1. First, let us consider the evil practices of the brotherhoods. One
of these is their gluttony and drunkenness,--one or more masses are
held[31], afterward the entire day and night, and other days besides,
are given over to the devil, and they do only what displeases God.
Such mad reveling has been introduced by the evil spirit, and is
called a brotherhood, whereas it is rather a debauch and altogether a
heathenish, nay, swinish mode of life. There would far better be no
brotherhoods in the world than that such an abomination should be
permitted. Temporal lords and cities should unite with the clergy in
abolishing it. For God, the saints, and all Christians are greatly
dishonored thereby, and the divine services and feast-days made a
sport for the devil. Saints' days should be kept and hallowed with
good works; and the brotherhood should also be a special treasury of
good works; instead it has become a treasury of beer money. What have
the names of Our Lady, of St. Anne, St. Sebastian[32], or other saints
to do with your brotherhoods, in which you have nothing but gluttony,
drunkenness, squandering of money, howling, yelling, chattering,
dancing and wasting of time? If a sow were made the patron saint of
such a brotherhood she would not consent. Why then do they afflict the
dear saints so sorely by taking their names in vain in such shameful
practices and sins, and by dishonoring and blaspheming the
brotherhoods named after them with such evil practices? Woe unto them
who do and permit this!
2. If men desire to maintain a brotherhood, they should gather
provisions, and feed and serve a tableful or two of poor people, for
the sake of God; the day previous they should fast, and on the
feast-day remain sober, and pass the time in prayer and other good
works. Then God and His saints would be truly honored; this would lead
to better conditions, and a good example would be given others. Or
they should gather the money which they intended to squander or drink
and form a common treasury, each trade[33] by itself, so that needy
fellow-workmen might be assisted, or be lent money, or a young couple
of that trade might be fitted out respectably from the common
treasury: these would be true works of brotherhood, which would make
God and His saints look with pleasure upon the brotherhoods, of which
they would then gladly be the patrons. But where they are unwilling to
do this, and follow after the old mummery, I admonish that it be not
done on the saints' day's, nor in the name of the saints or of the
brotherhood. Let them take some other weekday and leave off the names
of the saints and of their brotherhoods, lest the saints at some time
mark it with disapproval. Although there is no day which is not
dishonored by such doings, at least the festivals and the names of the
saints should be spared. For such brotherhoods call themselves
brotherhoods of the saints while they do the work of the devil.
3. Another evil feature of the brotherhoods is of a spiritual nature;
it is a false opinion of themselves, in that they think their
brotherhood is to be a benefit to no one but to themselves,--to those
who are members and are on the roll or contribute. This damnably
wicked opinion is an even worse evil than the first, and is one of the
reasons why God has brought it about that the brotherhoods are
becoming such a mockery and blasphemy of God through gluttony,
drunkenness and the like. For there they learn to seek their own good,
to love themselves, to be faithful only to one another, to despise
others, to think themselves better than others and presume to stand
higher before God than others. And thus perishes the communion of
saints, the Christian love, and the true brotherhood, established in
the holy sacrament. Thus a selfish love grows in them; that is, by
these many external work-brotherhoods they oppose and destroy the one,
inner, spiritual, essential, common brotherhood of all saints.
When God sees this perverted state of affairs, He perverts it still
more, as is written in Psalm xviii[34], "With the perverse thou wilt
be perverted" [Ps. 18:26]; and He brings it to pass that they make
themselves and their brotherhoods a mockery and a disgrace, and He
casts them out from the common brotherhood of saints, which they
oppose and do not make common cause with, into their brotherhood of
gluttony, drunkenness and unchastity, so that they, who have neither
sought nor thought of anything more than their own, may find their
own; and then He blinds them that they do not recognize it as an
abomination and disgrace, but adorn their unseemliness with the names
of saints, as though they were doing right; beyond this He lets some
fall into so deep an abyss that they openly boast and say whoever is
in their brotherhood cannot be condemned, as though baptism and the
sacrament, instituted by God Himself, were of less worth and were less
certain than that which they have thought out with their darkened
minds. Therefore their God will dishonor and blind those who, with
their mad conduct and the swinish practices of their brotherhoods,
mock and blaspheme His easts, His name, and His saints, to the injury
of the common Christian brotherhood, which flowed from the wounds of
Christ.
4. Therefore, for the right understanding and use of the brotherhoods,
one must learn to distinguish rightly between brotherhoods. The first
is the divine, the heavenly, the noblest, which surpasses all others,
as gold surpasses copper or lead--the fellowship of all saints, of
which we spoke above[35]. In this we are all brothers and sisters, so
closely united that a closer relationship cannot be conceived, for
here we have one baptism, one Christ, one sacrament, one food, one
Gospel, one faith, one Spirit, one spiritual body, and each is a
member of the other; no other brotherhood is so close. For natural
brothers are, to be sure, brothers of one flesh and blood, of one
heritage and home, but they must separate and join themselves to
others' blood and heritage[36]. Organized brotherhoods have one roll,
one mass, one kind of good works, one festival day, one treasury, and,
as things are now, their common beer, common feast and common debauch,
but none of these binds men so closely together as to produce one
spirit, for that is done by Christ's brotherhood alone.
Since, then, the greater, broader and more embracing Christ's
brotherhood is, the better it is, therefore all other brotherhoods
should be so conducted as to keep this first and noblest brotherhood
constantly before their eyes, to regard it alone as great, and with
all their works to seek nothing for themselves, but do them for God's
sake, to entreat God that He keep and prosper this Christian
fellowship and brotherhood from day to day. Hence, when a brotherhood
is formed, they should let it be seen that its members outstrip other
persons in order to do Christianity some special service with their
prayers, fastings, alms and good works, and not in order to seek
selfish profit or reward, nor to exclude others, but to serve as the
free servants of the whole community of Christians.
If men had such a correct conception, God would restore good order, so
that the brotherhoods might not be brought to shame by debauchery.
Then God's blessing would follow, so that a general fund might be
gathered, with which other men also might be given material aid; then
the spiritual and bodily works of the brotherhoods would be done in
their proper order. Whoever will not follow this method in his
brotherhood I advise to flee from it and let the brotherhood alone; it
will do him harm in body and soul.
But if you say, If the brotherhood is not to give me some special
advantage, of what use is it to me? I answer: If you are seeking some
special advantage, how can the brotherhood or sisterhood help you?
Serve the community and other men by it, as is the nature of love, and
you will have your reward for this love without any effort and desire
on your part. But if you deem the service and reward of love too
small, it is evidence that yours is a perverted brotherhood. Love
serves freely and for nothing, therefore God also gives again to it
every blessing freely and or nothing. Since, then, everything must be
done in love, if it is to please God at all, the brotherhood must also
be a brotherhood in love. It is the nature, however, of that which is
done in love not to seek its own, nor its own profit, but that of
others, and, above all, that of the community.
5. To return once more to the sacrament; since the Christian
fellowship also is at present in a bad way, as never before, and daily
grows worse, especially among the rulers, and all places are full of
sin and shame, you should not consider how many masses are said, or
how often the sacrament is celebrated, or this will make things worse
rather than better,--but how much you and others increase in that
which the sacrament signifies and in the faith it demands,--for
therein alone lies improvement; and the more you find yourself being
incorporated into Christ and into the fellowship of His saints, the
better it is with you,--that is, if you find that you are becoming
strong in the confidence of Christ and of His dear saints, and are
certain that they love you and stand by you in all the trials of life
and in death, and that you in turn take to heart the shortcomings and
lapses of all Christians and of the whole Church, that your love goes
out to everyone, and that you desire to help everyone, to hate no one,
to suffer with all and pray or them: then will the work of the
sacrament proceed aright, then you will often weep, lament and mourn
or the wretched condition of Christendom to-day. If, however, you find
no such confidence in Christ and His saints, and the needs of the
Church and of every fellowman do not trouble or move you, then beware
of all other good works, if in doing them you think you are godly and
will be saved. Be assured they are only hypocrisy, sham and deceit, or
they are without love and fellowship, and without these nothing is
good. For the sum of it all is, _Plenitudo legis est dilectio_, "Love
is the fulfilling of the law." [Rom. 13:10] Amen.