Luther Quotes
During the early 16th Century idealistic German monk Martin Luther, disgusted by the materialism in the church, begins the dialogue that will lead to the Protestant Reformation.
Martin Luther: Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason and not by Popes and councils who have so often contradicted themselves, my conscience is captive to the word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.
Martin Luther: So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know one who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, son of God, and where He is, there I shall be also!
Martin Luther: [giving a lecture] When I became a monk I believed the monk's cowl would make me holy. Was I an arrogant fool? Now they have made me a doctor of divinity and I am tempted to believe that this scholar's robe will make me wise.
[laughter]
Martin Luther: Well, God once spoke through the mouth of an ass, and...
[laughter]
Martin Luther: Perhaps he is about to do so again. But...
[leaves his rostrum and starts walking around in the classroom. The students follow him very interested with their eyes]
Martin Luther: I will tell you straight what I think. Who here has been to Rome?
[a student raises his hand]
Martin Luther: Did you buy an indulgence?
Student: No.
Martin Luther: I did. For a silver florin, I freed my grandfather from Purgatory. For twice that I could have sprung grandmother and uncle mothers too, but...
[laughter]
Martin Luther: I didn't have the funds, so they had to stay in the hot place. As for myself, the priests assured me that by gazing at sacred relics, I could cut down my time in purgatory. Luckily for me, Rome has enough nails from the holy cross to shoe every horse in Saxony.
[laughter]
Martin Luther: But there are relics elsewhere in Christendom. Eighteen out of twelve apostles are buried in Spain.
[laughter]
Martin Luther: And yet here in Wittenberg we have the pick on the crown. Bread from the last supper, milk from the virgins breast, a thorn that pierced Christ's brow on calvery and nineteen thousand other bits of sacred bone.
[laughter]
Martin Luther: All authentic, ancient, sacred relics. Even Johann Tetzel himself, inquisitor of Poland and Saxony, seller of indulgences extraordinary, connoisseur of relics, envies our collection.
[laughter]
Martin Luther: To posses them for a single night he would willingly surrender five years of his earthly life...
[laughter, returns to his rostrum]
Martin Luther: Or five hundred years in Purgatory.
[laughter]
[laughter]
Martin Luther: Well, God once spoke through the mouth of an ass, and...
[laughter]
Martin Luther: Perhaps he is about to do so again. But...
[leaves his rostrum and starts walking around in the classroom. The students follow him very interested with their eyes]
Martin Luther: I will tell you straight what I think. Who here has been to Rome?
[a student raises his hand]
Martin Luther: Did you buy an indulgence?
Student: No.
Martin Luther: I did. For a silver florin, I freed my grandfather from Purgatory. For twice that I could have sprung grandmother and uncle mothers too, but...
[laughter]
Martin Luther: I didn't have the funds, so they had to stay in the hot place. As for myself, the priests assured me that by gazing at sacred relics, I could cut down my time in purgatory. Luckily for me, Rome has enough nails from the holy cross to shoe every horse in Saxony.
[laughter]
Martin Luther: But there are relics elsewhere in Christendom. Eighteen out of twelve apostles are buried in Spain.
[laughter]
Martin Luther: And yet here in Wittenberg we have the pick on the crown. Bread from the last supper, milk from the virgins breast, a thorn that pierced Christ's brow on calvery and nineteen thousand other bits of sacred bone.
[laughter]
Martin Luther: All authentic, ancient, sacred relics. Even Johann Tetzel himself, inquisitor of Poland and Saxony, seller of indulgences extraordinary, connoisseur of relics, envies our collection.
[laughter]
Martin Luther: To posses them for a single night he would willingly surrender five years of his earthly life...
[laughter, returns to his rostrum]
Martin Luther: Or five hundred years in Purgatory.
[laughter]
Martin Luther: So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: "I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!"
Johann Tetzel: Good people of Juterbog, have you ever burned your hand in the fire? Even one finger made raw by the flame will torment you throughout the night. Is it not so?
[Holds his hand over a fire until it is burned]
Johann Tetzel: Imagine then, your entire body burning. Not for one sleepless night, not for a week, but for all eternity! Are we to be spared the fires of damnation on the Judgment Day?
[Unfurls paintings of sinners burning in the fires of Hell]
Johann Tetzel: Tonight, your Pope, the vicar of Christ, sends you a gift, a gift to save you from such fires, a special indulgence, granted for the building of Saint Peter's Church in Rome, where the bones of the apostles lie moldering, exposed to wind and rain, desecrated by wild animals. Take heed the words of your Holy Father who says, "Lay a stone for Saint Peters and you lay the foundation for your own salvation and happiness in heaven." How? With this indulgence. When? Tonight, and only tonight. Seek the Lord while he is near. Here is your raft! Take hold!
[Holds his hand over a fire until it is burned]
Johann Tetzel: Imagine then, your entire body burning. Not for one sleepless night, not for a week, but for all eternity! Are we to be spared the fires of damnation on the Judgment Day?
[Unfurls paintings of sinners burning in the fires of Hell]
Johann Tetzel: Tonight, your Pope, the vicar of Christ, sends you a gift, a gift to save you from such fires, a special indulgence, granted for the building of Saint Peter's Church in Rome, where the bones of the apostles lie moldering, exposed to wind and rain, desecrated by wild animals. Take heed the words of your Holy Father who says, "Lay a stone for Saint Peters and you lay the foundation for your own salvation and happiness in heaven." How? With this indulgence. When? Tonight, and only tonight. Seek the Lord while he is near. Here is your raft! Take hold!
Martin Luther: I cannot renounce all of my works because they are not all the same.First are those books in which if I have described Christian faith and life so simply that even my opponents have admitted that these books are useful. To renounce these writings would be unthinkable for that would be to renounce accepted Christian truths... The second group of my work is directed aginst the foul doctrine and evil living of the Popes, past and present... Through the laws of the Pope and the doctrines of men, the consciences of the faithful have been miserably vexed and flayed. If I recant these books, I will do nothing but add strength to tyranny and open not just the windows but also the doors to this great ungodliness... In the third group I have written against private persons and individuals who uphold Roman tyranny and have attacked my own efforts to encourage piety to Christ. I confess that I have written too harshly. I am but a man and I can err. Only let my errors be proven by Scripture and I will revoke my work and throw my books into the fire.
