Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  Thus, also, this father, Enoch, insisted on that word of God which he received from his father, Adam, and which he had of the Holy Spirit. For the Scripture says also of him, Gen. v., that he led a godly life, and therefore he was taken of God, so that he was seen no more. Hence, also, has been derived the notion that He will come again before the last day; but it is not to be supposed that men would understand it of a spiritual advent, as that his preaching was based upon the last day, as this passage is, wherein that day is spoken of with as much assurance as though it were in full view. The Lord is coming already, he says, with many thousand saints; that is, with such a multitude as cannot be numbered. For this can only be said of the last day, on which He will come with all His saints, to execute judgment. For before this, He has not come with many thousand saints, but alone, into the world; and this, not to judge, but to bestow grace.

  V. 15. And to punish all the ungodly among them, for all their godless life, wherein they have been ungodly. This passage Jude does not inappropriately quote, inasmuch as he is speaking of false teachers, who are to come before the last day; and the conclusion is thence to be drawn, that the Lord by his coming will overthrow the Pope and his government; since there is no other help for it; for as long as the world stands, there will be no (voluntary) ending or reformation of it. The passage, moreover, cannot be understood of any others, but of our clergy, who have shamefully led all the world astray. Their system cannot be worse, and even though it were worse, it must yet hold on to the name of Christ, and under the same introduce all kinds of mischiefs. Thus he refers this passage to the last judgment, and names those who shall suffer judgment. Whence we infer what our young clerical gentlemen shall expect at the last day, be the time long or short.

  And for all the hard speeches which Godless sinners have uttered against Him. There he at once strikes upon their life and preaching, and would say this much: — They speak fiercely and harshly against the Lord who is to come; they are shameless and proud; they deride and revile him, as St. Peter has said. He speaks not of their sinful, shameful life, but of their godless state. But the godless is he who lives without faith, although he leads a passable life outwardly. Outwardly wicked works are indeed the fruits of unbelief, but we speak more particularly of that as a godless state, where the heart is full of unbelief. These very godless ones the Lord will punish, he says, because their preaching is shameless and presumptuous, for they stick ever to their own wilfulness; do not permit themselves to be swayed at all, and are as hard as an anvil, to condemn and revile continually. Thus has Enoch struck in this passage at the very estate which before the last day should be in the world, as we now see it before our eyes. Jude says, further:

  V. 16. There are murmurers and complainers who walk after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh swelling words. When men will not let their own circumstances be fair and favorable, then there is nothing but murmuring and complaining. So when one does not give a Bishop the title he claims, then they cry out against disobedience. Besides, they are such a class of people as we cannot guard against, for they give out that they have a right over soul and body; they have grasped in their own hands both the civil and spiritual sword, so that they cannot be controlled, since no one must preach against them; they have got rid of all tax, tribute, and rent, so that no one dares to touch their wealth, besides, none dares preach a word without first asking them about it. And even though one should attack them with Scripture, yet they say that none but they only must be suffered to explain Scripture. Thus they live in all respects as they will, according to their lusts. For they cannot explain that to us, as they would be glad to, since we have subjected ourselves both to the Gospel and to the civil sword, but they would be free and uncontrolled of both. And, moreover, their whole law and claim is nothing but the fullness of mere high, proud, puffed-up words, which have nothing to back them.

  And they hold themselves up for respect, for advantage sake. This is their way of judging all, according to the person; in all the Pope’s laws, through and through, you do not once find that a bishop is to humble himself below a priest, or aim at anything, as the fruit of a christian walk, — but all is merely of this sort: the curate is to be subject to the priest, the priest subject to the bishop, the bishop to the archbishop, but he to the patriarch, the patriarch to the Pope, and after this, how each is to wear the robe, the tonsure and the cowl, possess so many churches and benefices.

  Thus they have reduced it all to an outward matter, and such is the child’s play and fool’s work, they are driving at; and they have accounted it gross sin, if any one does not hold to such views. So that Jude says well, that they put a mask upon everything, and have this only before their eyes. Thus no one knows anything of faith, of love, nor of the Cross; whence the people generally are content to eat and play the fool, and devote all their property in the manner they do, as if to the true service of God; it is thus that they hold themselves up to respect for advantage sake.

  V. 17, 18. But, my beloved, remember ye the words that were said before by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, when they said to you that in the last times there should come scoffers who should walk after their own lusts, in a godless state. This passage shows also clearly, that this epistle is not by St. Jude the Apostle, for he does not count nor reckon himself among the other Apostles, but speaks of them as of those who preached long before him; so that it is reasonable to suppose that another pious man wrote the epistle, one who had read St. Peter’s epistles and had drawn this from that source. Who these scoffers are, we have said above: they walk, moreover, after their own lusts, — not merely their fleshly lusts, but those of that godless life which they lead, and they shape all as it pleases them; they care neither for worldly authority, nor the word of God; they are neither under external nor internal government, whether divine or human; they float about between heaven and earth in their lust, just as the devil leads them.

  V. 19. These are they who make sects, sensual, who have not the Spirit. There he has touched on what Peter speaks of, their secretly bringing in of pestilent sects, for these are they that have separated themselves; they divide the unity that is in faith, will not let the ordinary estate of a Christian answer, — namely, that wherein one serves another, — but they set up other estates, and pretend to serve God by these. Besides they are sensual or brutish men, who have no more understanding and spirit than an ox or an ass; they walk according to their natural reason and fleshly mind. They have no God’s-word by which they judge themselves, or by which they can live.

  V. 20, 21. But, ye beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith, through the Holy Spirit, and pray, and keep yourselves in the love of God. There he defines, in few words, that in which a thoroughly Christian life consists. Faith is laid for the foundation on which we are to build; but to build is to grow from day to day in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, and this takes place through the working of the Holy Spirit. When we are thus built up, we shall do no work to merit anything or to be saved by it, but all to the service of our neighbor. Thus we are to watch, that we abide in love, and not fall from it, like these fools who set up particular works and a peculiar life, and so draw people away from love.

  And look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. That is the hope, toward which the Holy Cross moves. Therefore should our life be so shaped as to be nothing else than a steady longing and waiting for that life to come; yet so that that waiting be grounded on the mercy of Christ, so that we shall call upon Him with such an understanding as that he is to help us from this to that life out of pure mercy, and not for any work or merit of ours.

  V. 22, 23. And of these take pity, and distinguish them; but as to those, save them and draw them out of the fire. That is not well expressed in Dutch, but Jude would say this much: on some take pity, some save; that is, let your life be so shaped that it shall allow you to have compassion on these who are wretched, blind and dumb; have no joy or pleasure over them, but let them go, keep from
them and have nothing to do with them. But as to those others, whom ye can draw forth, save them by fear, — deal kindly and gently with them, as God has dealt with you; treat them not harshly or rudely, but feel toward them as toward those that lie in the fire, whom you are to draw forth and rescue with all care, consideration and diligence; if they will not suffer themselves to be drawn out, we should let them go and weep over them, — but not like the Pope and his inquisitors, burn and destroy them by fire.

  And hate the garment spotted by the flesh. We have indeed received the Holy Spirit by faith, and have been made clean; but as long as we live here, the old garment of our flesh and blood clings to us still and will not relax its hold. This is the spotted garment that we should lay off and draw away from as long as we live.

  V. 24, 25. Now unto Him that is able to keep you from stumbling, and present you faultless before the presence of His glory with joy; to God who alone is wise, our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now and forever. Amen. This is the close of this Epistle. Thus the Apostles do when they have written, taught, admonished and prophesied; thus they pray, express their wishes, and give thanks. Thus we have seen in the Epistles both what is true christian and false unchristian doctrine, as well as life.

  Hymns (1524)

  Translated by R. Massie and various others, 1854

  Edited by Leonard Woolsey Bacon

  A prolific hymnodist, Luther regarded music and especially hymns in German as an important means for the development of faith. Throughout his life he wrote songs for the various occasions of the liturgical year (Advent, Christmas, Purification, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, Trinity), hymns on topics of the catechism (Ten Commandments, Lord’s Prayer, creed, baptism, confession, Eucharist), paraphrases of psalms and many other songs. He worked on the tunes, from time to time modifying older tunes, in collaboration with Johann Walter. His Hymns were published in the Achtliederbuch, in Walter’s choral hymnal Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn (Wittenberg) and the Erfurt Enchiridion in 1524.

  ‘Our Father’, autograph of the lyrics with the only surviving notation from Luther’s hand

  CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  DR. MARTIN LUTHER TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.

  A Preface to All Good Hymn-Books. By Dr. Martin Luther.

  I. Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein. Dear Christians, one and all rejoice.

  II. Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh’ darein. Look down, O Lord, from Heaven behold.

  III. Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl. The Mouth of Fools doth God confess.

  IV. Aus tiefer Noth schrei’ ich zu dir. Out of the deep I cry to thee.

  V. Ein neues Lied wir heben an. By help of God I fain would tell.

  VI. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland. Saviour of the heathen, known.

  VII. Christum wir sollen loben schon. Now praise we Christ, the Holy One.

  VIII. Gelobet sei’st du, Jesu Christ. All praise to Jesus’ hallowed Name.

  IX. Christ lag in Todesbanden. Christ was laid in Death’s strong Bands.

  X. Komm, Gott Schoepfer, heiliger Geist Come, God Creator, Holy Ghost.

  XI. Jesus Christus unser Heiland. Jesus Christ, who came to save.

  XII. Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott. Come, Holy Spirit, Lord our God.

  XIII. Diess sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot’. That Man a godly Life might live.

  XIV. Jesus Christus unser Heiland. Christ, who freed our Souls from Danger.

  XV. Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet. May God be praised henceforth and blest forever.

  XVI. Es wollt’ uns Gott genaedig sein. May God unto us gracious be.

  XVII. Wohl dem, der in Gottesfurcht steht. Happy the Man who feareth God.

  XVIII. Mitten wir im Leben sind. Though in Midst of Life we be.

  XIX. Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist. Now pray we all God, the Comforter.

  XX. Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr’ dahin. In Peace and Joy I now depart.

  XXI. Mensch, willt du leben seliglich. Wilt thou, O Man, live happily.

  XXII. Gott der Vater wohn’ uns bei. God, the Father, with us stay.

  XXIII. Wir glauben All’ an einen Gott. We all believe in one true God.

  XXIV. Waer’ Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit. Had God not come, may Israel say.

  XXV. Jesaia, dem Propheten, das geschah. These Things the Seer Isaiah did befall.

  XXVI. Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott. Strong Tower and Refuge is our God.

  XXVII. Berleih’ uns Frieden gnaediglich. In these our Days so perilous.

  XXVIII. Herr Gott, dich loben wir. Lord God, thy Praise we sing.

  XXIX. Von Himmel hoch da komm ich her. From Heaven above to Earth I come.

  XXX. Sie ist mir lieb, die werthe Magd. Dear is to me the holy Maid.

  XXXI. Vater unser im Himmelreich. Our Father, thou in Heaven above.

  XXXII. Von Himmel kam der Engel schaar. To Shepherds, as they watched by Night.

  XXXIII. Erhalt’ uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort. Lord, keep us in Thy Word and Work.

  XXXIV. Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam. To Jordan came our Lord the Christ.

  XXXV. Was fuercht’st du, Feind Herodes, sehr? Why, Herod, unrelenting foe.

  XXXVI. Der du bist drei in Einigkeit. Thou, who art Three in Unity.

  INTRODUCTION

  A FIT MOTTO for the history of the Reformation would be those words out of the history of the Day of Pentecost, “How hear we, every man in our own tongue wherein we were born….the wonderful works of God!” The ruling thought of the pre-reformation period was not more the maintenance of one Holy Roman Church than of one Holy Roman Empire, each of which was to comprehend all Christendom. The language of the Roman Church and Empire was the sacred language in comparison with which the languages of men’s common speech were reckoned common and unclean. The coming-in of the Reformation was the awakening of individual life, by enforcing the sense of each man’s direct responsibility to God; but it was equally the quickening of a true national life. In the light of the new era, the realization of the promise of the oneness of the Church was no longer to be sought in the universal dominance of a hierarchical corporation; nor was the “mystery” proclaimed by Paul, that “the nations were fellow-heirs and of one body,” to be fulfilled in the subjugation of all nations to a central potentate. According to the spirit of the Reformation, the One Church was to be, not a corporation, but a communion - the communion of saints; and the unity of mankind, in its many nations, was to be a unity of the spirit in the bond of mutual peace.

  The two great works of Martin Luther were those by which he gave to the common people a vernacular Bible and vernacular worship, that through the one, God might speak directly to the people; and in the other, the people might speak directly to God. Luther’s Bible and Luther’s Hymns gave life not only to the churches of the Reformation, but to German nationality and the German language.Concerning the hymns of Luther the words of several notable writers are on record, and are worthy to be prefixed to the volume of them.

  Says Spangenberg, yet in Luther’s life-time, in his Preface to the Cithara Lutheri, 1545: “One must certainly let this be true, and remain true, that among all Mastersingers from the days of the Apostles until now, Luther is and always will be the best and most accomplished; in whose hymns and songs one does not find a vain or needless word. All flows and falls in the sweetest and neatest manner, full of spirit and doctrine, so that his every word gives outright a sermon of his own, or at least a singular reminiscence. There is nothing forced, nothing foisted in or patched up, nothing fragmentary. The rhymes are easy and good, the words choice and proper, the meaning clear and intelligible, the melodies lovely and hearty, and in summa all is so rare and majestic, so full of pith and power, so cheering and comforting, that, in sooth, you will not find his equal, much less his master.”1

  The following words have often been quoted from Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

  “Luther did as much for the Reformation by his hymns as by his translation of the
Bible. In Germany the hymns are known by heart by every peasant; they advise, they argue from the hymns, and every soul in the church praises God like a Christian, with words which are natural and yet sacred to his mind.”

  A striking passage in an article by Heine in the Revue des Deux Mondes for March, 1834, is transcribed by Michelet in his Life of Luther:

  “Not less remarkable, not less significant than his prose works, are Luther’s poems, those stirring songs which, as it were, escaped from him in the very midst of his combats and his necessities like a flower making its way from between rough stones, or a moonbeam gleaming amid dark clouds. Luther loved music; indeed, he wrote treatises on the art. Accordingly his versification is highly harmonious, so that he may be called the Swan of Eisleben. Not that he is by any means gentle or swan-like in the songs which he composed for the purpose of exciting the courage of the people. In these he is fervent, fierce. The hymn which he composed on his way to Worms, and which he and his companion chanted as they entered that city, 2 is a regular war-song. The old cathedral trembled when it heard these novel sounds. The very rooks flew from their nests in the towers. That hymn, the Marseillaise of the Reformation, has preserved to this day its potent spell over German hearts.”

  The words of Thomas Carlyle are not less emphatic, while they penetrate deeper into the secret of the power of Luther’s hymns:

  “The great Reformer’s love of music and poetry, it has often been remarked, is one of the most significant features in his character. But indeed if every great man is intrinsically a poet, an idealist, with more or less completeness of utterance, which of all our great men, in these modern ages, had such an endowment in that kind as Luther? He it was, emphatically, who stood based on the spiritual world of man, and only by the footing and power he had obtained there, could work such changes on the material world. As a participant and dispenser of divine influence, he shows himself among human affairs a true connecting medium and visible messenger between heaven and earth, a man, therefore, not only permitted to enter the sphere of poetry, but to dwell in the purest centre thereof, perhaps the most inspired of all teachers since the Apostles. Unhappily or happily, Luther’s poetic feeling did not so much learn to express itself in fit words, that take captive every ear, as in fit actions, wherein, truly under still more impressive manifestations, the spirit of spheral melody resides and still audibly addresses us. In his written poems, we find little save that strength of on ‘whose words,’ it has been said, ‘were half-battles’3- little of that still harmony and blending softness of union which is the last perfection of strength - less of it than even his conduct manifested. With words he had not learned to make music - it was by deeds of love or heroic valor that he spoke freely. Nevertheless, though in imperfect articulation, the same voice, if we listen well, is to be heard also in his writings, in his poems. The one entitled Ein’ Feste Burg, universally regarded as the best, jars upon our ears; yet there is something in it like the sound of Alpine avalanches, or the first murmur of earthquakes, in the very vastness of which dissonance a higher unison is revealed to us. Luther wrote this song in times of blackest threatenings, which, however, could in no sense become a time of despair. In these tones, rugged and broken as they are, do we hear the accents of that summoned man, who answered his friends’ warning not to enter Worms, in this wise: - ‘Were there as many devils in Worms as these tile roofs, I would on’; of him who, alone in that assemblage before all emperors and principalities and powers, spoke forth these final and forever memorable words, - ‘It is neither safe nor prudent to do aught against conscience. Till such time as either by proofs from holy Scripture, or by fair reason or argument, I have been confuted and convicted, I cannot and will not recant. Here I stand - I cannot do otherwise - God be my help, Amen.’ It is evident enough that to this man all popes, cardinals, emperors, devils, all hosts and nations were but weak, weak as the forest with all its strong trees might be to the smallest spark of electric fire.”