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ON TRANSLATING: AN OPEN LETTER

See Introduction to the Exhortation to the Clergy. ENDERS, 8:257. Weimar Ed. 30 2 :632. The point of the criticism is that Luther has inserted the word “only,” which does not appear in the original text. Es thut mir doch sanfft. The ass. “The book of the generations.” Jerome Emser. He died in 1527. In criticizing Luther’s New Testament, he pointed out 1,400 errors. In the year of his death he published his own German New Testament in which he had closely followed Luther’s version. Cf.KAWERAU, Hieron. Emser (1898), and Vol. 3. Duke George of Saxony. Cf.SMITH &JACOBS, Luther’s Correspondence 2:426 f. “I will it; I command it; my will is reason enough.” The art of debate, which was so highly developed in the later Middle Ages. Cf. Luther’s statement in the Open Letter to the Nobility, in this edition, Apparently a proverbial expression, the source of which is unknown. Johannes Faber of Leutkirch (1478-1541). See PRE3 and Cath. Enc. Luther’s name for Johannes Cochlaeus (1479-1552). See PRE3 & Cath. Enc. On Luther’s difficulties with Job, see his letter to Spalatin, February 23, 1524, Enders 4:299;SMITH &JACOBS, Luther’s Correspondence 2:221 f.; also his Preface to the Book of Job, Vol. 6 of this edition. Melanchthon. Matthew Aurogallus (1490-1543) was teaching Hebrew at Wittenberg after 1521. He was one of Luther’s chief assistants in translating the Old Testament. Wes das hertz vol ist, des gehet der mund uber. Was soll doch solcher unrat? or Was soll doch solcher schade. Nein, est ist schade umb der salbe. Du holdselige, cf. Weizsacker’s Begnadigte and Moffett’s “God favored one”! The Ave Maria. There is no English equivalent for Luther’s Gott grusse dich, du liebe Maria, which is altogether informal. Das also dringe und klinge ynns hertz. English A. V. & R. V., “Greatly beloved.” Daniel, du man der begierungen, oder, Daniel, du man der luste. i.e. Never any purpose to falsify. Rottengeist, “a radical” A translation of the prophets made by Ludwig Haetzer and Hans Denck and published at Worms, in 1527. The translators were antitrinitarians, which may account for Luther’s belief that “Jews had a hand in it.” On Haetzer and Denck see articles in Realencyk. Schuttet wol grober eraus und stosset dem fass den boden aus. i.e. An interpretation distorting the real meaning. Ein rotten geyst. This tract was never completed. There are some notes for it extant. Cf. Weimar Ed., 30 2 :652 ff. Luther preached such a sermon at Coburg on the day of St. Michael and All Angels (September 29), 1530. It was published the next year, but has nothing to say about the intercession of saints. The sermon is in Weimar Ed. 32:111 ff. i.e. in baptism. Ecclesiasticus 3:26. Here and throughout this passage, die Christenheit. i.e., the text without corrupting glosses, or explanations. “We teach and strictly command.” The phrase is common in papal bulls. This is the theme of The Babylonian Captivity, Vol. This manner of dating is common in Luther’s Wartburg letters; it recurs in those written from Feste Coburg.

WHETHER SOLDIERS, TOO, CAN BE SAVED

See SMITH & JACOBS, Luther’s Correspondence, 2, p. 385. See Letter of Dedication, below. Cf.SMITH &JACOBS, loc. cit. On Temporal Government and Explanation of the 82 Psalm, Vol. 4. Cf.DE WETTE, 3:319;SMITH &JACOBS, op. cit. 2:435 ff. The Mundrichter is the judge who pronounces the sentence; the Faustrichter is the one who executes it. Of 1525, see Vol. The use of the expression “fox-tail” for punishment that consists only in a gesture is not uncommon with Luther. i.e., Of a soldier. “Summum jus, summa injuria. Heautontimoroumenos 4:5. Junckerlein. i.e., To death. Luther’s play on the words Adel, “nobility,” and Adeler “eagle,” is not translatable. “The crime of high treason.” Under the Roman and feudal law, it was an offense against the person of the ruler. “Justice.” All of these emperors were deposed in revolutions of the army; Galba in 69 A.D.; Pertinax 193; Gordian 244; Alexander 235. Christian II was driven out of Denmark in 1523, after ten years on the throne of the three Scandinavian kingdoms. Possibly, “who attacks a hedge-hog.” (Clemen). “Frogs must have storks.” (Cl. 2:383). Luther was very fond of AEsop’s fables, publishing some of them in German in 1530 (Weimar Ed. 50:440 ff.) The custom was not uncommon under the feudal regime. It contains the germ of modern constitutional government. Christian II, mentioned above. He was driven out by a combination of his own barons, supported by the Hanseatic League. Cf. Cambridge Modern History 2:228. “High treason against God.” i.e., The peasants. Maximilian died 1519. So gar stund Deudschland ynn einer Wage. “So evenly were the scales balanced in Germany.” These words are all expletives, “St. Anthony’s fire” is erysipelas; St. Quirinus’ disease is not identified. Frederick had died in 1525. At the battle of Pavia, February 25, 1525. The trouble that resulted in the sack of Rome by the imperial army in May, 1527. Wil schlects mit dem kopffe hyndurch. Eine gemeine person, i.e., the community assumes personality in the ruler; in him the community is one person. i.e., Fighting. We might render it, “high treason against God.” The German mercenary soldiers, who were found in most of the armies of Europe. Among the statements condemned in the bull of excommunication (1520) was one to this effect. The time came in 1528. See On War Against the Turk, this volume, p. 81 ff.

ON WAR AGAINST THE TURK ENDERS 6:314;

SMITH & JACOBS, Luther’s Correspondence. 2:451. Weimar Ed., 1:535. Weimar Ed. 30 2 :160 ff. The Peasants’ Revolt of 1525. i.e., The clergy. Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved. An “evangelical counsel,” necessary for perfection, but not demanded. Cf. Vol. Captured from the Hospitallers, December, 1522. The diets of Nuremberg (1523 and 1524) and of Spires (1526 and 1529) discussed the Turkish war at length. Wladislaw (Ladislas) III of Poland and Hungary, killed in the battle of Varna, November 10, 1444. Giuliano Caesarini, papal legate in Hungary, who had preached the crusade. He was present at the battle of Varna, and killed during the retreat after the battle. King Lewis II of Bohemia and Hungary was killed in the battle of Mohacs, August 29, 1525. Julius II (1503-13). Clement VII (1523-30). Rome was sacked by the army of Charles V, May 6, 1527. When Luther wrote this the pope was the emperor’s prisoner. The ceremonial processions were regarded as especially solemn forms of prayer. See Cath. Encyc., 12:446 ff. Perhaps Josiah or Joash. This purpose was not fulfilled, partly because of Luther’s difficulty in securing a Latin text. See Berlin Ed., 7:456, n. 1. De civitate dei 4:4, 6. Raubeberge, “mountains of prey” (Engl. R. V.) i.e., The murdering and robbing out of the false doctrine. In 374, the Arian bishop, Lucius, drove the orthodox bishop, Peter, out of Alexandria. Realencyk 2:42; Bright, Age of the Fathers, 1:377. Cf. Augustine, Contra Gandentium, I, 100:22 (Migne 43:720 f.) See Bright, Age of the Fathers 2:117. Ovid, Trist. 2, 295; Weimar Ed., 30 2 , p. 127, n. With this passage compare 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. In the raising of the siege of Vienna in October, 1529, Luther saw such a miracle. See De Wette 3:518. The preaching of crusades. See On Keeping Children in School, Vol. “Trusting in bravery, and numbers” ( Judges 20:22). This is the Latin text. The English versions, and Luther’s own Bible, follow the Hebrew and read, “The people encouraged themselves.” Christenheit is Luther’s name for the totality of Christians, without reference to social and political groupings in Church or State. i.e., With the consent of the ruler to whom the oath of allegiance was given. Current names for unnatural vices. Drein odder druber, Bisschoff oder Bader. Cf.SMITH AND JACOBS, Luther’s Correspondence 2:516 f. i.e., Crusading-indulgences. At the battle of Mohacs, August 29, 1526, Lewis of Hungary commanded an army of not more than 30,000 against a Turkish force of more than 100,000. It is estimated that the Hungarians lost 20,000 men, and the king himself was drowned while retreating. Cf. Cambridge Modern History, 1:96 f. At Aleppo (1516) and Reydaniya (1517). These two victories gave the Ottoman Turks complete supremacy in the Mohammedan world. Cf. Cambridge Modern History, 1:90 f. Ferdinand of Austria was elected king of Bohemia in 1526. The Diet of Speyer was in session when this work was published. The implication is “For I cannot.”

ON THE COUNCILS AND THE CHURCHES

WREDE, Deutsche Reichstagsakten, 2:661ff.;KIDD, Documents of the Continental Reformation, No. 69. The report of the commission (Consilium de emendanda ecclesia) was published in 1538. The text is found most conveniently inKIDD, op. cit., pp. 307 ff. Luther republished it, in German translation, with introduction and notes (Weimar Ed., L, 288 ff.) H. E.JACOBS, Book of Concord, pp. 35 f. KIDD, op. cit. p. 303. Cf.BENRATH in Realencyk. 20:546 ff. JACOBS, Book of Concord, pp. 307-38. See Weimar Ed., p. 501. ibid. p. 505. In this edition, Vol. 1. See Introduction. Luther had first demanded a Council, before which his case could be heard, in 1518. Since 1523 the emperor and the diets had been urging it. See Introduction. Gauckelmenlin, a children’s-toy. The Council had been called to meet in Mantua, May 23, 1537, then postponed until November 1st, and then called to meet at Vicenza, May 1, 1538. Mit dem kopff hindurch. See Introduction. i.e., Self-condemned men. “Out of thine own mouth I judge thee, wicked servant.” John Frederick of Saxony had suggested this. Cf. Weimar Ed., L, 514, n. a.

PART 1

There is some doubt concerning the edition to which Luther refers. It was probably the two volume collection of Peter Crabbe, published at Cologne in 1538, though it may have been the earlier work of Jacob Merlin. Cf. Weimar Ed. L, 502, 514 n., andSCHAEFER, L. als Kirchen historiker, p. 144. Albrecht of Mainz held two archbishoprics and a bishopric at one and the same time. Bis das weder haut noch bar da sei. “Physician, heal thyself.” Pupils who are still learning the alphabet. Sie haben gut thun. Cf. Weimar Ed., L. 518, n. 1. Dass sie schlechtweg mussig gehen. i.e., Interpretations. On Luther’s use of the fathers in his exegetical works, seeSCHAEFER, L. als Kirchen historiker, 180 ff. Luther had made use of this same reference in a similar connection as early as 1519. Cf.ENDERS, 1:439. The Decretum of Gratian, which forms the first part of the Canon Law. i.e., Backwards. Zu geel umb den Schnabel. Ad inquisitiones Januarii, inMIGNE, 33:221. Luther was seven years out of the way. Augustine died in 430. Or ecumenical. In the Canon Law (Decret. Grat. 1, dist. 15, 100:2), quoted from Gregory I, 2 p. 1:24. The Council of Nicaea was held in 325; Augustine was born in 354. A. D. 381. The Council of Ephesus was held in 431, the year after Augustine’s death. The Council of Chalcedon was in 451. Sylvester (314-337) was pope at the time of the Council. Gratian (375-83) and Theodosius I (379-95) were responsible for the Council of Conastantinople. Theodosius II was emperor in the East, 408-50. Marcian was also emperor in the East, 450-58. The three principal archbishops of Germany. Sie haben geseuchelt, gekrunckt, gehustet und gekrochtztet nach der Herrschaft. This defies translation. Cf. Weimar Ed. L, 523, notes. Sie habens erseuchelt und erhustet. Another untranslatable expression. “I will it; I command it; my will is the restore for it.” A proverb originating in Juvenal. i.e., In the lands of Western Europe. A reference to humiliations put upon the mediaeval emperors by the popes. Decret. Grat. 1, dist. 9, 100:5; the original inMIGNE, 33:277. The Latin text in Weimar Ed. L, 524, note b. dist. 9, 100:3; the original inMIGNE, 42:869. Ep. 82; MIGNE, 33:227; Nicene & Post Nicene Fathers, 1:350. “The good that I would, I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do, etc.” i.e., Taken in snares. Luther is probably referring to the Talmud. Cf. Weimar Ed. L, 527, note a. Ein Brief D. Mart. Luther. Wider die Sabbather, published in March, 1538. Weimar Ed., L, pp. 312-37. i.e., The decree of the apostolic council. “Wrong.” “Physician, cure thyself.”. Wo nun? wo da? lieber Freund. Fastnacht, an indication of the date when this part of the treatise was written. In 1539, Shrove Tuesday was February 19th. Die Stuhlschreiber, the professional penmen. The Athanasian Creed, Quicunque vult salvus esse. The Canons of Nicaea were preserved in several different forms. For the provisions here cited, see Nicene & Postnicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 14, pp. 24, 29, Canons 11 and 13. Luther’s citation of the canons is not always accurate and seems to rest upon the account of Rufinus. (Cf. Weimar Ed., L, 531, note b). i.e. Endowments to provide masses for the dead at stated times. All the practices here referred to were connected with the sacrament of penance and belief in purgatory. i.e., As a support for the sacrament of penance. Canon 12. (Nicene Fathers, 14:27). The story of St. Maurice and the Theban legion is one of the most famous legends of the Middle Ages. Maurice was commander of the legion, which is said to have been exterminated by order of the Emperor Maximian, because it would not participate in the persecution of Christians; the number of the martyrs was 6,600. Cf. Realencyk., 12:452 ff. i.e., Jubilee-years. Zulauffende krieger. This was not the Roman custom in imperial days. The imperial armies were secured by conscription and voluntary enlistment. This system of “pensions” in Switzerland was bitterly assailed by Zwingli. SeeJACKSON, Ulrich Zwingli. All emperors who had distinguished themselves as military leaders. The phrases “before baptism” and “after baptism” probably refer to the emperors. Cf. Berlin Ed. 2:33 n. St. Anthony entered upon the hermit-life about 270, fifty-five years before the Council of Nicaea. St. Martin of Tours (d. 400), the most celebrated of the early monks of the West. The “legend” is probably the Vita S. Martini by Sulpicius Severus. SoSCHAEFER, 418. The nephew of Constantine. He was emperor 361-63. The Acts of the Council of Nicaea, as of the ancient Councils in general, had been handed down in various forms into some of which forgeries had been inserted; there was no authentic text in Luther’s day.

The modern texts have been established by methods of higher criticism of exactly the kind that Luther here employs, though his suggestion on this point has not been generally accepted. This rests, apparently, on Rufinus’ version of Canon 6. Cf. Nicene Fathers 14, pp. 16 f. “By divine right.” Almost the very language of the bull Unam Sanctum of 1302. Cf. MIRBT, Quellen. No. 372. Alexandria fell before the Saracens in 641. Canon 1 (Nicene Fathers, 14, p. 8.) Canon 3 (op. cit, p. 11). This canon does not refer to the marriage of the clergy, but to the presence in their homes of mulieres subintroductae, i.e., women who were neither wives nor near relatives. CASSIODORUS, Historia Tripartita, 2:14. This work, which Luther quotes extensively, was the standard Latin textbook in Church History during the whole Middle Ages. It was composed of excerpts from the Greek Church historians, Socrates, Sozomen and Theodoret. Of Papnnutius little is known, save that he was bishop of a city in Egypt and a member of the Council of Nicaea, and that he opposed the prohibition of marriage to the clergy. He was bishop of Carthage after 248, put to death because of his faith, in 258. His views on rebaptism are found inMIGNE, 3, 1073 ff., ff., 1153 ff.; Vienna, 3, 698 ff., 778 ff.: Ante-Nicene Fathers, 5, 373 ff. Cornelius was pope 251-53. EUSEBIUS, Eccl. Hist. 7:4-6. Sixtus II (257-58); also known as Xystus. This canon (100, 19) is not genuine, but is a later addition to the acts of the council. The Paulianists and Photinians are the followers of the heretical bishops, Paul of Samosata (d. 269) and Photinus of Sirmium (d. 376). In Migne, 42:34. The Donatists refused to admit the validity of any acts of clergy who were guilty of mortal sin. A collection of alleged decrees of synods, claiming apostolic origin.

The collection was made in the latter part of the fourth or early part of the fifth century and is closely related to the so-called Apostolic Constitutions. Luther probably knew them in the edition of Merlin, Paris, 1524, or from the work of Crabbe. See Realencyk., 1:734 ff. Canon 38. See Introduction. “Feed my sheep.” “Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good.” “I am the truth.” “Every man a liar.” Cf. Romans 3:4. Peter Lombard (d. 1164). His Four Books of Sentences was the great theological textbook of the Middle Ages and the basis of most of the great systems of scholastic theology. John Bugenhagen, known as Pomeranus, from the place of his origin.

His Commentary on Four Chapters of the First Epistle to the Corinthians was published in 1530. These are the subjects of some of his best-known writings. Hilary of Poitiers, “the Athanasius of the West,” died 367.

PART 2

Luther was apparently quoting from memory, Hilary’s De trinitate, 9:2. Cf. Weimar Ed. L, 547, note a. “So acts are known by the causes of action.” Probably a proverb. The allusion is vulgar. i.e., Contradictions. A celebrated opponent of Arianism (d. 338). See Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 3:243. Both the Tripartita and Rufinus, Luther’s chief sources, indicate that Arius was present. These are the subjects of the canons of Nicaea. Cf. Nicene Fathers, 14, pp. 8 ff. One of the sources of the Tripartita. i.e., Canons, or decisions. The agreement on the Roman Easter date is not embodied in the canons of the Council, but announced in the Synodal Letter. (Nicene Fathers, 14, p. 54.) Until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar (1582) the equinox was moving forward at the rate of one day in 128 years. See Encycl. Brit. (14th ed.), 4, 569 ff. Victor was pope 189-98. Irenaeus was bishop of Lyons after 177. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, died as a martyr in 155. Movable festivals. Schuekelfest. The first Sunday of Lent. Epiphany, January 6. Purification of Mary (Presentation of our Lord), February 2. March 25. St. John the Baptist, June 24. “The Lord’s Day.” Geman, Christtag. In the calendar of Luther’s time, each day had a letter. Beginning January 1, the letters ran from A to G, and repeated. May 1. September 29. November 11. November 26. June 24. June 29. i.e., The two tables, the Decalog. i.e., That Peter had taken the Gospel to the Gentiles. i.e., Who do more than the law commands and thus acquire superfluous merit, through works of supererogation. A reference to the indulgences, which were based on the superfluous merits of Christ and the saints. Probably a reference to the controversy with the Antinomians. See Weimar Ed. L, 461 ff., and below in this same work. i.e., The members of the papal court at Rome. Natura petit exitum. Sub Substantialiter. “Custom is second nature.” The sense is, “It pays no attention at all to foods.” By the Lex Papia Poppaea (9 B. C.) “It was right to give the synagogue an honorable funeral.” The passage is not found in Augustine. Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 390), and Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea (370-79). Luther’s information is not accurate. It rests on Rufinus and the Tripartita. Cf.SCHAEFER, L. als Kirchen historiker, 277. “Sometimes even the wicked are defeated.” i.e., They bide their time until their chance comes. “Never trust thine enemy: for like as iron rusteth, so is his wickedness.

Though he humble himself and go crouching, yet take good heed and beware of him.” Ecclesiasticus 12:10, 11 (A. V.) Auxentius (d. 374) was denounced as a heretic by Pope Damasus and declared deposed (370), but kept his bishopric until his death. Hilary of Poitiers published his confession of faith as an appendix to his Book Against the Arians, entitling it “An Illustration of the Blasphemy of Auxentius.” Cf. Realencyk. Arts. Damasus, Hilarius von Poitiers, and Weimar Ed. L, 570, note a., where he is mistakenly referred to as the successor of Ambrose. “God of God, Light of light, Very God of very God.” “Begotten, not made.” “Of one substance.” The letter in Migne, 22, 356; Vienna, 54, 64. This dialog (Migne, 62, 155 ff.) passed in the sixteenth century as a work of Athanasius. Its author was Vigilus of Thapsus who lived at the end of the fifth century. Realencyk. 20, 640 ff. “Unborn; the unbegotten God.” De trin. 1:18. Nicene Fathers, 9:45. Adams-seuche. Tripartita, 4:1-3. Augustine was a Manichaean before he became a Christian, and later wrote extensively against the Manichaeans. Polter Babst geister. The Council was held in 381. Gratian was emperor 375-383; Theodosius, 379-395. The personal history of Macedonius is quite unclear. It is connected with the bitter struggle between the Arians and the orthodox in the middle of the fourth century. Whether he was the founder of the sect that bears his name is open to question. SeeLOOFS in Realencyk. 12, 41 ff. Luther’s source for all of the following is the Tripartita. Damasus I was pope 366-84. The letter of the synod is found in Tripart., 9, 13 and (Migne, 69, 1129 ff). Ecclesiasticus 28:14. Nicht kundten das wasser reichen. In 602 Phocas headed a revolution in Constantinople which deposed Maurice, who had been on the throne since 582. Maurice and his whole family were put to death. Pope Gregory the Great hailed the revolution as an act of God against a tyrant. Phocas was emperor until 610, when he was deposed and killed in another revolution, headed by Heraclius.

See Cambridge Mediaeval History, 2:282 ff. Boniface I was pope for eight months in 607. He had been the papal diplomatic representative at Constantinople and was on the friendliest terms with Phocas, from whom he secured the recognition of Rome as “the head of all churches.” See Realencyk. 3, 289. “Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” “By divine right.” The Council of Ephesus, 431. Emperor 408-450. Ambrose died 397; Martin, 400; Jerome, 420; Augustine, 430 (not 431); Hilary of Poitiers, 367; Eusebius of Caesarea, 339. The great preacher of Antioch, who became patriarch of Constantinople in 398. He was involved in the Origenistic Controversy and deposed 403. He died in 407. Tripart. 10:3, 13. “His pride was an offense warranting condemnation.” “A foreigner.” Bishop of Alexandria, 412-44, the great opponent of Nestorius and the chief literary defender of the orthodox Christology. “This long time controversy over words tortures the little Greeks, who are more zealous for contention than for truth.” Cicero, de oratore, 1, 2. Eigenschaft. “The carpenter’s son.” “One who admits the premise of a good conclusion, cannot deny the conclusion.” “Double or triple.” 12:5. Manichaeism had a place for Jesus, as the manifestation of light, which it held to be equivalent with good, but the Manichaean doctrine of matter, which made it all evil, prevented the acceptance of His humanity. See Realencyk. 12, 193 ff., Cf. Enc. of Religion and Ethics, 8, 398. Ex consequenti. Bartolomeo Sacchi of Piadena, best known as Platina (1421-81).

Under Pope Sixtus IV, he was director of the Vatican library. His Lives of the Popes (Vitae Romanorum Pontificum) was, in Luther’s day, the best available source of information for the history of the papacy. See SCHAEFER Luther als Kitchen historiker pp. 127 ff. i.e. That Luther’s teaching was incompatible with belief in the deity of Christ. “The Word was made flesh.” “The flesh was made Word.” In the Sacramentarian Controversy. Cf. Luther’s statement in Vom Abendmahl Christi Bekenntnis, of 1528 (Weimar Ed. 26:317). See note in Weimar Ed. L, 591. Peter, the Lombard. Marcian’s dates are 450-58. The actual date was 451. Actually 325. Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History. Luther used it in Rufinus’ translation. Theodoret ends with the year 428. Luther seems to have known his work only through the excerpts in the Tripartita. Pope Leo I (440-461). The letter referred to is Ep. 60, to Maximus of Antioch. “The conclusion of a valid argument.” “Viz., in his conclusion.” “In his premise.” “Admitting the premise and denying the conclusion.” “Not in the nature of things,” i.e., as things are, there are no such works. i.e., legitimate. “Denying the conclusion of an admitted premise, in a good syllogism,” and “retaining the premise when the conclusion has been destroyed.” Sich selbs in die Backen hauen, “chopping oneself in the cheeks.” “Granting the premise and denying the conclusion,” or “destroying the conclusion and affirming the premise.” The party whose spokesman was Luther’s old friend and follower.

John Agricola of Eisleben. Through the years 1536-39, he had been uttering opinions that conflicted sharply with Luther’s own. The subject of their difference was the meaning and purpose of the law; Luther held that the purpose of God’s law was to lead men to knowledge of sin and so to repentance; Agricola taught that repentance was possible only through the knowledge of the goodness of God revealed in the gospel. Luther accused Agricola of abolishing the real purpose of the law and debasing the gospel. Only a few months before the present work was written, Luther had published the last of a series of writings against Agricola. See Weimar Ed., L, 461 ff. The third article of the Creed. Cf. Luther’s Catechism. Melanchthon. Johann von Wesel (d. 1479). He taught at Erfurt 1445-57. In 1461 he became professor of theology at Basel; in 1463, cathedral preacher at Worms. The criticisms of the Church, expressed in his sermons, caused his deposition in 1477. He was then called to a position as preacher in Mainz, but was almost immediately accused of heresy, and after a trial before a commission which included the famous Dominican inquisitors Elten and Sprenger, was condemned to life-imprisonment in a monastery. Because of his vigorous attacks on indulgences and his clear assertion of the sole authority of Scripture, he is usually classed among the precursors of Luther. The fullest account of his life and teaching inULLMANN, Reformatoren vor der Ref., 2 (1866), 1:149 ff.; Eng. trans., 1:160 ff. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Art. 27, (JACOBS, Book of Concord, 280 f.) Cf. Realencyk. 8; 78-80. The Sentences of Peter Lombard. Leo I, Ep. 165, 100:2. Cf. Ep. 124. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, p. 91.) Viz., that Christ had only one nature. Gregory of Nanzianzus, Patriarch of Constantinople at the time of the Second General Council, 381. i.e. Before the Council of Chalcedon. Ep. 4, to Procopius. Cf. Weimar Ed. L, 604, note a. See note,WEIMAR ED. 39:9ff. Or “punish.” Schonbose, i.e. wicked in spite of a fine appearance. The founder of monasticism in Egypt (d. 356). Luther had the story from the Vitae patrum, which passed as the work of Jerome, but is now generally ascribed to Rufinus. Cf.SCHAEFER, pp. 159 ff., 425. “The first hermit.” He is usually known simply as John the hermit.

Luther found this story also in the Vitae patrum. The praise of Augustine is found in his tract, De cura pro mortuis gerenda (Migne, 40, 607 f.) The same referred to above as a member of the Nicene Council. This story is another from the Vitae patrum. Cf. Weimar Ed., 47, 85, 585, 598. The little Synod of Gangra, in Paphligonia, held in 343, adopted a series of canons directed against overemphasis of the ascetic life. In 1530 John Kymaeus, pastor at Homberg, used these canons in an attack upon the Anabaptists. The book was published in 1537 with a preface by Luther. (See Weimar Ed. L, 45 ff.). The canons to which Luther here refers (especially Canon 9) are noted in Weimar Ed. L, 609, note c. For the source of this statement seeSCHAEFER, op. cit., 104; Weimar Ed., L. 610, note b. The order of Grammont, founded 1073. The Augustinian Canons, founded after 1059. Founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084. Founded 1098. Names given to monastic beggars. Luther confuses Valentinian and his colleague Valens. It was Valens who compelled Egyptian monks to enter the army. He also compelled monks who had withdrawn from the world to escape civic burdens to return and assume them. Cf. Realencyk. 20, 392. “That we heap up”; a reference to 2 Timothy 4:3. Francis of Assissi, the founder of the Franciscan order, died 1226. Margaret of Austria, aunt of Charles V and regent of the Netherlands, d. 1530. John Gerson, professor at Paris and cardinal (d. 1429). He wrote a tract on this special subject (De non esu carnium). Migne, 32, 1383. “Mildness,” or “moderation.” Cf. 2 Corinthians 10:1. Augustine organized his clergy into a monastic community. Johann you Dahlberg, bishop of Worms 1482-1503. Ich mus fort. Here used in the sense of “I must die.” “Self-imposed devotions and rigorous discipline,” Moffatt. “Observance of things of this kind is free.” Luther’s rendering of this text follows the Vulgate. “Ye shall not be so.” The Apostles’ Creed. Consistorium, Hofegericht, Camergericht oder desgleichen. The terms are borrowed from the Roman Law, and were names for courts existing in Germany in Luther’s time. Cf. Smalcald Articles, Pt. 2, Art. 3.JACOBS, Book of Concord, 317 f. Cf. Luther’s Preface to the Smalcald Articles (JACOBS, op. cit., 309). Ephesus and Chalcedon. The Decalogue, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, not the commentary on them, which we know by that name. “And was made man,” from the Nicene Creed. Dass man alles verdamme was da folget aus diesem Artickel verdammt sein. In the often quoted letter to Januarius, Migne, 33:201. Luther’s Geber-nehmer would, perhaps, be best rendered by the colloquial Americanism, “injun-giver.” i.e., the hangers-on of the papal court. i.e., laymen. John, Baron von Schwarzenberg (1463-1528) imperial chamberlain in 1521, later an official of the Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. Cf. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. The Council of Nicaea. Luther had made this proposal nineteen years earlier. See, in this edition, An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility. “And so it came to pass and so comes to pass.”

PART 3

Luther’s Haufe is here rendered “group.” “The town-clerk” Eng. (AV and RV); “The secretary of state” (Moffatt). Acts 19:35. Gemeinde. Christenheit. In The Papacy at Rome Luther tried, as many times afterwards, and here, to get away from the word Kirche, “church.” The word Christenheit was his favorite substitute, but even that word has often to be translated “church” in order to render its meaning correctly. “Holy hunger (for gold),” “holy sacrifice.” Aeneid 3:57. “The most holy one of all.” Mostellaria 4:2. Gemeiner Christenheit. Sanctifier, or Lifegiver. i.e., The Antinomians. The “treasury of merit” on which indulgences were based. “The wrath of God cometh upon them at the last.” The fourth line of the pre-reformation Pentecost-hymn, Nu biten wir den heilgen geist. Heiligthum. In the following discussion this word recurs continually.

Each of the marks of the Church is called a Heiligthum, or Heilthum.

The term “holy possession” has been chosen as the translation which best conveys its meaning. It was also the word for “relics,” the wonderworking objects of reverence that were preserved in the churches, and on this idea Luther plays constantly. i.e., with the Word of God. The holy oil. Madensack, i.e., the body, which goes to decay. Emser, Eck. Rotzloffel, Luther’s favorite name for Cochlaeus. Johan Faber, bishop of Vienna. (d. 1541). George Wetzel, for a time a Lutheran pastor at Nimegk, later an advocate of Catholic reform. Names suggested, probably, by the sound of “Wetzel.” They make little sense in English, but were used as terms of the utmost contempt. “The Church is begotten, cared for, nourished, strengthened by the Word of God.” Heiltum. Luther follows the Vulgate. Heiltum. Messgewand, the vestment worn by the priest at mass. A reference to the holy oil, used in ordination. i.e., The Sacrament of the Altar. Or “rebukes.” The “power of the keys” is the power to forgive sins. See below. Or “general” and “particular.” Heiltum. Luther had previously discussed this subject at length in his work On the Keys (1530). Weimar Ed., 30 2 :435 ff.; Erlangen Ed. 31:126 ff. “The Church’s keys, not the pope’s keys.” Kirchendiener. Heiltum. “He received gifts among men.” Luther is quoting, as usual, from memory, and confuses Ephesians 4:8 with Psalm 68:19, from which the Ephesian passage quotes. i.e., Fellow-Christians with the ministers. Or “higher clergy.” i.e., They are no more apostles, etc., than they are the Church. Heiltum. i.e., In its ministers. This whole section repeats the ideas of a sermon preached by Luther, March 2, 1539. Cf. Weimar Ed. 47:676. The Weimar Ed. gives the following references: Decret. Grat., dist. 26, cap. 1-3; dist. 34, cap. 9-18; Decret’. Greg. lib. 1, tit, 21. This is not intended by Luther as a defense of bigamy. He only wants to show the absurdity and the wrong of the meaning attached to “bigamy” by the Canon Law, the “successive” and “interpretative” bigamy, which he has described in the preceding paragraph. i.e., A second marriage. Of those mentioned above. Or “type”; see above. This is the Vulgate text. The English versions and Luther himself (see below) render the Greek correctly, “This is a great mystery.” “From figure to fact, or conversely, from fact to figure.” In the Canon Law, Decret. Grat., dist. 26, cap. 2. A possible allusion to Albrecht of Mainz. i.e., In the Canon Law. Acutius is the first word of the quotation from Augustine in Decret. Grat. dist. 26, cap. 2; the quotation from Jerome, ibid, cap. 1. In the passage Noli meis, referred to above. This conclusion rests on a mistaken interpretation of Philippians 4:3 and 1 Corinthians 7:8. The Canon Law. “It is not held; but hold this.” “In the cases to be decided.” A proverb, equivalent to, “Mistakes are easy.” “Thou must be clean, who bearest (the vessels of the Lord)”. Der heiltumb eins. Eitel heilthum. Eselserbeit. Heilthum. Heilthum. “Tribulation worketh hope.” Heilthum. i.e., A life that fulfils the commandments of the first table, which refer to duty owed to God. Heilthumb. The commandments which declare the duties owed to fellowmen. “Increase” ( 2 Peter 3:18) and “Abound more and more” ( <520401> Thessalonians 4:1). i.e., Those which Luther has called “the seven holy possessions” of the Church. i.e., Among the Christians, as He is not among the heathen. Heilthum. In Luther’s division, the First Table contained three Commandments; the Second Table seven. Nicholas of Lyra (d. 1340), one of the most famous of the mediaeval commentators on the Bible. Luther refers to him frequently and the present passage is quoted by Melanchthon in the Apology, Ch. 4. (MUELLER p. 156, 22;JACOBS, Book of Concord, p. 166). Amulets of wax, stamped with the image of the Lamb of God and worn as charms. The insignia of the archbishop’s office. The canon referred to is found in Decret. Grat. 3, dist. 3, 100:20. The de pe is either a slip of the pen or a misprint for de co (de consecratione), the title of the chapter containing this canon. i.e., Witches who make cows go dry. Heilthum. Luther says “smelled.” The reference is to his Schutzrede und antwort (1524). Uns die Schrifftgelerten und sich den Geistgelerten. “No man shall see me and live.” Der Gottes Affe, i.e., Satan. Witches. On “milk-stealing”. So hoch Heilthum. The shrine of St. James at Compostella, in Spain; a famous place of pilgrimage. Mus eine andere Meinung haben. Heilthum. i.e., The grace which the children say at table. i.e., The absolution pronounced. Luther had burned copies of the Canon Law along with the bull of excommunication, December 10,1520. i.e., By the Canon Law. i.e., The law of the home and the law of the State. “That which is impossible to the law.”

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