_That Christ warreth with great Potentates_.
On the 18th of August, 1535, Luther, receiving letters from Frankfort
relating to the great preparations of the Emperor against the
Protestants, said: Our Saviour Christ will not wage wars with beggars,
but with great and powerful Kings and Princes, as it is written, “Kings
of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together against the
Lord, and against his anointed.” Well, on, said Luther, they will find
their counsels altogether vain and frivolous, for Christ shall win the
field. We see also how the Prophets contended and strove with Kings, as
the Kings of Babel and Assyria, etc. In like manner Daniel, one of the
chief Prophets, wrestled and strove with Kings, and they again resisted
the Prophets. All those Kings are gone, and lie in the ashes, but Christ
remaineth, still, and will remain a King for ever.
_That it doth not follow because Christ did this and that_, _therefore we
must also do the same_.
At this time, said Luther, there are those that allege Christ by force
drove the buyers and sellers out of the temple; therefore we also may use
the like power against the Popish bishops and enemies of God’s Word, as
Muntzer and other seducers, in the time of the common rebellion, anno
1525. Christ did many things which we neither may nor can do after him.
He went upon the water, he fasted forty days and forty nights, he raised
Lazarus from death after he had lain four days in the grave, etc. Such
and the like must we leave undone. Much less will Christ have that we by
force should set against the enemies of the truth, but he commanded the
contrary, “Love your enemies, pray for them that vex and persecute you,”
etc. But we ought to follow him in such works where he hath annexed an
open command, as, “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful;” likewise,
“Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and humble in
heart,” etc., also, “He that will follow me, let him deny himself, take
up his cross and follow me.”
_That the weak in Faith do also belong to the Kingdom of Christ_.
The weak in faith, said Luther, do also belong to the kingdom of Christ,
otherwise the Lord would not have said to Peter, “Strengthen thy
brethren,” Luke xxii.; and Rom. xiv., “Receive the weak in faith;” also 1
Thess. v., “Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak.” If the weak in
faith should not belong to Christ, where then would the Apostles have
been, whom the Lord oftentimes (also after his resurrection, Mark xvi.)
reproved because of their unbelief?
_That Christ is the only Physician against Death_, _whom notwithstanding
very few do desire_.
A cup of water, said Luther, if a man can have no better, is good to
quench the thirst. A morsel of bread stilleth the hunger, and he that
hath need seeketh earnestly thereafter. So Christ is the best, surest,
and only physic against the most fearful enemy of mankind, the devil, but
they believe it not with their hearts. If they knew a physician who
lived above one hundred miles off, that could prevent or drive away
temporal death, oh, how diligently would he be sent for! No money nor
cost would be spared. Hence it appears how abominably human nature is
spoiled and blinded; yet, notwithstanding, the small and little heap do
stick fast to the true Physician, and by this art do learn that which the
holy old Simeon well knew, from whence he joyfully sang, “Lord, now
lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy
salvation,” etc., therefore death became his sleep; but from whence came
his great joy? Because that with spiritual and corporeal eyes he saw the
Saviour of the world—he saw the true Physician against sin and death.
Therefore it is a great trouble to behold how desirous a thirsty body is
of drink, or one that is hungry of food, whereas a cup of water, a morsel
of bread, can still hunger and thirst no longer than two or three hours,
but no man, or very few, are desirous, or do long after the most precious
Physician, although he lovingly calleth and allureth all to come unto
him, and saith, “He that is athirst, let him come to me and drink” (John
vii.); so, “He that believeth in me, from his body shall flow streams of
living water.”
_Of the Temple of all the Gods (except Christ)_, _at Rome_, _called
Pantheon_.
In the year 606, Emperor Phocas, the murderer of that good and godly
Emperor Mauritius, and the first erector of the Pope’s primacy, gave this
temple Pantheon to Pope Boniface the Third, to make thereof what he
pleased. He gave it another name, and instead of All-Idols he named it
the Church of All-Saints; he did not number Christ among them, from whom
all saints have their sanctity, but erected a new idolatry, the
Invocation of Saints.
In my chronicle, said Luther, I expound the name of Bonifacius thus:
Bonifacius is a Popish name, that is, a good form, fashion, or show, for
under the colour of a good form and show he acted all manner of mischief
against God and man.
As I was at Rome, said Luther, I saw this church; it had no windows, but
only a round hole on the top, which gave some light. It was vaulted
high, and had pillars of marble stone so thick that two of us could
scarcely fathom one about. Above, on the vault, were portrayed all the
gods of the heathen, Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, Venus, and how else they are
called. These gods were at a union, to the end they might fool and
deceive the whole world; but Christ they cannot endure, for he hath
whipped them out. Now are the Popes come, and have driven Christ away
again; but who knoweth how long it will continue?
_That the World knoweth not Christ_, _nor those that are his_.
Even as Christ is now invisible and unknown to the world, so are we
Christians also invisible and unknown therein. “Your life,” saith St.
Paul (Coloss. iii.), “is hid with Christ in God.” Therefore, said
Luther, the world knoweth us not, much less do they see Christ in us.
And John the Apostle saith, “Behold, what love the Father hath showed
unto us, that we shall be called God’s children” (1 John iii). Therefore
we and the world are easily parted; they care nothing for us, so we care
less for them; yea, through Christ the world is crucified unto us, and we
to the world. Let them go with their wealth, and leave us to our minds
and manners.
When we have our sweet and loving Saviour Christ, then we are rich and
happy more than enough, we care nothing for their state, honour, and
wealth. But we often lose our Saviour Christ, and little think that he
is in us, and we in him; that he is ours, and we are his. And although
he hideth himself from us, as we think, in the time of need for a moment,
yet are we comforted in his promise, where he saith, “I am daily with you
to the world’s end;” the same is our best and richest treasure.
_Of the Name Jesus Christ_.
I know nothing of Jesus Christ, said Luther, but only his name; I neither
have heard nor seen him corporeally; yet notwithstanding I have, God be
praised, learned so much out of the Scriptures that I am well and
thoroughly satisfied; therefore, I desire neither to see nor to hear him
corporeally. And besides this, when I was left and forsaken of all men,
in my highest weakness, in trembling and in fear of death, when I was
persecuted of the wicked world, then I oftentimes felt most evidently the
divine power which this name (Christ Jesus) communicated unto me; this
name (Christ Jesus) oftentimes delivered me when I was in the midst of
death, and made me alive again. It comforted me in the greatest despair,
and particularly at the Imperial Assembly at Augsburg, anno 1530, when I
was forsaken of every man; insomuch that, by God’s grace, I will live and
die for that name.
And rather than I will yield, or through silence endure that Erasmus
Roterodamus, or any other whosoever he be, should too nearly touch my
Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus with his ungodly false doctrine, how fairly
coloured soever it be trimmed or garnished, I say I will rather die; yea,
it should be more tolerable for me, with wife and children, to undergo
all plagues and torments, and at last to die the most shameful death,
than that I should give way thereunto.
_That Christ and the Pope are set on_, _the one against the other_.
I, said Luther, have set Christ and the Pope together by the ears,
therefore I trouble myself no further; and although I come between the
door and the hinges and be squeezed, it is no matter, though I go to the
ground; yet notwithstanding Christ will go through with it.
_Of the Pre-eminence of God’s Word_.
Christ once appeared visible here on earth, and showed his glory, and,
according to the divine counsel and purpose of God, he finished the work
of redemption and the deliverance of mankind. I do not desire that he
should come once more, neither would I that he should send an angel unto
me; and although an angel should come and appear before mine eyes from
heaven, yet would I not believe him; for I have of my Saviour Christ
Jesus bond and seal; that is, I have his Word and Spirit; thereon I do
depend, and desire no new revelations. And, said Luther, the more
steadfastly to confirm me in the same resolution, and to remain by God’s
Word, and not to give credit to any visions or revelations, I shall
relate the following circumstance:—I being on Good Friday last in my
inner chamber, in fervent prayer, contemplating with myself how Christ my
Saviour hung on the Cross, how he suffered and died for our sins, there
suddenly appeared upon the wall a bright shining vision, and a glorious
form of our Saviour Christ, with the five wounds, steadfastly looking
upon me, as if it had been Christ himself corporeally. Now, at the first
sight, I thought it had been some good Revelation: yet I recollected that
surely it must needs be the juggling of the devil, for Christ appeareth
unto us in his word, and in a meaner and more humble form; therefore I
spake to the vision in this manner: “Avoid, thou confounded devil; I know
no other Christ than he who was crucified, and who in his Word is
pictured unto me.” Whereupon the image vanished.
_That Christ is the Health and Wisdom of the Faithful_.
Alas! said Luther, what is our wit and wisdom? for before we understand
anything as we ought, we lie down and die; therefore the devil hath good
striving with us. When one is thirty years old, so hath he as yet
_Stultitias carnales_; yea, also _Stultitias spirituales_; yet it is much
to be admired that, in such our imbecility and weakness, we achieve and
accomplish so much and such great matters; but it is God that giveth it.
God gave to Alexander the Great, _Sapientiam et fortunam_, Wisdom and
good success; yet, notwithstanding, he calleth him, in the Prophet
Jeremiah, _Juvenem_, a youth, where he saith, “_Quis excitabit juvenem_”
(A young raw milksop boy shall perform it: he shall come and turn the
city Tyrus upside-down). But yet Alexander could not leave off his
foolishness, for oftentimes he swilled himself drunk, and in his
drunkenness he stabbed his best and worthiest friends; yea, afterwards he
drank himself to death at Babel. Neither was Solomon above twenty years
old when he was made King, but he was well instructed by Nathan, and
desired wisdom, which was pleasing to God, as the text saith. But now
chests full of money are desired. “Oh!” say we now, “if I had but money,
then I would do so-and-so.”