The Bondage of the Will; Table Talk; Small & Large Catechisms

Antichrist is the pope and the Turk together; a beast full of life must have a body and soul; the spirit or soul of antichrist is the pope, his flesh or body the Turk. The latter wastes and assails and persecutes God's church corporally; the former spiritually and corporally too, with hanging, burning, murdering, etc. But, as in the apostle's time, the church had the victory over the Jews and Romans, so now will she keep the field firm and solid against the hypocrisy and idolatry of the pope, and the tyranny and devastations of the Turk and her other enemies.

"And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished: for that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall magnify himself above all."

This prophecy, as all the teachers agree, points directly at the antichrist, under the name of Antiochus; for antichrist will regard neither God nor the love of women—that is, the state of matrimony. These two, antichrist condemns on earth—God, that is religion, and mankind. He will not regard women, that is, he will condemn temporal and house government, laws, jurisdiction, emperors and kings: for through women children are born, and brought up, to the perpetuation of mankind and replenishing of the world; where women are not regarded, of necessity temporal and house government is also condemned, and laws, and ordinances, and rulers.

Daniel was an exceeding high and excellent prophet, whom Christ loved, and touching whom he said; Whoso readeth, let him understand. He spoke of that antichrist persecutor as clearly as if he had been an eyewitness thereof. Read the 11th chapter throughout. It applies to the time when the emperor Caligula and other tyrants ruled; it distinctly says: "He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain;" that is, at Rome, in Italy. The Turk rules also between two seas, at Constantinople, but that is not the holy mountain. He does not honor or advance the worship of Maosim, nor does he prohibit matrimony. Therefore Daniel points directly at the pope, who does both, with great fierceness. The prophet says further: "He shall also be forsaken of his king." It is come to that pass already, for we see kings and princes leave him. As to the forms of religion under the pope and Turk, there is no difference but in a few ceremonies; the Turk observes the Mosaical, the pope the Christian ceremonies - both sophisticate and falsify them; for as the Turk corrupts the Mosaic bathings and washings, so the pope corrupts the sacrament of baptism and of the Lord's supper.

The kingdom of antichrist is described also in the revelation of John, where it is said: "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them." This might seem prophesied of the Turk, and not of the pope, but we must, on investigation, understand it of the pope's abominations and tyranny in temporal respects. It is further said in the Apocalypse: "It shall be for a time, and times, and half a time." Here is the question: what is a time? If time be understood a year, the passage signifies three years and a half, and hits Antiochus, who for such a period persecuted the people of Israel, but at length died in his own filth and corruption. In like manner will the pope also be destroyed; for he began his kingdom, not through power or the divine authority, but through superstition and a forced interpretation of some passages of Scripture. Popedom is built on a foundation which will bring about its fall. Daniel prophesies thus: "And through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; but he shall be broken without hand." This refers specially to the pope, for all other tyrants and monarchs fall by temporal power and strength. However, it may hit both pope and Turk. Both begin to reign almost at one time, under the emperor Phocas, who murdered his own master, the emperor Maurice, with his empress and young princes, well nigh nine hundred years since. The pope began to govern the church spiritually at the same time that Mohammed founded his power; the pope's temporal kingdom stood scarce three hundred years, for he plagued and harassed kings and emperors. I cannot well define or comprehend this prophecy: "A time, times, and half a time." I do not know whether it refers to the Turk, who began to rule when Constantinople was taken, in the year 1453, eighty-five years ago. If I calculate a time to be the age of Christ (thirty years) this expression would mean one hundred and five years, and the Turk would still have twenty-five years swing to come. Well, God knows how it stands, and how he will deliver those that are his. Let us not vex ourselves with seeking over knowledge. Let us repent and pray.

Seeing the pope is antichrist,¹ I believe him to be a devil incarnate. Like as Christ is true and natural God and man, so is antichrist a living devil. It is true, too, what they say of the pope, that he is a terrestrial god,—for he is neither a real god nor a real man, but of the two natures mingled together.

He names himself an earthly God, as though, the only true and Almighty God were not on earth! Truly, the pope's kingdom is a horrible outrage against the power of God and against mankind; an abomination of desolation, which stands in the holy place. `Tis a monstrous blasphemy for a human creature to presume, now Christ is come, to exalt himself in the church above God. If it had been done amongst the Gentiles, before the coming of Christ, it would not have been so great a wonder. But though Daniel, Christ himself, and his apostles, Paul and Peter, have given us warning of that poisoned beast and pestilence, yet we Christians have been, and still are, so doltish and mad, s to adore and worship all his idols, and to believe that he is lord over the universal world, as heir to St Peter; whereas, neither Christ nor St Peter left any succession upon earth.

The pope is the last blaze in the lamp, which will go out, and ere long be extinguished, the last instrument of the devil, that thunders and lightens with sword and bull, making war through the power and strength of others, as Daniel says: "He is powerful, but not by his own strength." It has been affirmed that the pope has more power in one finger, than all the princes in Germany; but the spirit of God's mouth has seized upon that shameless strumpet, and startled many hearts, so that they regard him no more; a thing no emperor, with sword and power, had been able to accomplish;' the devil scorns these weapons: but when he is struck with God's Word, then the pope is turned to a poppy and a forthy flower.

The word Papa, Pope, comes, as I think, of the word Abba, repeated twice, meaning father of fathers. Of old the bishops were called Papa; Jerome, writing to Augustine, who was bishop of Hippo, calls him Holy Pope; and in the legend of St Cyprian, martyr, we read that the judge asked him: Art thou the Cyprian whom the Christians call their pope? It seems to me to have been a term applied to all the bishops. Children call their athers papa; the bishops were the spiritual papas of the people.

Who, thirty years ago, would have dared to say of the pope what we now say of him? None then ventured to express himself respecting him in other terms than those of veneration and supplication.

Whence comes it that the popes pretend `tis they who form the church, when, all the while, they are bitter enemies of the church, and have no knowledge, certainly no comprehension, of the Holy Gospel? Pope, cardinals, bishops, not a soul of them has read the Bible; `tis a book unknown to them. They are a pack of guzzling, stuffing wretches, rich, wallowing in wealth and laziness, resting secure in their power, and never, for a moment, thinking of accomplishing God's will. The Sadducees were infinitely more pious than the papists, from whose holiness God preserve us. May he preserve us, too, from security, which engenders ingratitude, contempt of God, blasphemy, and the persecution of divine things.

Some one, speaking of the signs and marvels which are to herald the coming of antichrist, when he shall present himself previous to the last judgment, said he was to be armed with a breath of fire, which would overthrow all who might seek to oppose him. Dr. Luther observed; These are parables, but they agree in a measure with the prophecies of Daniel; for the throne of the pope is a throne of flame, and fire is his arm, as the scimeter is the Turk's. Antichrist attacks with fire, and shall be punished with fire. The villain is now full of fear, crouching behind his mountains, and submitting to things against which heretofore he would have hurled his lightning and his thunder.

On the 8th August, came a letter from Bucer, relating that the council of Vienna was over, that the cardinals had returned home, and that the gospel had been eagerly received at Piacenza and Bologna. The pope, enraged at this result, had sent for a German, named Corfentius, to whom he transmitted a safe conduct; but, despite this, when Corfentius reached Rome, he was seized and thrown into the Tiber. Dr. Luther observed: Such is the good faith of the Italian papists! Happy the man who puts no trust in them. If the men of God, who preach the gospel in Italy, remain firm, there will be much bloodshed. See what snares are laid for us here in Germany; there's not a single hour wherein we can regard ourselves as safe. Had not God watched over us, we must long since have succumbed.

Some one asked how happened it St James had been at Compostella. Dr. Martin replied: Just as it happens, that the papists reckon up sixteen apostles, while Jesus Christ had but twelve. In many places, the papists boast of having some of the milk of the Virgin Mary, and of the hay in which Christ lay in the cradle. A Franciscan boasted he had some of this hay in a wallet he carried with him. A roguish fellow took out the hay, and put some charcoal in its place. When the monk came to show the people his hay, he found only the wood. However, he was at no loss: "My brethren," said he, "I brought out the wrong wallet with me, and so cannot show you the hay; but here is some of the wood that St Lawrence was grilled upon."

Kings and princes coin money only out of metals, but the pope coins money out of every thing—indulgences, ceremonies, dispensations, pardons; `tis all fish comes to his net. `Tis only baptism escapes him, for children came into the world without clothes to be stolen, or teeth to be drawn.

A gentleman being at the point of death, a monk from the next convent came to see what he could pick up, and said to the gentleman: Sir, will you give so and so to our monastery? The dying man, unable to speak, replied by a nod of the head, whereupon the monk, turning to the gentleman's son, said: You see, your father makes us this bequest. The son said to the father: Sir, is it your pleasure that I kick this monk down stairs? The dying man nodded as before, and the son forthwith drove the monk out of doors.

A professor at Wittenberg, named Vitus Ammerbach having advanced the proposition that, some head or other being necessary for the Church, the pope might as well be that head as another, Luther said: Greece was never under the authority of the pope, nor Judea, nor Scythia, yet in all these countries were Christians of great piety. `Tis great presumption in Ammerbach to propound these fallacies.

Some one observed: The papists flatter themselves our doctrines will not last long, but will come to nothing, like those of Arius, which, say they, endured but for forty years. Dr. Luther replied: The sect of Arius maintained itself for nearly sixty years; but s it was based on hertical principles, it ended in confusion and destruction, whereas our opponents are compelled, despite themselves, to admit that we have right on our side. Our light so shines in the eyes of all men, that none can deny it.

They once showed here, at Wittenberg, the drawers of St Joseph and the breeches of St Francis. The bishop of Mayence boasted he had a gleam of the flame of Moses bush. At Compostella they exhibit the standard of the victory that Jesus Christ gained over death and the devil. The crown of thorns is shown in several places.

When Wolsey, who was the son of a butcher, was made cardinal, a merry fellow said: "Please God he come to be pope, for then we shall have meat on fast days. St Peter, because he was a fisherman, prohibited meat, in order to raise the price of fish; this butcher's son will do the same for fish."

The cuckoo takes the eggs out of the linnet's nest, and puts her own in their place. When the young cuckoos grow big, they eat the linnet. The cuckoo, too, has a great antipathy towards the nightingale. The pope is a cuckoo; he robs the church of her true eggs, and substitutes in their place his greedy cardinals, who devour the mother that has nourished them. The pope, too, cannot abide that nightingale, the preaching and singing of the true doctrine.

They show, at Rome, the head of St John the Baptist, though `tis well known that the Saracens opened his tomb, and burned his remains to ashes. These impostures of the papists cannot be too seriously reprehended.

The papists, for the most part, are mere gross blockheads. One of their priests I knew, baptized with this form of words: Ego te baptiste in nomine Christe. Another in singing, used to say, elema, instead of clama, and when corrected, only bawled all the louder, elema, elema. Another said, elicere, instead of dicere. At Bamberg, they exhibit, once a year, a book, which they say contains the history of the emperor Henry and his wife Cunegonde, who made, on their marriage-day, a vow of virginity. Birkheimer, when he passed through Bamberg, asked to see this book, and when it was brought to him, found that it was only a copy of Cicero's Topics. In one convent, the brethren read munsimus, instead of sumpsimus. A young brother, just fresh from study, correcting this error, the rest said to him: "Mind thy own business; we have always read munsimus, and we are not going to change our reading for thee."

Two jesters held a disputation before the pope, who was at dinner, the one maintaining, the other denying, the immortality of the soul. The pope said, that he was advocated the immortality of the soul adduced excellent reasons, but that, for his own part, he should side with the man who denied its immortality, seeing that it was a convenient doctrine, holding out a very desirable prospect, and `tis to such wretches as these the government of the church is to be confided.

Albert, bishop of Mayence, had a physician attached to his person, who, being a protestant, did not enjoy the prelate's favor. The man seeing this, and being an avaricious, ambitious, world-seeker, denied his God, and turned back to popery, saying to his associates: I'll put Jesus Christ by for awhile, till I've made my fortune, and then bring him out again. This horrible blasphemy met with its just reward; for next day the miserable hypocrite was found dead in his bed, his tongue hanging from his mouth, his face black as a coal, and his neck twisted half round. I was myself an ocular witness of this merited chastisement of impiety.

Philip Melancthon, on the authority of a person who had filled an important post at the court of Clement VII., mentioned that every day, after the pope had dined or supped, his cup-bearer and cooks were imprisoned for two hours, and then, if no symptoms of poison manifested themselves in their master, were released. "What a miserable life" observed Luther; "tis exactly what Moses has described in Deuteronomy: "And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear, day and night, and shall have none assurance of thy life. In the morning, thou shalt say: would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say: would God it were morning!"

Mary, the humble virgin of Nazareth, strikes these potentates and popes fiercely, when she sings: "I will put down the mighty from their seats." Doubtless she had a sweet and sounding voice.

The pope and his crew are mere worshippers of idols, and servants of the devil, with all their doings and living; for he regards not at all God's Word, nay, condemns and persecutes it, and directs all his juggling to the drawing us away from the true faith in Christ. He pretends great holiness, under color of the outward service of God, for he has instituted orders with hoods, with shavings, fasting, eating of fish, saying mass, and such like: but in the groundwork, `tis altogether the doctrine of the devil; and the cause why the pope so stiffly holds such devilish doctrine is, that which the Gospel relates, Matt. iv. The devil has shown him the kingdoms of the world, and made promise to him as he did to Christ. This makes him condemn and scorn our sermons and God's service, by which we are beggars, and endure much, while for his doctrine he gets money and wealth, honor and power, and is so great a monarch, that he can bring emperors under his girdle.

I cannot imagine how there should be peace between us and the papists, for neither will yield to the other; `tis an everlasting war, like that between the woman's seed and the old serpent. When temporal kings are weary of warring, they make a truce, more or less enduring, but in our case, there can be no such cessations; for we cannot depart from the Gospel, nor will they desist from their idolatry and blaspheming; the devil will not suffer his feet to be chopped off, nor will Christ have the preaching of his Word hindered; therefore I cannot see how any peace or truce may be between Christ and Belial.

After the persecution of the church ceased, the popes aimed at the government, out of covetousness and ambition. The first was Hildebrand, or rather Hellbrand; they affrighted the people with their excommunication, which was so fearful a thing, that it descended upon the children, nay, fell upon servants. On the other hand, the pope seeking the goodwill of the people, granted and sold the remission of sins, were they never so heavy. Had one ravished the Virgin Mary, or crucified Christ anew, the pope would, for money, have pardoned him. This power and domination of the pope's, God has brought to confusion and destruction by my pen; for God, out of nothing, can make all things, and of the least means produce the greatest results.

Popedom must needs be brought to the stake, and pay for all. The pope shall be devoured by the friars, his creatures. The great and innumerable multitude of monks and friars, said Cardinal Campeggio, produces great evil; for they shake that fair monarchy of popedom, so carefully erected; and he said right; the Rat King is being paid home by his rats. By divinity he cannot be defended, for `tis no argument of his anonists and shaven crew, that his rule has long been a custom. How should the pope be able to judge, who has no skill or experience in matters of temporal government. How foolishly decides he touching matrimonial causes. He has forbidden his greased retinue to enter into the state of matrimony, though he commands it to be held and observed as a sacrament. If matrimony be a sacrament, it cannot be for the heathen; for the unbelieving Gentiles have nothing to do with them.

`Tis a mere fable to say that Constantine the Emperor gave to the pope so much property and people as he boasts of. This I read, that Constantine gave much alms to the poor, commanding the bishops to distribute them, by which means they grew to be great lords. But he gave them neither countries nor cities; wherefore the world wonders whence the popes derived such dominions. In former times the popes were not lords over emperors and kings, but were instituted or ordained by the emperors.

The world remains the world it was thousands of years ago; that is, the spouse of the devil. The world says now, as the Pharisees said to their servants, whom they had sent to take Christ prisoner: "Are ye also deceived? have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him? This people that knoweth not the law are accursed." Even so says the world now: Do the great ones and bishops believe in the Lutheran doctrine?

The pope denies not the sacrament, but he has stolen from the laity the one part or kind thereof; neither does he teach the true use of it. The pope rejects not the bible, but he persecutes and kills upright, good, and godly teachers, as the Jews persecuted and slew the prophets that truly expounded and taught the Scriptures. The pope will permit the substance and essence of the sacrament and Bible to remain; but he will compel and force us to use them according to his will and pleasure, and will constrain us to believe the fictitious transubstantiation, and the real presence, corporaliter. The pope does nothing else than pervert and abuse all that God has ordained and commanded.

The chief cause that I fell out with the pope was this: the pope boasted that he was the head of the church, and condemned all that would not be under his power and authority; for he said, although Christ be the Head of the church, yet, notwithstanding, there must be a corporal head of the church upon earth. With this I could have been content, had he but taught the Gospel pure and clear, and not introduced human inventions and lies in its stead. Further, he took upon him power, rule, and authority over the Christian church, and over the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God; no man must presume to expound the Scriptures, but only he, and according to his ridiculous conceits; so that he made himself lord over the church, proclaiming her at the same time a powerful mother, and empress over the Scriptures, to which we must yield and be obedient; this was not to be endured. They who, against God's Word, boast of the church's authority, are mere idiots. The pope attributes more power to the church, which is begotten and born, than to the Word, which has begotten, conceived, and borne the church.

We, through God's grace, are not heretics, but schismatics, causing, indeed, separation and division, wherein we are not to blame, but our adversaries, who gave occasion thereto, because they remain not by God's Word alone, which we have, hear, and follow.

When our Lord God intends to plague and punish one, he leaves him in blindness, so that he regards not God's Word, but condemns the same, as the papists now do. They know that our doctrine is God's Word, but they will not allow of this syllogism and conclusion: When God speaks, we must hear him; now God speaks through the doctrine of the Gospel; therefore we must hear him. But the papists, against their own consciences, say, No; we must hear the church.

It is very strange: they admit both propositions, but will not allow the consequences, or permit the conclusions to be right. They urge some decree or other of the Council of Constance, and say, though Christ speak, who is the truth itself, yet an ancient custom must be preferred, and observed for law. Thus do they answer, when they seek to wrest and perver the truth.

If this sin of antichrist be not a sin against the Holy Ghost, then I do not know how to define and distinguish sins. They sin herein willfully against the revealed truth of God's Word, in a most stubborn and stiff-necked manner. I pray, who would not, in this case, resist these devillish and shameless lying lips? I marvel not John Huss died so joyfully, seeing he heard of such abominable impieties and wickedness of the papists. I pray, how holds the pope concerning the church? He preserves her, but only in an external lustre, pomp, and succession. But we judge her according to her essence, as she is in herself, in her own substance, that is, according to God's Word and sacraments. The pope is reserved for God's judgment, therefore only by God's judgment he shall be destroyed. Henry VIII, king of England, is now also an enemy to the pope's person, but not to his essence and substance; he would only kill the body of the pope, but suffer his soul, that is, his false doctrine to live; the pope can well endure such an enemy; he hopes within the space of twenty years to recover his rule and government again. But I fall upon the pope's soul, his doctrine, with God's Word, not regarding his body, that is, his wicked person and life. I not only pluck out his feathers, as the king of England and prince George of Saxony do, but I set the knife to his throat; and cut his windpipe asunder. We put the goose on the spit; did we but pluck her, the feathers would soon grow again. Therefore is Satan so bitter an enemy unto us, because we cut the pope's throat, as does also the king of Denmark, who aims at the essency of popery.

`Tis wonderful how, in this our time, the majesty of the pope is fallen. Heretofore, all monarchs, emperors, kings, and princes feared the pope's power, who held them all at his nod; none durst so much as mutter a word against him. This great god is now fallen; his own creatures, the friars and monks, are his enemies, who, if they still continue with him, do so for the sake of gain; otherwise they would oppose him more fiercely than we do.

The pope's crown is named gegnum mundi, the kingdom of the world. I have heard it credibly reported at Rome, that thiscrown is worth more than all the princedoms of Germany. God placed popedom in Italy not without cause, for the Italians can make out many things to be real and true, which in truth are not so: they have crafty and subtle brains.

If the pope were the head of the Christian church, then the church were a monster with two heads, seeing that St Paul says that Christ is her head. The pope may well be, and is, the head of the false church.

Where the linnet is, there is also the cuckoo, for he thinks his song a thousand times better than the linnet's. Even thus, the pope places himself in the church, and so that his song may be heard, overcrows the church. The cuckoo is good for something, in that its appearance gives tidings that summer is at hand; so the pope serves to show us that the last day of judgment approaches.

There are many that think I am too fierce against popedom; on the contrary, I complain that I am, alas! too mild; I wish I could breath out lightning against pope and popedom, and that every word were a thunderbolt.

`Tis an idle dream the papists entertain of antichrist; they suppose he should be a single person, that should govern, scatter money amongst them, do miracles, carry a fiery oven about him, and kill the saints.

In popedom they make priests, not to preach and teach God's Word, but only to celebrate mass, and to gad about with the sacrament. For, when a bishop ordains a man, he says: Take unto thee power to celebrate mass, and to offer for the living and the dead. But we ordain priests according to the command of Christ and St Paul, namely to preach the pure gospel and God's Word. The papists in their ordinations make no mention of preaching and teaching God's Word, therefore their consecrating and ordaining is false and unright, for all worshipping which is not ordained of God, or erected by God's Word and command, is nothing worth, yea, mere idolatry.

Next unto my just cause the small repute and mean aspect of my person gave the blow to the pope. For when I began to preach and write, the pope scorned and condemned me; he thought: `Tis but one poor friar; what can he do against me? I have maintained and defended this doctrine in popedom, against many emperors, kings, and princes, what then shall this one man do? If he had condescended to regard me, he might easily have suppressed me in the beginning.

A German, making his confession to a priest at Rome, promised, an oath, to keep secret whatsoever the priest should impart unto him, until he reached home; whereupon the priest gave him a leg of the ass on which Christ rode into Jerusalem, very neatly bound up in silk, and said: This is the holy relic on which the Lord Christ corporally did sit, with his sacred legs touching this ass's leg. Then was the German wondrous glad, and carried the said holy relic with him into Germany. When he got to the borders, he bragged of his holy relic in the presence of four others, his comrades, when, lo! it turned out that each of them had likewise received from the same priest a leg, after promising the same secrecy. Thereupon all exclaimed, with great wonder: Lord! had that ass five legs?

A picture being brought to Luther, in which the pope, with Judas the traitor, were represented hanging on the purse and keys, he said: `Twill vex the pope horribly, that he, whom emperors and kings have worshipped should now be figured hanging on his false pick-locks. It will also grieve the papists, for their consciences will be touched. The purse accords well with the cardinal's hats and their incomes, for the pope's covetousness has been so gross, that in all kingdoms he has not only raked to himself Annates, Palliummoney, etc., but has also sold for money the holy sacraments, indulgences, fraternities, Christ's blood, matrimony, etc. Therefore his purse is filled with robberies, upon which justly ought to be exclaimed, as in the Revelations; "Recompense them as they have done to you, and make it double unto them, according to their works." Therefore, seeing the pope has damned me and given me over to the devil, so will I, in requital, hang him on his own keys.

It is abominable, that in so many of the pope's decrees, there is not one single sentence of the Holy Scripture, or one article of the Catechism mentioned. The pope intending to conduct the government of his church in an external way, his teachings were blasphemous; such as that a stinking friar's hood, put upon a dead body, procured remission of sins, and was of equal value with the merits of our blessed Saviour Christ Jesus.