GRACE AND PEACE FROM GOD THE FATHER, THROUGH CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.
The holy and royal prophet David, in the 78th Psalm, says: "God made a covenant
with Jacob, and gave Israel a law, which he commanded our fathers to teach
their children, that their posterity might know it, and the children which were
yet unborn; to the intent, that when they came up, they might show their
children the same. That they might put their trust in God, and not forget the
works of God, but to keep his
commandments."
In these words the great
benefits of God are set forth and praised, in that he reveals to mankind his
Holy Word, his covenants and laws, makes himself known, instructs us of sin and
righteousness, of death and life, of condemnation and salvation, of hell and
heaven, and in such wise gathers a Christian church to live with him
everlastingly; and the prophet wills also, that we should learn God's Word with
diligence, and should teach others therein, and should make it known to all
people, and in nowise forget the wonderful works of God, but render thanks to
him for them.
Therefore, when God had suffered the children of
Israel a long time to be plagued with severe servitude in Egypt, and thereby
to fall into idolatry and false serving of God; to suffer great persecutions,
and many other miseries, then he sent unto them Moses and Aaron, who kindled
the light of God's Word again, and drew them from the abominable idolatry of
the heathens, and opened unto them the knowledge of the true God.
Then he led them also with a powerful hand out of
the bondage of Egypt, brought them through the Red Sea, and before their eyes
overthrew and drowned the tyrant Pharaoh, with all the Egyptians. He showed
unto them great goodness also in the Wilderness; namely, he gave his
commandments unto them on Mount Sinai; he fed them with manna, or bread from
heaven, and with quails, and gave them water to drink out of the rock; and
moreover, he gave manifold victories unto them, as against the Amalekites, and
other enemies.
Then he gave unto them strict charge that they
should always remember those unspeakable benefits, that they should speak
thereof unto their children, and should be thankful for the same.
For this cause they were yearly to observe and
keep the feasts of Easter, of whitsuntide, and of the Tabernacles, to the end
they might always be mindful of God's goodnesses towards them; as is written in
Exodus xiii.: "Thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done
because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came out of the land of
Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial
between thine eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth; for with a strong
hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt." But the children of Israel,
after their wonderful deliverance, gave no great thanks to God for so many and
great benefits; for, not long after they erected the golden calf, and danced
about it. As also at the waters of strife they murmured against God, angered
him, and drew his punishments upon them.
We should also place before our eyes this
admonition of the 78th Psalm, and should thoroughly consider the example of the
children of Israel, who so soon forgot their deliverance out of Egypt. For we
may also well rejoice, that now, in our days, we have restored to us again
God's Word gloriously bright and clear; so that we should show this inestimable
treasure to our children's children, and how we are delivered and freed from
the kingdom of antichrist, the pope of Rome, and from the traditions of men,
which was a right Egyptian captivity, yea, a Babylonian imprisonment; in which
our forefathers were worse tormented and plagued than the children of Israel
were in Egypt. For God hath given also unto us in Germany a Moses, to be our
captain and leader, namely, the much enlightened and famous man, Martin Luther,
who, through God's special providence, has brought us out of Egyptian slavery,
and has unveiled and cleared all the chief articles of the Christian religion;
God so powerfully protecting and defending his doctrine, that it has remained
and stood fast against the gates of hell.
For although many learned men, universities,
popes, cardinals, bishops, friars, and priests, and after them emperors, kings,
and princes, raised their strong battery against this one man, Luther, and his
doctrine, intending quite to suppress it, yet, notwithstanding, all their labor
was in vain. And this doctrine, which is the true and ancient doctrine of
Christ, and of his apostles, remains and stands fast to this present day.
And we should look back, and consider, how, and
in what a lamentable manner it stood with us fifty years past, concerning the
religion and government of the church, and in what miserable bondage we have
been in Popedom; for this is unknown to our children; yea, we that are old have
almost forgotten it.
And, first, in the temple of God sat the man of
sin, and the child of perdition, namely, the Romish antichrist, of whom St Paul
prophesied, 2 Thess. ii; "Who exalteth himself above all that is called God,"
or that is worshipped: he altered and perverted God's Word, laws, and statutes;
and, in their place, instituted all manner of divine services, ceremonies, and
ordinances, after his own will and pleasure, and in manifold ways and meanings,
yea, oftentimes the one contrary to the other; so that in Popedome no man could
know what was certain or uncertain, what was true or false, what was commanded
or forbidden.
He sold all things for money; he forced all
people under his yoke, so that emperors were constrained to kiss his feet, and
from him to receive their crowns, no king or prince dared to oppose him, nor
once to frown at his commands or prohibitions.
Hence he boasted, in his decrees and bulls, that
he was God's general vicar on earth; that he was head of the church, supreme
bishop, and lord of all bishops and learned men in the universal world; that
he was natural heir and an inheritor of the empire, and of all kingdoms when
they fell void. His crown at Rome was named regnum mundi, every man must
bow to him as to the most holy father and god on earth. And his hypocritical
canonists maintained that he was not only a man, but that he was both god and
man together; who could not sin, and who had all divine and human wisdom in the
cabinet of his heart; from whose stool or chair even the Holy Scriptures must
have and receive their power, virtue and authority.
He was the master of faith; and he only was able
to expound the Sacred Writ, and to understand it; yea, he was so sanctified,
and so far from reproach, that although he should lead the third part of all
the souls of mankind into the pit of hell, yet no man must dare to question or
reprove him, or to demand why he did it. For every one ought to believe, that
his sacred celsitude, and sanctified power, neither would, should, nor
could err. He had authority to make void and to annihilate both the New and Old
Testaments. The church was built upon him, he could neither err nor fail,
whence it followed of necessity that he was higher and more eminent than all
the apostles.
He had also power and authority to erect new
articles of faith, which must be equal in value to the Holy Scripture, and
which ought to be believed if people intended to be saved.
He was likewise far above all councils and
fathers, and to be judged by no terrestrial jurisdiction, but all must be
subject only and alone to his judgment and decrees.
He made his Romish church the mother of all other
churches, whence it came that all the world appealed thither. He was only and
alone the governor of the church, as being far more abler and fitter to govern
than the apostles themselves if they had been living.
He had power to command all people on earth, the
angels in heaven, and the devils in hell. To conclude, the chair of Rome was so
holy of itself, that although a wicked villain had been elected to be pope, yet
so soon as he was set upon that chair, then instantly he was altogether
holy.
These boastings the pope gave out himself; and
his dissembling trencher-chaplains, the recorders of his degrees, decretals,
Clementines and extravagants, propagated the same of him in writing; so that
his gorged paunch was puffed up, and he became so full of pride (as by his acts
he showed) that, as a contra-Christ, he brought all into confusion. For it is
apparent in what manner he raged in and about the doctrine of the law, or ten
commandments, and how these were demolished and taken away by him.
He utterly threw down the first three precepts;
for he made a god of man's free-will, in that he taught, with his
school-divines, that the natural strength of man, after the fall, remained
sound and unspoiled; and that a man by his own human strength (if he did but
that which only lay in his own power to do) was able to observe and fulfill all
the commandments, and thereby should stand justified before God. He taught
also, that it was not grounded in the Scriptures, that the assistance of the
Holy Ghost, with his grace, was needful to accomplish good works; but that
every man, by his own natural strength and ability, has a free-will, in divine
duties, to do well, good, and right.
The other seven commandments the pope quite beats
down, and exalted himself above parents and magistrates, and above the
obedience due unto them, and instigated and stirred up children against their
parents, and subjects against their rulers (as plainly appears by the imperial
histories); great and fearful sins and transgressions against the fifth
commandment.
He also usurped and drew to himself the temporal
sword, and taught, that it is right and lawful to resist and drive away power
with power: and that it is not an absolute command (but only an advice) to love
our enemies, to suffer wrong, etc. Such doctrine is quite opposite to the sixth
commandment.
Then, contrary to the seventh precept, he forbad
his friars, priests, and nuns, to marry; and made way for them to live in
licentiousness, without reproof; yea, and moreover received a yearly income and
rent of such wretches.
Contrary to the eighth commandment, he usurped to
himself kingdoms, principalities, countries, people, cities, towns, and
villages, and took possession of the most delightful places and dwellings in
the world, sucked poor people, and filled his thievish purse in such manner,
that his spiritual shavelings are richer than temporal princes.
He tore also in pieces, and made void all manner
of solemn vows, promises, and covenants of peace, which were made without his
popish consent and authority, directly against the ninth commandment.
Lastly, and against the tenth commandment, he
taught that the wicked lusts of mankind were no sins, but preceed only out of
human weakness.
In such a manner, and out of a diabolical
instinct, did the pope throw down all God's commandments, and instead thereof
erected human laws and precepts.
The like course he took also touching the
preaching of the gospel. He preached nothing at all of Christ, of his person,
works, precious merits, and benefits; nor in any way comforted distressed
sorrowful consciences. And people were altogether ignorant how or where they
might obtain true remission of their sins, eternal life, and salvation.
The papists declared also to the people, in their
sermons, that the only Mediator between God and man, our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, was a severe and an angry judge, who would not be reconciled with us,
except we had other advocates and intercessors besides himself.
By this doctrine, people were seduced, and
carried away to heathenish idolatry, and took their refuge in dead saints to
help and deliver them, and made them their gods, in whom they put more trust
and confidence than in our blessed Saviour Christ Jesus; and especially, they
placed the Virgin Mary, instead of her Son Christ, for a mediatrix on the
throne of grace.
Hence proceeded the pilgrimages to saints, where
they sought for pardon and remission of sins. They also sought for pardons of
the pope, of the fraternities of friars, and of other orders. And people were
taught, that they must purchase heaven by their own good works, austerities,
fastings, and so on.
And whereas prayer is the highest comfort of a
Christian, yea, his asylum, his shield and buckler against all adversities;
therefore the pope out of prayer made a naked work, a tedious babbling without
spirit and truth. People praying in Latin psalters, and books which they
understood not; they observed in praying, Horae Canonicae, or the seven
times, with garlands of roses, with so many Bridget prayers, and other collects
to the dead saints; and thereby wrought terror of consciences, so that people
received no hope or true comfort at all. Yet, notwithstanding, they were made
to believe that such prating should merit pardons and remissions of sins for
the space of many thousand years.
Baptism, in Popedom, likewise had almost lost its
lustre, for it was not only stained with human toys and additions, as with holy
water, lights, oil, etc., but also it was celebrated in the Latin tongue, so
that the laity, standing by, could not understand it; and in its place they
constituted monkery as a second baptism, of equal value and operation, through
which they were to be as pure and clean as those that received Christ's
baptism, taking therein new names, (as the pope at his election,) condemning
their first names, that they received in Christ's baptism.
The Lord's Supper, in Popedom, also was
dishonored, corrupted, turned into idolatry, and wickedly abused; for they used
the same not in remembrance of Christ, but as the offering of some wicked
priest, and a self-merit of some despairing wretch that daily devoured it
without faith, and afterwards sold it to others for money, to be imparted to
the souls in purgatory, thereby to redeem them; so that out of the Lord's
Supper they made a mere market.
Moreover, the pope treacherously stole away from
the laity the one part of the sacrament, namely, the wine; while the other
part, which was left, was closely shut up and preserved, and yearly, in die
Corporis Christi, with great solemnity, was carried about and worshipped,
and therewith they wrought fearful idolatry.
With confession, the pope likewise brought into
confusion the consciences of the whole world, and the souls of many into
despair; giving people absolution, by reason of their own good works and
merits; and thereby, instead of solace and comfort, he brought fear, disquiet,
and discouragement, into the consciences of distressed and sorrowful people;
and, instead of true keys, made false, thievish picklocks, which he used in all
his wicked proceedings.
Now, when he had darkened and falsified God's
Word, and the doctrine of the law and gospel; had frustrated the sweet and
comfortable prayers and true devotion towards God; had dishonored baptism, the
Lord's Supper; then, at last, he proceeded to tread under foot the divine state
and orders in the world; and of the pulpit and church government, made a
temporal rule, wherein he sat as head and monarch, and under him, in order, the
cardinals, archbishops, bishops, prelates, abbots, friars, nuns, priests, and
innumerable other orders; the poor laity being altogether made a scorned tool
of.
By this short relation a man may easily collect
in what state and condition the Christian church stood in Popedom. Such fearful
darkness did God suffer to go over the wicked unthankful world as a just
judgment.
But God, who is abundant in grace and mercy,
caused the light of the gospel again to rise in our time, and dispersed the
gloomy clouds of human traditions, in awakening that most famous man of God,
Luther, who, with his preaching and doctrine, joined battle with Popedom, and,
through God's Word, threw it to the ground, and thereby delivered us from the
captivity of Popedom, led us again into the land of promise, and placed us in a
paradise where God's Word is cleared, and, God be praised, the church cleansed
from the cobwebs of men's traditions, purified and gloriously reformed, for
which we never render sufficient thanks to Almighty God.
For God, through Luther, brought forth the Bible,
or the Holy Scripture, which formerly lay, as it were, under the table;
translated by Luther ex ipsis fontibus, out of the Hebrew into the
German tongue, it may easily be read and understood by young and old, rich and
poor, clergy and laity, so that now, a father or master may daily read the Holy
Scriptures to his wife, to his children, and servants, and may instruct them in
the doctrines of grace, and direct them in the truth and in the true service of
God. Whereas, before, in Popedom, the Bible was known to none; nay, the doctors
in divinity themselves read not therein; for Luther often affirmed in my
hearing, that Dr. Andrew Carlstadt was a doctor in divinity eight years before
he began to read in the Bible; that if we Germans were not blind like the
moles, we should acknowledge these unspeakable graces and benefits of God; with
bended knees daily render hearty thanks, therefore, to God; with the 34th
Psalm, say: "I will always praise the Lord, his praise shall be ever in my
mouth: my soul shall ever make her boast in the Lord." And, with the 103d
Psalm: "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me praise his holy
name: Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not the good that he hath done for
thee."
We should also pray heartily to God, that he
would not extinguish this light of the Gospel, but suffer it long to shine,
that our children's children and posterity may walk also in this saving light,
rejoice therein and with us eternally be saved.
The devil is a great enemy to this treasure of
God's Word and his holy sacraments; he assaults it fiercely to quench this
light, as plainly appeared after the death of this holy man of God, Luther. For
first, strong attempt was made by the Interim, by what means the doctrine of
justification by faith, of good works and a Christian kind of living, of the
sacraments and well ordered ceremonies in our Christian church, might utterly
be overthrown.
Afterwards approached the conciliators, or the
qualifiers, who sought to mediate between us and the pope, and to arrange them.
They taught, that the nearer one kept himself to the pope, the better; and
therefore they proposed to restore the jurisdiction of the church to the popish
bishops, and to raise up the fallen ceremonies; and whoso refused to follow
them, fell into great danger.
The Antinomians, Swenckfelders, Enthusians,
co-agents, were also very diligent to eclipse again the true doctrines which
Luther had cleared up, and brought again to light.
All that professed to be Christians and upright
teachers and preachers should have resisted these false and wicked errors. But
many of them were dumb dogs, that would not bark, or set themselves against the
ravening wolves to drive them from Christ's sheepfold, to feed the poor sheet,
and to provide them sweet and wholesome pasture. Neither were they any way
careful of Joseph's miseries as the prophet says.
But others, who, like true and constant teachers,
fought against those enemies of God, were reviled and held as rebels,
boisterous and stiff-necked, that would raise needless strifes and divisions,
and were accordingly persecuted and plagued.
In like manner the schools and universities began
to fall again, and the pure doctrine of God's Word to be by them not much
regarded, school divinity being held again in great repute, and many new
phrases and other eloquent arts coming into the church, gave occasion to
falsities and errors.
Thereupon the politicians, the lawyers, and
courtiers essayed to rule the church and pulpits, to put in and put out
ministers and church wardens, to try causes of religion, according to their own
fancies, as in temporal affairs; so that we see the falsifying of the doctrine,
the devastation of the well-disciplined orders of the church in Germany, and
the captivity and tyranny of the pope again nigh the door - a result that
Luther, in his lifetime, often foretold.
Let us, therefore, make good use of Luther's
light, and seriously exercise ourselves in the doctrine of God's Word, as
Christ commanded: "Walk in the light while ye have the light, that ye may be
children of the light." The holy Psalmist prayed: "That the divine Word may be
a lantern to his feet and a light to his paths," that thereby he might direct
his ways, and be preserved from darkness and stumbling. And St Peter charges
us: "That we should take good heed to God's word, as unto a light that shineth
in darkness."
God Almighty, the Father of our loving Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, grant his holy spirit, that Christian kings and princes,
cities and towns, may acknowledge these unspeakable benefits of the revealing
again of the gospel, and the deliverance out of the Egyptian bondage the
kingdom of antichrist; and be heartily thankful to God for the same, and live
thereafter in holiness, and not drive away God's Word by condemning thereof,
and through sinful and wicked actions bereave ourselves and our posterity of
the glorious liberty of the gospel, nor plunge ourselves into the distress and
miserable captivity of popish tyranny, under which our forefathers and
predecessors suffered; but that this treasure and Depositum of God's
Word may remain in Germany, and that this begun work may be sent forward, and
preceed to God's glory, honor, and praise, and to the preservation and
salvation of the Christian church, throughout all the world. God of his
infinite mercy grant this for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.