Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  CHAPTER XIV.

  The Colloquy at Marburg.

  1. ZWINGLI. AT the same time that Luther issued his powerful theses against popery a man lived in Switzerland whose eyes had also been opened to the corruption of the church. This was Ulrich Zwingli, pastor at Zurich. He also wished to help the church, but did not abide by the pure Word of God. In many things he followed his own reason. Assisted by the city council he changed the church service at Zurich after his own fashion. The processions were abolished. Pictures, crucifixes, and altars were removed from the churches. Communion was celebrated in both kinds. The bread was carried about the church upon plates, and the wine in wooden chalices. Concerning Holy Communion Zwingli taught that the breaking and eating of the bread was a symbolic action. He maintained that the words of Christ, “This is my body,” meant nothing but, “This represents my body.” Of Baptism he likewise taught erroneously. Here also he followed his reason. He would not admit that the person baptized was in any way affected by Baptism; Baptism was to him only an external sign of membership among God’s people. He taught many strange things concerning Christ’s work of redemption, and called original sin a mere infirmity of human nature.

  Of these false doctrines the one concerning Holy Communion spread rapidly and found many adherents. Earnestly and fervently Luther waged war against this error both in his sermons and in his writings. But the Zwinglians stubbornly adhered to their error and pursued their own way.

  2. The Colloquy at Marburg. In 1529 Landgrave Philip of Hesse succeeded in arranging a colloquy between the Lutherans and the Zwinglians. It occurred on the first, second, and third of October, at Marburg. Before the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper was taken up several other articles of faith were discussed. In these points the Zwinglians accepted instruction and counsel. When, finally, the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper came to be discussed Luther took a piece of chalk from his pocket and wrote these words upon the table, “This is my body.” These words were his sure, firm ground, and upon it he determined to stand unmoved. He demanded of his opponents to give all glory to God, and to believe the pure, simple words of the Lord. However, they clung to their opinion and cited especially John 6, 63, where Christ says: “The flesh profiteth nothing.” Clearly and unmistakably Luther proved to them that in this passage Christ does not speak of His own, but of our flesh. It would also be an impious assertion, to say that Christ’s flesh profiteth nothing. Then they maintained: “A body cannot at the same time be present at two places; now the body of Christ sitteth in heaven, at the right hand of the Father, consequently it could not be present, upon earth in the sacrament.” Luther replied: “Christ has assumed the human nature, which, therefore, according to the Scriptures, partakes of the divine attributes and glory. Wherefore the human nature of Christ is omnipresent; hence His body and blood is capable of being present in Holy Communion.” When Luther saw that his opponents grew more stubborn in their opinion he closed the colloquy on his part. With the words, “You have a different spirit from ours,” he refused the hand of fellowship offered him by Zwingli. Already in 1531 Zwingli perished in the battle of Kappel. The false doctrines, however, which he had spread have remained to this day the doctrines of the Reformed church.

  CHAPTER XV.

  The Augsburg Confession.

  1. THE DRAFTING of the Confession. In 1530 Charles V assembled a diet at Augsburg. Contrary to common expectation his proclamation was very friendly, saying that in this assembly all animosity was to be put aside and everyone’s views were to be heard in all love and kindness. Elector John the Steadfast thereupon commissioned his theologians to draw up a brief and clear summary of the principal doctrines of evangelical truth, that he and his party might be ready to confess their faith and their hope in a clear and unmistakable manner. The theologians carried out this order and drew up a document upon the basis of 17 articles composed by Luther at an earlier date. In April of 1530 Elector John, together with Luther, Melanchthon, Spalatin, Jonas, and Agricola, started off for Augsburg to fight a good fight. As the ban of the empire was still in force against Luther, and the city of Augsburg had protested against his coming, the elector had him taken to the fortress Coburg, on the morning of the 23d of April, that, in case of necessity, he might be near at hand. Luther complied, although very unwillingly. In order not to expose the elector to any danger the theologians requested him also to remain away, and offered to go to Augsburg alone and give an account of their teachings. But the elector answered courageously, “God forbid that I should be excluded from your company. I will confess my Lord Christ with you.” Catholic estates, both spiritual and temporal lords, among them Dr. Eck and Faber, were traveling the same road. In Augsburg Melanchthon again set to work, and in agreement with Luther and the other confessors completed the writing out of the confession. He then sent a copy of it to Luther at Coburg for inspection. When returning it Luther wrote: “I am well pleased with it, and cannot see that I could improve or change it; nor would it be proper for me to attempt this, for I cannot step so softly and gently. Christ, our Lord, grant that it may bring forth rich abundance of precious fruit. That is our hope and prayer. Amen.” This is the origin of the confession which is known as the Augsburg Confession. It is a pure, correct, and irrefutable confession of the divine truths of Holy Scripture. Therefore it is also the holy banner around which all true Lutherans everywhere gather, and to this day the Lutheran church acknowledges only those as its members who accept the Unaltered Augsburg Confession in all its articles, without any exception.

  2. Heroism of the Lutheran Princes. Slowly the emperor finally approached the city of Augsburg where the assembled estates were expectantly waiting for him. In great pomp he entered the city on the 15th of June, followed by his brother Ferdinand and many other princes. With amazement he at once noticed how great the contrast had grown in the nine years between the Catholics and the Protestants. For when at the entrance of the emperor the papal legate blessed the princes and all others kneeled down in the customary fashion the princes of Saxony and Hesse remained standing. And when, on the same evening, the emperor demanded of the evangelical princes that on the following day they should take part in the great Corpus Christi procession they declared that by their participation they were not minded to encourage such human ordinances which were evidently contrary to the Word of God and the command of Christ. Upon this occasion Margrave George of Brandenburg uttered these heroic words, “Rather than deny my God and His Gospel I would kneel here before your Imperial Majesty and have my head cut from my body.” The emperor graciously replied, “Dear Prince, not head off! not head off!”

  3. Signing the Confession. So the ever memorable day, the 24th of June, approached, on which the little band of Lutheran confessors were to confess the Lord Christ before the emperor and the diet. On the evening before Elector John invited his brethren in the faith to his lodgings. At the upper end of a long table sat the elector. He arose, and the rest followed him. In his hand was a roll of manuscript. He seized a pen and subscribed his name with a firm hand. In doing so he said, “May Almighty God grant us His grace continually that all may redound to His glory and praise.” In fervent words he admonished those present to stand firm, saying, “All counsels that are against God must fail, and the good cause will, without doubt, finally triumph.” Now the others also signed the confession. After the Prince of Anhalt, a right chivalrous lord, had signed he cried with flashing eyes, “I have been in many a fray to please others, why should I not saddle my horse, if it is necessary, in honor of my Lord and Savior, and, sacrificing life and limb, hurry into heavenly life to receive the eternal crown of glory?” The meeting closed with a fervent prayer for blessing and success on the coming day.

  Luther, in the mean time, remained at Coburg, but in spirit he participated in the holy cause at Augsburg. Every day he spent three hours in prayer for the victory of the beloved Gospel. He was continually crying to God to preserve the brethren in true faith and sound doctrine. In hours of anxiety and tri
al he wrote on the walls of his room with his own hands the precious words of the 118th Psalm: “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” He addressed many consoling letters to the confessors in which he admonished them to constancy. At this time there lived in his own heart that trust in God which he had expressed in his heroic song, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”

  Reading the Augsburg Confession.

  4. Submittal and Reception of the Confession. On Saturday, the 25th of June, 1530, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the diet assembled in the episcopal palace, where the confession was to be read. The German emperor presided, and the highest dignitaries of the Roman empire had gathered to hear the confession. Then the evangelical confessors arose cheerfully, and in their name the two electoral chancellors, Dr. Brueck and Dr. Baier, stepped into the center of the room, the first with a Latin, the latter with a German copy of the confession. When the emperor demanded that the Latin copy should be read, Elector John replied, “Upon German ground and soil it is but fair to read and hear the German tongue.” The emperor permitted it. And now Dr. Baier began to read in a loud and audible voice, so that even the assembled multitude without in the courtyard could plainly understand every word of the confession. Everyone was deeply touched by it. The learned Catholic Bishop of Augsburg publicly admitted, “Everything that was read is the pure, unadulterated, undeniable truth.” Duke William of Bavaria pressed the hand of Elector John in a friendly manner and said to Dr. Eck, who was standing close by, “I have been told something entirely different of Luther’s doctrine than I have now heard from their confession. You have also assured me that their doctrine could be refuted.” Eck replied, “I would undertake to refute it with the fathers, but not with the Scriptures.” Thereupon the duke rejoined, “I understand, then, that the Lutherans sit entrenched in the Scriptures, and we are on the outside.” Luther wrote to one of his friends: “You have confessed Christ and offered peace. You have worthily engaged in the holy work of God as becometh the saints. Now for once rejoice in the Lord also and be glad, ye righteous. Look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.” Spalatin said that such a confession had not been made since the world exists. Mathesius also aptly testifies, “There has not been a greater and higher work and a more glorious testimony since the days of the apostles than this at Augsburg before the whole Roman empire.” Very soon the confession was translated in many different languages and spread in every land. Thereby many received true information on the Lutheran doctrine, recognized its entire agreement with Holy Scriptures and with the doctrine of the Apostolic Church, and joyfully accepted it as their own.

  At the emperor’s command the papal theologians at once drew up a paper in which they tried to refute the Augsburg Confession. This document, called Confutation, proved to be such a miserable failure that it had to be returned for revision. Melanchthon then wrote an excellent defense of the confession, the Apology, which, however, the emperor would neither receive nor permit to be read. He simply declared the case to be closed, and said, “If the evangelical princes will not submit, then I, the protector of the Roman church, am not disposed to permit a schism of the church in Germany.”

  Before the close of the diet he issued a severe edict which granted the evangelicals six months to consider matters and commanded them, before the expiration of this time, to return to the Catholic church. Thereupon the faithful confessors declared that, because they had not received a thorough refutation from the Word of God, they were determined to abide by the faith of the prophets and apostles, and everything else they would commend to the gracious will of God. When taking leave of the emperor, Elector John, rightly called the “Steadfast,” spoke the memorable words, “I am sure that the doctrine contained in the Confession will stand even against the gates of hell.” The emperor answered, “Uncle, Uncle, I did not expect to hear such words from your Grace. You will lose your electoral crown and your life, and your subjects will perish, together with their women and children.”

  CHAPTER XVI.

  Bible, Catechism, and Hymnbook.

  1. BIBLE. AMONG the many priceless treasures for which all Christendom owes thanks, under God, to Luther, the translation of the Bible into German is one of the grandest and one of the most glorious. In the churches of that time Latin Bibles were used exclusively. The people, however, were not acquainted with them; for, in the first place, laymen could not read them, and, in the second place, they were forbidden to read the Bible. In addition to this, the Bibles of that time were far too expensive. An ordinary Latin Bible cost 360 florins, and one nicely written out by monks even brought 500 dollars. It is true, there were German translations of the Bible even before Luther, but they were so inexact, and composed in such poor German, that the people could not use them. And yet, if every Christian was to read and learn the Gospel which Luther preached and proclaimed; if he was to convince himself from the Scriptures of the errors of popery; if he was effectively to arm himself against them; and if the Bible was to make him wise unto salvation, then he had to have it in his own language. Luther was long since convinced of this and had, therefore, already translated the seven Penitential Psalms. When, in 1521, the Wartburg sheltered him against his enemies, he, for the first, undertook the translation of the New Testament. He wrote: “Till Easter I will remain here in seclusion. By that time I will translate the Postil and New Testament into the people’s language. That is demanded by our friends.” After completing the work he wrote to Spalatin: “In my Patmos I had translated not only the Gospel according to John, but the entire New Testament. Now we are at it to polish the whole, Philip and I; God willing, it will prove a fine work.” On the 21st of September, 1522, it appeared and sold at 1½ florins. Although the book was proscribed in many countries, the entire first edition was sold in a few weeks. In the same year several new editions had to be issued. Then Luther, with his friends, entered upon the translation of the whole Bible. It was a most difficult task. Luther said of it: “It frequently happened that we searched and inquired fourteen days, aye, three or four weeks for a single word, and yet, at times, did not find it.” But God permitted him to complete the great work upon which, amid countless battles and labors, his heart had been set for many years. In 1534 the complete Bible appeared.

  The Translation of the Bible.

  Great was the joy with which Luther’s translation was received at that time. Melanchthon exclaimed, “The German Bible is one of the greatest miracles which God has worked through Dr. Martin Luther before the end of the world.” And Mathesius added, “For to an attentive Bible-reader it seems indeed as if the Holy Spirit had spoken through the mouth of the prophets and the apostles in our German language.” Now many thousand thirsting souls could drink as often as they wished from that fountain closed so long, and which offers pure, sweet, and truly satisfying water. And they did it. Cochlaeus, a violent opponent of Luther, writes: “Luther’s New Testament has been so multiplied by the printers and scattered in such numbers that even tailors and shoemakers, aye, even women and the simple who had learned to read only the German on ginger cakes, read it with intense longing. Many carried it about with them and learned it by heart, so that, in a few months, they arrogantly began to dispute with priests and monks on the faith and the Gospel. Indeed, even poor women were found who engaged with learned doctors in a debate, and thus it happened that in such conversations Lutheran laymen could extemporaneously quote more Bible passages than the monks and priests.”

  2. Catechism. Another treasure which God gave to Christianity through Luther is the Small Catechism. In order to inform himself on the condition of the churches and schools Luther had early urged the elector to order a general visitation of the churches. This visitation was held with loving heart, but with open eyes, from 1527 to 1529. In the vicinity of Wittenberg Luther and Melanchthon traveled from city to city, from village to village, and inspected churches and schools. They listened to the preachers and examined the church members. They found things in a s
ad condition. The people and the pastors lived in deep spiritual ignorance, for under the rule of the Pope they had received no proper instruction in religion. In a village near Torgau the old pastor could scarcely recite the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed; in another place the peasants did not know a single prayer and even refused to learn the Lord’s Prayer. Luther wrote: “Alas, what manifold misery I beheld! The common people, especially in the villages, know nothing at all of Christian doctrine; and many pastors are quite unfit and incompetent to teach. Yet, all are called Christians, have been baptized, and enjoy the use of the sacraments — although they know neither the Lord’s Prayer nor the Creed nor the Ten Commandments, and live like the poor brutes and irrational swine.” The following example illustrates how patiently Luther instructed such people. When, at one time, he was examining the poor peasants on the Christian Creed one of them, who had recited the First Article, being asked the meaning of “Almighty,” answered, “I don’t know!” Luther then said, “You are right, my dear man, I and all the doctors do not know what God’s power and omnipotence is; but only believe that God is your dear and faithful father who will, can, and knows how to help you and your wife and children in every need.”

  Such misery induced Luther, in 1529, to write the Small Catechism for the instruction of poor Christendom. He himself says: “The deplorable destitution which I recently observed during a visitation of the churches has impelled and constrained me to prepare this Catechism or ‘Christian Doctrine’ in such a small and simple form.” A learned doctor writes of this excellent little book: “The Small Catechism is the true Layman-Bible, which comprises the whole contents of Christian doctrine which every Christian must know for his salvation.” Of all books in the world perhaps no other can be found that teaches the whole counsel of God for our salvation in such brief form and in such clear and pointed language. A truly popular book, it has cultivated the right understanding of the Gospel among the common people and unto this day proved of inestimable blessing. Very early Luther already could boast of the fruits of his work. In the following year he wrote to the elector: “How gracious is the merciful God in granting such power and fruit to His Word in your country. You have in your country the very best and most able pastors and preachers, such as you can find in no other country of the world, who live so faithfully, piously, and peaceably. Tender youth, boys and girls, are growing up so well instructed in the Catechism and the Scriptures, that it makes me feel good to see how young lads and little girls can now pray, believe, and speak better of God and of Christ than formerly all institutes, cloisters, and schools.”