Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  Other Possible Sacraments

  There are yet a few other things it might seem possible to regard as sacraments; namely, all those to which a divine promise has been given, such as prayer, the Word, and the cross. Christ promised, in many places, that those who pray should be heard; especially in Luke xi, where He invites us in many parables to pray [Luke 11:5 ff.]. Of the Word He says: “Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” [Luke 11:28] And who will tell how often He promises aid and glory to such as are afflicted, suffer, and are cast down? Nay, who will recount all the promises of God? The whole Scripture is concerned with provoking us to faith; now driving us with precepts and threats, now drawing us with promises and consolations. Indeed, whatever things are written are either precepts or promises; the precepts humble the proud with their demands, the promises exalt the humble with their forgiveness.

  Baptism and Bread the Only Sufficient Sacraments

  Nevertheless, it has seemed best to restrict the name of sacrament to such promises as have signs attached to them. The remainder, not being bound to signs, are bare promises. Hence there are, strictly speaking, but two sacraments in the Church of God — baptism and bread; for only in these two do we find both the divinely instituted sign and the promise of forgiveness of sins. The sacrament of penance, which I added to these two195 lacks the divinely instituted visible sign, and is, as I have said196, nothing but a return to baptism. Nor can the scholastics say that their definition fits penance, for they too ascribe to the sacrament a visible sign, which is to impress upon the senses the form of that which it effects invisibly. But penance, or absolution, has no such sign; wherefore they are constrained by their own definition, either to admit that penance is not a sacrament, and thus to reduce the number of sacraments, or else to bring forward another definition.

  Baptism, however, which we have applied to the whole of life, will truly be a sufficient substitute for all the sacraments we might need as long as we live. And the bread is truly the sacrament of the dying; for in it we commemorate the passing of Christ out of this world, that we may imitate Him. Thus we may apportion these two sacraments as follows: baptism belongs to the beginning and the entire course of life, the bread belongs to the end and to death. And the Christian should use them both as long as he is in this poor body, until, fully baptised and strengthened, he passes out of this world and is born unto the new life of eternity, to eat with Christ in the Kingdom of His Father, as He promised at the Last Supper,— “Amen I say to you, I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” [Matt. 26:29] Thus He seems clearly to have instituted the sacrament of the bread with a view to our entrance into the life to come. Then, when the meaning197 of both sacraments is fulfilled, baptism and bread will cease.

  Conclusion

  Herewith I conclude this prelude, and freely and gladly offer it to all pious souls who desire to know the genuine sense of the Scriptures and the proper use of the sacraments. For it is a gift of no mean importance, to know the things that are given us, as it is said in I Corinthians ii [1 Cor. 2:12], and what use we ought to make of them. Endowed with this spiritual judgment, we shall not mistakenly rely on that which does not belong here. These two things our theologians never taught us, nay, methinks they took particular pains to conceal them from us. If I have not taught them, I certainly did not conceal them, and have given occasion to others to think out something better. It has at least been my endeavor to set forth these two things. Nevertheless, not all can do all things198. To the godless, on the other hand, and those who in obstinate tyranny force on us their own teachings instead of God’s, I confidently and freely oppose these pages, utterly indifferent to their senseless fury. Yet I wish even them a sound mind, and do not despise their efforts, but only distinguish them from such as are sound and truly Christian.

  I hear a rumor of new bulls and papal maledictions sent out against me, in which I am urged to recant or be declared a heretic199. If that is true, I desire this book to be a portion of the recantation I shall make; so that these tyrants may not complain of having had their pains for nothing. The remainder I will publish ere long, and it will, please Christ, be such as the Roman See has hitherto neither seen nor heard. I shall give ample proof of my obedience200. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

  Why doth that impious Herod fear

  When told that Christ the King is near?

  He takes not earthly realms away,

  Who gives the realms that ne’er decay.201

  ENDNOTES.

  1 Born at Steinheim, near Paderborn, in Westphalia; a proofreader in Melchior Lotter’s printing-house at Leipzig, with whose oldest son he went to Wittenberg in 1519; professor of poetry at the university; rector of the same, 1525; one of Luther’s staunchest supporters; rector of the school at Lünenberg, 1532 until his death in 1540. Compare Enders, Luther’s Briewechsel, II, 490; Tschackert, op. cit., 203, and literature in Clemen, I, 426.

  2 Resolutiones disputatio num de indulgentiarum Virtute, 1518; others think he refers to the Sermon von Ablass und Gnade, of the same year.

  3 Sylvester Prierias and the Dominicans. Comp. Köstlin-Kawerau, Luther, I, 189 ff.

  4 Resolutiones super prop, xiii., 1519.

  5 Comp. The Papacy at Rome, Vol. I, p. 392.

  6 Comp. Fr. Lepp, Schlagworter des Ref. zeitalters (Leipzig, 1908), p. 62.

  7 The Franciscan Augustin Alveld. See Introduction, and compare Lemmens, Pater Aug. v. Alveld (Freiburg, 1599).

  8 Isidore Isolani. See Introduction.

  9 Luther pokes fun at the use of revocatio with an objective genitive.

  10 See above, p. 58, and compare Preserved Smith, Luther’s Correspondence, Vol. I, letter no. 265.

  11 Cf. The Papacy at Rome, Vol. I, p. 337. The title-page of Alveld’s treatise contained twenty-six lines.

  12 A satiric reference to a section in Alveld’s treatise, on the name of Jesus, which he spells IHSVH and brings proofs for this form from the three languages, mentioned. See Seckendor, Hist. Luth., lib. I, sect. 27, § lxx, add. ii.

  13 Alveld calls himself, on his title-page, Franciscanus regularis observantiae Sanctae Crucis. The Observantines were Franciscan monks of the stricter rule, who separated from the Conventuals in the XV. Century. See Prot. Realencyklopädie^3, VI, 213 ff.

  14 In the Treatise on the Blessed Sacrament; see above, p. 9.

  15 The universities of Cologne and Louvain had ratified Eck’s “victory” over Luther at the Leipzig Disputation. See Köstlin-Kawerau, I, 266, 298.

  16 De disputatione Lipsicensi, 1519.

  17 A venatione Luteriana Aegocerotis assertio, 1519.

  18 Some theologians — e. g., Cajetan and Durandus — doubted whether the Sacrament of Order was received by deacons; the Council of Trent decided against them. — Cath. Encyclop., IV, 650.

  19 For Luther’s opinion of Aristotle see above, pp. 146 f.

  20 The Franciscans are meant. The allusion may be to the seraphic vision of St. Francis.

  21 See above, pp. 153 ff.

  22 A less lenient view was taken by Boniface Amerbach, writing to his brother Basil at Basle, October 20, 1520: “The good man (Luther) was not a little injured by the libel of a poor impostor, who, by pretending that Martin had recanted, brought back even those who had entered upon the way of truth to their former errors.” See Smith, op. cit., I, no. 316.

  23 The present did not last very long; see below, p. 292.

  24 So called because of the withholding of the wine from the laity.

  25 Cf. 1 Tim. 3:16. See Köstlin, Theology of Luther (E. Tr.), I, 403; and below, pp. 258 f.

  26 The Treatise on the Blessed Sacrament, 1519.

  27 See page 174.

  28 See above, p. 10, note 1.

  29 Decretal. Greg., lib. Ill, tit. xli, cap. 17.

  30 Migne, XLIV, 699 f.

  31 Verklärung etlicher Artikel, 1520. Weimer Ed., VI, 80 11 ff.

  32 An allusion to
his opponents’ doctrine of the complete freedom of the will, which Luther denied. Compare his De servo arbitrio (1525). Weimar Ed., XVIII, 600 ff. He finds in their treatment of Scripture and of logic a practical expression of this doctrine of theirs.

  33 Luther humbly identifies himself with the erring priesthood,

  34 Alveld.

  35 The res sacramenti. The sacrament consisted of these two parts — (1) the sacramentum, or external sign, and (2) the res sacramenti, or the thing signified, the sacramental grace. Another distinction is that between (1) materia, or the external sign, and (2) forma, or the words of institution or administration. See below, p. 223.

  36 Cf. Weimar Ed., VI, 505, note 1.

  37 Cf. Vol. I, p. 325, and Realencyklopädie, X, 289, pp. 11 ff.

  38 Cf. Weimar Ed., VI, 506, note 2.

  39 Cf. W. Kohler, Luther unci die Kirchengeschichte (Erlangen, 1900), chap. viii.

  40 On the spiritual reception of the sacrament see H. Hering, Die Mystik Luthers (1879), pp. 173 f. Cf. above, p. 40.

  41 See above, p. 172.

  42 John Wyclif (†1384), the keenest of the mediæval critics of the doctrine of transubstantiation.

  43 Pierre d’Ailly (†1425), who, with his master Occam, greatly influenced Luther.

  44 The Sentences of Peter Lombard, the text-book of medieval theology.

  45 In the dogma of transubstantiation (Fourth Lateran Council, 1215) the Church taught that the substance of bread and wine was changed into the substance of Christ’s body and blood, while the accidents of the former — i. e., their attributes, such as form, color, taste, etc. — remained.

  46 Aquinas.

  47 Thus the Erlangen Ed.; the Weimar Ed. reads: an accidentia ibi sint sine substantia.

  48 See above, p. 20.

  49 i. e., the host, or wafer.

  50 Decretal. Greg. lib. I, tit. i, cap. I, §3.

  51 See above, pp. 26 ff.

  52 See above, p. 137.

  54 Comp. Vol. I, pp. 295 ff.

  55 The Douay Version has here been followed.

  56 See Luther’s own definition above, pp. 22 ff.

  57 See above, p. 181, note.

  58 See above, p. 198.

  59 See above, p. 195.

  60 See above, p. 10.

  61 See above, p. 187, note 1.

  62 See above, p. 188.

  63 See above, p. 182, note 2.

  64 On “fruits of the mass” compare Seeberg, Dogmengesch.., III, p. 472.

  65 Comp. Vol. I, p. 307.

  66 Comp. Vol. I, pp. 302 f.

  67 See above, pp. 22 f.

  68 See p. 23.

  69 See Vol. I, pp. 187 ff.

  70 See above, p. 196.

  71 That portion of the mass included between the Sanctus and the Lord’s Prayer.

  72 See Vol. I, p. 312, and Prot. Realencyklop., XIV, 679, 41 ff.

  73 See above, p. 211, note 2.

  74 See above, p. 16.

  75 See Vol. I, p. 306.

  76 The offertory prayers in the mass. C. Prot. Realencyklopädie, XII, 720, 46 ff.

  77 The private mass does not require the presence of a congregation. Besides the celebrant there need be present only a ministrant. There is no music, the mass is only read. See Realencyklopädie, XII, 723.

  78 The res sacramenti. See above, p. 182.

  79 Masses celebrated by special request or in honor of certain mysteries (e. g., of the Holy Trinity, of the Holy Spirit, or of angels). Realencyklopädie, XII, 722.

  80 Pope Gregory I. See Realencyklopädie, XII, 681 f.

  81 See above, p. 196, note, and comp. Seeberg, Dogmengesch., Ill, 461 f.

  82 For letters of indulgence.

  83 E p. 130, 9 (Migne, XXII, 1115).

  84 Factions in the monastic orders.

  85 The reference may be to Blandina, who suffered martyrdom under Marcus Aurelius.

  86 The three parts of penance; see below, p. 247.

  87 See Vol. I, p. 91.

  88 Peter Lombard, the fourth book of whose Sentences treats of the sacraments; see above, p. 188.

  89 See p. 182, note 2.

  90 The scholastics distinguished between the “material” and the “form” of a sacrament. In baptism, the material was the water; the form, the words, “I baptise thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

  91 Alexander, of Hales, denied the validity of baptism “in the name of Jesus,” which Peter Lombard defended. Cf. Realencyklopädie, XIX, 412.

  92 Cf. Weimar Ed., I, 544, and Erlangen Ed., XLIV, 114 ff.

  93 See above, p. 203.

  94 A point at issue between Thomists and Franciscans. The former held that the grace of the sacrament was contained in the sacramental sign and directly imparted through it; thus Aquinas. The Franciscans contended that the sign was merely a symbol, but that God, according to a pactio, or agreement, imparted the grace of the sacrament when the sign was being used; thus Bonaventura, and especially Duns Scotus. See Seeberg, DC, III, 455 ff., and in Realencyklopädie, V, 73.

  95 The conclusion of the investigation begun on p. 226.

  96 See above, p. 204.

  97 See above, p. 223.

  98 See above, p. 226.

  99 Baptisma; see above, p. 226, and compare Vol. I, p. 56.

  100 Res. See above, p. 182, note 2.

  101 Res baptismi. See above, p. 231.

  102 Cf. below, pp, 258 ff.

  103 See above, p. 231.

  104 The position of Thomas Aquinas, going back to Augustine, and ratified by Clement V at the Council of Vienna, 1311-12.

  105 See above, p. 227.

  106 See above, pp. 227 ff.

  107 For a full discussion of this “baptism,” see Scheel, in the Berlin Edition of Luther’s works, Ergänzungsband II, pp. 134-157.

  108 See above, p. 238.

  109 The threefold vow of the mendicant orders.

  110 Bulla means both a papal bull and a bubble.

  111 Compare above, p. 172, note 4.

  112 An obscure allegorical reference to the Babylonian captivity of the Jews. “The people of the captivity” (comp. Ps. 64:1 and 1 Kings 24:14, Vulgate) are the better portion of the people who were carried captive, together with their possessions, to Babylon; “the people of the earth,” am haarez, the common people, were left behind and became the nucleus of the hybrid Samaritan nation.

  113 See above, p. 123.

  114 See above, p. 75.

  115 See Decretal. Greg., lib. Ill, tit. xxxiv, cap. 7.

  116 Cf. Köhler, Luther und die KG., pp. 222 ff.

  117 Comp. below, p. 248.

  118 This time came during Luther’s sojourn at the Wartburg, when he wrote De votis monasticis, 1521. See Vol. IV.

  119 The XCV Theses, the Resolutiones, the Sermon von Ablass und Gnade, the Confitendi Ratio; the first and last of these in Vol. I.

  120 Reference to a probably spurious bull of Clement VI. In his Grund u. Ursach aller Artikel D. Martin Luthers, so durch röm. Bulle unrechtlich verdammt sind (1521), Luther writes: “Thus it happened in the days of John Hus that the pope commanded the angels of heaven to conduct to heaven the souls of the Roman pilgrims who died en route. Against this dreadful blasphemy and more than devilish presumption Hus raised his voice, and though he lost his life therefor, yet forced the pope to pipe a different tune and in future to refrain from such blasphemy.” — Compare Köhler, Luther u. die Kirchengeschichte, p. 206. See also above, p. 81.

  121 Longe viliorem; the Jena Ed., followed by Lemme and Kawerau, reads, longe meliorem.

  122 Comp. Vol. I, p. 20.

  123 Comp. Vol. I, p. 86.

  124 See above, pp. 105 f.

  125 See above, p. 105, note 4.

  126 See above, p. 223, note 1,

  127 See above, p. 245, note 2.

  128 A play on the word observantia, which means both observation and observance. A scriptural fling at the Observantines. Comp. above, p. 172, note 4.

  129 Luther quotes corr
ectly, confortatus, but thinks confirmatus.

  130 Vulgate: confirmet.

  131 Above, pp. 203 f.

  132 Vulgate: sacramenta.

  133 Erasmus edited the first published Greek New Testament in March, 1516 (Basle: John Froben), the Complutensian Polyglot being the first printed edition (1514). Luther used Erasmus’ work as soon as it came out, as may be seen in his lectures on Romans, 1515-16 (cf. Picker, Luthers Vorlesung über den Romerbrie; also Preserved Smith, Luther’s Correspondence, etc., I, nos. 21 and 65). In an interesting letter to Luther of Feb. 14, 1519, Froben announces the second edition of Erasmus’ New Testament, which Luther used in making his translation. Cf. Smith, op. cit., 00.125.

  134 See above, p. 177.

  135 Namely, for Paul.

  136 The precise meaning is not clear. The Latin is: vel proprio spiritu vel general! sententia.

  137 Here follows a passage that clearly breaks into the context and belongs elsewhere. See Introduction, p. 169.

  “I admit that the sacrament of penance existed also in the Old Law, yea, from the beginning of the world. But the new promise of penance and the gift of the keys are peculiar to the New Law. For as we now have baptism instead of circumcision, so we have the keys instead of the sacrifices and other signs of penance. We said above that the same God at divers times gave divers promises and signs for the remission of sins and the salvation of men, but that all nevertheless received the same grace. Thus it is said in II Corinthians iv, ‘Having the same spirit of faith, we also believe, or which cause we speak also’; and in i Corinthians x, ‘Our fathers did all eat the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.’ Thus also in Hebrews xi, ‘These all died, not receiving the promise; God providing some better thing or us, that they should not be perfected without us.’ For Christ Himself is, yesterday and to-day and forever, the Head of His Church, from the beginning even to the end of the world. Therefore there are divers signs, but the faith of all is the same. Indeed, without faith it is impossible to please God, by which faith even Abel pleased Him (Hebrews xi).”