Selections from the Table Talk of Martin LutherLuther, Martin
ReligionChristian
Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther
Luther, Martin
Table-talk
As I was at Rome, said Luther, I saw this church; it had no windows, but
only a round hole on the top, which gave some light. It was vaulted
high, and had pillars of marble stone so thick that two of us could
scarcely fathom one about. Above, on the vault, were portrayed all the
gods of the heathen, Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, Venus, and how else they are
called. These gods were at a union, to the end they might fool and
deceive the whole world; but Christ they cannot endure, for he hath
whipped them out. Now are the Popes come, and have driven Christ away
again; but who knoweth how long it will continue?
_That the World knoweth not Christ_, _nor those that are his_.
Even as Christ is now invisible and unknown to the world, so are we
Christians also invisible and unknown therein. “Your life,” saith St.
Paul (Coloss. iii.), “is hid with Christ in God.” Therefore, said
Luther, the world knoweth us not, much less do they see Christ in us.
And John the Apostle saith, “Behold, what love the Father hath showed
unto us, that we shall be called God’s children” (1 John iii). Therefore
we and the world are easily parted; they care nothing for us, so we care
less for them; yea, through Christ the world is crucified unto us, and we
to the world. Let them go with their wealth, and leave us to our minds
and manners.
When we have our sweet and loving Saviour Christ, then we are rich and
happy more than enough, we care nothing for their state, honour, and
wealth. But we often lose our Saviour Christ, and little think that he
is in us, and we in him; that he is ours, and we are his. And although
he hideth himself from us, as we think, in the time of need for a moment,
yet are we comforted in his promise, where he saith, “I am daily with you
to the world’s end;” the same is our best and richest treasure.
_Of the Name Jesus Christ_.
I know nothing of Jesus Christ, said Luther, but only his name; I neither
have heard nor seen him corporeally; yet notwithstanding I have, God be
praised, learned so much out of the Scriptures that I am well and
thoroughly satisfied; therefore, I desire neither to see nor to hear him
corporeally. And besides this, when I was left and forsaken of all men,
in my highest weakness, in trembling and in fear of death, when I was
persecuted of the wicked world, then I oftentimes felt most evidently the
divine power which this name (Christ Jesus) communicated unto me; this
name (Christ Jesus) oftentimes delivered me when I was in the midst of
death, and made me alive again. It comforted me in the greatest despair,
and particularly at the Imperial Assembly at Augsburg, anno 1530, when I
was forsaken of every man; insomuch that, by God’s grace, I will live and
die for that name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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