OF THE LORD CHRIST.
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.”