on the basis of this that this manuscript could not have come from Rörer's hand, which Erl. Bd. 65, p. 255 is claimed for the manuscript.
the worldly, or the elders, the mightiest.... Then they come along and try their horns on Christ. They have filled his heart with hope and presumption, they think they have won, they offer him horns: Who has given you the power? we are authorities ordered by God. But you do not have our permission, we did not give it to you; what then is this presumption? 1) Thus they rush upon Christ with full impetuosity. But he stands firm and is not moved by such thunderclaps: piece by piece, crooked answer by crooked words. You know that John baptized, you also know that he is a true prophet, as the people also testify. They cannot deny this 2) and stand there overcome. They cannot answer whether the baptism of John was instituted by men or whether God's word (ordered it); on both sides they are overcome. The people were present in the temple and would have stoned them if they had denied that John was a prophet. Immediately after John's preaching, Christ came as he had foretold, So they were convicted by the fulfillment [of the prophecy] and by the presence of Christ. I [said John] am not the bridegroom, but he has come quickly, I hear his voice [John 3:29], therefore accept the other [John 1:30], not me. All have heard that John said this. Moreover, the thing itself spoke. Here 3) they could not boast of their priesthood and their worldly authority. For if they had also said: We are God's people and the highest authority, they would have been overcome by this word: I admit that you are God's people. But now let us put it to the test. John, as a true prophet, proclaimed God's word. Why then did you not hear him, since you say that you are God's people? The Jews wanted to be taken for God's people, and yet they did not want to hear his word but
1) Luther will probably have used the word "thurst" (audacia) here.
2) "not" added by us. In Latin, von is missing - "nopulis" immediately before is probably a misprint instead of: xopuli.
3) Instead of Koo, which does not seem to fit us, we have adopted the.
Luther's Works. Vol. VII.
They rejected it, killed the prophets, threw the true God out of their hearts, and yet they wanted to have the name [that they were God's people]. Therefore, God rejected them as well. What would that be for a housewife who wanted to live her pleasure and break marriage [and] disobey her husband: would he not reject her, like Ahasuerus his Vasthi, 5) who also wanted to be hopeful and disobey? So here we are taught that we should not look at the persons, but judge according to God's word. Where this is, there is the right people [of God] and the right church. Although the cry is raised: Church, church, God's people, God's people, one should not turn to them if they do not have God's word. In the law it was written: Whoever does not hear the priest shall be put to death, and he shall be damned. With this they defended themselves and thus deceived the people; and in this way they still deceive them today. Just as our pope (for these things also concern us), together with the emperor, praise themselves highly and want all reverence to be paid to them alone. If they also complain in such a way [one should answer them]: Listen, you lords, pope and emperor, is then 6) the Bible God's word or not? Here they must fall silent. They want to be the bride of Christ. With the bride in [the] sack and thrust into hell! This is not the church nor the bride, for she does not have Christ as her Lord and Head, indeed, she pushes Him from the chair. God has appointed them [the pope and the emperor] as authorities, therefore they should also obey God. The Church is the one that does what Christ has commanded it to do. Here the discord arises between the papists [and us] etc. The church is the people who dwell under Christ and honor his word in truth, worship him and do according to his command. The Word of God constitutes the Church; where this is, there is the Church. Therefore, close your eyes and leave the appearance of persons or [outward] holiness alone.
4) Instead of novum, which seems to us not to puff, we have adopted nomen.
5) Vasthi" put by us instead of Lstüer, according to Esther 2, 1.
6) In Latin: est onim, for which probably ostns should be read, because the first part of the sentence is also a question.
but only the word of God. Between the papacy and us it is not a question of who is to rule, but of whether they are the church or where it is. If it is with them, we want to join them, but not at all if it is not there. But this has been our complaint, that they are not the church, because they do not obey the bridegroom, forbid marriages, deny the use of both forms of the sacrament, and lead such fanatical teachings, which are completely contrary to the teachings of Christ. From this it is sufficiently clear that they are not the church, because they do not behave as a bride should, namely, that she obeys and submits to Christ and his teachings. Yes, they teach that the church, that is, the pope and the concilia, have the power to change God's word. Thus they open their infernal jaws. But we do not do this, therefore we hope that we will not suffer such punishment 1) on the last day, but that Christ will approve our teaching, which will not happen to them.
Fifth sermon on Matth. 21.
Held Wednesday, March 27, 1538. 2)
Bon to the two sons, one of whom is obedient but the other is not.
This happened three days before the Passion. sHe] gives them a sharp lye through four chapters, scolds the Pharisees harshly, that they are not worthy of the tax collectors either. Now the ram is in the hedges, that is, wicked men, and clashes with them with his horns, until at last they catch him and slaughter him. Nuterdeß he overthrows himself with the Jews. Here he [Luther] added a paraphrased explanation (paraphrasin) of the text, from
1) Because here the relation is incomplete, also difficult to understand, we put the Latin here: 81" aperiunt tauoes Sans inksrnat^. No8 voro non Nos kacimu8. 8p6railiu8 i^itur in novi88irno die no8 non tali posna ".Meturn iri etc.
2) Buchwald places this sermon "between March 26 and 29". We move it to Wednesday, March 27, because the Gospel of Matthew was preached on Wednesdays.
the two sons, one of whom is obedient but the other is not. 3) But we know that the Jews were the chosen people because of this, because they had God's word and His gifts, Ps. 103 [v. 7. Ps. 147, 19. 20.]: "He has revealed His rights to Israel" etc. So the others had to get fire and warm themselves, otherwise they would have no fire. There was the right hearth, on which God had put fire. But they were always proud of this name: "People of God", despised the Gentiles, killed all prophets who said otherwise. Also Stephen punished them Apost. 7, 51: "Their uncircumcised heart" etc. Even now they do not want to suffer this, but punish it and fight it (tollunt) as much as they can. So they are the other son, who promises that he will do it, and yet does not do it. The closer to Rome, the angrier Christians. More Christians go to heaven from the gallows than from the churchyard. It is mockingly said, but true. That is why Christ says here that tax collectors are more likely to enter the kingdom of heaven etc. This is what we experience nowadays. What will be the end of this (accidet)? Look at our nobility, how hopeful they are, how they practice avarice and even go against the gospel. There is seldom a city in which the council does not oppose the gospel when it is in the city. But because we will not have it, God will also turn to the tax collectors. Jerusalem and Rome were the most beautiful churches; at Rome more than 20,000 martyrs. What is it [now] but a dung puddle of wicked boys and a den of the devilish empire? When God has gathered the grain, he pours it into the barn and the chaff into the fire; this is what happened to Jerusalem. After all the Christians were brought out and delivered 5) from destruction, there were also the Romans who destroyed it etc. This is also what happened to Rome, which is now a pit of devils, where all devils shit.
4) "ers" he them.
5) Latin: [seotl st Ndsrati irute. One sees that not always the most appropriate expressions were chosen. The hurry of the next writing is to blame for it.
Therefore, 1) we exhort you not to forget the grace of God, likewise: Use the light while it is there. The devil is trying very hard to eradicate the gospel. In Rome he does not bother much anymore, because he has defiled it so much that he no longer cares about it, so he takes up the cause here and elsewhere. Therefore let us make use of the word, so that we do not lose it. If an Anabaptist comes along, he can mock the people and seduce them with his powerful speech, because the people go out to the church and gossip: I have not heard such preaching. So the right word goes away, and frenzy comes into a city that is not protected. Therefore let this be said, lest we also be so, lest we also be the other son, which feigneth to do it, and yet doeth it not. "To come in more easily" [v. 31] means: You will never come in. What? Are we not to teach works? The Jews have nothing but what God has instituted: shall not this be taught and kept? Christ answers: Yea, ye shall teach it, but ye keep it not. The Jews were of this opinion, that they attained blessedness through these laws, just as our papists, monks, do. This certainty comes from looking only at the law and one's own powers. They have become proud of this: Everything that the Lord tells us, we will do. Hence comes the stiff-necked head, that they are not to be converted 2) nor do they want to be sinners, as it is said here: that the publicans rather enter the kingdom of heaven etc. For these are convicted by public vices, they cannot cover it up, for they are gross sins. Therefore they must confess themselves sinners. Secondly, they also recognize their depraved nature. But when they hear that such people can become blessed, they can easily be led to the
1) Here is in Latin only what we have resolved with xropttzrea.
2) In Buchwald: "zuberen". That the reading we have given is correct can be seen from the following: taoiltz aäiZnntur aä (nrruersronenr and: [noniarn alil of 8UNt
conversion, because they like to hear that God wants to have mercy. They accept this mercy, just as the thief on the cross confesses that he is condemned and preaches that another, Christ, is pious and innocent. But he hopes that his sins will be forgiven him, and he sets his face against Christ and receives what he has asked for. A soul goes to heaven from the gallows, while one perishes in the temple. But this tax collector is the son who first refused, but later repented because he was repentant of his behavior. The other one promises to do it and does not do it, but does not want to be punished, but his ungodly behavior should be praised and approved. They do not want to have word that they are doing wrong. The pope with his cardinals wants to protect his mass and claim it to be true, while it is obvious that it is blasphemous. What shall we do now? We want to accept the runaway (Apostatas) nuns and promise them, if they believe, blessedness, because the others cannot be converted. What is threshed there is vain straw; nothing comes of it. Therefore we want to let [the] clergy go. Let us take the secular and laymen, the same can be saved. This is what God does: He rejects the saints and accepts the children. He makes the poor laymen so spiritual that their singing or prayer is a thousand times better than that of the pope. The pope cannot sing: A child so löbelich etc., which nevertheless pleases God, and babbles because, -that does not please God. 3) So he accepted the Magdalene, the Zacchaeus etc., but rejected the others who were angry [and said]: Ei, hat hat er die Schnupfen (the snout), riecht er nicht, wie die Hure stinkt? stoßen er nicht sie weg? Against this their opinion he takes them up etc., because these confessed their 4) sins, but those who did evil, nevertheless wanted to be regarded for it, as if they had done right. 5)
3) In Buchwald with wrong punctuation: "Das doch gott gefeit vnd plappert, diewyl das gott nicht ge-. felt."-Equally following is to be read instead of 81.
4) In Buchwald: äua instead of [na.
5) In Buchwald: ksoine instead of teolsss.
[Sixth sermon on the 21st chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.]
V. 33. ff. Hear another similitude: There was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a fence round it, and digged a winepress within it, and built a tower, and put it out to the husbandmen, and went over the land etc.
With this similitude Christ attacks the Pharisees and scribes who blasphemed him and wanted to sacrifice him to the meat bank, because he knew well what they had in mind. Therefore he set them on his neck, so that they would not delay with their accusations. They also understand that Christ means them, as they burn themselves white at the end of this chapter. But how pious they have become from this, it is also written that they pursued him as they had him; they would have gladly killed him, if they had not feared the people. So they became devout, and learned this, and so accepted his preaching that they did not want to suffer the truth or hear it; and so it happened, as he said, that they pushed the Son out of the vineyard, because they crucified Christ. This simile of the vineyard they well understood; for in the prophets it is often remembered that Jerusalem and the people of God are called a vineyard, as in the 80th Psalm [vv. 9-11]: "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt, and hast driven out the heathen, and planted the same. Thou hast made the way before it, and hast rooted it, that it hath filled the land. Mountains are covered with his shadow, and with his branches the cedars of God." So they speak of the Jewish people. Every stick is a city or a place where a multitude of people dwelt, as even today an assembly of saints, or church, is a vineyard where a Pharisee is with his people. But the highest vineyard, the head, was Jerusalem, the tribe of Judah, where the priests and Levites were, as Isaiah says in chapter 5 [v. 7]: "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah its tender vessels. The people of the tribe of Judah are the best vines, because there was priesthood, kingdom;
and says: [V. 1.]: "I must sing a little song of my 1) cousin from his vineyard. He has a vineyard in a fat place" etc. He has fenced it and sunk noble vines in it. He waits for malvasia, so he brought herlings, is vinegar. The good vines turned, and became vain wild grapes of it. Therefore he says [v. 7.], "I wait 2) for justice, behold, it is drudgery, and for righteousness, behold, it is lamentation," clamor, clamor cried the widows and orphans to God. Behold how they have turned to God; therefore He says [vv. 5. 6.], "I will show you what I will do to My vineyard. Its wall shall be taken away, and it shall be desolate; its fence or enclosure shall be broken down, and it shall be trodden down by the wild beasts. I will make it lie desolate, that it be not cut and hoed, but thistles and briers grow upon it; and I will command the clouds (teachers) 3) not to rain upon it," not to have teachers. That goes now most horribly therefore.
This parable of the vineyard was well known to them from the prophets, and they realized that he meant them when he spoke, not of the sticks, but of the workers who hoed and cleared the vineyard. For the chief priests, Pharisees and scribes, priests and Levites were the rulers who were to teach the people.
And the vineyard was finely planted, and he dug it out of Egypt, and set it in the land of Canaan, and uprooted all the wild sticks, seven nations, pure, as the Amorraeans and the Changelings, and planted in it the people of Israel, divided into twelve tribes, and kept them well, for he was their patron, and defended them against the heathen, that the wild swine should not ravage them, or else, if they presumed to do so, they were pricked over them; He not only plowed the vineyard, but also put a winepress in it, that is, gave his divine word and training or work of the Holy Spirit, that they might learn to compel the flesh, to be enemies of sin, and to stand in the new spiritual life, that they might be a pure and clean people.
1) "of my cousin" put by us according to the Bible instead of: "my cousin".
2) Erlanger: waiting.
3) These brackets find set by us.
Wine and good new juice would remain, and the chaff, the husks and trotters 1) would be thrown away, would be a noble, good wine, a people pleasing to God. For so shall mau punish the people, that they depart from sins, become a pure good sap. So we are also a cherished vineyard in the Christian Church. We have the sacraments and the preaching of the divine word, where we are taught to believe in Christ and to tame the flesh, so that sin does not abound and the old man is crucified, as Paul says to the Galatians in chapter 5. For those who belong to Christ must daily strangle their evil desires, so that the husks may be peeled and the kernels gathered in heaps, and the carriers given to the sows; unbelief, avarice, anger must be killed in the flesh; it must be pressed and crucified; where this does not happen, there is no Christian church nor vineyard. And there he has also set a tower, has his little house, in which the vinedresser or keeper watches and keeps watch, waiting day and night, lest a thief or a sow fall in and do harm; and has set not only men as keepers, but also the holy angels, who wait on the vineyard, that one may work in it, and grow new young sticks, and lead a pure, chaste, holy life. So the vineyard was planted, and the workers, the tribe of Levi, were commanded. He took a special tribe and divided one tribe into two parts, so that Joseph had two tribes, and took the thirteenth tribe to ordain it to the priesthood. They were not princes, they were not allowed to have anything of their own, neither fields, meadows nor houses, but they had a city or forty, which were allotted to them, where they had their gardens, fields and meadows, on which they fed their cattle. The other tribes all had much property, of which they gave annually to the priests the tithe from all income. They had nothing but tithes, and in their cities the suburbs, where they kept their cattle and fed their wives and children. He gave them the vineyard, so that they could wait for it.
1) Erlanger: Träfern.
with God's Word and the Sacraments. What happened now? He often tried to see if the workers were working faithfully, fertilizing, planting and pruning the vines; when the time came for him to enjoy the fruits, he sent for wine from the berries, and the servants would have liked to read the mountain; there the pious Weinhacker 2) and Taglöhuer go to, and strangle the servants, the prophets, as Hoseam, Amos, Jeremiam, Jesaiam, and has her none preached, who would not be strangled over it, as to them S. Stephen Apost. 7. and says [v. 52. 51.]: "Which 3) prophets did your fathers not persecute and kill, who before proclaimed the future of the righteous, which you have now become traitors and murderers? Your fathers always opposed the prophets; so do you to Christ." These were the keepers of the tower and the commanders, the priests; as when the prophets said, "This is an 'idolatry,' this is an idolatry. Moses forbade that one should serve and sacrifice to God in all places of one's own choice, since God commanded that one should sacrifice nowhere but only in the place that He Himself had chosen. Therefore they cried out: Beware of your body, that you do not pray in strange places, but where God has put His name. Yes, where there was only a pleasant mountain, green meadow, meadow, oak, or a beautiful tree by the brook, where it was only pleasant, there an altar and chapel must be built, and they left the place that God Himself had chosen. As soon as the prophets came and punished them for their idolatry, they did not want to suffer it and strangled the prophets to death, because they could not tolerate the prophets' punitive preaching and the truth; as it is still the case today under the papacy. The pope has his own patrons in every village against the gospel and the sacraments. If the prophets said: "This is against Moses, one should not go to Bersaba, Dan, Gilgal or Bethel to sacrifice there, he must be a heretic, was beheaded, strangled or beaten to death with fence sticks. Jesaias was beaten to death with a wooden
2) Erlanger: Weinhecker.
3) Erlanger: Which one.
They were not able to suffer him to condemn their idolatry, just as the pope, bishops and priests are not yet able to suffer their fictitious worship to be punished, because their masses, vigils, invocation of the saints are supposed to be worship that God Himself has instituted. If we then strike it down from the Gospel, they burn us over it and shed much blood.
This is what he means when he says, "He sent out his servants, and they struck them dead. For if he had sent an hundred servants, they would not have been converted, but they would have slain them all. But he did still more, saying, I will send the third time mine only son, which is heir, and lord of the vineyard: and remembering that he is the lord, they will spare him, saying, It is the heir, not a servant; the former were servants: now will I give them a better preacher than the prophets were, that they may be converted. But what happened? They dealt with him even as with the prophets. For when they saw him, and he was about to ask how the people of Israel were, they became angry, saying, "Wait, he is the heir; if we but beat him to death, we shall be masters of the vineyard. And this is what Caiphas says to the scribes and Pharisees: "You consider nothing; it is better that one should die than that the whole nation should perish. For if we do not kill Christ, whom all the world celebrates and praises, then all will believe in him and accept him as a king and conquer the vineyard, and then the Romans will come and overturn this place. Therefore it is better that the land and the people be preserved. And they smote the heir to death, and would not have the king, and took the spoil of the vineyard; but where God was, and his kingdom, and his glory, they asked nothing. They have done well, just as the pope does, he wants to be the lord of the vineyard and have the benefit of it; so they do here too.
V. 39. They took him and pushed him out to the vineyard and killed him.
They have thrust him out of the people, out of the vineyard, and outside the city of Jerusalem
and thought that the government and the empire would be in their hands; as the emperor and king of Bohemia still do, that they want to eradicate the gospel altogether, and strangle and chase away all Christians, and then strike the Turk. Yes, that is how it is done, that the Lord is put away, so it goes on; yes, behind them, as the peasants carry the spears, they say: If Christ is crucified, then land and people are ours, and the Turk is defeated; and if you want to kill the Turk, then kill the Son of God first, then you will have a merciful God.
But Christ asks the great multitude for a verdict:
V. 40. f. When the Lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to the husbandmen? They said to him, "He will kill the wicked and give his vineyard to other vineyard owners who will give him fruit in due season.
It is much that they have beheaded, slain and stoned the first servants, and after that they have done the same to the other servants, and when he sends the heir, the son, they have also thrust him out and slain him. Therefore all the people answer the slayers according to the common judgment of reason, just as all Christians at the last day will pronounce the sentence on the murderers to kill them again, that the Lord will come and kill the evil-doers. All the people will be judged that they are not worthy to be vinedressers and keepers, but that because they are murderers and do not desist from it, he will kill them shamefully and hand over his vineyard to others. This is a fair judgment. The murderers will not cease, because the Lord and heir came and made destruction and desolation by the Romans, and Jerusalem was torn up and trodden under foot, and the vineyard was taken from them to this day, and given to others, and his people were put elsewhere, as is preached in the gospel of the destruction of Jerusalem, when so many thousands of men perished by pestilence, by evil time, and by the sword, and afterward in
The punishment and misery have not ended until this day, because they do not want to let go of this sin, so the punishment does not end.
The vineyard is given to others. The first vine-growers were the people of Israel and Judah, and they themselves were the vineyard, the vine and grapes. But after that they became foreign, wild sticks, because when the good sticks, David, Ezekiel and others were dead, there grew vain shoots and wild vines, which were of no use anywhere, but killed the master of the vineyard, and the mountain became more and more ruined the longer. Therefore the sticks were uprooted and cut down, and the Gentiles were made Christ's vineyard, and Christ is our vinedresser; we are the sticks and branches, having the Word of God, baptism, and the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, and are gathered into the Christian church and called to be done away with sins and death; the pious, righteous preachers are the vinedressers. In ancient times, they were the holy bishops, as S. Augustine, Ambrose, and all those who preached Christ rightly and still preach. The vineyard is commanded to them, that they may hoe, reap, press, comfort, and punish sin, and also to raise up consciences, that they may bring forth good fruit, as St. John says in the fifteenth chapter [v. 1 f.] of Christ: "I am a true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. He will cut off every branch in me that does not bear fruit," etc., but all who believe in Christ remain on him as on the vine. Now he sends his vine dressers, that is, his preachers, to us. Then we may take care that we do not become wild vines, especially we preachers, that we do not let wild vines grow, as the pope is doing now with his bishops, who not only lets water vines grow, but kills all those who keep God's word pure, and does not want to suffer Christ to be a lord and heir of the vineyard, but he wants to be lord over it. But he is not a husbandman, but a bear, a fox and a dog, even a serpent and a dragon, who miserably destroy the vineyard.
But we have heard about the punishment, so
comes upon the evil-doers, that they are all shamefully and abominably destroyed, and the office taken from them, and are now no longer priests, nor have they any vineyard, but are forsaken of God. But because the pope, cardinals and bishops also go this way, it will not be a joke, for they will not only suffer the punishment that the Jews suffer, but will be much more severely afflicted. For they will not have faith in Christ, but their filth and secret chamber shall be worshipped, or else they shall die, and many shall perish. But they will do it, and force us to it, that we shall judge them at the last day, and the church shall say to them, The wicked shall be put to death shamefully by the heavenly Father. For if he has not given it to the Jews, neither will they go unpunished, and there will be an end to their vineyard.
And the Lord himself interprets the likeness:
V. 42-44: Jesus said to them: Have ye not read in the scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? It was done by the Lord, and it is marvelous in our sight. Therefore I say to you: The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to the Gentiles who bear its fruit. And whosoever shall fall upon this stone, it shall break him in pieces; but upon whomsoever it shall fall, it shall crush him. 1)
Christ introduces this saying because he says, "The kingdom will be taken from you and given to the Gentiles." But Christ is the stone that became the cornerstone. For no history teaches that other cornerstones were rejected, or that Jerusalem was a rejected stone. But this must be understood of Christ, the Son of God, as Peter and Paul speak much of the cornerstone, and Isaiah, Cap. 8, 14, and 28, 16, says: "Behold, I lay a foundation in Sion, 2) a precious stone, a tried and polished stone, and a cornerstone; all who trust in Him shall not be put to shame.
1) Erlanger: to crush.
2) Erlanger: "one in reason to Sion."
Isaiah understood David's verse in the 118th Psalm well, that he calls it a precious cornerstone, a polished stone, a great jasper, demant, or emerald, well tried, made smooth and polished by suffering and the cross, and made a cornerstone, having two walls or sides. For there is a difference between this cornerstone and other stones. For the cornerstone stretches out its two arms on both sides, as if to say, "Until now I have had only one wall, one people, as Jerusalem; but now I will raise up a building, a new Jerusalem, and it will be such a building, fit for a house and a dwelling place.
The apostles acted this saying widely, when to Ephesians on. 2. chapter [v. 19-22.You are no longer strangers, but citizens and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles, since Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, on which all kinds of buildings are joined together, growing into a holy temple in the Lord, on which you also are being built, into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit: When Christ came, he took the pious Jews as a wall, and joined them to the Gentiles, and incorporated them into the cornerstone, which is Christ, to whom all things are joined, and all things grow up to him, and come to the King, where we were not before.
But to be built on the stone is to believe in Christ, that he is our Savior. Because I am called to the gospel, and I accept and believe it, I am one of the stones laid on it, and am counted blessed, not because of my gratification and works, as the Pope, the Turks and the Jews teach, but because I am clenched and laid on the cornerstone, which is done by a right Christian faith, as the children pray: I believe in Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of Mary the Virgin, suffered under Pilate; he is the polished and tried cornerstone. Because I believe in him, I am built on him, and I shall be saved, as Isaiah says: "He who trusts in him shall not be put to shame".
on him" is: to trust in Christ and to believe in him.
Now this is a spiritual stone and building, and to me also are all spiritual stones, as it is said in 1 Peter 2:4 ff: "To whom you have come as to the living stone, rejected by men, but chosen and precious in the sight of God; and you also, as the living stones, build yourselves up into the spiritual house, and into the spiritual priesthood" etc., that you may become a dwelling place of God.
^Seventh Sermon on the 21st Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.
1) First, Christ's saying, "The star which the builders rejected," is intended to indicate to the Jews that the time is coming when the gospel and kingdom of Christ will be taken from them and given to the Gentiles who will bear its fruit, as they themselves reply that the Lord of the vineyard will kill the murderers and hand out his vineyard to others.
Secondly, with this verse he wants to confirm the main point of our Christian doctrine, that we are justified before God through faith in Christ alone.
How does 2) the verse rhyme with the opinion and judgment of the Jews, and that Christ says that the kingdom will be taken from them? There is no appearance that they rhyme with each other. Let it be known here that one rejects the other. The builders first reject the stone, and the stone does not reject them. But God does not want the stone to be rejected, but to be built, to stand in the building. Therefore it is written that it shall be a cornerstone. Therefore, when the builders reject the cornerstone, they do nothing but reject themselves, for God chose it as the cornerstone to support two walls. Whoever does not want to have it this way, winter and summer are not
1) In the original, Illtima oonoicr is written here in the margin. This remark is incomprehensible to us, because this sermon is neither the last one on the 21st chapter of Matthew (but the penultimate one), nor the last one that was preached in 1538.
2) Erlanger: reimpts.
separated. God, the builder, rejects them, because they want to be rejected; and they reject themselves, because they rejected the stone. From this it clearly follows that the kingdom is to be taken from them and brought to the Gentiles, because they do not respect the stone but turn away from it, so they also come from the stone, because it should and must remain, and so remain that it is a cornerstone.
But this is a great trouble. Therefore the Psalm says: It is marvelous in our eyes; for it also caused much trouble to the apostles, as they wondered [in the] Acts of the Apostles in the 11th chapter, how it should be possible, since God Himself had established the priesthood and kingdom, that He should now leave it and say: It is not valid. For even today the Jews are crying out, "God established our priesthood, and consecrated Aaron himself, gave them the law, the promise; how is it possible that what God established should perish? do not think that they should be rejected. And it is true that they are the ones to whom the law, the priesthood, the preaching ministry and the holy Scriptures have been given, and no other people under the sun, as the 147th Psalm testifies. It is with them, and not with others, that one should look for it. This is a great pretense and argument, which they have for themselves, that one should seek the priesthood from them. So here the text even says the antithesis. The kingdom is to be taken from them, that is, the murderers shamefully killed, and the holy scriptures given to the Gentiles.
It is strange that all the services given to the Jewish people are to be taken away from them; it will be reversed. How the Jews will be angry and astonished at this, for they are in the office of the church, for here they are called builders, not breakers or destroyers, but those who build, improve, and keep the building, they are God's people, God has commanded them His house, they should govern and build it; and it is to be wondered at that those who should be preachers and rulers of the people do not do and perform such things, since they were created for this purpose by God. Dear,
Shall not this vex and astonish any man? But even so it came to pass, and the kingdom and the service of God were given to the Gentiles, which had it not before; and they that had it have lost it. But what is the fault? Does God wrong them? No, they reject themselves, for they go to and will not have the stone that God has laid as the cornerstone, and has given them the promise of the Messiah, and has made them builders, but with the commandment that they should take heed to the stone, and build themselves and other people upon it. Now that the dear stone comes, and wants to fulfill and fulfill the scripture, therefore he is chosen to be the stone, they do not want to accept the stone, but mock it, spit at it, scourge it and crucify it, doing nothing that would serve to edify God's people, but everything to destroy it. What should God do here? Shall he say, "You Annas and Caiphas have done well in crucifying and killing my son? No, he will say: "Behold, I have laid a stone in Sion" etc. This I do, and he that trusteth in him shall not be put to shame. Thus our Lord God builds, they do not want to have that, they do not want to suffer the faith in the foundation of Christ. Therefore the text is right that the kingdom should be taken away from them and they should be rejected, because they do not want to be with the stone, since our Lord God wants to have built the stone and it should remain unthrown. But in rejecting it, they do them the greatest harm, and in that God wants to keep the stone, he must let them pass over it. Therefore Christ answers rightly, rhymes well with this; I want to say: I wanted you to put the glasses on your noses, and read the verse: "The stone which the ban men rejected hath become the corner stone." For it is a strange thing, at which the apostles marveled greatly, Acts. 10. that the Holy Spirit came upon the uncircumcised Gentiles in the Hanse Cornelii; for the Gentiles did not belong to the building and house of God, for salvation came from the Jews, but they pushed themselves away; 1)
1) nudge - push away.
With this the apostles were comforted and strengthened, but the Jews were vexed.
In our time, it is also like this. The pope and bishops and high teachers should all be builders and build the church, for that is their office, and that is why they are called bishops. But none of them preach; and even if we punish them for it, they do not care, and it is important that we know it, and that our consciences are strengthened with it, that they are not true bishops, but rejected builders; for they reject Christ, our foundation and cornerstone.
Therefore, one should know what true bishops and builders are. For it is not necessary to know a bishop by the fact that he wears a bishop's hat or a crown, or carries a staff in his hand, or wears a common chasuble; this does not make him a bishop. For God does not ask what kind of clothing one wears, but see S. Paulum all, 1 Tim. 3, what he describes for bishops, namely, that this is a right bishop, who leads an honest, blameless life and is doctrinal, so that he understands the Scriptures and can interpret them to others. This is his most noble office; he shall not make a bishop of hat and staff, but that they have the art and understanding of the divine word, and can preach to others, as he says in 1 Cor. 4. saith, That one may be found faithful; saith, For this keep us every man, as stewards of God, not over pence, and over pence, and over horses, and over cows, and over kitchens, and over cellars; for which [he] hath before in the world stewards, and over wives that handle them; but stewards over the mysteries of God, that men may learn and know God's good pleasure and will, as we would be with him, and hear the preaching of the Son of God; saith: Let this be the praise and glory of the preachers, that they teach God's word purely and administer the sacraments.
Thus he depicted and described the bishops, that they should be blameless before the world and doctrinal; not teach the registers of guilt, but of the salvation and blessedness of men; lead an honest life according to the world, and preach God's word mightily in the church. Thus, a bishop is conterfected ill the Christian Church and in Heaven;
If he does not have honor and riches in the world, let it suffice him that he is despised and poor.
We must note that we confirm our faith with this against our carnival bishops. For the executioner and town clerk of Halle, 1) Pfaff Albrecht, is not a bishop, although he wears an episcopal hat and cloak, because a whore could also be dressed in it. And when they come before the last judgment trolled, and hear: Were you a bishop? did you also preach? for that is your office, and they will say: This adornment will not excuse or protect them, and Christ will say, "Even a fool with a stick could have done this, or a harlot and an adulterer. But I have said, Thou shalt do what S. Paul hath commanded, as to wait most diligently on the holy scriptures; and whosoever heareth thee not then shall be damned, because he heareth not me himself. For this reason he will condemn them, because they have not fulfilled their ministry.
So you see that the bishops have a lot of other ministry that they should wait for. But if they then say, Lord, it has no longer been the custom for us to preach as the apostles and other pious bishops did before us, he will answer: Who brought up the custom? Therefore we must certainly conclude that the pope is not the pope, and the cardinals and bishops are not bishops, for we must judge them according to the holy Scriptures, as if they also preach God's word purely. If they do not, then I say: The pope is a bailiff, an annuitant, a kitchen scribe and a cellar scribe. For look at his books and decrees, there he says: From this church one can annually give so much interest to this cardinal, so many thousand ducats. Item, the money should be given to my officers. Yes, this could be done with a small stick, and one should not take a supplementary rod 2) for it. These are secular hands
1) Luther calls Cardinal Albrecht of Mainz "executioner" for the judicial murder of Hans von Schömtz in June 1535. Cf. Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XIX, Introduction, p. 27 ß. f.
2) Zuberstange i.e. a pole on which one carries a Zuber.
del, you pope should preach; if 1) you do not, then you are no pope, and cry: you carry a hundred thousand crowns on your head.
There have been some fools who have said: The two points on the bishop's hat mean the Old and New Testament, that he should have the Holy Scriptures in his head; the two tips or little fans at the back of the hat mean that they should let the teaching fly and flutter among the people now and then. So they interpreted the bishop's hat. But neither the New Testament nor the Old Testament was found among them. That is why they are bishops, like the little men painted on the wall. This must be said under their noses, and their ban must not be feared; say: Give and righteous bishops, and we will gladly follow them. But they only visit their kitchen, count money, seek clothing, so their office and name also cease. Nevertheless we are bishops and carry the staff. Yes, step up on the small stick, preach, baptize, administer the Lord's Supper, comfort the sick, and keep a modest manner at home with your wife and children. Well, it is not the custom, so answer: It is also not the custom that I accept you for a bishop.
This doctrine we practice because they have rejected Christ and killed him, and all pious teachers who preach Christ are driven out and strangled, saying that our doctrine is heresy, as the Jews did, who wanted to be builders and were not, for they went and struck the cornerstone dead. Therefore God says to them: If ye will not preach, neither shall ye be bishops. Always go away, because you reject the: living, chosen cornerstone, which God Himself has laid.
We did not run from the pope, but they pushed us from them; and then God says: If thou wilt not, then another will; if there is no one who will preach, then I must raise up preachers from the stones, who will trample underfoot the false bishops; and before leaving the stones unpreached, I will rather hang all the bishops on gallows. 2)
1) Erlanger: thut.
2) The opinion of the last sentence will be: [Before I leave the gospel unpreached, the stones should preach it etc.; but rather than allow this preaching to be prevented by the bishops, I would hang all the bishops on the gallows.
It is a strange thing, but very comforting to us, even though it will be very painful for us before we take away their rule. For where the stone, the rock, is preached, there is the right building, the right church, the right episcopal office and righteous bishops.
A bishop is a priest, a preacher, who can teach the Word of God to the congregation, who interprets the mysteries of God. Where these works go and stand, there is a true church and episcopal office; there you are not lacking. When the bishop of Meissen preached the mystery of Christ JEsu, the cornerstone, baptized. visited the sick. When he comforted the dying, I wanted to say: You are the right man. But because they want to count the guilders, govern the country and the people, and not even preach and administer the sacrament, but forbid the use of the sacraments, we say: Because you reject the cornerstone, you have also rejected yourselves. This is how we separate. The stone is a building block on which both walls are to be built.
We should diligently take note of this, so that we do not become stingy, seek honor and goods, and leave the pulpit. For then God would also say to us: If you do not want to preach, you should not be called preachers, so I can also raise preachers from the stones. Christ himself says, Marci 16: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature"; and Paul says: "Let us be accounted stewards of the mysteries of God, ministers of the gospel, preachers, saying, I am not sent unto you to baptize, because he hath not baptized above two or three, but to preach. So the great apostle says that he cares so much about preaching that he does not care about baptism, because a lesser person can baptize and visit the sick.
This is said sufficiently thinly and brightly, so that we may know where to look for right bishops, where the church and God's people are; must know [this] for the sake of the article of our Christian faith, since we confess: "I believe a Christian church." For the pope stands on it that he is the church. But he is not, but a rejected tree man, for he beats Christ to death, beats up the
Sacraments, establishes human statutes, persecutes Christians, even has no preachers, therefore he is not the living true church, but the painted church. And do not judge by the hat, staff, country and people, decree, for there you are lacking, it does not make bishops; but see if they hear the pure word of God, accept faith, administer sacraments, and since the Christians can say at the last day: Dear Lord Christ, we have preached you, heard you, believed in you, baptized in you, used the power of the keys, dare to live in you, die in you, and thus are sanctified by the stone on which we were built.
And let us see to it that we do not reject the stone, for then we would fall from the grace of God, as Paul urges the Romans in chapter 11; [let us see to it] that God has cut off His people, the Jews, from the trunk, but has not spared the true olive tree, the natural heirs of the ministry of preaching, the beautiful branches. Those who had their origin from patriarchs, and were the children of prophets, were hewn out, grafted up the wild olive branches, and came to the sap and strength of the trunk, and became a graft. Watch, do not be proud.
Then S. Paul looked at the pope with shy eyes and threatened him that he would watch and not be stopped. For that is what the pope does, he does not want to use the juice of the tribe, he does not let preach; so God goes and takes me poor beggar, or otherwise runaway monks, whom the pope regards as a cow a new gate. But there must be preachers, and God must raise them from the stones, or we are not the Church.
But the pope does not ask anything about that. His teaching is about clothes, time, place, food, does not teach consciences about salvation, does not baptize, does not exhort to lead an honest, chaste life to please God, and to hope for eternal life; this is not learned from the monk's cap, bishop's cloak, hat and staff, but from the Gospel. Therefore, one must preach, that is, the office of a builder, and one should get used to it, so that one recognizes the right bishops, and the filth with
the hats and staffs out of sight. For these are only indications, signs and reminders that every bishop has a reminder, warning and sign of his office, which he should do, namely, to expound the holy Scriptures. For this is what the tails 1) on the bishop's hat mean, that he should let the understanding of the holy Scriptures fly among the people; so he should also have a staff, as the 23rd Psalm says: "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me"; a pasture stick, a shillelagh, that he may rule the sheep, and cast among the wolves, a staff of defense; I am to lead and preach God's word in the work, that is the staff. The mantle indicates that he sits against the persecution of the tyrants, and protects the sheep from the wolves, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings from the vulture; and the whole garment means that he has the staff firmly in his hand in his office, and rules the people.
But our bishops have only the shadow and the chaff of it, and they are resplendent with the gold and silver staffs and collected choir caps; they do not have the right staff, the holy scripture, which should be their defense, so that they throw among the heretics and wolves, and drive the people to the pasture, and use the mantle so that they carry the weak, and hold out the pasture stick to the people. But they do not do this. They have rejected the stone that binds the Gentiles and the Jews together. Therefore they are not the church, and [one] should say: Pope, read in the beautiful Confitemini, there you will find a verse: "The stone they rejected has become the cornerstone. Who did it, the builders? No, but it was done by the Lord, and that is a frightfully strange thing. And by rejecting the doctrine and the stone, they reject themselves.
So we hear which is the right church, namely, the one that is built on the cornerstone and becomes a spiritual house, is baptized, believes in Christ, praises and thanks Him. But the false church is the one that does nothing according to God's word, rejects the cornerstone of Christ, persecutes his teachings, as the Roman court. To
1) "Zügel" should probably mean "Zipfel". Cf. Col, 1108.
Rome in the hospital is the German church, which is the best, has a German priest. But what does the pope do? He sits in his palace and has his feet kissed, therefore he is the devil's bishop. I hold the Roman church in honor, it is pious, has God's word and baptism, and is holy; but the Roman court, the pope, who is bishop in the court, is the devil's bishop, and the devil himself, yes, the dirt that the devil has shat into the church; for he does nothing else, for what serves worldly hope and pleasure, that he may become emperor and king, and play the money out of the boxes.
[Eighth Sermon 1) [on the 21st chapter of the Gospel of Matthew].
We have heard that the Lord Christ draws from the verse of the 118th Psalm the saying: "The kingdom of God will be taken from you etc. and given to the Gentiles", and how this is related to each other, namely, that the Jewish people is God's church and people, just as the Gentiles are His church. Now comes the cornerstone on which both churches are built, uniting Jews and Gentiles. This grieves the Jews so much that even today they are not satisfied with it. Yes, they are crushed by it, as we will hear hereafter; for the cornerstone is a rock of trouble, which has been proven against the Jews, and today against the pope and his followers; and it is a strange thing that his teaching is now so despised, and is even struck down. For he did not want to be a faithful master builder, so God said to him: "If you do not want it, then someone else will; if you do not want the church government and administration with the honor of the Lord Christ and the salvation of the people, then he can raise up someone else to do it.
V. 44: Whoever falls on this stone will be crushed, but on whom it falls it will crush him. 2)
This is a strange, whimsical sermon. The builders reject it, and whoever bumps into it shall break, and on
1) "Sermon" is written in the margin in the original.
2) Erlanger: to crush.
If he falls, he will crush him to powder, and yet the cornerstone that supports the whole building of the Christian church will remain. If he will break and crush it all, where will the Christian church remain? The Jews have the law, the Gentiles do not, and on the stone the law ceases, for on the stone all things are closed and comprehended, and in it dwells the Godhead bodily, and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all things gathered together in Christ, which are in heaven and earth. He is to be the head on which all angelic, earthly and heavenly creatures are based. Therefore he alone is the stone and suffers no one else beside him. Among the Jews and the Gentiles there were masters who wanted to be the cornerstone; and there are still such in our time, as the pope, who has drawn the whole church to himself; item, the barefoot monks, preacher monks, Arius and Mahomet; for everyone wants to be the cornerstone, and knights himself on it, as S. Paul Apost. 2t), who say: Here, I will teach you right. But beware, the stone alone shall be, to it all shall hold and draw. All the apostles and prophets shall teach of him; as John the Baptist also saith, I am not Christ; behold, this is the Lamb of God: for the Foundation Stone and Cornerstone alone shall be preached, that alone can help, for apart from him is no counsel. But one will not hear the stone, teach from another cornerstone, as: Put on a gray cap and keep S. Francisci's rule, and thereby obtain forgiveness of sin; that wants to become a pitcher that has a big belly and boasts.
But whoever falls on the stone is a blessed, salutary shattering when it shatters on the stone. Not all the stones of a house or walls can stand in the light; there must also be some filling stones. These are the ones who push against the stone of salvation, who like to run against it and let themselves be broken, so that they may be nothing, but Christ may be everything. Thus S. Paul fell on the stone and was broken, as he boasted to the Philippians that he was a Hebrew and lived blamelessly among the people of God according to the law of Moses and the teachings of the fathers; but when he recognized Christ, that he alone could trust in him, he was not a man.
He became a beautiful vessel, a precious and noble stone, well polished and dressed by the law and the teaching of the prophets. He bumped against the stone of Christ and broke that he did not think anything of it, 1) he became a fine and precious stone and was built on the foundation stone and cornerstone. This has been breaking and shattering again. All heretics and those who want to be something special holy, they must break. A Franciscan must break the cap and hang the rope on gallows. So I was also a great saint in the monastery, but my little jar is broken, and I have to say: My mass, order, rule, chastity, want to say chastity, don't do it; still shattered, only in two, broken and crushed on the precious stone. If it does not happen with goodness, kindness and love, wait for the other, then follow: On whom the stone falls, as on him who is not built on, the stone will crush, crush, crush and turn to dust. Therefore, either so clear, 2) that you fall on top of him, for there is no need; as, I let myself be considered a good, holy fellow, before I was brought to the knowledge of the gospel; but when the gospel came, I broke, esteeming it all worth nothing, for dung. But if thou understand it, and wilt not be broken, the stone shall fall upon thee, and break thee, and bruise thee, that thou shalt never be fit for building. Therefore it is better that you fall on the stone than that it fall on you. For if thou shalt fall, the fragments shall come into the building: but if it fall upon thee, it shall bruise thee, that thou shalt have no righteousness either in earth or in heaven.
The pope will not stop pursuing the stone, therefore he will also fall on it and crush it, so that he loses his delusion of his own holiness and righteousness here and eternal bliss there. For the stone rumbles so, it must one
1) This sentence refers to the preceding and is meant to say: that Paul no longer thought anything of his merits.
2) Erlanger: geräumbt". What is probably meant is: "geramt" - envisaged as a goal. Compare Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XIX, 1V41.
Fall over him, push against him, and that will be blessed. Now then, consider whether you will willingly give up your presumption, holiness and your own righteousness, and let yourself be crushed and say, "Dear Lord, I am a useless, unfit vessel, I will gladly let myself be broken, go, mass, vigil, cap, be broken; or whether you will expect him to come on the last day and crush you in the abyss of hell, where you will be completely broken. Either broken here with will, or shattered there with disgrace, for none shall escape his wrath.
And divide the world into two parts, both of which must be broken, one part willingly, one part unwillingly; the first to fall over the stone, the second on which the stone falls. The first to humble themselves and accept the stone, to let go of their doings, are the Christian Church. They abandon their former nature, saying that it was sinful or had a holy appearance; they despair of their works with Paul, and with them it is well. The others are proud and stubborn and want to wear out the stone of Christ, so that it will be nothing; they may be careful with their holiness, because it will be crushed and shattered, so that they will be rejected, so that no memory of them will remain, pure in, pure out, so that not even the ashes will remain.
So it was not enough in the Concilio at Costnitz that they burned Johann Hus and reduced him to ashes, but they also had the place where he was burned dug up with the ashes and thrown into the Rhine, so that the Bohemians would not come and pick up the ashes or the earth and consider it holy, and not his name or a letter of his would remain. And when I first read his books, they pleased me well; but I soon thought, He is damned; so I soon threw the book away, for not a stub had to remain, not even his memory. But how finely they hit it. Johann Hus is still alive, and the papists have been disgraced.
Now they also send themselves to be crushed by the stone, saying, "If a concilium were held, we would nevertheless
not to let up a hair's breadth, but to bring their devilish doctrine back on track, and not to allow the priests to marry, but to accept again their holy water, legend S. Georgen. They have such thoughts that they want to smash the stone, to eradicate Christ, that his gospel is not only crushed but also rejected and has no place or space where it can be preached. I have been in the ban for twenty years, our Lord God does not ask anything about such things. We are broken on the stone, that we might be built upon it; but they will break down both the stone and the walls. These builders, who will not suffer him to be remembered, shall be crushed by him, for he shall fall upon them, and shall not leave them an hour, and it shall be soon, unless God smites them with the latter day.
The Jewish people have had a well-ordered kingdom. Now there is not a place of a hand's breadth that would be their own, but they sit on the wind, so that wherever a wind blows, they must fear that they will fall away; the stone proves its office and work on them, so that they are like the chaff on the threshing floor, as the wind blows away, as the 1st Psalm says. Psalm says; they are not only thrust out of Jerusalem, priesthood and kingdom, crushed and shattered, and all that they had in the land is lost; but they are also smitten with blindness and folly. Then the Sultan came, now the Turk, and took the holy land, so that nothing is left of the Jews; they have lost the land and are scattered throughout the world, and are not safe in any place; they are driven out of their dwellings, as the 102nd Psalm says. For they would have been builders, and rejected the stone out of the land, and would have broken it in pieces; but the stone is fallen upon them, and they are nothing but the chaff or dust of the streets, and when thou seest a Jew, thou shalt say, He sitteth upon a rock, he is broken in pieces; they are driven out of one city into another. Our papacy will also be crushed, so that for thirty years after us they will no longer have a monk.
They will not be able to dream that a monastery has been there or thereabouts, nor will they find a monastery, vicars or canons; and there are now many people who have not seen a monk, for it is to be destroyed; and I too will gladly do it, that I may renounce myself and the confidence of my own righteousness, and run to Christ, because the others will lose their monastery, goods, body and soul. But it is better that I lose everything here, than that my body and soul be thrown into the infernal fire.
He preaches this to the Jews and makes the final decision, either broken or shattered. For the stone is rejected, but it becomes the cornerstone and is laid by God as the foundation in Sion. Therefore he that is built upon him, and believeth on him, shall not die for ever, neither be put to shame. So then the building shall stand, and they shall smite it, or cast it, or seek any other salvation to destroy it; yet it shall remain so, and they shall be broken in pieces over it. Whoever lives a year or thirty will see how the pope and bishops will be crushed, for they will not have it any other way. But if they hear it right now, they will not believe it. They do not want to be built on the stone. But whoever does not desire the precious stone, that he may lie on it, and have forgiveness of sins and a good conscience, may have the punishment that is here inflicted on the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles. If one were not so foolish and foolish, one would gladly let himself be built on the stone; for this emerald and precious stone has the power that it makes blessed and gives power to the believing Gentiles and Christians, so that they become a temple of God.
The papists also want to be blessed; but why do they not hear this stone? If you want to be blessed, Pope, let your way stand; for God has invented one way, he will have no other, all who believe in the foundation stone laid shall never be put to shame. This is the doctrine and the one way; whoever seeks another will fall short. Still they go on, pursuing, rejecting the stone and the way, and want to have something else besides, their thing.
received as S. Franciscus rule etc. No, no, God wants to crush the side stone. But they want to go through with their head and say: "The stone does not do it alone; we must also have our rule, work and statute, and we should immediately eradicate the stone above it. Go on, then, and you will see that you and your mass are not the cornerstone, nor will it save you and others for whom it has been kept.
There are two kinds of people. Some break on the stone, fall on it; the others want to tear out the stone, so it falls on them, so that they are crushed under the stone. To fall on the top of the stone is good, but to come under it is evil. He that is broken, believing, being baptized, shall be built upon the stone, and shall depart from their presumption, let them say, they shall be saved. The others under the stone will be crushed. Marci 16: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned." The little vessel will be broken to pieces, which is not good for itself. But on whom the steep falls, there will be nothing but dust.
So it has pleased God, and we should rejoice in it from the heart, and thank God that we have a certain way of our blessedness. After all, none of us, of course, loves a common way, which many know, and a country road before a wooden road. 1) So it is a great grace of God that he has ordained for us a certain way and path to heaven, since Christ says: "I am the way, the truth and the life. Nevertheless, the monks do not want to have such a path, but want to do it better, and go above the clouds, and let their rules do it. A monk who has no wife wants to be better than a poor layman who believes in Christ. Our monasticism is the right life above the common Christian state, for if the laity are to be saved, we monks must help them out of purgatory. They swim in the deep sea, but we throw out our ropes and pull them back into the ship so that they may become blessed. Asö we have taught in the papacy, the cornerstone is called the little liver:, and
1) Erlanger: "for a wooden path."
The life of a monk, a thing of his own, which is characterized by special clothing, food, people and fictional works; they did not want to live a secular life, since they built monasteries like castles.
But we, praise God, have come back to the stone and are broken; we want to be content with the common Christian state, we do not want to do anything special; it is God's command that we only fall on it and break purely, well shatter, command our souls to Him that He may carry the erring sheep into the hurdles; but not to be crushed by the stone or to become eternally ashamed, as S. Peter says that it became a chosen stone for the builders. Peter says that he became a chosen and precious stone to the builders, but since they rejected him, he became a cornerstone, a stone of offense and a rock of trouble. This is just what Christ says here, that whoever will not sit and be laid upon him, he will crush him. Whoever does not want to be a little stone in the building, the stone is not only useless, but also annoying, and it will crush him.
V. 45. 46. And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them; and they sought how they might lay hold on him; but they feared the people, because they took him for a prophet.
What this sermon had done, when they heard the parables, that he said the vineyard should be taken from them and given to others; the same about the cornerstone that should smash them: they do not want to suffer this, they intend to kill the stone. But they must not fear the people, they are afraid of them. For he that hath an evil thing must also feel the plague, that he may be afraid, since there is no danger; must be afraid of their own thoughts and shadows. For if they had attacked him, the people would not have harmed them. But they have an evil cause, therefore there is no courage. They do not like to hear him, they would much rather reject the stone.
So the papists are also afraid, always pregnant with new practices and attacks. But a mistake is born out of it. They liked to raise with the sword,
But they think: those who should help us would join them, our own subjects the greater part would stand with them, it might misadvise us. So no one stops them, we are silent. They protect us with their own fear and care, for the bath would be poured out on them, for they dispute against the recognized truth of God's word. If the common man would realize that they should fight for lies, adultery and heretics or seducers, they would hardly do so. 1) We stand for the truth. Our bloodhounds are our protectors against themselves, and fear keeps the sword in the sheath; God is wonderful, and keeps His own wonderful. Christ is so rude, angry and evil here that it is not surprising that they are angry with him. He deserves it, because the rebuke lasts three days, that he scolded them. But the people do not protect Christ, but their own fear holds their sword.
[Sermon on] the twenty-second chapter. 2)
Now follows what happened on Monday and Tuesday after the Palm Day, first of all the parable of the king who married his son, and the Pharisee's question about the interest nest egg. But there follows a strange story.
V. 23. ff. On the same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him, saying: Master, Moses said, If a man die, and have not children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother etc.
This is a strange story, and if it were not described in the Bible, it would be believed.
1) The meaning is: If the common man would realize that he should fence for lies etc. he would hardly go to the field.
2) Luther only preached this one sermon on the 22nd chapter, namely on the section v. 23-33, because everything else is in the pericopes, the interpretation of which is contained in the postils. This sermon belongs to the year 1538, which is also proven by Luther's words Col. 1127: "20 years ago I heard the Cardinal Cajetanum" etc.
I would not, and no one would persuade me, that in the people whom God chose and from whom Christ was born, who had the Holy Spirit, the temple, worship, promise, law, prophets and patriarchs, such people should be found who knew nothing of the resurrection from the dead. Now there have been many of these fellows, not small men, but the high rulers, who were to teach the people, and have not only kept it secretly in their hearts and houses, but have preached and taught it publicly.
And see here how the people of God were before Christ was born. There were three sects, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essaeans. Pharisees believed in the kingdom of God, eternal life, a hell, heaven, angels, devils, but the main part of the doctrine of eternal blessedness they left pending; they lay on the statutes of men, thus they ape the people; they were stingy, carried much money for them, left the doctrine of Moses and [the] prophets whole, but did not live according to it. Christ has much to do with them in the Gospel. The Sadducees [teaching] 3) is remembered only once in the Gospel. They believed none of them, said that there was no angel nor devil, no hell nor eternal life, threw away all scripture, without the five books of Moses; must be nothing, that Elijah and Elisaeus raised the dead. These were golden sons, who knew the right art to cast away the stone from the heart, namely, that there is no hell; therefore one should have a good courage, live in ease. These are Epicureans, and not bad people. In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 5, the holy high priest Caiphas was also a Sadducite with his relatives. When he had recently entered upon his ministry, the Sadducees did well to crucify Christ, for they did not ask for any righteousness, and they did all they could to hide it from the people, for they asked nothing of God. So do our pope and the priest of Halle and the whole Roman court, which is full of Sadducees, as the rulers of Jerusalem have publicly declared, that after life there is no other; and have not the teachers of the people of Israel otherwise?
3) "Teaching" added by us.
The Pharisees were a little more pious, but they only went around with the rules of men and waited for their stinginess. The Pharisees were a little more pious, but they were only concerned with the statutes of men, and they waited for their avarice. The third, [the] Essaeans, were pious, were saints of works; a small group, which joined together to pray and fast, did not have wives, as in our time the Carthusians would like to be.
The word Pharisee means a special person who wants to be special, who separates himself from others, who does not want to lead a common life as a tailor and cobbler, especially prayer and clothing, as our priests do, but they have had wives.
(2) Sadducees were called the righteous, the pious; for they desire to be above the Pharisees, taking the Pharisees for husks, but themselves for pious; and yet they were desperate knaves also.
(3) The Ezekians, the doers of it, as if they should say, The others only speak of it, with them it is only talk, they have it in their mouths, but with the deed it is nothing; for this reason they separated themselves from the Pharisees and Sadducees, held nothing of them, fed themselves with their hand, fasted very much.
No sect of the apostles was more displeased with the preaching on the day of Pentecost than the Sadducees, for they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead and sent and had them thrown into prison. The Pharisees asked little about it, for they preached the same article. What an abominable people they were! I would not have believed that the papacy was such an abomination if I had not seen the Roman court myself. We may rejoice that God has called us and chosen us to hear and believe His word, and ask God to confirm our calling and keep us in the righteous faith, and not let us be turned away from it. Our cardinals do not ask for conscience, they say: What conscience, conscience! Once in Rome, a cardinal asked for a bull. When he asked for three hundred florins, but the poor man could not give so much, and complaining of his poverty and incapacity, he finally asked for thirty florins, and the poor man said, "O Romans, have you no conscience?
no conscience? the Cardinal answered: What conscience! Conscience is such an abominable animal that 1) makes a man sad, and that man fights against himself; always away with conscience!
But let them go and talk like this. It is a great sign of God's grace that He has given us His Word and Sacrament and keeps it with us.
But see the mischievousness of the Sadducees. They come to Christ and want to catch him right; he should not escape from them 2); but they also get a defeat. They think: He preaches about the resurrection of the dead, we must hold a little nut in front of him so that he bites it; they say: Master, as if they wanted to say: You fool; and they confirm their question with the law of Moses; they argue: A woman must have only one man in eternal life, but this woman has had seven men, therefore there is no resurrection of the dead; as if they should say: It would be all right for a man to have many wives, but he forbids that a woman should have many men; ei, it is not good that one should have many men, when one should not have more than one man. Therefore, if she cannot have many men, men will not be raised. A beautiful art! I am surprised that Christ did not wash them away better, as he often did to the Pharisees.
But the Lord answers:
V.29. 30. You are mistaken and do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God. In the resurrection they will not be free, nor will they be set free, but they will be like the angels in heaven.
Christ says: "You fools, you know neither of God's word, nor of His grace and power; you only bring your dreams, which are meant to conclude; but if you had looked at and considered the holy Scriptures and God's omnipotence, you would have been well aware 4) whether God could not raise the dead. Who in the creation created everything from
1) Erlanger: that one.
2) Erlanger: Entwuschen.
3) Erlanger: "abgewuscht". What is meant is: "washed the fur. Cf. Erlanger, vol. 44, p. 325.
4) Erlanger: become.
If he made nothing, should he not also be able to bring the dead to life? And from where are all men created daily? is it not true, from nothing? If he can do what you see, touch and feel every day, should he not also raise the dead? Is it such an incredible thing to raise the dead, when he speaks to that which is nothing, that it is something? and when he speaks, it stands, and when he gives, it stands, as the Psalm says. Therefore thus he saith: Ye have not read the scriptures, neither know ye the works of God, who made heaven and earth, and all things out of nothing, Genesis 1. I mean to say, I perceive that ye have not studied the scriptures, from which ye ought to learn that God's power and might are so great that he can make all things out of nothing. But because it happens every day, it is not taken into account; because a maiden is now a virgin, a mother for more than a year, that is common in villages and towns. Therefore it is no wonder, and if a man were to rise from the dead now, I think the whole world would run to him. But that children are born, before a year nothing was, there we ask nothing, because we do not recognize God's power, nor understand the holy scriptures.
For this reason the Sadducees say that they know nothing of the holy scriptures, because in the resurrection of the dead it will not happen as here in this lifting; they will not be free; 1) the seven brothers will not take care of the woman; nor will you need more necessity of life than here, because otherwise it would be an unlawful heaven. The man no longer owns the woman; the wife and childbearing then cease. Say: You are ox preachers, sow preachers, donkey preachers. To the sow belong the ox and to the cow the grass; he who does not look at God's work and his word is a sow, and he who does not want to see what God does and hear what he says, and wants to close his eyes, he remains a fool, and he will soon fall into error. With this he shut the mouth of the Sadducees, and the
1) Erlanger: "They will not free the seven brothers." 2) "also" omitted by us.
Pharisees were glad to hear that they became mute and passed with dishonor. For dse Sadducees did them great harm, they were the most distinguished among the people, as still the pope and his cardinals have the prestige in the world, but they have lost the Scriptures. If one says to Rome: This is a, bon Christian, mau think he is a right fool, consider it a mockery; and if one is not instructed with God's word, he soon falls away. For three indulgences are brought to Rome: an empty bag, an evil stomach and no conscience; for those who were previously pious, honest people, who gladly heard God's word and feared hell, become raw and wild, despise the gospel and Christ, live as a sow, and will also receive the sow's wages; but such are called good Christians, the others are considered to be fools.
And when Christ hath put their doctrine to shame, he teacheth them full of the right doctrine; as if he should say, Because ye reject all other books of the holy scriptures, except the books of Moses, I will not deal with you out of them, neither will I cause to stand the example of Elijah, and of others that have raised the dead; but I will speak unto you out of Moses.
V. 31-33. Have you not read of the resurrection, which is told you of God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? But God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. And when the people heard these things, they were amazed at his teaching.
He takes this from the 2nd book of Moses at the 3rd chapter, when God sent Moses to Egypt, and argues from it that there is a resurrection of the dead; asks: "Have you not read this? Yes, they have read it, but only as the maid sweeps the room. But there Moses testifies with a strong argument that there is another life after this one, because God would be a God of Abraham. They had to allow this, but they did not understand. Therefore he asks, "Do you want to make God the God of the dead, or any other thing that is nothing or has no being?
God he is, because it does not suffer itself, that it should therefore be called: I am God for me. But because Moses says that he is a GOt of Abraham, Abraham must be something and live. But reason says: O, Abraham has decayed for a long time, how can God be his God? If I should say that God is Abraham's God according to the soul, it is not enough, for Abraham is not only soul, but he has body and soul. Item, God cannot be the God of the dead, but Abraham died, so how can he be his God?
Now if Moses rightly wrote that God is Abraham's God, then Abraham must live; and concludes 1) violently from this that there is a resurrection of the dead, especially of the righteous; for here Christ does not yet insist on the general resurrection of the dead.
But how does this happen? He, Christ, interprets that everything lives for him. Before me and you Abraham is dead, but Christ says: "He is not dead to me, for I have taken him so that I am his God, he shall remain whole, he shall rise, and to me he is all ready alive; that is, I will raise him up. For as Christ died, and yet God lives, so Abraham also lives, and all the saints, though they die; and it is a small work for God to make alive one that is dead. Thus the text concludes that Abraham and all the saints live.
But how this happens, reason cannot see nor understand; that a man may die, and yet not be dead. For the resurrection of the dead will surely take place. 2)
Moses does not deny that death is, but he says that we should rise again, that life should be stronger than death; because one lies in the grave for a short time, but then should live for eternity. So Abraham is also dead, and yet he lives through the resurrection, and we speak of the Abraham who is Isaac's father and Jacob's grandfather, having body and soul, in whom the essence of death shall last but a moment,
1) Erlanger here and repeated: "schleuscht".
2) "On the hands, but very illegible, it is still written: The body, its master craftsman, is made powder and ashes; so the soul also does not know how it stands. Note. v. Bruns.
and it shall be reckoned as he looketh upon it, and as it is before God, he reckoneth it there but 3) for a moment. Therefore Abraham lives before God, though he is dead before men.
With this argument he overcomes the Sadducees, and it is also preached to us, so that we may well remember the article of our Christian faith, and not become Romanists or Cardinals. If we did not have the bright light of the Gospel, we would all have become Roman long ago.
Twenty years ago I heard the Cardinal Cajetanum talking about the Christian faith in such a way that I was frightened. Therefore, let us hold fast to the article, for if it perishes, every citizen and peasant will become a despiser of the resurrection of the dead, even blind and Caiphaic, and then go, as Christ says: "Do you think that when the Son of Man comes, he will find faith on earth? Therefore, let us pray to God to keep us in the light of the gospel, so that we may know the article and our descendants may also have the teaching. For where the teaching goes out, there will come the denial of this article, which must soon be followed by the last day.
[First sermon on] the twenty-third chapter. 4)
V. 1. f. Then Jesus spoke to the people and to his disciples, saying, "The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. All things therefore whatsoever they tell you to observe, observe and do; but after their works do ye not.
In chapter 22, Christ shut the mouths of the Sadducees who did not believe that there was a resurrection of the dead,
3) "only" set by us instead of "not" in the Erlanger.
4) In the case of the 23rd chapter, we have several indications for a closer determination of both the sections that constitute a sermon in themselves and the time in which these sermons were preached. Luther preached a total of seventeen sermons on the 23rd chapter; the first six in 1538 (the sixth on Sept. 25, 1538 fErl. Ausg., Vol. 44, p. 358, where the year is not given]); the others in 1539 from June 18 to October 12. Only in the second, eighth, ninth and tenth sermons is it not specifically indicated in the original where they begin.
and now the sermons are over, which Christ preached on Monday and Tuesday after Palmarum in Jerusalem. Now follows another hard sermon, which he preached on Wednesday after Palmarum, and is a right, sharp, good liquor, which he pours on the Pharisees, gives them the last, and gives them the valete, that they will not have laughed very much, and earns so well for the dear lords and prelates, that they give him the reward the third day after; And the weather goeth forth, that he crieth out at their necks, Murder, woe, woe, and turneth his words to the disciples and people, speaking no more to the Pharisees and Sadducees, pretending not to see them, though they stood near and listened in a corner by the door. But in the presence of the people he reads to them the right text, and preaches of their beautiful virtues, and yet strikes the ass on the sack, that he feels it well; he does not reject Moses, but confirms him; but because much error and idolatry had broken through the Pharisees and had been driven into the people, he wants to make a difference between them both, under the right use and abuse of the law.
This preaching was good, wholesome and comforting to the people, but very frightening and annoying to the Pharisees; for they feared their power would be taken away from them. This distinction we must also make in our time against the pope and his multitude; not abolishing all things, but keeping the difference between the right and false church; [saying that they sit in office, that they should teach and preach; and this is true]. 1) I would still gladly hear the pope and the bishops, and not destroy their authority, but that they would stand up, take up their office, and preach the gospel of Christ, read the holy Scriptures, administer the Lord's Supper, baptize, comfort poor afflicted consciences in mortal need. We did not want to lie down against them, they should be our shepherds, we wanted to hear them gladly, and do everything they wanted from us, and carry them on our hands. For this
1) The bracketed words were added to the original only afterwards, and it cannot be said with certainty whether they should not have been deleted again. (Erlanger.)
they are appointed bishops to preach the Word of God to the people. But they do not want to do this, so they do not have to complain about us, that we drive them from the pulpit and interfere with their office, but we cry out against them that they do not need their office over us; they have the authority of the church, but do nothing according to it, so what they complain about us is false and forged. They do not want to provide us with pasture, as Christ has commanded them, but we are to live according to their will, desire and pleasure, call upon saints, hear masses, keep vigils, become religious, buy indulgences, go on pilgrimage, endow altars and churches, believe [their lies] about purgatory, that they steal the money out of our pockets with confession, absolution, as they wish; And they are not satisfied if we do it, because otherwise I could wear a cap and a hard shirt, have a plate shaved, wear a gray skirt and wooden shoes, tie a rope around my loins. Item, I could drink water, beer, wine, not eat meat on Friday and Wednesday, item, go to Rome 2) to please someone. There should be no lack of it, if they ever wanted to have it that way, of things we would soon become one. But this is the muck they hang on it, that one should become blessed by such works. This is the devil's tail full of poison, for by this his teaching and error he wants to tear me away from Christ. That is what he seeks, that is what he wants. Thou shalt keep it for salvation, and as if God had said it, as: If you do not eat meat on Friday, you will have forgiveness of sin. Where is Christ, who is my sin-bearer and savior? I am torn from him to my works. Whoever speaks against this is committing a mortal sin.
But if he were to preach Christ as our Savior, the pope would not retain his power, and his papacy would soon perish. For a Christian saws at the Pabst's decrees: Well, it is not the ten commandments, I can do it.
2) Here we have omitted the words "und Meß halten" because Luther (1538) would not have conceded this. The Erlanger remarks: "It can be argued whether in the original the words: 'gen Rom. . Gefallen*, but especially the three: ,und Meß halten* find deleted or not."
well do not need it. The pope is well aware of the fact that his commandments are not considered God's commandment and necessary for salvation, therefore he wants to teach that we should be justified and saved by them. We cannot suffer this, nor do it, for we deny Christ. Therefore, if the pope will not do his right office, neither will we suffer his wrong office.
Christ does the same here, saying: "The Pharisees and scribes sit on Moses' chair; call them Moses' synagogue, not their own chair. For God instituted the Levitical priesthood and preaching office, that the people might learn the Ten Commandments given by Moses. The whole tribe was ordained to wait on the holy Scriptures. This is what the Lord calls the chair of Moses, that is, the office of preaching, that they should preach to Moses; say, If you hear preaching: This is what Law and Moses commanded, do it, keep it, for it is not the Pharisee's; but God's and Moses' word and work.
So I also say about the pope: When he sits in S. Peter's chair, I want to hear everything he says. But when does he sit inside? When he takes the Epistle of S. Peter and the Gospel in his hand. When I see that he is sitting in S. Peter's chair, then I want to follow him 1) gladly, because he is sitting in his right office. But he does not do this, but has sat down in cathedram pestilentiae, in a chair of poison, where the scoffers sit, the useless washers. S. Peter's chair is a wholesome chair, a medicine of life, where God's word goes pure, because he teaches Christ. This shall be his chair and his commanded office. But even though he sits on Peter's chair, he makes a poisonous chair out of it, since all that is taught is bitter gall and poison, for he tramples on S. Peter's books and on Christ Himself, teaches to trust in works, not to consider the grace of God; this is what S. Peter did not teach, therefore the pope is a poisonous preacher and sits in a poisonous chair, and whoever listens to him is also poisoned and must die. For since he teaches that works are sufficient for salvation, enough is enough.
1) Erlanger: him.
for sin, when he preaches of indulgences, he points me to my works, there he preaches my poison and death. Therefore it is called a poison chair, because he murders me; Peter's chair becomes a murderer's pit, as Christ says. Mockers are it, washers, who can chat much, deceive the poor people, that is called the first psalm of the mockers chair, since one preaches false doctrine; as then the Pabst and the Curtisanen also have a saying, if their doctrine goes to the heart, devoutly places itself, gladly prays, so they have the mockery out of it, and call him bon Christian, that is: He is a great fool, he accepts our doctrine as if it were true; as if religion were a carnival play. They think that that is why they are sitting there, that we must believe and do what they pretend, and laugh into our fists; and we Germans are good fools, accept everything for sanctity and truth that we are told, and give enough money to boot. They have come so far that they are driving the mockery out of God, His Word and Christian faith. Therefore, God has let them fall again, as they deserved. For since they left S. Peter's and S. Paul's chair standing, and came with their filth, they have come to believe nothing more, neither of the Gospel, nor of Christ, nor of their own doctrine, except that they still preach before the people as if it were their salvation; and when they have deceived princes and lords, country and people, then they go into their closet, and laugh so finely into their hand, have the laughter and walk 2) out of it. Thus God has again afflicted and defiled them, for they have also defiled His word. But let us give thanks to God and pray that He will let us keep the word that He has revealed to us, and let us be serious about seeking a different life. They are swine, but we want to be free from sin and have a gracious God, so let us seek His word, learn it and practice faith and love, and let them mock us all the time; they will know in that day who has led another by the nose.
Such companions are the Pharisees also ge-
2) Gehet - teasing, mocking, ridiculing.
being. The Lord praises Mosi's chair, as we praise S. Peter's and Paul's chair, because these are offices, where Christ and the Gospel should be preached, which the pope and bishop of Halle should do, but they do not want to. Therefore God must have others; he raises up stones, so that they become mad and foolish.
He says where they sit on the chair and preach. But I will tell you what kind of herbs they are; what they preach to you according to the law of Moses, that keep; but what they do, that do ye not. They shall hear Moses, and there shall they have the promise of Messiah etc.
What do they do? Two things, 1. That which they teach you to keep, that they themselves do not do, preaching with the mouth, and not with the deed. If you do as they do, you will not keep a bit of the law of Moses; therefore you must not follow after their lives. It is hard that the Pharisees, scribes, teachers and rulers of the people did not live according to the Law of Moses, according to how they preached.
In the Gospels, it is shown from time to time how they prayed in the temple and in the synagogues, how they sighed toward heaven, sacrificed, slaughtered and fasted, read psalms and preached; should one not do according to the works? should one not pray or sacrifice as Moses commanded? This Christ further cut out Matt. 5: "Thou shalt not kill." They preached this commandment, but they did not keep it, but understood it to mean that if you do not kill someone with your fist, you are fulfilling the law. They did not see that their hearts were full of hatred and envy, especially against the prophets and divine truth, as this is not murder with them, as Saul sends David against the Philistines to take the hundred foreskins. Neither do they kill Christ when they deliver him to Pilate. These are secret assassins, who say that one should not kill, but they laugh in their fists when their neighbor perishes from the pestilence, or when his wife and child are harmed. Therefore they do nothing but transgress the law.
Item: "Thou shalt not commit adultery," the Ge
1) Erlanger: holtens.
bot not only the work, but also the evil desire and thoughts, the secret wooing. For the Pharisees are outwardly chaste before men, but in their hearts they are full of filthiness and evil desire, which is also vain fornication.
Therefore, learn to understand it correctly. The pope also teaches 2) that one should not commit adultery, especially to his priests, whom he does not want to allow to take wives. But do they do it? They do not touch it with the slightest finger.
This is a stirring sermon. How can they suffer that he makes them so black, hideous and ugly, and so miserably civilized 3) and scolds them before the people, so that the people may think: Are our preachers murderers, adulterers, thieves, scoundrels? He makes them exceedingly vexatious to the people. But he leaves them in office, and takes away their Christian life, that they should not be judged by their life and works.
This is the text that John Hus used against the Pope. When the pope wanted to shut him up with the cardinals and bishops, saying, "We sit in the chair; although our lives are unclean, we are evil, yet what we teach is right, and it should be done," John Hus turned it around and turned it around, saying, "Behold, you yourselves confess that you are Pharisees and such fellows as you do not want to be called by me," and pushed their lies into their mouths. But they did not mean it as Christ interprets it here, but understood the text thus: because they, the pope, cardinals and bishops were in office, John Hus should keep quiet, and not punish them, but hear them; even if they lived unjustly, and did not preach God's word, it should be kept.
We say no to that. Christ says plainly here: if they teach Moses, God's word, they should be heard, but not done according to their works, but they should be punished, for he gives us the punishment in the mouth; the vice of the priest must be punished. For since Christ tells us not to follow them, if we do not follow them, we must know the errors beforehand; we must not follow them.
2) Erlanger: lernet.
3) sülen, feel (to shall) - contaminate.
must speak of the known vices, as Christ does here. He is not silent, therefore those who are in the ministry of preaching should shove their filth under the noses of the pope and bishops, for they should preach God's word, but they do the opposite and practice godlessness.
I should know the vices of preachers, but not follow them in them; and if he teaches rightly, I should value the word, but shun his works; and if he were a whoremonger, I should not break marriage with him, but say, He sitteth upon the throne of Peter. A bishop and preacher should do two things: 1. that he teaches rightly, and 2. that he follows with his life; and even if the life were not good, nevertheless, because he preached purely, he should be admitted; for God can speak through an ass, and prophesy through an ungodly Caipham.
God's word is to be heard, but works are to be shunned, the evil life is not to be followed. This was the case in Moses' time. Now it is much different with those who now sit on the chair of Peter; there the first piece, the teaching, is gone.
V. 4. But they bind heavy and unsearchable burdens, and lay them upon men's necks; but they will not stir them up with a finger.
Has not the pope done this, and imposed great severe penalties of penance and atonement on the people, so that some of them have martyred themselves that they have died of it? But he would not have considered it, and the bishops and priests have lived for a while in all pleasures and delights, and have not stirred up with one finger what they commanded others; have laughed with good courage, and have not accepted it. Yes, the pope says that he is not subject to any law. If this is true, that he is subject neither to God nor to his own rights, and may do as he pleases, then he has a good game. But he says: "Those who are under me must bear the burden, as with repentance, since no man can have a peaceful heart from it, for it has been hell itself; then with confession, that if he does not repent of sin, he is not subject to the law.
And while we were thus toiling in the great fear of hell, the pope was sitting in Rome, having a good time sleeping and dancing. So they have bound the people with unbearable burdens, which they themselves would not have touched with a finger. I shall bear the torment of hell, so that I will not go to heaven sooner, because I have kept its laws and have given them enough. The pope is wearing a triple crown, 1. with repentance, 2. with confession, 3. with satisfaction, because it is also a triple hellish rat king.
I have thus toiled and corrupted myself in the priesthood with confession and satisfaction, that I sought strange sins which I had not committed, never had any rest, [and have] 1) still [no] pure and peaceful heart before repentance; cannot yet get rid of the doctrine, it will harm me all my life, that I cannot yet cleanse my heart of it or satisfy it. They laughed at this and had no mercy on those who had to carry these burdens, crawl under them and sweat, but still had joy over it.
The decrees of the pope are full, full of useless commandments of food and drink, clothes, since one commandment has made ten, even a hundred and a thousand, or a hundred thousand other commandments, that no student can pick them out, and are well worth throwing into the fire, for they are unmistakable burdens; nor have people given their money and goods to churches and monasteries leniently, for the burden was driven so hard, and the pope pressed the world with it. If one should give so much now, the world would become beggars. But this did not satisfy the consciences, nor did it relieve the burden, for the preaching of Christ was silent; but it was said, If thou wilt have a good conscience, do this or that. That was a man's sentence; you must throw it to the winds, and put your trust not in your works, but in the blood of our Lord Christ, who died for you, of whom the heart is
1) The words: "und hab" are in the original between the lines (Erlanger). - The word "no" is added by us.
rest, refreshment and refreshment. But if the pope had done that, his regiment would soon have fallen. But he does not want his kingdom to perish. Now either the pope or Christ must leave the heart. For the bed is too narrow, the blanket too short; they cannot lie together. There is no other advice, either the pope must come out, or Christ must come out. I should put my trust in Christ, not in myself or the priest, so the priest must go out and Christ alone must reign in. But if the pope should remain in, then there is a burden and a burden, but no counsel nor comfort, how one should get rid of the infallible burden. Now, through the mercy of God, we are made free to disregard the pope's law and monasticism.
Young people do not know about this torture, because they have not been in it. And there no one has attained salvation, even though he had long sought it and would have liked to be pious. For the dog, the pope, lay in the cradle, and cast out Christ. And yet, on the last day, 1) some were beaten about and took Christ, like the thief on the cross, and the poor people who were led to punishment were caught, to whom the monks held up the crucifix.
But after that also some barefoot monks said: Behold this [your] 2) shameful death I set for you for your sin. Well then, let the devil lead thee away! Shall you bet like this? Where is Christ here? But so they should have said: Dear son, you have stolen and deserved torture. You must do enough for the world, and suffer death patiently for your merit; as, you have put fire in, that you may be burned again. With the punishment you deserve nothing. But lest thou despair, be of good cheer, call upon Christ, who hath paid for thy sin, and for the sin of us all. Do not put your death in satisfaction for me, but Christ, the right cornerstone.
1) "Last day" here stands for: the hour of death. Compare "Table Talks," Cap. 30, § 32. Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XXII, 967.
2) "yours" added by us.
After this there is also a heavy burden, namely the preaching of the law, when it is preached to us and we cannot keep it. This is right. But it must be preached in such a way that we do not die under the burden, but are led to Christ through it; and are these not good Christians who only want the gospel preached? One must also practice the law, so that people may know who they are and what they owe. But Christ must be preached in addition, so that the poor frightened consciences may get breath again and be comforted; but one must let one go with the other.
[Second sermon on Matt. 23.]
So Christ disgracefully painted the Pharisees, 1. that they taught the word of God, Moses, well, but did not understand it.
So the Lord punished the Pharisees for their doctrine, that they sat in the chair of Moses, and preached Moses, and laid up infallible burdens. This is a great thing, that he punished them in their highest office, as in the doctrine, that they taught Moses, and yet understood not, neither did they do it with their lives. 2. Now he touches their doings and works, saying that they do all things to please men. This means that he has washed their fur, that he allows them neither life nor doctrine to be good, and admits that they have the doctrine of Moses and yet read the text correctly, but he condemns their interpretation and admits that they do much, but blaspheme the works. Now they were ordained by God to establish the priesthood and govern the people in the commandments of God. The people were also commanded to listen to them, to feed them, and to give them tithes. He takes this away from them here, and turns his face to the people, and scolds them most severely, saying, "They do many works, but look at them, and you will find that your preachers are boys in the skin; for they do not do their works in honor of God and as an example to the people, but out of ambition, so that they want to be seen. But what is the use of the work that does not honor God or serve man?
But is it only for the benefit of avarice and the glory of men? It is a great boldness on Christ's part that he is allowed to run roughshod over them in this way. But in Matthew 6 (v. 2) he speaks more widely of this: "Do not, as the hypocrites do, when they give alms, sound the trumpet before the guests and the synagogues, that they may be praised of men." Item [v. 5.], "When thou prayest, thou shalt not stand as the hypocrites in the chambers, and pray in the synagogues, as the hypocrites do, that they may be seen of men." The poor people gape, thinking it is true that they are so devout and holy, because they stand in the market and turn their eyes to heaven, beating their breasts; for the gray skirt has the heartache. But Christ says [Matth. 6, 3. f.]: Do not do so, but "when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be hidden; and your Father, who sees what is hidden, will reward you publicly." And [v. 6], "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and shut thy door, and pray unto thy Father in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." So also when you fast. A Pharisee, when he fasts, makes his face pale, puts on other clothes, gray skirt, looks sour, that blinds people, but do not do it. If you want to fast, do it so that people do not notice. Do not seek your honor or glory among men, as the Pharisees do; because they fast, the whole city must know who have lost their reward.
How shamefully he disgraces their works by seeking the causam finalem of their works, namely, that they do much, pray, fast, give alms, so that they may have honor from the world; and they also receive honor from the world. These shameful saints, who do special works in front of others, are different from other people. Look at them. They do great things, but the main thing, the highest articles of Christian doctrine, namely faith, prayer, patience in the cross, they leave undone. On the other hand, they are immersed in unbelief, pride, envy, avarice and fornication, so that he is not able to
part will say: They are like the whitewashed graves of the dead, painted and decorated with colors on the outside, but full of stink on the inside; that one stands in gray skirts, hanging the cops, but they leave a stink and Unflath behind them. That is the 1) buck in the wool and beard grabbed.
V. 5-7. They make broad memorial slips and great hems on their garments; they like to sit at the top of the table and in the synagogues, and like to be greeted in the market, and to be called rabbi by the people.
Moses had commanded the Jews not to forget the commandments of God, so they were to write the Ten Commandments on the doorposts, on their hands, on their foreheads and walls, on slips of paper; item, when they got up in the morning and ate or drank, they were to always remember the commandments of God: Just as we are commanded to be diligent in the teaching of the faith and the divine word, and whatever we do, early and late, to begin it in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But this the hypocrites did, moreover, out of ambition, in that they wore great slips of paper about their garments, and hats before their foreheads, that they might be seen before men, as the Jews still do; But the Pharisees wore larger pieces of paper, and after that they did more special works of praying, fasting, and almsgiving than other people; but the pious keep God's word in their hearts, but they did it so that it only looked beautiful in front of people, and in their hearts God and all His commandments were completely gone. This was their holiness, these are pious people, and the poor simple-minded people were deceived by them.
They were supposed to have carried the notes so that they would remember that they were poor sinners, that they feared and honored God, and that they would remember His commandments; but they sought their honor in them.
Moses had also commanded that they should wear a yellow cord or lappet in the four places 2) or tails of the cloak, as a sign that they were God's people; for
1) Erlanger: den.
2) Place - the far end.
God wanted to separate them with the lace, so that the children of Israel could be recognized. Then the Pharisees went to them, and did not remain with the common way, but made large buttons, bunches and villi on them, as if they were a paragon and special people of God. Is it a sin for them to do this? No, God commanded it through Moses, so that it would be a sign and a sign of the people of God. Why does she rebuke the Christ? It is because they do this, so that they get the divinity from the people.
Our clergymen (I think) have their chasubles and clothing all from the Jews, as the ephod, stoles, and cloaks, everything is in the Jewish way. But we have made it a hundred times worse than the Jews, because whoever had a beautiful chasuble on 1) before your others, he also wanted to be better than others.
They like to sit on top. This is not evil, but Moses ordered that the high priest should sit on top, and then the Levites. Why then does the Lord break the stairs here, so that there is no order, but all should sit on the ground? Does he not want any tier 2) to be above the other? They must sit above each other when they are at the wedding, or in the church when they are preaching and teaching, and in the schools when they are discussing, they have to sit on top. Is Christ rebellious? A father must sit above the son, a mayor above the citizen, an old man above a younger one. If the chairs are on the table, it will not be fine; why then will he 3) put it all in a heap? He does it because they did everything out of ambition, and thereby wanted to be considered great by the people. Thus all good works are so shamefully perverted. A mayor should be held higher than a citizen, and sit higher and be honored, even though he is of the same flesh as a citizen; and if he fears God, he speaks thus: I must be in office, I would rather be exalted, but for the honor of God, service.
1) Erlanger: has.
2) Erlanger: Staffen.
3) Erlanger: wirfts ers.
and will, and I will do it for the benefit of the neighbor. 4) Otherwise, if he wants to boast and puff himself up, and thinks he is the man, and must seek his honor and piety, it would be better for him to sit in the cowshed.
If one is not to honor anyone, then one may not study, for a lawyer, theologian or doctor, if he studies and increases in learning, then he can become great and reach high. Is that a sin? No, one should study, one should work, so that one has a head, and therefore that I want to send myself, whether it would come that one needs me, and I earn my penny; because in the sweat of the face one should eat the bread. Therefore, if you are sent, if God has given you grace for your studies, and if you are called to the ministry, be obedient and say, "It is God's will that has called me to this;" and of this Paul says, "He who desires the episcopate does well; so lawyers and physicians are a divine profession.
5) It is all in the difference of the heart, it is all the order of God, who has thus divided the classes and confirmed them. Now see if you are also a Pharisee or if you are simple-minded. The Pharisee here seeks his honor, not of God nor of his neighbor, but that he may be feared and held in honor. He should not seek this with his office and status. So also in your office you shall not seek honor, and [not] say: God stay with his honor where he wills; if I were only a lawyer or theologian, that they would carry me on their hands and celebrate me. No, you shall not think so. God's honor shall be promoted, you shall do everything for God's service and obedience. A student who wants to become a preacher, think: If I can serve the church, I will do it gladly, I will not spare my diligence; because for this we should study, for this the parents should draw children, one to the priest, [another] to the mayor.
So Christ does not punish God's order and status here, but the hope that the statuses will set themselves above God, and take God's honor that is due to him. That is to say, they have thrown God to the wind and have
4) Erlanger: wills ichs.
5) Erlanger: leit.
sought. Therefore, we were not created to live for our own sake, but to promote God's glory and to be useful to the people. But look what our bishops are doing now. If one of them is a bishop, he would like to be an archbishop or a cardinal, but he seeks to get as high as he can, so that the chair of preaching and the people's happiness remain where they want. There is neither abbot nor prior who wants to serve God, does not preach; seek only their avarice and honor. In Jtalia and France it is not a sin to stand for a bishopric, consider it right to have many fiefdoms and prebends, and even flush out the monasteries. 1) Now it is not an evil thing to desire a bishopric, but what is a bishop? Then read in Paul: A bishop should not be a whoremonger, but a woman's husband, should be diligent to preach, not stingy. It does not mean seeking power, honor, great rent and income, but he should be doctrinal, teach and preach; these are bishops who are hewn in stones and painted on the wall. Give me 2) but now such a bishop; so you will find wedged in the world. I will be silent about the least, but that he should be a husband. But will God condemn Paul and punish lies, and canonize the pope? No, no, he will have kept it, as he gave it to Petro and Paulo, that if a preacher [cannot] 3) live chastely, that he take a wife.
It was child's play for the Jews against our papacy. They covet the bishopric by seeking their own honor and property, by seeking violence, by defiling virgins. No one desires the bishopric to preach 4) and to give others a good example.
So this is the difference: Because honor and high status are to be sought, seek it so that you learn 5) so that you may advance, become skilled, and be useful to countries and people, or to the church; a virgin may become an honest matron; a young man may become an honest man. But when he thinks, "I want to get money and goods, to become rich; I want to become a theologian.
1) "rinse - pillage.
2) Erlanger: Gives.
3) "not" added by Bruns.
4) Erlanger: preaches.
5) Erlanger: teach.
If I become an abbot, it will not be so; but look to God and to the salvation of the people, not as you feed your belly alone. Where this happens, take your salary and feed yourself from your profession.
So, if someone wanted to say: I will take a wife, and under the appearance of being a hnrent driver, God grant that it may be so, that is not right-minded; but if you do this, that you may be found in an honest state to the honor of God, in which you may also be useful to people, then you do right.
We should thank God and be glad that our Lord God shows us why I should study, namely for His sake and for the world's benefit and improvement. If God gives you something about it, accept it and thank Him for it. For one must have lawyers, physicians, preachers and learned people, reasonable citizens, whom one cannot hew out of the stones. Let them then direct their nature so that they may finally be used in a city or country, and say: I do this in honor of my God, for the benefit of your neighbor.
"They like to be greeted at the market"; that is, they bend down and shave off their little hats and say: Holy Rabbi. That is not wrong either; otherwise our peasants would do well to stand like swine, clods and oxen. But you often hear that the youth should get used to greet honest men and women and to pay homage, as St. Peter and St. Paul commanded, that one should precede the other with homage. If an honest woman or virgin meets you, do not be ashamed to touch your beret against your veil or braid, for the pagan says that honor is not of whom it is done, but of who does it. An honest woman remains pious, even if you despise her and do not remove your beret for her; but they say of you: you are a gag, spleen, stick and block. The shame is yours, you are a hemp, gag, felt. Otherwise the honor would come home to you that one would say: An honest citizen is that.
Why then does Christ say: They like to be greeted? Because they do not ask about God, they only want to be celebrated and honored.
be. A prince has his knees bent before him, because God has placed him in office; and God has commanded reverence, and when you honor those higher than you, you honor God Himself in the same persons.
But the Pharisees were ambitious worshippers who did not ask for God's glory and honor and man's blessedness, but how they alone would be honored. But God did not put them in the honor, that you should lick the fat above, and God should have nothing of it etc.
Third sermon 1) [on Matth. 23.]
V.8-12. But you shall not be called Rabbi, for One is your Master, Christ, and you are all brothers; and you shall not call anyone your father on earth, for One is your Father who is in heaven; and you shall not be called Master, for One is your Master, Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant; for he who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
This is also a shameful thing, that he punishes the Pharisees because they let themselves be called Rabbi, and here also denounces that they let themselves be called Fathers, Lords and Masters, when the fourth commandment commands that one should honor fathers and mothers and be obedient to them. But here he does the opposite. He does not want to have doctors, masters, pastors, preachers or fathers here, because there is only one Master, Christ.
This text was once used in a disputation here, where a doctor was to be awarded a doctorate, and from it all the degrees were condemned and cursed; but they are now dead who did it. 2)
Rabbi means a bishop, priest. Rabbini are such preachers, as the Jews still call their theologos rabbinos, doctores, teachers. This goes to the spiritual regiment, preachers
1) This caption is in the margin of the original.
2) Compare Tischreden, Cap. 9,.F 2, and Cap. 67,? 9. Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XXII, 358 and 1529. Carlstadt, by the way, died only in 1541 at Basel. According to the Tischreden, Carlstadt pronounced this oei on the occasion of a doctorate in an "Oration".
and listener, because rabbi and disciple belong together. Son and daughter he calls fathers, that is the house regirnent. The third estate, 3) where subjects are called their lord emperor and king, princes and lords; servant and maid have lord and wife, householder. The Lord means these three things, that we should not suffer masters in spiritual government. But is this not rebellious, to abolish all rule in the church, in the secular regiment and household? what is left here? one may now make no doctores, nor hold weddings, nor suffer authorities and rulers.
First of all, Christ wants to say, be satisfied with one rabbi, and let Christ be your rabbi, your pastor and bishop or preacher, you shall all remain his disciples. He is pope, pastor, preceptor and schoolmaster, because Christ does not want that one should not have doctores. One cannot do without them, therefore Paul often says: "We are his legals and doctores. But if the same rabbi preaches in such a way that it is said, "Christ," then it is right and proper, and does not make its own, and the Christian church is not torn apart. But where different things are preached, in one church and in another, it is not right; there the discordant, disunited preachers each take an adherent to himself, since they should all point to Christ alone. John the Baptist did not want to have his disciples with him, but pointed them to the Lamb of God, saying: "I will decrease, but he will increase, I am not Christ. He led them to the right some 4) Master, to Christ. So it should also go that One Christ, One Word is preached. Whether the voice or the person is different, it does not matter, one should listen. We in Wittenberg and Torgau hear One Christ preaching; though we have many tongues preaching to us, yet it is only One Man whose Word is preached.
But where they teach differently in Leipzig, differently in Wittenberg, item, differently in Torgau, that is not right. Such preachers, who make their own ladders to heaven, should not be heard, but avoided,
3) Erlanger: "3rd stand".
4) Erlanger: own.
because they do not preach Christ or the right word. For then they become their own masters, which is strictly forbidden here. There should be One Word, One Christ, One Baptism, One God and Father of all. The rabbis did not do this, just as our monks were also such rabbis, since each of them produced something special. The preaching monks wanted to draw the people to themselves, established a brotherhood, and gave many indulgences to a rosary. The barefoot monks quarreled with the preaching monks forever, because they wanted to be something special, and they set up a crown for Mary, attached people to themselves, and gave them grain. This made them feel gentle, because the rabbis had thought up something new, that one should pray five paternosters, then the ten stones at the door. In the sects, there is only humanity, and Christ is silent, their voice is not different, but from vigils, pilgrimages.
So the Pharisees also made themselves masters of something special, preaching how to wash hands, item, candelabra and washing pots; that meant drawing people to themselves.
Paul, Acts 20, when he departed from Mileto 1) also complains about it, warns and says: "There will arise terrible wolves, and among you, who want to draw the disciples to themselves and snatch them away from Christ, the true teacher. Therefore take heed to the herd. These are the true rabbis; the devil likes to get into the rabbis who want to be seen.
The court is a cruel plague, when it comes among the preachers, that they desire the people to cling to them, so that one says: Yes, this is a man, he can tear it out freely. There the devil does not celebrate. These are harmful wolves; therefore Christ did not make us preachers, but to teach his word purely and not to seek honor in it.
Münzer made the beginning, then Carlstadt and the Anabaptists. Before that, the pope had the whole world hanging on him. But I shall not seek my honor and glory from the preaching ministry, that all men may know of me to sing and to say; for then it would be better,
1) Erlanger: Melito.
I would be a whoremonger, murderer or highwayman, because I condemn myself with it, and also lead others into the abyss of hell. God did not give us His Word and Sacrament so that we might seek our honor in them. Should not God afflict us with all kinds of plagues for that? A preacher should not care whether he is scolded or praised, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6, but his ministry should be directed to seeking God's glory and the people's happiness. Then it is said: A day laborer is worth his wages. If God receives his glory, he will also give you a piece of bread to eat.
The gospel teaches that we are all sinners and condemned if we are not saved by grace. There I preach my shame; what will I seek my glory here? For I am under the wrath and judgment of God, as well as another. But where does the filth, the hope, come from, that the preachers, as all sinners, damned, cursed people, want to boast and seek honor? I should cry out my own sin, that I am condemned and disgraced before God. What honor should be due to me? Therefore I should not seek honor, but mean your and my blessedness, and hear the Master who makes us all blessed. This is not what the spirits of the wicked can do; they cry out that they seek God's glory, but it is not true.
Paul complained to the Galatians that preachers came to him preaching circumcision, which he did not do; they sought their glory in this, so that people said, "This is a fine preacher! Paul was also a fine man, but these are better, because they preach circumcision; that is something. So Carlstadt and Muenzer must also come higher, throw down the Bible, for they would have liked to be rabbis; if they had preached Christ, they could not have become high. But if we wanted to act rightly, we should not seek honor in such things of God. You should allow yourself to be judged today by the gospel, so that you might have a low office in the church, just as the little stars in the sky are not angry about it,
2) Added by Bruns.
They are not as big as the moon or the other planets, but are satisfied with the light they have from the sun and that they are in the sky. They do not desire to be brighter; it is glorious enough that they stand in the sky. So be thou content that thou art in the kingdom of God, Christ's heir, though thou be the least of the churchmen, as the 84th Psalm saith, I will rather keep the door of my God's house, than dwell long in the tabernacles of the wicked; and if God would that we should be the swine's handmaid in the church, for then we should be highly enough ennobled, and shine beautifully, that we should be a piece of Christ's kingdom, 1) and sing a little song to God day and night. 1) But if you want to be something special in front of people, that is a sign that you are leaving the church. What can human honor do for you? Here Christ says that those who like to be called rabbis have their reward taken away, seek honor before the world, and do not respect the honor of God; therefore it must be a disgrace to them. We should also make a mockery of the fact that we like to be rabbis, and let it suffice us that God may receive honor from it, and we are satisfied that we have been graced with the highest honor, namely, God's grace and mercy, that He may forgive us our sins, that we may be justified before Him through Christ, and that we may have eternal life. It is a shame and death to seek your own honor; and if this were believed, one would say, 2) I do all honor; neither your honor nor your shame shall move me. So be it. So bishops are to prove their profession by deed, that a man follow not S. Bernard or the pope, but, as to the Hebrews in the 13th chapter, that one read the histories of the fathers, and look at their end, and follow their faith; 1) saying not, Do as they do; as Muenzer preached, Dear friends, have you not read or heard how Gideon wielded the sword of the Lord against the Midianites? David waged the war of the Lord, and smote the tyrants; ye are also
1) Erlanger: "sein" instead of "wären" and: "singen" instead of "sängen".
2) Erlanger: sprech.
3) Erlanger: follow.
the people of God and the sword of Gideon; thought they should do the works that Joshua had done. Yes, do not lie yet. However, he led the people in this way, taking up their sword. But he should have said: Dear friends, follow their faith that they have had, and not their works. But their ears itched, and the drunkard came and led them up, and they fell down and longed for the next water, when they were weary of the right doctrine. And the devil likes to set up such a game, so that there are mobs and death throes. Then we like to hear new doctrine and those that make our ears prick up, and we fall away from the great glory of faith. There comes a new teacher, and as a panting dog, he is full of greetings and teaching, has drunk himself full of the devil, and then come thirsty disciples; but Christ is the right master. Thus also says S. Jacob [Chapter 3, 1.]: 5) Nolite, etc.; but if ye have more masters, ye shall have the greater judgment. For this cause the Lord hath forbidden breeds and sects, and full swine, which are full of the evil spirit, and whose ears itch: but let every man keep his profession, teaching the faith and works of the profession.
Shall we not have doctors and preachers? Yes, it does not hurt that they are called Rabbi, after the right Rabbi; for he who preaches the right Rabbi, Christinn, may also be a Rabbi. Christ is the chief preacher, such are his instruments and tongues. As, if I preach God's word, and am called a Rabbi, it is One Thing; so I hear not Pomeranum as a Rabbi, but as a Doctor of Christ, for he preaches that which Christ taught. There are two distinct persons, but only one preacher.
So the text of parents must also be understood. When a father and mother teach their children their own doings and devotions, just as the weathermen teach their children that the Lord is with them, but when they teach them to pray6), to tell the ten commandments, to keep them in the fear of God, I do not hear the father who begat me, but the father who begot me.
4) Erlanger: their,
5) According to the Vulgate: Nolite plures magistri fieri etc. 6) Erlanger: learn.
is in heaven. For as the word Rabbi is understood in the spiritual state, so also the word father and mother. If the mouth of the parents speaks not their own word, but God's, the word of the Father in heaven, then they are also fathers; and so they receive the vine of a father for the sake of the heavenly Father, in whose stead they are and teach you his word. Then it is said, not to have many fathers, but one; just as a godly preacher and the word Rabbi is one thing, because Christ speaks through him 1) and there is God's commandment: You shall honor your father and mother, not that they are called George, Hans or otherwise, but that they have God's word beforehand, that they should teach God's word. If they do this, they do not lead me from the heavenly Father, but themselves and me to him. Both are one fatherhood, just as the other is one teaching. But again, those who teach idolatry and blasphemy to the children, 1) and let them go to a monastery, make many fathers on earth, who are not worthy to be called fathers, but murderers, tear them away from God, and give them to the devil.
So the third. There one must know also from the worldly state; since master, lord, servant and maids are, there are princes and lords, landlords, master, a lord in the house. If there is to be a regiment, there should also be only one lord, there should be one lord and prince who governs and commands his subjects according to what is right and divine. For such estates shall rule and teach the other subjects so that they are led to God, as Paul teaches in Titum [Cap.] 2, that the old matrons shall teach the young women to live chastely; but if she has a wild spirit, the old men say, "It is not fitting for you. So a lord or ruler should take care of his servants, so that they do not sin, curse, lie, disobey or do harm in public, but lead them to God and instruct them, item, to guard against false teaching. Thus he leads his servants away from him, who is a mortal lord, to the eternal, incorruptible Lord, to the common Lord. Then they are not many masters, but they follow
1) Erlanger: them.
2) Erlanger: learn. - "lassens" - let them.
to their one Lord, that is, Christ, who is in heaven.
Here Christ distinguishes the various classes, rabbis, fathers and lords. These are the three classes: among the rabbis are disciples, among the parents the children, among the lords the subjects. In the classes the whole world is understood. Christ Himself distinguishes the classes and does not want them to be abolished, but everything should go so that the Rabbi, Father and Lord point you to the one God, so that discord, false doctrine, ruthlessness and division may be avoided, and one faith, church, doctrine and word may remain.
And yet there is a difference between the classes. In the church there are the rabbis and listeners, in the secular government the princes and subjects; mother and father, children and servants in the house. All this is divided innumerably, but nevertheless it should be understood that they all honor the one God. The preacher says: I am not your preacher, but Christ who speaks through me. Item, the parents say: This is your right father, who created you, gave you body and soul. Let the Lord say, God is the only Lord, as Gideon said, I will not be lord of the children of Israel, nor of my children, when he smote the Midianites, and was offered dominion; but said, The Lord shall be your lord. Why does he say this, since he was their lord and duke, who did much good among them? Therefore he did it, that they might know God by it.
Thus all rule shall be to serve God, as it is written in Matt. 4: You shall serve God alone; that we may serve God in the personal and be obedient. So Christ says: "Be it so, that you serve me alone, that I alone may be your Lord. Otherwise, if this does not happen, nothing will remain; everything will perish, spiritual, temporal government and household. But where I alone am a rabbi and master, everything will go right; only see to it that you take me alone for your Lord and master. And when a father teaches his child, he serves the one God. The child, when he hears you, he does not hear you, but God, and yet he also hears you.
So the difference of all stands remains,
and yet is drawn into the unity that only One Rabbi, Father and Lord is. This is not done by those who cause turmoil in the church, or stir up discord in the secular government and trample parents underfoot. But where this happens, one is led away by God, and then church, country and house fall to the ground.
[Fourth] Sermon 1) [on Matth. 23.]
[First woe.]
V. 13. Woe to you, Christian teachers and Pharisees, hypocrites, who shut up the kingdom of heaven from men; you do not enter, and those who want to enter you do not let enter.
This is a great clamor and an unkind letter, which he lets go about the great men in the spiritual regiment, who should govern the people, as preachers, bishops; and does not particularly concern the common man, although we also want to draw on it, but calls them all here by name, Pharisees and Christian scholars, as in our time the pope and the bishops are, to whom it applies.
And there are eight cries of contumely in the chapter; first call them hypocrites, false saints; is a shameful name, as one might call a false, lying man, who deceives and lies; but it is called going in with a flourish, and yet everything is a lie; they pretend to be pious, and deceive country and people. You should be the pillars and cornerstones of the people, teaching God's word purely and living holy; but you are lying, teaching lies, and living falsely. Why? You close the kingdom of heaven; you do not enter, and you also prevent others from entering.
This is an abominable preaching and severe punishment, that those who are supposed to have the office of preaching, power and right to teach, [do not] 2) use it to make us blessed, but lead us into damnation to the devil, when the office of preaching was instituted by God for the purpose that man might be saved from hell. But you reverse the custom;
1) This caption is in the margin of the original.
2) "it. not" added by Bruns.
Since you are commanded to offer for sale the kingdom of heaven, you shut it, you have the keys, and will not use them; and those whom you are to help, you hypocrites and false lying idols resist, as Lucas finely interprets it: have the keys of knowledge. This is a peculiar way of speaking according to the Holy Scriptures. In the papacy it was interpreted in this way, that the pope has two keys, one of knowledge, the other of power; this is not interpreted correctly, because he knows nothing about doctrine, but has the key of power, so that he says he can do whatever he wants. But Christ does not speak here of the keys, of which he speaks in Matthew 18, when he speaks of binding and setting free, of absolution, that Christianity has the keys, the power and office to bind hardened sinners, and again, when he converts, then sets the same afflicted one free again, that is, forgives sin.
This way of speaking must be noted against the glossam sententiariorum and against the jurists, who do not understand this text, bring their own gloss to the Scriptures, should understand by the key of the mind what would be sin or not sin, what would be leprosy or not.
These keys go badly to sin, as if one is an adulterer, I shall tell him that he sins, and no Christian shall deal with him until he recognizes himself and improves. Then 3) a priest from God's word) 4) shall have power to accept him again. Now this text is not concerned with this, but clavis scientiae is the name of the power that is directed and applied to the teaching, that one may preach and administer the sacrament. For knowledge in Hebrew means the teaching, the office or power to preach, that one governs man with God's word.
This is the key of which Christ says here: You are in office, and it is right, born priests, you also have authority to preach, this you shall do, you yourselves shall know what is right or wrong, by such office you shall lead the poor people out of the devil's mouth into God's kingdom. The mind is
3) Here we have erased "again" because it is too much.
4) "Word" added by Bruns.
right, for it is not called scientia speculativa, as the lawyers say, but officium docendi, the office and command to preach the word of God; this is the Hebrew language. 1) And Christ gives them the power, that they have the office from Moses, and have not crept in, or had the office unjustly, therefore it is right that they should have it. But now they go on, and corrupt the people, when they should serve them unto salvation. Now the people are forced to listen to them, as it is written in the 5th book of Moses [Cap. 17, 8-12: 2) If any soul will not hear the priest, it shall be cut off. Whoever then has the power that one must obey him as God Himself, and does the contradiction to condemnation, then it is truly an abominable thing, as the highest harm is a false preacher; who is the worst man on earth, and there is no thief, murderer, or scoundrel on earth to compare with him, who would be so wicked as such a preacher, who has men under God's name in his obedience, and he beats them to death, and leads them with false preaching into the abyss of hell.
For this reason the Lord is justly angry with them, because he cries out that they should have such an office, that they should preach, and the people should obey them; but it is also written in the same command that the priest should preach according to the law of the Lord, so that he may be sure that it is God's word and not his dream. If he uses his office in such a way that he does not teach his word but God's word, then whoever does not listen shall be cut off. But where God's word is not preached, the hearer is not guilty of obedience. But the peelers put this under the benches and kept silent, preaching the first part and omitting the other. The voice is not left free, but it is bound and knit to God's word.
Thus the people are bound to the word of God. He who hears the preacher, as Christ says, hears him himself; item: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel" etc. There it goes finely, "He that heareth you heareth me." Where therefore this word is not preached
1) "According to the Hebrew usage." Note by Bruns.
2) Erlanger: "like Deu.:"
they should have been wise and said: I am not obliged to hear it, because it is not the word of God; for I alone shall hear the voice that guides the word of God.
The pope with his hypocrites, scribes, and Pharisees also did this with the loss of the souls' salvation, and misused the text in all churches, namely, that one should obey the word of the pope and [the] bishops with the penalty of eternal damnation. The wretched people had to believe this. We were trapped with the commandment that we should listen to them, had to serve. It is God's word: "Whoever hears you, hears me; whoever despises you, despises me"; and what the pope, bishops and monks dreamed, we had to believe for truth.
But now, praise God! we have punched a hole in the pew of the pope, that we now say: Listen, pope, to what Christ and the apostles say: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel"; count me the text in its entirety, and not just a piece of it. It says: Preach God's word, the gospel. Whoever then does not hear you there, despises you. If I say the word of God and you despise it, that is wrong, for God has instituted the ministry of preaching to help people to know God and to be saved. But in his books, the pope sets everything he wants against God's commandment; that is why his books were burned, because he does not ask anything about God's word. He only wants to have his statutes and deeds done, as Daniel also says: "A king will come who will do everything according to his will, and will not preach the law of the Lord; and he has brought it about that he has pretended that God's word is under his power; the pope, as all devils, denies that he should be given the power to govern the whole church, and that one is obliged to be obedient to him, and to believe what he speaks. Therefore, all lawyers should burn the Decretals and Observance, as it is called, with the pope; for there are only commandments against God in it, that he also says he has power over God's word.
We may thank God that we have been rid of him. He has frightened everyone with his word, that I cannot yet do it
get rid of them. Hearts were struck dumb by his thunderbolts, for so he says: "If I put someone under ban, and he is wronged, you should fear me, lest you be condemned. The thunderbolt has so wounded and bruised me and others that we still have enough to heal, indeed, many have had to die over it; for we have been forced to confess that if one does us wrong and condemns an innocent person, he is still doing right. Is not this the devil, that such a commandment has thus thundered, that that which is unjust should be right? But all this is because the hypocrites have half led the texts, as the Jews also did, saying, It is written: Hear the voice of the priest, or be damned; so also the pope says, He that heareth me heareth God, when he hath left undone all that Christ commanded, namely, "Preach the gospel." If he did both, that would be a wonderful thing. But he does not attack the gospel, but only says, "What I tell you to do, whether it is about the gospel or not, you shall do, as you shall not eat meat on Friday in mortal sin. When I ask, "Father, where is this written? where did Christ command it?" he says: I command you. Well, let the thunder strike, that thou wilt thus bind me from thy iniquity, which is not written in the Gospel. Christ does not tell me about caps, milk, eggs, eating flesh, but has commanded to preach the gospel, which speaks of forgiveness of sins. But is not eating meat the gospel, it is the devil. To celebrate a feast, to use a form of the Lord's Supper, that is what one must do in case of mortal sin and loss of eternal blessedness. I would not have been so bold in the monastery that I would have laid aside the Scheple 1) for a moment, since Christ knows of no cap or plate. But with the one saying: He who hears you hears Christ, he has struck the whole church dead.
That is why Christ is so angry with them, because they did the same, saying, "Woe to you who shut up the kingdom of heaven 2) from those who do not know what they are doing.
1) Schepler - shoulder dress of the religious clergy.
2) Erlanger: adjoining.
Men, you do not enter, and those who want to enter, you do not let in. Lucas says: "They have the key of knowledge, which is as much as entering the kingdom of heaven, which is to come to the knowledge of the truth and faith. For the kingdom of heaven is the gospel and the Christian church. One should preach the gospel, so that man may be brought to the knowledge of God; for he who has the knowledge has the kingdom of heaven. They should discover the knowledge and unlock it; then they close it, as the pope does, saying: "Whoever eats milk on Friday shall be damned; there the knowledge is closed, I cannot enter. This is the intolerable burden, that one should lose eternal life. They do not want to keep it and be free, and yet they want it from others; they do not touch it with a finger, they burden others with it, and they want to be free. So Christ cries out about this, because it is such a devilish being. They did not come in, they still do not come in, and they refuse the others. It is no wonder that Christ cries out so cruelly, because it is such a terrible thing that takes Christ away, that Christ helps us nothing at all, and that the kingdom of heaven is closed if one does not keep the pope's commandment. He has done so badly that he has barred heaven to the whole world; and yet he has made himself the servant of all the servants of God, who wants to bring all the world to heaven, lies honestly, pretends to want everyone to be blessed, and yet wants to have his dirt kept. Shout, who ha can, about all, who hold it with him. They are in the office to lead the people to Moses and God's word. Blessed are those who use the word of God rightly, as we do!
"Woe" means the eternal hellish fire, that shall be their punishment. Here the pope and cardinals cannot be punished sufficiently, because their sin is too great. And Christ indicates here that some would like to be saved, who have entered the Kingdom of Heaven without their thanks and will. For God still had His own, as also in: Pabstthum Joannes Hus, Doctor Hemmerich, 3) which others have taught,
3) This probably refers to Felix HeMmerlin, Doctor of Canon Law, of Zurich, who is considered an enemy of the
and have torn through the cobweb, and come to the true light of the divine word, and have barked against the papacy. Although the pope fights hard with fire and water, banishes, chokes, and kills, they still managed to get through; as John 9, they soon pushed the blind man to the temple, out of the church, and cast a spell on him; he tore through and let himself be banished, and remained with Christ. So others have done more. So the pope, emperor, kings attacked, condemned and burned many who did not care, but went to the kingdom of heaven through the ban, raving and raging, as did Jerome of Prague. Jerome of Prague did. The pope still has us under his spell, he maledicts us every year, but we walk on the right path, we believe in Christ. And those Christ means here, who do not want to enter the kingdom of heaven; they are thieves and murderers, who want to eat the sheep. But the sheep keep the word of God, and ask nothing of them. This perverts them, therefore they beat back the others and forbid them not to listen to our preachers, but to stick to the old doctrine and to the Pope's decree.
Now our adversaries act in such a way that they themselves no longer think much of the papacy; they may act under the pretense of hypocrisy with the pope, but in their hearts they know otherwise. For when the stone is removed from their hearts, namely eternal damnation, they no longer think anything of the pope's ban, because they know it is wrong. A canon does not have a conscience about it, even if he does not walk in a long skirt; nor is he so foolish as to keep his seven times as hard and strict as before, when they did it with an evil conscience. For they have laid aside the stone as well as we; but under the appearance they still follow the pope, that they may not be seen as having departed from the church; so the pope is despised not only by us, but also by some of his people.
This is a clamor about the Pharisees,
He was imprisoned by the Pope and the bishops and died between 1457 and 1464 in the Franciscan prison in Lucerne. Cf. "Felix Hemmerlin of Zurich" by Balthaser Reber. Zünch, 1846.
who have afflicted the people with false doctrine, and have prevented them from entering heaven. These were not only ravening wolves, but devils.
We do not refuse to enter the kingdom of heaven now, but faithfully open the gates, open them wide, and still complain that since heaven is now open, no one can enter. For the gospel, the ministry, goes right and pure with us, so we may watch, we have no excuse. Let every man see that he receives with thanksgiving the word of grace and the blessing, that he grows and increases in the knowledge of the truth, and that he enters into the kingdom of heaven, which is now so wide open; the gates are thrown open, and one does not now enter through the narrow gate. There they are refused who would like to enter and have the kingdom of heaven. Now that we have it, we do not want to enter. Who will advise them? Then it will be according to the word of Moses: "Whoever does not hear the voice of the priest shall be cut off"; and Christ says: "Whoever does not hear you does not hear me.
[Fifth] Sermon 1) [on Matth. 23.]
[Second woe.]
V.14. Woe to you, Christian scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites, who eat the widow's bread and offer up long prayers, for this you will receive the more condemnation.
We have heard how the Lord raises a cry of contumely against the Pharisees, 1. who shut up the kingdom of heaven, and have heard what the shutting up is, and also what the keys are, that the holy Scriptures may be rightly understood; and is the Lord therefore so wroth, that out of every word they have made keys. Now the key is called the office of teaching, the office of preaching, or the power where one is commanded to preach the truth and the true gospel to men; and we are also to learn it: that here all are punished who hinder others from their salvation, as the bishops who forbid and persecute the gospel; item,
1) This caption is in the margin of the original.
Even we, who have the word abundantly, and the kingdom of heaven is open to us, do not become full and weary, just as they are weary of the word there.
Now follows the other clamor, which also goes over the preachers, who have the keys and the preaching office, that they have these two virtues, 1. house-hitters, who devour widows' houses, so that no one can fill them or satisfy them, as Isaiah in the 5th [v. 8] also cries out against such: "Woe to those who draw one Hans to another, and bring one field to another, until there is no more room, so that they alone possess the land!" So it also happened here that there was almost no corner in Jerusalem that was not Caiphas'. In particular he says: "the widows' houses"; I do not know whether he means the houses of the dead or of the living widows. It may well be that he is speaking of both. It was a great thing in Jerusalem for a man to have his own house, for houses were expensive, just as they are in the great merchant cities. For in Jerusalem the Jewish people came together three times a year at the feasts, carrying great money. Then he says that the scribes have bitten off the children and heirs, and taken the houses for themselves, as there are still many who stand after another's house, and lend money on it, make a debt on it, so that afterwards he has to cede it, and the houses are wrested from them. So he says: No one takes care of widows. One strives to cast out the children; this may also have happened. But methinks this is the opinion, that they have taken the houses to themselves with long prayer, have pretended as if they prayed much, and yet it was only a mere figure and noise of a prayer, and thus the priests have taken the houses to themselves. They have also done the same art, so the terminarii 2) pretend that the poor people, especially the widows, should be saved by other people's prayers. Soon they gave their houses to your Caipha, and the priests became rich beyond measure, and they put a lot of rooms in the
1) Erlanger: to pray.
2) Mendicants.
Houses built, that [it] might bear much money. Now, for God's sake it is given, they also worship it as for prayer; but they turn the prayer before, and make them a nose.
Why then is the Lord so angry that he condemns prayer? He does not condemn prayer, nor does he rebuke people for having long prayers, but the boys act as if they were praying and singing psalms; they have murmured with their mouths, but their hearts have been far from Rome, and they have thought how they would gather many fields and houses to themselves; that is, they have mocked our Lord God, cursed him and blasphemed. Cain, the mischievous one, also prayed and sacrificed from the fruits of the field; it was a delicious thing, a prayer and a sacrifice. So it has been from the beginning of the world, and the greatest monasteries, convents and mendicants 3) have said: We must get up day and night, sing, pray, fast. Since not only widows, but emperors, kings, princes and lords have given 4) to the monastery, the city, village. There it was child's play, here they have devoured great cities, country and people; as it still happens daily, and all for the sake that they pray for laymen. How do they pray? They chant the seven horas, pray, keep mass, and the monks have worn gray skirts, and seen sour, fasted, and shared their good works with the whole world.
Now here Christ's word is rightly understood; [they] have a glorious great appearance for themselves, namely prayer, but they misuse it, for prayer is well commanded, but they pray without devotion, as sticks and blocks, as unreasoning animals; they tell the words, but do not understand them; and though they understand the words, yet the heart and the thoughts are not with them, that they would pray with earnestness.
So they said: To prayer belong three kinds of devotion, materialis, formalis and affectualis. So, a monk is guilty of a mortal sin, that he recites with his mouth the words of prayer, even if he does not understand them, that is materialis devotio. You are supposed to be in
3) Mendicants.
4) "the" seems too much for us.
Decree! read their horas, and is not necessary that they understand what they pray. When they have done that, they say, they have earned the presence 1), have been obedient to the church; that is to pray, as the nuns read deu-Psalter, as one says in the proverb, and as a magpie, jackdaw 2) or parrot learns to talk. So they made the world full of jackdaws and magpies. The second is another devotion, where one knows what he reads, as when I read a psalm, and not only speak the words, but also know the opinion; neither is anyone guilty of having understanding; for if they had admitted understanding, they would have peeled themselves out of their fiefs and benefices. Therefore they have thought that it is not necessary for you to understand, but have added to it: He that doeth a thing which he understandeth doeth an exceeding great work; but if he understandeth it not, it is without sin. Therefore in the monasteries and convents there were so many sows, and they could not do more than read a lection, as a dame speaks the words, and only that they might eat and drink of it.
The third devotion is affectualis or spiritualia, which is the right prayer; that where I come, and I do not understand the words alone, and hear what also the other choir sings, and press it into my finger, that I may know it and keep it, and thereupon follow a sighing of the heart, and say: Oh Lord, help, 3) that I tread not in the way of sinners. This is the sigh. But let no one be guilty of being so devout and spiritual that I desire from my heart to be given such things.
These were the three devotions, all three are still not right, and the last one was the most glorious. But nevertheless the heart is full of despair, without faith. In the papacy I had no faith that God would give me what I prayed for. Then followed the trust in my own righteousness and worthiness of prayer, and thought: "Your prayer is delicious and right, for you have not only asked, but also understood".
1) Presence - a monetary gift for saying or hearing Mass; here, for praying.
2) In the original: Dähle.
3). Erlanger: "hulf" and immediately following: "Sufzer.''
and desired the same. But so you shall come to God as a little chick under the wings of the mother hen, by faith, and say: I should not be so bold as to put prayer into my mouth, if it were not in the name of Christ, in whose name I bow my knees, though I am not worthy that God should hear me; so we pray that our prayer may be done in faith, and flow from faith. Nobody knew anything about this. I did not have faith, but thought that I was doing the prayer its right, because I had read it, understood it, and also desired it; but I did not set the rock and foundation of the prayer, Christ, but S. Georgium, 4) Vincenz. For this reason Christ condemns prayer and the prayerful who read the Psalm, so that people see and hear it, and make a pretense as if they were praying, and yet do not pray, and only by doing so devour the houses of widows and take over land and people; as the bishop of Würzburg is duke of Franconia. There it is said: Woe to you bullfinches and bishops, and ten times woe, for they are much more shameful, for [they] take away whole lands. Shall one not be terrified? It is a miracle that among such a crowd St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure and others are still chosen and enlightened by God, and have become blessed. But according to the common crowd, they find such fellows commonly, as they are depicted here, eating up the world's goods. These are right before God and the world, do not wait on the church, do not preach; so no monk, bishop, nor canon baptizes, does not comfort the sick; but go about much praying, walk about as spiritual people, and if they pray for a long time, it is a pretended prayer and not a true prayer. Therefore he says that they will have all the more condemnation.
It is said of a vision that a pious man saw hell, that it was paved with the slabs of the monks and priests, for these walk the great road to hell, the great noblemen also.
This is the other cry: they take the florins and do nothing for them but pray. It is much worse than theft and robbery. That is why they are the last
4) In the Erlanger: "Georgium Vincenz", without comma. For Vincenz, see Col. 98 in this volume.
Robbers, as on earth never been; as our pope, cardinals, bishops and clergy, who blaspheme God on top of it. But God plagues the world thus, because it despises His word. One sees how one has given to the false prayers; all bishoprics have dukedoms, and there one has given for the sake of a false appearance, since one now gives nothing at all, since the gospel is preached, and since one can pray rightly; and one now finds a priest who does more than all the bishops of the pope, to whom one now gives some ten florins only. No one wants to give it now, and if we did not have the stolen goods of the pope, the preachers would eat small morsels; but it does not remain so, one would still gladly take to oneself everything that the poor parish priests have to earn. Before, the bag was leniently handed out, now they would like to tear the morsel out of the priests' mouths. It is not the prince who is lacking, but the nobles and officials, who take the rinds 1) of the bread from the parish priests, which are still left, and still they want to be good evangelicals. Will our Lord God let it go that way? They will find out. The prayer is not wrong now; so much cannot yet be obtained that preachers would like to have food and nourishment, but what they still have, they would like to take from them. No farmer or nobleman can be persuaded to think: "Well, he's a newcomer, the house and the field are not his; if he lays his head, the widow will be pushed out; I have a little castle, I'll be content with that, I don't want to do him any harm. But the noblemen do it themselves, and the officials laugh at it. Therefore we are worse than the pope, who steals from rich widows, emperors, kings, princes and lords. We steal from the poor beggars, their children, widows, and this is also done by us in this principality, therefore we are more shameful against the gospel than in Duke George's or the margrave's country. 2) That means the
1) Erlanger: Wrestling.
2) In the Duchy of Saxony, after Duke George's death (he died April 17, 1539), the Reformation was introduced by Duke Henry (in May 1539); likewise in Brandenburg by Prince Joachim II on November 1, 1539.
Beggars, guests, poor widows eaten, Ulan may also cry woe over, because they eat marrow and bone. For because one cries out about the papists, one may not forget ours either.
I am afraid that we are joking with the Gospel, so that we are worse before God than the papists. For if ever it be stolen, it is better stolen from a rich man than from a poor beggar or orphan, who hath nothing but a morsel of bread. Sirach [Cap. 35, 18. f.) says: "Do not defraud widows and orphans, for their tears do not go under them but over them," that is, they cry out over them. These are the right waters that go over the mountains, as in Proverbs; and God is not called the father of widows and orphans in vain, for though they are forsaken by everyone, yet God asks after them. But it is better that we take care of widows and orphans, help them; for they are commanded to us. But if he has to do it, he will start such a game with us again, which is called: "If you grieve widows, I will make your young crew be slain, and your wives and children become widows and orphans. So nowadays the Turk makes widows and orphans, but we deserve it.
One should not rebuke the people. Christ can also preach well, nor does he take vinegar here, and forgets the honey, and says: Woe, woe to you peasants, burghers, noblemen, who snatch everything to yourselves, scratch and scrape, and still want to be good evangelicals. See to it that the gospel does not hover on the tongue alone, and that it does not play its counterpart in deed.
[Sixth Sermon] on the 23rd Chapter of Matthew.
Den 25. Septembris [1538], 3) am 4. Tage nach Mauritii gepredigt. 5)
[Third woe.]
This sermon goes against the teachers and preachers who should govern the people and
3) "Women" omitted by us.
4) In 1538, the Wednesday after Mauritius was September 25.
5) "In the manuscript, this sermon follows only after the explanation of the 23rd verse of this chapter. It must
is the third woe or cry of contumely, saying [v. 15], "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who move about land and water, to make a fellow Jew, and when he is made, you make him a child of hell, twofold more than you are." There the Lord also punishes an unrighteousness. They thought that they were doing your great and pleasing service to God by drawing the heathen to themselves; and it was as if the people of God were increased by this, and many people were brought from idolatry; and it would truly be praiseworthy for everyone if one more person brought people from the Turkish faith to the Christian faith, and led them from the devil to God, from sin to righteousness, that would truly be the highest and most delicious work. But the Lord does not yet let it be, for he says, first of all, that they should go about all the countries, that they should make fellow Jews; and when they have done this, it will be much worse with them afterward.
Here we see how the Jewish people were scattered and spread out over a wide area, and how they converted many people in the cities among the Gentiles, and how they brought many people to their glory was their greatest diligence. Therefore they traveled over water and land, so that they made many fellow Jews. This we should say to them, that when the Gentiles had the Jews for neighbors, they ruled with their law; and it is also seen in the histories of the apostles, that Jews were found in all places, because they dwelt everywhere; and there were respectable persons of both sexes, male and female, from the Gentiles, who accepted the faith of the Jews, and many people were converted to God from the Gentiles, who were not called Jews in the Scriptures, but fellow Jews, because they were partakers of the law of Moses and its services; and when the day of Easter or Pentecost or the feast of tabernacles came, they went to Jerusalem [not only] 1)
but are brought here, as is also evident from what is said at the beginning about the 15th verse." Note by Bruns. - Incidentally, in the original, the words: "Den 25. Septembris ... preached" in the margin.
1) "not alone" added by us.
The Jews, but also the fellow Jews, brought much money into the temples; as also happened in the papacy, who wanted to do the great and delicious work of bringing the Gentiles out of idolatry to the knowledge of the true God. The Lord still reproaches such a work here, even though many of the Gentiles truly believed, and S. Paul found the Gentiles quite prepared in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures when he preached. Now it was no sin for the Jews to preach the Ten Commandments to the Gentiles, and to teach them the right service of God; But that they compelled the Gentiles to keep the circumcision and the law of Moses, even in the place of Jerusalem, that was wrong, and we have many examples in the holy Scriptures, which teach us the contrary. 2) Lyra says that it was too much that they compelled the Gentiles to keep their law, which was given to the Jews alone, as if the Gentiles could not be saved if they had remained in their own country. It would have been fine for them to preach about God, the creation of heaven and earth, and the Ten Commandments, but they should not have burdened the Gentiles with the Sabbath and circumcision.
One reads in the stories of the apostles that the chamberlain of Queen Candace went yearly to Jerusalem, but he was not circumcised. So when Naaman was converted in Syria by Elisha the prophet, he was not circumcised, and yet he said, "I will not circumcise anyone but God who dwells in Jerusalem. But he asks the prophet: What shall I do when I am in the temple of my king? For I am his closest counselor, and when he prays, I must let his hand be upon my shoulders. Shall I stay with him or not? For he worshipped the idol Nisroch 3). He did not want to impose any law on him, but allowed him to take as much earth as he needed for the altar with him in Syria, as a sign that he would not forget.
2) Erlanger: learn.
3) It should probably be called "Rinnnon" according to 2 Kings 5:18. "Nisroch" is the idol of King Sanherib of Assyria, 2 Kings 19:37.
of the true God, who dwelt in the land of Judah. So Naaman remained pious and godly in the midst of 1) the Gentiles, and waited for his profession and office. But he changed his pagan superstition, and did this not only when he was at the king's court, but also in the temple of the idol Nisroch.
So Jonah also went to Nineveh. Daniel lived in Babylon, and Joseph ruled in Egypt, and they did the same. They taught nothing else but the knowledge of the true God and that one should do away with idolatry, and did not impose anything on the Gentiles, but that they only believed in the God in whom Abraham also believed.
But the Pharisees and scribes commanded the Gentiles to be circumcised, and burdened them with their laws. This is the guilt for which the Lord punishes them, because they force people to do the same things, and they do it only because of their avarice.
The pope had played much differently, because this is only a children's game. For though the Gentiles here were already saved through faith in Christ, and that they had to keep the Ten Commandments, they still pretended that they had to be circumcised, otherwise they would not be saved. Furthermore, if a Gentile became a fellow Jew and did what he was supposed to do, the Lord says, "You make him more of a child of hell than you are," that is, he becomes worse afterward 2) than when he was a Gentile. When the Gentiles came to the Jews, and were fellow Jews, and saw their avarice, usury, fornication, and other vices, they again left the Jews' faith, and fell into such an abominable manner of courting, murder, fornication, and usury, and were much more shameful among them than among the Jews. For among the Gentiles there was otherwise much stricter discipline and more serious rule than among the Jews. Therefore the Gentiles were offended at this, and said, "Oh, there is not the right God that the
1) Erlanger: "mitt unter".
2) Erlanger: hernocher.
Jews otherwise boast. Because of this, they again fell away from the faith.
Then saith the Lord, This is what ye do with your avarice, with your false doctrine and your false hopes; ye take the flocks for your footcloth. Therefore the Gentiles were proud again, and the Romans said, "We are lords who rule the land and the people. What should the corner of the Jewish land be? poor, miserable and foolish people live there.
Now the Gentiles would have been blessed. But because the burden of false doctrine, and also of the vices and evil living of the Jews, was driven upon them, the Gentiles were made worse. For the chief priests and rulers were divided into two groups or bands. One group, the Sadducees, did not believe that there was a devil, hell or resurrection of the dead; and these were the noblest and best in the church. But the Pharisees believed the opposite. Now reckon thou thyself, if a Gentile came among them, and heard that they themselves were divided among themselves, and divided in doctrine, what the Gentiles thought? Item, when one preached: Remember, one should live well in the world, and they found such a shameful, horrible nature among the Jews; they thought, Oh, they are boys, especially those who had the infant faith; and thought the reasonable Gentiles: I will stick to the teaching of Ciceronis and the philosophers, who nevertheless taught that the soul of man is immortal; but these high priests of the Jews deny it. Therefore they must have had strong legs, who were Jews and remained so. Still the chief priests have boasted that they have brought many to Judaism. But it would have been better if they had never accepted the same faith, because before they were still Gentiles they were simple poor sinners. But when they fell away from Judaism again, they became twofold sinners, and they, the chief priests, therefore became sevenfold sinners.
But among the Gentiles the offices were so well appointed that one could have carried gold on his head through the countries; therefore they were able to travel safely through the whole world, and to bring many people to them.
bring faith. But the Lord says here: If you did not want to make better fellow Jews, you could have refrained from it.
Thus it always happens that the very best works and services become the most abominable idolatries. How the Christian church has such a precious treasure in the holy sacrament, it is the most precious jewel; yet it has been made a vain waste by the pope 1) and pure damnation of souls. So it is the very best work that the Gentiles have been led from idolatry to the knowledge of God. But the Pharisees did it in a wrong way, as with a net, so that they could take the gold and silver of the Gentiles, their money and goods, and then beat the Gentiles back again. We have done the same in the priesthood. When we baptized people, they were seduced by us afterwards. For they had to believe in the articles of the Roman church that the pope had written. Then the Christians thought: The Christian faith is difficult without this, because there are three persons in the festering Godhead; and also the Jews think: Well, it is much more beautiful in the law of Moses, than in the decrees of the pope, when they have heard the foolish things and the articles, which are against reason. So may we also cry out against the Anabaptists, for they do not hold true pure doctrine against them. Item, they have also seen that among us there is such an unfaithful life with robbery, usury, as could never be among pagans.
In Cologne, a Jew was once baptized and became so wealthy that he became dean of the Cologne monastery. When he died, he ordered in his will to have a picture made on his grave, as a cat and mouse, to indicate how little the little animals would become one, so little 2) would a Jew truly remain a Christian.
So you also read about Emperor Frederick the
1) Perhaps "drudgery" is to be read. Cf. Tischreden, cap. 35, s 12. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XXII, 1005: "shameful handling and dishonest enjoyment".
2) The words: "as little" and "thus little" are put by us instead of: "until" and "thus long", which are not according to the sense. - The same steeling is found in the Table Talks, Cap. 74, § 25. Walch, St. Louis Edition, "H. XXII, 1585.
The first and the emperor Sigismundo, who had a Jew at his court. Since he saw the Christian faith and liked it, he asked the emperor to have him baptized; but the emperor would not grant it to him for a long time. At last the emperor allowed him to be baptized. When he was baptized, the emperor ordered two fires to be built and said to the Jew, "There are two fires here, one of Christians and the other of Jews. Now choose which one you want to go to. For better cannot happen to you than that you soon go to heaven according to the tariff. When the Jew said, "Can't it be otherwise?" and the emperor said, "No," the Jew turned away from Christianity and chose the Jews' fire. For they see among us such vexations, disgraces, and vices as are far greater than the vices among them. If a Turk were to come to us now, it would be difficult for him to grasp the high articles of the Trinity, of the humanity of Christ, and also of the sacraments; if, in addition, the mad, foolish teachings of the pope were added, and he saw such infidelity and avarice, he would say: I will remain with my God. Who is guilty of this? Because you scare him off with our lying teachings and shameful life.
Therefore, let us take the Jews by the nose, and let us not forget our own shameful and unjust doctrines and wickedness. Now they were fine reasonable people, and not so asses as we are.
Mau reads about a Jew who remained steadfast in Christianity. He had been instructed in the Christian faith for more than a year. When the year had passed, he said, "I must go to Rome and see the head of the church there. His priest said, "You should not go there, for you might see something there that would upset you and draw you away from Christianity. But the Jew went to Rome. Oh, said the priest, if he goes there, all my work, effort and diligence, which I have put into him so far, will be lost. When the Jew came to Rome, and saw such an unchristian and evil life there, he came home again, and said: "If your God were not the right true God, then these people could not stay alive for a moment.
would have to be gracious and merciful to tolerate and suffer such things. This man has reformed himself out of his anger and has been baptized. For he thought that if God were not so gracious, merciful, patient and long-suffering with sinners, God would have destroyed them all long ago, as otherwise all waters would be swallowed up by the sea.
There are many of them in Italy and in the German country, they see how badly we live among ourselves, and how one stabs at the other, then they hear about the Christian faith, which is difficult in itself. Then they think, "Oh, what a holy good doctrine this is. But that there are such stiff-necked people, they are afraid. Then you also defend yourself with your shameful teachings and nature.
So did the Jews, just as the monks and nuns have done even in our time, who swindled the children of noblemen and rich people so that they would get more interest in the monasteries. After they entered the monastery, they fell into such hatred and envy of monastic life that they still have enough to complain about today. They were soon repentant, and one does not find more impatient and envious people than in the monasteries and cloisters, item also stubborn mad heads. If they had been left outside, they would have had to be humble, and a mayor could have forced them out. For this reason, the monasteries were only exterminated and otherwise made pious people, which is also our doctrine, if we would only accept it.
Therefore the Pharisees made the Jews into pious people, and they became twofold husks, just as the pope also made twofold unbelievers out of the Jews.
[Seventh Sermon on the 23rd Chapter of Matthew. 2)
[18 June] Anno 1539. 4. post Viti.
[Brief repetition of the last three sermons.]^
The Lord has given the Pharisees and spiritual rulers of Jerusalem a terrible death.
1) Erlanger: "Zinst." Bruns: "Service."
2) Bruns has quite correctly included this sermon here because of its close connection with the preceding ones.
And let them go away with cries of woe and anguish, saying, Woe to you who shut up the kingdom of heaven from men! and woe to you who devour widows' houses; and the third woe to you who move people and lands to make Jews your comrades.
But we have heard what is called a Pharisee. But there was a scribe with them, as he is experienced in mts of the holy scriptures, who has power to interpret, read and preach the holy scriptures. Among them were also the Pharisees. But they did it better than the scribes and the other common people, because they wore special clothes, like the monks, Carthusians. So this people was led out of the law of Moses in a peculiar way. But he adds a little word to it, and calls them hypocrites, hypocrites. So I have translated it. But it is too little. They are three kinds of people, as the Greeks call them. We Germans are almost too pious that we cannot call the third genus. We call it Schalk and Buben. Is now in the peasants and citizens Schalkheit; if a peasant deceives one now, that is called a Schalkheit. These are worldly and human peelers, who only get pleasure from throwing you over the rope. But they are the coarse peasant peelers, and are desperate peelers, of whom one is wont to say: You are not good neither from father nor from mother. For they act as if they were pious; but they are the French peelers, who smear your mouth and scratch your ears, so that you think they are the most holy people, and yet they are boys in the skin. So are our popes and cardinals. They pose with good works as if they were the pious ones.
"although," as he states in a note, "it should precede the various ones already printed in terms of time. This objection is unfounded and probably stems from the false assumption that the sixth sermon, where no year is added to the time, belongs to the year 1539, which, however, as we have stated in Col. 1165, is not the case; rather, it was certainly preached on September 25, 1538. Thus, almost three quarters of a year lie between the sixth and seventh sermon. Because of this long interruption, Luther must have been prompted to first preface it with a short repetition before continuing in his interpretation of the evangelist. - [nno to Viti is written in the margin in the original.
The most poisonous, and yet they are the most poisonous, so that you can't talk them out of it. The Pharisees were also such fellows. Therefore, the name hypocrite does not really indicate their nature, what they are up to. For outwardly they have an angelic holiness and a beautiful glittering appearance.
And the Lord speaks not only of life, but also of doctrine. For there are two kinds of offences, of life and of doctrine: if a man sins publicly against the other table, if he commits adultery, if he is a public thief and robber, if he is a drunkard, a usurer, or a covetous man; these are offences of life and works which are forbidden in the other table. Therefore they are to be avoided and punished. One still finds peelers who can adorn themselves so that one does not notice. This is the business of German roguishness. But the Roman, French wickedness, of the cardinals and popes, is a devilish wickedness, since they preach error, heresy, under the name of God, and they know that it is wrong; As, the Cardinal of Mainz knows well, that his thing is jugglery, also error and scandal, so that the whole world is deceived, and they themselves consider it desperate lies, and when they come together, they boast of it, and decorate their lies, saying: Eh, the fools, the Germans, that they are such coarse knots! These are the right kind of scandal and mischievousness, since it is not a matter of a penny or two, nor of temporal goods, but they regard the whole world as nothing, even if they led everyone to the devil. For they are well pleased with the honor, wealth and glory they have in the world, and yet they still adorn themselves finely, as the pope thus begins in the decree: "We care for nothing so much, day and night, as the very salvation and blessedness of souls; for clipping is part of the trade. Whoever reads a bull and does not know the joke, thinks that it is the word of the Lord Christ himself. Nevertheless, the pope is not your good friend, but the one who leads people to the devil. We are still such fools, and let ourselves be fooled. He does not care if he has deceived us. He only says: Give money; and then laughs that he deceives the world thus. O these are the right fools
Doubting knaves and wicked men, who make such an appearance that they are the most learned, the holiest and the most powerful. But beware and do not be deceived. No one can counter the devil, but only he who is enlightened by the Word of God. For God's word says that such is idolatry. For whoever does not recognize darkness through the light of Christ will soon be deceived. So the pope subjected the emperors, kings and all of Christendom to him, and made himself lord over them, and did whatever he wanted, and deceived, duped and fooled all the princes in the German land, and still does to this day. People still believe everything he pretends. The knave knows that, that is the right papal, cardinal mischievousness. Our Lord God protect us from it, and deliver us from deception. For it is not German nor human, but devilish and infernal wickedness and mischievousness.
Wrong; the word would be right on it. When someone acts differently than he means to, a glitterer is called false. For he sees how he acts falsely, brings with him appearance and glitter, and yet is false. Thus one could translate the word hypocrite: false, bad boys. Now this is what we have from the sun, which is the Lord Christ, who enlightens our hearts through the Word, saying, "Do not turn away from the splendid appearance of the riffraff, who say that God has made the pope supreme and head of the church, and the others rulers, so that he may seek the salvation of the people day and night. But consider how he leads the whole world into the abyss of hell, The German Cardinals say: What is conscience? What is faith? One shall be obedient to us. The soul may go there.
Therefore, when the Lord speaks fierce words, saying, "Woe to you desperate false wretches!" he means, "You seek the salvation of souls so that you may carry off money and temporal honor. Is this therefore a wicked, infernal and devilish wickedness, not a German 1) or in the other table trouble, nor hypocrites in the other table.
1) Erlanger: German.
He calls both of them hypocrites in the first and second table, but especially in the first table. For the offense in the other table cannot do so much harm. For though an adulterer be not punished for his fornication, yet I know that I shall not follow thine adultery; and he that doeth it may remember that he is better. But the offense in the first panel, that is greater. For I kiss the pope's feet and worship him, and consider his teaching to be right. There I never come to the knowledge, because my reason is caught. I think it is divine and the word of God. Christ alone must help here.
"The widows' houses." What do you think we did in the monasteries? We took their money and goods from all over the world, because it was said: "The monks and priests pray for us day and night; and teachers and listeners went there with each other, and everyone could give there, and great cathedrals and monasteries were built, which now no king would be able to build. Man is too weak to judge and avoid such aversions in the first table.
"Fellow Jews." They considered it a great, excellent service to God, if they could bring a Gentile to their religion, so that the Gentiles would convert to God and allow themselves to be circumcised, just as the Pope would like to see the Turk accept his faith, yes, that he would bring the whole world to his religion. But the Jews did not teach the right things, since they themselves did not understand the teachings of God, or practice them, but only pointed the Gentiles to their foolish work of sacrificing and burning incense, and to their merits, as we have also done. When we baptized a Jew, we meant that we had taken everything from him. After that they told him to go to Rome and pay for his sin. They were not taught to understand 1) the Lord's Prayer or our Catechism. Now the Jew has left the law of Moses, comes here and does not get the gospel either. There he has a horse,
1) Erlanger: learn them.
hie a spur. For he finds not the true doctrine of the faith of Christ, neither hath he righteous preachers. So the Jews drew the Gentiles away from idolatry and led them to another which they had devised with their commandments of men, namely, that they should sacrifice, as we will hear below.
So they close the kingdom of heaven, so that they themselves cannot enter it, and they prevent the Gentiles from being saved. For they teach them the things that hinder them from eternal life, saying about long prayer, fasting, and gray robes; but that they should fear God and seek faith in the Messiah, and that they should keep the Ten Commandments, 2) this they have not taught the Gentiles. On the other hand, a pagan, no matter how rude he may be, still desires to find among Christians people who honor their parents and are obedient to the authorities, item, that he may see how pious married couples love each other and live together in peace, and that one helps and advises people and does not do the opposite. Item, a heathen can say that fornication is wrong, and virgins or wives should live chastely. If he is to enter our Christianity and does not see this, he is annoyed by it and says, "If I were to remain among covetous men, usurers, whoremongers, and profiteers, I would probably have remained there in paganism, and then sit down between two chairs. Item he says: I have fled a wicked life and come to a worse one. But this is the greatest trouble, which goes against the first table, because there is no comfort nor salvation from the right doctrine. For if the doctrine were pure, and the sacraments were rightly administered, and the persons were chaste, they would not be offended at it, but would say: I will look at the first tablet. And if he find it not righteous, then he remembereth, Before I was a Gentile, now am I a Jew. I go wherever I want to go, but I am lost. It can also happen that he becomes an Epicurean and is condemned on both sides. For first he is condemned for not understanding the doctrine, now he is condemned on both sides.
2) Here we have deleted "but" because it is too much.
dams. This is what the Lord says, that this twofold condemnation will pass over them and come home to them. For if they had remained Gentiles, you would have been condemned once; but now, because you also bear and sevenfold condemnation, those who before were condemned once. 1) You want to create great benefits, but God hates it. Therefore it is nothing. It would be far better that Gentiles had remained Gentiles. But you have sought your money, honor and good by your avarice, and led the people alone to damnation, and asked nothing where their souls remained; so that they have not been so evil, as now the Cardinals, who are the last and most evil.
Here follows in the original the following fragment, which Bruns does not mention. 2)
The fourth woe.
V. 16. f. Woe to you, blinded leaders, who say, "Whoever swears by the temple is nothing. But he that sweareth by the gold of the temple is guilty. Ye fools and blind, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
He gives them a crude title, calls them blind leaders and fools, and shows them their shameful avarice. A pagan should laugh when he hears them say, "The temple is holy," which is true, for God built it and made it holy, and there was much gold on it, and much money and goods were given daily to the temple, and they had a treasury in the middle of the temple, where they threw the money; yes, in every corner there was a treasury, for the temple was built so that it had many corners, and the whole country, the
1) This sentence is defective. It should read something like this: "but now, because you have now also brought their condemnation upon yourselves, you are condemned sevenfold, whereas before you were condemned only once.
2) This fragment is probably only the beginning of another relation of the eighth sermon. It is of such a nature that it could be inserted with slight changes into the first paragraph of the same, namely, after the words: "that it would nevertheless have a reputation. If one put em Punktum after these words, deleted the words "and spoke", then let the fragment follow and at the end of the same added the "God (has build called, but)", then the following: "if not the gold" etc. would follow very well.
The streets of Jerusalem and some cities belonged to the 3) box. After the Babylonian prison, when the ornaments in the temple were taken away, and the gold was taken away, they preached, O the temple is holy, but the gold is much more holy. They did this so that the people would give more money for the building of the temple. But everything was based on avarice, so that they only got a lot of money; but where God's honor remained, they asked nothing, but said, "Yes, dear friends, templum est sanctum, the temple is indeed holy, but the gold is not holy.
GOtt
[Eighth sermon on Matt. 23.]
[Fourth woe.]
Woe to you, blinded leaders, who say, "He who swears by the temple.
We have heard how the Lord Christ cried out three woes against the Pharisees. Now follows the fourth cry of woe: Woe to you, blinded leaders etc.; and the Lord is angry with the Pharisees and scribes because they turn their preaching ministry into a loud avarice and to the ruin of souls, because they had finely adorned their worship and avarice, so that it nevertheless had a reputation, and said that if the gold and sacrifice were not there, the temple would have to decay, and the altar would become desolate and stand empty. Such is a fine, reasonable cause.
And just as it might be said that the Sabbath is nothing (as Christ himself says), if it were not needed, and the causes were no longer present for which the Sabbath was instituted; for man is a cause of the Sabbath, and the Sabbath is to serve man: so the Pharisees also spoke: The altar was not set there for the sake of stones and wood, nor was the temple built in vain, but that in the temple and on the altar one should sacrifice, burn incense and worship: for this there must be gold and treasures in the temple; and they had a great pretense that the sacrifices and the gold were necessary.
3) Perhaps "den" is to be read.
As I have often said that human statutes and commandments have a good appearance and cause in reason, and they have said: Gold is more necessary than stones, and the sacrifice is such a work, for which the altar is erected and built. In the same way, the pope's church is composed with great good sense and counsel. There are many delicious, fine fables and legends about St. Peter and St. Paul, and reason cannot make it any better; the common man is soon caught by them. But that is the worst, that such a thing repels God's word, and must only be a foolish and foolish thing. For a bishop to be valiant in doctrine, to be sedate, to be a husband, ei, that is a vain little thing, and laymen can do it too. But a bishop must have a special dress and a bishop's staff and hat. Oh, that shines, and that makes a bishop! But that he should preach, visit the sick, oh, even the poorest sexton can do that.
Thus the doctrine of men very neatly pushes the right ground to the ground, as today in the papacy not a hair's breadth of the Gospel is known, but the papacy's foolishness rules within. Look at the whole jus canonicum, whether you would like to take a verse from it, which would serve you for the Christian doctrine? For this reason the Lord Christ is so angry that our reason is the bride of the devil, and so adorns itself, and wants to rule over the church, and pushes out God's word; and says: The Pharisees are blind, that they think the sacrifices and the gold are nothing, the stones and the wood and the other buildings of the temple are nothing; and he that sweareth by the temple and by the altar sweareth not rightly; but he that sweareth by the sacrifice which is above upon the altar, that is a precious thing, because he sweareth by him for whom the altar is built. But the Lord answered, Who is he that set the altar, and built the temple? Causa efficiens goes over all, God's word was there, God called it build, as can be seen in the Exodo and in King Solomon's prayer. For God said: You shall not worship in every place, but where I will make a memorial of my name, there will I hear you; come thither, and I will bless you.
I will give you everything that will be of use to you, body and soul. So Christ also says here, "I know that it is not a matter of wood or stone, altar or temple, but of the Master who built it. So I also know that the water in baptism is nothing, is not able to do anything, nor can do anything; but if you look at the causam efficientem who made the water in baptism, and then swear by baptism, you swear by him who consecrated and sanctified the water.
If the pope also spits out his sacraments and says that he has the authority and power to withdraw one form of the Lord's Supper, the chalice, from the laity, then you will see God's order and appointment. Then you will find that God's command and order is not to tear and destroy the Lord's Supper. For the body cannot be the blood of Christ. Now the body is to be eaten and the blood drunk, therefore the Lord's Supper must be left whole.
There is also a difference between a husband and an adulterer. For the conjugal state was instituted by God, and the spouses themselves were joined together, and therefore they are also called conjugal; not even for the reason that spouses sleep together, for so do harlots, and knaves, and adulterers; everything is the same, except that fornication cannot be proved from God's order and institution. God did not put them together. Otherwise, a pious wife has the same shape and limb as a brat 1) and a whore. But about the two in the marriage state, about man and woman, God's word is spoken, and they are publicly given together before the Church.
Thus the pope continues with his clergymen, and says in his books: whoever is married lives in a worldly state, and cannot serve God, calls the married state a sinful state, in which no pleasing services can be rendered to God; the pope asses only the outward appearance and equality, and not the difference between a woman and a whore. For
1) In the original: Balk.
The married state is a pure and holy state, not for itself, but for the sake of the word that God has spoken about it. Otherwise, it would be as impure as the fornicator state; but because God says: You shall be a husband and a wife, they are given to each other, more than a nun. For the married couple's estate is founded in God's word, which the Pabst donkey does not consider.
So Christ also says here: You blind men and blind leaders, my word is an altar and temple, and you should not build your own altars, churches and temples, so that you want to sacrifice there your own pleasure, and the gold and sacrifice more precious 1) and higher, than the altar and temple. For the Jews went and built their own altars in all the pleasant places, meadows, valleys, mountains and woods, and then soon followed that God's commandment was trampled underfoot. God did not want to suffer this, so he said: I will choose a place where I will make a memorial of my name, and if you cannot come to that place with your body, you shall look there with your eyes and heart, as Daniel did when he was sung in Persia with other Jews, and seek help and counsel there, and I will let myself be found and help. But they said no to this, and would much rather collect money, and build altars by the merry fresh brooks, under the bright sky and in the open sun, there it would be fine fun. These are true blind leaders, who did not understand God's word, and even insisted on the sacrifice, leaving faith and obedience behind. For this reason, the prophets all went to punish the groves where sacrifices were made, and they were under the illusion that God would be more pleased with the sacrifices made in green pastures than in the incense-covered temple. For then the obedience of the divine commandment would soon fall away, when he said: "Which place will I choose" etc., as if God said: I do not care about your money or sacrifice, 2) but only about feeding the poor people and the priests. I do not ask for your offering, but that is why I have chosen the
1) Erlanger: theuer.
2) So shredded by us instead of: "umb dein Geldes.oder Opfer willen".
I have built the altar and the temple to give you and to bless you. Is it not enough that I have built the temple, and that I will dwell there for ever, who am the most holy? But they did not consider it, and fell a prey, until they forgot the temple and the altar, and were even astonished, and set up altars in the fields and in the woods, whither they ran.
So this was a sanctification, that God built the temple, but therefore it was not only holy, that God had built it, and he, the holy of holies, dwelled there, but was also holy because God wanted to make everything holy there, and give you all kinds of goods and gifts without need; as the 65th Psalm also praises what God does so much good. Psalm also praises what God does so much good to the church, let the grain grow well, build up the land, water the furrows, and moisten its plowed land, he crowns the year with his good etc.; showers us with vain graces. God's word was there that he had chosen the place for him, but to the end that he would give there, and give all kinds of benefits and goods. They did not understand this blessing, so they were struck with blindness, did not understand the text of Moses, and stretched the teaching to mean that they wanted to give to God, when God wanted it reversed.
We also did this in the papacy, and many a person was kept by his parents to become a monk, because they wanted to give a servant to our Lord God, and a nun was to be the bride of the Lord Christ. These were delicious, glorious gifts; and if one had given a florin, two florins, or three florins for the sake of God, it was called giving God only an apple; but if one became a monk, he gave God the tree with the apples. 3)
He puts forward the human doctrine that God needs our sacrifices and offerings, that we should do good to God, when he says: I will feed you and fill you with all goods, so we turn it around, namely, that God should be pleased when you bring him an offering. But he shakes his head against it in the fiftieth Psalm, and says [v. 9. ff]:
3) Erlanger: Opseln.
"I will not take flocks from your hanse, nor goats from your stables, for all the animals in the forest are mine, and cattle on the mountains, as they go by baptizing. I know all the birds of the mountains, and all the beasts of the field are before me. Where I hungered, I would not tell thee of it, for the ground is mine, and all that is therein" etc. What shall we do? Keep to what the Psalm further says (v. 14. f.).): "Offer thanks to God, and pay your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall praise me"; that is, come and get from me not only sheep, oxen, birds, but everything you need; for this is why the igloo and the church were built, and when I have helped you, you shall praise me, that is, recognize and thank me that you have received everything from me, and not I have received anything from you.
But who would believe that we in the papacy should also have been in such darkness, and so we also pretended: It is nothing that you give one guilder, or three, or even ten to alms; but if you even give your son to a monastery, oh that is something. No, if you want to give yourself to God, it must be done in another way, not that he needs you greatly, but that you live by the grace of our Lord God, as if you took him for your God, and call upon him in trouble, and when he has saved you, you then thank him, then you have him for your God, and you can then say: You are mine and I am yours.
But the world lies in deep blindness, and human commandments and teachings are so adorned that people are soon seduced by them; and then no one thinks whether God has also commanded it, whether one also gives it to God, or whether we receive something from God; but one only continues blindly: "Well, it seems good to me that I become a monk and even give to our Lord God. A layman gives only an apple, but I give the whole tree. But God speaks against it: I am the Lord your God, you shall not have other gods, so give me nothing, but take from me.
In the papacy, nothing was known about it, yet now our children know and understand it.
For human wisdom and teachings have obscured everything, and the Catechismum has even been eradicated. For the doctrine of men has not only the misfortune of being beautiful, but this is the pity that under the same appearance the Word of God is suppressed. .
We say to God: Here I bring an ox, that you may eat it 1) [I] shed the blood, that you may drink it; so He says: I am your God, you are My creature; and says: Call upon Me, hear My word. But human reason does not want to do this, nor does it want to do it; therefore God is also so vehemently angry.
So they say, He that sweareth by the altar sinneth not: for the altar is stone and wood. But Christ says, Have ye not read Moses, which sheweth whence the altar is, and who hath ordained it, and to what end and custom? Then ye would say, He that sweareth by the altar sweareth also by him that is God: for the altar is not evil in wood and stone: seest thou not that it is adorned with great sanctuary? This is I, for it is my altar, I dwell there and there I will help; therefore he swears by me, and by all that is on the altar, that is, by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
But he separates the sacrifices from the altar, because it is holy, and the sacrifices should also be called holy. But they had made the sacrifices only out of vain avarice, which could still have been suffered and pardoned. But this was the heartache, that they prepared the sacrifices to deceive and ruin the souls.
Therefore, if a man sacrificed a goat and had such thoughts: I do such a work, that sin may be forgiven me, and eternal life be given me, that I may be blessed here and there: this is a doctrine and statute of men, and no man shall be taught so; for this doctrine suppresses the word of God, and sets up idolatry.
This is the opinion of the altar, that it is holy for the sake of the donor, who named it, who chose it, and in doing so
1) Again, the Erlanger: "them" instead of: "him".
and his word shall be preached and heard there, he also wants to bless and give there, and answer all prayers; and because he has heard us, we should also give to him, and everything that we offer to him, that shall also be called holy; not that we thereby deserve blessing, because God has given the blessing before. But the Pharisees did not understand a word of this; they were under the delusion that whoever sacrificed would receive God's blessing and grace, for he would not give his sacrifice in vain. Then the temple and altar, which were otherwise sanctified, are completely destroyed, where God is not supposed to be God and give us or bless us, but we want to give him and earn something from him.
[Ninth sermon on Matt. 23.] 1) [Fifth woe.]
And here we see three kinds of harm done by the doctrine of men and devils, firstly, that they have a beautiful glittering appearance, just as a whore is often more beautiful than an honest matron; secondly, that the appearance blinds people, the beautiful look sows them; thirdly, that it overturns God's word, and sets up idolatry to take away the true worship of God, and brings false ones in its place, and makes vain avarice. This has been the tail of the serpent and the end of the little song, that it seeks honor, dominion and violence.
We have also seen this in the papacy. Since chastity was vowed in the Scriptures, they made a vow of it, and vowed chastity, and made a service of it, saying that chastity not only obtains forgiveness of sin for those who keep it, but also for others, and that they can sell their good works and merit to them; thus is the true
1) Although the next paragraph begins with "And", the marginal gloss here: "The other sermon" seems to indicate that the new sermon begins here and not where the text is quoted. The words "the other sermon" may mean that this sermon, after a longer interruption (from September 35, 1538 to June 18, 1539, when Luther gave a short repetition in the seventh sermon), was the second in which Luther continued to interpret the 23rd chapter.
The worship service is depressed. What is this good for? See if the vow of chastity is not vain avarice; for the priests and nuns have snatched more than half of the world's goods. It makes vain belly servants, miserly wretches. Our bishops are concerned about avarice, about their honor and power; therefore they do not want to accept the teaching of the divine word, because spiritual fornication has rich rewards. The world is courting the Babylonian whore when she preaches that good works make blessed; there she gives her money and goods in heaps. But the servants of the word of God are left to die of hunger. In the past, great cathedrals could be built, but now not a single pillar can be maintained. Why is that? Because the pure doctrine is directed to God's honor and to man's salvation and blessedness; so its preachers must starve and go begging.
This is what displeases the Lord Christ and the Holy Spirit here, that men, with their beautiful, glittering nature, pervert and falsify the right worship and preaching of God, and set up idolatry after idolatry; as the Pharisees did, and praised the sacrifices so highly that the altar and temple were no longer respected at all; and they did this only so that they might fill their avarice and set up unrighteous worship. That is why he punished them with terrible words, because they only preached their dreams and left God's word unanswered.
V. 23. Woe to you, Christian scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites, who have forfeited the mint, the dill and the caraway, and have left behind the heaviest things in the law, namely, judgment, mercy, and faith etc.
This is the fifth woe, and Christ makes such a clamor not only for the sake of the Jews, but also for our sake. It was such a law and commandment among the Jews that the common man had to tithe to the priests from all that they had, that the tenth child was also theirs, just as now the Turk takes the third son and makes warriors out of it. So the Jews had to collect from their fruit of the womb, and from all the other goods and fruits of the field, the tithes.
After that the Levites had another tithe, which was collected for them every three years, because they had no other inheritance in the land; also a special tithe was given annually for the poor: it was very beautifully ordered, such an order has not been experienced much more in the world; but it has now perished, and it cannot be restored.
So this clamor and woe goes over the Levites and priests who took tithes from the people. He calls the smallest things they tithed, such as tillets, mint, marjoram, and ointment leaves, and says that they were very diligent in the small things, but forgot the larger things, such as tithing oxen and sheep, and left judgment, mercy, and faith behind them. Moses is commanded to keep the Ten Commandments, which are in the front, which he did not preach alone, but the angel of God preached; and preaches not of oxen and other tithes, much less of the tille and mint, but: Thou shalt not have other gods. Such ten commandments God Himself gave through the angel. Then he commanded that the priests also be fed, because they had to have nothing of their own in the land. Now Christ wants to say: You come here, and let the created ten commandments stand down, which God wants the most, and troll along with the Krauseminz and Tillen. But the statutes of men make the word of God low and contemptible, just as the word of God brings down human doctrine and statutes. So Christ wants to say: You have the least, but you do not ask for the core; you only give our Lord God the shells and the scales, and leave in place what was required of you in the ten commandments, and the greatest things that God gives, you do not even consider etc.Even if you forgave the sin and the caraway, you could be forgiven, but only if you loved God and your neighbor, and were so minded toward your neighbor that you would not harm him for a penny. But they do not do so, but keep the least of the law, as with the tithes, but to sacrifice the firstborn, and the other great tithes of cattle and other things.
as Moses had commanded, they left it in order; then they went and slaughtered their sons and sacrificed them to the idol Baal, saying that it was sacrificed to God Himself; just as it was not done much better in the papacy, since they put both male and female images into the monasteries. Thus, at that time, one had his own son burned in honor of God, and since he was supposed to have sacrificed a sheep according to God's command and commandment, he sacrificed his son against God's will and commandment to please the devil.
How then shall we serve our Lord God? This is what Christ wants to teach, 1) saying: Do judgment and mercy, and believe, that is, if you want to be godly from the heart, then leave the idol and take the right God before you; do judgment, then you will please God. He sets up the highest afterwards, and the judgment, because he drives the commandment against the neighbor so vehemently that he forgets his sacrifice over it.
Judgment means to leave evil, to punish and to defend; as to hang a thief and punish a bad boy, father and mother to punish the children, so that one may prevent evil, and one may beware of that which is evil, and go idle of sins. God desires that you punish yourself and that the children do not disobey their parents. Item, take care that you do not celebrate a liar. Then in the worldly government, protect the pious and punish the wicked. The wicked. But it is not done. There remain many wicked husks, and the children are not brought up for the glory of God; so one does not punish himself, that he lived chastely and honestly, and there is punishment enough.
Yes, they say, what is it? Dear, do 2) you despise judgment? It is not good if you do not want to be punished. If you kept the ten commandments, that would be right sheep sacrificed. Well, we have the advantage of teaching and hearing it. But the pope denies it, with him idolatry is not a sin, nor is avarice a sin, but not to redeem indulgences, that is a sin.
1) Erlanger: learn.
2) Erlanger: verachts.
This doctrine is well known among us, but we do not do judgment in this way, neither in the secular nor in the domestic regiment. It would be better for a husband to wait at home for his food and children than to go on pilgrimage to Rome. But parents are negligent in this, do not do it, to their great harm. For if parents had exercised their judgment, they might say: Well, if you escape from me, you will not escape from the executioner, or from God, or from the devil; and then the executioner also says to the disobedient son: If you have not wanted to judge yourself, then I will judge you, and if you had punished yourself, then you would not be allowed 1) to be awarded to the executioner. But that is why cities, villages and houses are full of thieves, because everything goes, and there is no punishment.
Mercy is against evil, that one should refrain from evil, that one should not only do what is due, of which the lawyers teach, and that the same is called justice, but also do what one owes before God. The jurist only shows what one owes before the world. Such things are still vain, the husks and shells of the muscatel. Before God you must have something else and more, which you are otherwise not obliged to give before the world. So, no executioner forces you to give alms to your neighbor, to forgive even your brother for what he has done wrong against you; but before God it is said: I am your Father of all, you shall be brothers and sisters among yourselves. Therefore, if you see your neighbor starving and suffering hunger, and do not feed him or give him a piece of bread, you have transgressed the righteousness of the law; for God has commanded that we love one another as brothers and sisters, that neither abandon the other, whether in physical or spiritual need, then everything will be fine; I am not a fornicator, do no harm or violence to anyone.
The Pharisee in the temple despised the tax collector, could not forgive him, did not give him what he owed him, should not have mocked him, and that is what he said
1) Erlanger: dürfest.
Justice; for our Lord God also wants worldly justice to be upheld, so that a quiet, peaceful life may remain. But this does not make you blessed, for God wants you to do this and keep His commandments, not only to avoid evil and keep your mouth shut, but also to love your neighbor as yourself. If you do not do this, you may be pious before the world, but before God you are condemned. The authorities cannot force you to do this; however, if you do not want to be eternally lost after this life, but want to be saved and be a child of God, and if you do not do what is due to a pious child, God will no longer be your father. The authorities can punish you if you sell something too dear, but if you do not want to sell it, you have the power and the right to do so. Thus says that farmer, I have bread for my household, and another may provide it for him; these are the words of the stingy and the unmerciful. Thus says Christ: You leave mercy and judgment behind, and come with the tille. You give yourselves over to evil, and neglect good. God does not let this go unpunished, for he has often overthrown kingdoms because of it.
Well, he wants to have: You shall do good, which is good not only in the sight of the world, but also in the sight of God; and you shall forbear from doing evil, not that which is evil in the sight of the world alone, but that which God also considers evil.
Third, to walk before God in humility and fear, which Christ calls "faith. For the three sacrifices belong to God, that we trust in Him and believe that we are justified before Him by grace, and trust with all our hearts that He will grant us forgiveness of sins and nourish our bodies; secondly, that we avoid evil and live blamelessly not only before the world but also before God; thirdly, that we also do mercy. For these fruits follow from faith, namely judgment and mercy.
2) You Pharisees, priests and Levites let this stand in line and come with silence. We also do this; when we sin and do evil, and the worldly authorities can punish us for it, we do not do it.
2) Erlanger; So.
not to punish, we think, O this sin does not harm us.
Therefore he decides, and calls them mosquito-seekers and camel-seekers. This likeness is strangely spoken, that they should thus be able to keep out a gnat, 1) and swallow up a camel; as he said above about those who take a mote out of their neighbor's eye, and forget the beam in their own eye. Their own mercy and righteousness make them very great. But Christ says: He who offers tille, and leaves the three pieces outside, lets camellias pass through. For their sacrifice, their tithes, their good works, their tille, these are delicious things, by which they are holy; judgment, mercy and faith are nothing.
These are fly tigers and camel devourers. It is fine before the eyes, when a hypocrite takes the small righteousness, as, the world righteousness before him, and the great righteousness, so before God, lets stand; as, that one said: The authorities and the executioner must not harm me, nor accuse me of anything, and yet you attacked and offended your neighbor, 2) and would not forgive your brother his shortcomings, that is, you may have killed a mosquito, but you swallowed a camel, because you do not fear God, so you do not love your neighbor. Faith, mercy and righteousness are gnats before your eyes, so you have to feed them, even though these pieces are like a large camel.
[Tenth sermon on Matth. 23.] 3)
[Sixth woe.]
We have heard the five cries of the Lord against the Pharisees; now comes the sixth:
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who cleanse the outside of the cup and bowls, but inside you are full of robbery and uncleanness.
1) Erlanger: stay.
2) Erlanger: insulting.
3) "This sermon does not immediately follow the previous one in the manuscript. The content, however, sufficiently shows that it connects here." (Note by Bruns.)-This sermon was preceded by the sixth on the 23rd chapter of Matthew, as can be seen from note 5), Col. 1165, "HM.
The Lord gives them an evil lesson for the last, 4) cries out against them Zeter und Mordio, as we Germans use to say. Now it would not be so frightening if he had done it for the sake of their lives, but that they also taught and preached such things for the sake of others. For there is a great difference between the teaching and the life. For though the life be evil, yet if the doctrine be pure, it can be helped. For the light is still there, by which the erring man can judge himself. But when the light is extinguished, all is lost. Then one runs into darkness. For this reason, the Lord complains here not only that they have lived this way, but also that they have accepted it as right. Si vitia abeunt in mores, when right and custom become what in former times were vices, and are called sin no more: there is no help for it.
The first cry is that they shut up the kingdom of heaven, and would not let others in; that is, they taught such preaching as was a hindrance to them in the kingdom of heaven, and yet praised such doctrine; item, they devoured widows' houses, for what they gave to God was all well done, and so the doctrine and the life were false; item, that it was not sinful to swear by anything but the temple; item, to make fellow Jews; and in the clamors there are always two pieces, first the life, then the doctrine. Then it had to be right, as they taught.
[V. 25.] "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who cleanse the outside of the cup and bowls, but inside you are full of robbery and uncleanness."
The Lord is angry and calls them blind men, and that would be the least plague, that they would live like that, but they still want to defend it, that it is right, and that others should follow them. But if the light of doctrine still remained, it could be restored; but it was not there. That is why he calls them blind leaders. 5)
But why does he punish them, because they clean the outside of the cup, and inside they are full of robbery? It cannot be understood that they are made of unclean vessels.
4) Erlanger: Letzer.- Letze - Abschied.
5) Erlanger: Blind Letter.
They would not have eaten or drunk. For if they were pure and clean by heart, much more were they pure within. For the people were commanded by the law of Moses to keep themselves pure. They did not have to have a spot on their skirts, the road in the Hanseatic League had to be swept clean, yes, everything had to be clean; yes, it was nicer in their houses than a new ark, and they were not such swine as we Germans are. Everything was pure in food, drink, body and clothing; therefore they did not eat from unclean vessels.
One reads in the Gospel of the rich man that he lived daily gloriously and cleanly, and did not wear a torn skirt, but silk linen, so purely swept that not a feather would have stuck to it; therefore Lazarus must have stunk before him. For when the people saw that Lazarus had boils and pus on him, no one wanted to touch him, and was more horrible than when someone has leprosy or pestilence with us now. 1) He was not allowed to come to the table, nor to go to the market. They did not eat with grinded hands.
Therefore this is said of their heart, that they did not keep it pure. By heart in the Hanse they kept it pure. The rich man thought Lazarus was damned; for he was full of swarms, which no Jew would have touched, because he thought he was damned. Therefore the dogs came and licked his swarms. Dem" it was an excellent sin to touch such a sore. For they had a commandment that they should be pure in the sight of all the heathen, but especially inwardly. For it should not remain with the outward purity, but the right purity should be sought. There was no purer city in the world than Jerusalem: and Christ cometh, and maketh a clamor against them, saying, Ye are all blind, and blind others also. Everything had to be pure. So it cannot be written how pure they kept it. Now he says, "Externally, everything is so pure that it could not be better. But what is it in your heart? He does not speak of the cup, nor of the bowl, but of the heart, that it is full of filth. He ver-
1) "has" added by Bvuns.
Do not throw away their purity. For they should first purify that which is within. This purity, which you not only do, but also teach, you think, when the purple robe is swept, and everything, bed, garment is clean, that this is your righteousness, and you do not defend this purity, but you still teach it, and yet inwardly you are full of robbery, filth, and defending this doctrine and life. It must not be sinful for you to rob and steal from the poor people all that they have. Therefore they drove the people: if they gave much to the temple and sacrificed, even if they snatched it from the parents' mouths, it would be well done. For when the parents were old and could no longer support themselves, and the children were to provide for the parents, the Pharisees preached: "If you want to invest your goods well, give them as a sacrifice and give them to the church; since one owes not only one's parents, but also one's neighbor, help, taxes and maintenance. Then says the Lord, "By this you have trampled the fourth commandment of God to the ground. They interpreted the honor owed to one's parents in such a way that it would stand alone if one took off his cap before them. But in time of need, I should not serve them, and they turned the people away, and led them to sacrifice, which would help the father and the son.
Is this not blindness and wickedness above all wickedness? and adorn it with the name of spirituality and holiness. Thus, the Lord says, by your teaching you make the commandments of God pure, that if you are to help your parents, you must run to Caipha and Hanna and give to them. This is what it means to love God.
But it is still all child's play [against that], 2) as it happened in the papacy, if one holds it against Judaism. The pope has it preached throughout the world that the Holy Scriptures are 3) worthless; the authority of the Holy Scriptures that they are worth anything, that they have from the Roman See. Christians should be assured that the pope has the power to confirm the Holy Scripture, to announce it, to give it a meaning.
2) "against that" put in by us, because the sense demands such an intercalation.
3) Erlanger: tugte.
and to reject it. I have also lived in this, I am deeply immersed in this opinion. You young people know nothing of it now, but you still find it in Pabst's decrees. The pope cannot suffer either the prophets, apostles, emperors or kings to reform him 1). The word judicare, to judge, is his burnt sorrow. One shall not tell him of the holy scriptures, but he speaks evil: You alone shall hear me, and that was the potestas ecclesiastica in the papacy of old, that any doctor, school or university had to throw himself under his feet and ask him if he wanted to accept it. If he accepted it, 2) it was right; if not, it must be wrong. Thus the Bible or the Holy Scriptures and the books of the fathers came under the bank, and one finds in Pabst's books nothing but avarice, gluttony and greed, as the lawyers themselves must say, who study in Pabst's law books. It reeks of vain avarice and splendor, and how he would like to press the people under him, and has thus been a lord of the whole world, yes, a lord of all souls, and only thought of how he would take the prebendaries and monasteries, steal and rob, how he would bring all bishoprics and kingdoms under him, and whoever does not hold so high as an article of the Christian faith and accepts what he pretends, he considers to be damned. The Jews are only a carnival play against it. In his decrees you will find how they decorate their actions, that they have the most beautiful ceremonies, organs, bells, church order and other trappings of the Christian church. That is splendid. But what is it inside? The Lord Christ says: "Inside you are like robbery and devouring. There has been theft in every corner. It cannot be talked out now. Nor is there any hope that we can cleanse and sweep it. One cannot fathom it with thoughts. One must wait until God reveals the abomination and theft from heaven on the last day. Now no one can justify his avarice, as it is said in the 2nd epistle of S. Peter in the 2nd chapter: "There will be
1) Erlanger: them.
2) Erlanger: assumes.
false prophets will come, by whom the way of truth will be darkened, and with avarice, with fabricated words they will deal with you" etc. Their heart is hollowed out and set on avarice in all ways. This is what we see and grasp now. We cannot advise nor help, neither do they desire it. Therefore, we leave it to the last day. But if we can still pluck out some, we will gladly do so. The others, like Judas, are miserly; we must leave the bunch. The decree shines and glitters outwardly; but inwardly it is not only avarice and gluttony, but also robbery and theft, that they live only in the rush; say then to Rome of us Germans that we are afraid of death and the devil, which is then a fair fable, but mau must have good courage, the last day never comes. The Cardinal of Mainz and some princes now have such a belief. We cannot straighten out this bunch. But we may pull some out of it. The others mock us and take us for fools who do not believe as they do. 3) They are inwardly vain. They are inwardly vain robbers, they rob the whole world, they pretend that nothing can be done. But we who find Christians, and remember that this life must have an end, learn that we know where we may stay, and wait for a better life, when everything will be in a better state than it was here in this life.
These may see that they are not comprehended in this clamor. Then see to it, every one of you. If you have a house and a farm, a wife and a child, a field and meadows, silver and gold, see to it that they are pure. Do not think that you are pure in the sight of God, even though you are not reproached and punished in the sight of the world. The imperial law often cannot punish such vices because of the wickedness of the world. For usury and avarice are now so entrenched that emperor and king can no longer do anything about them. Once upon a time, people sang: "The merchant has become noble, he leads horsemen. But now again the noblemen and princes have become merchants, vain usurers. It is not
3) Erlanger: Haltens.
Twenty years ago, when it was preached that ten guilders per hundred was called usury. Now the big merchants take twenty and thirty guilders a year of the hundred, and the main sum still remains with those who have to give the big interest. Some of them have forty or sixty guilders per hundred. The devil help you! Even if one appeals to the emperor and the princes for help, they cannot help, for they are in it themselves. The law is extinct and corrupt. We would gladly consent to six out of a hundred, or be satisfied that seven or eight would be given. For the goods are now very much increased, if only there were a pledge, and it were directed to re-purchase. But there lie the lawyers' books in the dirt without wanting to hold it themselves. Leipzig has fallen into the abyss of hell with usury and avarice. The right is extinguished, as one should not give interest under purchase. But things are going badly uphill and downhill. No preaching helps, and if the last day does not reform it, the cities will perish like Sodom and Gomorrah. For this is the time of money, and the longer it lasts, the more usury grows. For the money all goes into their sack. Now everything must be worth two pennies, which before was worth only one penny. There is no theurung from heaven. Usury is now right, which was wrong before, and they think they are still doing well, then they come rolling along and give a few guilders into the God's box. Let God look at that; take three hundred florins from the thousand, and give some skirt of it to poor people. These seem outwardly fine, are honest people, honorable lords, princes, counts, and so pure that it is all right what they do. Meanwhile they are tearing the marrow out of the legs of rich and poor. Who will resist? God help our princes. The richest and wisest go 1) there and want to be right. I once talked to one of them; he said that he had nothing more than his summa, which he could and must use to the highest.
These are secret chair robbers, 2) who steal secretly what someone else does publicly, and if the princes agreed with the right to give five out of a hundred, that it would be a repurchase, and we agreed to two or three guilders, that it would be eight guilders, if it was done from an estate or on fields on a pledge.
But in the twenty years since usury was first preached, people have come to take fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty or sixty guilders a hundred times over, since ten thousand guilders can win four thousand guilders. For this reason, Leipzig saps both principalities, just as a worm in an apple sucks out the apple, corrodes it, and even spoils it. Thus, the cities cannot gain strength because of usury. You may consider this, for the coat is taken, you may also hand over the skirt. We must be beggars to the usurers and let ourselves be robbed. But God reproves it through the preachers, and yet no one respects it; indeed, the law and pious princes cannot help. They say, "The money is mine; I may use it as I please. Then hear thou against it, that cries of woe are made against thee and against thy soul. You may use your money and your goods, your gold and your silver, but not to the detriment of your neighbor. If thou art a robber of a chair, thou hast robbed the florin as well as in the woods. There are robbers in cities and castles. Leipzig and other cities are real robbery cities. But cries of rage are cried out against them in this text, that they have no florin, penny nor penny with God and honor. Outwardly they may be resplendent and called noblemen; but the text says here: You are a robber, for you rob poor people and widows of what is theirs. Yes, they say, what do I ask for that, if I only get the money. But listen, you will not be so hard and strong that you will overthrow God the sky, nor will you bring God down. Therefore, if you do not want to be eternally damned, do not be a usurer. For God will not ask anything of you, just as He did not ask much of Duke George, who offered him
2) Chair robbers - robbers of the garden assets. "Chair" --- capital, stock (Kaltfchmidt).
3) Erlanger: den.
[Defiance], 1) as he did. You will probably realize it. He has probably seen more a wanton tyrant, who has been obdurate in their wickedness, who has nevertheless gone to failure.
This is now preached to us. In the pile of the Pabst it is in vain. But let every man take care of his own food, that it be not hurtful to others, and let him not be covetous; let no man spoil anything, that he may be able to say, I have this with God and honor, that it be not robbery. For we have heard how the Lord was ashamed of covetousness, and calls it robbing, singing out the blood. But it is still nothing against the avarice that is in our times. It is unpunished; we may do so, as Ezekiel says, when God wanted to punish Jerusalem: "How can I sweep Jerusalem? it is so unclean that it cannot be helped; and he compares Jerusalem to a pot that has been soiled by filth and foam, and says: "I cannot scrub it, I will even make a new pot. 2) So he did to the city, and overthrew it with a house, and sent it to Babylon into the furnace and into the fire.
He will do the same to us. Our teaching is now nothing. The cauldron is burnt and dirty. The right has perished; the right lies. Therefore God must bring a Turk to push it into a heap, or the last day must come; and let it be said to us Christians who are not yet in this vice: Listen to your God, who condemns this sin and cries out against it. For your usury has come to such an extent in the ten years that five years gain a year 3) and if it remains so for another ten years, we will keep nothing; but let us beware. Let the others go to the devil and ask God to hear our sighs. It has come out of the emperor's hand
1) Erlanger: böte ihnen, wie er thäte". - This passage proves that this sermon was preached after the death of Duke George, i.e. in 1539, as the passage Col. 1164 proves that this sermon still belongs to the year 1538. Col. 1164 proves that this sermon belongs to the year 1538. Duke George died on April 17, 1539.
2) Erlanger: hab.
3) Here there seems to be a mistake in the text. Instead of "a year" should probably be read "the summa", that is, the capital, because the sense is: because thoughqig of the hundred are given, so the lender has gained in five years as much as he has lent.
and also to the scholars. But pray that God will give the emperor and the princes courage and heart to do otherwise than has been done so far, if it can be done otherwise, or that He will come in with the last day and put an end to the game; and let us be sorry that we have to see and hear this miserable being and clamor.
But the Jews' drudgery is mere child's play compared to the avarice and usury that now reigns not only among the clergy, where the greatest usury is, but also among the secular classes.
[Eleventh sermon on the 23rd chapter of Matthew.
[Seventh woe.]
Woe to you, Christian scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites, who are like the whitewashed tombs that appear beautiful on the outside, but on the inside they are full of dead men's legs and all kinds of filth.
So far we have heard six cries of anguish, which the Lord cries out against the Pharisees, and how the woe came upon them. For we see in the histories how Jerusalem was destroyed, even though they did not object to it, upon whom the woe was to pass.
But the Lord speaks of the graves that were recently made and are still shining and beautiful, saying, "You are the same.
But how is it that he takes the likeness and punishes them with it? It seems as if it is not an evil thing to say long prayers and to make Jewish friends; item, that they swear by the gold at the temple, and that they tithe the tille. It is all not evil. They also said, "Moses commanded us to be clean outwardly, and to keep ourselves clean in our houses. The Lord still reproves them here. So it was not evil that they kept their burial clean, and it was called a vice, not only among the Gentiles, but also in the holy scriptures, if one did not bury the dead honestly. Abraham buried his Sarah gloriously, and after that his two sons also buried him honestly, as we see in
Even today, the dead are buried honestly in the ground; and the way of burial in the church has remained until now, and the churchyards are still called sleeping chambers and beds, and these places of burial are held in special honor, and are called sleeping places: is a very fine testimony, so that we confess when we bury the dead in this way, that they will certainly rise at the last day. For one carries them out in the name of burying them in the earth as in a bed of downy feathers; 1) and the Holy Spirit means to die and to be buried: to lie down in sleep. For the body which is buried in the earth shall not abide therein, but shall in a moment come forth again, and rise again. Therefore, in the Old and New Testaments, death is called a sleep. For Christ says of the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, who was dead, "Soft, the maiden is not dead, but sleepeth"; and saith unto her, "Maiden, I say unto thee, arise"; that is, awake, and immediately the maiden riseth up, as though she had lain in a deep sleep. And what else would we expect in the world, so much misfortune, if we did not have the consolation? So now the churchyard is supposed to be a sleeping bed for the Christians. For this is what God Himself calls it, as well as the entire Holy Scripture, the patriarchs and prophets, and the entire Christian church. And one should not let it happen that one should not bring the dead honestly to the earth and bury them. For we shall not carry out the bodies of the dead, as cows and horses are dragged to the threshing-floor, which we do not put to sleep. We do not think that they will come back. But with us the opposite happens. We are to live again; therefore the funeral should be held beautifully and honestly for the sake of the article of our Christian faith, since we know that we will rise again.
You see that the sun sets daily and hides itself, is not to be seen also at night. But when the night has passed, the sun breaks forth again, and rises again, and makes a beautiful bright
1) Erlanger: to stare at.
Tomorrow and day. Thus, after our death, we will also come forth again and have a glorious immortal body on us.
Since the burial is such a good thing, why does the Lord rebuke and punish the Pharisees so horribly here? says: You are no different than the whitewashed tombs of the dead, than the tombs that are whitewashed; as it was the way of the Jews that they had beautiful tombs, and in the prophets it is seen that they kept the tombs large, and thus left behind them a testimony of the resurrection of the dead, and took it for granted that the tomb was not a tomb, but a bed; Although otherwise often much stranger ceremonies have been held at the funerals, and the Christians have taken it from the pagans. Monica, S. Augustine's mother, had the custom of carrying food and drink to the graves in her shirt; and the pagans put a bowl of bread and a candelabra of drink with the deceased in the grave, and then they scorched it, wanting to indicate that the dead would rise again and eat and drink. But after that it was abused; therefore the soul bath 2) came in the priesthood, as a sign that they would not remain dead.
Therefore saith the Lord, Ye are as whited sepulchers, even so are ye: in the sight of men ye are beautiful and pious. But there is a fine text about the world's deceitfulness, unfaithfulness and ingratitude, which is so rampant that no one can well excuse it. For first of all there is falsehood in the first table, concerning the service of God, which the Lord touches chiefly here. Then there is falsehood in the worldly government in the other table, so that the whole world is nothing but falsehood. Now we cannot correct this, but the Lord has reproached them here for it, so we may also punish them and say that they will have no recompense on the last day.
The first falsity in the first tablet, which is about worship, serving our Lord God in a false appearance. The
2) On "Seelbad" compare Luther's letter to Hans von Minkwitz, January or February 1525. Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 138.
The spirits of the wicked are ready to take the holy Scriptures before them, and make doctrines out of them that please them, and deceive the people, as the Sacramentans, Anabaptists, and Antinomians do; and though we resist them, yet others come, as S. Paul says, "Among you shall arise wickedness;" and Christ also says, "Beware of false prophets. There is nothing else: we will experience this falsehood; and it is nevertheless a vexatious thing that one must live among them, who practice falsehood, and deceive many, are wise and powerful in the world. But I cannot preach about this now. For I would have to tell all the heresies and many examples of them. We also have God's word pure; yet there is great hypocrisy and pretense among us, since we have the word of God from the holy Scriptures pure and fine, and it is the truth. Before, we had lies and falsehood with a pretense that we were pointed 1) to the fathers, concilia and church. This has now ceased with us, but it will come again.
This is the first falsehood, which goes against God, because one does not accept the holy scripture, unless it is falsified. But woe to them who seduce other people in this way. And this is the most fearful thing, that they have thus beautifully adorned and polished their teachings. But it is nothing else than, as the Lord says, 2) a whitewashed grave. If the dead men's bones and the stench were outside, they would do no harm or damage. But because their doctrine glitters, they deceive many people. For behold, how the practice of buying indulgences deceived so many people. For they pretended that whoever bought indulgences would have half or full and complete forgiveness of sins. Who did not want that? It is a fine lime. How can you decorate it more beautifully? Item: If you have sinned and been a bad boy, go to a monastery; vow to God chastity, poverty and obedience: then you will be blessed, and then you can also share your good works with others.
Lime means that something is done for God's glory, that it is perfection. This
1) Erlanger: meadow.
2) Here we have deleted "because" because it is too much.
Lime is gleaming and white. So now go through all the heretics. For they all make whitewash and lime to cover their false doctrine, lies and error, and if you open the doctrine or the grave, you will see dead men's legs inside, rotten flesh that stinks and is full of maggots, that is, full of disobedience of the divine word. So the monks and nuns also whitewash and whiten with their monastic life, which they exalt. But it is not right, and is a work of their own and a human order, and a disobedience against the commandments of God. Whoever could see this, would beware of it and say, "I see the whitewash, but underneath there is nothing but filth and dead men's legs.
But the Lord says: "Before men, because reason is imprisoned here, it cannot judge or judge that it is wrong;" but it is such a wonderful thing that one becomes a monk, a nun or a priest, does this or that and keeps it.
To Colossians it is said that the chosen righteousness or human righteousness is the whitest thing on earth, is the beautiful, pretty matzo; but if one would look at it inside, it is dung, filth, stink and dead men's legs. But men's eyes are glued to the lime, and do not see the inside, nor do they see how the thing is so contrary to God's word and obedience, if one thus begins something new, and that one does not remain in the state and profession that God Himself has established.
But Christ says, "Man does not see. But I see, and they that have mine eyes may say, I see monks and nuns walking, seeing sourly, wearing caps and plates, singing, reading, having rest and peace, and keeping their fasts against the world. There is a husband, wife, have to work, raise children, seek food in the sweat of the face. Then, they say, it is a wicked being with the marriage state and the worldly authorities. There must be vain dead men's legs, stink and filth, which one should avoid. For it is a lay state, there the maggots are outside, one holds the noses before it, there is vain harm. But in the monastery it seems, there is the lime, there does no one
There is a quiet, peaceful life, there are neither maggots nor stink. But if you look into it, you will find a stinking garden of spices, and then ask whether God has also commanded it. God knows nothing of it, but men have devised it. So they have whitewashed it beautifully. Then the grave is open and the lime has disappeared, and everything is full of worms. But in the state of marriage, it seems good on the outside, as if it were all stink and filth. Yet God has commanded it, and wills it, that father and mother should wait for their children, and seek their food by the sweat of their brow; but what do maggots and dead men's legs matter to thee, that they thrust thee before the head? Why do you not look at the right and eternal whitewash, namely the divine word? For if a state has God's word in it, and God's order, what harm is it if it is full of worms? nevertheless, it is a good and delicious state. But if a state is not commanded by God, nor does it have God's command and word, then you say, "It glitters and seems beautiful, and the holy fathers were wise people, as were the Concilia; but I must know whether it is also God's word or not, which they pretend. If then human reason or wisdom has devised it, say: I see behind the lime vain maggots. Thus the Christian part can judge; otherwise a man cannot understand nor judge. For a man sees nothing but dead men's bones and filth in the estates God has created, but a Christian sees gold and precious stone underneath.
But the world is plagued with whitewash and maggots. So it goes and will probably remain so that the false saints will preach and be whitewashers, maggot saints, stink saints will be there, and the people will then fall to them, and look at the glistening lime and not at the maggots, stink and worms that are underneath.
In the other table, where it affects the outward life, it is said, as it is said in the proverb: How is the world so excellently false! For in the worldly government there is commonly falsehood. I command the same falsehood to the lawyers and rulers, who may
And falsehood is not only among the citizens and peasants, but also among the princes and rulers at court; and the nobles now in the German land all deal in falsehood, so that there is no more faith nor loyalty among the people; and it starts from the highest heads, and they are followed by the nobles and burgomasters, and then goes through citizens and peasants, servants and maids; it is now a delicious art. Si fecisti, nega, you must not make a public spectacle of yourself when you prove a knavery to your neighbor. You may still say: Listen, you must prove to me that I have done it; and even if you have seen and grasped it at once, and have no witnesses or letter, you must not accuse him. For he has lime, he can burn himself white that he has not done it. And do people then do all their evil in denial, and this is supposed to be great wisdom and prudence, 1) when one proves a poisonous treachery to another, and before he brings him to justice, he consumes his goods over it, and thus people live in false humility, that one must still call them most gracious lord, wise mayor, and yet stand in the thought: You desperate villain and traitor! you do not carry shield and helmet for this reason. But he has the ornament. Thou canst not to him, for he saith: No. An arch-whore is now a pious woman. If thou hast not seen it, or if thou canst not convince her of adultery, thou must lie. Such falsehood increases greatly beyond measure.
We preach that the gospel should make truthful people who live before the world as they would answer to God, and that life should be similar to preaching. But the contradiction happens. Still, such people want to be a fine Christian people, who, when they hear that they should accept the truth, do the opposite. They will certainly hear about it on the last day, or they will learn about it on your deathbed. You will not be allowed to accuse us then, but you will be guilty, not I who preached to you. Therefore God will also speak to you. I do not praise it,
1) "his" added by Bruns.
Do not rebuke it either, you say; yes, so you still do not accept my sermon? If I rebuke thee, and thou despisest it, go thy way: the hour shall come when thou shalt feel it in thine heart. It is not the preacher's word, but God's. God wants me to tell it to you. This is what my heart tells me. Bite yourself with it. But if thou art godly, and hearest the word of God, it shall not grieve thee: for I must punish thee for my office; otherwise I have no power over thee, but that I may tell thee. If you do not do it, woe to you; but if you follow the punishment, good for you. For otherwise thou shalt not escape with the whitewash and denial, and adorn thyself well; behold, how thou shalt bring it forth. He will not give thee the whitewash, but will put the stink and the maggots before thee, that thou mayest abide therein for ever. Many people still think they will escape from him. Item, he sees the adulterers. If they do not stop, they will lose their honor. One whitewashes and decorates it well, but it comes out at last and stinks. So also, if one practices usury, it will be revealed, and become beggars. For the whitewash will not hold. It does not help to be false in the first and in the second table. Even if people do not see that one man exchanges for another, no one has been deceived except oneself. You can always imitate me, and you can imitate someone else. But see if the lime and whitewash will hold. For God, who dwells in heaven, sees the lime and the whitewash, though men do not see it. For men cannot see you, because you deny everything. But God will remove the whitewash and bring the maggots to day.
It was the same with the Jews; they wanted to be pure. But everything that men do not see lasts for a time, and then passes away, as here the Lord Christ says that the grave will be opened, and then you will find such roses inside; you will also see what kind of incense is inside. So now our life is before God and also before the world, that we will not escape hell unless we turn to God through righteous Christian repentance; and if you do not stop whitewashing, our Lord God will remove the whitewash.
tear down. Then no thief escapes the gallows, nor no harlot to shame; she must be put to shame. For there are maggots, there is stink behind it.
So now the whole world is, and it is preached to me, and to thee, and to all men; but to me therefore to consider that I suffer. We are excused. They that preach must then have patience, and be whitewashed, and be adorned, and be the best preachers, and the best rulers, and the best princes, yea, be vain nails and roses; and be thou content. I must suffer, but open thou thine eyes, and know that maggots are under it. You must answer for it. If they do not want to believe it, then let it be.
So the Jews were also beautiful outwardly. But the godly hearts have seen their disobedience in the first and second table, and yet they were adorned before the world with roses and precious ornaments. One often finds pious princes in the world, yet they are vain maggots.
[Twelfth Sermon on the 23rd Chapter of Matthew.
[Eighth woe.]
V. 29. f. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the tombs of the righteous, saying, "If we had been in the days of our fathers," etc.
This is the eighth and last cry of contumely that the Lord makes against the Pharisees, and is so very angry with them that he calls them poisonous, evil worms, serpents and vipers, and says [v. 33], "How will you escape the damnation of hell?" And one should be astonished that the Lord speaks so harshly and harshly to them, at which they should truly be terrified. For throughout the whole chapter he says that they are hypocrites; and in this text he says again, Woe to them that build the graves of the prophets; and adds these words, that they say, "If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers of the blood of the prophets," nor have killed them.
Now it is indeed a good thing to build tombs and decorate the tombs of the saints. For they confess in this work that the prophets and others are holy, and he who does this is not evil. And then he says that they would not willingly participate in the murder of the prophets, that they would not have been saints' vassals; for a sign, so they decorate and honor the prophets' graves, not to mention that they should put them to death. Why then does the Lord cry out against such good deeds and such fine words, saying: "You murderers and evil-doers, if they are innocent of the blood of the dear holy prophets?
But Christ is the truth itself, and also loves the truth, and is the enemy of lies. Therefore hath he above, through all the clamor of the good works and^ute words, remembered them as praying, and made much of the Jews. Why then is he so angry, and reproachful of the things which were commanded in the law, as we have heard next, that they cleansed the cups and the vessels, and that they whitewashed the graves, that there might be a difference between dead men and dead cattle, and that there might be a hope of the resurrection of the dead? and confessed in fact that we belong together, those who are still alive and who are one cubit or two deep under the earth, as our sisters, brothers and children are separated from us, and know that they sleep in the churchyard and we follow them, and will rise again from the dead at the last day.
Let the prophets be honored by saying, "David, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Elisha and others are buried here. This prophet was slain in this place. For by this is signified that they, like us, have suffered, and have also the hope of the resurrection of the dead.
But Christ is favorable to truth and hostile to lies; neither can we all suffer one to be full of lies, nor can we all suffer to be lied to and deceived. Each one wants to be dealt with sincerely, as one otherwise speaks nowadays: one can say no to it. The world is also nothing else, but a bunch of liars and cheats; and is everybody
He is hostile to lying when it concerns him; again, when he lies to others, it is a delicious thing. This is what is said about the lie in the other table. But much more gruesome and terrifying are the sins that come up against God's honor, name and eternal life, or the hellish fire. The other tablet is about parents, neighbor, goods, body and life; but there I will not have parents, fields or houses. But in the first table, where it concerns God's word, God's honor and service, His sacraments, it is first of all annoying if one lies there; and as far apart is eternal life from temporal life: so far apart is also the lie in the first table and the lie in the other table. If you lie in the other table, you only lie to me about money. But here in the first table, if I lie or am lied to there, then I must be lost in the eternal infernal fire: that is terrible, that is then his wrath. This lie in the first table, which the Lord punishes here so seriously, says: "Everything is false, so that you go around, and where you think you are the most beautiful, you are the most ugly. This lie has been strong in the world. If in the papacy the most holy father, the pope, said that he collects a treasure to get against the Turk, and then erects a cross, and leads me there to obtain forgiveness of my sins, then the loss of money is the least harm. For the pope lies, that he presses the money out of the bags, then boasts the monks stand. Item, he raises the saints, and lets such a cry go out into the whole world, that he can communicate his merits to others, and speaks, he has boxes, in which all the merits of the Lord Christ lie, also of all the good 1) works of the saints. Then he reaches up to his elbows and distributes them. This was believed, and yet it was a lie. For he leads me from Christ to the saints, who are perhaps now in the abyss of hell. He also raises the bodies of S. Peter and S. Paul. Now I assume that it is true that their bodies and heads are still there.
1) Erlanger: good.'
It is a reputation in the world that he 1) is considered pious and godly who honors the bodies of the saints and is not like the wicked who have killed them. This example has been followed from the highest to the lowest class, and yet there is nothing behind it but a thirst for blood, as the Pharisees say: "Oh, we did not want to share in their blood! But what do they do in the meantime? They ask the Lord Christ for his life and do not stop until they have crucified him. They do not leave it at that, but those who cling to him and believe in him, they have banished, cursed and brought to the point that no one was allowed to call Christ, as it is written in John, where the blind man says that Christ helped him, but the Pharisees would not suffer him to say that Christ did it.
Thus they decorate their graves, as if they wanted to eat the holy prophets with great love, and yet they have killed the head of the Christian church, the Lord Christ, and are therefore sevenfold more bloodhounds than their fathers. So also the pope says that he serves God with the saints he raises up; item, that they establish masses and decorate the altar, have the most beautiful tombs, say: This church is not in honor of the Virgin Mary, but in honor of Christ and his saints; that is, the graves of dead saints are adorned, and all the saints who are true Christians are killed under the appearance. If the Virgin Mary herself were there, and said: You are the Antichrist, you do not have the teaching of my dear Son Jesus Christ, she would have to die.
In Rome, on the day of St. Peter, the pope himself says mass, and he himself starts vespers, and he has built a beautiful church there. But he [Peter] preached at Rome, as S. Peter wrote: O quickly dead! So they are also full of murder and bloodshed of all prophets and apostles, and yet they pretend to be pious, build churches and endow altars. Until now they have collected money against the
1) Erlanger: those.
2) Erlanger: him.
3) Erlanger: untern dem.
Turks, now they call for the Turk's help. Nevertheless, he now lets bulls and books go out, as if he were very holy, and as if in the bottom of his heart the treasure was lying, that he alone believed in Christ. Should one not cry foul? They adorn the saints only for appearance, as if to say, Behold, what honor do we put upon the holy prophets; and yet under appearance they are a hundred times worse. For if they had lived in the time of Christ, and he had preached unto them those things which Christ preacheth [in] this place, I mean they should have built tombs for him. For they do not like him, the Lord and Savior, the head of all the saints. The world has countless such fellows in the 4) papacy, who speak: We want to reform the church. But they are bloodhounds who lie in wait for our life and limb, as we should all be dead this year at Pentecost. In the meantime, they bring out the martyria of the saints. They must be their lids, and lure all kings and emperors to themselves with the appearance.
Christ is hostile to them, and he does not punish them for decorating the tombs. For it is no evil thing to praise the saints and to adorn the tombs of the saints, that it may be known that Samuel is buried there, item, that the earth is full of holy people. It is a fine, delicious thing. But if they were still alive, they would cut him to death as they cut Isaiam with a wooden saw. The will, the heart, and the thoughts of their fathers are also in them; only that they are twofold worse than their fathers, having slain the prophets, and not having adorned their graves. These say that they did not want to kill the prophets, and want to make themselves pious with the appearance that if Isaiah would come now, the Pharisees would worship him and carry him on their hands.
The Lord is hostile to these hypocritical, false, desperate liars who lie in the first tablet, and it is certain that they are poisonous murderers. But because they have a fine outward appearance, they cannot be known as soon as they are. If any godly
4) Erlanger: in,
If a man, like Simeon or Hannah, had decorated a grave, it would have been delicious. But the more quiet these saints do, the more poisonous and evil they are. So are the popes, cardinals and bishops. They have a delicious pretense that they want to reform the church, and yet under this pretense they incite the kings against the poor Christians, and shed innocent blood. Therefore let us also curse and cry out against them. You will see that they will not cease to strangle us. If they cannot do it with their own strength, they will raise up other evil men against us, as the Turk or others. For we see that the Pharisees were also such men, and our enemies today are also such hypocrites, lying in the first table, and after that they do not cease to rage most fiercely against us, until they die in our thirst for blood: so the lie in the first table and the murder remain together, which two things, as lies and murder, are still found in our adversaries. Murder happens in many ways, as when one commits murder through carelessness without his own fault, as when an axe is cut off.
leads. It is written about this in Moses.
After that, if one of them defends himself, the murder goes free. But if there is a disagreement in the alehouse, and one of them kills the other, it's head for head. These murderers are not to be suffered.
Item, death blows, which are done deliberately and deliberately, as the thieves and robbers do, that is a real evil death in the other table; they are ugly and black.
But when in the first table there are deaths, they have beautiful white robes on, and wear golden crowns, and are adorned with all virtues, and these murderers are the best and the holiest, who can murder and kill most beautifully. Therefore these kill us either in the heart, as it is written in Matt. 5, not out of anger, or out of fear, but out of great righteousness, that they should count us heretics, and that they should forbid good works, and want to be these holy and pious men, who mean well by the Christian church, want to save it; these are the beautiful murderers, who do not know how to kill.
But on the two kinds of murder, as I have said above, there one only looks; but these beautiful, holy, angelic murderers cannot be punished, because they have escaped from your gallows and sword. Where do they belong? To the infernal fire. With the others there is hope that they may come to repentance and knowledge of their sins, and obtain forgiveness of sins, so that they do not lead into the hellish fire.
But the murderers in the first table, who kill for the sake of God, they adorn themselves as if they were the holiest people, as the pope and his crowd. They are also our executioners. But the infernal fire shall judge them. For the murder is too evil, the sword cannot come to it. Meanwhile they adorn themselves that they seek God's honor and the Christian church's rest and peace, and praise the fathers' and apostles' scriptures, saying: With them we will keep it, and yet lie so grossly that the beams would crack, and the vault before it would collapse.
Therefore, consider how you may be certain of the matter, and that you may rightly know the word of God, whether you also have righteous preachers, and whether they preach the word of God or not; item, take heed which is the word of God or not the word of God. For he who doubts cannot stand when the holy murderers come upon him. But he who is sure of his doctrine and faith, and lives and dies by it, good for him! If the murderers slay me over it, then I am blessed. If the Turk strangles us, we are also blessed, whether pestilence comes, or he brings the French, leprosy and drops. If we are sure that we are Christians, baptized, and know that God's word is true; then I live on it, and confess it, and also die on it, and sing the saying of the Psalm: "Cast thy prayer upon the Lord, and he will provide for thee. If you are sure of this, then you must also wait for the holy and angelic murderers, who are much holier than S. Peter, Paul or Mary. But that they
1) About "Tropf" compare Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XIX, 644.
not kill us all, there is no lack of a good and complete will.
The murderers in the other table are also evil, but they do not intend to strangle everyone. But they do not ask anything else than how they can kill everyone. Because they are idolatrous people, it is in their nature that they must be murderers. For as their life is lying, so it is also vain murder. If they cannot murder, they like to lie, and if they are murderers, they think they are doing God a favor. Therefore, beware of the shameful bunch. I will keep silent about the other seven sins 1) but in them, as in lying, they are especially drowned, because they want to honor the saints, make measurements, decorate the altars, and yet it is not true. But if you want to be a sinner, let it be in the name of God in the other table, where one can still think about who he is and how dangerous he is: so there is the advantage that a man who has been beaten to death can still turn to God, can accuse God of the sin of murder, adultery, fornication, and can also think: What have I done? I have lived as a prankster; then he can come to the knowledge of the sins.
But the holy murderers first become staarblind. Because they think they are just, and their lies are truth, and their most horrible murder must be the most holy work. So they praise their lies and then reach into our blood up to our arms. So does Ferd[inand]; 2) and say: So God will give happiness and salvation. So they persuade the kings, princes and lords that there is no remedy against the Turk, because we Lutherans have all been strangled before. Therefore they confidently strike at us, and many fine people perish. Why is this happening, or for what reason? Only because they do not like the doctrine; and if they had destroyed this doctrine of ours before, they would have slain the Turk beforehand, spitting and
1) The seven so-called deadly sins are meant: Covetousness, avarice, unchastity, gluttony and drunkenness, anger, hatred and sloth. Cf. Walch, old edition, Vol. Ill, 1983 ff.
2) Cf. Luther's Table Talks in 1338. Walch, St. Louis Edition, vol. XXII, 1729, no. 181, and Col. 1731, no. 196.
Cry much that our blood may be shed with confidence. So it is in the world, know now how thou shalt live. For you see how a great and mighty lord the devil is. He gives our adversaries the same advice that Caiaphas gave the Jews a long time ago, that it is better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish. If we do not denounce them, the Romans will come and turn this place upside down. Therefore it is better that one perish, etc. then the Romans will not do anything against us. Before forty years had passed, there was not a stone left standing in Jerusalem. How finely the council was laid out; yes, turn it around. When he was crucified, he told them that they were converted. But they thought they had a merciful God, that they had killed Jesus of Nazareth. In the same way it is said today: If you want to have victory against the Turk, you must first kill the Lutherans, just as the Jews said: If you crucify Christ, you will have happiness and salvation. How, then, if God would let it happen that a Turk should strike ten papists dead with one finger? For they have denounced Christ, and strangle those whom they should otherwise protect and defend against the Turk with their prayers, and then enrage Him 3) who is to give them strength and happiness against the Turk. For if anyone should resist the Turk and the devil, we will do it, if we are God's people and can pray; otherwise the others will leave it alone.
Therefore, everyone can see how things stand in the world. The papists incite emperors and kings, as if they were to strangle all of us Christians beforehand, and then they want to march against the Turks. Against this God prays that he will prevent the bloody attack, and that the council will not harm us, but harm them, as has happened with the Jews, that Jerusalem has been destroyed and razed, that not one stone has been left upon another, and the Jews have been scattered throughout the world. But if we pray diligently, there shall be no need. They do not see it,
3) Erlanger: those.
what the devil deals with. But we know the thoughts of the devil. He deals with it that he would like to suppress all of us. If he had first eradicated the doctrine, he would then like to strangle the confessors of the doctrine as well. But the devil's heads can adorn themselves that they want to reform the church; but they are words. For not one of them prays the Lord's Prayer. Their prayer is such a work, as it was said above, "long prayers". But our prayer and the prayer of all God-fearers in the world does the trick. If it is otherwise, God bless the world.
Thus the Lord is hostile to the angelic murderers. Therefore let your heart be sure, that it may not waver, but know that the doctrine is true and right, and that the multitude who believe the doctrine are the people of God, and are separated from the pope, who are the people of the devil. There is nothing among them but lies and murder. Therefore separate thyself from them, whether it come today or tomorrow, that the pope and the Turk be against us, that we be not afraid. For though I escape not the sword of the Turk, yet shall my soul be preserved: and where the soul is, there must the body also come; and we shall be judges of the Turk, and of the Pope, and of all the wicked, at the last day.
End of the sermon.
[Thirteenth Sermon on the 23rd Chapter of Matthew.
Dominica 14. post Trinitatis, quae erat 7. Septembris [1539]. 1)
[Short epitome of the last five sermons.]
We have just preached about the last cry, when the Lord said: Woe to you scribes, hypocrites, who build the tombs of the prophets etc.; and have thus heard the eight cries of contumely which the Lord makes against the Pharisees; and this is his complaint, that they have not only taught and lived thus, but that they have also pretended that this is the right way and manner how one may be saved. Now it is much another thing when a work is praised and extolled.
.preaches, or if it is punished. If a work is evil, it is still to be suffered; but if it is also preached, praised, extolled, and taught to others, so that a lesson and example must be made of it, that is worth nothing; but if they had lived for themselves, it would still have been tolerable.
For this cause the Lord is exceedingly wroth, because they have taught thus. Life would be as it can, namely, to fall and sin; but there is counsel and help for it. But when it comes to the point that sin is defended, and must be called right and well done, one still boasts about it, and one adorns sin for virtue: then it is over; as also the pagan Seneca says: Deest remedii locus, ubi ea, quae vitia fuerunt, in j mores abeunt, when it must be called virtue, that there has been sin and shame, then all is lost, preaching and admonishing. But if one can make a confession and say: I have done wrong, and must be ashamed, or await punishment, then things can get better. Again, where vice is loved and adorned, there is no penitence or repentance, nor shame before punishment, but only honor and praise: let the devil help, as he does. The Jewish people had such preachers in the high priests, whom the Lord punishes with horrible cries of contumely. For they not only did it, but also made it seem to the people, and led them into it, that they also should do so, and if they did not do so, it would be unjust; as if I or another should say, A fornicator or whore doth well, and should praise, adorn, or excuse her: I mean, I should make use of it, so that there would be no adulterers, if adultery were not to be a disgrace, if one did not want to punish and prevent the vices; if one did not want to have repentance and sorrow over sin, sin should not be a disgrace either, but vain praise and honor. For where there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness of sin. Nor can divine grace help if one says, "I have no need of grace. If I say, Do to him thus, 2) you are a fine one.
2) "Thue him thus," namely, break the marriage, etc.
This whore will never come to repentance or be saved. So they also taught that they were sinners in themselves, and yet they also deceived people, thinking that they were only well off.
This is the real great plague in the world, in the first table. In the other table it does not seem so great, because there one can say: "Adultery is not virtue, because the worldly sword and law is also there, which punishes adultery. But in the first tablet, if one decorates it, and calls the child by such a name, that it says: We wanted to build the graves of the dear prophets; if it has this name, that it says: Served God, indulgence, satisfaction for sin, then no one can see it. For in the other tablet I see it. For if you steal something from me, I see and feel it; if you lie to me, take my wife and children from me, I feel it all, because it will not be covered in this way. But here it is covered, namely, that it does not see God, nor does it know anything about it. For God sits in heaven, and does not strike with thunder: therefore one goes there safely, and one makes a virtue out of the worst vice.
For this reason the Lord is very angry with the vices in these eight cries, 1) which go against the first table; and since everything is done under the appearance and cover of the divine name, or of some service of God, or of the salvation and blessedness of souls, or that one may thereby have a part in the grace of God and eternal life, it is highly necessary that you know and understand the first table of the Ten Commandments, namely the first three commandments. For there begins the lamentation that virtue must be called vice, as that, in the other tablet, an adulteress shall be a pious woman, and again a pious woman shall be a harlot. But here it is just the same, and God is most angry there. But they not only sin with it, but also adorn this sin; and over all this they made a doctrine and example out of it, which should lead and bring to eternal life.
1) Erlanger: in these eighth clamor.
And if the Lord Christ should be alive now, he would have scolded and punished once again; for the spirits of the mobs and of the enthusiasts still bring their deeds into the plan under the name of God and his word. Under the appearance of these three commandments they bring in the devil with his mother and children: then God must be silent; so there is also no man who is angry about it.
So the pope has taught: If one redeems indulgences, then in the first table you are a child of God, again God is your father, you also honor the name of God, and you hear God speaking in me. Is this not a beautiful appearance? when one puts God's name before one, and holds God's word before him, and yet it is all lies underneath, and this 4) I take for doctrine and example, and this must be called well done, which was nevertheless a lie and a forgery. For it is a great lie that we should do enough for our sin, and overcome death, the devil and sin, when everything is deadly in us.
Therefore the papacy is an evil, harmful whore, nor is it called the most holy Christian church. Again, we who dispute this, that we cannot do enough for sin with our works, or help the dead with them, but Christ must do all this, for this is also the honest matron, the Christian church, which believes and teaches Christ's word; but it must not be pious, must be heretical, and must be called the devil's bride and church, just as if I said, In the world this is a pious woman; and yet would be an arch-whore. Again, in the world one does not suffer repentance, but here one suffers it. For in the first panel it can be painted so pretty and beautiful. In the other table no one says that a cock-keeper or an arch-whore is a pious woman; item, a thief and highwayman is an honest citizen who gives gladly for God's sake, no, but he is beaten, 5) and always away with him. So they say in the other table. But in the
2) Erlanger: afterward.
3) Erlanger: me.
4) Erlanger: da.
5) Erlanger: "henen", probably a misprint for "them".
In the first table, in the three commandments, such a preacher does great harm, for he pretends to give much, and yet takes it all away. Item, he kills, and yet lets himself be heard as if he wanted to make alive; he does harm, since he wants to create benefit and piety. For he who is a heretic must be called a Christian and pious man here. The pope does the same. He deprives the whole world of eternal life and blessedness, even though he says he brings and gives it the kingdom of heaven. Yes, he kills the whole world, and under this appearance and name of God he leads it into hell; and there sin and vice become virtue, and the devil is made into God, and our Lord God must again become the devil. Therefore the monasteries and orders have been called vain services of God, when they are vain blasphemies. Therefore all these sermons are vain clamors, and expose the devil's shame; and teach us that it is evil done and blasphemy against God, which the pope has said is well done and rightly taught.
Human reason and wisdom cannot assist us in the first table, but only holds the antitype; says he who is a prankster, that the same be holy. Lying must be called truth, and blasphemy must be called vain praise and honor of God, which is the devil, and that one tramples God underfoot. Therefore, a distinction must be made between God's word and other teachings. No one should accept a doctrine or belief unless he really knows that God has spoken it. For we are not to believe anything other than what God Himself has said, nor are we to worship anyone other than the true God alone; otherwise the devil must be called God, and God must be called the devil. After this follows the so crude, tangible work against the other table. For when one adorns oneself in the first table, in the first three commandments, then one also worships what human reason cannot suffer; as the Jews and pagans did, worshipping that for God, which was nevertheless a creature, even taking the priapum for God, which is not good to say in the presence of women and virgins,
and said: It is God's creature, and serves that men are born into the world; and if the human member were not, no men would ever be born. So they preached, praised and extolled this idolatry of theirs, that even S. Augustine writes that the highest Franes and noblest matrons of Rome must have done this unreasonable thing. I must not call it what it was.
But so it goes; if the three commandments of the first table come into abuse, then a virgin is a whore, and then everything is well done; and what one only creates, and what one gives to it, that is given to God, if it is nevertheless shamefully robbed and stolen. So we preached when some great lord wanted to die. When a lawyer once died in Erfurt, the monks were soon asked to put a cap on him, in which he died and was buried, and from his mouth he was to go up to heaven; they did not think of the other panel, that one should not steal, but they decorated the lousy cap with God's word. Then 1) it comes into the first table, and becomes a service of God and honor out of it. Was not the BaalPeor service also such blasphemy? In the same way, what they do in the other table becomes worship. Therefore, when it begins to fall, it falls as low as the Romans, the most sensible people, and the Greeks, the cleverest on earth, fell; as their books testify, that they fell so low, and became so blind and foolish, that they worshipped such an abominable thing for God, which otherwise forced the whole world, and gave the most beautiful rights and laws, and ordered the marriage state, the worldly state. Yet in the first table they worshipped that for God which is not worthy to be called, and the most honest matron in the city had to do it.
Therefore pray and learn what this is: I am the Lord your God; item, which God says: My word you shall hear, and not someone else; let my name be valid with you, you shall not call on another name; and cling to me alone, and let me be your God.
1) Erlanger: kompts.
Do not let any pretense lead you away from me, as the devil knows how to do, and thereby makes himself God. Therefore say thou thus: I am a Christian and believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Whoever preaches this to me, I will hear him, for I believe in Christ. Again, whoever will preach something else, I will not hear him. If this had happened to the Jews and to us, we would not have been deceived and defrauded, but would have said: I hear God's name, word and service. Dear, is it also written in his book, as in the holy scriptures? And see then, for you will find the antitype within. If you don't stand out there, then our Lord God is called the devil.
This happens not only in the public government, in the church, but also to everyone in particular, that the devil persuades one to be presumptuous, hopeful, false, joyful, melancholy and sure, to do whatever one wants; that he nullifies the first, second and third commandment, either publicly on the preaching stand or privately. Therefore let every man be warned, that he may know how to beware in public office, and to defend himself privately, lest the devil sit in his heart for God, and for the 1) right shine paint a whisper and a false appearance before thine eyes. Therefore it is necessary for us to be prepared and to take care and say: I believe. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit does not speak like this, but say: "This is how you should believe, hope, love your neighbor and live a Christian life.
This I will have put to the general 2) to the eight clamors, because the Pharisees had not only lived evil and ungodly, but had also preached and protected it as right. Now no one sees these things except he who has the eyes of faith. No one in the world sees what a great folly it is that the pope takes money from people and wants to help souls out of purgatory. Jurisprudence and philosophy can
1) Erlanger: dem.
2) "to the general" - as something general, as a short epitome.
He alone who says, "I believe that there is no satisfaction for my sin except in the death of the innocent Lamb Jesus Christ," has the light, and his eyes are open and bright. For if Christ's blood has done it, the filthy letters, vigils, and angular masses have not done it. The pope or the devil will not persuade me that letters of indulgence and Christ's blood are the same.
Therefore in the first table no one can help, neither lawyer nor philosopher can judge, but Christ must come and cry out against the murderers. For here he says to the Jews, "Your fathers were murderers and slayers. Now you decorate the graves of the prophets, not because you want to honor the prophets, but because you only tease and ape the people. For this is not honoring the prophets, when you clench and decorate their graves, but when you teach, live and believe as they did, the prophets: just as it is not honoring Christ when his skirt is pointed out at Trier, or his nails, crown of thorns and other things are pointed out for holy things, and the people fall down before it and worship it; but this is his honor, as he himself says: Blessed are those who hear the word of God. Therefore, those who hear the divine word, believe in Christ, and live and suffer for it, do Christ the right honor. etc. But the pope says: Whoever looks at the crown of thorns of Christ, a piece of the cross of Christ, that is something; and then the papists pose as if they honor Christ with it, and as if they do Christ a service by it. Then the world came in heaps, and God wanted to do a great service to it. Meanwhile they condemn the doctrine that one should believe in Christ and in his blood and death, for this must all be called heresy; they say that we forbid good works, item, that one should not honor the cross of Christ; this is the devil's thing. So under the guise of decorating the graves of the prophets, they have killed the Christians, and by wanting to honor the cross of Christ, they mostly crucify Christ. But do you think that this is Christ's glory when you celebrate his nails,
And then let his merit and blood stand in the way, or blaspheme and desecrate the same? For this is rightly crucifying Christ, as S. Paul says to the Galatians in the 3rd chapter, that if I believe that through good works I attain salvation, then I am a right crucifier of Christ. Item, if the Virgin Mary should be my mediatrix, that I should be saved by her superfluous good works and merits, then where is the Son of God with his merit, which he has earned for me? because he should have done it. Then I truly crucify, kill and bury Christ.
1) Should not the Lord be angry that the prophets are desecrated, blasphemed, put to death and buried in honor? Just as the pope has also raised up many monks who were saints before and have now become devils; for they are to serve that my faith, which should be directed to Christ, should go out, and I should put them in their place with their works. Does this mean Christ honored? It means the saints are adorned. Yes, of course, they are raised with silver shovels, for what purpose? to show service to God and honor to the saints. But in doing so, God and His salvation are profaned, for blasphemy is considered the greatest homage to God; and that God should be gracious to me for this is just as much as if I took Christ and the saints and threw them into the abyss of hell.
Therefore, under the appearance of the three commandments, such a being is made, and make that the devil must become God; but if we preach this, then we must be straight heretics. Again, others are pure saints for us, they are the pious matron, but we must be whores, because if that becomes honor, right and virtue, what before was shame and vice, if that is rightly recognized, then here is the pious woman. So when one falls from the faith, it is the wretched devil. Bishop Benno was raised in Meissen with golden shovels and made a saint; 2) then it should have been called: Here is God, there he is found. That the thunder and lightning may strike you! But who
1) Erlanger: Solle.
2) Cf. Walch, old edition, vol. XV, 2772 ff.
Should it be a great matter to raise a dead person and carry him in golden bowls? But to hang the first three commandments on it, and that it is called obtaining God's grace, and honoring God with it, that is not right, for there vice, vice and disgrace have become virtue. This is how the world wants it. The pious woman who considers the whore must herself become a whore; thus the devil turns it around.
So now the Lord reproaches the beautiful, pretty works, which in themselves had a good appearance and delicious form, without the first three commandments being attached to them. But you also say: Make it up as you wish, but do not put God's name and word on it, nor make it a service to God, God's honor or virtue, otherwise God's shame and blasphemy will become vain God's honor.
Therefore the Lord decides: "Dear, honor me also as your fathers honored the prophets, for I am the Lord of all prophets. You are now decorating the tombs of the prophets, so that you will be pious and holy, keeping and fulfilling the first three commandments of God, when your fathers killed them for these very reasons. For the prophets came and said that God was not pleased with their false worship, and they slew the prophets for it; therefore ye are in the right way, and fill up the measure of your fathers, that ye should kill me the Lord also; and if ye do it, say then that ye do God service. So shall ye do also unto my apostles; and hang upon them the first, and the second, and the third commandment, and say that ye have served and honored God thereby. And when they also had crucified and slain Christ, they thought they had swept the whole land, and would now have good peace. And nowadays there is no greater love and holiness, than that one should spit before it when remembering the name of Christ, and the Christian church must be a whore. But if God's word is held up as a mantle and cover, and something else is sought underneath, then God's honor must become blasphemy. We see such an example not only among the Jews, which should always be before our eyes,
but also at the papacy, which also wanted to honor Christ and killed many devout Christians. But we honor Christ and the saints rightly, not by raising them with golden shovels, but by believing in him, and that the golden shovels do not make us blessed, but that Christ died for us. So I believe and preach, and this faith shall help me, that his blood be not shed in vain, but be my salvation, and be my consolation against death and the devil. This, then, is rightly honoring Christ, and is not honoring Christ, if I have a piece of the holy cross set in gold; for this is spilling his blood and trampling it underfoot, and is destroying faith in Christ crucified, and putting my good works in Christ's place, and putting my faith on a dead gold or wooden cross.
And so the occasion is that their fathers killed the prophets, just as they 1) killed the children, and Christ and the apostles, namely, that they denied the Word of God, and instead established their own worship services under the name of Christ and the divine Word, and taught this publicly in the sermons, and thus considered it right in their hearts.
But there is much more clamor to be done about the pope, because he has done it much, much more than a hundred times more abominable than the Jews.
[Fourteenth Sermon on the 23rd Chapter of Matthai.
Den 21. Septembris [1539] Dominica 16. preached. 2)
V. 34. Therefore, behold, I am sending to you prophets and wise men and scholars of Christ, and you will kill some of them.
Until now, the Lord has cried out against the Pharisees and preached to them, giving them a sharp warning. Now he decides on such a valete and lettuce, because he wants to leave them and their house desolate, because they have put all the prophets to death, since he has sought through them how to gather them together.
as when a hen gathers her chicks under her wings; but the prophets have all been persecuted by them.
This is how the Lord organized his ministry, because after this sharp, last sermon he no longer preached publicly to the people. But what followed he preached to the disciples, so that he would end here and never come and preach in person. But before that he cried out eight times against them. Now he says: "I am sending prophets to you. He will try again. Because the former priesthood had not fallen, and they had all put the prophets to death or driven them out, he will make a new one, saying, "I will choose priests, not by the Levites, who were ordained by Moses and the law, as Matthew indicates that he chose twelve apostles and seventy-two disciples. This is the new order, which had not been in this people before; nor was it proper for him to accept twelve disciples or seventy-two, for it was proper for Annas the high priest and the family of Levi to send out preachers into all the land. Now he does not ask them for advice, nor does he pay attention to their ointment, but, without asking the majesty of the priestly state, he makes twelve apostles and seventy-two disciples, and even starts a new one, as was prophesied in the 110th Psalm.
Firstly, I will attack the priesthood and make a new one; secondly, I will turn the house around; and not taking the former wise men and scholars, I will now also become a Moses, yes, rather a mighty Lord, saying: My apostles, evangelists and Levites shall go further. You Jews shall be the first to whom they shall be sent, for to you the Messiah is promised. But ye shall fulfill the measure of your fathers; they slew the prophets, therefore shall their house be desolate.
"I send unto you. Here you hear that the Lord does not condemn the position of the prophets and the scribes, about which he cried out very loudly above. But he does not condemn the rank, as he said above: They sit on the chair of Moses etc. He does not condemn or reject the office and the rank,
for he says he will send new prophets and scholars of Christ. It is Mosi's chair and Christ's chair, therefore he does not condemn it. But the desperate boys, who are in good standing and high office, are the ones who teach and instruct the people; the clamor goes horribly over them, he calls them devil servants, murderers, fornicators, but does not mean the standing and office.
Therefore, a great distinction should be made between those whom God has ordained and those who lead the order or class and abuse it; they must be scolded in multitudes. If I say: Princes are bad boys, so the class is not condemned; item: Students are bad boys; item: Wives are often whores, there are truly many in this city who are affected by it; then they say: One has talked to me about my honor. Yes, you should be celebrated, but when they are scolded, they are angry. But thou shalt suffer it, as Isaias and others also have reproved, saying, Woe unto you that are false! If I strike you then, well, if you are a prankster, I will strike you; but if you are pious and godly, you must not take it then. But they say, you meet the order of God. Where did you learn this? It does not follow that you should not be punished. One can find desperate dishonorable ones among all classes. Peel off your skin, if there are such people among the preachers; if they meet you, so be it. It does not follow that the office is praised, therefore all who are in the office should also be worthy of praise. I praise all ranks and order, but I do not mean you. If thou dost not live rightly, as many parts of the world do, say, He hath read me the right text. But, they say, no, one should spare the princes. Yes, if they fear God and love his word. So they also say: Ei, this man is in the conjugal state, but he may well be a desperate, dishonorable wicked man. Many a woman is also in holy matrimony, but may well be a dishonorable whore. Item, there is one of our priests, but he may well be a heretic and a spirit of the mob 1). If you are innocent, the punishment goes to you.
1) Erlanger: Rottengeister.
not to. But they say: "I am a mayor, a magistrate, a citizen or a doctor, you must not say anything to me. If you are pious, the punishment does not concern you.
Therefore the Lord praises the state, saying, "They sit on the throne of Moses," and yet he says, "Woe to you Pharisees! Nicodemus was among them, and Joseph, who took down the Lord from the cross and buried him, are not meant by this; do not be angry about this punishment. Therefore take heed: if the prince, mayor or other great men are angry about it, he is certainly guilty. A pious man does not ask anything about it, because he is not hit. A pious woman says: I mean, the whores have been tanned. Why is she not angry about that too? That makes her innocent. Shall one then, they say, scorch the honest veil? If a pious prince or nobleman says, "There are many bad boys among us," he would say, "No, the state is good, and the people also good. No, there are two kinds,. Marriage, wife, virgin is honest; but the persons in the state are not all pure. Therefore, when one scolds, one means only the bunch, which is bad there, and to which the state does not look good.
"I will send prophets." Says Christ himself: False prophets also shall come in sheep's clothing, from whom we must beware; item, S. Peter speaks clearly that false prophets also shall arise among them, nor does he say here that he will send prophets. Yes, he says, I also chose Judam to be an apostle, and he was a prankster, yet he was an apostle. So you will also have priests, but they will become wolves, so do not think: he is a preacher, so he cannot err; he is a mayor, so he cannot fail or do wrong. It belongs to the pope to say: I am the head of the church, therefore he cannot err! He can do all mischief under the name of his office, that is his. The others all say that the estates are all ordered and blessed by God, from the
2) Erlanger: "speak". In the original: "sprech".
They are from the highest to the lowest class, and they are excellent and delicious. But there are so many desperate boys in it that in a village there is hardly half a peasant, and in a city ten citizens who would be pious, and the same small bunch holds the class in honor. There, however, the status is contemptible and must be a disgrace. So there are often adulteresses under the veil, and harlots under the garland, who boast and exalt themselves for pious wives and virgins. Now it is not a sin to wear a veil or wreath, to have a shield and helmet, but you should be an honor to the state. But we are commonly a disgrace to the office and rank. For this reason the Lord does not reject the ministry, but reaches out to those who are in the ministry. Now he wants to have pious prophets and Pharisees, because above he scolded the wicked. But these he praises very well, and there he cries out in wrath. Therefore, if you also are a godly prophet, I praise you. For he will not have profaned the estate, because there are many wicked in it. The wreath is a virgin ornament and honor, but you see to it that you do not disgrace the wreath. So you, priest, do not disgrace your book and altar. So the ministry is pressed here; for this reason I want to appoint new prophets. How then, that they may go even as they which were ordained of Moses, where they are not worse? He does not do wisely, our Lord; if he did so, as the devil does, he has a fine way. He wants to run after them. If you want to win the world, you don't have to run after people, they don't suffer. The devil and the pope have been wise. One must flee and avoid the world, so it runs after one. I do not want to be in the world as a husband or wife, nor to be found in the position of worldly authority, for it is a mean thing, but one must sit down in a corner, and look out sourly, and put on a gray cap, then the world says: O these are holy people! Princes and preachers are nothing compared to this; for these strip themselves naked from the world, posing as if they were all angels; for they do not want to be in the world and among the people, but
They run into a bush and a wilderness, kneel down and pray, and do greater works than any other people or state could do. Then they go about as if they were mad and foolish. If you put the owl 1) on a perch, the birds will fall; if the redthroat, siskin, goldfinch and titmouse were tied to the perch, the birds would not fall. Therefore, one must flee from the world and choose something special; item, leave the positions that God has ordered, because the world is full of things, as: a man and woman go to the sacrament, a preacher teaches and preaches to the people, one is not surprised; but if you drink water and look sour and put on a special owl face, you win the people and the world. Then there was a runner into the monasteries, also a runner to St. James, to the Holy Land and to Grimmenthal, and ran many hundred miles, and sought the devil; and here there was baptism, sacrament, preaching of the Gospel; and that the woman had brought up the children, and each had to do something in his own state, and let everything stand and go, and had nothing to count for, was nothing, because it was too mean. This is the way of the world.
Therefore, the Lord complains here, because it says: Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimus- que negata;2) item: Quod sequitur, fugio, what is forbidden, that I will do;' what follows me, I will not have. So, which wants to have me, I do not like; and again. The world is a beautiful thing; what it wants, it likes. Therefore, whoever wants to win it and draw it to himself, does not remain in God's word, but writes something that is not his word or sacrament, and preaches about St. Barbara, St. Catherine or St. Christopher and St. George, and other false and forged saints, after whom one has lied, and let the sacraments and divine word rot, and thus the pope has become a lord over them, and the princes have become rotten. For they have thought: I am a
1) Erlanger: "den Enlen". This is changed by us, because "Eule" is only female gender also with Luther.
2) Oviä. [.rnor. 3, 4, 17.
Citizens, but that is a common thing; something special, however, is started, that is then a fine Käuzichen on the cob. For this reason, our Lord God does not wisely run after us and send preachers to bring salvation to the people's homes. But if he did something strange, it would have a good reputation. Reputation. That's how it is now. Before, when one did not have God's [word] 1), one had the booths. Now no one is satisfied with his status, baptism and communion are all despised. Why? Because our Lord God has sent messengers to my door and wants to make me blessed; that is not what they want. But if he said, "Go to St. James, Jerusalem or Rome, for there is indulgence," then he would quickly give a hundred guilders, and kiss the sanctuary, and give it to the altar and churches. But since we now have priests who are sent by God and who recite God's word to us, they are not respected, since no one gives them anything. But if one could take from them what they have now, one would do so. Before, so many monks and strings could be fed from this city, which is neither large nor rich. What was given annually to the two cathedrals! The monks of the Barefoot monastery earned more than eight hundred guilders a year in the city; we Augustinians earned about four hundred guilders; the Antonites earned more than two thousand guilders a year from the city; and do not mention what the peasants and nobility earned from the countryside. The city had a lot of money, which was given to the clergy. Now one could not feed or maintain a preacher from the citizen's giving, but before times one could give enough. If the pope did not feed us now, just as the children of Israel sustained themselves from the plunder of the Egyptians, we would have little. This is the reason why our Lord God is slowing down and imposing: what flies, runs after it. One could have given a hundred and twenty barrels of beer a year to the monks here alone. If they were now to give three or four barrels to a preacher, it was thought that they would have to be impoverished, as
1) "Word" added by Bruns.
But one has the gospel, and since the common box helps the preachers. 2) But if you could still take what the pope has gathered and scraped together, you would. But you should think that you would be more grateful to God, since he has now given you his word. For if you had been able to find three, five or more florins before, and to give abundantly of all the fruits of the year, why should your hand now be so completely closed that you not only take away the income of the priests, but also one farmer takes away his own from another? What should the Lord do about it? Not only is he not heard, but what was otherwise taken from your priest is snatched from his fists. Then will come what follows in this text, namely, "Your house will become desolate"; that they will have neither pastor nor teaching of divine word, but vain false prophets"; and to them they will then confidently give. It is very surprising that so much is given to the Anabaptists even now. If one comes to me, who preaches God's word, one closes his fist.
This is the noble way of the world. If she runs after God, she does not like it; again, she does not want to be a preacher, but to become a monk; does not want to have baptism, not to be married, not to be in the regiment. There she runs, does not remain in her profession. Therefore, our Lord God is not wise enough, but the devil sets himself up as a stranger, as if he did not want it; so he has won. So the monks did not want to be in the world, because it would be dangerous, and worldly things and much sin in it: therefore they wanted to run into the monastery, and do nothing else there, but serve God day and night. Then they run after him. So the fool wants to be praised. If one has dared to put effort and work into it, then it is a delicious thing. But if a priest is godly, it is nothing, because it is called used and talked about among the people. Therefore, the pious God provides it. He should not seek the world nor follow it, for what is offered to it, that
2) Erlanger: hulft the preacher.
3) Erlanger: likes them.
stinks. The gospel is nothing. 1) Therefore Christ should have said: I will hide myself in a corner or desert etc. For the devil come as he wills, so accept him. John led a hard, strict and sour life, but Christ was kind and gracious to everyone: it still doesn't help. Why is that?' Ei, he came to the people. Marriage and childbearing are nothing special, 2) because God established them, and because there is much evil in them. But if the devil made something new, we would struggle and press for it. For this reason the Lord Christ should sit down on the sea or in some other dark corner and place. But because he sits down in baptism, in your house, on your bed or castle, it stinks, because familiaritas parit contemtum.
But the Lord does not condemn the state; and Christians should give thanks to God, and recognize the grace that he opens the fair of his grace at the door, as baptism, the sacrament of the altar and the preaching chair, marriage, so that children and servants know how they should conduct themselves in their profession; And remember that your profession is God's order, only that you guard yourself inside from sins, vice and shame; and you must not run to Rome to seek a gracious God, for hard under your nose and at home you have him. There is a preacher, a prince, and a low estate, all ordered by God; and you have God with you in your bed, in your bosom, in your arms and in your heart. Then say, "I will honor this estate, for it has God's word; I will be made a member of the church, receive baptism and use the Lord's Supper, obey my authorities, and do what pleases God; and let it be a great joy to you that Christ has sent prophets to you. For in the papacy no one knew that he was in a Christian and good state. The beautiful obedience was not respected, but it was said: O blessed woman, who carried a priest! And then, even those who had been of high rank ran to her, and gave money and goods enough for her to become a priest and a monk.
1) Erlanger: nieve.
2) Erlanger: Nothing, especially.
And now, an antinomian can appear, who is given four hundred guilders a year, and take from your priest what he has in salary.
Therefore we thank our Lord God from the bottom of our hearts that he comes to us and follows us. But if a man creeps away, the devil has the power to make him run from one end of the world to the other, and then he may climb up to heaven. But I do not find God because it says: "I must come to you and send prophets; otherwise we will not find it. But it comes to us through his messengers and servants, as through baptism, preaching chair, sacrament of the altar. Now he that is wise, let him receive it.
But what he sends, that shall be crucified and stoned. Again, if the devil says, "Seek God in St. James," and sends him to Rome or Jerusalem, for here he would be too close, but only far away from this church and place, where God's word is preached and baptism, the Lord's Supper and absolution are administered, then one runs away as if one were mad and senseless, and leaves husband, wife and child there to seek God. But what God offers us, what is preached in the pulpit about God's grace, is nothing. Yes, those who preach such things to us are left to die of hunger and are beaten to death; they say: We will not suffer him to send unto us; but if he send any, we will smite them to death. But if the devil come, and flee from men into the wilderness, they pursue him. Thus saith the Lord Christ, If ye will not have me to send unto you, then will I come far enough from you, that your house may be forsaken of me and of my apostles, and stand desolate, that is, deprived of the divine word and sacraments, and then become full of devils, abominations, and idolatries; as is wont to happen when God takes away from a place his word and work. If you will not say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, I will come far enough for you.
End.
3) Allusion to Johann Agricola.
4) Erlanger: them.
[Fifteenth Sermon on the 23rd Chapter of Matthew.
Dominica 17., quae erat profestum Michaelis [September 28, 1539]. 1)
The Lord preaches a terrible sermon at the end, and it is astonishing that he gives such a terrible fate to the holy people, the seed of Abraha and the family of Israel, as it happened that the city of Jerusalem was turned back and the Jews were scattered all over the world, and lost their kingdom and priesthood, yes, all the grace and blessings of God, which they had abundantly before. Now this happened to us as an example, who are Gentiles and were grafted onto the olive tree that was cut down. He dealt with his people in such a way that he would not spare the Gentiles. Yes, we will deserve much more punishment (because we are not cousins of the Lord Christ) than the Jews. If then they have been punished horribly, it will be much worse for us, who are not children, nor of the flesh, of which Christ was born. Well, they have thus lived and done, as the eight criers report; and Germany does not do much better. She has indeed persecuted the gospel until now, and has dealt worse with the preachers of the gospel than we have heard the Jews have done. Therefore let us be more afraid of it than the Jews. For we see now how the gospel is openly persecuted, even in the Easterners, who know, yes, freely confess, that it is God's word, and also believe in such preaching; but cannot and do not cease to persecute it, that without a doubt Germany has also become ripe for punishment, and is now going to make her house desolate.
And behold, how he played it in Grecia. There he sent the bloodhound, the Turk, who wiped out the Christian name altogether; although the Turk now lets Christians stay, they must keep quiet and speak nothing against Mahomet: If they attack him, the Turk strangles them as he does us. This
Warning: do not speak of the punishment and destruction of Jerusalem, as if we preached about Christ under the papacy, since 2) it was only a dead history; but Jerusalem is gone and lies in ashes, the priesthood and kingdom also lie in ashes. This is also true for us, so that we do not say, "It is none of our business. Yes, indeed, it concerns us, and much more. For if we persecute the church and the gospel as we have begun, such punishment will come upon us in a little while.
For this reason we are admonished here that we do not suffer as the Jews did, and Lucas says that the wisdom of God, the Lord, speaks of the Jewish people in a real and definite way, and afterward 3) also of us. But above he said: "You adorn the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers have put to death; but as the fathers were, so are the children, and you confess that they were your fathers. Now therefore they have slain the prophets, but ye would crucify me, who am your Lord and Messiah: therefore fulfil ye the measure of your fathers. For the fathers before measured that they slew all the prophets, but now ye would slay Christ, saith Lucas. This is such a heaped and shaken measure that "it can no longer enter, it must overflow. That is why this is happening in the German land.
But the Lord wants to gather us together again, just as those who are scattered throughout the world; therefore he also means us Gentiles. God has ordained and determined that He will send wise men, scholars of Christ and prophets, that is, He will establish a new priesthood, because they no longer wanted to hear the old one. For the former, their fathers, killed the prophets, though Joshua, Samuel, David, and others escaped, as may be read in the books of Kings, and see how they fared. Now saith he, Now ye also fulfil the measure; ye have
2) "da", which is in the original, has been omitted by the Erlanger. The sense is: "there", namely mr Pabstthum, the sermon of Christ has been held only for a dead history.
3) Erlanger: again.
But now I myself come, and will send prophets, that ye yourselves may hear the Son of God, the apostles, his wise men, and his prophets.
This is why the prophet laments, "Behold, I will speak to them in another tongue or language; yet they will not hear me. Before this he cometh by his prophets, and spake unto their fathers: whom ye have received with stones, and with sword, and with water, and with fire. Nor will I send more of them; as the Lord of the vineyard says in the parable of the Gospel, when the peasants mocked and killed the servants who were to gather the fruit of the vineyard. I, the father, will send my son to them," he said, "and they may be afraid of him. Then he will bring with him a new company of prophets and apostles, who will speak to them not only in one language, but in all languages. For the gospel was spread abroad by all manner of tongues, not as the law of Moses, which was given in Hebrew to the children of Israel, but the Jews heard the gospel in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. But they have done just as Christ says here, that they crucify Christ and slay all the apostles, and in all places they cause sedition against S. Paul; they deal with the new prophets just as their fathers did with the old. Now he will say, Though ye be weary of the old prophets, yet will I give you new ones; and receive two and seventy disciples, whom afterward other disciples and preachers have also made, and have spread the gospel as far as the world hath gone, that it is come unto our time. In the beginning of the Church of the New Testament, the Son of God was sent to them with his apostles and prophets, not born of one tribe as of Levi, but of all kinds of people, for there was to be a new priesthood. For he, Christ the Archpreacher, was not born of the priestly tribe, but of the royal tribe of Judah; therefore he also chose apostles from all kinds of people.
to become true prophets. But how shall they fare? You will receive them as your fathers did the old prophets before them, and then you will decorate their graves, saying: God forbid that we should be as wicked as our fathers. Now it is well, I will send new prophets, yes, my son himself. What then will these pious and holy people do with such prophets? Then he says:
V. 34. You will kill and crucify some of them, and you will scourge some of them in your synagogues, and you will persecute them etc.
They have also done so. So does the dear world, the beautiful, lovely little fruit, that the Jews could not stand the old ones, and the new prophets also strangle them all. So even today the nobles, rich, powerful and wise people say: "The preachers have thrown us under the bus before; so these water us, fertilize us and wet us. So we should give thanks. If it were possible to preach nothing at all, neither of the gospel nor of the papacy, but that they were free and free from all burdens, that would please them. Now they would also like to be free from the gospel. That, as the papacy, they do not like more, this they also do not respect very much, but one should preach to them what they like to hear and want to have. If one could also snatch all the spiritual goods to oneself, one would do it. Nevertheless, the world still adorns itself, and puts on a little wreath, and lets the people make the routs.
There are also some clever ones now, who dislike both, and if they were in the preaching office, they could not lure a dog out of the oven. But as you do not like it, so I do not like to speak it; if I could refrain from it with a good conscience, I would rather be a scribe for it, and otherwise seek my food. But he who is above would like to have the people blessed and delivered from sin and the power of the devil, death and hell. This is his earnest opinion. And there are many among the multitude of the world who are yet to come and be saved; for their sakes it is necessary to preach, and to ward off the mobs and all others who are otherwise in sins. I could at home
but for the sake of those who do not understand the doctrine, therefore I must render obedience to God, who desires that one should preach and administer the sacraments, absolve and baptize. And even if my preaching does not take place among the multitude who belong to heaven, and who 1) can do nothing but mock, as if nothing else could be taught, but only through preaching and sacrament, this preaching will not go away empty. I don't want to do the world the honor, and you must not be proud, our Lord God can well advise you in heaven. But God wants us to preach, so that those who are yet to come may be humbled. Therefore we must preach, that the name of God may be sanctified, and that His kingdom may come to us. Therefore we must dare to be stoned and crucified. I would be worth ten times, even a hundred times death, if God considered me so worthy that I should suffer for the sake of His word. For even today my adversaries would have occasion against me. Elijah, Elisha, John the Evangelist died a natural death, perhaps God will also take me away by a natural death. But at the time of the apostles they were almost all strangled, as it is with us also now.
All here disputes some of the words kill, crucify, scourge, persecute. Now they were not all killed, crucified or scourged, nor persecuted etc. The apostles suffered it all, especially S. Peter and S. Paul. This is the martyrdom of Christians, that they are burned and killed. And they did not die the same death, but as God poured and measured out to each one. John the Evangelist was not crucified nor killed, but nevertheless was not without great suffering, persecution and plague. Stephen was stoned in Jerusalem, James was beheaded, and Paul was scourged and killed in Rome. They themselves crucified the Lord Christ in such a horrible way, therefore he counts himself as one of them.
1) "the" put by us instead of "the" in the Erlanger.
2) Erlanger: durfst.
Under this, the Gentiles crucified and killed Peter and Paul, as their crucifixion is described here, so that they share in the blood of all of them. For faciens et consentiens are in the same debt, Rom. 1 says, that they not only do it, but also consent to it, saying, O ho, that is right, and do not lack a good, complete and constant will. The Jews did not kill Christ, but delivered him to Pontio Pilato. But the Holy Scripture says that the Jews crucified Christ, not that they did it, but that they incited and helped to do it, that it was their complete will and desire that he should be killed, that they were so hostile to him that they would not give him a drink at the cross. Therefore it must not be reckoned who was crucified. 3) First they killed the Lord Christ, then all the apostles, and so they killed them. The Romans had the 4) neck judgment, nor did the Jews kill the apostles; and read in the 4th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles how they were beheaded, also how Paul was stoned. For this reason no disputation is allowed. For what they did not do with their hands, they did with their driving and agitation, and by making the Gentiles bitter; they scourged them, and those who suffered persecution let them live, just as even today some Christians are hanged, drowned, and burned; and those who are driven out are still alive. But as it happened with the Jews, so it still happens today.
But there is a difference between the wise, the prophets and the scribes. Prophets are here expressly called those who have the word from the Lord without any means, as also the apostles, therefore almost one here prophets and apostles, means the twelve apostles, who have heard the Lord himself. So also prophets were Isaiah, David, and others, who wrote what they had not learned from anyone before, nor did they know it.
3) It seems to us that it should be read: "Therefore one may easily reckon by whom he was crucified. The meaning is: Although the Jews themselves did not carry out the crucifixion with their hands, it is easy to see that they are the crucifiers.
4) Erlanger: the.
from the chief priests of Jerusalem. They have heard the law, but this wisdom of the gospel they have from the revelation of the Holy Spirit, as S. Peter says in the other epistle in chapter 3; and S. Paul also boasts that he has the gospel of Christ himself from heaven. Therefore he also wants to be considered an apostle and equal to the others. Wise are those who are taught by the prophets. These were disciples of those who received it from the Lord. Scribes are those who have learned it from the wise. Therefore he says: I will send apostles and prophets who have heard it from me; item wise men who have it from the apostles, scholars of Christ who have learned it from the apostles' writings. The wise shall have it orally from the prophets, but the scribes from both, as from the mouth and from the Scriptures. I do not hear the apostles and prophets, therefore I am not a wise man or a prophet, but we are Pharisees, for we have it from their writings. We are in the third degree, as S. Paul said to Timothy, "Read the Scriptures day and night. We still have the apostles' writings and what their disciples taught orally; item, we are Christian scholars, who learn to understand the holy Scriptures and teach them to others again.
This is the priesthood of the preachers whom Christ wills to send; first, those who are sent by me without means; second, those who have it from them; third, those who have received it in writing. Paul otherwise calls many apostles who have not yet heard Christ called an apostle, for this is the common name. So also every pastor in his church may be called an apostle, wise man, and scribe, which is the name given. For we must have such people who can preach to us what Christ taught his apostles and the apostles taught their disciples, and therefore we are also called by their names.
So now they will be dealt with. But what will happen? "All the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from which
1) Erlanger: learn's.
The blood of the righteous Abel will come upon you. Here it seems as if the Lord spoke only of the Jews; therefore this does not concern us primarily, but those who have done it. Now it is great and terrible that he who kills one should be guilty of all your blood that has been shed. This is a great and terrible thing, that it should be called the murder of the whole Christian Church. The pope and his people joke with the blood of the Christians and laugh when they spill it. But behold, what a terrible judgment he passes on these bloodhounds, and how he, the Lord, takes care of his wise men, and holds it up as if they had put all the saints to death for him, from Abel on. This is a terrible judgment that the Lord heaps upon Caiphas, that they must bear Abel's blood, whom Cain slew, and all the saints' blood, to the end of the world. Why is this? Because they are one body, and Christ's kingdom is also one thing. Cain is the first to persecute the church, and all other tyrants follow him to the end of the world. For it is also One Church or Kingdom of the Devil, which can do nothing else but kill the saints of God. If they therefore kill and torment one, it is not done to one member, but to all members of the same kingdom. Master Hans, the executioner, also kills all members, and the eye can say there: I did not do it, but the hand, and must stretch out Master Hansen your whole body and soul. So it happens here that those who kill Christians are also guilty of the blood of Christ, the Son of God, and of the blood of Abel, and of the blood of all the saints of God that has ever been shed.
This should be a just deterrent to the tyrants, that if they execute one! Christians, they make themselves partakers of all the innocent blood of Christians that has ever been shed, for One Body and One Blood is shed daily; and you see that in our human body, too, the same thing happens. For if a man wounds an arm, he has wounded and wounded the whole man; for the arm is a member of the body, yea, one thing with the body; and he that is a member of the body, he is one thing with the body.
the whole body feels it. For if you strike yourself on any foot, the whole body will be dislocated. So also here it is that whoever strangles Abel strangles all the saints, because he is in this kingdom of the devil. Cain also slew Christ, why? The tyrants and murderers of the Christians are also members of one body, just as Christ with his saints is also one body. Therefore, he who afflicts the members also afflicts the whole body.
And so also the Lord Christ says to S. Paulo, when he was still a persecutor of the Christians: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Then S. Paul could also have said: Ei, I do not persecute you, but Stephanum and other Christians. But he says: You do not persecute Stephanum, but me. Why is that? Because Christ is one body with his own. Whosoever therefore shall strangle one of the least of mine, he killeth me: as he saith also, Inasmuch as ye have given and done it unto one of the least of my disciples, ye have given and done it unto me. Therefore, the tyrants are mixed in all the holy blood that has ever been shed. The same is the case with the pope, who must give an account with his own that he himself scourged, killed, crucified and expelled the Son of God, because he murders the Christians from time to time.
And when S. Peter is crucified, he can say: You did not do this to me, but to the Son of God himself; because Nero did not crucify S. Peter, but the Son of God himself. So also the Jews did not kill the Son of God alone, but also Abel and all the prophets and apostles; for he finds them in the body of Cain, Herodis, Annae and Caiphä. Therefore they go through and kill the whole body, just as the hanger does not kill one limb but the whole body. It is the will of all of them, yes, the will of every one in particular, that they desire and wish that there were no Christians at all. Therefore they kill the whole Christian church, Christ the Son of God, and all the prophets and apostles: therefore they must also bear all the righteous blood that has ever been shed.
And the Lord here adds an oath to this, saying, "Verily I say unto you, that these things
All things shall come upon this generation. Now the Jews go away hardened and blinded, and to this day they do not stop blaspheming the Son of God and the Virgin Mary, because she must be their whore. But the blood of Abel, item, the Son of God and of all the saints, oppresses them. It is a very terrible, horrible judgment that one may well leave the blood of Christians alone; for we otherwise have sins enough, which go against the other table, may therefore also well avoid these sins, as a death blow. There is a great difference between the blood of a righteous man and the blood of another man. A man who is slain is also slain, but his death is nothing compared to the death of Abel and Christ, for his death concerns him alone. If a farmer beats another to death, his murder goes no further than his blood. But here the blood of the righteous from the beginning of the world to the end of the world comes upon him who kills a Christian.
So the Lord has faithfully warned that one should not kill his Christians, for whoever kills one has killed the whole church; and the tyrants should remember this: I am otherwise a tyrant, but here I will not burn myself, for otherwise the blood of all Christians would come upon me. Such an abominable text stands nowhere else than here. I cannot take so much from it that the Lord Christ says to Paul, "Saul, why do you persecute me?" as from this text; there it is written in a scanty and mighty way that one should know that the blood of the saints wants to be unkilled. But they ask nothing of it; therefore they shall know in the last day how grievous it is to bear the blood of the saints upon them: and it is true that to kill is a sin, but it is terrible to shed such blood as is Abel's, and that of all the saints: it is abominable, and harmless 1) blood, as your fathers killed the prophets, and ye also will kill me.
Why does he remember Zachariah son of Barachi? One reads of him in the Historia of King Joash, who was a fine king. When Athaliah's son was slain, he was enraged.
1) Maybe: innocent?
She went and slew all that were of the male tribe of David, when Christ was to be born of her, and this queen reigned over Judah seven years. There was a pious harlot, who kept a boy from the royal children, seized the child in the cradle, and carried it away secretly, and brought it into the temple. When that child, named Joash, grew up, Jehoiada the high priest brought him up secretly in the temple, and Jehoiada would gladly have made the child king. He brought three of the nobles to himself and the people, and divided the people into four parts, and brought forth the child Joash to be their king. When Athaliah the harlot heard this, she ran and cried out, "O rebellion, rebellion! But Jehoiada seized her and struck her dead. This Jehoash became king over Judah through Jehoiada's diligence, wisdom and manliness; and Jehoash was the only man left, that the tribe of David should not perish. And when he was grown up, he did much good, until that high priest Jehoiada lived, and reigned well. But when Jehoiada the high priest had laid down his head, then Zachariah his son also became a high priest. But Jehoash, who had been so wonderfully preserved, got unfaithful and evil counselors, and became hostile to Zacharias, because he did not preach to the king what was pleasing to him. Then he had him seized and put to death between the temple and the altar, as Athaliah had done, because he was outside on the churchyard, because he had spoken the truth to the king and to the soldiers 1) and the book of the kings says: Joash did not remember the great good deed, and the pious king became so wicked through unfaithful, desperate counsels. But Zacharias said, The Lord see it and judge it, and died.
Now here Christ does not call him Jojada, because he had a twofold name, as the branch is of two names in the Scriptures. The surname makes the difference, as one would like to say: Hans Schneider, therefore Jojada was his right name etc. But by Jojada he means himself and others all, why? Because Christ is not in the habit of speaking without Scripture, but he shows examples.
1) Erlanger: Schaarhansen.
from the holy scriptures. Now there is no one in the holy scriptures who is so expressly reported that he was thus slain; and he who reads the histories must spit on Joash. For they that slew Jereuiiam and audere did it not so roughly. For Jehoash would have been slain, and the kingdom of Judah cut off; but it is preserved by Jehoiada, and yet he becomes such a great rogue, that in honor of the father Ichada he has slain his son 2). This is the thanks! He should have said: He has preserved me and my kingdom, I will let his son enjoy it again; but it does not happen.
Because this vice is so abominable, the Lord is especially tempted, so that the Jews would also kill him and his apostles in this way, saying, "We will save you from death, from sin, from the power of the devil and from hell. But you are just as pious as Joash was. The Jews must also become Joash, and all Christians who are strangled are Zacharias.
We also preach now that people may also increase in food and have peace, that we may also deliver them from death and sins. But there is no thanksgiving to be gained from the world. It is Joash's work. For this reason the Lord introduces such an example, because it is apparent; and one does not read in the holy Scriptures that the prophet Isaiah did so much good to King Manasseh. But Jehoash was pious twenty years, and he made ready the temple; but afterward he became wicked, and would not suffer himself to be punished; as it is yet said, Nay, kings shall not be reproached; yea, who could do it without detriment to the ministry of preaching.
^Sixteenth Sermon on the 23rd Capitet Matthäi.
Preached on the 18th Sunday after Trinity [October 5, 1539]. 3)
We have recently heard the terrible, horrible judgment that the Lord has passed on the Jews, that they are guilty of
2) Erlanger: to honor his son.
all the blood of the righteous that was shed from Abel. This is frightening to those who treat the blood of Christians so lightly, that he who kills one kills them all, just as the Lord says, "He who does good to one does good to all. Now this is a terrible judgment, and it is not less than the one that follows:
V. 37. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you.
It is horrible enough that the Lord speaks of the city, "which you killed. If he had said Babylon, Babylon, or Rome, Rome, or otherwise cried out against a city among the Gentiles that had plagued and persecuted God's people, it would have had some standing. For Babylon was hostile to Jerusalem and to all the Jewish land and people, and the Romans also tore Jerusalem apart, and the kings of Egypt and others inflicted many plagues on the children of Israel, all wanting to become knights of Jerusalem. No such terrible word has yet been spoken about them all as about Jerusalem. Says he, Jerusalem, which sendeth prophets unto thee, to preach unto thee. All the prophets must die an ignominious death, and what Babylon and Egypt do not do, you do. Therefore, when you look at Jerusalem, as it is to be looked at, it must become an abomination. For all the cities of the world are not worthy to be called thatch in comparison with Jerusalem; for no city has been so highly esteemed, nor has any greater honor been done to it on earth, nor can any be compared to it. For there lie buried the greatest men that ever were enemies on earth, David, the great and excellent king, Isaiah, and countless others. For this reason it is called a blessed city, even though it has no more glory than the dead who are buried there. The pope also boasts about Rome, that Peter and Paul are buried there, and it is
following sermon the time determination "18th Sunday after Trinitatis", here correct (because the previous sermon is held on; 17. x>. Irin,), there wrong.
True, many excellent martyrs died there. But in Jerusalem the two saints are buried, as the holy scriptures report. The Son of God also died there and rose again from the dead; this tomb alone should make the city appear as if all other cities were dark. For there is the tomb of the Son of God, and Mary's tomb, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, just outside the city. Therefore, if only the burial and the bones of the dead were to be honored, what glory the tomb of Christ, the Son of God, would bring to this city alone! But this is even greater, that God chose this city Jerusalem above all other cities. For none hath he so sanctified, blessed, and called his royal court, his castle, when he would have his fire and hearth, as in the 31st] chapter. Chapter Isaiah [v. 9.] than this very city. Otherwise there are many flocks, as there are fathers of houses, but Jerusalem should be his own hearth, that is, his house, as he is landlord, as he lives and has his servants. Servants and maids, sons and daughters. This is beyond all glory, that this lovely city should be God's bodily dwelling place above all others. It is not praised because it is God's chamber, cellar or floor, but because it is God's hearth, because he wants to be the landlord, and he is. And if all the praise of the city were to be gathered into one heap, a great book would be made of it, and all cities would be bad thatched roofs against it. Above this, the temple was built in the same place, and Abel sacrificed there before the flood. Jacob saw the angels descending from heaven on the ladder and ascending again in the same place, and it is believed that in the place where Christ was crucified, the tree from which Adam and Eve ate stood in ancient times. Therefore, this is the place where God planted Paradise, and there again erected the tree of life instead of the tree of death. Now not only the city is holy, but also the people are holy, and Matthew on the 5th of Ca-.
1) In the original "32".
pitel, Christ calls Jerusalem a holy city.
Should not the Lord spare Jerusalem? 1) For it is the seat of the great King, that is, Christ himself is Lord there. In the 4th chapter of Matthew it is said that the devil brought Christ into the holy city and set him on the battlements of the temple. So by and by this city alone is called the holy city, and the people who dwell in it the holy people and God's people, since he himself preached and died with his mother and all the saints. Nevertheless, this city shall have the shameful title: You city of God, you tomb of the Son of God and of the prophets, which you have the worship and the law, but you kill the prophets. Then the Jews said, "We will not do it. I myself would have thought that it was unbelievable that they should kill the prophets, I would have relied on it and boasted, namely, that this city could not have angered God and come into disgrace, because if some saints were buried in it, God would not leave it. I cannot say it, it is spoken too highly and horribly, "You who killed the prophets." We are angry when we preach that the princes are hostile to the gospel. But we may be silent and pipe down when we hear that Jerusalem kills the prophets and the Son of God. What should not the Turk, the Romans and other evil men do? It would be frightening enough if it were said of Jerusalem: "Lazarus was there, and they let him die of hunger; but that would also be too horrible that in such a holy city, where God's dwelling place is, such an injustice should happen inside. For she did not let a poor servant die, or one or two prophets be killed, but all the prophets and Christ himself were strangled. The-
1) Erlanger: "beautiful". We do not know that this verb occurs in Luther. Should this be the case, however, it would have the meaning here: to make beautiful, to speak beautifully of her. But "to spare" seems to us more appropriate to the context. The following paragraph brings the contrast: "The HErr ... lets the city be destroyed and dragged."
2) Erlanger: that one.
The Jews are so hardened that no one can persuade them that God is angry with them because they have slain his servants and their fathers have killed many prophets. Nor shall the glorious name, as the holy people, holy city, Abraham's seed, God's city, cover it all.
But the Lord does not respect all this, that it has been his place, even his hearth, Jerusalem, but lets the city be destroyed and polished, so that not one stone remains on the ground. But we and the pope think much more foolishly than that God cannot be so angry with us, for we are the head of the church; item, the church cannot err, and whoever is obedient to the pope is a child of God; and he strikes all dead who do not believe this nor make a worship out of it. Now if you were so holy and God's people, like the Jews, what more would it be? Were not the Jews also God's people and church? Why then do they kill Christ? Can it not happen that in the city of God, and where God's people are, Christ himself should be killed?
But the Jews cried out: "In Jerusalem there is the temple of God, there is the holy city. The Roman church may do what it can, but it is still a small church compared to Jerusalem. For this Jerusalem has been far above Rome, for there have been holy people, and God's order. For God said: You shall be my city, I will dwell there. This testimony is not said of Rome, that God would dwell there bodily: nor is Jerusalem a murderess of the prophets. But it shall not be so with us, who boast that we are the Church of God. Now boast as you will, holy Christian church, God's people, God's people, baptism, gospel, power of the keys, but it is of no use. For you will not be saved by this, but by accepting and believing it, and making a distinction between Jerusalem, the holy city, and God's word. If you do not accept the messengers and prophets, it does not help that you are God's people or city, or that you pretend that God's order, law and prophets are alive and dead here. It helps
All this is not against the wrath of God, but He wants you to accept the prophets, to listen to them and to cherish them.
And this is a powerful text against the papacy, which pretends that one must obey the Christian church, and with these words, where it is said: The church is to be heard, many are deceived. For whoever does not do so, the pope cries that he be put to death. If it were enough for you to call yourself a Christian, yet it is not true, and if it were true, yet you are not comparable to Jerusalem, which has much better holiness before you than all the cities. Therefore he calls it a royal city, and his people a kingdom and a high priestly nation, so that other cities are but a thatch above Jerusalem. Because such great and manifold glories and prerogatives are of no avail, but Jerusalem must be called a prophet-killer and crucifier of God, therefore it is not worthy of praise. For if someone should help a glory, it could help the city, but it does not count for anything here. Therefore let each one remember: If the devil were to rise against the city, who would teach and live differently than Jerusalem? Therefore, you, the pope, and every man, keep your mouth shut, and do not cry out, "Gospel," for we are neither prophets nor apostles. It does not help Jerusalem that it is called Jerusalem, and even if it were right with the city, it would still be nothing, but so it is said: You shall hear the prophets. So we also say: Dear pope, emperor, kings, always church here. For now the kings write letters, one is to remain with the unity of the Christian church. Then you say: The word Jerusalem goes far beyond the Christian church, mau shall hear the prophets. Now therefore distinguish it, saying, There I hear the church, which is a glorious and beautiful name, but there I hear the prophets and apostles; and then also there is a difference among them whither they are sent, because they are not sent to Jerusalem alone, where there are many saints. There I shall not inquire whether they be holy as they will, but I shall inquire whether they also receive and hear the prophets.
Therefore this text serves that one does not hear whether Jerusalem is Jerusalem, but whether they hear the prophets and apostles. For if I find a city that accepts the prophets and believes their teaching, I consider it a holy city, even if it is a village. For otherwise such an exchange and change will result, that a city, which has been so highly praised and adorned, will become a whorehouse of the devil, and will keep nothing else, but only the title and the glory of the Christian church, and yet is in truth and in essence the devil's whorehouse. Thus Jerusalem has truly been. But if she does not hear God's word, then one can say: God has done great miracles in the city, but the glory is badly dead. Why? Because they do not accept the prophets. Our Lord God is concerned about His word, which He wants to hear, or Jerusalem must be made a devil's whore; as the prophet Isaiah also complains in the first chapter [v. 21]: "How is it that the pious city has become a whore? It was full of justice, righteousness dwelt in it, but now murderers" etc. Before it was a bedchamber of God and a paradise, now it is a whorehouse. Before, living saints lived in it, but now it is full of bloodhounds and murderers, and yet it is still the same Jerusalem. Oh, dear Isaiah, what a useless preacher you are! Should you call God's house a whorehouse, where the devil himself dwells: how does that rhyme? And this speech stank foul in their nostrils. But thou wilt not suffer the prophets and apostles; thereby shalt thou become a harlot, and shalt not help thee to some glory.
I cannot say it out loud, it disturbs me from the heart, that they say, It is a royal city and a holy place, and cannot be mistaken; so they praised all here in Jerusalem. And have cause, for when the Holy Ghost praiseth this city and people, it is because they have heard the prophets. For this makes them holy. But if they have not seen nor heard the prophets, they have not been praised. Even if they had the highest outward holiness, it is nothing,
when God's stronghold is not there. And Christ will say: I allow that there is my holy place, my palace, and before the city many kings have been laid low. But if my word is not heard, and the prophets are strangled, there is no longer my city.
Therefore, these sayings should be used to counter them, pretending to be obedient to the church. Then you say: Jerusalem is a holy city, and if there has been any holiness in any place, verily it has been in Jerusalem, nor is that city called a harlot and a murderer, killing the prophets. Here you also see the only sign of the Christian church, which is to follow the divine word and to be obedient. When that is gone, let her always boast: Church, church, there is nothing behind it. Therefore say: If one also has God's word in it, does one also accept it? But if the prophets are killed, the apostles are stoned and the divine word is condemned, then quickly conclude: This may well be called a holy Christian church and may have been pious before the lines, but now it is a whorehouse and God's enemy, even if it were Jerusalem.
With this example you can defeat everything. For if you take Jerusalem, 1) you have trampled Rome and all other churches into the dirt. For cannot Jerusalem remain the church, if it does not hear God's word, where would Rome remain? For Jerusalem is nothing comparable on earth. Therefore, where God's word is heard, there is God's church, even if it were in the cowshed, where Christ was born. Why? Because there God's word is heard. Again, there is not the church of God, where his word is despised, even if it were the city itself, where God's seat and dwelling should be. For one does not want to hear the host. If one does so, he is no longer a host. But if I am the master of the house, says God, I will be heard. So even if the house is mine, that is, God's, and I am not heard, it is still nothing.
1) Erlanger: "nehmest." Bruns had already resolved this word, as we think, correctly with "nennest".'
So mightily is it all in the word, that as far as we are his household and dwelling and church, he is our host, and we his guests, 2) as far as we hear him. But now Jerusalem is a murder pit, as Isaiah says. And who is the host there? The devil and his mother, Why? Because God's word is not heard there.
Therefore, one should answer the pope, who always uses the word "church" in his mouth, by saying: "Dear, do you also hear the word of God? They say, you don't have to ask about that, and they freely confess that we have God's word for us on our side, but nevertheless we should hear the church, because it is above the divine word. That is what the devil does. We accept their testimony well, because they have the pure, truthful word of God etc. Then they say that one must hear the holy Christian church above the holy word. The devil hears them. For those who will not hear the word of God are not the church of God, nor the bride of Christ, but the bride and whore of the devil. The difference is who hears the word of God, as the Lord Christ John says in the 8th chapter.
So we are to keep the touchstone and landmark to distinguish between God's church and the devil's church. For the difference is truly certain and does not deceive, that whichever church has God's word and abides by it, it is God's people, whether it dwells in Jerusalem or in Babylon. For Jerusalem, when it was destroyed, nevertheless remained God's people, not in Jerusalem, but in Babylon, where they dwelt. Jerusalem was not the church when it was first built into a city and God said, "I will dwell there," but when one hears His word there; and if one preached the gospel in a whorehouse, it would still be the church; as one reads of St. Agatha that the judge had her dragged into the whorehouse so that she should be put to shame there. Soon there was a church, and the angel was there, did not let her see it, and could not strangle her the judge's son, yes, the devil.
2) Erlanger: his guest", which can be resolved both with "his guests" and: "are guests". The sense remains the same.
broke his neck. For even if the place were as unclean as it is, if only his word is heard there, it is a church in a hurry. But if it is a pure and holy place, as Jerusalem would be, and does not hear God's word, it is still a house of prayer; and the Lord will say: God did not build this city and temple and hang His glorious name on it, so that His word should not be heard, but that He should be Lord in the house, and that He alone should be heard in it. There, says God, I will speak, only that they believe me; that is, causa finalis et formalis.
But the Jews thought: This is a beautiful city, O there is God. Yes, he did not build the house and the hearth for another to rule in it, but that what God would command should be done there; not that a servant or any neighbor should rule and reign in this house, but God had built this city so that he would be found in it and the prophets and apostles would be heard in it. For where they would no longer suffer it, God took a straw wipe and burned Jerusalem.
The church is not called bishop's staffs, not doctor, nor laws, nor pope, because they do not have the gospel. One must have it therefore, that one hears it. Where it is not heard, you may build a church of emerald or gold, but it is a church of the devil. Therefore, this is how God's Word makes the church; where this is not the case, the devil shits in the same church.
So now we feel the papists, how they are such foolish and blind donkey-heads, that they call the pope with his followers the church, just as the Jews also considered only those to be children of God, who were born of Abraham and kept the law of Moses. But there still belongs to hear prophets and apostles. I see the bishops before my eyes, but the eyes do not show me the church, but the ears, which will be the judge of who is the Christian church.
If then thou hearest nought: The pope and bishops are the church, say, I see it not; let thy voice be heard, how doth it slur? Then they say: Thou shalt not administer both forms of the Lord's Supper to the laity.
but listen to what the pope wants. Then do not hear a bright nightingale song, but a screeching of ravens, or owl song. But the true church says: I want to hear what the Son of God himself has commanded to preach; take this into your ears, and then cover them. For if thou wilt do what the church is called, and see with thine eyes, learn here that Jerusalem shall not be called so, but hear with her ears the prophets and apostles. If it does not, then it is a hell, since it was otherwise a paradise, and a whorehouse and the devil's murder pit, since it was God's temple and pleasure house; and "after the difference only, that one hears God's word and the sermon of the prophets and apostles.
The [seventeenth and] last sermon on the 23rd chapter of Matthew.
Preached on the 19th Sunday after Trinity [October 12, 1589]. 2)
The other day we heard how the Lord had read a terrible lesson to his own people and to the holy city of Jerusalem, which should also frighten us very much, because if God did not spare Jerusalem, which was exalted above all the cities of the earth, and did not spare other cities and countries, he would not give it to us. Now he says: I send unto you prophets etc.; as if to say, I lavish upon thee my word and all graces, and so thou art grateful unto me, that thou killest the prophets, and crucifixest them, and scourge them. This is an abomination, but we are to be struck by it, that we too may not kill the prophets, but receive them with honor. Now he speaks further:
V. 37. How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you have not wanted!
These are the last words, so that the Lord closes his sermon, and in the Jewish people
1) Instead of "hear", perhaps it should read "do you hear".
henceforth no more preaches. But such a decision is not good, because he says: "How often have I wanted to be a mother hen and accept you for my chicks? But because ye would not, let your house stand desolate, and ye shall not see me from henceforth, until it be said, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Jerusalem has been in ashes for more than fifteen hundred years, and the Jews have been scattered throughout the world, so that they do not have a foot of their own; they grow up everywhere, but they have neither a city nor a government. I mean that the city is desolate, and they are still there as a terrible example, because they have had to lose their house, that is, their kingdom, priesthood, land and people, because of the persecution of the divine word; and as it is written here, so it goes, and the Lord gives this people a terrible end and death. But a far more terrible end will he give to the whole world before the end of the world, because it also despised and persecuted the gospel. But we will leave the horrible example, because we see it before our eyes, and we will look at the text.
But he needs a very sweet and comforting figure, that he compares himself to a mother hen, and us, who listen to his word and accept it, to the young chicks that creep under the wings of the mother hen. But there is no bird, indeed no animal, that cares so warmly and so earnestly for its young or chicks as does a hen. See how she lives and does for her chicks, that she even gains a different voice and cry when she leads her chicks. See how she is so graceful and spreads her wings, yes, she may even fly at one's neck 1) that no animal has such an affect as a [hen] 2) would have. Therefore, he does not compare himself to an eagle, as he said in the Old Testament, but to a hen, which has a special heart and love for her chicks.
And this image you shall understand, the Lord Christ will say, when I speak my word.
1) Erlanger: flee.
2) "Hen" added by Höck.
I will preach to you and send prophets, and I will be a mother hen, enticing you and leading you, so that you may beware of the congregation. Here he has pictured himself and the condition of his people and also of the devil. For he stings with all diligence, as he may devour the little chicks when they are scattered; but when they sit under the wings of the mother hen, they are safe from the vulture. For the devil floats about in the air like the ponds; but we are poor little chicks who sit under the wings of the mother hen, as the 91st Psalm fV. 4] also says: "He will cover you with his wings, and your confidence will be under his wings." Therefore we must also do as the chickens do, and creep under the wings of the hen.
It is a glorious image, and full of 3) rich comfort, especially when we hold it against the Lord Christ. For as a hen leads her chicks, feeds and protects them until they grow up, so the [Lord] 4) Christ governs, comforts, and saves us by his voice and word, that we may be safe from the chick-pond, the devil. Thus the Lord portrays Himself, and has also often proved this with the work that He is like a mother hen. First of all, Moses gathered the people under the divine word and its protection. So did David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and all the prophets, that they were all feathers and wings under which God would have liked to gather the Jewish people. But Christ says here: David have ye driven out of my sight, Jesaiam slain, Eliam cast out, and all the other prophets put to death, and have not willed to be under these wings. So now I and my apostles are also clucking hens, we cluck and cry: Hear us, creep under our wings etc.; and if God still sends preachers and gives his word, he spreads out the wings, so that we should creep under them, seek protection, shield and cover there against the pond, the devil, and all his angels. But what has happened? All the prophets and apostles you have driven away and
3) Erlanger: full.
4) "HErr" added by Höck.
in short, under the Küchelmeiher. Therefore your house shall also be left desolate. Otherwise they could have remained in their kingdom and priesthood, but now the opposite has happened to them, and everything has been destroyed and devastated, and now they have no house of their own, town or country, and are sitting on a rock so that they cannot remain safely in one place for an hour.
This is a mirror and an image for us to be careful, as it is also said to the Romans in the 11th chapter. For if he spared not the natural olive branches, which were his cousins, of whose blood he was born, much less will he spare ours.
But he speaks:
V. 38. f. Your house shall be desolate, and you shall not see me from that time forward.
Before you saw me and heard me, but you did not want to hear and see me. Therefore I will go far enough for you and come, that you shall not see me for ever, until it be said:
V. 39. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
This is now in place. No prophet has come to this people anymore. They still read the prophets, and Moses still performs them, but they are under the misapprehension that the Messiah has not yet come; and if we still preach about Christ, they close their doors and ears to him. They do not want to hear Christ, and consider us to be geese, ducks and fools. So much are they blinded. For here it is written: they shall see him 2) no more.
Now here is a question of what is said here: "You did not want" when he wanted, item: "You will not see me from that time on, until it will be said: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord".
The first question is a bit of a head-scratcher, that is: Did God will it, who could have resisted Him? Why did His will (which is otherwise omnipotent) not go away? And this text forces it here that the Lord Chri-
1) Erlanger: come.
2) Erlanger: them.
stus was true God. But he has often wanted to gather them. But when? Through Moses, David, Samuel, Eliam etc. Has he already been there? He was only thirty-three years old, born of the virgin Mary, when he spoke this: how then does he say that he was there when he sent the prophets? item: he was the one who sent the prophets. The work of giving God's word and sending prophets is not the work of any creature, but of God the Creator. Now he is not over thirty-four years old, and makes himself so old that he says he has sent all the prophets and wants to be a mother hen. But from this one sees that he is something more than a pure, noisy man. Exodi in the 3rd chapter he says to Moses: Come, I will send you to the children of Israel. Item Jeremiah in the 1st chapter is also said, "Whom shall I send?" and Jeremiah said, "Send me." But Isaiah said, "Dear, send me not." Now if he sent Jeremiah, Jeshaiah, Moses, and David, he must be very old; and he was also before all the prophets, kings, and apostles, and did not then walk idle, or have nothing to do, but made and gave prophets, and sent Moses into Egypt. There he performed great miracles.
These texts are to be considered well, so that we keep firmly the article of the divinity of Christ, of which we say and confess in our Christian faith: "I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit" etc. According to the same Godhead, he has no age, and before he was born of Mary, he was already the Son of God and the one who sent all the prophets, who was also with the children of Israel in the wilderness.
But that he saith, Ye shall not see me, till it be said, Praise be;" 2c: Go behind thee, and take the hundred and eighteenth Psalm before thee, where is this verse [v. 25. f.], "Help, O Lord, let it prosper: blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Look at the Psalm and you will find that it speaks of Christ as a natural God, as it is
for the whole psalm bears witness. He gives him this verse and says: He belongs to him. This would be a great blasphemy if he were not a natural, true God. And it is strange that this person, who is now four and thirty years old, born of Mary, says that he is the one spoken of in the 118th Psalm. Therefore, the evangelist here concludes most forcefully that he must be the true God, who sent Moses into Egypt and did all that was written only about this people; item, that he is the one of whom the Scripture says: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! For he is the only begotten Son of God, and is the Son of all before he is born of Mary.
Now this is the twofold birth of Christ: first, so that he is called the Son of God, this birth is from eternity. He wanted to be a mother hen and was with all the prophets. Afterwards he became a man, born of Mary, and are nevertheless not two, but only one son. For this article suffers great distress among the enthusiasts. But after the ascension of the Lord Christ, it was believed in the Christian church: I believe in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord etc. For Christ is another person. Although He is not the Father, yet He is the Creator of heaven and earth, has divine nature and essence, and was born of the Virgin Mary in time; and yet there are not two Christs, nor sons, but One Jesus, as we say: "And in Jesus Christ", who is one Son, One Person, and yet has two natures, which are united in the one Person and in Christ. This is what the holy Gospels teach us and prove; and if this article falters, we are lost. The Turk and the Rotten do not want to let the article be good. But you say, "This is my faith, and this is what the Scriptures teach: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, who was conceived and born. The same infant faith is written here, saying that it was before the world was created, even before Moses was; and now it is written, "I believe in Jesus Christ.
As a man who is thirty-four years old, he confesses his birth from the mother Mary, just as the other evangelists all establish and prove. Therefore, take good heed of these and similar sayings, for if this article is lost, we are no longer Christians. Therefore, if we believe in this article, we are also called Christians from this article.
And whoever believes in this article, in the seed of the woman, as it was then, before he was born, when it is said: "I will put enmity between the seed of the woman and your seed" etc., then he was already born, then it was believed that this seed of the woman should be the one who should kill the devil, even at the time when Adam lived. This is often said, and the holy scripture teaches it everywhere, as can be seen in the Symbolis, which are drawn from the Bible and put into a short summary, what is otherwise widely understood in the holy scripture. So he now wants to sing them the little song, which they must hear from him, that they will never see him again. Thus he testifies that he is a true God and a natural man.
How is it that he did not accomplish what he wanted? and that they would not see him again?
First, that he says: You did not want what I wanted, so make a right distinction between the two natures in Christ, but in such a way that you do not separate the natures from each other. But he arrogates to himself the human nature in such a way that the holy scripture speaks of him as of a pure, pure man, as having been conceived and carried in the womb of the mother Mary for ten months, and having been born of a virgin, and then crucified and buried. This is a purely human thing. For God cannot die nor be born, if one wants to speak according to the quality of natures. Therefore, God may not rise from the dead nor ascend to heaven. All this is said of him as of a true man, as he is. For he also does everything like another man, eats and drinks etc. The dear Lord uses both natures, and all their qualities he leads;
sometimes a vain quality of the divine nature, and otherwise also the quality of the human nature, so that we know that it is common to both natures. When you hear that he alone speaks as God, it is not valid to say that he is not man either, as he says here: "I send prophets to you"; item: "How often have I wanted to gather you together, as a mother hen gathers her chicks" etc. If then he is God, it is not true that you would say that he is not man; but if it is true, as it certainly is, that he is God and man, you must concede that the Scriptures sometimes speak of his humanity and also of his divinity. Therefore say: Here he speaks as a man, that he should be crucified and die. This has now happened according to the weakness of human nature. Otherwise, if he were God alone, he would remain uncrucified and would not need to eat and drink. But because he is God and man in one person, he eats according to human nature, and yet one also says: God's Son eats and is born, suffers, dies etc., and yet everything is spoken according to human nature, which is united with divine nature. So he also speaks here in the person of humanity, which is the person that is God and man. For it is only One Person, only that he speaks sometimes according to the human nature and sometimes according to the divinity. So we also say: You are a rational creature. There I speak of the whole person, namely, that you are a man who has his reason. If one then says: "No, the soul is only rational, after the body man eats and sleeps, and does all work and labor as another animal, but the soul does not sleep, hunger or eat. These qualities are unique to the human body, so the soul does not feel heat or cold, but is a rational thing, but can otherwise perform all kinds of art.
Thus a man also has two natures, and yet it is only One Person, and only One Hans. According to the nature of the body one says: The whole Hans sleeps, but the soul does not sleep. So also the body of the Hansen, if it alone is wounded or damaged,
nor is it said, and it is also understood, that the whole Hans is damaged; therefore, if there are also two natures in your being, and yet there are not two persons in you, and what happens to the soul or the body, it is said that it happens to the whole Hans. [For I preach and teach not to the soul alone, but to the whole petro. So the soul neither eats nor sleeps, nor is it called: Hans taught and eats. It is the same here with Christ. Christ is only one person, but he has two natures, and he is often spoken of according to the human nature alone, and often according to the divine nature alone, which should be applied to both natures.
So it is said of Christ [Matth. 24, 36.] No one knows the hour of the last judgment, not even the Son of Man. In another place it is said [Matth. 11, 27.] "No one knows the Father, but the Son alone, and to whom the Son wills to reveal it." These two sayings rhyme together in John [John 7:16]: "My doctrine is not mine"; there the Lord speaks of himself as a natural man, so that one may know that he is truly a man. Because he is a man, he also attributes to him that which is the characteristic of the human body, namely, that a man should not know everything, item, that he should die, even though he is the only person. So it is also said here that he is truly God, who sent the prophets, and to whom it should be said, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Item: "The Son alone knows the Father, and to whom the Son wills to reveal it"; item: "How often have I wanted to gather you together" etc.; as if he should say: I have already been man before I became man, or put myself forward to become man.
How could one resist his will? The Holy Scripture says that Christ is the Son of God for eternity, also born of the Virgin Mary in time, and says of Him that He is the Son of God and the Son of man, and yet it is said to be spoken of One Person, that it is said: "The Virgin Mary suckles the Son of God, and yet not the Son of God, but the Son of man".
1) Should probably be "learns".
God. For the mother alone suckles the body, and yet the whole man. This is a simple-minded opinion. Whoever wants to speak more highly about 1) whether one can resist God's will, must have a high intellect. We are to say: What God does not want revealed, I am not to know, as Acts, Cap. 1, 7, says: "It is not for you to know the time or hour which the Father has reserved for His power." If you do not want to know, keep silent, or I will break your neck. But what he does not reveal, that is impossible to understand, if you immediately tear yourself apart over it.
Therefore, beware of the temptation, which is otherwise very mean, that one wants to know: Why does God do this? Rather, beware of the quare, or you will fall down the neck. Otherwise, you have the Catechismum and all the Scriptures, from which you may learn the doctrine of God's will. But if you do not want to do that, remember Adam and Eve. They had the power to eat from all trees in paradise, but they were not to eat from the tree of good and evil. For when the devil challenges them, saying, "Quare, see if you are commanded to know; if not, be silent. Again, if God has revealed something to you to know, say: I have His word, sacrament, chair and priest. But why he wants to baptize me with water and not with oil or wine, I do not know. But this I know, why he hath baptized me, that I might be saved,
Adam did not have enough to have all the trees in Paradise, but the devil revealed to him the secret will of God, saying: Huars. Then Adam and Eve shall go up and investigate God's will. The apple still sticks in the throat of all of us, that man is still so minded that he does not always like what God does, why he lets the devil rage so, and the mighty tyrants have much happiness, also [let] the Turk live long." This apple is in our stomachs and sticks in our throats. But think: This apple has Adam and all of us
1) "will" added by Höck.
I have been brought to death, because what God did not want to reveal, I do not have the right to know. He has given me his son, so you have enough to study. For in this I have such great wisdom that if there were a hundred thousand of me, 2) I would not choose the art that is called: I believe in Christ; and the longer I live, the less I can do about it. But it is the apple that is still in my skin and soul, that I would like to know everything, the Quare Deus sic? Chew it no more, you have already eaten more than you can digest all your life, you have it in your belly and in your soul. Therefore say: I am commanded to listen to the Catechismum and pray.
Nor did he need to create heaven and earth, nor to have you born of your parents, but to have made you from a lump of earth, as he did with Adam, and with Eve, whom he built from the rib. But he had to prove his kindness, he could have made a soul out of a lump.
Now this is held up to us, that faith may be exercised therein, and that we ourselves may not be wise, and follow the devil, who also asked Adam, saying, Quare? Therefore, when it comes to high questions, say, I am not to know why he does not create men who are immediately as great as Adam and Eve were created great. Why does he not also make it so that we do not need food, nor do we need the sun? But he wants to prove his unspeakable goodness of his majesty with it.
This is to answer, if one asks of the secret, hidden will of God, that if you drag yourself with these thoughts, then the questions grow the longer the more, and is of them more, than sand on the sea. So could Adam have said: What is it to you? Why God did it, I don't want to know, and then be silent to the secret will of God, listen to God's word.
The other question is whether the Jews will be converted before Judgment Day, as is commonly thought. I let it remain so, but
2) Höck and the Erlanger have: "hundred thousand lyear)".
The text reads: "They shall not know the Lord, neither know nor hear anything about Him, unless they sing this song: "Praised"; as if to say: "Whoever does not believe that Christ is born of Mary the Virgin in His glory, that He is a glorious and mighty Lord, as the Psalm sings, shall not know anything about it, he shall be like a Jew or a Turk. But if you believe it, you will see it. This is the goal: Either you believe that this is God and are saved, or you do not believe; there is no wisdom, no help for some advice or salvation.
Whoever now wants to be wise, let him believe in the Son of Mary, for in him are all the treasures of wisdom. If you also want to know how God is dammed up against you, hear him. For otherwise God has closed and hidden His heart and will; but if you believe in the Son, God is gracious to you. So long as you do not believe, your house will remain desolate, and you will not enjoy the Son of Mary or the glorious God spoken of in the 118th Psalm etc.
[First sermon on the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew.
[Held on October 19, 1539 as the 20th Sunday after Trinity.] 1)
You heard the last sermon of Christ the other day, in which he gave the last word to the Jews, saying that their house would be desolate and that they would see him no more. So he departs.
Now the evangelist Matthew describes in this following chapter how Christ talked with his disciples, not that he preached a sermon to them, but only a friendly conversation.
Now the disciples had heard in the last sermon of the Lord Christ, that he had said, Your house shall be empty and desolate. They had grasped this last sermon, and understood that it was about the
1) We arrived at this time determination by counting back from the fourth sermon on Matth. 24, which (Erl., Vol. 45, p. 118) is provided with the indication "on the 23rd Sunday after Trinity".
And Christ turned his back upon him, as if he would never see him again, as if he would never come into the temple again. And Christ turned his back on it, as if he would never see it again, just as he had not returned to the temple.
But he does not only mean the house of the temple, but also the whole regiment. Therefore they ask him and say when this building should be torn down, wondering why this beautiful building and all its glories should be destroyed. For the temple was a divine building, and the prophet Haggaeus says that the glory of the last temple would be much greater than the glory of Solomon's temple. For not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles, and many of the great kings among them that dwelt about Jerusalem, gave great money and goods for the building of the temple. Therefore they say: Is this such an excellent, beautiful, glorious building, and is it to be destroyed? Where will the worship service be then? Where will they slaughter cattle for sacrifice? In what place will the people come together again from all the nations, as they had to come to Jerusalem three times a year? They waited for an answer from Christ and thought that he would build a much more glorious temple, compared to which the present temple would not be a small hut; for this temple, which Christ would build, would be made of precious stone, gold and silver. In such sweet thoughts stand the apostles and almost all Jews.
2) Erlanger: "them", which Höck had already rightly changed to "him". In the Erlanger this sentence reads: "Christ turns his back on them, as if he would never see them again" etc.
3) "this" put by us instead of "these". We have inserted the next words in square brackets for easier understanding.
Does this mean that Christ will come and that not only will the house be desolate and the worship cease, but also that the glorious pilgrimage from all lands and kingdoms will come to an end, but that it will lie in ashes and be broken up so that the temple will remain desolate forever? Truly the thoughts of the apostles and the Jews were not like this, nor are they like this today. For the Jews are still crying out and asking God to send His Messiah, the Son of David, to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, and do not even admit that this temple should remain desolate, that not one stone should be left upon another, and that pilgrimage, worship and everything should be destroyed; and the Jews today have many other thoughts about it, thinking that everything should still be changed. But the Lord speaks: Jerusalem and the temple shall become and remain desolate, and not one stone shall be left upon another and come again. Who is right, Christ or the Jews, let eyes and ears judge: In the work and in the deed it is thus found, and is now fulfilled fifteen hundred years. But all that Christ has said here in this chapter has come to pass just as it is described here and as Christ proclaimed it before. Our eyes now see these things, and those who do not want to see them may grasp them. The temple and the city of Jerusalem were begun to be rebuilt in the time of the emperor Hadriani, and called Aeliam, 1) but the city was not set on the place where it had stood before. Now the Turk has taken Jerusalem, after he has defeated and overcome the Sultan, and since the holy grave was before outside the city, when the gallows and Rabenstein are still erected before the cities: but now it is in the middle of the city Jerusalem, as if this city Jerusalem would be destroyed and rebuilt in another 2) place.
1) In 126 A.D. Jerusalem received the name ^6lia Oapitolina. But after the Roman emperors adopted the Christian religion in the fourth century, the old name was restored to it.
2) Erlanger: one.
So now the words of Christ have come true. But the Jews still pray daily, and remind God of His divine promises, His glory, benefits, miraculous signs etc., and ask that this city may be built again. The apostles are of the same mind, because they think it is impossible that this house of God should be destroyed, and even if it were broken down, there should still be a crowd there again, and a service should remain, and the temple should be rebuilt. But Mosiah's throne was to be broken, so that there would be no more preaching there, no more sacrifice of oxen, calves or lambs, and not a claw would remain, and the city would never be rebuilt. Therefore he gave them a different answer than they had hoped for, saying, "It is now a magnificent building, as you see, and many kings' gifts have fallen on it; but the time will soon come when not one stone will be left upon another, and no more sacrifices will be made there. They would not have answered, but thought that what Moses and Israel had done too little, the Messiah should do, spreading Jerusalem so that her borders should reach to the end of the world. There was a rabbi among the Jews who said that at the time of Messiah there would be peace in the whole world, no false people nor unfaithful ones would be found, and all kings would serve Messiah and sacrifice to him, and Messiah would teach with such power that all people would be righteous, even the princes themselves. 4) The Jews said that they were waiting for such a king. They wait for such a king, and teach 5) their children, that it is written in the Scriptures that when the Messiah comes, he will bring them peace. Now it is true, he has brought peace, but a spiritual peace.
So the Lord preached completely against the thoughts of the Jews, and takes away the peace, even the place where the city of Jerusalem and the temple stood, as he also said in the tenth chapter: "I have not come to bring peace.
3) Erlanger: his.
4) Erlanger: unfaithful.
5) Erlanger: learn.
gen." Nevertheless the Holy Spirit says, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, bringing righteousness against sin, and all blessedness. Otherwise he is not come to bring peace, but to bring strife and war, to set up such a kingdom, that they shall rise up and separate one from another, and by the sword shall separate father from son, mother from daughter; and where there are five of them in one company, there shall three of them be divided against two. This is called bringing peace. He preaches here, all against the thoughts of the Jews, who thought that all would be quiet, and tickled and comforted themselves with such sweet dreams that such a Messiah would come, who would bring them peace, as they would have liked to have it; and when it still thunders and shines, the Jews open the gate and windows, and hope for their Messiah. But they are now until fifteen hundred years ago with temple and city desolate and have had no prophets. Before, in the Babylonian prison, they were only seventy years, but still had their princes and prophets, as Danielem, Ezechielem and others. But what have they set? They are now fifteen hundred years in misery, and they are not set above, when in Babylon the prophet Daniel came up in the regiment, and the prison was so mitigated that they were imprisoned as countrymen. Therefore, when the seventy years at Babylon were ended, many of them did not want to go back to Jerusalem and build there, but remained living among the Gentiles. But now they sit down as on a mule. For this reason they are angry, saying that Christ is not our Messiah, because he did not bring peace, when he lived before their eyes, 2) and raised the dead, and preached with great authority, 3) and helped everyone also bodily, but especially to eternal salvation and righteousness, and makes the hearts of the faithful content, that they are undaunted against death, sin and the devil, so that they do not consider how they are doing here on earth. This is now an everlasting building of the temple, and
1) "nothing added by Höck.
2) Erlanger: hab.
3) Erlanger: hülfe. Höck had already changed this to "helped".
Jerusalem, not an earthly building. The Jews did not know this; God wanted us to be thankful for it, for Christ is not worthy to set up a physical kingdom, for the promises are too glorious; it was not fitting for our Lord God to set up such a kingdom. But so one should pray: Give the kingdom of the flesh and the crown to whom you will; give me alone, that I may not die forever; I will be content with the little, only that I may be safe from death and eternal damnation. Therefore it is not a great thing that God alone sustains and provides for my belly, and deals with us as with sows, but God's promises are much of a change. For he is also great and true, who gives not only what can be taken, as goods, wealth, land and people, which the Turk possesses, as he has conquered Asiam, Egypt and Greece. I can understand that and the whole world, that the same is not really God's gift. But if he has mercy on me, who was born in sins and under the power of the devil, and am a child of death and sins, and now become safe from death, sin and hell, this is how Christ deals with it, and thus the glorious, great promises were to be understood of the right good and inheritance, so Christ brings to all men; as if he should say: The Jewish land, the kingdom, the priesthood is my gift, but it is not the right inheritance, but is like giving an apple to a young boy, who is still childish, and he thinks it is a great and delicious thing, and loves it. But what does the father think? Well, that is child's play, because the inheritance I want to leave the boy is much better. So the true Father, God Almighty, does not intend to give us only a pear, an apple, or a pipe, or even the city of Jerusalem, which we must leave behind us when we die, and yet our hearts desire it, which we do not understand to be such fools. But we should say: Oh, that we did not have to die! For if I were safe from sin, death, the devil, and hell, I would give up the Turkish empire for it.
I would be content with only having the good bread to eat, if I only had to be sure that death and the devil could not harm me. For then also the stones would have to become bread and food for me, and no evil could happen to me, and if I am assured of life, then I would also think that I must and should have to eat, and also stones should become bread.
Now no man is so crude nor wild that he should not even think how he might be saved from death. But who could give him such goods, God's promise speaks of.
Now therefore we shall not dream nor think of the future of Christ, as the Jews do, that he should build a beautiful city and temple. For this is the little child's womb, which I will cast into the fire, and will give you the desire of your heart; as it is written in the fourth chapter of Haggai, "I will stir up all nations, and then shall come the desire of all the Gentiles"; that is, for whom all the Gentiles hope and wait. What do they hope for? Silver, gold etc. Yes, he who does not know better desires the same; but others have a different hope and desire than that they may live long, and that they may not only keep this temporal life, but also that they may never die. You will find many more of them who would throw away all their money and possessions if they knew that neither pestilence, nor the French, nor the sword would strangle them; and this is the right desire that 1) all men have in their hearts, says Haggaeus. All prophecies of Christ should be drawn from here, as that they teach and give salvation from the power of the devil and redemption from sin.
But the Jews have shamefully corrupted this text Haggaei, that the desire of the Gentiles is called by them to long for gold and silver, that all the Gentiles would give gold and silver, and when the Messiah would come, that the Gentiles would bring much money to Jerusalem. But this is not the desire of the Gentiles. Because about this desire,
1) Erlanger: those.
that they like to have gold and silver, they would also like to have eternal bliss. They collect money and goods so that they may live long and well, because otherwise, if pestilence reigns, a man can save his life by giving away all that he has.
Why then do the Jews understand it only of the things which God gives, as of bodily goods, when they are the least and the smallest? Because all Gentiles also have the desire that they like to live. But the Lord Christ wants to say: Do not long for the temple, there is something much different and better. For God is great, gives also great gifts, promises great things. Therefore, lift up your reason and go a little higher and see what is your heart's desire. Now God sends the Messiah to fulfill this desire of yours, so that when you say, "Ah, he who is sure of this life, so that he will never die," God says, "Do you not hear? this is what Christ is to bring you. We should also accept him, for this is the reason, as Zechariah the prophet says in the 9th chapter, "Behold, your King is coming to you." Why? That [thou] mayest be rid of sins, and live, and be a lord of death, and say unto death, as it is written, 1 Cor. 15:55, "Death, where is thy sting? Hell, where is thy victory?" 6) Now therefore it is 5) necessary to accept the king. If the Jews had accepted him, 7) their worldly regiment would not have been destroyed.
But these are the real and right works of his majesty, which no angel can imitate, namely to take away death and to give eternal life. Gold and silver are also God's creatures, but princes, kings and lords can also give them. But to take away death, and to raise the dead, and to give life, that shall Christ alone work.
2) Erlanger: his.
3) Erlanger: bodlichern.
4) Erlanger: höhers.
5) Original: leits.
6) "Victory" set by us instead of: "Sting" in the Erlanger.
7) "would have been" put by us instead of "was" in the Erlanger.
Therefore remove from your sight this building of the temple, and do not think that I am a king who gives precious bags and spoils and such foolish things, but open your eyes, open your heart, I will tell you something else: After my death there will be great wars, and many mobs and heresies will arise, so that it will be seen as if I had never come. Now look at the histories, and you will see what peace there was in the church, for there the Christians were miserably 1) strangled. Then see what peace there has been in the doctrine, for there have never been more sects and divisions than after the Lord's coming, as we see that it is still the same today. For under the papacy there was good peace, now it is all full of sects and cults. Where then is the peace, since Christ does not want to bring such peace as you think, but in the morning 2) one city shall accept the gospel, the other shall spit on it?
The Lord Christ also says to his disciples, John in the 14th chapter [v. 27]: "I give you my peace. I do not give you a peace that the world gives," but you will have strife on your neck, for in the world you will have strife. But a Christian is not frightened by the fact that the princes in the world are mad and foolish, and the Christians are strangled. 3) The martyrs went free. Why? He said to them, "My peace I give unto you," which is the righteousness of the Lord Christ, and the devil cannot accuse the same. For though you have sins, they are remitted and forgiven you (says God) for the sake of my dear Son. Item, why do you fear the devil and death? If you believe in the Son of God, death will not harm you, even if you are burned to powder and ashes. The Messiah shall do and accomplish all this. Therefore send yourselves rightly
1) "miserable" put by us instead of "internal" in the Erlanger. Already Höck has conjicirt our reading as the correct one.
2) Maybe: anything?
3) "be" put by us instead of "be" in the Erlanger.
with the temple and worship. For it is the apple and the pear and the children's porridge. But I will give you many greater things 4) than this, that ye may be blessed in body and soul for ever: whereunto then ye cry and desire. If anyone then should have this thought, that in the gospel there should be unity in doctrine and otherwise peace, beware of the contradiction, for there will remain noise and strife, and division in doctrine, and the Father will be stirred up against the Son. But nevertheless under this strife in the world there shall be everlasting peace, that the doctrine of the gospel shall devour the everlasting wrath and strife of God.
He will now further interpret and explain how, according to his future, there shall be strife, unrest and discord in the teaching, and yet there shall also be eternal peace.
The other sermon on the 24th chapter of Matthew. [Delivered on October 26, 1539, as the 21st Sunday after Trinity. 6)
In the next sermon we heard how the disciples asked the Lord when these things would happen and when the end of the world would come. He answered them thus: that they should beware, for there would come false prophets and great wars. This is what the Lord says against the Jews and all the apostles' thoughts, who knew no other way, because when the Messiah came, all seduction, murder and war would cease. But well! 7) cease! He says here: When the gospel shall be preached, and the kingdom of God shall come, then shall 8) it come to pass, and this shall be because the devil is a god of this world, and shall then stir himself up, and do his two works, lying and murdering, and with one he shall destroy the soul, and with the other he shall destroy the body.
4) Erlanger: great.
5) Erlanger: Someone's.
6) This date is most likely according to what Luther says of the plague in this sermon, compared to what we have quoted from Luther's letters in the note towards the end of this sermon.
7) "But probably" stands here for: "ja wohl!" in an ironic sense.
8) Erlanger: worthy.
kill the body. Therefore he says: You must take care that 1) these two things do not stop, for it has been like this from the beginning and will probably remain until 2) the end; then I will kick him on the head with the gospel. Therefore he will again commit lies and murder.
This he answered to their question, saying: "If you ask about my future, know that before it will come the two works and offices of the devil, namely lying and murder, and after that pestilence, evil times, earthquakes, and then the end will follow. Therefore do not trust that there will be peace in my kingdom; the devil will destroy the peace with heresy, mobs, pestilence and all kinds of diseases. These things therefore saith he unto them, that he may warn them, lest they be afraid and despondent, when they shall know and see such works of the devil; item, lest they think that in the time of the gospel all lies and warfare shall cease, for nothing shall come of it. Say: Do not take this for granted, do not be angry about it, do not be frightened by it, because the day has not yet come that will end it. The first 3) future of Christ is through the preaching of the Gospel and the Sacraments, by which the devil is trampled to the ground. Therefore, where the gospel is concerned, the devil is there with his lies. For the devil is not yet cast into the abyss, but still reigns in the world. Therefore his two works, as lies and murder, will be seen. But do not be afraid of it, and remain in my work, that is, in the truth, which is my work alone, against the devil's lies. Item, keep my peace against the devil's murder, for I have come to break the works of the devil, but he [will] again bite me on the heel and [seek to] 4) abolish my truth with lies. For I have redeemed my Christians with the truth, so he would gladly deceive them and strangle them. But I have to oppose the truth against
1) "deß" put by us instead of: that.
2) Erlanger: bins.
3) Here we have erased the words: "days of".
4) The words in the square brackets are added by us.
defend the lies, and preserve life against murder.
When the Lord had preached these things in general, he began to prophesy of the destruction of Jerusalem, and also of the end of the world, and said what signs would precede it, and said that he had set his kingdom in the midst of his enemies, and quarreled with the rulers and tyrants, as was done in the days of Christ and the apostles. For the devil does not celebrate. Therefore we must be accustomed to it and not respect the cry that one says: "Oh, under the papacy there was good peace, there was also unity in doctrine; which is a lie, because there was great division in doctrine. Now learn here that there can be no unity in doctrine, for the devil has not yet been cast into hell; he still reigns among the children of unbelief. For after the Sacramentans and the Anabaptists, against whom we have also set ourselves, there will arise other sects, and nevertheless (praise God!) the Anabaptists and Sacramentans are almost subdued, they are only still wriggling a little. Therefore it is true for us, it is also said to us, that when the last day comes, there will be such a turmoil and division, discord and death in the world, that people will fear that they will lose Christ and the gospel altogether. Nevertheless Christ shall remain and his word shall be preserved.
Now he speaks further:
V. 4. Take care that no one deceives you.
This is the common sign, that every man may look to himself, and be sure of his faith, and be well armed and prepared; saith:
V. 5. False prophets will come.
This does not mean peace or unity in doctrine proclaimed, but the opposite. For there will be many mobs, and such enthusiasts will not be the fewest, but will have many of them, and will deceive many. Because you
5) "that when he comes" put by us instead of: "that he then comes".
If you are called to war and to fight against sects and tyrants, do not be afraid of the trouble. The Holy Spirit says that the holy Christian church is holy, and has in it love, humility and other virtues. But in the world there is antagonism, and the papists themselves are not one among themselves; but that we are to create mobs, they lie to us. Whoever wants to be annoyed by this is lost. Against such vexations defend thyself, and be strengthened by that from which they are offended, saying, If the doctrine of the divine word were not right, the devil would not so persecute them. He would be silent and would not defile and blaspheme them so. But because he is so hostile to the Doctrine and Sacrament, it is an indication that they are God's Word and Sacrament. Believe this, not to please us, but read it from this book. So shall my church be unto the end of the world, not that it should ever be at peace, or that there should be love, which there should be if we were all Christians, as he says afterwards, that love shall wax cold in many.
This is a great consolation against the false teachings, that against the divine word 1) all the mobs lay down, as the pope does not lay down anything in particular against the Anabaptists, but he wants us dead. He does not ask anything about the Turk, the Jew or the red spirit, as there are the Sacramentans and the Anabaptists, but it is about us, and Christ must be a goal or a sign, which is contradicted, as it is written in the other chapter of Luke; and yet it is also a delicious sign. So the Church of God was also simple from the beginning, and yet in great noise, because it had a bad and simple doctrine; and yet so all stand on us, and if the pope had only suppressed us, o he respected the Anabaptists nothing at all. So the Sacramentarians would be nothing at all in their eyes, even though they are a group and are ambivalent among themselves. Nevertheless, all their raving and raging against us is nonsensical. That is to dwell, as the Psalm says, in the midst of
1) "itself" added by Höck.
your enemies. The crowd, if God's word is true, must endure; the others, as the mobs, you can suffer.
The church is not seen according to outward peace, but according to the word and the sacraments. For where thou seest a company that hath the gospel and the sacraments, there is the church, if the pulpit and baptismal font alone be pure; and the church standeth not in the holiness of any [person, but in the holiness and righteousness of the Lord Christ alone, for he hath sanctified it by word and sacrament. Therefore the Lord Christ admonishes the disciples that they should not be provided with some peace and unity, but with contradiction, as only disunity and discord, and that they should give us three things to suffer, saying, "Many will come. It is hard that many will come, and they will do great harm. If only there were few of them, only one spirit, and they were let go, and not to be feared so much as those that deceive one or two: but to carry away and deceive a whole land, that is terrible. But more terrifying still is that he says, "They shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ." He does not mean that they will say, "I, who stand here and preach, am Christ. This is what the devil has done, that he has let himself be seen in a secret form, and has persuaded and deceived many, as the devil did, who also tempted S. Martinum; and would have been almost misled, if he had not been admonished by the Holy Spirit; and this he often does, that he appears as if he were Christ. But he speaks of the preachers who hold the office, not secretly, but publicly, as, What they preach, that must I have preached; saying, Ye hear me not, but hear Christ. For thus also the Anabaptists say, Christ forbade that infants should be baptized; which then must mean Christ's word and truth. For they come not in a wolf's skin, but in sheep's clothing. So Arius took the text in the Gospel for himself, where it is said:
2) Erlanger: "They do not mean that which we say." That it must be read as we have set it, proves the contrast: "But he speaks of" etc.
"The Father is greater than I," denying the deity of Christ, that he was not of equal divine being and omnipotence with the Father, and saying, "This Christ himself saith, that he is not God, for he is not so great as the Father.
So all sectaries have some saying for themselves, as if they were sent with their teachings by God Himself. The Sacramentarians say: "The flesh is of no use", item, "my words are spirit". Then the sacramentarians are quick to speak: Then you yourselves hear that Christ says that in the sacrament the body and blood of Christ are not.
Whoever cannot defend himself and say that he is talking about the Jewish faith and understanding, that whoever wants to understand and believe must have the Holy Spirit, will soon be deceived, because the devil and the heretics always boast that they bring truth. Therefore, each one should take care that he learns his catechism properly and well, and breaks away from the heresy. For they also falsely use the saying, "The flesh is of no use. For they put the flesh of the Jews on the flesh of the Lord Christ, when Christ does not speak here of his body, but says, "The bread of heaven, which gives life to the world. But after this he saith, Whoso eateth my flesh shall not die.
There the Jews are false and wicked, and do not understand his words. For Christ does not say, "My flesh is of no use," but, "The flesh is of no use," for the flesh of Adam and the flesh of Christ are far apart. The flesh of the Lord Christ is conceived of the Holy Ghost; the other flesh has the title, "In the day that thou eatest of the forbidden tree thou shalt surely die." Now this is the flesh of death and received from the devil.
Item: Wars.
Size wars will not be the end of the last day. So it must be, do not fret about it, there will be wars from time to time, also great times and pestilence will come. But all this has been said, so that
1) Erlanger: "my". Höck already considered this to be a spelling mistake.
The disciples should not be offended by this, and one reads in the histories what terrible wars, pestilences and earthquakes followed after the death of the Lord Christ in the first church of the New Testament: yet it has not yet been the end. The plagues remain more in one time than in another, in one place more than in another, and the devil does not celebrate, nor does he stop, because he is a liar and a murderer, who causes real wars, pestilences and all kinds of misery.
In the German land, our Lord God has given a gracious peace, now almost twenty years ago; but the pope and his hordes wanted to have peace. These are now made wars. But this is a more necessary war than when the Turk persecutes the Christians. Our nobles did not; this year in Lent our nobles also wanted to start a racket, but that was a made war. We do not do anything to them, but still suffer from them and also still pray for them; but they will tempt and mock our Lord God so long with the war they have made that he will give them enough wars. For it is said that our Lord God is tempted, and it shall come to pass one day that he shall cast out the bottom of the barrel. For every year they confer with one another on how they may lead Germany into a bloodbath. But made war is also a plague. But he does not speak of it here. Item, it is a made up trouble, and a necessary and precious time. The first one reigns now, when the nobles and peasants increase everything. This year the grain has turned out well, as not many people think, and they could well give the grain a bushel cheaply, so that they would be grateful to God for this blessing. But without any need, just for the sake of avarice, the grain is increased, and the farmer now makes three pennies out of one penny, and three sacks out of one sack. But who is it all about? About the poor craftsmen, who then also increase their goods and labor. But I and my equals have to stay with the salary, cannot increase it, and now the world, the peasants and noblemen are vain thieves. For a while I had two hundred guilders to my salary, but now
had no house and castle of his own, had to take handouts from others, and rode in on Palm Day on an elephant etc.
19. the Jews did not want to have such a man and Messiah, who walked and rode along so poorly and simple, and had nothing of his own; but they wanted to have such a man, who would come with great splendor, horsemen and cuirasses, that everything would clatter and crash before him and behind him, and who would exterminate the Gentiles etc. But God did not promise them such a man and prophet; neither did Moses paint and describe him in such a way that Messiah should be a worldly king and lord, but a preacher and teacher like him. Such a worldly Messiah the Jews would gladly have even at this hour, who would come with many thousands of men: yes, they have waited for such a one, who would subdue, drive out and exterminate the Gentiles [and] Turks, now to the fifteen hundred years; but in vain, and will wait and hope in vain, nothing will come of it 1). The promised Messiah has long since come, and has fulfilled his ministry, for which the Father sent him into this world. Blessed is he that believeth on him, and shall live for ever: but cursed and damned for ever is he that believeth not on him, as Jews, as Turks etc.
Thus Moses describes the prophet and Messiah. This is also the case that 2) Christ here speaks of his divinity, and yet is a true man. For the giving and giving of eternal life does not belong to any creature, but to God alone. For even if all the angels in heaven were to work together to give me and preserve this transitory life for a few hours, they could not and would not be able to do so; much less would they be able to give and bestow eternal life. But Christ says (Joh. 6, 40.): I can give eternal life to all those who believe in me.
(21) Since Christ does this, it is certain and follows that he is true God and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary. For the Scriptures attribute to Christ true divinity and humanity.
1) Original: not.
2) Erlanger: the.
Christ says Joh. 14, 6: "I am the way, the truth and the life". Item soon before the text (v. 1.): "If ye believe in God, believe also in Me," that is, if ye believe that My Father can give you eternal life, believe that I also can give you eternal life; for I and the Father are One God. What therefore the Father does, that can I also do; and as the Father raiseth up the dead, and maketh them alive; even so also I, being the Son of God, maketh alive whom I will etc. (Joh. 5, 21.) So John has depicted Christ in all lines, that he is true man and God etc. And whoever finds this in the Scriptures, the Scriptures are rightly opened to him.
22 Christ says to the Pharisees and Jews, "I am the same prophet and teacher Moses wrote about and preached about, who is to preach to the people after him. Now I do not preach alone like Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and other prophets and teachers; as you see and hear. I also do miraculous works, which Messiah should do when he comes, of which Isaiah proclaimed long ago Cap. 35, 6. I make the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear etc. Yes, I have power and authority over all these things, as the true God, so that I can give eternal life and blessedness to all those who hear me, accept my words and preaching and believe. How do you like that? No prophet anywhere has not been able to do this 3). They alone have diligently and faithfully performed their ministry, but with preaching. And even though much of their preaching and words were believed, they were not able to give them eternal life by themselves or by their own power, because they were not God, like Christ. Now when I want to read David, that is, the Psalter, as one that testifies of Christ, and look at it rightly, I find Christ in it.
23. but all the prophets, Moses, David, etc. taught thus, I am evil a preacher of Christ, to testify of him, and to teach that he shall come etc. But I cannot give eternal life to anyone; but Christ can,
3) Original: assets.
When he comes, he will do it. Therefore I will (they have all said and taught) give glory to Christ, and ascribe these things to his divine omnipotence and majesty, and fall under him, and take off the biretta, and give way to him; for he is the Master, we are the disciples; I will say and confess that he alone is the Savior and Beatific of the whole world, who can and will give eternal life to all those who believe in him etc. This has been the testimony and confession of Christ by all the prophets, Moses, David, and Jesus etc.
24 The villages of Mahomet, or the Turk, testify and believe otherwise of Christ, saying, "The Christians believe in Christ crucified, and hold that he is the one who gives eternal life to those who believe in him; but I do not believe and hold this. And yet the Turk comes so far and so far that he confesses that Christ is a prophet, that he has a virgin for a mother; item, that he has done many miraculous works, and that he has preached etc. But he cannot and will not believe that Christ, the Son of Mary, who performed many miracles and wonders, made the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers clean, and raised the dead, and preached, is a true, natural God, and can give eternal life to all those who believe in him. Why does the Turk not believe all this about Christ? Because he has read in the New Testament how Christ was such a poor man before the world, who had not so much as to lay down his head. He was so poor that he could not lay down his head. He had to feed and receive himself from the help of devout Christians because he was in the preaching ministry. Item, who was so poor that he was not able to give half a florin 1) for the interest etc., Matth. 17, 27. And because Christ was such a poor beggar, he does not want to believe that the poor beggar, Christ, is true God and can give eternal life, because he is too poor and powerless for that. etc.
(25) Just as the Turk believes, so does the pope with all his multitude. The pope, bishops, cardinals, papal kings, princes and lords etc., know very well that
1) In the original: Floren.
our doctrine, which we preach by the grace of God, is right, the truth and the gospel. But because it has not been preached by high people, such as the pope, cardinals or other high men, they do not want to accept and believe it. And so the pope, like the Turk, does not want to let Christ be true God and eternal life; but the works, as pilgrimages, praying rosaries; item, letting oneself be buried in a gray cap, and other imaginary works more, shall be the reconciliation against God and eternal life etc. Leads us into purgatory; not that we shall be saved, but that he only buys much money out of it. Against the faith of the Turk, the Pabst, and all the Papists, Christ our Lord says in the text, "Search the Scriptures and study them diligently, and you will find in them that I, I alone, am eternal life; and not the works of the law, nor the chosen works of the Pabst, the rat king, and the duck Christian of Rome. It is faith in me alone that gives eternal life. But works shall follow those who have obtained eternal life through faith, and so shall adorn and decorate the life with good works.
For we Christians already have eternal life, because we have the Lord, who is and gives eternal life. For as soon as I am baptized, eternal life is promised and given to me in baptism; for Christ says in Marci 16:16, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and shall have eternal life; lacking only that eternal life should yet be manifested, which shall be at the last day. This is a great thing.
27 Therefore, saith Christ, in the scripture is life eternal. You Pharisees and scribes will not go there; you will not come to me that you might have eternal life. If you would come to me, you would have eternal life. But because you do not come to me, you also have to do without eternal life; that is terrible. So we learn and hear from the words of Christ that whoever comes to Christ, that is, believes in him, shall have eternal life. Whoever then would like to be blessed, let him come to Christ, and
that the Christians alone would possess the earth, and then should not be ungodly; and has caused them to think that the ungodly are so blessed in the world, having kingdoms, the worldly sword, wisdom, and power, but the Christians are nothing respected against them. Then they thought, "The wicked will all be cut off, so that the pious may live in silence," and they pretended that Isaiah also said, "There will be no sword," etc. Item in the Psalm [85, 11. ff.]: "In his time shall righteousness flourish and peace, and there shall be great peace". Item, Isaiah saith [Cap. 9, 7.], "There shall be no end of peace." These sayings have forced them here that Christ's kingdom would be a worldly peace and quiet being, and have been some of them that have set the peace for a thousand years.
In our time, Muenzer was also of the opinion that all the ungodly should be exterminated and wanted to establish such a peaceful kingdom, and the Anabaptists still insist that they want to exterminate all the ungodly and have such a Christian church that lives in peace and unity. We have seen and experienced such mobs, and there will be more of them. Therefore, Christians must be taught from these and similar texts. For Christ does not say, "There will be peace;" but there will be pestilence, evil times, earthquakes, and they will also attack you. Therefore this text of the Gospel should be well remembered, namely, that it will not be a worldly kingdom, as the Turks and Jews still hope today that it will be a physical kingdom. But Christ says: It will not be peace, but strife and sword. Therefore, where the gospel is, beware of all plagues; so also the devil will attack you with mobs and false lies.
So this text serves against the evil spirits, who have been and still are, and will come even more, and pretend that they must exterminate all the ungodly and establish a peaceful kingdom; and the Jews, Valentinians, minters and Anabaptists have been shamefully lacking here, who wanted to establish a peaceful kingdom.
But there shall be judgment upon you, and ye shall be confuted: and ye shall not have rest or peace from the devil, but shall be attacked with tongues and with the sword; and it shall be unto the end of the world. And saith further:
V. 8: Then first of all the trouble will arise.
So it shall be. This is not a peaceful kingdom set up, where we are hated and delivered to death, not by one people, but by all, as far as the devil is a master. This shall be your kingdom of peace, that they shall take you captive, and cast you into prison, and kill you. The Lord Christ also prophesied this before in another place [Matt. 10:17], and here he repeats it, when they hope that his kingdom will be near, saying, "The devil will deceive people with lies, and will inflict all plagues with the sword, imprisonment and death.
V. 11. And many false prophets will arise.
So all this goes, how one sees it, who reads there the legends of the Märterer. In the time of S. In St. Augustine's time, many fell away, and it happened that one brother despised another and one friend despised another friend, children despised father and mother for the sake of the holy gospel, yes, one sister despised another sister, children sacrificed their father to the flesh bank, as it still happens daily and will happen much more at the end of the world; For there are many of them who, for the sake of the confession of the gospel, leave their goods and stand in great danger, that there will be many more of them, who will be glad that the pious have been driven into misery, and they will take their goods. What would happen if persecution began here? For you are fleeing from a gland 1) What would become if some war came? if we had to endure the danger that our sovereign must bear? Where would we stay if the emperor were to take us by force?
1) Gland - ulcer. This is what Luther calls the plague that brings ulcers. Cf. Col. 1287, note.
would overdraw? Aweh, how should we stand, yes, betray each other? In Duke Georgen's country they were' glad when the pious hearts were chased into misery; 1) what would it be if a real power came over us? If the Elector of Saxony or another descendant were to forbid the gospel, with such a plague that he would be expelled from the country: how many do you think would stand by the gospel? We are Christians, that God may have mercy; otherwise we are good for scratching and scratching.
But that we are safe and free from this danger, no one recognizes, no one thanks God for it. Yes, we have so much to do with avarice. The peasants and noblemen, if they do not now publicly do one thing to the external mischievousness, they do it secretly, and if it were here, as [it was] 2) in Duke George's principality or in the bishop of Mainz's land, we would do exactly what was done then.
But he says, "There will be evil in the world; there will be mobs and great sorrow of heart, and it will befall you; you will feel it more than other people; therefore be prepared. Before the last day it will not be different, because war, mobs and pestilence will arise, it must be so. He who knows this can defend himself from the vile mobs who want a peaceful church, where everything is quiet and peaceful; as the Anabaptists dreamed, who wanted to kill all the wicked and make the robbers and thieves pious, and they themselves became murderers and robbers, when they should have said: If we should tolerate murderers and robbers, it is enough that we should suffer others who are like them, rather than that we ourselves should become such fellows. But it doesn't help, so it happened to them in the same way. And it is to be noted here that the Lord does not speak of private murderers, as there are tramps and liars, but of those who are in public office, whom the Lord means especially. He means
1) Erlanger: hunted.
2) "it was" inserted by us. because Duke George had already died on April 17, 1539, and Duke Henry had already introduced the Reformation in the Duchy of Saxony.
of emperors, kings, princes and lords, nobles, burghers, peasants, judges, who wield the sword in their fist, fully commanded by God and in a proper way, and can boast of it. They will do it, as the other Psalm also says: "Why do the nations rage and the peoples speak in vain? The kings of the land rebel, and the princes contend with one another against Christ and his anointed" etc. They are in the right and proper office and profession; they should be so pious and thankful, and to the praise and honor of our Lord God, they should put Christ and his to death. And do not speak here especially of the secret liars who creep into the houses, but mean those who sit in the right public office, commanded by God, as kings, princes, nations, lords, who shall do it. Those who are in the proper regiment, as emperors and kings, are to be God's enemies. So also in the ecclesiastical regiment bishops, preachers, pastors, who have God's commandment that they should preach, and can boast that they are preachers, and that everyone should be obedient to them, they shall also be God's enemies; just as a secular ruler can boast and say: I am a prince, ordained of God, you must be obedient to me, for all authority is of God and God's order, and one must be obedient to it. They then go on, forbid both forms of the Lord's Supper and want everyone to keep it that way, because one must be obedient to the authorities. But they do not learn that the worldly authorities are often also God's enemy, and are seldom godly and pious, but often godless and wild animals 3) in heaven. Otherwise, if the princes and secular rulers of their office properly maintain, use and act accordingly, and remain in their power, then one should be obedient to them, because obedience is commanded to them by God.
So also in Acts chapter 5 the apostles were commanded to be silent and not to preach any more about Christ, since they were commanded by Christ to preach the gospel to all nations. What command were the apostles to give? Which
3) Erlanger: Wilpert.
was fair? Then S. Peter stood up and said: "Mary must be more obedient to God than to men"; as if he should say: "Well, dear prince, dear worldly authority, I am obliged to be obedient to you so far that you are not above your overlord, that is, against God, who otherwise bequeaths to me what you call me to do. Therefore I will be obedient to you in the circle where your authority extends, and you shall not encroach on God's authority. For this reason there are few of them of the temporal authorities who do not oppose God and abuse their power.
The Lord speaks of them especially here, because their territory remains here on earth in his circle. No other ruler suffers another to take a tree from him in his own land, or for a magistrate to encroach on another's territory. But except here, when we should all be obedient to God, we say: No, we want to be God ourselves, and what you have forbidden, we want to have done in short, and the like etc.
For this reason Christ admonishes us not to be offended by it, for he does not mean the highwaymen alone, but those who sit in office. They will kill you and put you to death. We, I and your pastor, know that we have a preaching ministry, commanded by God, and know that we must answer for our preaching. But here the Lord says: Those who have the office of preaching will become the stuff of the devil. You see this now in all our bishops and canons. They sit in the right regiment and in the chair of the apostles, none preach, none baptize, none wait for them in the church; they also want no one to believe the Holy Scriptures, but only believe everything they pretend and say.
This is a warning that belongs to the end of the world, that there will be murder by the best and greatest men on earth, and error and seduction by the holiest and most learned. What then shall I do here, when I shall live under such spiritual and worldly tyrants? You shall
1) Witness - tools.
2) Erlanger: bins.
will not be obedient. For the world will not deceive and kill itself, but will be hostile to you for my name's sake. And if the nobles, burghers and peasants had a little breath, you would not find many of them of the rulers and burghers who are favorable to the gospel. Therefore let us be well prepared, not to wait for a kingdom on earth, but to hope for the spiritual kingdom in heaven.
V. 12. Love will grow cold.
Yes of course.
V. 13: But he who perseveres to the end 3) will be saved.
As if he should say: There will nevertheless be some who will lead and carry out their church office and worldly rule rightly, and also some pious Christians will remain. The rest of the people will go away. 4)
Now he concludes the preface and then returns to the question of when the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world are to take place; and he has set the preface beforehand as to how things are to be in the world, namely, that before the last day comes, the regiment of the church and the Christian faith must run over the whole world, as otherwise the Lord Christ in the previous chapter one [Cap. 10, 22. f.] 6) that there shall not be one city, but the gospel shall be preached in it, and that the gospel shall go throughout the whole world, that they all may have witness in their conscience, whether they believe or believe not. The gospel has been in Egypt, there it has gone; item, in Greece, in Italy, in Hispania, France and in other countries. Now it is in German land, who knows how long. It is now the course of the Gospel with us, but our ingratitude and contempt of divine word, avarice and splendor makes that it will not remain long, and will be followed by many mobs, even great wars.
3) Erlanger: "End of the world will" and so on.
4) Erlanger: gehets.
5) Erlanger: resolved.
6) Erlanger: "in the previous chapter one."
come afterwards. For in Africa the gospel was very powerful, but the liars spoiled it first, then the devils, 1) the wars. So it also happened in Egypt, first the mobs came, but after that wars, because the devil first brings lies, and after that [murder]. The same will happen to the German country. The pious preachers will be taken away at first, and false prophets, fanatics, and the spirits of the mob will appear in my place and in the place of other preachers, and they will tear and divide the church. Then also wars will strike, that princes will wage war among themselves, even the Turk will now learn mores, 2) until the world has run out. Then the last day will come. Saint Paul to the Romans in the eleventh [v. 11. f. 25.] says it also, that the gospel must be preached throughout the whole world, that all the Gentiles may know it, that the fullness of the Gentiles also is come into heaven.
And he does Christ as a thresher. First he beats the ears with a flail, then he throws the chaff into a heap and gives it to the sows to eat. So did John Baptist, the apostles and all Christian preachers, they are all threshers, for the gospel gathers many to the kingdom of God, to the barn of the kingdom of heaven. 3) When they have done this, there is nothing left but chaff. After that, the sects, which are the real sows, come and devour the chaff, the ungrateful, godless people, and do not doubt that God will have already gathered his grains.
This is the preface to the two questions, so that we do not think that we will have a peaceful kingdom in this world, but that it will be full of spiritual and physical tribulation until the end of the world. Now he will answer both questions.
End of this sermon.
1) The Vandals are meant here. Cf. Walch, old edition, vol. VI, 382.
2) It seems that: "itz raorsg learn" should be read: "they rnorss teach."
3) Erlanger: Wohe.
The fourth sermon on the 24th chapter of Matthew.
On the third and twentieth Sunday after Trinity [November 9, 1539]. 4)
We have heard how the Lord answered his disciples to the first question about the destruction of Jerusalem, and gave a long preface and sermon beforehand, that they should not think that his kingdom was a worldly kingdom here on earth, but they would truly realize and feel that the devil would follow him at his heels with raging, murder and lies, as enough has been said about it before. Therefore they should think that now suffering and death must apply, as the histories testify; and we see it now before our eyes, and our descendants will feel it even better, that not only among the heathen there will be turmoil, discord, disunity, but also among Christian princes. Before this we fell among the mobs, and were also in distress of war; therefore think not that ye shall have peace and quiet from the mobs and murderers, and then suffer yourselves.
Now to the first question he answers, when Jerusalem shall be destroyed, saying:
V. 15. When you will see the abomination of desolation,
and says that for the sake of the elect the days shall be shortened. Now the glorious city and the whole kingdom, also the priesthood, established by God, shall fall to ruins. But the words are somewhat obscure, and Matthew and Mark include the tribulation before the end of the world, and next to it, that Jerusalem should be destroyed, and sometimes also indicates the destruction of the world, so that he mixes and blends the two together; and it is also the way of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures that he speaks thus. For when Adam was created and [God] was yet to create Evam, the Scriptures say, "God took a rib and made a woman of it." There he uses the word "bale," when he could have said, "He created or made a woman.
out of it. There he uses the word "build" as carpenters build a house, and the Holy Spirit flies with the word from the same history and indicates something special, that with the word "build" not only Eve is described as Adam's bride, but that also at the same time the Christian church is indicated, which is also God's dwelling place and temple, which God has built and is still building until the end of the world, for this is the spiritual Eve, who was taken from the side of Christ. For when the side was opened, it was taken from his flesh and blood. Adam's rib was with flesh and blood: so we, the Christian Church, are also built from the side of the right Adam, Christ.
This is what the word meant in the beginning of the world. Thus the Holy Spirit often points out from the history that just as Eve was the true woman, made from the rib of man, so be the bride of the Lord Christ, the true Eve, the Christian church, which was also taken from Christ, just as Eve was born and built from Adam's flesh, for this is what it meant.
So Matthew also uses some words here, which shine on the last misfortune of the world, which was meant by the accident and destruction of Jerusalem. For the same will be the tribulation of the church, saying: "Unless the days were shortened, no man would be saved. This is what Matthew does. Now we will divide it from one another in its time.
Lucas describes clearly, and not with other words, because those actually belong to history. For after this preface Lucas speaks [Cap. 21, 20]:
When you see Jerusalem besieged.
Soon he reaches near, as if to say: Now the glorious temple stands, but it will become a desolation. When? When Jerusalem is besieged by the people of war, when we are dead, then know that this tribulation is present. For no one else shall besiege it but the people of war, who shall utterly destroy it, that no stone be left upon another, neither shall any stick stand upon another. And report more other signs that shall come to pass before
the destruction of Jerusalem, which are horrible and terrifying enough, of which we usually preach once a year. But this is a sure sign that the Romans are coming; and when the Jews had set themselves against the Romans, and would not give interest, and were always stirring up sedition, the emperor Vespasianus came with a great host, and took all the Jewish country, and afterward marched before Jerusalem; and Jerusalem was not then conquered and won only, as had been done before, but was utterly destroyed and pulled down, that it lieth in ashes unto this day.
The emperor Julian gave permission for Jerusalem to be rebuilt, but it could not be, for an angel came from heaven and destroyed the beams and the stone, so that they could not proceed with the construction. For the prophecy of Christ must remain true. Christ gives the sign here: When this happens, know that Jerusalem will be destroyed so that she will never be rebuilt. Therefore flee, and do not think to have peace.
V. 16. Let him who is in the land of the Jews flee to the mountains.
That is, remember out to the land. Toward the evening Jerusalem has had the great sea, toward the south Egypt, after midnight the Arabian mountains and Mount Lebanon. Flee out," he said, "for there will be no salvation. The Jews hoped that Jerusalem would resist the Romans and endure, or, if the city were destroyed, that it would be rebuilt. But Christ says here: It shall be left desolate, and shall never be rebuilt. Therefore do not stay in Jerusalem or any other place, for there will be no help or salvation.
V. 17: And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to fetch anything out of his house.
In the histories it is read that when the apostles and other Christians realized that the Romans were coming, they were mindful of this prophecy of the Lord Christ, and went from Jerusalem to Herod's territory.
And when the grain was threshed out, and only the chaff remained, as John the Baptist proclaimed, and the Christians with the apostles had all departed, leaving their houses and goods, our Lord God put out the chaff, and the Romans took Jerusalem, and burned the city and temple, so that not one stone remained upon another. Therefore let him that hath a house in the city bring forth his wife and children, and flee thence: for our Lord God will not spare the temple, nor Jerusalem.
Many have praised and loved this city, but the apostles have been hard pressed by Christ's words that the city should fall into ruins, and they will have truly wept over it, because it was their homeland. S. Paul lamented it miserably, and S. John the Evangelist would have been heartbroken by this destruction, because he lived at the same time and had to see and experience the destruction of this city.
God gave the Jews forty years to repent and preached to them. But the more they were preached to, the more they were hardened and hardened.
V. 19 But woe to the pregnant women at that time.
When misfortune comes, it is most often and commonly on the 1) heap, woman and children; and one reads in the Historia that a woman out of great hunger slaughtered her own child and roasted it, so that she wanted to eat from it, and when the people of war had come into the city, and found that so, they took the roasted child from the woman, as it otherwise happened in the siege and conquest of the city of Jerusalem so miserable and pitiful, that one may not like to read it; as Christ says:
V.21. And there will be such a tribulation as has not been since the beginning of the world, neither ever shall be.
It will be evil in the city and in the countryside of Judea; for it is such a
1) Erlanger: dem.
Slaughter and strangling have been that gruesome and frightening to hear. For there was in the city at the same time great time, pestilence, sword and wild beasts, and they wore themselves out among themselves, so that in histories nothing is read more dreadful than the destruction of Jerusalem. Now one plague would be heavy enough, nevertheless they had to carry all four plagues. For over the pestilence, dear time, and the sword of the enemy, they themselves caused a riot in the city, and were so mad and foolish that they strangled themselves among themselves: a great wrath of God has been upon the Jews, and they have been horribly punished, and are still going through such punishment, for they are scattered throughout the world. We do not yet turn to such miserable mirrors of the Jews, but rather we pose as if we would also like to see such a calamity one day. For we also kill [those who] fear God. So Matthew writes that such a tribulation will also come before the last day; namely, that the Turk and the Pope and all the godless princes will gather together and want to have us all dead, and also invade the time of war, and we ourselves will plague one another with avarice, as is now seen before our eyes, although it had not yet happened at that time. But it is a prophecy, how it will still go. The Jews were thus slain by the sword, and the rest were taken captive and scattered among all the nations; and they still sit in the world as on a rock, for today they are here, tomorrow elsewhere. They have no comfort here, that they should be brought home again from the Babylonian prison over seventy years. For there they also suffered great time, pestilence and the sword in Jerusalem, and the city was burned and destroyed. But God wanted to punish the king who caused such destruction again and repay him for this deed, and bring them, the Jews, back to the city of Jerusalem, and the glory of the temple would then be much greater than that of the first temple. Then the Jews could easily surrender to the prisons and endure and overcome the destruction, for they had God's word that Jerusalem and the temple would not be destroyed.
The temple was to be rebuilt. But here Christ says, "It will be destroyed immediately. If he said, "It will be one, two, three hundred or one thousand years," there is hope that it will come to an end and be better.
This we see in the Jews before us, a terrible example to us, that we may fear the wrath of God, and keep his word in honor. For they were his cousins and blood friends, yet so he cast them out and [dealt] so miserably with them. But as they feared nothing, and were obstinate and wicked, skin and hair was not good in them, so do we to-day. They hoped the city would be rebuilt, but Christ says, "No, not one stone shall be left upon another, nor shall their kingdom perish. This example is before our eyes, and that they also would be sure of the city, so he says of the place, and calls the city Jerusalem. Lucas sets this certain and true sign. He does not know that the Roman army will do this, or any other army, but he is sure that it will not be rebuilt. And it is not so, although the Jews cry day and night that it should be rebuilt; as they cry out that God, for His truth, for His mercy, for the sake of the Messiah, will help them to rebuild the city and the temple. But God does not hear them; they should have heard God when He sent prophets to them. Therefore, the prophecy that the city should be turned back is not in vain.
[Luc. 21, 24.] Until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled.
We have just heard from the evangelist Matthew that the gospel is to be preached among all the Gentiles for a testimony against them, that is, Jerusalem is to be desolate until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. When? At the last day. For the times of the Gentiles are now being fulfilled daily, and more are being gathered to the gospel daily until the end of the world; and before the last day the gospel will be preached.
The first day is not fulfilled. So also the hundred and thirteenth Psalm says: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool"; not that he ceases to do this and to make his enemies his footstool, because he does it for and for. So it is also written in the first chapter: "He did not recognize her until she gave birth to her firstborn son", that is, he let her remain a virgin and never recognized her.
Therefore they shall not think that Jerusalem shall be built again. Some think that the Jews should be converted to the Christian faith before the end of the world. Now this is possible; but that they should come again into the Jewish land and build the city, erect the temple and priesthood again, nothing will come of it, and we see it with our own eyes that this prophecy has been fulfilled in fifteen hundred years.
The text of Luca should be looked at, because it speaks much clearer and brighter than Matthew about the destruction of Jerusalem.
The Matthaeo states:
V. 15: When you shall see the abomination of desolation, of which Daniel says.
For he speaks twice of the destruction, as, in the 9th and 12th chapters, he speaks of the time of the emperor Adriani, when abomination was set in Jerusalem. But here he says that the end of Jerusalem will be when the abomination, that is, the idol, will stand in the holy place. For this people wanted to be holy before all the nations of the earth alone; therefore no vice was so abominable to them as idolatry, just as it is the truth when one worships an idol instead of the true God. Therefore an abomination is called an idol, an idolatry, an image that was set in the temple before it was destroyed. Therefore the Lord Christ says, "The time will come when an image will be placed in the temple, as happened in the time of Caligula, who had an image made and proclaimed that he was the true God, and had himself worshipped, and he was not worshipped.
1) Erlanger: will not.
He set such an image all around, burned incense to it and worshipped it, and sent its image to Jerusalem. Now this is the sign that an idol will stand in the temple, which Daniel calls the abomination of desolation, that is, it will be a sign that this city and temple will be destroyed. For when an idol is set there, it is an image of destruction, for such an image shall be a sign to the Christians, by which they shall know that desolation and destruction are now present. Therefore, when you see such an abomination standing in a holy place, in the temple, whoever reads it, let him take note 1) of it. With the words he shines up and indicates, if the abomination stands there, what desolation it will cause.
The apostles and the pious hearts do not understand that this city and temple should be destroyed. Some say that an angel warned the saints when the Roman army was coming that they should leave Jerusalem. Therefore the Lord will say, Remember then, now read, he that can read, Daniel speaketh of, and will truly mean this; and yet he shineth also into our destruction and desolation of the whole world, as the Turk now begineth.
V. 16. Whoever is then in the Jewish land.
Matthew says here just what S. Lucas reports. Otherwise Lucas says that the people of war will come; but Matthew says: At the time when the abomination of desolation will stand, whoever is in Judea, do not expect the Lord in Jerusalem. Matthew is not as clear as Lucas.
V. 17. On the roof.
It is the custom in these countries that they have built their roofs square, so that one can sit on them, eat and look around, and they have been smoothly closed at the top. Now he wants to say: Let no one take advantage of this, because it is not time to climb up and down on the roof, but here it is a matter of fleeing.
1) Erlanger: merket.
V. 18 And he that is in the field, let him burn in the city his house and his court, that which he hath therein; and let him not think that he will return to his house, and dwell therein again, or find his own also, when the people of war are departing. He will find neither stocking nor stick.
V. 20. See to it that your flight does not take place in winter, nor on a Sabbath.
For it was forbidden that they should not walk more than a thousand paces on the Sabbath. But these are obscure speeches and look at the spiritual interpretation. He wants nothing to hinder us from fleeing and not to think that Jerusalem should be built again. Therefore, the sooner you flee, the better.
V.21. For then there will be a great tribulation. 3) The time of the tribulation will come.
And it is true, one does not read such horrible things in all histories, as the Jews encountered, as we are used to preach about it on the 10th Sunday after Trinity. Such sorrow and heartache did not come upon the Gentiles, upon the people who sat at the fences, but upon the people who crucified the Lord of glory and strangled his disciples, because they would neither see nor hear.
This text does not only apply to Jerusalem, but also to the whole world, and it is possible that such misfortune will come upon us one day, if we kill the saints of God as they did, especially now the Turk is still doing.
V. 22. Where the days would not be shortened.
These words also refer to the last day more than to the destruction of Jerusalem. Nevertheless, he saved many Jews from this tribulation, just as many Jews are still being brought to Christ today. But especially apart from Jerusalem's destruction, the
2) Erlanger: not.
3) "large" is missing in the Erlanger, although the following execution requires it.
destruction to our and the world's final desolation, as the following text testifies when Christ speaks:
V. 23. If then someone will say to you: Behold, there is Christ etc.
For this the false prophets did not do, that they said they were Christ. Therefore he goes out into the final destruction, and he remains and worries more about the question when the world should be disturbed, than when Jerusalem should perish, of which we will hear on 1) the next Sunday.
The fifth sermon on the 24th chapter of Matthew.
On the 25th Sunday after Trinity [Nov. 23, 1539]. 2)
We have heard Christ's sermon about the destruction of Jerusalem, and the signs by which it should be noted, and he has given a long preface before that Christians do not think that the Lord Christ wanted to set up his kingdom in such a way that no disaster should be in it from now on, neither from error nor from war. Matthew and Marcus add that after the destruction of Jerusalem, these two desolations will also follow, and this is almost a spiritual interpretation of the destruction of Jerusalem, that as this city is desolate, so will the church be desolate before the end of the world.
Christ proclaimed that such calamities would come upon Jerusalem as had never been heard of before in the world. For there are all plagues together in one heap, pestilence, time of trouble, wild beasts, war, which are all the plagues of our Lord God. First of all, pestilence is the least plague, and yet a fatherly, gracious punishment, and makes pious people. The other plague is hunger, which is more horrible. The third plague is the sword, which destroys churches, secular government and households, and when the fourth plague strikes, wild animals become divided among themselves and devour each other. So it went with Jerusalem. The city was
1) Erlanger: from.
The Romans besieged, there was sword or war; then followed pestilence and famine; over all this misfortune they 3) still gathered together, and beat each other to death in the city, were three captains in the city and at odds with each other, and if the same [had not] 4) done, so soon the Romans would have done nothing with their force.
In Ezekiel [Cap. 14, 21. f.] God says: "When I will send my four punishments" etc.; and when they come from God at the same time, one cannot have it good on earth. But if only one rages, it is still to be suffered; but if they all four come at once, as happened at Jerusalem, it puts an end to it. The first punishment does not recognize flesh and blood, and is a spiritual plague, so carnal people do not understand. But the apostles and Christ will have sweated blood over it. For after the Roman siege other Romans will come, as, the Rotten, when they then come and say, "Behold, there is Christ" etc. If these words are written by two evangelists, Matthew and Mark, and if this especially concerns the church, which will have such false prophets before the last day, which is not to be called [Jerusalem's] on earth, but is to be interpreted to the revelation that will take place on earth at Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem was a glorious city, and Christ preached there, and the apostles themselves were sent out there, and the church only began there, and the Holy Spirit was given. Therefore it is an image and figure and living example and sign, that as it was when it perished, so shall it be with the church in these last days.
So now he says: Be careful, I warn you. If they say, Here is Christ, there is Christ, I forbid you, believe it not; and S. Lucas on the 17th chapter [v. 20. f.] shows the occasion and cause in this answer, for the Pharisees asked him, "When shall the kingdom of God come?" Then ant-
3) Erlanger: rotten.
4) "not" added by Höck.
5) "the Jerusalem" inserted by us. The sense seems to us to require such an insertion.
He says: "Not with outward ceremonies or gestures, nor will they say, Behold, here or there it is, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you"; just as he also says here [v. 23 f.]: "If they say, Behold, there is Christ, there he is, believe it not. Yours," I tell you beforehand, "false prophets and false Christs 1) shall arise, and shall shew great signs and wonders, to deceive into error, where it is possible, even the elect," who otherwise should be eternally saved. Further he says [v. 26.], "If they say to you that he is in the wilderness or in the closet, believe it not." For these false teachers 2) will remain until the last day, which will come like lightning; thus the false prophets will remain and deceive the people, until that same blessed day will soon dawn, when we will probably stand in the pulpit or lie in bed, and in a moment stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
So also says S. Paul, when the Thessalonians asked him whether the last day exists. For the apostles spoke of that day as surely as if it were not to remain outside of a man's life. But S. Peter says that there will be a thousand years; Daniel says that the last day will come under the Roman Empire; and S. Panlus 1 Tim. 4 speaks of a great apostasy that will come before the last day, since he says [vv. 1. ff.]: "The Spirit clearly says that 3) in the last days some will depart from the faith and follow the false spirits and doctrines of devils, through those who speak lies and are in a gleam, and have brands in their consciences and forbid before the last day: consciences and forbid to become married and to avoid the food created by God" etc. The Lord also means this apostasy here, first of all: the apostasy happens in the church, as many bishops have erred. They 4) have been resisted with the conciliarities and assemblies of the true church, until it finally came to the point that no bishop has preached any more, but still have probably
1) Erlanger: Christians.
2) Erlanger: Teaching.
3) Erlanger: and.
4) Erlanger: Den.
persecutes the poor church. This means pestilence, famine, sword, that the preaching chair and the regiment of the church should be strictly against the church. This is what St. Paul calls apostasy, which is what the monks called those who left the monastery: You lost monks. In German we call it the deniers of Christ, that there should be such apostasy or apostasy in Christendom, that the lost Christians should lead the reign, and the right Christians should lose it. For when the pope, the cardinals and bishops, even the pastors fall away, it is worse than in Jerusalem, where there were four plagues at once.
But it is not seen like that, because it is not so apparent, as it is otherwise so much more frightening and gruesome. Who can tell what kind of pestilence or what kind of wild beasts are the spirits of the mob? Only look at Pabst's regiment, whether he has not been a pestilence above all pestilence, a sword above all swords. There is no decree nor canonical sermon not in the Pabst's right, it is a pestilence, famine, or sword, or sedition. God has preserved the church wonderfully through pastors and schoolmasters who have baptized and absolved little children. But there was a great lack of understanding, and in the schools they learned responsoria, good and evil, from God and from the saints. In the meantime, they always continued with indulgences, masses, purgatory.
Therefore, this text should not be understood as a physical pestilence, and on that day we will see the damage, because I could not see it now for a moment and stay alive. 5) The devil, the sword, and the precious time should not frighten us so much, because it is about the maggot bag. We should not be so afraid of the pestilence, the sword and the precious time, because it is about the maggot sack, but we should think that it is the devil who does it and not God. Therefore, this tribulation is signified by those. The first one cannot be explained, it is so great. Who will cause it now? Not any emperor, but the false Christians. When did they start? As soon as the apostles were alive. There it wants to come out, and goes to-
5) Erlanger: them.
The kingdom of Antichrist is already strongly in the offing, but it is not yet in the offing. But if the devil takes the reign into his fists by force, as has happened in our time, then the last day must not be far away, because the text forces it violently. For the regiment of the church and of Christ is now ruled by the devil, and yet the church must remain as it has remained until now with the pastors and citizens who have read the Bible in their homes. Otherwise, the pope, the bishops and doctors have lived and taught contrary to this, as I myself have done. This has been our teaching, that if one were baptized, and after his baptism committed mortal sin, Christ would be of no use to him. But if you want to be blessed and become pious through repentance, start and become a monk, and torture yourself with fasting and prayer until you make God your friend again. I also entered the monastery.
Such is the doctrine and faith of the Pabst, the Turks, and the Jews, which utterly destroys faith in Christ and destroys trust in him. For thus it has been preached: You must do this; Christ is no longer only your Savior and Beatificator, but your wrathful Judge, before whom you must appear and give account of all your sin. Therefore, call on Mariam all, S. Annam or other saints, give alms, go on pilgrimages. Thus we have acted contrary to the faith, and yet we thought we were only acting rightly and well, as the Turks and Papists are also under this delusion: delusion, who do not understand our teachings. Even though we have heard and sung that Christ died, was buried and rose from the dead, we have understood nothing of it and thought nothing else, because he has only done enough for the first sins, and now he is no longer good for you. You have defiled the vesture 1) that is, to take away Christ's guilt offering altogether, and Daniel also says that if the Antichrist rises, he will rise above the prince of all princes, that is, above Christ. What then will the
1) Westerhemd" the white shirt put on for baptism. Cf. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. X, 2148; XI, 489; XII, 526.
Lord of lords do? To this the prophet answers: He will take away the juge sacrificium [Dan. 11, 31.] the (daily) guilt offering. For in those days it was customary to offer a lamb to God every evening and every morning, and to set it on fire; and the Jews' hearts were attached to the temple, and it was a sign to them that they should turn there and find God there, as we have God with us in baptism and in the ministry of preaching. He should take away the sign that God was there and present. For God also deals with us through outward signs, so that we may be sure that He is our gracious God, for He has given the Gospel, Baptism, the Sacrament of the Altar, and the power of the keys; where these things are, there truly is God. But the pope and the Turk have thrown all this away, and although there are Christians under the Turk, they have no rule there. The pope allows baptism to remain; this came about through God's miraculous providence. Otherwise, all his teachings have been strictly against baptism, absolution, forgiveness of sins and the teaching of the Gospel. For this reason, they have denied all these things and thought that if I did enough for my sin with my own works and called upon the saints, I would be saved. The error was so strong that he no longer wanted to accept baptism and the Lord's Supper. Such things still persist under the papacy to this day. They have come so far that the sayings in the Gospel were considered to be legal doctrine, and so they also had consilia. The laws were for the laity, as, thou shalt not commit adultery etc. After that they had other doctrines, which were counsels, as the monks' poverty, chastity and obedience in the monastery, and forcibly force the fifth chapter of Matthew to suggestions and counsels, which one is not obliged to keep; and the gospel was no longer promises, but only laws and counsels, which one is not allowed to keep because of necessity: And so the gospel has even been abolished, which God the Father gave us through His Son Christ, and promised us through Christ, that whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. This is so pure
The only thing that remained was baptism and the reading of the text of the Gospel. Otherwise, the benefit was not shown and taught, so that the people would have known what baptism or the gospel was for, and under the papacy, few were preserved and saved, except for the young children and boys. This is still the case in Turkey, where baptism, the bath of rebirth, counts for nothing.
So also S. Peter says [2. Ep. 2, 20.]: Teachers will come, [by] whom those who have barely escaped, that is, those who have escaped from the snares of the devil through baptism and the hearing of the gospel, 1) will again be seduced by the pope through his teaching. This is the plague and torture of which Christ says here that false Christs and false prophets will come.
But these are words unknown to us Germans. Messiah or Christ means in German an anointed one, because Chrisma means ointment, as we say then of bad boys: It is baptism and Chresem in him lost. From the ointment Christ is called an anointed one, and all kings were anointed with ointment. So also Christ is called, because he is anointed, not with the ointment, because other kings were anointed with it, but with the Holy Spirit. Ointment is with us also bad German, is a piece of the balsam or myrrh, the most delicious 2) oil, as one could call now in our time. As, if one made a delicious oil from balsam, myrrh and other good herbs, which, if one poured out a drop of it, smelled through the whole temple. With the same oil the kings were anointed; it should not be such a smear, but a neat thin oil, as we do not have now at this time. Therefore all kings were called Christ's, id est, anointed ones. But the Lord Christ hath brought another oil and balm, that he might be balmed, that is, baptized. For he that is baptized is anointed with the heavenly balsam, with the Holy Ghost; and we also are called Christ's by him, because by him we are filled with the precious balsam which is the Holy Ghost.
1) Here we have deleted "will" because it is too much. Shortly before "through" is inserted by us.
2) Erlanger: most delicious.
Holy Spirit with his glorious gifts. For we are not anointed in the body, as the kings of old were, but spiritually (so Christ was also anointed), 3) but came from heaven, from our Lord Christ, and is called the oil of gladness, because it makes glad, upright, gentle people.
Prophet is a teacher of God; so have their scholars called, and to the Tito at the 1st chapter St. Paul calls the preachers prophets, because it should be a learned man, who preaches God's word and announces future things. Among the Gentiles there were also prophets who prophesied of things to come, and if they got it right, it was good. Of the same prophesying they were called prophets, speaking of things to come; and whosoever taught good or evil of things to come was a prophet. So the Jews had many prophets who preached good and evil to them. So the Christians are also saints, prophets and scholars, exhorting the people to believe and to be saved. So now the Lord will say: New saints and scholars will come, and they will be false Christs and false prophets. For God has otherwise given true saints and teachers to His church, who teach and live righteously. But on the other hand the heartache will break in, that false Christs will take over the church government, and deceive the world with false teachings and annoying examples, life. For in the papacy and in Turkey, there is all false doctrine and evil living. For since the pope has put down the word of God and the faith, as since the word of God was a strange and unknown voice and doctrine to us, he has hung purgatory, mass, indulgences, pilgrimage and all new holiness, which stands in external things, on our necks; And the pope's Chresem was better and higher than baptism, and the priests were consecrated with the Chresem, because the right balsam and oil of the Holy Spirit was unknown to us, item, the consecrated water had the power to drive out the devils. Such
3) Erlanger: were.
False teaching has caused a hundred thousand pestilences and riots, though the world does not see it.
For this reason Christ says: "There will be false teachers and false Christs, and yet they will creep along under the guise that they alone do it and are it, and Christ is nothing, taking away the sacrament, baptism and absolution, and then asking: "Do you not repent and sorrow over your sin? If then they say: Yes; they say: Pray so many Our Fathers and do enough for your sin, and you will be saved. Then they did not think of the forgiveness of sins and of the Lord Christ in any word, but said, I forgive your sin. But how? As far as thou hast sufficed; and the keys were put in the pope's coat of arms, and the people were taught, 1) that if they had sufficed for sin, they would be saved. But when would this happen? Nevermore. And for this he took money and goods, and almost became a lord over the whole world. What a pity that was, no tongue can say. I have spent my whole life 2) in the papacy so badly; then I became a monk and crucified Christ. Thus all the saints have been deceived. But I believe that many of them were preserved and saved in their last hour of death, who said: What should I think much of my merit and good works? Christ died for me; and behold, where the monks with their doctrine have gone at last, they have allowed none to come to Christ.
Now the Lord gives them such a sign that they will say, "Behold, there is Christ, there is Christ," that is, they will bind them to the outward place and works. How could the Lord have pictured the papacy better? For thus they have said, Run to Compostel, or to Jerusalem, or to Saint James, or to Grimmethal, or to the oak tree; if thou wilt be saved, thou shalt become a Carthusian, and the other a barefooter. The
1) Erlanger: gelernet.
2) "whole life in the papacy," that is, as long as I lived in the papacy, all my life was bad. Höck means that "young" would like to be spoken for "whole". - The "darnach" is to be understood in the sense of: sodann, furthermore.
means: Behold, this is Christ, in the desert, or in the chamber, in the monastery. I have often read this text in the Pabst, and others too, but have not understood it 3). If someone had told me that the pope was the Antichrist, I would have thought that heaven would fall.
When you hear Christ say that they pretend, "Behold, there is Christ," then believe it not, saith he; stay at home in your profession. How then shall I resist? Hear the little children praying, as they defend themselves with your prayer, so do you also. I myself still learn daily at the Catechismo. Therefore say: What Carthaus? what Compostel? It is the wretched devil. Christ does not come with such external ceremonies, the Gospel does not point to particular places, but Christ is everywhere. Thus baptism is administered in all places, as Colossians are told in chapter 1 and Marci in chapter 16. You shall not make any special water. So also with the sacrament of the altar, which he instituted, where ye are, and have bread and wine. But they have made a special thing of it and given it. If you hang on to the pope, you are lost. But sing and pray with the little children: I believe as the whole world believes, that is, in Christ. If you do this, you will be safe; do not go over the Catechismum, as the nuns read the Psalter, but learn it well, and you will be safe. For this is also the daily sacrifice that Christ has left us, as it was in the time of the Maccabees, and God has also given us the grace that we have cast out the Pabst, and now we are again practicing baptism, the Gospel and the Lord's Supper, not only here, but everywhere in the German land, and now, praise and thanks to God, we again have the right sacrificium, in which God is honored. For where the sign is, God is recognized and called upon, and false prophets become true saints and teachers. Soon after this lamentation, when the gospel
3) Erlanger: them.
4) Erlanger: lehre.
has completed its course, then the last day will dawn. For it will dawn soon after the tribulation; and may God also do so soon, that His name may be hallowed. For this reason I also pray that the happy day will come soon, so that the devil will not lead us again to the pope or to other religions and error.
End of this sermon.
The sixth sermon on the 24th chapter of Matthew.
Dominica I. adventus preached, quae erat ultima Novembris [1539]. 1)
We have heard how the Lord preached that before the last day false Christs and false prophets would come. Now who these are, we have heard, we have also experienced it; praise God that we have recognized who they are. For he makes a distinction between the false Christs 2) and false prophets, who will come soon after the destruction of Jerusalem and after that at the end of the world through the pope and his, have led the Christian [church] 3) into error, so that no one has been able to defend himself. Yes, everything that was wise, learned, rich and powerful has been slammed, except for a few who have been snatched from the papacy in the hour of 4) death and saved. But in the church and among the priests, baptism remained. Otherwise, the dying were consoled by the Blessed Virgin Mary, by the intercession of the monks, item, how to deliver the soul from purgatory, and thus all teaching and preaching of Christ and the faith was put down.
And the Lord Christ adds something even more terrifying, namely, that these false Christs and false prophets will be mighty with miracles. This shocks the people, that they are lying there, that they should do such miracles, by which they not only deceive the common man, but also the people.
would deceive the elect. If then those who are chosen and are the saints of God cannot stand, what will become of the others?
These are harsh words and terrible judgments, which are not read anywhere else in the Holy Scriptures, and it is a great thing that even the elect should not be safe from signs and wonders. At the time when the emperors were more powerful and mightier than now, and strove against the pope, and had a great following, some bishops and many learned men, and did together the imperial and divine sword, item, the king of France also had his men, and led scripture full against the pope, and told the pope the truth dry and dry, and helped the emperor to resist the pope: But they did not accomplish much, but the pope oppressed the emperors, put them under ban, maledicted and cursed them in the name of God, so that they had no luck, the emperor with his scholars, as the excellent emperors Heinricus the Third, Heinricus the Fourth and Heinricus the Fifth, who were fine people. But when the thunderclap came: I, a governor and servant of God, am deceiving you, it must mean that it is the Holy Spirit who rules. That would have been a greater sign than if one had been raised from the dead; and the pope with his followers went through and stepped on the neck of the imperial majesty, as the emperor Frederick the First) and still sang to great haughtiness and mockery the saying of the Psalm [91, 13.] "On the vipers and lions you throw, and tread on the young lions and dragons." There was no salvation. When other pious hearts saw this, 7) they could not think of anything else, because God is with the pope, but with the emperor the devil. Therefore the pope also became a lord of the world, who wielded both swords, the spiritual and the temporal.
What should a poor parish priest have done here, since the great emperors and chiefs
1) This timing is at the edge of the original.
2) Erlanger: Christians.
3) "Church" added by Höck.
4) Erlanger: in.
5) Erlanger: great.
6) Compare Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XIX, 1964, § 2.
7) Erlanger: see.
could do nothing, since they had right and good things? Then this doctrine was spread all over the world, that the pope and his people had power and authority to 1) exclude and shut up heaven and hell, and whoever accepted his doctrine and believed it would be blessed. Such has been granted until now and until this day; but the handiwork is now very inlaid in him. He can no longer, with one word, drive in sackcloth, take sword and crown. Before he could do nothing else but thunder and lightning, said: I command you in the name of God etc.
I believe that Pope Julius 2) died in the year I was born. He had once sailed out of the sea, and since a fortum and impetuosity had become that he had been in great danger, he said: If I am a vicarius of Christ, let the sea be still. I was once in a place where St. Anne was invoked, and a public announcement went out about a miraculous sign that St. Anne had performed in the same place. Anna had done in the same place, that a child had lain in the water for two nights and yet had not drowned, but remained alive. I, as a young theologian, refuted it, but the host said: "Make of it what you will, the child lay in the water day and night. The Duke of Jülich wanted to take the bones of S. Annä. Annä and bring it to another place, but all his horses died. The Barefoots had a book called Marial, in which nothing else was written but miracles, performed by the Blessed Virgin Mary: which all served to strengthen and confirm the Pabst's empire, and the Pabst shat all over the world with his filth. But you young people know nothing of these things, you have not seen the battle in which we have lived; see that you do not get into it again, and be grateful to God for the blessed time in which you are now.
1) Erlanger: had.
2) This refers to Sixtus IV, who was succeeded by Innocent VIII in 1484. Sixtus also called himself "God" in an inscription. (Cf. Guericke, Kirchengeschichte, 7th ed., vol. II, p. 366.) Julius II, on the other hand, is a contemporary of Luther, pope from 1503 to 1513. We are therefore dealing here with an error on the part of the scribe.
It is a frightening thing that the Lord says that errors will come, that even the elect will be deceived. Look at the decree that says: I, Pope of Rome, of divine eternal providence, a lord over all Christendom. This is the dragon's head and tail, with which he has thrust the world. Therefore, when he waved only one finger, all kings trembled and shook; and through such blasphemy and terror he became so proud that they [the popes] mocked and laughed in their fists, thinking: Is not the whole world mad and foolish, that it thus fears us, and thus thinks us to be angry? And in this hopefulness they fell into blasphemy, because they did not believe that there was a God. For if they believed that there was a God, they said, "It is impossible that God should suffer this blasphemy, contempt and transgression of the authorities. But the Lord Christ says it here, that even the elect may be deceived. But now the pope is lazy that such his deception is revealed and uncovered. That is why he now poses as if he thinks something of God, and yet he goes off so coldly that the pious, God-fearing hearts only have to laugh at it. When I now see Pabst's bulls, nothing is more ridiculous to me 3) than his letters, because he presents himself as if he feared God, when he is not serious.
It is very important for you young people to know what a terrible and horrible thing the papacy is. There are many of them now who know that the papacy is the devil; nevertheless, they want to help it to its feet again. Truly they seek this, and it can easily happen. Therefore be grateful to God that you do not again fall into the misery in which I and your forefathers were placed. S. Paul also admonishes us [2 Cor. 6, 1. f.] to see that we do not receive the grace of God in vain, for in the pleasant time I helped you, now is the day of salvation, see that the gospel is not preached to you in vain. And in the prophet Isaiah [55, 6.] it is said: Seek the Lord,
3) Erlanger; Ridiculous.'
because he is near. For now heaven is open, for God is near to you; but if he pass by, you will not find him again hereafter. How many mobs the devil has awakened in our time, but we remember: there is no need; and there are some lawyers 1) who pretend whether a means cannot be found to make the pope's decree coincide with the Gospel. Yes, try it, let him come here with one, and you will see where you will remain. But they think: "Even if we compare ourselves with the pope, no one should take away our teaching. Yes, I think I should also be a doctor of the Holy Scriptures, nor must I pray daily that God will preserve me and stand at my right hand. Such lawyers have little knowledge of this, indeed, no taste of things, and if you do not pray and cry out to God, he has taken away from you the faith and the teaching of the divine word.
Therefore avoid and flee those who seek the middle way, and remember me when I am dead, and such means arise that no good will come of them. For it will not be mediated; so it is said, Thou shalt not have other gods, item, thou shalt flee idolatry, and shalt not make thee an idol. For this reason, those who seek a middle way are not well off.
Let no one take me away from the teaching; otherwise I will gladly suffer that he, the pope, and the bishops may remain and collect their interest and pension. There I ask nothing. But if he wanted to bring a canon into my heart, that I should hold that it is right, I will not give him a hair's breadth, but only the pope with his canon shall rather be wiped out to the ground.
The same fellows do not celebrate to entice ours, so that they find a means between the pope and us. Therefore, our Lord God will take from them not only the doctrine, but also the endowment, interest, rent and everything else. But I would do this if they confessed that they and their doctrine were wrong,
1) In 1539, Luther had a sharp fight with the jurists because of their adherence to canon law. Nast Tischreden, Cap. 66, U 22. 51. 52. Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XXII, 1495 ff. 1516 f. Likewise Köstlin, Martin Luther, vol. II, p. 476 ff.
then we would consider whether we still wanted to take the pope to us. Now ask the mediators whether their God, the pope, will do this. But he will not do so; neither will God. For this is their opinion, that we should preach nothing of the benefits of Christ, and keep silent about the abominations of the papacy. Teach this to the devil, and not to me. If someone said to you, "We have made a compromise between Christ and the devil, each of us should let up a little," I cannot let up this compromise, for Christ will not let up a hair's breadth; the bed is also too narrow, Christ and the devil cannot lie in it at the same time. It is just such a thing about the concordia or unity of the divine word and the statutes of men. It is impossible for them to agree with each other, only that the gross asses have such sweet dreams and thoughts about such great things. For they do not do anything with the pope, for he wants to be right, and Christ is to be wrong. I have just said how the great emperors and their doctors, who had God's word for themselves and fought against the pope in a chivalrous way, did not preach Christ with his truth, as Daniel says, in a corner, but publicly in the whole empire, nor could they get much from the pope. For S. Paul says [2 Thess. 2, 4.] that he will rise above God, as he has done honestly, and at that time it happened that Christ had to succumb, as S. Paul and Daniel say. But now Christ must be on top in this bright light of the Gospel, because the Pope is revealed [2 Thess. 2, 8] that he is the Antichrist, and killed by the spirit of the mouth. Therefore, everyone here is to be silent, there will be no remedy; trample underfoot the decretal and monastic books, for Christ will not celebrate the pope. The cardinals and bishops must come down, even if they are very reluctant. For there is no comparison between God and evil, between God's word and man's statute, there is also no unity between light and darkness. Therefore, reject 1) all mediators as
1) Erlanger: discards.
apostatas, deniers and apostate Christians. For there are such people who darken the doctrine of Christ, and meanwhile seek how they might persevere, so that when the righteous godly preachers had died down, and godless teachers came again in their place, the pope might then again rule and reign, and Christ would be destroyed altogether. Therefore, no remedy will do.
When I was at Worms at the imperial diet before the emperor, they also wanted me to make unity. Then I said: I am content, only that God's word remains free to me. Well, they said, it is an unrhymed thing. Yes, rhyme an old shithouse, with vacation, because I have to talk to such people, who seek such means in God's things.
If it were a matter of country and people, one could make fine means, compare, peace and unity. But here they are rough asses, they think that the matter is a worldly matter. But no, it is far from it, you cannot come neither to God nor to eternal life, you only hear God and his word. The first commandment casts away all heresy on earth, for idolatry makes and adorns a fine dockiche 1) and thinks: Well, this will please God. But see thou Zu, make not peace apart from the divine word. If the word of God is not there, close your eyes and say, "There is no agreement or contract here. There are men of great understanding who are well read in the Scriptures, in the Latin language and in the histories, but they are such great fools that they cannot distinguish between Christ and the devil, between eternal and temporal things. For of temporal things, we can give, we desire nothing from their bishoprics, from their honor and glory, also from their goods, interest and rent. But they are not satisfied with this; they also want us to give something of the eternal goods and heavenly things. Distinguish the temporal from the eternal; they do not see such things. In temporal goods one can give way, compare and give in; but not so in eternal things, there it does not apply, or
1) Dock - doll.
one is lost. For unity cannot be divided.
Therefore say, We will do what we ought, both life and limb; only that it be not against God, for it is not ours. Therefore it cannot be sold or forgiven. Therefore we must let it remain only of our Lord God. They pretended at the Diet of Worms that I should hand over the Scriptures and yield something. If now the pope would say: I have 2) erred, then I would gladly take something from him. But they want to exalt and seek that we should all justify his doings, and deny everything and reproach and condemn as heresy what we have taught, written and preached these twenty years.
And this also shows that they are mad and foolish and do not discern these things. Now the Lord speaks of this here, as of miracles, since you young people know nothing of them. Nevertheless he adds the word: "if it were possible. For it is indeed possible for the elect to be deceived, as I was deceived up to my ears in the ministry. How then is it possible? They can be deceived, but finally they come out again before they leave this pit of misery; as I often use the example of Saint Bernard. He also thought that the pope was God; but when he was about to die, he turned his eyes away from the pope, from his cap and his monasticism, and turned to Christ, his savior, and forgot the pope and his strict order, and said: I have lived wickedly, but I know that my Lord Christ has two rights to the kingdom of heaven; first, by nature, as the only begotten Son of the Father, he has the kingdom of heaven from eternity: Heaven from eternity; secondly, He has Heaven as the Son of Mary, and there He acquired Heaven with His bitter suffering and death and gave it to me. He boasts [not] 4) of his papal vow, but says: Christ has obtained heaven hereditarily, and for sale by his blood.
So we also preach. He is in error
2) Erlanger: would have.
3) Erlanger: holds.
4) "not" added by Höck.
and still come out. John Hus considered 1) the pope to be the head of the church, and all that he had done was only well done; although he was pious for his person. Now it is not a good error, but he did not die inside, but now that he was to be burned, he says: O Son of God, who died for us, have mercy on me; and is preserved.
Therefore be grateful to God and keep above the teaching. They come and pretend: It is nevertheless a fine thing that one keeps such ceremonies in the church as one had in the papacy; but do not concede a hair's breadth, but what the pope has done, that shall perish, for he has blasphemed God with it, and made one worship the devil for an idol, and if they do not do as S. Bernhard did, that he may recognize his sin and ungodly nature, and believe that one only from God is a god. If they do not do as St. Bernard did, that he recognize his sin and ungodly nature, and believe that one is justified by God's grace alone, then they must be damned and lost.
But that is their opinion, they want to confirm all their blasphemy through us. Therefore, suffer no means here, keep only Christ or nothing. Otherwise we should not make an image for ourselves, let Christ be the means. Therefore, study the Scriptures and pray to God that you may be preserved in the pure teaching of the divine Word. Do not say: No one can take this teaching away from me. You cannot make yourself so strong; if God does not keep you, the devil has seduced you in a moment. Therefore let the serpent and the beautiful images [not] 2) seduce you. You may decorate it and polish it as beautifully as you like, but it does not matter to me, for I find God nowhere but in Christ alone. Otherwise I see no image, nor do I hear one, but I hear God's word in the sermon, in the Lord's Supper and in baptism. If you want to hear God with me, without all human wisdom and any image, fine; if not, then roll over.
End of this sixth sermon.
1) Erlanger: holds.
2) "not" added by Höck.
3) Erlanger: me.
The seventh sermon on the 24th chapter of Matthew.
Preached on the 2nd Sunday of Advent, the 7th Decembris [1539]. 4)
I have recently spoken of a great calamity and heartache that is to come upon the Christian church before the last day, and is to last even to the end. The highest heartache has first come upon Jerusalem and the Jewish people, who are scattered and destroyed throughout the world by various plagues, and we still see the shards of such tribulation, heartache and destruction before our eyes. For this people is so miserably scattered, that more and more 5) a people may have been destroyed, for they have no more priesthood, no more kingdom, no more principality. So the same promise is fulfilled.
After this the same tribulation is fulfilled, that the pope has caused an abominable dissension in the church, and has caused so many divisions and sects, that one would rightly say that he has not left one stone upon another stone, and has torn all from the foundation stone and corner stone, rejected and scattered them; this one has run into a monastery, another into a desolation, and where every man's mind has led him, and as the pope has taught him; no one has been satisfied in his baptism, in the Lord's Supper of Christ; and we still see such afflictions in foreign cities and kingdoms this day that the pope reigns, and these errors have been so strong that, if it were possible, even the elect would have been deceived; but they have come out. For this reason I admonish you, young people, who have not yet been inside, especially those who want to become lawyers, to take the cross before you when you read the Decretals. For first there is a poisonous head, and then a poisonous belly and tail. The kingdom of the pope is not like that of the Turk who strikes with the sword. So he does: in the decree he blasphemes God, says,
5) In the manuscript "immermehr - ever. Höck and after him the Erlangen edition have put "nimmermehr" for it.
that he is the head of the church. This mouth is full of blasphemy, that he is a lord and head of the church, and he wants to force upon himself what is only due and due to the Lord Christ. God strikes this dragon's head to death, for he is first of all a blasphemer, and wants people to obey him, even if he commands something against God and Christ, and takes away all his dominion from Christ, and if you want to allege the holy Scriptures against him, he wants to be caught unawares, saying that he has power and authority to interpret the Scriptures. But the pious lawyers do not hold with him, the pope, because he first of all defiles our Lord Christ, because he teaches that he is our Lord and Head. For we know no other Lord but he of whom the children sing on Palm Day, "Hosanna, thy Son of David: blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." He, the Pabst, is a son of sin and man of perdition; this is the belly and tail of the Pabst, that he might have blasphemed God, saying, This is sin, this is righteousness. This is his noblest office, that is the devil, and forbidden by God to make anything sin and righteousness that is not sin or righteousness, and this is his regiment. Now if you cut open his belly and take out the dung, his regiment is over. We have offered him that if he would keep his decree so that it would not be a sin to act against it, we would be satisfied with him. But he does not want to concede that, but that is his opinion that whoever does or speaks something against it is condemned. But we have escaped from the Pabst's power through the blood of Christ. Get to know him, that is his branch and office, that he makes the world even full of sins. Therefore St. Paul calls him a man of sins, that he teaches blasphemy, and secondly, that he is a man who not only sins for himself, but also makes the whole world full of sins; and all the sins in the whole world are his, because they come from him, he is the cause and founder of them. For God sanctifies and cleanses us through the
blood of His Son, and washed us through baptism, that we might be His holy people. Then the devil's head comes and says: "I have power to say that this is sin, which God has not made to be sin, but to eat flesh on the sixth day, which is Friday. Because one asks: Why is it sin? Says he, I have power. For so [he] says in the decree: Districte praecipientes mandamus, yes, with leave, in Ars. He has done this not only with meat rope, but also with pilgrimages, masses and other things, and has smeared all this into his decree, that the world sins, is condemned and damned, because it does something against his laws. But God through Saint Paul gives us that we should not let it make us sin, since he says: "Do not let your conscience be made about food and drink, 1) even about holidays" etc., to Colossians in the 2nd chapter [v. 16]. But the pope makes sin out of it. Therefore he is called a man of sins, a man of sins, and a man ordained to make sins. The devil has directed his kingdom to do nothing but sin, not only in his person, but as far as his kingdom turns and reaches; this is his belly, which he afterwards adorns, saying that it is pure holiness. He who vows the three vows of the monks, namely chastity, poverty and obedience, who keeps these, is holy; but he who runs away from the monastery and breaks these vows, is damned. You have hellish fire on your head.
This is the pope in the valley of hell, in his book, according to which he is a child of perdition. Because he has made sin, hell is already built, because where there is no sin, there is no death, hell, nor damnation. But where there is sin, death and damnation follow immediately. Now he has made it a sin when someone runs away from the monastery. Therefore he casts him into hell for four thousand miles, and if I have done anything contrary to his laws, I must be damned, for he says, "Si quis prae.
1> "drink" put by us according to the Bible instead of "days" in the Erlanger.
sumserit, sciat. So he carries out the dragon's tail in all his books. This is what Saint Paul calls a child of perdition, that is, one who condemns himself and all other men without guilt or cause. But he says: What harm is it, though it be unrighteous sin and unrighteous hell? If I know that sin is false, and damnation is false, ei, it does me no harm, even as I ask nothing now, though he condemn me with his bishops every hour, day, and moment. Why? I know that it is a lie. But how is it meanwhile with those who do not know it? Because they argue about it. If someone has an erroneous conscience about leaving the monastic life, the divine word and the fact that Christ redeemed me with his blood is of no use to him; his blood does not help me. Well, as I believe, so it will go with me; such a teaching may be wrong, but I make a rather fiery hell or damnation out of it. But I should say: Pope, I shit in your valley of dirt; I want to believe that Christ died for me and the whole world. But if you were to say, "Yes, what does it help me? If then your heart will be so minded that the suffering and blood of Christ is gone, Christ is no longer on earth, and baptism is also lost, then it is soon done. And we have all believed this in the papacy, and have also preached and taught and pretended this: How if Christ were no longer your Savior? Therefore seek another, for Christ has now become your judge. See how you may reconcile him to yourself and make him merciful. Run to a monastery and toil with fasting and prayer, and call upon the saints, scourging thyself so long that thou thyself mayest destroy thy sin. This has been the teaching and the faith of the pope. I was also in sin, so that I considered it a great holiness if I did this, and I also taught the people this way, since it was all ungodly, unjust and wrong; which would not have harmed me, as it would not harm me now, if I still wore a cap, because I wanted it to be a foolish thing to think: My faith is in Christ, the little lamb. But at that time I let go of the main thing and thought that Christ is the lamb.
with his blood would be of no use to me, I would have corrupted it with my mortal sins. This apostasy is the devil. Otherwise, if someone had worn a cap like a virgin wears a green skirt, it would not have harmed me, my main property stands there, as the children believe, namely, in Jesus Christ. But we in the papacy did not do that; we kept away from the truth and accepted what was false, unjust, ungodly, error and lies.
Thus, Saint Paul has rightly portrayed the pope, not only for his own person, but for the benefit of the whole world, that he is a blasphemous man, who exalts himself against God and above God, and sets himself above the church, wanting to be its master. Then he makes sin where there is no sin, and leads us from the righteousness of faith in Christ to his monasticism and to his sins, and in the tail, there he pours out poison, and condemns himself and others all who believe him.
Therefore, have mercy on no one when we reproach the pope, for God will not have mercy on him either. In his books there is much worldly law, for he has made himself lord of the world; but from his head, belly and tail there fear as from the worst poison. For there we cannot suffer jest, it is for me my blessedness. I am martyred and afflicted. The shameful oil of the papacy has penetrated me so deeply that even today I cannot get rid of it, and I would rather have lived in the destruction of Jerusalem than in this prison of the papacy. For what is it about a pestilence, poverty or war? and even if you have to put your neck on it, only that the heart and the faith remain pure. In monasteries we had enough to eat and drink, but there we had suffering and torture of heart and conscience, and the suffering of souls is the greatest of all. I was often frightened by the name of Jesus, and when I looked at him on the cross, it seemed to me that he was like a flash of lightning, and when his name was mentioned, I would rather have heard the devil, because I thought that I would have to do good works until Christ would be made a friend and gracious to me. In the monastery I did not think
I did not think of money, goods or women, but my heart trembled and fidgeted, wondering how God would be merciful to me. For I had departed from the faith and did not allow myself to think otherwise, for I would have angered God, whom I would have to reconcile with my good works. But praise and thanks be to God that we have His word again, which thus portrays and points out Christ to us, that He is our righteousness. Therefore, I cannot stand that one still wants to adorn and excuse the papacy. I cannot take enough revenge on him, because the damage he has done is too great. One cannot sufficiently reproach and disgrace the pope. Only have had no mercy on him! For he also dealt with us with all mercilessness, even physically. For he executed the emperors as peelers and evil-doers, which would still have to be suffered. But that he has spent my beautiful youth so miserably and my conscience has been so battered and tortured about it that I still cannot be satisfied today, that is too much.
The angel in the Revelation of John gives us a cup in our hand, that we should pour out to the red whore of Rome, the arch-whore, the French whore, who is full of blasphemy. I have now done this, punished and scolded the pope again, and I want everyone to do likewise, and say: You are a blasphemer, in all your works a child of perdition, you should be torn apart, so that not a hair remains on him; and one does not mind 1) that I am so vehement. For there are some Christians, yes, evil Christians, who now want to cover it up, so that the pope would be adorned again, and when he would be adorned and pulled out of the block 2) they would want to put him on the altar again, and would have to take on his dragon's head, belly and tail again. Therefore, there are bad people, be they lawyers or whoever they want, who defend the pope and want me to keep quiet about it, so that he has done the damage. 3) I can't do that. I truly cannot do that. For if someone had wanted to give you poison and said, "Yes, it is poison, but it is not poison.
1) Erlanger: "kehrt" instead of: man kehre.
2) Maybe: Koth?
3) Erlanger: are.
do not say that it is poison, but good wine and a delicious malmsey; so such lawyers and theologians are also seven times worse than the pope, and should ask and thank our Lord God that he has revealed and discovered to us the pope's head, belly and dragon's tail. But they do not want such things to be revealed now, and the people should not be warned, all the harm should be kept silent. I do not want to keep it with the lawyers and theologians; the evil poison and the pope is discovered, and we see his dragon's head now, and shall make a little lamb out of it. Let someone else do it, I will not do it, and whoever does it is a desperate villain and worse than the pope. But if he would repent and take off the dragon's head, we would see how we could absolve him. But that one should give him that 4) still condemns all the kingdoms that are still under his domain, that I cannot do, and I am surprised that this unspeakable grace and gift is not taken to heart and moved, that we now know the pope. For read his books, and you will see what an abominable kingdom he has: he tears us away from the Savior Christ and leads us to such abominable, frightening lies. These things Christ prophesied before, saying [v. 25.], "Behold, I told you before," dreadfully, saying, I told you before. Yea, dear Lord, thou dost instruct us a delicious art for this. I warn and forewarn, therefore no one thinks it does not concern him. 5) The pope is so established and rooted that no one has thought that these miracles and prodigies should happen in our time, and everyone has thought, "This will not happen for more than a thousand years. Therefore, after the time of the apostles, it soon began to sing, when the harbingers and forerunners of the pope came. But one should have thought thus: This is told me. But the Lord, soon after the [announcement of the] 6) destruction, at the same moment he speaks:
4) Erlanger: that.
5) "Therefore, no one thinks that it does not concern him" we put instead of: "Therefore, it does not concern them". The conclusion of this paragraph proves that it must be supplemented in this way.
6) These words enclosed in brackets are set by us.
"Beware, false prophets are coming." Who then wants to escape God's admonition and urging, says: This concerns me.
During Advent, the future of the Antichrist is also preached, as Christ miserably reproaches him. But all those who preached that the Antichrist would come, pretended that he would not come because we were alive, therefore it was not necessary for us to be afraid of the final Christ. We are doing such things now, too. When we say that God will not let the world's avarice go unpunished, and say that there is God's word, which says: I am your God, an angry, zealous 1) God etc., and it will certainly follow what these words threaten and preach, that God will punish and punish the iniquity etc.: we still see how avarice, usury, pride, splendor now rise to the very highest. Is it said then: The punishment will come, as God lives; yes, they say, that does not concern us; those who will live after a hundred years may watch. Moses in the fifth book, when he closes the 29th chapter with frightening, horrible words, since one's ears should swell at them, let alone sing or ring, says: "They shall not say in their hearts, 'There is no need. For so do our citizens, nobles and peasants now: Praise God! it has no need. For this is a plague, inherent in the human heart, that we do not want to know about God's urges, as we are doing today. Says we, should God thus be angry? This has been done in the world at all times, and it is still done today.
But Christ says, "I told you before." The danger is written on it: "It is not yet time; Christ warns us against it. For God wanted us to beware of it, and since it was not done, the pope also broke down. But now we also remember it. Our adversaries are over a thousand miles from us, we say now. Fear God, he will truly punish. Ei, we say, it has no fault
1) Erlanger: zealot.
nor lack. But before you look around, the punishment will be there. Then call on your thalers, see if they will help. Then cry out: O help, Lord! God will then say: Do you hear, it is now time to change. When I cried out, thou didst not hear; now again I will not hear when thou criest out; as in the first chapter of the book of Proverbs of Solomon it is also prophesied, where the Holy Spirit speaks [Cap. 1, 24-28.Because I cry out, and ye refuse, and I stretch forth my hand, and no man heareth; and ye forsake all my counsel, and will not my punishment: I will also laugh at your calamity, and mock you, when that cometh which ye fear. When the storm that ye fear cometh upon you, and your calamity as the weather, when fear and distress cometh upon you, they shall call unto me, but I will not answer: they shall seek me early, and shall not find me.
In Greece, the Turk treats the people horribly; they cry out and call to God from the heart. But there is no hearing, they have to feel the punishment, because they do not want to hear the threat. In the papacy, my heart cried out day and night, but God laughed. Why? Well, we did not want to be careful there either. Now we don't pray either, one doesn't help the other. But the time will come when you will want to help and then you will not be able to, when the lansquenets will stab you with spears and cut you with their swords. For why have we not been able to believe? Because now they admonish and warn us, but we will not listen. Then again there will be no hearing from God, until 2) you come to say: O forgive me my sin, I will gladly let them take my thalers and my head. This punishment will come upon us once, and then no complaining and weeping will help, nor will any promise or promise that we will speak to God: I want to become pious - because God now calls and cries out, and no one hears that, so God will not hear then either. Then you would give a hundred thalers for it, since you do not give one grain now.
2) Erlanger: and.
You noblemen, burghers, and peasants, eat your fill, too: There are many of you poor priests and Christians who honestly have the dear bread. In contrast, you usurers sit and scrape everything into your sack and give nothing to the poor. But then you say: Oh, if God would save me from war or sickness or false doctrine and be gracious and merciful to me, I would gladly give a poor person a hundred guilders for alms. But then you should not be worthy to give a morsel of bread to a poor person, because you do not hear God now, who cries out to you that you should give and help the poor. So you make a fool of yourself and eat the sweat and blood of the poor. Then you will again be shy about what your money and goods will help you, for now you have not only given nothing, but you are also shaving and scraping the poor people. Therefore, dear brother, you will be well aware, for God says here before that he is an angry, zealous God, who seeks out iniquity to the third and fourth generation. If they mock God because of this, it is a sign that it will come to an end, and God will begin to laugh at you again. Then you will want to give two hundred guilders, but then there will be no one, there will be war etc. For neither are you worthy to give a farthing or to keep a farthing, but brother Vitus has the key to the box, that you now take from the poor and from the rich; and the usurers are now so stingy that they will yet starve us to death. But, in truth, you shall not enjoy a penny, and shall be cursed money, which shall not benefit any pious, God-fearing man, God and we dead, dead Christians want to laugh at them again. Truly, people do not know now how they are supposed to pay for everything. But heed God's warning in time; if not, we will suffer to be oppressed, and God will still give us what we need to sustain ourselves. But the time will come when they, the miserly ones, will not be happy with their money, but Brother Vitus will take it away.
End of this sermon.
The eighth sermon on the 24th chapter of Matthew.
Preached on the 3rd Sunday of Advent, the 14th day Decemb. f1539^. 1)
We heard the other day how the Lord announced at that time how things should be, not only about Jerusalem, but about the whole world, and especially about the Christian church, saying, "Behold, I have told you before. For there has been a great persecution, for which reason he so faithfully warns that it is best to watch. For he not only prophesies it beforehand, but he adds to it, and drives it hard, and repeats it; and then it is of no avail that thou shouldest insist and put thy trust in thy wisdom, wealth, and skill. It cannot help, for it is said here that even the elect, who are the most learned and have the Holy Spirit, can be deceived. Therefore do not say, "There is no need, the devil cannot take it away from me. If you do not pray that the name of God may be sanctified, 2) you are not too wise and holy for the devil, he can deceive you; and I have seen many of them who said that they should not lack, knowing things so surely. For he has also often taken it from me. There are many among them who think they need neither prayer nor study. But look out! It is said, Take heed, watch, for you have an adversary who is a thousandfold. The Lord Christ does not give us in vain to pray, lest we be tempted. For the devil seeks us, and would gladly devour us, or bring us into temptation. Therefore let us pray, lest we perish in temptation. Therefore we must cry out, "Hallowed be thy name." Then our adversaries call us hopeful and obstinate people, if we do not want to hear or accept their means. But I will gladly give way if it concerns the body; only then 3) I will not be led into temptation,
2) Erlanger: was.
3> "then": when it is mediation or slacken m of teaching.
and then I would rather be proud than to give way and follow you. For if we had yielded to Muenzer, the Sacramentarians and others, where would our doctrine be now? But we have a strict commandment to pray, lest we be led into temptation; and to Sanct Petro the Lord Christ says [Luc. 22, 31. f.], "Satan hath desired to sift thee, as wheat is sifted; but I have prayed for thee." So we should also pray, for we do not have to deal with bodily diligence, but deal with the spiritual mischiefs that dwell in the darknesses from which God has led us. Therefore, we must be careful and not let their means mislead us. If it results in bloodshed or whatever, we cannot turn away. For here it is written, Behold, I have told you before. They will say, There in the wilderness is Christ. The pious, faithful Lord and Savior, yes, the Lord of all prophets, is doing his prophetic work here, and is warning us. Above he said, "They will come in my name;" here he says, "They will pretend and say, 'Behold, here is Christ,' and will perform miracles and signs, so that even the elect may be deceived. Here he repeats and interprets what is there: Here and there, says [v. 26], "Behold, in the wilderness." O let Christ, the Holy Spirit, God and all holy angels be outside, do not go humus. Because God raised a new prophet, should one not go outside? I think that if someone stood up today, looked sour, fasted and had a gray skirt on, and was outside in the wood, I think that the whole city would run out to him, regardless of the fact that here is baptism, we have the Lord's Supper, and all the estates are appointed and ordered by God, Yes, one would say, I know well that all this is true, but I will see what you want to do now.
In the Swiss Laude, one pretended to be a prophet and had two young matzos with him, called prophetesses and penitent virgins. But he had made them both whores. Behold, if such a fool also came here and led the scholars with the
If we were to turn our noses upside down, [it might happen that] they would say, "He will be the man," and we would then turn our eyes away from baptism and from the gospel and the ten commandments. If God sent such a calamity to us, then [one] would soon run after it [and would not think:] You are also in a Christian wholesome state. But the mad head deceived them, and the prophet had two harlots with him. 1)
Now S. Paul also says [2 Tim. 4, 3. f.]: The time will come when they will turn their ears from the truth to fairy tales and lies, and run after the deceivers in droves. These false prophets will then have enough, but the pious preacher will be deprived of his own, and especially the nobility of the nobility should strike, and here keep to his ways.
Therefore, let every man be satisfied that he has been baptized, and thank God that he has the divine word, the sacrament of the altar, and the power of the keys, and that he is in a state pleasing to God. If another preaches anything else, he hears it and says, "I know that Christ is in baptism, in his word, in the power of the keys, and also in the Lord's Supper, and I do not ask anything about the clamor of pretending that he is in the wilderness.
If they therefore come and say: In the wilderness there is something marvelous and strange, do not go out; he 2) is in the chamber, do not believe it. How could Christ warn better? If they will not sit upon the staves in the forest, saith the devil, then will I come unto them into their houses. For he is a tempter, for so is his name; he tempteth in all manner of ways. Therefore he sits down in the field or in the wilderness. If one runs to him, he stays there; if not, he comes into the city, and first sets fire to a house, then he poisons a whole village, until even a whole city and country are deceived. If we now
1) In order to give only some sense, we had to change and insert something here. In the Erlanger the end of this paragraph reads: "abe, wenn GOtt ein solches Unglück uns zuschicke, so leids, dann balde dar danach so bist du auch in einem christlichem heilsamen Stande. But the mad head seduces them and has the prophet" etc.
2) Erlanger: he is.
If we think that he will no longer tempt us, we will be shamefully deceived. For I know, 1) that there are some of them among us, who lurk and search how they may kindle a little fire, and if these get away at once, others will be found. Therefore, where there are Christians, the Lord's Prayer must be prayed. For there will always be groups who will want to introduce false teachings and disgrace the kingdom of Christ. We are therefore commanded to watch and not to think that the devil has nothing to do among us, and that he alone is with the pope; if we were rid of the pope, there would be no more danger among us. But one after the other will always come to us. Therefore, we must pray earnestly that God's name be hallowed, and that His kingdom come to us, and that God's will be done, that He give us our daily bread, and after that suffering, danger. We are to be his stuff, through which he works; that is why he wants to be asked of us. Otherwise, he could well sanctify his name and also govern and preserve his church. But he has closed it all and put it into the means.
"In the desert. We have seen that before. For how many orders have been in the desert than Benedictine monasteries, Carthusian monasteries, forest monasteries and field monasteries. For these monasteries were not located in our cities, but out in the fields, in the deserts; and there no one was allowed to say: You are sewing a dangerous stand, dear Benedict, stay with S. Antonio in Antioch in the cobbler's workshop and make shoes. But no, S. Benedict has been the very richest lord of the orders, has had more good and wealth than the right Christians have now. If we had the Benedictine wealth now, we would richly supply the schools, parishes and hospitals and build cities on top of them.
I can not help Bernhardo and Benedicto, because by this text that even the elect may be deceived. For
1) Here Luther will have thought mainly of Agricola, who was still in Wittenberg at that time.
2) "not" inserted by us.
Saint Bernard has accumulated in his life at one hundred and sixty monasteries, and has been thirty years an abbot, vain field monasteries, and has one to the least three thousand or four thousand guilders income, one part probably five or six thousand guilders, and more than the cell and gates. 3) That is where it all came from: Here is Christ. For look at their orders, what do they preach? They do not say, Believe in Christ and be baptized, but are silent about baptism, the Lord's Supper and the power of the keys, and preach that one should not eat meat all one's life, item, wear a plate, and put on a wide cap, be apart from people, not be in the world, not have a wife or child, and believe that one would become blessed by such good works: no one has considered this to be an error, not even St. Bernard himself. Bernard himself, but when he was about to die, he said: "Oh, I have lived badly. But I take comfort in the fact that you, God, have said: You will not despise a broken heart, item, that Christ has heaven by two rights etc. Then he comes to his senses again, and to baptism, and to the gospel, and to Christ, saying not, I have thus long worn the cap, for the order is upon it. So the elect came into it in error, but did not remain in it.
Others have wanted to be saved through this order, and have sold and shared their superfluous good works with others. They have gone to the devil; and I must tell a poem that I have read about Saint Bernard, that when he died, many thousands also died, and among them only Bernard and another common layman alone became blessed; as if one should have seen it. 4) But he who invented this wanted to indicate and defend that one did not believe that Saint Bernard died. But the one who invented this wanted to denounce and defend that one did not believe that Saint Bernard had been blessed for the sake of monasticism. But they understood it much differently in the papacy, and pretended: Oh, St. Bernard has been beatified, that is a sign that you have left the order.
3) "The Gates" will probably be the former Cistercian monastery, which is now called "Pforta" or "Schulpforta". As early as 1543, Duke Moritz of Saxony transformed it into a school.
4) Erlanger: solls.
S. Bernhard's sword and also run into a monastery. So the Jews also held the contradiction and understood it much differently, since they saw a sword hovering in the air over the city of Jerusalem for a whole year. Then they took it that God would protect and defend the city of Jerusalem. The iron door of the temple was found open at night, which was a sign that the temple was about to be destroyed. They interpreted it to mean that God had opened the door himself, a sign that he wanted to come to the temple and help Jerusalem.
So do we. We reverse the warning, just as the monks did with Saint Bernard. One reads of St. Anthony that he saw a face, how the world was full of ropes (whether our Lord God did it immediately, or by the devil, I do not know); then St. Anthony said: Oh, who will be saved? He was answered: Only humility. I do not like this word, because one wanted to say: Whoever wanted to escape these ropes, should become humble, that is, become an Antonian.
Item, he saw another figure, as a nest, 1) which was full of birds; and when another bird wanted to climb into the nest, a great man stood there and threw it down. They also interpret this to mean that there is great danger in the world. Well, they were so warned, but they understood all the nonsense. Many more pious, godly people have been awakened by God, who would have liked to fight back, but they could not.
Item, S. Antonius would have liked to know whom he would be like in heaven. Then it was revealed to him that he was not yet like a shoemaker in Alexandria, a citizen who had a wife and child. Now the Antonite desert or monastery was as far from Alexandria as the thieving heath 2) would be from Wittenberg. Then S. Antonius comes to the cobbler and asks him what he was doing. The shoemaker answered: "I poor citizen.
1) Erlanger: Nehest.
2) i.e. the Dübener Haide.
wait for my craft, pray daily that all men may be saved and that I, poor unworthy sinner, may also attain eternal life through Christ. When Antonius heard this, he was ashamed that he had not come as far in his monasticism as this cobbler.
These were all warnings that they should not live in the desert, but be satisfied with their baptism, and listen to St. Athanasius, who was a noble bishop of the church at that time. But for and for it happened that what was taught was not seen in particular. For no one looked at the word, sacrament of the altar and baptism, no one took it seriously. Therefore, when a useless spout comes, it soon deceives the people.
V. 26. Do not go out.
For he wants to say: You have the baptism, the preaching ministry of the divine word, as I have ordered, keep to it. You have the sacrament and the power of the keys, keep it. For this you owe obedience to your prince, you have a wife and children, your craft, stay with it and nurture yourself, and let others run out. You are holy to me through baptism, also through the sacrament of the altar, through the divine word and absolution. After that I have also put you in your place and commanded you enough what you should do. So you should remember, but you don't, but do as the righteous do. If it has enough to eat at home, nevertheless, if a beetle or a glue stick comes and is held out to it, it wants to see what is there, then it is caught over it. So if the devil puts a little owl or owl on us with a spirit of distress, we will soon be seduced.
V. 26. In the chamber.
That is, if they come to you in your houses, do not believe them, just as he warned above not to go out to them. Therefore, if they come to us, we must not believe them, but say, What do you pretend? I know that without baptism there is no salvation.' They say: This is a ge-
my Christian thing, belongs to everyone, but you have to put on a cap. Well, I could still put on a sack. Yes, but you will be blessed by it. Where is Christ then? Therefore, devil, into the abyss of hell, you shall never persuade me to build on my cap, but I will listen to the word of God, which Christ has spoken about baptism and the estates. And always lead the fool out of the house, and do not build a monastery in my house. For the cities have become full of monasteries, and great and glorious churches have been built, and the money and goods have been given to the monks, and the body and goods have gone, so that people have either run away into the deserts, or have come to our houses.
One reads of S. Paphnutio, who was challenged, that he would have liked to know whether one was also like him. He was answered that he was equal to two women. Then Paphnutius goes and asks what kind of women they are, and when he comes, he asks them. We are housemothers. What are you doing? he says. Nothing special, they say, we feed ourselves like poor people, and have lived peacefully with our husbands, and have never quarreled with each other. Whoever invented this, sought that the women should be one. But when Sanct Paphnutin left, he said, "Now never again shall we despise any state or any man in any state, however low he may be. He brought something delicious from it, and with it he fought off those who wanted to have something special. For what is a monk who thinks: the whole world sins, but he alone is holy? They thought that the whole world was a damned people, and no one thought that: In the world there are people who are baptized and have the divine word, are obedient to their authorities and serve lords and ladies.
So they had many warnings, but it did not help, the appearance was too great. So the baptism has come into contempt, and one has fallen on Hie und Da. If one looks at their thing rightly, what is it? it is here and there, and nothing else. For if they should pre
If they deny that baptism saves, they would be like us, and their thing would be nothing, but that the gospel saves, and that each one may remain married. Then all their thing is dead. For what need would I have to run away to a monastery? So there would be no here nor there. Therefore they make a here and there, so that they make a that and a that out of it; that is, in your state you will not be saved, but must run into the deserts. If then thou wilt not, I will run to thy house, and bring thee this and that. They say: Have you a wife? Oh, it is nothing. Art thou in the world? It is also nothing, but you must become a monk, that you may be something special; that is, this or that, that when you wait for your office, then it is not this or that, for all with one another hold themselves thus. Therefore it must not be called baptism, paternoster, for that is a vain and lowly thing, just as all women wear veils 1) and men put on hats. Then it is not said, Behold, how he hath a hat! For they all have hats. But if you were to become a monk, that would be something special, and everyone would say, "Behold, there is Christ. But say thou, I will abide where the common Christian abides, in baptism, in the divine word, and in absolution, and I will leave off the here and there, being something special above that which God has ordained; beware of that. For Christ sprinkles us with his blood; as often as we hear his word, receive the sacrament, and are absolved, it is all by virtue of his innocent shedding of blood. Then, in your outward life, be like other godly hearts, and if someone brings you something special, say: I do not want to have this or that, to accept here or there. We have been told enough, but we do not keep it, just as our descendants will not respect it nor keep it. From the Old Testament they have had a great command and pretense, so that they have greatly urged and driven the unlearned bishops. But we will save the same until another time.
End of this sermon.
1) Erlanger: Schleher.
The ninth sermon on the 24th chapter of Matthew.
Preached on the 4th Sunday of Advent, on the day of St. Thomas [21 December 1539]. 1)
We have heard how the Lord first answered his disciples, that before the last day should come, not only Jerusalem should then be plagued by the sword and physical warfare, but also all Christendom should be plagued by the spiritual sword, and that all these plagues and tortures should come before the last day should come, when this preaching shall go, that they shall teach, Behold here, there, in the chamber. But those who did not heed the warning and did not do this, that is us. It is a sin and a shame that we have such a prophecy of the Lord Christ Himself, and yet we are not helped. I see myself at times, that I have been such a block and stick, that nothing has moved me, as it should truly have gone to my heart. For I had the bright, clear word of God, which was dark, obscure and hidden from the whole world. For if all the books of all faculties had been presented to us, we could not know from them where Adam came from, and where sin and death came from, for these things alone are taught in the holy Scriptures. Therefore we should study it, because we will become wiser from it than the whole world otherwise is. He who does not ask the Scriptures for advice will know nothing at all; now we know how we are to die, where we are to go, and also how we are to escape death: Death may escape. We learn this only from the book of the holy scriptures. But he who has preached about here and there has known nothing. Now the Lord continues and says:
V. 27: As the lightning flashes from the exit.
Thus the Lord concludes the answer to [the] 3) piece, when Jerusalem shall be destroyed-.
2) "we" inserted by us.
3) Erlanger: on stucco.
the. He spread them out far and wide, not only over Jerusalem but also until the last day, and prophesied how the whole world and Christianity should fare; as if he should say: Do not be fooled with the here and there, my kingdom will not be like that, but as the lightning is, uncaught. One cannot say: Here or there is the lightning, one can also not paint a special place for it, but it takes up in a Hui deu whole heaven. So is the lightning, so the divine word is called, because that will go through and through. My kingdom is not bound to here and there, nor must it be called Rome, Jerusalem, or Jacob, but everywhere in the world; and if anyone teaches otherwise, it is not right. If it be said, Behold, here at Rome, at Jerusalem, at S. Jacob, there shalt thou find Christ, it is not true; but look to the lightning, where it shineth. Where is he then? In the whole world, not only in the corner of the Jewish land or in Egypt, but it is a free word that shines throughout the whole world. Whoever now sees it, let him see it.
So he wants to warn us, that we do not let ourselves be bound to place 4) and person. For the papacy was nothing else but here and there, which taught: If you do not believe in the Roman bishop, you are condemned. How do I come to this? Well, there is the chair of Peter. Why there and not elsewhere? Well, the apostles S. Peter and Paul are buried there. Listen, it is not called: "here", but like the lightning goes from the morning to the evening, and shines in all places of the world, so is also the divine word.
In Luke [Cap. 17, 21] the Pharisees also say, when will the kingdom of God come? The Lord answers, it does not come cum observatione 5) etc. It cannot be bound, but as I am baptized here, so shall another Christian be baptized in India. For they have the same gospel, and in all places of the world the same key or absolution. Therefore it cannot be bound. But he who teaches the antitype, he ver-
4) Erlanger: Stähet.
5) Thus the Vulgate. Erlanger: in odssrtions.
leads the people. Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I have told you before. The day of the Son of Man will also be like this, that is, my kingdom will also be like this.
Now he gives a glorious, beautiful likeness and speaks:
V. 28. Where there is carrion, there the eagles gather.
This is a strange, strange likeness. We don't know much about the eagles in this country, because there are different kinds and sexes of eagles. We commonly call them vultures in this country, as here are the great goose vultures, a large and horrible bird, probably as big as I am. After that are the cattle vultures, 1) which are also eagles - but the right eagles, of which the emperor's coat of arms is, these are other and smaller eagles - and are such birds that feed on the game prey, which is called carrion. We Germans say: Where there is a carrion, there the ravens are found. So, if there is a carrion on the gallows, you will feel it by the ravens.
He uses this simile to say: Where there is a carrion, you must not worry about eagles and ravens, because they will soon find each other. Mau writes of the righteous eagles that they can smell carrion many, many miles away. Whether this is true or not, there is not much to it. We Germans say that when a raven sits on a house, it is a prophecy and an indication with your raven that one of the same house will die. But I do not say this because it is true, but it is nature that the same bird likes to be around carrion and feeds on it. 2) We call them ravens, and it is written, since the Trojan war arose, that many thousands of ravens or eagles flew 3) into that country.
But he says: Where there is carrion, there will be ravens. This is the answer he gives to those who said how this could happen. Should not the kingdom of Christ be at Jerusalem or at Babylon? No, as I have now said about the lightning. So says
1) Maybe "fish vulture".
2) Erlanger: nährete.
3) Erlanger: fled.
He also said here: "What do you want to say, where the kingdom will be? Where there is a carcass, that is, where the Word of God is preached and the sacraments are administered, there will be Christians.
It is marvelous that he compares his kingdom to the carrion of a thief on the gallows, or to a murderer lying on the wheel, where the eagles take flight. He could have said, "My kingdom is like a grain of wheat lying in the field, where the doves fly and pick it up and eat it. For when the husbandman sows or threshes, the sparrows and the fowls and the yellowhammers and the other birds are there waiting for the grain.
First of all, he wants to forbid special places, because where the gospel goes, there would be Christians who would be baptized.
It is an insolent similitude that where there is a carrion, there are also eagles. But by this he means the main thing, that Christ would not be here nor there, but as the lightning shines in all four places of the world, so shall the kingdom also be in every place.
I think he makes it so ugly, 4) that he compares his kingdom to a carrion, and his Christians to eagles. In the sky is a beautiful light, a glorious lightning, is hastening glorious and terrible light. But here they consider Christ to be a carrion, a hastily condemned, crucified man, and all those who believe in him and cling to him must be called ravens. The devil and the world do not call them doves, storks and redheads, but black ravens and eagles, which eat the dead carrion of the Jew, who died on the cross and was more shamefully executed than a murderer would die on the gallows. Thus the world holds us up to ridicule, even the papists today. But it has been proclaimed and prophesied here that Christ should be a rotten carcass, a mischievous one, that Christ should be put to death for his iniquity; as the Jews said, "Would not this man be a murderer?
4) "imeß" - unappetizing; put by us, because we assume that in the original it is "vnetz". - Höck: "In the original: vieß; perhaps- viehisch". -Erlanger: Viehs. - On the word "uneß," compare Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XIII, 2766, s 14: "^Christ) makes's zumal verdrießlich und uneß."
Evil-doer, we would not have delivered him to thee." But we do not consider all this, but consider it a great honor and glory that we believe in Christ. Before the world, in the 22nd Psalm, he calls himself a worm and a despiser of the people, who was led to the shingle at Jerusalem, where they judged thieves and murderers. He is such a carrion, and he is spoken bitterly, that the Lord Christ stings the Jews with it, who thought him to be a dead carrion.
So it is still ridiculous to the Jews and Papists that we put our trust in the one who was judged on Mount Calvary and became a carrion and was sacrificed there.
We are accustomed to curse the wicked: "That ravens may devour thee, that is, that the executioner may hang thee on the gallows, or that thou mayest be drowned. So they made a mischief out of the Lord Jesus Christ and hanged him on the gallows, because no pious man should be put to death, and as a sign they hanged two murderers on his sides; and he is still today a carrion, before whom they close their ears and noses; and he has truly become a carrion. But we think much of the dear carrion, and do not err that they call us their cursed and damned ravens. For we have eternal life from the carrion. Do not turn away from it. Let them be doves, peacocks, pheasants, 1) siskins, finches, tits, goldfinches, blackbirds and thrushes and other proud, glorious birds. But we like to smell the stinking carrion, and run for it several hundred miles, and it does not hurt that we are black before the world.
So the Lord used two similes, first of all, a heavenly one, of lightning, which is a beautiful light, to indicate that his kingdom should be unbound and uncaptured. For since Jerusalem is now destroyed, where Christ's kingdom was before, it is asked where the kingdom will be. For Jerusalem is now torn asunder. Then it is said, "Where the lightning will be and where the carrion will be, that is, where the divine word will be, whether here or in another place," that is where the church will be.
The enthusiasts say that we teach Hie
1) Erlanger: Fasian.
and there, but the here and there in your and our way. For baptism is not here alone, as the pope says, he is a pious bishop, not elsewhere. No, he [Christ] says, all places are my servants. Because the place is my servant, it is right, then it is not called here and there. For if there be a carcase, there must be a place; but that it be not assigned to the place, 2) That [it be] there or thereabouts. 3)Let it not be said, In the word; it is not spiritual. That is, not Here and There, nor bound to the altar, or baptism, or preaching seat. They were rude teachers, that they wanted to prove it by this. As, the sacramentarians pretended that in the Lord's Supper alone was the bread and wine, and baptism only a bad water, and the word of God only a plant, 4) with which or through which the Holy Spirit was not given.
Nor should it be preached in the house alone, for that would be called Here. This is not the opinion of the Lord Christ, that 5) any place should be chosen, and the other places all excluded and despised, as if one would say: The Holy Spirit is found in Rome alone; then it would be said, No. Why? Thy throne at Rome shall be subject unto me, saith Christ; all places shall serve me. I serve and preach where I will, there also will Christ be with his shedding of blood by the word. Now where I may walk, and where I may preach, there also is the church; and there it is, as I have said: Behold, there is Christ. This makes a special place and person.
Therefore, we have an eternal dispute with the Pope's canons and can never become one with the canons and decrees of the Pope. 6) The Holy Scriptures must give way or the canons must give way. For either the holy scripture must give way, or the canons. For the pope binds the consciences to his laws in place, food, person, and peculiar dress. For he says: Are
2) Erlanger: "die Stätte nicht zueiget".
3) It seems that the sentence: "One should not say" etc. is supposed to be a plea of the enthusiasts, the following sentence: "That is" etc. Luther's answer. This whole paragraph is not quite understandable. The scribe has not sufficiently reproduced Luther's speech.
4) Maybe: "Laundry"?
5) Erlanger: but that.
6) Erlanger: dem Kanonichen.
If you do not have such a person, you cannot be saved. Therefore you will never make the canonists and theologians one, but they must be one, so that either Christ or the devil gives way. But no one gives way to the other. For this reason they will probably remain eternally at odds with one another.
But we preach that it is not called here and there. On the other hand, they preach again that it is called here and there, and although there are many other wonderful and good things in the covenants, but the devil quickly pours his poison into them with your here and there. For this reason, the Pope's canons must be removed, for it is the devil's right. For it shall trouble the consciences that, if one is not such a person as the pope depicts, then one must be damned, since God's word says it is false. Therefore, the teachings of the pope and the canons are nothing but murder pits and purgatory of the conscience, and if the poison is here and there inside, nothing remains, one is then lost. It is better that you should be lost, than that we should lose God and Christ. Therefore, remain a jurist in secular law, which governs the country and the people rightly, protects the pious and punishes the wicked. You have enough to do, practice in it. But with the Pabst's dirt always away! Let no man hear, but say, This poison is the devil; but look thou to the lightning from heaven, and to the carrion upon the earth. For the eagles will not all gather here in Wittenberg. Therefore the pope must perish or God, item, our gospel or the pope's decree must go. For if he would become our Lord again, it is called here and there.
So Christ now proclaims that his kingdom is not to be called Here and There. For Christ does not call us to look in one place alone, but everywhere in the world. According to this, all persons who believe in him and are baptized, whether male or female, shall be saved, no one being excluded. For it is not one man alone who believes in Christ, or one doctor alone, but all classes in the world, all classes of people in the world, and none excluded, all,
1) "none" inserted by us.
Those who believe shall be saved; it is not because they were clothed in this or that garment. For no garment shall do it, but all persons shall be equal; neither shall any plate do it, nor cap; 2) but all that believe in Christ, whether they drink water, or wine, or eat fish, all of them one, and none of them excluded; 3) there shall be no distinction either of persons, or of garments, or of places, or of places. Item, thou shalt not eat meat, butter and cheese, item, thou shalt not wear a red skirt, but become a monk and put on a gray cap, nor shall any nun wear a wreath, item, at Rome is the church, and nowhere else in the world do they hold many processiones and stations. But no; it is said: Where there is a carrion, there the eagles gather. You don't have to look at any place, dress or person. He will have none, but will have it all; he will have man, woman, king, emperor, and may wear all manner of raiment, and drink and eat all that they have.
But this error has taken hold with such force that even the elect have been deceived into error, as St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure and others. St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure and others, and have not considered this godly and holy necessary admonition and warning of Christ, but have only opened their eyes, ears, mouths and noses to what the pope has taught; And therefore all orders, brotherhoods and pilgrimages have come, and after the destruction of Jerusalem this desolation and prison of the Christian church has soon followed, in which all potentates of the world are still stuck, except us, whom God has saved from it by revelation of His word.
Now he goes to the other question, about the end of the world and the last day. To this he will also answer. The first part has happened, and Jerusalem has been torn apart, and we have been miserably afflicted with spiritual persecution, and there are still many kings in it. But the days shall be shortened, that the number of the elect may be increased, and the gospel spread abroad, and many be won to Christ.
2) "do" inserted by us.
3) Erlanger: "eat all fish, included and excluded."
The tenth sermon on the 24th chapter of Matthew.
Preached on the Sunday Vocem jucunditatis, on 2 Maji, 1540.
This affliction [p. 29:] was started by the sorry pope and still lasts to this day. But how long it can still exist', we cannot know. Nevertheless, the last day will soon follow, as the Gospel says here.
However, no one can say how horrible it was under the papacy. The Turk's tyranny and murder is great, and he is an archenemy and persecutor of Christianity; but one can still understand such his persecution. But because the Pabst's affliction is spiritual, it cannot be excused, and when this affliction will cease, the last day will surely come.
And have heard above in the 24. Chapter 24, how the Lord answered the question, and said how it should be after his death in the world, until the end of the world, namely, that there should be two kinds of persecution, namely, murder, which the Jews and emperors and kings have committed against the Christians, who have shed much blood throughout the whole Roman Empire; then lies, which are driven by the heretics, who have challenged the faith and miserably torn apart the church, until the pope and Turk came, who have reversed it all; and the Turk with his Mahomet now holds almost the greatest part of the world. So the Pope also has a terrifying reign, for before his name all the emperors and kings of the world are terrified, and God under his kingdom has honestly preserved the sacrament of baptism and the mere text of the Holy Scriptures and the Gospel. Thus, God tried and purified His Church, also armored it. After these two persecutions he proclaims that when they are at their greatest, there shall be an end, and now says and preaches about the last judgment and the end of the world. Otherwise he says in the gospel clearly and plainly that no one knows the day and the hour of the last judgment, because only
1) The designation of the year (in the original margin) 1539 lst wrong. It must read 1540." (Erlanger.)
2) Erlanger: out of.
the Father in heaven and the angels in heaven do not know, and yet, so that he does not leave us without warning, he gives us a sign so that we can take counsel, and he wants us to believe that the last day must not be far away, but at the door, and so people can be warned.
And such signs must be, that the future of this day may be known, and it may be said: Truly this day must not be far off; and this preaching must now be spoken and practiced, especially among the Christians. So they also had signs at the time of Christ, which the prophets had proclaimed when the kingdom of Judah would cease, namely, because Christ would be there, item, when the Roman empire would be at its best, he would rise from the dead. Therefore there was a murmur in the time of Christ that he must be present; and in the Gospel they say: Truly this is Christ, for even if another came, he could not do greater deeds than he is doing. So time and prophecy coincide. The same must be said before the end of the world. Truly, the world has an end, how can it be otherwise? The signs are there that are to precede it.
The evangelist understands it recently, and yet he indicates how it shall be in the end; and S. Paul 1 Cor. 15. also speaks of it, saying: I declare to you a secret thing, which the world does not know, but you Christians know it, namely, that we shall all die, but come forth incorruptible again, that is, that they die no more. There he sets forth two things, namely, that we shall not all die, and yet all shall die; that they who shall live to see that day, and shall find the voice or sound of the trumpet alive, shall at that moment be changed with those who sleep in the earth and have died, and shall be drawn to meet Christ. They will be asleep, that is, lying in the grave and dead, the others will still be alive, and yet both will be found at the same hour and moment and changed from this life to another life. This will be a wonderful work, that the whole world with the deceased in a hui and moment, when they hear the voice of the trumpet.
The dead shall be drawn to Christ. The dead shall come forth out of the earth, and we who are alive shall not die, shall not go into the earth or into the grave, and yet at that moment shall be changed, if we still have this body in us, even if we still have this life in us, shall be changed, and not die, but be changed out of a mortal, corruptible, stinking body. Item, which are then also immediately not Christians, will then also be changed, and all this in a moment, by a bright trumpet. But it is impossible for us to understand, so we have to believe it.
And what the Lord also says here, that God will send His angels, that will also happen in a moment; and take the likeness before you of the lightning when it thunders. You see, when it is a strong, terrible weather, it thunders so that the houses crack, and a real thunderclap, before you look around, in a moment, it has done what it wants to do. That is first of all the ABC of it, this is only a sign against the weather, which is to become then on the last day. For the other weather can also be done by the wicked devil, just as the devil's whores, the sorceresses, often cause the weather to strike cattle, grain, houses and farms; not that the devil could not do it for himself without the sorcerers, but he is a lord of the world and arrogates to himself divine majesty, and yet will not do it without the work of men; And just as God, through the prophets and apostles, pastors and preachers, baptizes, administers the sacraments, preaches, comforts, and yet does not do it without preachers and holy people, just as he does not govern the land and people without secular authorities, so does the devil. He also has his priests who help him carry out his office, and he will not do it without the magicians. Just as God has joined himself to us, that when I baptize, he will also be present: so does the devil, saying, "If you speak these words and make crosses, I will be there and do this or that.
Clouds, that suddenly a house would fall over a heap. And so it is read in the book of Job, that the devil made a storm, and burned Job's house, and strangled his children and his cattle, and that the devil said afterward unto God, If thou hadst not made such a wall about him, I would have stirred him better. He did the same with us. But the angels of God resist him and can do better than he, as the pious angel did in the camp of war of king Sanherib, which lay before Jerusalem, a storm and hail, so that he strangled a hundred and eighty thousand men [2 Kings 19:35].
But what kind of weather and thunder will it be, when the Lord Himself will make weather on the last day? For if the weather is caused by the devils and good angels, who also destroy everything and do harm, what kind of terrible weather will it be when God's Son comes with His angels and makes a thunderclap, and comes in an instant and kills everything? Then God will show Himself in His majesty with all the hosts of the dear angels. Behold, what weather there was at Mount Sinai, and yet it was not God's weather. The mountain stood, trembled and shook, and there was smoke and steam around it and thick black clouds, thunder and lightning were heard and seen there; and yet it was only the angels' business, made by the angels' power and forces, who had given the law in God's name; they had caused the weather. From this it can be seen what kind of thunderstorm the Lord Christ himself will cause on the last day by his divine majesty. He himself will come and make a weather, raise a shout, and sound the trumpet and sing the taraton. It will be such a weather that when the right blow comes, it will kill everyone in the world and bring everyone back to life; and when the thunder goes, it will be like fire. The fire will not harm us, but heaven and earth and all the elements will be melted. The sun and the moon and the stars will be no more, but all things will be new; and though fire remain, we shall not have it.
respect nor fear. For the angels who now live in heaven are like fire, bright and shining spirits, and God Himself is a fire. Therefore, when we rise from the dead, the fire will do us no harm or harm, and we will all be like fire and light. On the other hand, the wicked will have eternal torture and torment.
You may understand this from the storms that the evil spirits and good angels make out of God's command.
V. 31. He will send his angels with bright trumpets.
A shout in the field is not to be heard joyfully. What then shall be the trumpet of God, which is not made of brass, but which he himself shall blow? That such a bright and strong sound shall be made, that men shall die with it; and in the thunder and tempest the heavens and the earth shall be black; and the blast shall be threefold, and shall be called his own weather, and thunder, and shouting in the field, and trumpet.
The thunderstorm, even though it is still far away from us, will still be heard. Even though it is made by angels, people will still be safe in the world, except for the pious and godly who believe in Christ, that he will come to judge the living and the dead. They will know the signs that the day of the Lord is near. It may well come that the thunder will precede for a year, and then the miser, usurers, fornicators, drunkards and other godless people will say: Have you never heard the weather and thunder before, or seen it light up? Should mau be afraid of lightning? just as S. Paul 1 Thessalonians says in the fifth chapter that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they will say: There is peace, there is no danger, then destruction will quickly overtake them, like the pain of a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. For by working, planting, sowing (as afterward
1) glinzen - to shine.
in this 24th chapter of Matthew), in a moment the blow will come, and we will be drawn up to meet it in the air, and then we will see the Lord coming in the beautiful lightning that will illuminate the whole world.
Thus the Holy Spirit describes the last day, and S. Peter does the same in his epistle, so that we may prepare and prepare ourselves for this glorious future, in which heaven and earth and all elements will be melted. Since it does not happen in small weather without damage, what should not happen in the great weather, when heaven and earth will be melted by it? Because we see now how the weather tears through and crashes in the clouds, but there the elements will even melt.
But before this thunder and lightning, these signs will precede: There will be great weather, thunder and lightning, and yet the people will be safe, and no one will ask about it except the Christians. The others shall laugh and mock, as it happened in the days of Noah, when they thought him a fool to make a mouse-box and a bird-builder. Now when it began to rain, ei, said they, hast thou never seen rain before? Have you not seen thick, cloudy, black clouds? In the same way, they say, "It has been seen that there have been eclipses of the sun and the moon. These will be plunged in their safety into the abyss of hell in a moment, after which an end will be made to their lies and murder.
V. 29. The sun and the moon will lose their shine.
The celestial masters and stargazers can calculate to a minute when the eclipses will be, but I think it will be a little more. For he casts it all together, the sun, moon, stars and celestial powers. And the unbelievers will still be blind, and especially the Turks, Papists and usurers. Therefore, the text also says that the sun, moon and stars will lose their light in a special way.
2) "very" put by us instead of "empty" in the Erlanger.
The astronomers have a certain rule that when the sun and moon are eclipsed, and when the sun loses its light, then the moon is not called eclipsed, and at the same time the sun and moon cannot lose their light. This is almost as if the sun, moon, and stars were to be seen to lose their light in one way and at the same time, which has never happened before: but on the day when Christ was crucified, there was also such an unnatural eclipse of the sun; and if the world should still stand for a long time, the astrouomi and mathematici should know nothing of it; when Christ suffered, the sun was eclipsed, and yet the month was not new. For if otherwise there is an eclipse of the sun, then certainly the month is new. This is their art. But there the sun was eclipsed [not] 1) in the new moon, on the 14th day of the month Martii. Therefore this eclipse was not to be counted from the art. Before the peasants' revolt the sun was always red, and God grant that it was already a sign of the last day. This summer the sun was so thick, from the heat, that I could see into it: so the Lord can still make it that [it] would also be dark in the middle of the day. This year the sun and moon were seen as a red copper plate, so that I saw no brilliance. Who knows what these signs are?
Above we have said of the end-Christ that it is the pope. His majesty also falls, before which otherwise emperors, kings, princes and lords trembled, but now one respects him 2) nothing. This is not a bad sign. For the Lord strikes the villain dead with the sword of the mouth, that is, with faith, with which all his majesty is now struck. Item, the Turk shall not gain much more, and the world will be safe, build, eat and drink, and the usury [has risen], that one takes from the hundred ten, fifteen, twenty florins. Where is it going? And the people are mad and foolish with usury and robbery.
1) "not" inserted by us, because otherwise a complete contradiction would take place, because the solar eclipses occur only at the time of the new moon.
2) Höck: "jn". Erlanger: "jenen".
The gospel is now clear and bright, and there are few who follow it. The pope and the Turk mock us, and are few of the true Christians.
But if these are not signs, it will not be long before we see the sun and moon blackened, as happened in the passion of Christ. I would like to turn it to that, that these would be right signs, which we see now. But the text keeps me, that the last day will find the world in the rush, buying and selling, eating and drinking.
Therefore let us see to it that we do not fail; and the devout hearts not only say, Christ will come, but wish that he were now at the door and already there, and these are truly the right words. It was not so under the papacy. Whoever heard of the last day was frightened, and no one liked to hear about dying; everyone wished that the last day would never come. Now it is the other way round, and the words and wishes of many devout hearts go: Come, dear Lord Jesus Christ! For there is no government, everyone does what he wants, our preaching does not help, so the worldly authorities are left alone. Therefore come thunder and lightning, and strike it all down. This cry is truly a sign of the future of the Lord, and we Christians will make the right cry and say, as it is written in the Revelation of John: Veni, domine Jesu, come, dear Lord JEsu Christe, make an end of the game.
Since it is therefore shameful in the world, let us beware. But he has commanded us, when we see this, that we should be glad, and lift up our heads, and pray that God will control the evil world and the devil. Previously, mau did not ask, wish and speak thus, but only the antitype.
V. 30. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.
Many have interpreted that one will find a cross in heaven, for the angel of one [will be] a cross, the other a spear, the third the nails and other weapons,
so that he was martyred. Now I believe that it will be seen what the Lord Christ, our head, suffered for his members, for us, his Christianity; but this is the natural sign: The confession of the mouth, or his word; as Isaiah also saith in the eleventh chapter [v. 10.], "It shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, which is for a banner," or sign, "shall be to the nations, after whom the Gentiles shall inquire." The banner or sign will be raised up and the elect will gather there. This sign can be interpreted by no one else, except by the gospel, which will be spread through all hearts and through all kingdoms. This, I think, is what he also means here.
But it is truly a good prayer that the elect will then lead: Thy kingdom come unto us; hallowed be thy name. Otherwise one cannot resist, it becomes the longer the more annoying.
End of the sermon.
The eleventh sermon on the 24th chapter of Matthew.
[1540.] 1)
V. 32: Learn a likeness from the fig tree. When its branch is now succulent and gaining leaves, you know that summer is near.
We want to make this text about the last day, as we have begun; and have heard so far how the sun and the moon will lose their light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will howl and see the sign of the Son of God, and see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory, and sending His angels with bright trumpets; and have heard what is to be understood by the trumpet, and how the angels will blow it. For this is also spoken of by S. Paul to the Thessalonians [Cap. 4, 15. ff.] and to the Corinthians [Cap. 15, 22. ff.], which will happen in a hui in the last trumpet, but will not all die or sleep.
And here it is written that Christ will come in majesty, and S. Paul
1) A closer time determination is missing. This sermon was preached between May 2 and September 19, 1540.
says that we shall then be raptured with him into the clouds.
Now how does this rhyme, if it is all to happen in a moment and be pushed to the ground, where then will the clouds and the air be when he is to descend and we are to be drawn to meet him in the clouds? and this will happen when the last trumpet is to sound.
First of all, it is certain that in the hour when the angels blow, the Christians will still be on earth among the wicked. Therefore it is said to the Corinthians [1 Ep. 15, 51. f.]: We will all be changed, but not all will fall asleep, and that suddenly and in a moment, at the time of the last trumpet, will have a different nature, will come out of the mortal and stinking body to a beautiful, delicious, fragrant body. This will happen when the last trumpet sounds, in a moment. Those who will be struck by the trumpet will not die, or, as St. Paul used to say, fall asleep. This is one and certain, because the text is clear.
On the other hand, it is certain that the world and the wicked will be living in a frenzy, feasting and eating, throwing up their hands and saying, "Are the Christians fools, mad and foolish, to be afraid of the day? and the Christians will be a small crowd. The others will eat, drink, take men, buy and sell, just as they did before the flood, when it was also preached that the weather would come and drown the world. But the more Noah preached, the more they ate. It was the same in Sodom. There the full sows ran around the house and wanted to break out the doors, and were without all worry, until the morning dawned, then they went to sleep. But those who were drowned in an instant in the flood, and those who were destroyed in an instant in Sodom and Gomorrah by brimstone, fire and pitch. The same happened to Sanherib, the emperor of Assyria, when a hundred and eighty thousand men were slain in one night before Jerusalem. The same will happen before the last day and the end of the world, when the day will suddenly come upon us.
the Turk, the pope, the princes, the usurers and the fornicators, who are now in all their lust, joy, avarice and worldly dominion. Then the last day will also come in a moment.
On the other hand, the world will be safe, and seek all kinds of pleasure, and strive for good, money and honor, as if it only wanted to live here forever.
How does it rhyme that he will come in the clouds and send his angels to gather the elect from the four elders of the earth, and who are then asleep, to come out of the earth and meet Christ? All this cannot be done in a moment. Item, the text says [v. 36]: "Of the day and hour even the angels do not know", when the last day will come, and Christ himself will not know it either, according to his mystery; and I have also said that this trumpet will not be made of silver, gold or brass, as the trumpets were in the law, but S. Paul says: It will be a trumpet of God, which will be blown by an archangel.
But first there shall be heard a terrible, great, dreadful thunder; and after that he shall sound: and it shall come to pass in the night, or very early, that the Lord shall lift up a black and thick cloud of weather. Then there will be thunder and lightning. This will not be the right trumpeting, but only the sounding of the trumpets. But Christ will not yet be seen in the air until the right lightning comes. Then all will be changed in a moment; then the cloud will be seen in which the Lord will come. But the wicked will not see it. Then the right and last thunderclap and weather will come, and thunder and lightning will strike together in a moment. But the Christians see such a cloud and other signs, and notice what is there, and in that they now see, and others see according to the dice, according to money, goods, pleasure, their trades etc. the sound of the last trumpets will go; and this weather will the
1) Thus already emendirt by Hock. Erlanger: "in all its".
The angels will gather the clouds together, and the fire and the water will be gathered together, and the heavens and the earth and all creatures will tremble and shake, and everything will collide, crash and fall. In the last stroke we will see with different eyes, and [the] cloud will be gone, and bright trumpet will be the weather. We shall hear no other trumpet than the trumpet of thunder and lightning.
So did he also at mount Sinai. Early in the morning Moses led the people of Israel to [the] mountain, and there the mountain trembled, there was lightning, thunder, and a crash of thunder. 2) There go the ten commandments: "I, the Lord, to God. So it will be here also. For the Lord Christ has said that the day will come like a thief in the night, suddenly and unawares. Now we are not to be afraid of the day, for it is to be our salvation; and it will happen suddenly that I will come out of the mortal body into an immortal one, and there God will try his greatest power, just as he did in the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, so that when he spoke a word, heaven and earth stood there. Then he will also create with his omnipotence that all this also stands here, and everything happens in a moment.
What else will happen in the clouds is only a preparation. The angels will create a weather that will be terrifying to the wicked, but it will gather all the elect, dead or alive. So now we have a picture of how it will be on the last day, so that, as in the fig tree, when it sprouts leaves, it will know that summer is near; so also, when you see all this, know that it is near at the door. Otherwise the last day shall not come, the church shall be led into great distress by heretics and tyrants, and feel pestilence, war, the time is dear, that the Christians shall be martyred and their blood shall be wasted.
2) Thus put by us instead of: "and strike in the stroke and thunder." After the words in the previous paragraph: "there will strike together in a moment lightning and thunder" is to be understood the reading put by us.
And especially shall be destroyed before Jerusalem, and the martyrs shall be brought before the Romans, and they shall be afflicted. These two things have happened.
When you have seen these two things, item, 1) that the false prophets will also come after the martyrs, item, an apostasy from the Christian faith, as has also happened. For in Turkey Christianity is at a standstill, and in Tartary there is no church. So there is also a small church in the papacy. For what Christians have remained there is miraculously preserved. Otherwise, the common rule of the pope has been the devil's kingdom. First of all, they preached rightly in the schools and churches at the time of the apostles and martyrs. Then came the teaching of the pope, which turned everything upside down. Arius devastated the church in his time so that only two bishops in the Roman Empire remained constant and pure in doctrine; under the papacy, not one bishop remained constant.
You have seen and experienced all these things. Now the Lord has warned us not to go out, nor to believe it; but when you see Jerusalem disturbed, the sun and the moon darkened, etc. that shall be the last sign. Now I have said, leave it in doubt, 2) whether the Lord will thus understand, whether the moon shall be darkened together with the sun, or one after another, and at the same time the stars also shall be darkened. Item, Lucas says: The waters will roar. And these years ago many wonderful miraculous deeds happened, the like of which one has never read, as crosses, fiery beams at moon and sun. But let us leave it in doubt, and yet not despise. This year there have been terrible eclipses of the sun, and more will follow, and the astronomers say that there have never been so many eclipses before as there are now. It cannot stand any longer, if God wills. The pope falls away, also with his own, the Turk grows very much, that it cannot stand long; so
1) "item" here is: so it will happen.
2) This addition is made by us.
is also such eating, drinking, dressing, usury, and the world is now becoming epicurious. The pope sows, the peasants follow.
When we see the previous signs and how the world is now in an evil state, Christ says:
V. 33. When you see all these things, know that it is near at hand.
Say that devout hearts will consider eating and drinking as a sign of the last day. 3) Such things are said to us Christians. If the wicked despise it, let them do it. It will not be eaten for a long time. I am completely mistaken, he shall not remain outside for long. The world has now stood five thousand five hundred and some years, now in the six thousand year 4) the end shall come, and that same last thousand year shall not be fulfilled. For God uses to do so, as in the resurrection of Christ. Immediately in the half of the third day, he rises from the dead. How, if also with the half of the six thousand year the last day would come? For the pope falls, the Turk still stands, but not for long, so the world lives in the buzz. Therefore, as S. Peter says in the 2nd epistle in the 3rd chapter, and as S. Paul speaks, we will be drawn towards Christ in the air, and the angels will snatch us out of this life into eternal life, and then become new heaven and new earth.
So shall we keep the last day, and believe also. But others, as the wicked, when they see the black clouds, will say, "Did you not see a black cloud before, or hear thunder? But the Lord says, "When you see this happening, look up. For when the trees bud and shoot forth, or when they put forth leaves, summer is near. So also, when ye shall see these things come to pass one after another, say, The latter day is at hand. He will not name the day, much less the hour. For the weather may precede and begin four days, ten days, or fourteen days, and if
3) Erlanger: Haltens.
4) i.e. in the sixth millennium. - Immediately following: "thousand year" - millennium.
then the command will go out (as Paul says, the trumpet of the archangel), then all will know that the day is present.
Lucas adds: "They bought and sold until the day Noah entered the ark. Noah himself did not know that day; he built the box for a hundred years and gathered all kinds of animals from all over the world, preaching that God would let the world perish by the water. Ten or twenty years passed, and the punishment did not come. Then they said: Noah, when will the flood come? Are you not mad and foolish with the archa? The more he preached, the more they laughed at him, saying: He has built a fop house 1). But Noah remained in his faith, and kept God's word, and knew for certain that the flood would come, and said: I will wait, the punishment will come. But when the day came, and God's voice and word came, Go into the ark, it began to rain. But at first they began to laugh, saying, "Are you running and running from a little rain and weather? But after that the fountains and depths of the earth were opened, and the waters increased so much that they drowned all men, and birds, and beasts, and all that had life out of the earth.
It will be the same for us, we will do the same. For the pope and his followers make a mockery of it, that we are afraid of the last day, as S. Paul 2) also says [1 Tim. 4:1] that in the last days mockers will come; and in Rome they speak now: These are fools who read the Bible. This is already in the day and a sign of Christ's future, for they consider those who read God's word fools and kill them. Noah will have had many enemies, but they will all remain behind, and he will be alone with only three sons.
1) We encounter the same word in the expression "Geckismus," which Luther uses as a mocking name for Agricola's Catechism. Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XX, 1655.
2) "St. Paul" is perhaps a spelling mistake instead of St. Peter, because 2 Petr. 3, 3. comes closer to the wording than the passage of Paul we have referred to, and the following twelfth sermon also comes back to 2 Petr. 3, 3.
and their wives. So we will also lose bases, 3) mothers, cousins, brothers and sisters. For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the end of the world. For he who keeps the word of God (like Noah, who expected a hundred years of the flood) must suffer much mockery, for the longer it goes on, the worse it gets in the world.
So now it is also possible, which is comforting for us Christians, that the world is increasing with all kinds of wickedness. The more one preaches, the less they turn to it, as is the case now; the more murderers are strangled, the more they become. So it is that wickedness and wantonness are increasing in an overflowing rush, as there is usury and avarice, and is increasing in all classes. Now we cry out and preach against it, that the princes should fight back. But what does it help? But it helps us that we expect the last day all the sooner, and the wicked shall then be plunged into hell, but we want to attain to the same day the only blessedness. Then you will not take your money with you, and because of your avarice you will bring the last judgment upon yourself, and you will help us from there to heaven, but you to hell.
Therefore we may take comfort that the last day is not far off; and if it does not come soon, no sermon will remain. For with such bright doctrine men become devils only in defiance of the doctrine. But if thou wilt not obey and be helped, help me, that the latter day may come the sooner, and that I may be brought to the kingdom of heaven, and thou to hell.
That is why he tells us:
V. 42. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord will come.
After this warning they ask nothing, but we are warned with it. Everything has happened and is still happening before our eyes. Now that the signs have happened, the trumpet will come, and the day will not be long in coming. Then we shall see who has mocked the other.
3) Erlanger: Wasen.
The twelfth sermon on the 24th chapter of Matthew.
Preached the 17th Sunday after Trinity (the 19th of September Anno 1540. 1)
The other day we heard how the Lord proclaimed his future and the last day, how it should be before the last day, and gave us signs that should precede it, so that we would be ready for that day, as S. Peter also gives us an earnest admonition for this reason.
Now saith the Lord Christ, Behold the fig tree, item, of the day and hour knoweth no man, no, not even the angels which are in heaven, but my Father only: as if to say, If we had heard more of the end of the world, yet of that which we hear here is enough, that it is determined that heaven and earth should pass away; and saith, that this generation of the Jews shall not pass away, till all be done; and till the words which he speaketh here should come to pass, heaven and earth must rather pass away. Therefore these words which are preached shall never pass away. There is not much to be said about "passing away", for we see that one after another always dies; and even if the world remains, we always pass away; and that is even more, that not only we pass away, but the whole human race will cease, that not only with me and you will it come to an end, but with the whole human race, that no more men will be begotten. Therefore one should know that it should have an end once and for all.
These words need a little explanation.
V. 34. This generation will not depart until all is done.
Here they make various understandings of what it is: "this generation," item, "all things come to pass. 2) On the one hand, they understand it from the Jews, who were born when Christ lived and became Christ in the flesh.
1) "Here again, as with the 10th sermon on Matth. 24, the year 1540 is to be assumed." (Höck.)
. 2) "happen" put by us instead of: "pass away" in the Erlanger.
have seen, they shall not pass away. 3) But methinks this is the opinion that the Jews shall remain unto the end of the world; and because they shall not cease, the latter day shall not long remain without, and the opinion is good and not false. Secondly, the gender non collectionem hominum significat, but successionem et durationem temporis, in German: bei Mannes Zeit oder bei Menschengedenken; as one otherwise is wont to say: Es ist bei Menschengedenken solche Laster nicht erhört. The Latini call it saeculum, one hundred years. This generation, that is, this people, who lives this time, as it is also written in the Magnificat: Omnes generationes de aetate in aetatem. So it can also stand here that Christ wants to say: All this shall still happen in the memory of man.
Now this requires a high understanding and interpretation. Then you must take the word "come to pass" differently, so that it means, per synecdoche, to begin to come to pass; as if he should say, It shall soon begin and come to pass, that it shall go and stand in the remembrance of men. It shall not be as the prophets prophesied, which they set afar off; but Jerusalem shall be destroyed, and other things more: and it shall go and come to pass, that ye may see it, and be yet present.
So the Lord and the apostles show the end of the world and the last day with his gospel, and reckon it all as a man may think. Since the greatest thing has happened, and Christ has redeemed the human race and thereby established a church for it, the other thing is to be understood totum pro parte, as John says, not in the remembrance of men, but in the last hour, and S. Paul says, "Upon whom the end of the world is come. Therefore he speaks of the same thing as if the end of the world should begin soon after the resurrection of Christ. For another kingdom of Christ shall not come, neither shall it be at Rome, for the Turk belongs to the Roman Empire. But he saith, In your time shall ye see it come to pass, in the memory of men shall it be seen to begin to come to pass, not as the prophets have done, who cast it far.
3) Erlanger: to go to.
[2 Petr. 3, 3.] In the last days.
Are both sentiments and opinion good, but the last I like better. Because it has granted more than fifteen human memory. How does it rhyme with that? But so the scripture is used to speak, when it takes totum pro parte.
S. Peter has well seen that this argument would be attracted, since he speaks: "In the last days scoffers will come"; as if S. Peter should speak: Christ has said: "This generation will not pass away" etc. Where then is the last day? This argument is diluted by S. Peter with all diligence in the other epistle in the third chapter, as you may read the beginning of the same third chapter, because they do not know the way and work of our Lord God, saying: "I will not save you, that in the sight of God there are a thousand years, but one day. This makes them mad, he has called a saeculum. But they do not understand that there is a synecdoche, and that the beginning, namely
The time is a thousand years and more, as a thousand years are as one day in the sight of God. They do not reckon this, do not understand the time, the synecdoche, and reckon it as one day.
according to human understanding, then think that the last day will not come. God, however, still shows the day for a little while, so that one may repent.
Because God shows you the last day, make sure you are ready at all times, do not delay, knowing that the day will come and will come soon, as it follows in the text that it will come like a thief in the night. Whether it is now delayed, then remember: He has longer days than we. For a thousand years are not longer before him than one day, and one day than a thousand years. Those who work in the third, sixth, and twelfth hours, from the beginning of the world to the end, are all the same before him.
Therefore the Lord will hang the last day on all the beginning of the gospel, as if it were soon from the beginning of the gospel, as if it would come tomorrow. For nothing will be changed, neither the gospel nor baptism, except that new persecutions will always arise.
End of the sermons on the 24th chapter of Matthew.