+ +

+Martin Luther

+ +

On war against Islamic +reign of terror

+ +1528

+ +

(On war against the Turk)

+ +

Vom Kriege wider die Türken, 1528

+ +

(WA +30 II, 107-148)

+ +

Luther’s preface

+ +

Count of Katzenellenbogen, Ziegenhain and Nidda, My gracious lord.

+ +

Grace and peace in +Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Serene, highborn Prince, +gracious Lord.

+ +

Certain +persons have been begging me for the past five years to write about war against +the Turks, and encourage our people and stir them up to it, and now that the +Turk is actually approaching, my friends are compelling me to do this duty, +especially since there are some stupid preachers among us Germans (as I am +sorry to hear) who are making the people believe that we ought not and must not +fight against the Turks. Some are even so crazy as to say that it is not proper +for Christians to bear the temporal sword or to be rulers; also because our +German people are such a wild and uncivilized folk that there are some who want +the Turk to come and rule. All the blame for this wicked error among the people +is laid on Luther and must be called “the fruit of my Gospel,” just as I must +bear the blame for the rebellion, and for everything bad that happens anywhere +in the world.

+ +

My +accusers know better, but God and His Word to the contrary, they pretend not to +know better, and seek occasion to speak evil of the Holy Ghost and of the truth +that is openly confessed, so that they may earn the reward of hell and never +receive repentance or the forgiveness of their sins.

+ +

Therefore +it is necessary for me to write of these things for my own sake and the +Gospel’s sake and to enter our defense; not because of the blasphemers, +however. They are not good enough to make it worthwhile to say a single word of +defense to them, for to them the Gospel must always be a stench and a savor of +death unto death, as they have deserved by their willful blasphemy. But I must +write in order that innocent consciences may not any longer be deceived by +these slandermongers, and made suspicious of me or my +doctrine, and may not be deceived into believing that we must not fight against +the Turks. I have thought best to publish this little book under the name of +your Grace, who are a famous and mighty prince, so that it may be the better +received and the more diligently read. Thus, if it came to a discussion of a +campaign against the Turks, the princes and lords would readily recall it. I +commend your Grace to our merciful God’s grace and favor, that He may keep your +Grace against all error and against the craft of the devil, and illumine and +strengthen your Grace for a blessed reign.

+ +

Your Grace’s devoted Martin +Luther Wittenberg, October 9, 1528

+ +

The two kingdoms

+ +

Pope Leo the Tenth, in the bull +in which he put me under the ban, condemned, among other statements, the +following one. I had said that “to fight against the Turk is the same thing as +resisting God, who visits our sin upon us with this rod.” From this article +they may get it, who say that I prevent and dissuade from war against the Turk. +I still confess freely that this article is mine and that I put it forth and +defended it at the time; and if things in the world were in the same state now +that they were in then, I would still have to put it forth and defend it. But +it is not fair to forget how things then stood in the world, and what my grounds +and reasons were, and still keep my words and apply them to another situation +where those grounds and reasons do not exist. With this kind of art, who could +not make the Gospel a pack of lies or pretend that it contradicted itself?

+ +

This +was the state of things at that time – no one had taught, no one had heard, and +no one knew anything about temporal government, whence it came, what its office +and work was, or how it ought to serve God. The most learned men (I shall not +name them) held temporal government for a heathen, human, ungodly thing, as +though it were perilous to salvation to be in the ranks of the rulers. +Therefore, the priests and monks had so driven kings and princes into the +corner, as to persuade them that, to serve God, they must undertake other +works, such as hearing mass, saying prayers, endowing masses, etc. In a word, +princes and lords who wanted to be pious men held their rank and office as of +no value and did not consider it a service of God. They became really priests +and monks, except that they did not wear tonsures and cowls. If they would +serve God, they must go to church. All the lords then living would have to +testify to this, for they knew it by experience. My gracious lord, Duke +Frederick, of blessed memory, was so glad when I first wrote On Temporal +Government, that he had the little book copied out and put in a special +binding, and was happy that he could see what his position was before God.

+ +

Thus +the pope and the clergy were, at that time, all in all, over all, and through +all, like God in the world, and the temporal rulers were in darkness, oppressed +and unknown. But the pope and his crowd wanted to be Christians, too, and +therefore pretended to make war on the Turk. Over those two points the +discussion arose, for I was then working on doctrine that concerned Christians +and the conscience, and had as yet written nothing about the temporal rulers. +The papists, therefore, called me a flatterer of the princes, because I was +dealing only with the spiritual class, and not with the temporal; just as they +call me seditious, now that I have written in such glorification of temporal +government as no teacher has done since the days of the apostles, except, +perhaps, St. Augustine. +Of this I can boast with a good conscience and the testimony of the world will +support me.

+ +

Counsels or binding commands

+ +

Among the points of Christian +doctrine, I discussed what Christ says, in Matthew, viz., that a Christian +shall not resist evil, but endure all things, let the coat go and the cloak, +let them be taken from him, offer the other cheek, etc. Of this the pope, with +his universities and cloister-schools, had made “an advice,” not a commandment, +and not a rule that a Christian must keep; thus they had perverted Christ’s +word, spread false doctrine throughout the world, and deceived Christians. +Since, therefore, they wanted to be Christians, nay, the best Christians in the +world, and yet fight against the Turk, endure no evil, and suffer neither +compulsion nor wrong, I opposed them with this saying of Christ that Christians +shall not resist evil, but suffer all things and let all things go. Upon this I +based the article that Pope Leo condemned. He did it the more gladly because I +took the rogue’s-cloak off the Roman knavery.

+ +

For +the popes had never seriously intended to make war on the Turk, but used the +Turkish war as a conjurer’s hat, playing around in it, and robbing Germany of +money by means of indulgences, whenever they took the notion. All the world knew it, but now it is forgotten. Thus they condemned +my article not because it prevented the Turkish war, but because it tore off +this conjurer’s hat and blocked the path along which the money went to Rome. If they had +seriously wished to fight against the Turk, the pope and the cardinals would +have had enough from the pallia, annates, +and other unmentionable sources of income, so that they would not have needed +to practice such extortion and robbery in Germany. If there had been a +general opinion that a serious war was at hand, I could have dressed my article +up better and made some distinctions.

+ +

It +did not please me, either, that the Christians and the princes were driven, +urged, and irritated into attacking the Turk and making war on him, before they +amended their own ways and lived like true Christians. These two points, or either separately, were enough reason to dissuade +from war. For I shall never advise a heathen or a Turk, let +alone a Christian, to attack another or begin war. That is nothing else +than advising bloodshed and destruction, and it brings no good fortune in the +end, as I have written in the book On Soldiers; and it never does any good when +one knave punishes another without first becoming good himself.

+ +

Misuse of the Christian name

+ +

But what moved me most of all was +this. They undertook to fight against the Turk under the name of Christ, and +taught men and stirred them up to do this, as though our people were an army of +Christians against the Turks, who were enemies of Christ; and this is straight +against Christ’s doctrine and name. It is against His doctrine, because He says +that Christians shall not resist evil, shall not fight or quarrel, not take +revenge or insist on rights. It is against His name, because in such an army +there are scarcely five Christians, and perhaps worse people in the eyes of God +than are the Turks; and yet they would all bear the name of Christ. This is the +greatest of all sins and one that no Turk commits, for Christ’s name is used +for sin and shame and thus dishonored. This would be especially so if the pope +and the bishops were in the war, for they would put the greatest shame and +dishonor on Christ’s name, since they are called to fight against the devil +with the Word of God and with prayer, and would be deserting their calling and +office and fighting with the sword against flesh and blood. This they are not +commanded, but forbidden to do.

+ +

O +how gladly would Christ receive me at the Last Judgment, if when summoned to +the spiritual office, to preach and care for souls, I had left it and busied +myself with fighting and with the temporal sword! And how should Christ come to +it that He or His have anything to do with the sword and go to war, and kill +men’s bodies, when He glories in it that He has come to save the world, not to +kill people? For His work is to deal with the Gospel and by His Spirit to +redeem men from sin and death, nay, to help them from this world to everlasting +life. According to John 6:15, +He fled and would not let Himself be made king; before Pilate He confessed, “My +kingdom is not of this world”; and He bade Peter, in the garden, put up his +sword, and said, “He that taketh the sword shall +perish by the sword.”

+ +

I +say this not because I would teach that worldly rulers ought not +be Christians, or that a Christian cannot bear the sword and serve God in +temporal government. Would God they were all Christians, +or that no one could be a prince unless he were a Christian! Things would be +better than they now are and the Turk would not be so powerful. But what I +would do is keep the callings and offices distinct and apart, so that everyone +can see to what he is called, and fulfill the duties of his office faithfully +and with the heart, in the service of God. Of this I have written more than +enough elsewhere, especially in the books On Soldiers and On Temporal +Government. For Paul will not suffer it that in the Church, where all should be +Christians, one assume another’s office ( Romans 12:4 +and Corinthians 12:15), but exhorts every member to his own work, so that no +disorder arise, but everything be done in an orderly way. How much less, then, +is the disorder to be tolerated that arises when a Christian leaves his office +and takes upon him a temporal office, or when a bishop or pastor leaves his +office and takes upon him the office of a prince or judge; or, on the other +hand, when a prince takes up the office of a bishop and lets his princely +office go? Even today this shameful disorder rages and rules +in the whole papacy, contrary to their own canons and laws.

+ +

Inquire +of experience how well we have succeeded hitherto with the Turkish war, though +we have fought as Christians until we have lost Rhodes and almost all of Hungary and +much German land besides. And that we may perceive clearly that God is not with +us in our war against the Turks, He has never put so much courage or spirit +into the minds of our princes that they have been able even once to deal +seriously with the Turkish war. Though many of the diets, almost all of them in +fact, have been called and held on this account, the matter will neither be +settled nor arranged, and it seems as though God were mocking our diets and +letting the devil hinder them and get the better of them until the Turk comes +ravaging on at his leisure and ruins Germany without trouble and without +resistance. Why does this happen? Because my article, which +Pope Leo condemned, remains uncondemned and in full +force. Because the papists reject it, arbitrarily and without Scripture, +the Turk must take its part and prove it with the fist and with deeds. If we +will not learn out of the Scriptures, we must learn out of the Turk’s scabbard, +until we find in our hurt that Christians are not to make war or resist evil. +Fools must be chased with clubs.

+ +

Confusion of Christianity and politics

+ +

How many wars, think you, have +there been against the Turk in which we would not have received heavy losses, +if the bishops and clergy were there? How pitifully the fine king Lassla, with his bishops was beaten by the Turk at Varna. The Hungarians +themselves blamed Cardinal Julian and killed him for it. Recently King Ludwig +would perhaps have fought with more success, if he had not led a priests’ army +or, as they call it, a Christian army against the Turks. If I were emperor, +king, or prince in a campaign against the Turk, I would exhort my bishops and +priests to stay at home and mind the duties of their office, praying, fasting, +saying mass, preaching, and caring for the poor, as not only Holy Scripture, +but their own canon law teaches and requires. If, however, they were to be +disobedient to God and their own law and desire to go along to war, I would +teach them by force to attend to their office and not, by their disobedience, +put me and my army under God’s wrath and into danger. It would be less harmful +to have three devils in the army than one disobedient, apostate bishop, who had +forgotten his office and assumed that of another. For there can be no good +fortune with such people around, who go against God and their own law.

+ +

I +have heard of fine soldiers who have thought that the king of France, when he +was defeated and captured by the emperor before Pavia, had all of his bad +fortune because he had the pope’s, or as they boastfully call them, the +Church’s, people with him. For after they came to his camp with a great cry of +Ecclesia, ecclesia! “Church, Church!” there was no more good fortune there. +This is what the soldiers say, though perhaps they do not know the reason for +it, viz., that is not right for the pope, who wants to be a Christian, and the +highest and best Christian preacher at that, to lead a church army, or army of +Christians. For the Church ought not strive or fight with the sword; it has +other enemies than flesh and blood, their name is the wicked devils in the air; +therefore it has other weapons and swords and other wars, so that it has enough +to do, and cannot mix in the wars of the emperor or princes, for the Scriptures +say that there shall be no good fortune where men are disobedient to God.

+ +

Again, +if I were a soldier and saw in the field a priests’ banner, or banner of the +cross, even though it were a crucifix I should run as though the devil were +chasing me; and even if they won a victory, by God’s decree, I should not take +any part in the booty or the rejoicing. Even the wicked iron-eater, Pope +Julius, who was half devil, did not succeed, but had to call at last on the +Emperor Maximilian and let him take charge of the game, despite the fact that +Julius had more money, arms, and people. I think, too, that this latest pope, +Clement, whom people held almost a god of war, succeeded well with his fighting +until he lost Rome and all its wealth to a few ill-armed soldiers. The +conclusion is this: Christ will teach them to understand my article, that +Christians shall not make war, and the condemned article must take its revenge, +for it is said of Christians and will be uncondemned +and right and true; although they do not care and do not believe it, but rush +on more and more, hardened and unrepentant, and go to destruction. To this I +say Amen, Amen.

+ +

It +is true, indeed, that since they have temporal lordship and wealth, they ought +to make out of it the same contributions to the emperor, kings, or princes that +other holdings properly make, and render the same services that others are +expected to render. Nay, these “goods of the Church,” as they call them, ought +above all others to serve and help in the protection of the needy and the +welfare of all classes, for they are given for that purpose, not in order that +a bishop may forget his office and use them for war or battle. If the banner of +Emperor Charles or of a prince is in the field, then let everyone run boldly +and gladly to the banner to which his allegiance is sworn; but if the banner of +a bishop, cardinal, or pope is there, then run the other way, and say “I do not +know this coin; if it were a prayer book, or the Holy Scriptures preached in +the Church, I would rally to it.”

+ +

Facing two fronts

+ +

Now before I exhort or urge to +war against the Turk, hear me, for God’s sake, while I first teach you how to +fight with a good conscience. For although, if I wanted to give way to the old +Adam, I could keep quiet and look on while the Turk revenged me upon the +tyrants who persecute the Gospel and subject me to all kinds of pain, and paid +them back for it, nevertheless, I shall not do this, but rather serve both +friends and enemies, so that my sun may rise on both bad and good, and my rain +fall on the thankful and unthankful.

+ +

In +the first place, it is certain that the Turk has no right or command to begin +war and to attack lands that are not his. Therefore, his war is nothing else +than outrage and robbery, with which God is punishing the world, as He often +does through wicked knaves, and sometimes through godly people. For he does not +fight from necessity or to protect his land in peace, as the right kind of a +ruler does, but like a pirate or highwayman, he seeks to rob and damage other +lands, who are doing and have done nothing to him. He is God’s rod and the +devil’s servant; there is no doubt about that.

+ +

In +the second place, it must be known that the man, whoever he is, who is going to +make war against the Turk, must be sure that he has a commission from God and +is doing right. He must not plunge in for the sake of revenge or have some +other mad notion or reason. He must be sure of this, so that, win or lose, he may be in a state of salvation and in a godly +occupation.

+ +

There +are two of these men, and there ought to be only two: the one is named +Christian, the other Emperor Charles.

+ +

The first front – penance and prayer

+ +

Christian should be first, with +his army. For since the Turk is the rod of the wrath of the Lord our God and +the servant of the raging devil, the first thing to be done is to smite the +devil, his lord, and take the rod out of God’s hand, so that the Turk may be +found in his own strength only, all by himself, without the devil’s help and +without God’s hand. This should be done by Sir Christian, that is, the pious, +holy, dear body of Christians. They are the people who have the arms for this +war and know what to do with them. If the Turk’s god, the devil, is not first +beaten, there is reason to fear that the Turk will not be so easy to beat. Now +the devil is a spirit, who cannot be beaten with armor, guns, horses, and men, +and God’s wrath cannot be allayed by them, as it is written in Psalm 33:17 - +18, “The Lord hath no pleasure in the strength of the horse, neither delighteth he in any man’s legs; the Lord delighteth in them that fear him and wait for his +goodness.” Christian weapons and power must do it.

+ +

Here +you ask, “Who are the Christians and where does one find them?” Answer: They +are not many, but they are everywhere, though they are spread out thin and live +far apart, under good and bad princes. Christendom must continue to the end, as +the article of the Creed says, “I believe one holy Christian Church.” But if +that is true, it must be possible to find them. Every pastor and preacher ought +to exhort his people most diligently to repentance and to prayer. They ought to +drive men to repentance by showing our great and numberless sins and our +ingratitude, by which we have earned God’s wrath and disfavor, so that He +justly gives us into the hands of the devil and the Turk. That this preaching +may work the more strongly, they ought to cite examples and sayings out of the +Scriptures, such as the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the children of Israel, +and show how cruelly and how often God punished the world, and its lands and +peoples; and they ought to make it plain that it is no wonder, since we sin +more heavily than they did, if we are punished worse than they.

+ +

Instructions for penance +and prayer

+ +

Verily, this fight must be begun +with repentance, and we must reform our lives, or we shall fight in vain; as +the prophet Jeremiah says in the chapter, “I will speak at one time against a +kingdom to pluck it up, destroy it, and scatter it; but if that people against +which I speak repent, I will repent me of the evil that I thought to do it; +again I speak of a kingdom and people to plant and build it, but if it do evil +in my sight, and hear not my voice, I will repent me of the good that I had +said I would do it.

+ +

Therefore, +speak to them of Judah and +them of Jerusalem, +and say, Behold I prepare a calamity for you and think evil against you; let +each of you, then, turn from his evil way and make your deeds good.” This +saying we may apply to ourselves as though it had been spoken to us, for God +devises an evil against us because of our wickedness and certainly prepares the +Turk against us, as He says also in Psalm 7:12, +“If a man turn not, he hath whetted his sword and stretched his bow, and aimed +it, and laid a deadly bolt in it.”

+ +

Along +with these must be cited the words and illustrations of Scripture in which God +makes it known how well He is pleased with true repentance or amendment, made +in faith and reliance on His Word – such as, in the Old Testament the examples +of Kings David, Ahab, Mannasseh, and the like; in the +New Testament of St. Peter, the malefactor, the publican in the Gospel, and so +forth. Although I know that to the scholars and saints, who need no repentance, +this advice of mine will be laughable and that they hold it for a simple and +common thing which they have long since got beyond; nevertheless, I have not +been willing to omit for the sake of myself and sinners like myself, who need +both repentance and exhortation to repentance every day. In spite of it, we +remain all too lazy and lax, and have not, with those “ninety and nine just +persons,” got so far over the hill as they permit themselves to think they +have.

+ +

After +people have been thus taught and exhorted to confess their sin and amend their +ways, they should then be exhorted with the utmost diligence to prayer, and +shown how such prayer pleases God, how He has commanded it and promised to hear +it, and that no one ought to think lightly of his own praying, or have doubts +about it, but be sure, with firm faith, that it will be heard; all of which has +been published by us in many tracts. For the man who doubts, or prays at a +venture, would do better to let it alone, because such prayer is merely a +tempting of God and only makes things worse. Therefore, I would advise against +processions, f112 which are a heathenish and useless practice, for they are +pomp and show rather than prayer. It might, indeed, be of some use to have the +people, especially the young people, sing the Litany at mass or vespers or in +the church after the sermon, provided that everyone, at home, by himself, conconstantly raised to Christ at least a sigh of the heart +for grace to lead a better life and for help against the Turk. I am not +speaking of much long praying, but of frequent brief sighs, in one or two +words, such as “O help us, dear God the Father; have mercy on us, dear Lord +Jesus Christ!” or the like.

+ +

Lo, +this kind of preaching will strike the Christians and find them out, and there +will be Christians who will accept it and act according to it; it matters not +if you do not know who they are. The tyrants and bishops may also be exhorted +to desist from their raging and persecution against the Word of God and not to +hinder our prayer; but if they do not desist, we must not cease to pray, but +keep on, and take the chance that they will have the benefit of our prayer and +be preserved along with us, or that we shall pay for their raging and be ruined +along with them. They are so perverse and blind that if God gave good fortune +against the Turk, they would ascribe it to their holiness and merit and boast +of it against us. On the other hand, if things turned out badly, they would +ascribe it to no one but us, and lay the blame on us, disregarding the +shameful, openly sinful, and wicked life, which they not only lead, but defend; +for they cannot teach rightly a single point about the way to pray, and they +are worse than the Turks. Ah, well. We must leave that to God’s judgment!

+ +

In +this exhortation to prayer, also, we must introduce sayings and examples from +the Scriptures, in which it is shown how strong and mighty a man’s prayer has +sometimes been; for example, Elijah’s prayer, which St. James praises; the +prayers of Elisha and other prophets; of Kings David, Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jesis, +Hezekiah, etc.; the story of how God promised Abraham that He would spare the +land of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of five righteous men; for the prayer +of righteous men can do much if it be persistent, says St. James in his +Epistle. They are to be informed, besides, that they shall be careful not to +anger God by not praying, and not to fall under His judgment, in Ezekiel 13:5, +where God says, “Ye have not set yourselves against me, and opposed yourselves +as a wall before the house of Israel, to stand against the battle in the day of +the Lord”; and in Ezekiel 22, “I sought a man among them who would be a wall, +and stand against me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found +none. Therefore I poured my wrath upon them and consumed them with the fire of +my anger and paid them as they deserved, saith the +Lord.”

+ +

Penance and prayer against Gods wrath

+ +

From this it is easy to see that +God would have men set themselves in the way of his wrath and keep it off, and +that He is greatly angered if this is not done. That is what I meant when I +spoke above about taking the rod out of God’s hands. Let him fast who will. Let +him go down on his knees and bow and fall to the ground, if he is in earnest; +for the bowing and kneeling that has been practiced hitherto in the chapters +and monasteries was not in earnest; it was, and still is, mere apery. It is not +for nothing that I exhort pastors and preachers to impress this upon the +people, for I see plainly that it rests entirely with the preachers whether the +people shall amend their ways and pray, or not. Little will be accomplished by +preaching in which men call Luther names and blaspheme, and let repentance and +prayer alone; but where God’s Word is spoken, it is not without fruit. They, +however, must preach as though they were preaching to saints who had learned +all that there was to know about repentance and faith, and therefore had to +talk about something higher.

+ +

We +should have been moved to this prayer against the Turk by the great need of our +time, for the Turk, as has been said, is the servant of the devil, who not only +ruins land and people with the sword, as we shall hear later, but also lays +waste the Christian Faith and our dear Lord Jesus Christ. For although some +praise his government because he allows everyone to believe what he will so +long as he remains the temporal lord, yet this praise is not true, for he does +not allow Christians to come together in public, and no one can openly confess +Christ or preach or teach against Mohammed.

+ +

What +kind of freedom of belief is it when no one is allowed to preach or confess +Christ, and yet our salvation depends on that confession as Paul says, “To +confess with the lips saves,” and Christ has strictly commanded to confess and +teach His Gospel.

+ +

Since, +therefore, faith must be kept quiet and held secret among this barbarous and +wild people and under this severe rule, how can it at last exist or remain, +when there is need for so much trouble and labor, in places where it is +preached most faithfully and diligently? Therefore, it happens, and must +happen, that those Christians who are captured or otherwise get into Turkey +fall away and become altogether Turkish, and it is very seldom that one remains +true to his faith, for they lack the living bread of souls and see the free and +fleshly life of the Turks and are obliged to adapt themselves to it.

+ +

How +can one injure Christ more than with these two things; namely, force and wiles? +With force, they prevent preaching and suppress the Word.

+ +

With +wiles, they daily put wicked and dangerous examples before men’s eyes and draw +men to them. If we then would not lose our Lord Jesus Christ, His Word and +faith, we must pray against the Turks as against other enemies of our salvation +and of all good. Nay, as we pray against the devil himself.

+ +

Islam – the faith of +the Muslims

+ +

In this connection, the people +should be told of all the dissolute life and ways that the Turk practices, so +that they may the better feel the need of prayer. To be sure, it has often +disgusted me and still does, that neither our great lords nor our scholars have +been at any pains to give us any certain knowledge about the life of the Turks +in the two classes, spiritual and temporal; and yet he has come so near to us. +For it is said that they too have chapters and monasteries. Some indeed have +invented outrageous lies about the Turks in order to stir up us Germans against +them, but there is no need for lies; the truth is all too great. I will tell my +dear Christians a few things, so far as I know the real truth, so that they may +the better be moved and stirred up to pray earnestly against the enemy of +Christ our Lord.

+ +

I +have some pieces of Mohammed’s Koran which might be called in German a book of +sermons or doctrines of the kind that we call pope’s decretals. +When I have time, I must put it into German so that every man may see what a +foul and shameful book it is. f116 In the first place, he praises Christ and +Mary very much as those who alone were without sin, and yet he believes nothing +more of Christ than that he is a holy prophet, like Jeremiah or Jonah, and +denies that he is God’s Son and true God. Besides, he does not believe that +Christ is the Savior of the world, Who died for our +sins, but that He preached to His own time, and completed His work before His +death, just like any other prophet.

+ +

Islam denies Christ

+ +

On the other hand, he praises and +exalts himself highly and boasts that he has talked with God and the angels, +and that since Christ’s office of prophet is now complete, it has been +commanded to him to bring the world to his faith and if the world is not +willing, to compel it or punish it with the sword; and there is much +glorification of the sword in it. Therefore, the Turks think their Mohammed +much higher and greater than Christ, for the office of Christ has ended and +Mohammed’s office is still in force.

+ +

From +this anyone can easily observe that Mohammed is a destroyer of our Lord Christ +and His kingdom, and if anyone denies concerning Christ, that He is God’s Son +and has died for us, and still lives and reigns at the right hand of God, what +has he left of Christ? Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Baptism, the Sacrament, Gospel, +Faith and all Christian doctrine and life are gone, and there is left, instead +of Christ, nothing more than Mohammed with his doctrine of works and especially +of the sword. That is the chief doctrine of the Turkish faith in which all +abominations, all errors, all devils are piled up in one heap.

+ +

And +yet, the world acts as though it were snowing pupils of the Turkish faith, for +it pleases the reason extraordinarily well that Christ should not be God, as +the Jews also believe, and especially is Reason pleased with the thought that +men are to rule and bear the sword and get up in the world; then the devil +pushes it along. Thus a faith is patched together out of the faith of Jews, +Christians and heathen. He gets it from the Christians when he praises Christ +and Mary and the apostles and other saints. He gets it from the Jews that +people are not to drink wine, are to fast the certain times of the year, wash +like the Nazarites, and eat off the ground, and go on +with such holy works as part of our monks do and hope for everlasting life at +the Judgment Day, for, holy people that they are, they believe in the +resurrection of the dead, though few of the papists believe in it.

+ +

What +pious Christian heart would not be horrified at this enemy of Christ, since we +see that the Turk allows no article of our faith to stand, except the single +one about the resurrection of the dead? Then Christ is no redeemer, savior, or +king; there is no forgiveness of sins, no grace, no Holy Ghost.

+ +

Why +should I say much? In the article that Christ is to be beneath Mohammed, and +less than he, everything is destroyed. Who would not rather be dead than live +under such a government, where he must say nothing about his Christ, and hear +and see such blasphemy and abomination against Him? Yet it takes such a +powerful hold, when it wins a land, that people even +submit to it willingly. Therefore, let everyone pray who can pray that this +abomination may not become lord over us and that we may not be punished with +this terrible rod of God’s anger.

+ +

Islam rules with arms

+ +

In the second place, the Turk’s +Koran, or creed, teaches him to destroy not only the Christian faith, but also +the whole temporal government. His Mohammed, as has been said, commands that +ruling is to be done by the sword, and in his Koran the sword is the commonest +and noblest work.

+ +

Thus +the Turk is, in truth, nothing but a murderer or highwayman, as his deeds show +before men’s eyes. St. Augustine calls other kingdoms, too, great robbery; +Psalm 76:4 also calls them “fastnesses of robbers,” f118 because it is but seldom +that an empire has come up except by robbery, force, and wrong; or at the very +least, it is often seized and possessed by wicked people without any justice, +so that the Scriptures, in Genesis 10:9, call the first prince upon earth, +Nimrod, a mighty hunter. But never has any kingdom come up and become so mighty +by murder and robbery as that of the Turk; and he murders and robs every day, +for it is commanded in their law, as a good and divine work, that they shall +rob and murder, devour and destroy more and more those that are round about +them; and they do this, and think that they are doing God service. Their +government, therefore, is not a regular rulership, +like others, for the maintenance of peace, the protection of the good, and the +punishment of the wicked, but a rod of anger and a punishment of God upon the +unbelieving world, as has been said. The work of murdering and robbing pleases +the flesh in any case, because it enables men to gain high place and subject +everyone’s life and goods to themselves; how much more must the flesh be +pleased when this is a commandment, as though God would have it so and it +pleased Him well! Therefore among the Turks, too, they are held the best who +are diligent to increase the Turkish kingdom and who are constantly murdering +and robbing round about them.

+ +

This +second thing must follow out of the first; for Christ says, in John 8:44, that the devil is a liar and +murderer. With lies he kills souls, with murder bodies. If he wins with a lie, +he does not take a holiday and make delay, but follows it up with murder. Thus +when the spirit of lies had taken possession of Mohammed and the devil had +murdered men’s souls with his Koran and had destroyed the faith of Christians, +he had to go on and take the sword and attempt the murder of their bodies. The +Turkish faith, then, has not made its progress by preaching and the working of +miracles, but by the sword and by murder, and its success has been due to God’s +wrath, which ordered that, since all the world has a desire for the sword and +robbery and murder, one should come who would give it enough of murder and +robbery.

+ +

All +fanatics, as a rule, when the spirit of lies has taken possession of them and +led them away from the true faith, have been unable to stop there, but have +followed the lie with murder and taken up the sword, as a sign that they were +children of the father of all lies and murder. Thus we read how the Arians +became murderers and one of the greatest bishops of Alexandria, Lucius by name, drove the orthodox out of the city, and +went into the ship and held a naked sword in his own hand until the orthodox +were all on board and had to go away; and these tender, holy bishops committed +many other murders even at that time, which is almost twelve hundred years ago. +Again, in the time of St. Augustine, +which is almost eleven hundred years ago, the holy father +shows, in his books, how many murders were committed by the Donatists. +In such an utterly worldly way did the clergy conduct themselves! They had only +the name and guise of bishops among the Christians; but because they had fallen +away from the truth and become subject to the spirit of lies, they had to go +forward in his service and become wolves and murderers. Even in our own times, +what was Muenzer seeking, +except to become a new Turkish emperor? He was possessed of the spirit of lies +and therefore there was no holding him back; he had to go at the other work of +the devil, take the sword and murder and rob, as the spirit of murder drove +him, and he created such a rebellion and such misery.

+ +

Muhammad and the pope are tied together

+ +

And what shall I say of the most Holy +Father, the pope? Is it not true that he and his bishops have become worldly +lords, have fallen away from the Gospel, led by the spirit of lies, and embraced +their own human doctrine, and thus have practiced murder, down to the present +hour? Read the histories of the time and you find that the principal business +of popes and bishops has been to set emperors, kings, princes, lands, and +people against one another, even themselves to fight and help in the work of +murder and bloodshed. Why so? Because the spirit of lies +never acts any other way.

+ +

After +he has made his disciples teachers of lies and deceivers, he has no rest until +he makes them murderers, robbers, and blood-dogs. For who has ordered them to +bear the sword, to make war, and to urge men on and stir them up to murder and +war, when their duty was to attend to preaching and prayer?

+ +

They +call me and mine seditious, but when have I ever coveted the sword or urged men +to take it, and not rather taught and kept peace and obedience, except that I +have instructed and exhorted the regular temporal rulers to do their duty and +maintain peace and justice? By its fruits one shall know the tree. I and mine +keep and teach peace; the pope, with his followers, makes war, murders, robs, +and that not only his enemies; but he burns, condemns, and persecutes the +innocent, the pious, the orthodox, as a true +Antichrist. For he does this, “sitting in the temple of God,” +as head of the Church; and that the Turk does not do. But as the pope is +Antichrist, so the Turk is the very devil. The prayer of Christendom is against +both.

+ +

Both +shall go down to hell, even though it may take the Last Day to send them there; +and I hope it will not be long.

+ +

Summing +up what has been said: Where the spirit of lies is, there is also the spirit of +murder, though he may not get to work or may be hindered. If he is hindered, he +still laughs and is jubilant when murder is done, and at least consents to it, +for he holds it right. But good Christians do not rejoice over any murder, not +even over the misfortunes of their enemies. Since, then, Mohammed’s Koran is +such a great spirit of lies that it leaves almost nothing of Christian truth +remaining, how could it have any other result than that it should become a +great and mighty murderer, with both lies and murders under the show of truth +and righteousness. As, therefore, lies destroy the spiritual order of faith and +truth, so murder destroys all temporal order instituted by God; for where +murder and robbery are practiced, it is impossible that there should be a fine, +praiseworthy temporal government, since they cannot think more highly of peace +than of war and murder, or attend to the pursuits of peace, as one can see in +soldiers. Therefore, the Turks do not regard the work of agriculture highly.

+ +

Islam despises women and marriage

+ +

The third point is that +Mohammed’s Koran thinks nothing of marriage, but permits everyone to take wives +as he will. Therefore, it is customary among the Turks for one man to have ten +or twenty wives and to desert or sell any of them that he will, when he will, +so that in Turkey +women are held immeasurably cheap and are despised; they are bought and sold +like cattle. Although there may be some few who do not take advantage of this +law, nevertheless this is the law and anyone can follow if he will. Such a way +of living is not marriage and cannot be marriage, because none of them takes a +wife or has a wife with the intention of staying with her forever, as though +the two were one body, as God’s Word says, in Genesis 2:24, “The man shall cleave to his wife and they +two be one body.”

+ +

Thus +the marriage of the Turks closely resembles the chaste life that the soldiers +live with their harlots; for the Turks are soldiers and must act like soldiers; +Mars and Venus, say the poets, must be together.

+ +

Some Muslims are all right

+ +

These three points I have wanted +to mention. I am sure of them from the Koran of the Turks. What I have heard beside +I will not bring forward, because I cannot be sure about it. Suppose, then, +that there are some Christians among the Turks; suppose that some of them are +monks; suppose that some are honorable laymen; even then, what good can there +be in the government and the whole Turkish way of life, when according to their +Koran these three things rule among them; namely, lying, murder, and disregard +of marriage, and besides, everyone must keep Christian truth quiet and dare not +rebuke or try to reform these three points, but must look on and consent to +them, as I fear, at least so far as to be silent? How can there be a more +horrible, dangerous, terrible imprisonment than a life under such a government? +Lies destroy the spiritual estate, murder the +temporal, disregard of marriage the estate of matrimony. Now take out of the +world veram religionem, veram politiam, veram oeconomiam, i.e., true +spiritual life, true temporal government, and true conduct of the home; what is +left in the world, but flesh, world and devil? A life there is like the life of +the “good fellows” who keep house with harlots.

+ +

It +is said, indeed, that the Turks are, among themselves, faithful and friendly +and careful to tell the truth. I believe that, and I think that they probably +have more fine virtues in them than that. No man is so bad that there is not +something good in him. Now and then a woman of the streets has good qualities +that scarcely ten honorable matrons have. So the devil would have a cloak and +be a fair angel, an angel of light; therefore he hides behind certain works, that are works of the light. Murderers and robbers +are more faithful and friendly to each other than neighbors are, nay, more so +than many Christians. For if the devil keeps the three things – lies, murder, +and disregard of marriage – as the real foundation of hell, he can easily +tolerate, nay, help, that fleshly love and faithfulness shall be built upon it, +as precious stones (though they are nothing but hay and straw), though he knows +well that nothing of them will remain through the fire. f123 On the other hand, +where true faith, true government, true marriage are, he tries earnestly that +little love and fidelity may appear and little be shown, so that he can put the +foundation to shame and have it despised.

+ +

What +is more, when the Turks go into battle their war-cry is no other word than +“Allah! Allah!” and they shout it till heaven and earth +resound. But in the Arabic language Allah means God, and is a corruption +of the Hebrew Eloha. For they have taught in the Koran +that they shall boast constantly with these words, “There is no God but God.” All that is really a device of the devil. For what is it to +say, “There is no God but God” without distinguishing one God from another? The +devil, too, is a god and they honor him with this word; of that there is no +doubt. In just the same way the pope’s soldiers cry “Ecclesia! Ecclesia!” To be sure: the devil’s ecclesia! Therefore I +believe that the Turks’ Allah does more in war than they themselves. He gives +them courage and wiles, guides sword and fist, horse and man. What do you +think, then, of the holy people who can call upon God in battle, and yet +destroy Christ and all God’s words and works, as you have heard?

+ +

Prohibition agains pictures

+ +

It is part of the Turks’ holiness, +also, that they tolerate no images or pictures and are even holier than our +destroyers of images. For our destroyers tolerate, and are glad to have, images +on gulden, groschen, rings, and ornaments; but the +Turk tolerates none of them and stamps nothing but letters on his coins. He is +entirely Muenzerian, too, for he overthrows all +rulers and tolerates no gradations of government, such as princes, counts, +lords, nobles and other feudatories; but he alone is lord over all in his own +land, and what he gives out is only pay, never property or rights of rulership. He is also a papist; for he believes that he +will become holy and be saved by works, and thinks it no sin to overthrow +Christ, lay government waste, and destroy marriage. All these things the pope also +works at, though in other ways, with hypocrisy, while the Turk uses force and +the sword. In a word, as has been said, it is the very dregs of all +abominations and errors.

+ +

All +this I have wanted to tell to the first man, namely, the community of Christians, +so that he may know and see how much need there is for prayer, and how we must +first smite the Turk’s Allah, that is, his god, the devil, and strike down his +power and godhead; otherwise, I fear, the sword will accomplish little. For +this man is not to fight in a bodily way with the Turk, as the pope and his +followers teach, nor resist him with the fist, but recognize the Turk as God’s +rod and anger, which Christians must either suffer, if God visits their sins +upon them, or fight against and drive away with repentance, tears, and prayer. +He who despises this counsel, let him despise it; I want to see what damage he +will do the Turk.

+ +

The secular government

+ +

The second man whose place it is +to fight against the Turk is Emperor Charles, or whoever is emperor; for the +Turk attacks his subjects and his empire, and it is his duty, as a regular +ruler appointed by God, to defend his own. I repeat it here, that I would not +urge anyone or tell anyone to fight against the Turk unless the first method, +mentioned above, had been followed, and men had first repented and been +reconciled to God, etc. If anyone will go to war besides, let him take his +risk. It is not proper for me to say anything more about it beyond telling +everyone his duty and instructing his conscience.

+ +

I +see clearly that kings and princes are taking such a silly and careless +attitude toward the Turk that I fear they are despising God and the Turk too +greatly, or do not know, perhaps, that the Turk is such a mighty lord that no +kingdom or land, whatever it is, is strong enough to resist him alone, unless +God will do a miracle. Now I cannot expect any miracle or special grace of God +for Germany, +unless men amend their ways and honor the Word of God differently than has +hitherto been done.

+ +

But +enough has been said about that for those who will listen. We would now speak +of the emperor.

+ +

In +the first place, if there is to be war against the Turk, it should be fought at +the emperor’s command, under his banner, and in his name. Then everyone can assure +his own conscience that he is obeying the ordinance of God, since we know that +the emperor is our true overlord and head, and he who +obeys him, in such a case, obeys God also, while he who disobeys him disobeys +God also. If he dies in this obedience, he dies in a good state, and if he has +previously repented and believes on Christ, he is saved. These things, I +suppose, everyone knows better than I can teach him, and would to God they knew +them as well as they think they do. Yet we will say something more about them.

+ +

In +the second place, this banner and obedience of the emperor ought to be true and +simple. The emperor should seek nothing else than simply to perform the work +and duty of his office, which is to protect his subjects; and those under his +banner should seek simply the work and duty of obedience. By this simplicity +you should understand that there is to be no fighting of the Turk for the +reasons for which the emperors and princes have heretofore been urged to war, +such as the winning of great honor, glory, and wealth, the increasing of lands, +or wrath and revengefulness and other things of the kind; for by these things +men seek only their own self- interest, and therefore we have had no good +fortune heretofore, either in fighting or planning to fight against the Turk.

+ +

Therefore +the urging and inciting, with which the emperor and the princes have heretofore +been stirred up to fight against the Turk, ought to cease.

+ +

He +has been urged, as head of Christendom, as protector of the Church and defender +of the faith, to wipe out the faith of the Turk, and the urging and exhorting +have been based on the wickedness and vice of the Turks. Not so! The emperor is +not head of Christendom or protector of the Gospel or of the faith. The Church +and the faith must have another protector than emperor and kings. They are +usually the worst enemies of Christendom and of the faith, as Psalm 2:2 says and the Church constantly laments. With that kind of +urging and exhorting things are only made worse and God is the more deeply +angered, because that interferes with His honor and His work, and would ascribe +it to men, which is idolatry and blasphemy.

+ +

The authorities should not interfere in peoples faith

+ +

And if the emperor were to +destroy the unbelievers and non-Christians, he would have to begin with the +pope, bishops, and clergy and perhaps not spare us, or himself; for there is +enough horrible idolatry in his own empire to make it unnecessary for him to +fight the Turks for this cause. Among us there are Turks, Jews, heathen, +non-Christians, all too many of them, proving it with public false doctrine and +with offensive, shameful lives. Let the Turk believe and live as he will, just +as one lets the papacy and other false Christians live. The emperor’s sword has +nothing to do with the faith; it belongs to physical, worldly things, if God is +not to become angry with us. If we pervert His order and throw it into +confusion, He, too, becomes perverse and throws us into confusion and all +misfortune, as it is written, “With the perverse thou art perverse.” We can +perceive and grasp this by means of the fortune we have heretofore had against +the Turk. Think of all the heartbreak and misery that have been caused by the cruciata, by the indulgences and crusading-taxes, with +which Christians have been stirred up to take the sword and fight the Turk, +when they ought to have been fighting the devil and unbelief with the Word and +with prayer.

+ +

This +is what should be done. The emperor and the princes should be exhorted +concerning their office and their bounden duty to give serious and constant +thought to governing their subjects in peace and to protecting them against the +Turk. This would be their duty whether they themselves were Christians or not, +though it would be very good if they were Christians. But since it is +uncertain, and remains so, that they are Christians, and it is certain that +they are emperors and princes, that is, that they have God’s command to protect +their subjects and are in duty bound to do so, therefore we must let the +uncertain go and hold to the certain, urge them with continual preaching and +exhortation, and lay it heavily upon their consciences, that it is their duty +to God not to let their subjects be so pitiably ruined, and that they are doing +a great and notable sin when they do not think of their office and use all +their power to bring counsel and help to those who should live, with body and +goods, under their protection and who are bound to them with oaths of homage.

+ +

For +I think (so far as I have yet observed the matter in our diets) that neither +emperor nor princes believe themselves that they are emperor and princes. For +they act as though it lay with their own judgment and pleasure whether they +would rescue and protect their subjects from the power of the Turk or not; and +the princes neither care nor think that they are bound and obligated before God +to counsel and help the emperor in this matter with body and goods. Everyone of +them lets it go as though it were no affair of his and as though he were forced +neither by command or necessity, but it were left to his own free choice to do +it or leave it.

+ +

Responsible for the authorities continuation

+ +

They are just like the common +people who do not think it their duty to God and the world, when they have +bright sons, to put them to school and have them study; but everyone thinks he +has free power to raise his son as he pleases, no matter what God’s word and +ordinance are. Nay, the councilmen in the cities and almost all the rulers act +in the same way, and let the schools go to nothing, as though they had no +responsibility for them, and had an indulgence besides. No one remembers that +God earnestly commands, and will have it so, that bright children shall be +raised to His praise and for His work, which cannot be done without the +schools. On the contrary everyone is in a hurry to have his children making a +living, as though God and Christendom needed no pastors, preachers, carers for souls, and the worldly rulers no chancellors, +counselors, or secretaries. But of this another time. +The pen must remain empress, or God will show us something else.

+ +

Emperor, +kings, and princes act the same way. They do not consider that God’s +commandment makes it necessary to protect their subjects; it is to lie in their +own free choice to do it, if the notion sometime takes them, or they have +leisure for it. Dear fellow, let us all do that! Let none of us look to that +which is commanded him and which God orders him to do, but let all our actions +and duties be matters of our own free will, and God will give us good fortune +and His grace, and we shall be plagued by the Turk here in time, and by the +devil yonder in eternity.

+ +

Perhaps, +then, a worthless prattler – I should say a legate – will come from Rome and +exhort the estates of the empire and stir them up against the Turk, telling +them how the enemy of the Christian faith has done such great harm to +Christendom and that the emperor, as guardian of the Church and defender of the +faith, should do so and so; as though they themselves were great friends of the +Christian faith! But I say to him: You are a base-born knave, you impotent +chatterer! For this way you accomplish nothing except to make the emperor feel +that he should do a good Christian work that he is not commanded to do; and that +rests with his free choice; his conscience is not touched at all by that, and +he is not reminded of the necessary duty, laid upon him by God, but the whole +thing is referred to his free will.

+ +

This +is the way that a legate ought to deal with the estates of the empire at the +diet. He should hold God’s commandment before them and make of it an +unavoidable necessity, and say: “Dear lords, emperor, and princes, if you would +be emperor and princes, act as emperor and princes, or the Turk will teach you +with God’s wrath and disfavor. Germany, +or the empire, is given you and committed to you by God, that you may protect, +rule, counsel, and help it, and you not only should, but must do this on pain +of losing your soul’s salvation and God’s favor and grace. But now it is +evident that none of you takes this seriously, or believes it, but you take +your office as a jest, as though it were a mummery of the carnival, for you +leave the subjects, whom God has committed to you, to be so wretchedly +harassed, taken captive, put to shame, plundered, slain, and sold by the Turk. +Do you not think, since Go has committed this office to you, and has given you +money and people besides for you to do good to them, that He will demand at +your hands all the subjects whom you so shamefully deserted, while +you danced, reveled, showed off, and gambled? If you seriously believed that +you were appointed and ordained of God to be emperor and princes, you would +leave your banqueting and rivalry for high places and other unprofitable +display for awhile, and consult faithfully how you might discharge your office +and fulfill God’s commandment and rescue your consciences from all the blood +and the misery which the Turk inflicts upon them. For how can God, or any godly heart think otherwise of you than that you +hate your subjects or have a secret covenant with the Turk or, at least, hold +yourselves for neither emperor nor princes, but for dolls and puppets for +children to play with? Otherwise, it would be impossible that your consciences +should let you rest, if you seriously held yourselves for overlords appointed +by God, and were not to speak and advise together about these matters +differently than you have done heretofore. In this you see that you are +constantly becoming Turks to your own subjects. “Nay, you even take up the case +of Luther and discuss, in the devil’s name, whether one can eat meat in the +fast-times and nuns can take husbands, and things of that kind, which are not +committed to you for discussion and about which God has given you no commandment; +and meanwhile the serious and strict commandment of God hangs in the smoke, the +commandment by which He has appointed you protectors of poor Germany; and you +become murderers, betrayers, and blood-dogs to your own good, faithful, +obedient subjects, and leave them to the Turk, nay, cast them into his jaws, as +a reward for the bodies and money wealth and honor that they stake on you and +reach out to you.”

+ +

A +good orator can here see well what I would like to say, if I were learned in +the art of oratory, and what a legate should aim at and expound at the diet, if +he would discharge his office honestly and faithfully.

+ +

The authorities should protect our body and earthly +life

+ +

For this reason I said above that +Charles, or the emperor should be the man to fight against the Turk, and that +the fighting should be done under his banner. “O, that +is easy! Everybody knew it long ago. Luther is not telling us anything new, but +only worn-out old stuff.” Nay, dear fellow, the emperor must truly see himself +with other eyes than heretofore, and you must see his banner with other eyes. +You and I are talking about the same emperor and the same banner, but you are +not talking about the eyes that I am talking about. You must see on the banner +the commandment of God that says, “Protect the good; punish the bad.” Tell me +how many there are who can read this on the emperor’s +banner, or who seriously believe it. Do you not think that their consciences +would terrify them, if they saw this banner and had to own that they were greatly +guilty before God on account of their failure to give help and protection to +their faithful subjects? Dear fellow, a banner is not simply a piece of silk; +there are letters on it, and on him who reads the letters luxury and banqueting +should pall.

+ +

That +it has been regarded heretofore as a mere piece of silk, is easy to prove, for +otherwise the emperor would long ago have set it up, the princes would have +followed it, and the Turk would not have become so mighty. But because the +princes called it with their mouths the emperor’s banner, and were disobedient +to it with their fists, and held it by their deeds a mere piece of silk, those +things have come to the pass that we now see with our own eyes. God grant that +we are not, all of us, too late, I with my exhortation and the lords with their +banner; and that it may not happen to us as it did to the children of Israel +who would not fight against the Amorites when God first commanded them; +afterwards, when they would have fought, they were beaten, because God would +not be with them. Nevertheless, no one should despair; repentance and right +conduct always find grace.

+ +

After +emperor and princes remember that, by God’s commandment, they owe their +subjects this protection, they should be exhorted not to be presumptuous and +undertake this work defiantly, or in reliance on their own might or planning; +for there are many princes who say, “I have right and authority, therefore I +will do it!” Then they pitch in, with pride and boasting of their might, and +meet defeat at last; for if they did not feel their power, the matter of right +would have small enough effect on them, as is proved in other cases, in which +they pay no heed to right. It is not enough, then, for you to know that God has +committed this or that to you; you should also do it with fear and humility, +for God commands no one to do anything by his own wisdom or strength, but He, +too, will have a part in it and be feared. Nay, He will do it through us, and +will therefore have us pray to Him, and not become presumptuous or forget His +help, as the Psalter says, “The Lord hath pleasure in those that fear Him and +wait for His kindness.” Otherwise we should persuade ourselves that we could do +things and did not need God’s help, and take to +ourselves the victory and the honor that belong to Him.

+ +

Therefore +an emperor or prince ought to learn well that verse of the Psalter, in Psalm +44:6-7, “I rely not upon my bow, and my sword helps me not, but thou helpest us from our enemies and puttest +to shame them that hate us,” and also the rest of what that Psalm says; and +Psalm 60:10-12, “Lord God, thou goest not out with +our host; give us aid in our need, for man’s help is vain; with God we will do +deeds; he shall tread down our enemies.”

+ +

These and like sayings have had to be fulfilled by many kings and +great princes, from the beginning to the present day. They have become +examples, though they had God’s commandment and authority and right.

+ +

Emperor +and princes, therefore, should not let these sayings become a jest. Read here +the apt illustration given in Judges 20:18, +how the children of Israel +were twice beaten by the Benjamites, despite the fact +that God bade them fight and that they had the best of right. Their boldness +and presumption were their downfall, as the text says, Fidentes +fortitudine et numero. It is true that one should have horses and men and +weapons and everything that is needed for battle, if they are to be had, so +that one is not tempting God; but when one has them, one must not be bold +because of it, for God is not to be forgotten or despised, since it is written, +“All victory comes from heaven.”

+ +

If +these two things are present, God’s commandment and our humility, then there is +no danger or need, so far as this second man, the emperor, is concerned; we are +strong enough for the whole world and must have good fortune and success. But +if we have not good fortune, it is certainly because one of the two things is +lacking; we are going to war either without God’s commandment, or in our own +presumption, or the first soldier, the Christian, is not there with his +prayers. It is not necessary here to warn against seeking honor or booty in +war; for he who fights in humility and obedience to God’s command, with his +mind fixed solely upon the simple duty of protecting and defending his +subjects, will forget honor and booty; nay, they will come to him, without his +seeking, more richly and gloriously than he can wish.

+ +

Here +someone will say, “Where shall we find pious fighting-men, who will act this +way?” Answer: The Gospel is preached to all the world, +and yet very few believe; nevertheless Christendom believes and abides.

+ +

Therefore +I am writing this instruction with no hope that it will be accepted by all; +indeed, most people will laugh and scoff at me. For me it is enough if, with +this book, I shall be able to instruct some princes and their subjects; even +though they may be very few in number, that does not +matter to me; there will be victory and good fortune enough. And would to God +that I had instructed only the emperor, or him who is +to conduct the war in his name and at his command; I would then be of good +hope. It has often happened, indeed, it usually happens, +God gives a whole land and kingdom good fortune and success through one single +man; just as, on the other hand, through one knave at court He brings a whole +land into all sorts of distress and misery; as Solomon says, in Ecclesiastes, +“A single knave does great harm.”

+ +

Thus +we read of Naaman, the captain of the king of Syria, that through this one man God gave the whole land good +fortune and success. So through the holy Joseph He gave great good fortune to +the whole kingdom of Egypt, and in 2 Kings 3:14, Elisha says to Jehoram, “I would not look to thee, if Jehoshaphat, King of +Judah, were not there,” and thus the godless kings of Israel and Edom had to be +helped for the sake of one godly man, when otherwise they would have been +ruined in all kinds of distress; and in the book of Judges one can see the good +that God did through Ehud, Gideon, Deborah, Samson, and other individuals, +though the people were not worthy of it. See, on the other hand, what great +harm Doeg did at the court of King Saul ( 1 Kings +22:1) and what Absalom accomplished against his father David, with the aid and +counsel of Ahithophel ( 2 Kings 15:1).

+ +

I +say this in order that it may not frighten us, or move us in any way, if the +great majority are unbelieving and fight under the +emperor’s banner with an unchristian mind. We must remember, too, that Abraham, +all by himself, was able to do much ( Genesis 14:1 and +17:1). It is certain, also, that among the Turks, who are the army of the +devil, there is not one who is a Christian or has an +humble and a right heart. In 1 Kings 14:1, the godly Jonathan said, “It is not +hard for God to give victory by many or by few,” and himself inflicted on the +Philistines a great slaughter such as Saul could not, with his whole army. It +does not matter, therefore, if the crowd is not good, provided only that the +head and some of the chief men are upright; it would be good, of course, if all +were upright, but that is scarcely possible.

+ +

The limit of the duty of obedience

+ +

Moreover, I hear it said that +there are those in Germany +who desire the coming of the Turk and his government, because they would rather +be under the Turk than under the emperor or princes. It would be hard to fight +against the Turk with such people. Against them I have no better advice to give +than that pastors and preachers be exhorted to be diligent in their preaching +and faithful in instructing such people, pointing out to them the danger they +are in and the wrong that they are doing, how they are making themselves +partakers of great and numberless sins and loading themselves down with them in +the sight of God, if they are found in this opinion. For it is misery enough to +be compelled to suffer the Turk as overlord and to endure his government; but +willingly to put oneself under it, or to desire it, when one need not and is +not compelled – the man who does that ought to be shown the sin he is +committing and how terribly he is going on.

+ +

In +the first place, these people are faithless and guilty of perjury to their +rulers, to whom they have taken oaths and done homage; and this is in God’s +sight a great sin that does not go unpunished. On account of such perjury the +good king Zedekiah had to perish miserably, because he did not keep the oath +that he gave to the heathen emperor at Babylon. +Such people may think, or persuade themselves, that it is within their own +power and choice to betake themselves from one lord to another, acting as +though they were free to do or not to do what they pleased, forgetting and not +remembering God’s commandment and their oath, by which they are in duty bound +to be obedient, until they are forcibly compelled to abandon it or are put to +death for it; as the peasants thought, in the recent rebellion, and were beaten +because of it. For just as a man may not slay himself, but endure until he is +forcibly slain by others, so no one should evade his obedience or his oath, unless +he is released from it by others, either by force or by favor and permission. f130 The preachers must diligently impress this on such +people; indeed their office of preaching compels them to do so, for it is their +duty to warn their parishioners, and guard them against sin and harm to their +souls. For one who willingly turns from his lord and takes the side of the Turk +can never stay under the Turk with a good conscience, but his own heart will +always speak to him and rebuke him thus – “See, you were faithless to your +overlord and deprived him of the obedience that you owed him, and robbed him of +his right to rule over you; now, no sin can be forgiven unless stolen goods are +restored; but how shall you make restitution to your lord, when you are under +the Turk and cannot make restitution. One of two things, then, must happen; – +either you must toil and labor forever, trying to get away from the Turk and +back to your overlord; or your conscience must forever suffer compunction, pain +and unrest (if, indeed, it does not result in despair and everlasting death), +because you submitted to the Turk willingly and without necessity, against your +sworn duty. In the latter case you must be among the Turks with your body, but +over on this side with your heart and conscience. What have you gained then? +Why did you not stay on this side from the first?”

+ +

In +the second place, beside all that, such faithless, disloyal, perjured folk +commit a still more horrible sin. They make themselves partakers of all the +abominations and wickedness of the Turks; for he who willingly goes over to the +Turks makes himself their comrade and an accomplice in all their doings. Now we +have heard above what kind of man the Turk is, viz., a destroyer, enemy, and +blasphemer of our Lord Jesus Christ, who instead of the Gospel and faith, sets +up his shameful Mohammed and all kinds of lies, ruins all temporal government +and home-life, or marriage, and, since his warfare is nothing but murder and +bloodshed, is a tool of the devil himself.

+ +

See, +then! He who consorts with the Turk must be partaker of this terrible +abomination and brings down on his own head all the murder, all the blood that +the Turk has shed, and all the lies and vices with which he has damaged +Christ’s Kingdom and led souls astray. It is miserable enough if one is forced +to be under this blood-dog and devil against his own will, and see and hear +these abominations, and put up with them as the godly Lot had to do in Sodom, +as St. Peter writes; it is not necessary to seek them of one’s own accord, or +desire them.

+ +

Nay, +a man ought far rather die twice over in war, obedient +to his overlord, than have, like a poor Lot, to be brought by force into such Sodoms and Gomorrahs. Still +less ought a godly man long to go there of his own +accord, in disobedience, and against God’s commandment and his own duty. That +would mean not only to become partaker in all the wickedness of the Turk and +the devil, but to strengthen and further them; just as Judas not only made +himself partaker of the wickedness of the Jews against Christ, but strengthened +it and helped it along, while Pilate did not act as evilly as Judas, as Christ +testifies in John 17:1.

+ +

In +the third place, it is to be impressed by the preachers on the people that, if +they do go over to the Turks, they will not have bettered themselves and their +hopes and intentions will not be realized. For it is the Turk’s way not to let +any who are anything or have anything stay in the place where they live, but to +put them far back in another land, where they are sold and must be servants. +Thus they fulfill the proverb “Running out of the rain and falling in the +water”; and “Lifting the plate and breaking the dish.” Bad becomes worse; it +scarcely serves them wrong. For the Turk is a true man of war, who has other +ways of treating land and people, both in getting them and keeping them, than +our emperor, kings, and princes have. He does not trust and believe these +disloyal people and has the force to do as he will; thus he has not the same +need of people that our princes have.

+ +

The +preachers and pastors, I say, must impress this upon such disloyal people, with +constant admonition and warning, for it is the truth, and it is needed. But if +there are some who despise this exhortation and will not be moved by it, let +them go on to the devil, as St. Paul had to let the Greeks, and St. Peter the +Jews go; the others should not mind. Indeed, if it were to come to war, I would +rather that none of these were under the emperor’s banner, or stayed under it, +but were all on the Turk’s side; they would be beaten all the sooner and in +battle they would do the Turk more harm than good, for they are out of favor +with God, the devil, and the world, and are surely, all of them, condemned to +hell. It is good to fight against such people, who are plainly and surely +damned both by God and the world.

+ +

There +are many depraved and abandoned and wicked men; but anyone with any sense will +without doubt, heed such exhortation and be moved to stay in his obedience, and +not throw his soul so carelessly into hell to the devil, but rather fight with +all his might under his overlord, even though, in so doing, he is slain by the +Turks.

+ +

But +you say again, “If the pope is as bad as the Turk – and you yourself call him +Antichrist, together with his clergy and his followers – then the Turk is as +godly as the pope, for he acknowledges the four Gospels and Moses, together +with the prophets; must we not, then, fight the pope as well as the Turk, or, +perhaps, rather than the Turk?” Answer: I cannot deny that the Turk holds the +four Gospels to be divine and true, as well as the prophets, and also speaks +very highly of Christ and His mother, but at the same time, he believes that +his Mohammed is above Christ and that Christ is not God, as has been said above. +We Christians acknowledge the Old Testament as divine Scripture, but now that +it is fulfilled and is, as St. Peter says, in Acts 15:10, too hard without +God’s grace, it is abolished and no longer binds us.

+ +

The relation between +the Koran and the Bible

+ +

Just so Mohammed treats the +Gospel; he declares that it is indeed true, but has long since served its +purpose; also that it is too hard to keep, especially on the points where +Christ says that one is to leave all for His sake, love God with the whole heart, +and the like.

+ +

Therefore +God has had to give another new law, one that is not so hard and that the world +can keep, and this law is the Koran. But if anyone asks why he does no miracles +to confirm this new law, he says that that is unnecessary and of no use, for +people had many miracles before, when Moses’ law and the Gospel arose, and did +not believe. Therefore his Koran did not need to be confirmed by wasted +miracles, but by the sword, which is more effective than miracles. Thus it has +been, and still is the case among the Turks, that everything is done with the +sword, instead of with miracles.

+ +

On +the other hand, the pope is not much more godly than +Mohammed and resembles him extraordinarily; for he, too, praises the Gospel +with his lips, but holds that many things in it are too hard, and these things +are the very ones that Mohammed and the Turks also consider too hard, such as +those contained in Matthew 5:20. Therefore he interprets them, and makes of +them consilia, i.e., “counsels,” which no one is +bound to keep unless he desires to do so, as has been shamelessly taught at +Paris, and in other universities, foundations, and monasteries. Therefore, too, +he does not rule with the Gospel, or Word of God, but has made a new law and a +Koran, viz., his decretals, and enforces them with +the ban, as the Turk enforces his Koran with the sword; he even calls the ban +his spiritual sword, though only the Word of God is that and should be called +that ( Ephesians 6:17). Nevertheless, he uses the +temporal sword also, when he can, or, at least, calls upon it, and urges and +stirs up others to use it. And I am confident that if the pope could use the +temporal sword as mightily as the Turk, he would perhaps lack the will to do so +even less than the Turk and, indeed, they have often tried it.

+ +

Italian weddings – homosexual relationships

+ +

God visits them with the same +plague, too, and smites them with blindness, so that it happens to them as St. Paul says, in Romans +1:28, about the shameful vice of the dumb sins, that +God gives them up to a perverse mind because they pervert the Word of God. So +blind and senseless are both pope and Turk that both of them commit the dumb +sins shamelessly, as an honorable and praiseworthy thing. Since they think +lightly of marriage, it serves them right that there are dog-marriages (and +would to God they were dog-marriages), nay, “Italian marriages” and “Florentine +brides” f131 among them; and they think these things good;

+ +

For +I hear one horrible thing after another about what an open and glorious Sodom +Turkey is, and everybody who has looked around a little in Rome and Italy knows +very well how God there revenges and punishes the prohibition of marriage, so +that Sodom and Gomorrah, which God overwhelmed in days of old with fire and +brimstone, must seem a mere jest compared with these abominations. On this one +account, therefore, I would regret the rule of the Turk; nay, it would be +intolerable in Germany. +

+ +

Not crusade, but armed defence

+ +

“What are we to do, then? Are we +to fight against the pope, as well as the Turk, since the one is as godly as +the other?” Answer: Treat the one like the other and no one is wronged; like +sin should receive like punishment. I mean that this way. If the pope and his +followers were to attack the empire with the sword, as the Turk does, he should +receive the same treatment as the Turk; and this is what was done to him by the +army of Emperor Charles before Pavia. +For there stands God’s verdict, “He that takes the sword shall perish by the +sword.” I do not advise that men go to war with the Turk or the pope because of +his false belief or evil life, but because of the murder and destruction which +he does. But the best thing about the papacy is that it has not yet the sword, +as the Turk has; otherwise it would surely undertake to bring the whole world +into subjection, though it would accomplish no more than to bring it to faith +in the pope’s Koran, the decretals. For he pays as +little heed as the Turk to the Gospel, or Christian faith, and knows it as +little, though with fasts, which he himself does not keep, he makes a great +pretense of Turkish sanctity; thus they deserve the reputation of being like +the Turk, though they are against Christ.

+ +

Against +the papacy, however, because of its errors and wicked ways, the first man, Sir +Christian, has been aroused, and he attacks it boldly with prayer and the Word +of God; and he has wounded it, too, so that they feel it and rage. But no +raging helps; the axe is laid to the tree and the tree must be uprooted, unless +it bears different fruit. I see clearly that they have no notion of reforming, +but the farther things go, the more stubborn they become and want to butt their +way through, and boast, “All or nothing, bishop or drudge!” I consider them so +godly that, unless they reform or turn from their shameful ways, both they +themselves and the whole world admit that it is not to be endured, and that +they should betake themselves to their comrade and brother, the holy Turk. Ah +well! May our heavenly Father quickly hear their own prayer and grant that, as +they say, they may be “all or nothing, bishop or drudge.” Amen! They will have +it so. Amen! So let it be, let it come true, as God pleases!

+ +

But +you say further: “How can the Emperor Charles fight against the Turk in these +days, when he has against him such hindrances and such treachery from kings, +princes, the Venetians, indeed from almost everybody?” Answer: What a man +cannot lift, he must let lie. If we can do no more, we must let our Lord Jesus +Christ counsel and aid us, by His coming, which cannot be far off. For the +world has come to its end; the Roman Empire is almost gone and torn to bits; it +stands as the kingdom of the Jews stood when Christ’s birth was near; the Jews +had scarcely anything of their kingdom, Herod was the token of farewell. And +so, I think, now that the Roman Empire is almost gone, Christ’s coming is at +the door, and the Turk is the Empire’s token of farewell, a parting gift to the +Roman Empire; and just as Herod and the Jews hated each other, though both made +common cause against Christ, so Turk and papacy hate each other, but make +common cause against Christ and His kingdom.

+ +

Nevertheless, +what the emperor can do for his subjects against the Turk, +that he should do, so that even though he cannot entirely prevent the +abomination, he may yet try to protect and rescue his subjects by checking the +Turk and holding him off. To this protection the emperor should be moved not +only by his bounden duty, his office, and the command of God, nor only by the +unchristian and vile government that the Turk brings in, as has been said +above, but also by the misery and wretchedness that comes to his subjects. They +know better than I, beyond all doubt, how cruelly the Turk treats those whom he +carries away captive. He treats them like cattle, dragging, towing, driving +those that can go along, and killing out of hand those that cannot go, whether +they are young or old.

+ +

All +this and the like more ought to move all the princes, and the whole empire, to +forget their own cases and contentions, or let them rest for awhile, and unite, +in all earnest, to help the wretched; so that things may not go as they went +with Constantinople and Greece. They quarreled with one another and looked +after their own affairs, until the Turk overwhelmed both of them together, as +he has already come very near doing to us in a similar case. But if this is not +to be, and our unrepentant life makes us unworthy of any grace or counsel or +support, we must put up with it and suffer under the devil; but that does not +excuse those who could help and do not.

+ +

I +wish it to be clearly understood, however, by what I have said, +that it was not for nothing that I called Emperor Charles the man who ought to +go to war against the Turk. As for other kings, princes, and rulers who despise +Emperor Charles, or are not his subjects, or are not obedient, I leave them to +take their own chances. They shall do nothing by my advice or admonition; what +I have written here has been for Emperor Charles and his subjects; the others +do not concern me. For I well know the pride of some kings and princes who +would be glad if not Emperor Charles, but they, were to be the heroes and +masters to win honor against the Turk. I grant them the honor, but if they are +beaten in trying to get it, it will be their own fault. Why do they not conduct +themselves humbly toward the true head and the regularly appointed ruler. The rebellion among the peasants has been punished, +but if the rebellion among the princes and lords were also to be punished, I +believe that there would be very few princes and lords left. God grant that it +may not be the Turk who inflicts the punishment! Amen.

+ +

Efficient attack as prevention

+ +

Finally, I would have it +understood as my kind and faithful advice that, if it comes to the point of war +against the Turk, we shall arm and prepare, and not hold the Turk too cheap, +acting as we Germans usually do, and coming on the field with twenty or thirty +thousand men. And even though a success is granted us and we win a victory, we +have no staying-power, but sit down again and carouse until another necessity +arises. To be sure, I am not qualified to give instruction on this point, and +they themselves know, or ought to know, more about it than I, nevertheless, +when I see people acting so childishly, I must think either that the princes +and our Germans do not know or believe the strength and power of the Turk, or +have no serious purpose to fight against the Turk, but just as the pope has +robbed Germany of money under the pretense of the Turkish war and by +indulgences, so they, too, following the pope’s example, would swindle us out +of money.

+ +

My +advice, therefore, is not to set the armed preparation so low and not to offer +our poor Germans to slaughter. If we are not going to make an adequate, honest +resistance that will have some staying-power, it were far better not to begin a +war, but to give up lands and people to the Turk in time, without useless +bloodshed, rather than have him win anyhow in an easy battle and with shameful +bloodshed, as happened in Hungary with King Lewis. Fighting against the Turk is +not like fighting against the King of France, or the Venetians, or the pope; he +is a different kind of warrior; he has people and money in abundance; he beat +the Sultan twice in succession, and that took people. Why, dear sir, his people +are under arms all the time, so that he can quickly bring together three or +four hundred thousand men; if we were to cut off a hundred thousand, he would +soon be back again with as many men as before. He has staying-power.

+ +

There +is, therefore, nothing at all in trying to meet him with fifty or sixty +thousand men unless we have an equal or a greater number in reserve. Only count +up his lands, dear sir. He has Greece, +Asia, Syria, Egypt, Arabia, etc., that is, he has so many +lands that if Spain, France, England, +Germany, Italy, Bohemia, +Hungary, Poland, and Denmark were all counted together, they would not equal the land he has. Besides, he is master +of all of them and commands effective and ready obedience. And, as has been +said, they are constantly under arms and are exercised in warfare, so that he +has staying-power, and can deliver two, three, four battles, one after another, +as he showed against the Sultan. This Gog and Magog is a different kind of majesty than our kings and +princes.

+ +

I +say this because I fear that my Germans do not know it or believe it, and +think, perhaps, that they are strong enough by themselves, and take the Turk +for such a lord as the king of France, whom they would easily withstand. But I shall +be without blame, and shall not have laden my tongue and pen with blood, if a +king measures himself with the Turk all alone, for it is tempting God when +anyone sets out with a smaller force against a stronger king, as Christ also +shows in the Gospel of Luke, especially since our princes are not the kind of +people for whom a divine miracle is to be expected. The king of Bohemia is now a mighty +prince, but God forbid that he match himself all alone against the Turk! Let +him have Emperor Charles as his captain and all the +emperor’s power behind him. But then, if everyone will not believe this, let +him learn by his own experience! I know what kind of might the Turk’s might is, +unless the historians and geographers lie, and daily experience, too; they do +not, that I know.

+ +

I +do not say this in order to scare off the kings from war against the Turk, but +as an admonition to make wise and serious preparation, and not to go at this +matter in so childish and sleepy a way, for I would like, if possible, to +prevent useless bloodshed and lost wars. It would be serious preparation, if +our princes were to wind their own affairs in a ball and put their heads and +hearts, hands and feet, together, and make one body out of the great crowd from +which one could make another army, if one battle were lost, and not, as +heretofore, let single kings and princes set upon him – yesterday the king of +Hungary, tomorrow the king of Bohemia, day after tomorrow the king of Poland – +until the Turk devours them one after another and nothing is accomplished by +it, except that our people are betrayed and slaughtered and blood is shed +needlessly.

+ +

For +if our kings and princes were to agree, and stand by one another and help one +another, and the Christian man were to pray for them, I should be undismayed +and of good hope; the Turk would leave his raging and find in Emperor Charles a +man who was his equal. Failing that, if things are to go as they now go, and no +one is in agreement with another or loyal to another, +and everyone wants to be his own man and takes the field with a beggarly array, +I must let it go at that. Of course I will gladly help pray, but it will be a +weak prayer, for I can have little faith that it will be heard, bemuse of the +childish, presumptuous, and shortsighted way in which such great enterprises +are undertaken, knowing that it is tempting God and that He can have no +pleasure in it.

+ +

Serious warning

+ +

What do our dear lords do? They +take it for a mere jest. It is a fact that the Turk is at our throat, and even +if he does not will to march against us this year, yet he is there, armed and +ready any hour to attack us, when he will, and yet our princes discuss, +meanwhile, how they can harass Luther and the Gospel. It is the Turk! Against +it force must be used! It must be put out! That is what they are doing right +now at Speyer, +making the greatest ado about the eating of meat and fish, and foolishness like +that.

+ +

God +give you honor, you faithless heads of your poor people! What devil bids you +occupy yourselves so violently with spiritual things, which are not committed +to you, and be so lax and slothful in dealing with things that God has +committed to you and that concern you and your poor people, now in the greatest +and most pressing need, and thus be only hindering all those whose intentions +are good and who would gladly do their part? Yes, go on singing and hearing the +Mass of the Holy Spirit! He has great pleasure in it and will be very gracious +to you disobedient, refractory fellows, because you let those things alone that +he has committed to you, and work at what he has forbidden you! Yes, the Evil +Spirit may hear you!

+ +

With +this I have cleared my conscience. This book shall be my witness concerning the +measure and the manner in which I advise war against the Turk. If any will +proceed otherwise, let him proceed, win or lose. I shall not enjoy his victory +and not pay for his defeat, but shall be innocent of all the blood that will be +shed in vain. I know that this book will not make the Turk a gracious lord to +me, if it comes before him; nevertheless, I have wished to tell my Germans the +truth, so far as I know it, and give faithful counsel and service to the +grateful and the ungrateful alike. If it helps, it helps; if it helps not, then +may our dear Lord Jesus Christ help, and come down from heaven with the Last +Judgment, and smite both Turk and pope to the earth, together with all tyrants +and all the godless, and deliver us from all sins and from all evil. Amen.

+ +