Selections from the Table Talk of Martin LutherLuther, Martin
ReligionChristian
Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther
Luther, Martin
Table-talk
And truly we find and see printed the Holy Trinity in all good arts and
creatures, as the almighty power of God the Father, the wisdom of God the
Son, and the goodness of God the Holy Ghost. Neither can we conceive or
know how the apple of the eye doth see, or how understanding words are
spoken distinctly and plainly when only the tongue is moved and stirred
in the mouth, all which are natural things, as we daily see and act. How
then should we be able to comprehend or understand the secret counsel of
God’s Majesty, or search it out with our sense, wit, reason, or
understanding?
_That no Man understands God’s Works_.
No man, said Luther, is able to imagine, much less to understand, what
God hath done, and still doth without ceasing. Although we laboured and
sweated blood to write but only three lines in such manner as St. John
did write, yet were we never able to perform it. What, then, should we
any way admire or wonder at our wisdom? I, for my part, said Luther,
will be a fool, and will yield myself captive.
When one asked where God was before Heaven was created, St. Austin made
answer thereunto and said, He was in himself. And as another, said
Luther, asked me the same question, I said, He was building Hell for such
idle, presumptuous, fluttering spirits and inquisitors. After he had
created all things, he was everywhere, and yet he was nowhere; for I
cannot fasten nor take hold of him without the Word. But he will be
found there where he hath bound himself to be. The Jews found him at
Jerusalem by the Throne of Grace (Exodus xxv.). We find him in the Word
and Faith, in Baptism and Sacraments; but in his Majesty he is nowhere to
be found.
It was a special grace in the Old Testament, when God bound himself to a
certain place where he would be found, namely, in that place where the
Tabernacle was, towards which they prayed; as first in Shiloh and
Shechem, afterwards at Gibeon, and lastly at Jerusalem in the Temple.
The Greeks and Heathens in after-times, said Luther, did imitate the
same, and did build temples for their idols in certain places, as at
Ephesus for Diana, at Delphos for Apollo, etc. For where God built a
church, there the devil would also build a chapel. They imitated the
Jews also in this, namely, that as the most holy was dark and had no
light, even so and after the same manner did they make their places dark
where the devil made answer, as at Delphos and elsewhere. In such sort
is the devil always God’s ape.
But, said Luther, whereas the most holy must be dark, the same did
signify that the Kingdom of Christ no other way was to be taken hold of
and fastened, but only by the Word and by Faith.
_That the Superfluity of temporal Wealth doth hinder the Faith_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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