At the Imperial Assembly at Augsburg, in the year 1530, the Bishop of Salzburg said unto me, “Four ways and means there are to make a reconciliation or union between us and you Protestants. One is, that ye yield unto us. To that you say you cannot. The second is, that we yield unto you; but that we will not do. The third is, that the one party, by force, should be compelled to yield to the other; but thereupon a great combustion and tumult might be raised. Therefore the fourth way or means were to be applauded and used, namely, that now being here assembled together, the one party should strive to thrust out the other, and that party which shall have the advantage, and be the stronger, the same should put the other party into a bag and expel them.” Whereupon I, said Luther, answered him and said, “This, indeed, were a very substantial course to settle unity and peace, wonderful wisely considered of, found out and expounded by such a holy and Christian-like Bishop as you are.” And thereupon I took letters out of my pocket, which shortly before I had received from Rome, and gave the same to the Bishop to read, which letter related a pretty passage that fell out there five weeks before, between some Cardinals and the Pope’s Fool, written as followeth:—
The said Cardinals had been in serious consultation how, and by what means, the Protestants in Germany might be convinced touching their error, and suppressed; but they saw the difficulty of it, in that the Protestants, in their books and writings, powerfully against the Papists, cited the sacred Scripture, and especially they opposed and withstood them with the doctrine of St. Paul, which were great blocks in the Papists’ way, insomuch that they found it a business not so easily to be accomplished. Then said the Fool unto the Cardinals, “I know how to give you herein an advice, whereby you easily may be rid and quitted of St. Paul, that his doctrines shall not be approved of; as thus: The Pope,” said the Fool, “hath power to make Saints; therefore let St. Paul be taken out of the number of the Apostles, and preferred to be a Saint, as then his dicta, or sayings, which are against you, shall no more be held for apostolical.” “This and your proposition,” said Luther to the Bishop, “are of equal value.”
OF GOD’S WORKS.
That human Sense and Reason cannot comprehend nor understand God’s Works.
In all things, and in the least creatures, yea, also in their members, God’s almighty power and great wonderful works do clearly shine. For what man, how powerful, wise, and holy soever, can make out of one fig, a fig-tree or another fig? or, out of one cherry-stone, can make a cherry or a cherry-tree? or what man can know how God createth and preserveth all things and maketh them grow?
And truly we find and see printed the Holy Trinity in all good arts and creatures, as the almighty power of God the Father, the wisdom of God the Son, and the goodness of God the Holy Ghost. Neither can we conceive or know how the apple of the eye doth see, or how understanding words are spoken distinctly and plainly when only the tongue is moved and stirred in the mouth, all which are natural things, as we daily see and act. How then should we be able to comprehend or understand the secret counsel of God’s Majesty, or search it out with our sense, wit, reason, or understanding?
That no Man understands God’s Works.
No man, said Luther, is able to imagine, much less to understand, what God hath done, and still doth without ceasing. Although we laboured and sweated blood to write but only three lines in such manner as St. John did write, yet were we never able to perform it. What, then, should we any way admire or wonder at our wisdom? I, for my part, said Luther, will be a fool, and will yield myself captive.
When one asked where God was before Heaven was created, St. Austin made answer thereunto and said, He was in himself. And as another, said Luther, asked me the same question, I said, He was building Hell for such idle, presumptuous, fluttering spirits and inquisitors. After he had created all things, he was everywhere, and yet he was nowhere; for I cannot fasten nor take hold of him without the Word. But he will be found there where he hath bound himself to be. The Jews found him at Jerusalem by the Throne of Grace (Exodus xxv.). We find him in the Word and Faith, in Baptism and Sacraments; but in his Majesty he is nowhere to be found.
It was a special grace in the Old Testament, when God bound himself to a certain place where he would be found, namely, in that place where the Tabernacle was, towards which they prayed; as first in Shiloh and Shechem, afterwards at Gibeon, and lastly at Jerusalem in the Temple.