Martin Luther

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II. Abuses to Be Discussed in Councils
      Abuses to Be Discussed in Councils We shall now look at the matters which should be discussed in the councils, and with which popes, cardinals, bishops and all the scholars ought properly to be occupied day and night if they loved Christ and His Church. But if they neglect this duty, then let the laity[1] and the temporal authorities see to it, re ...read

Let Your Sins Be Strong: A Letter from Luther to Melancthon
       Jesus. Of course, you can only know and absolve those sins which have been confessed to you; sins which have not been confessed to you, you neither need to know nor can you absolve them. That is reaching too high, dear gentlemen." You cannot convince me that the same is true for the vows ...read

Luther's Evening Prayer
       Luther's Evening Prayer From: Luther's Little Instruction Book (The Small Catechism of Martin Luther) Appendix 1: Devotions Translated by Robert E. Smith July 11, 1994 ...read

Luther's Morning Prayer
       Luther's Morning Prayer From: Luther's Little Instruction Book (The Small Catechism of Martin Luther) Appendix 1: Devotions Translated by Robert E. Smith July 11, 1994 ...read

Martin Luther's 95 Theses (1517)
      Martin Luther's 95 Theses Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences by Dr. Martin Luther, 1517 Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences by Dr. Martin Luther, 1517 Published in: Works of Martin Luther Adolph Spaeth, L.D. Reed, Henry Eyster Jacobs, et Al., Trans. & Eds ...read

Men Should Not Speculate About the Nature of God
      The Apostle adds to the salutation the words, 'and from our Lord Jesus Christ.' Was it not enough to say, 'from God the Father'? It is a principle of the Bible that we are not to inquire curiously into the nature of God. 'There shall no man see me, and live,' Exodus 33:20. All who trust in their own merits to save them disregard this principle a ...read

Or do I seek to please men?
      'Do I serve men or God?' Paul keeps an eye on the false apostles, those flatterers of men. They taught circumcision to avoid the hatred and persecution of men. To this day you will find many who seek to please men in order that they may live in peace and security. They teach whatever is agreeable to men, no matter whether it is contrary to God's ...read

Part 1: Letter from Martin Luther to Pope Leo X
      CONCERNING CHRISTIAN LIBERTY LETTER OF MARTIN LUTHER TO POPE LEO X Among those monstrous evils of this age with which I have now for three years been waging war, I am sometimes compelled to look to you and to call you to mind, most blessed father Leo. In truth, since you alone are everywhere considered as being the cause of my engaging in war, I ...read

Part 2: Beginning of the Treatise
      Part 2 Beginning of the Treatise CONCERNING CHRISTIAN LIBERTY Christian faith has appeared to many an easy thing; nay, not a few even reckon it among the social virtues, as it were; and this they do because they have not made proof of it experimentally, and have never tasted of what efficacy it is. For it is not possible for any man to write wel ...read

Part 3: Conclusion of the Treatise
      Part 3 Conclusion of the Treatise And now let us turn to the other part: to the outward man. Here we shall give an answer to all those who, taking offence at the word of faith and at what I have asserted, say, "If faith does everything, and by itself suffices for justification, why then are good works commanded? Are we then to take our ease and ...read

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, etc.)
      Paul loses no time in defending himself against the charge that he had thrust himself into the ministry. He says to the Galatians: 'My call may seem inferior to you. But those who have come to you are either called of men or by man. My call is the highest possible, for it is by Jesus Christ, and God the Father.' When Paul speaks of those called ...read

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead).
      St. Paul wrote this epistle because, after his departure from the Galatian churches, Jewish-Christian fanatics moved in, who perverted Paul's Gospel of man's free justification by faith in Christ Jesus. The world bears the Gospel a grudge because the Gospel condemns the religious wisdom of the world. Jealous for its own religious views, the worl ...read

Proposals for Reform I
      Proposals for Reform Part I Now, although I am too small a man to make propositions which might effect a reform in this dreadful state of things, nevertheless I may as well sing my fool's song to the end, and say, so far as I am able, what could and should be done by the temporal authorities or by a general council. 1. Every prince, nobleman ...read

Proposals for Reform II
      Proposals for Reform Part II 15. Nor must I forget the poor convents! The evil spirit, who by human laws now confuses all estates in life, and has made them unbearable, has taken possession of certain abbots, abbesses and prelates also, and causes them so to govern their brethren and sisters as to send them the more speedily to hell, and make the ...read

Proposals for Reform III
      Proposals for Reform Part III 25. The universities also need a good, thorough reformation -- I must say it no matter whom it vexes -- for everything which the papacy has instituted and ordered is directed only towards the increasing of sin and error. What else are the universities, if their present condition remains unchanged, than as the book of ...read

Sermon on Threefold Righteousness
      Threefold is sin, to which is opposed a threefold righteousness or piety. THE FIRST is criminal todsuende, that is manifest evil, which even the secular power punishes, such as theft, homicide, arson, sacrilege, etc. Of these it punishes some with the sword, with fire, with water, with a gallows, with the wheel, such as in civil law, others wi ...read

Small Catechism
       Luther's Little Instruction Book (The Small Catechism of Martin Luther) I. The Ten Commandments: The Simple Way a Father Should Present Them to His Household A. The First Commandment You must not have other gods. Q ...read

Starts discussion of Fifth Commandment (do not kill)
       I. The passions of anger and revenge, of which the Fifth Commandment says, "Thou shalt not kill." This Commandment has one work, which however includes many and dispels many vices, and is called meekness. Now this is of two kinds. The one has a beautiful splendor, and there is nothing back of it. This we ...read

Starts discussion of Fourth Commandment (honor our parents)
       The Second Table follows. "Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother." From this Commandment we learn that after the excellent works of the first three Commandments there are no better works than to obey and serve all those who are set over us as superiors. For this reason als ...read