Selections from the Table Talk of Martin LutherLuther, Martin
ReligionChristian
Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther
Luther, Martin
Table-talk
Whoso is armed with the Text, the same is a right pastor; and my best
advice and counsel is, said Luther, that we draw water out of the true
fountain, that is, diligently to read in the Bible. He is a learned
Divine that is well grounded in the Text; for one text and sentence out
of the Bible is of far more esteem and value than many writings and
glosses, which neither are strong, sound, nor armour of proof. As when I
have that text before me of St. Paul, where he saith, “All the creatures
of God are good, if they be received with thanksgiving.” This text
showeth that what God hath made is good. Now, eating, drinking,
marrying, etc., are of God’s making, therefore they are good. But the
glosses of the Primitive Fathers are against this text, for St. Bernard,
Basil, Dominicus, Hieronymus, and others have written far otherwise of
the same. But I prefer the Text before them all, and it is far more to
be esteemed of than all their glosses; yet, notwithstanding, in Popedom
the glosses of the Fathers were of higher regard than the bright and
clear text of the Bible, through which great wrong oftentimes is done to
the Holy Scriptures; for the good Fathers, as Ambrose, Basil, and
Gregory, have ofttimes written very cold things touching the Divine word.
_That the Bible is the Head of all Arts_.
Let us not lose the Bible, said Luther, but with all diligence and in
God’s fear read and preach the same; for if that remaineth, flourisheth,
and be taught, then all is safe. She is the head and empress of all
faculties and arts. If Divinity falleth, then whatsoever remaineth
besides is nothing worth.
_Of the Art of the School Divines in the Bible_.
The art of the School Divines, said Luther, with their speculations in
the Holy Scriptures, are merely vain and human reasonings, spun out of
their own natural wit and understanding, of which I have read much in
Bonaventura, but he had almost made me deaf. I fain would have learned
and understood out of that book how God and my sinful soul had been
reconciled together; but of that there was nothing to be found therein.
They talk much of the union of the will and understanding, but all is
mere phantasy and folly. The right and true speculation is this:
“Believe in Christ; do what thou oughtest to do in thy vocation,” etc.
This is the only practice in Divinity. Also, _Mystica Theologia
Dionysii_ is a mere fable, and a lie, like to Plato’s Fables. _Omnia
sunt non ens_, _et omnia sunt ens_—All is something, and all is nothing;
and so he leaveth all hanging in frivolous and idle sort.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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