The Table Talk of Martin Luther

By Martin Luther

"The Bible is alive," declared Martin Luther, "it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me." The Protestant Reformation's most prominent leader possessed a gift for evocative speech, and he was as articulate and outspoken in private as he was in public. Fortunately for posterity, some of Luther's loyal followers took note of his informal speeches.
The Table Talk of Martin Luther consists of excerpts from the great reformer's conversations with his students and colleagues, in which he comments on life, the church, and the Bible. Collected by Antony Lauterbach and John Aurifaber, Luther's close associates, these absorbing anecdotes reveal the speaker's personality and wisdom. An informative introduction by editor Thomas S. Kepler describes the circumstances under which this book came into existence and the remarkable story of its initial translation into English. This text is based on the acclaimed English translation by the literary critic and essayist William Hazlitt.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Sep 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486149936

Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483–1546) was a German theologian and one of the most influential figures in the Protestant Reformation. Some of Luther’s best-known works are the Ninety-Five Theses, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” and his translation of the Bible into German. 

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Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2005, is an unabridged republication of the edition published by The World Publishing Company, New York and Cleveland, 1952. Table Talk was first published in German in 1566.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Luther, Martin, 1483–1546.

[Tischreden (Aurifaber). English. Selections]

The table talk of Martin Luther / Martin Luther ; edited with an intro-

duction by Thomas S. Kepler.

p. cm.

Originally published: 1st American ed. New York : World Pub. Co.,

1952, in series: World devotional classics.

9780486149936

1. Luther, Martin, 1483–1546—Quotations. I. Kepler, Thomas S.

(Thomas Samuel), 1897–II. Title.

BR332.T4H3 2005

284.1’092—dc22

2005042936

Manufactured in the United States of America

Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501

Table of Contents

Title Page

Bibliographical Note

Copyright Page

INTRODUCTION

OF GOD’S WORD

OF GOD’S WORKS

OF THE NATURE OF THE WORLD

OF JESUS CHRIST

OF THE HOLY GHOST

OF SINS

OF FREE-WILL

OF THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL

OF JUSTIFICATION

OF PRAYER

OF BAPTISM

OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

OF THE CHURCH

OF PREACHERS AND PREACHING

OF THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH

OF THE PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS

OF THE APOSTLES AND DISCIPLES OF CHRIST

OF ANGELS

OF TEMPTATION AND TRIBULATION

OF OFFENCES

OF A CHRISTIAN LIFE

OF DISCORD

OF SICKNESS, AND OF THE CAUSES THEREOF

OF DEATH

OF THE RESURRECTION

OF UNIVERSITIES, ARTS, ETC.

OF LEARNED MEN

A CATALOG OF SELECTED DOVER - BOOKS IN ALL FIELDS OF INTEREST

INTRODUCTION

THE Formal beginning of Protestantism can be dated as occurring on the eve of All Saints Day, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses on the church door at Wittenberg. In performing this act, he was not so much attacking indulgences directly as showing their uselessness and their ineffectiveness. His own words give insight into the meaning of this event; he maintained

That the pope could release no punishments but what he inflicted, and indulgences could be nothing but a relaxation of ecclesiastical penalties; that they affected only the living; that the dead were not subject to canonical penances, and so could receive no benefits by indulgences; and that such as were in purgatory could not by them be delivered from the punishment of their sins; that indeed the pope did not grant indulgences to the dead, by virtue of the power of the keys, but by way of suffrage; that indulgences seldom remit all punishment; that those who believe they shall be saved by indulgences only, shall be damned with their masters; that contrition can procure remission of the fault and punishment without indulgences, but that indulgences can do nothing without contrition; that the pope’s indulgence is not to be condemned, because it is the declaration of a pardon obtained of God, but only to be preached with caution, lest the people should think it preferable to good works; that Christians should be instructed, how much better it is to abound in works of mercy and charity to the poor, than to purchase a pardon; and that it is a matter of indifference either to buy, or not to buy, an indulgence; that indulgences are not to be trusted to; that it is hard to say what the treasure of the church is, which is said to be the foundation of indulgences; that it is not the merits of Christ or his saints, because they produce grace in the inner man; and crucify the outward man, without the pope’s interposing; that this treasure can be nothing but the power of the keys, or the gospel of the glory and grace of God; that indulgences cannot remit the most venial sin in respect of guilt; that they remit nothing to them who by a sincere contrition have a right to perfect remission; and that Christians are to be exhorted to seek pardon of their sins by the pains and labour of penance, rather than to get them discharged without reason.

Luther’s reflection upon forgiveness of one’s sins through repentance and labor of penance shows the depth of his spirit. While Luther is well known for his abilities in organization and scholarship, he should be best known for his religious piety. The depth of his religious experience was catching in the lives of those who knew him. Born to a peasant family in Eisleben, Luther was encouraged by his father to pursue law at the University of Erfurt. Here he studied philosophy and law, read the ancient classics, and received his master’s degree at twenty before taking up civil law. However, when struck by lighting which killed his companion, Luther forsook law and entered a monastery of Augustinian hermits in July, 1505. In 1507 he celebrated his first mass upon being ordained a priest. He became a lecturer at the University of Wittenberg in philosophy and biblical studies, being made a doctor of divinity at thirty years of age.

Luther’s hunger for piety was especially fed by the writings of Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Johannes Tauler, and Theologia Germanica (the anonymous writing of The Friends of God, which Luther published in 1518). But most of all the Bible spoke to the spirit of Luther. Chief among Martin Luther’s lectures at Wittenberg were those on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. It was this letter which greatly affected his theological viewpoint and caused him to become the great adherent of justification by faith. As Luther dramatically shifted from his position of a priest in the Roman Catholic Church to that of the chief instigator of the Reformation, his ideas in religion showed a number of new tendencies: Each man was to be his own priest who could immediately approach God; the sermon became an important part of the church service by which God’s grace aroused faith in the hearer; hymns were sung in public worship; the sacraments were diminished to two, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, since only those two are mentioned in the New Testament; the Bible as the Word of God, rather than the authority of the Pope and the Church, became the guide for man; marriage was encouraged among the clergy; salvation by faith in Jesus Christ was at the heart of Christian thought and living.

Martin Luther was a tireless worker and a prolific writer; his Works (Werke) vie in size with a series of modern encyclopedias. His translation of the New Testament into the German language, while at Wartburg Castle, and published in September, 1522, brought the Bible to the common people; it also laid the pattern for German literature. Among the many writings of Luther, Table Talk is a lengthy compendium which gives his views on many subjects. The thoughts for this volume were collected by his friends and followers, chiefly by John Aurifaber (Goldschmidt) and Antony Lauterbach. From notes of Luther’s discourses, his observations and opinions as his friends knew him at the table, on walks, or in the performance of his clerical duties, the basis of this book took form. Luther made a great impression on his friends: The reporters were brim-full of zeal: whatever ‘the man of God’ uttered was forthwith entered upon their tablets. They were with him at uprising and his down-lying ; they looked over his shoulder as he read or wrote his letters ; did he utter an exclamation of pain or of pleasure, of joy or of sorrow, down it went: did he aspirate a thought above a breath, it was caught by the intent ear of one or other of the listeners, and committed to paper.

John Aurifaber at Eisleben in 1566 brought out the first German edition of Table Talk (Tischreden); by 1568 it had gone through its fourth reprinting. In 1569 a new edition with added materials, and edited by John Fink, appeared with this appendix : Of prophecies which the venerable man of God, just before his holy death, delivered unto divers learned theologians and ecclesiastics, with many consolatory letters, opinions, narratives, replies, etc., never made public. This volume, dedicated to the Council of Rauschenburg on March 24, 1568, apparently contained various ideas from Luther’s books and writings as discovered through the research of a Halle preacher named George Walther. Further editions, no longer extant, were published in Eisleben in 1569 and 1577.

In 1571 another edition by Andrew Stangwald appeared, being reprinted in 1590, and dedicated to the Council of Mulhausen. Stangwald in his preface complained of defective matter and typographical errors in previous editions, which he attempted to correct. Other German editions followed from time to time, but it was not until 1743 that J. G. Walch included Table Talk in the collection of Luther’s German Werke. Table Talk, however, never was inserted into the Latin works of Luther.

The first English translation of Table Talk was made by Captain Henry Bell in 1645, the House of Commons on February 24, 1646, giving order for the printing of the volume. The copy of the order of the House of Commons reads as follows:

24th FEBRUARY, 1646

Whereas Captain Henry Bell has strangely discovered and found a book of Martin Luther’s, called his Divine Discourses, which was for a long time very marvellously preserved in Germany: the which book, the said Henry Bell, at his great costs and pains, hath translated into the English out of the German tongue, which translation and substance thereof is approved by Reverend Divines of the Assembly, as appears by a certificate under their hands:

It is ordered and ordained by the Lords and Commons assembled in parliament, that the said Henry Bell shall have the sole disposal and benefit of printing the said book, translated into English by him as aforesaid, for the space of fourteen years, to commence the date thereof. And that none do print or reprint the same, but such as shall be licensed by the said captain by authority under his hand.

(Vera Copia) HENRY ELSYNG

Captain Bell’s narrative about his concern for Table Talk reveals his enthusiasm for this volume which he translated. In part he says:

I, Captain Henry Bell, do hereby declare, both to the present age, and also to posterity, that being employed beyond the seas in state affairs divers years together, both by king James, and also by the late king Charles, in Germany, I did hear and understand, in all places, great bewailing and lamentation made by reason of the destroying and burning of above fourscore thousand of Martin Luther’s books entitled, His Last Divine Discourses.

For after such time as God stirred up the spirit of Martin Luther to detect the corruptions and abuses of popery, and to preach Christ, and clearly to set forth the simplicity of the gospel, many kings, princes, and states, imperial cities, and Hans-towns, fell from popish religion, and became protestants, as their posterities still are, and remain to this very day.

And for the further advancement of the great work of reformation then begun, the aforesaid princes, and the rest did then order, that the said Divine Discourses of Luther should forthwith be printed; and that every parish should have and receive one of the foresaid printed books into every church throughout all their principalities and dominions, to be chained up, for the common people to read therein....

Whereupon I took the said book before me, and many times began to translate the same, but I was always hindered. Then about six weeks after I had received the said book, it fell out, that I being in bed with my wife one night, between twelve and one of the clock, she being asleep, but myself awake, there appeared unto me an ancient man, standing at my bedside, arrayed all in white, having a long and broad white beard hanging down at his girdle steed, who taking me by my right ear, spake these words following unto me: Sirrah! will not you take time to translate that book which is sent unto you out of Germany? I will shortly provide for you both place and time to do it. And then he vanished away out of my sight....

Then about a fortnight after I had seen that vision, on a Sunday, I went to Whitehall to hear a sermon; after which ended, I returned to my lodging, which was then at King-street, at Westminster, and sitting down to dinner with my wife, two messengers were sent from the whole council-board, with a warrant to carry me to the keeper of the Gatehouse, Westminster, there to be safely kept, until further order from the lords of the council; which was done without showing me any cause at all wherefore I was committed. Upon which said warrant I was kept ten whole years close prisoner, where I spent five years thereof about the translating of the said book; insomuch as I found the words very true which the old man, in the aforesaid vision, did say unto me—I will shortly provide for you both place and time to translate it.

Captain Bell had been imprisoned for pressing the Lord Treasurer for arrears of pay. Toward the end of his imprisonment, when the translation was finished, the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, sent for the book to peruse. After a careful reading of the book Archbishop Laud highly praised the volume to the king, recommending the book to be circulated throughout the whole kingdom, as it was in Germany. Soon Captain Bell was set free by the whole House of Lords, since the king had interceded in his behalf. But fortunes were to turn again, as Archbishop Laud fell into troubles and was beheaded after a short imprisonment in the London Tower. A committee, however, was appointed by the House of Commons to inspect Captain Bell’s translation. On November 10, 1645, the committee reported the excellency of the English translation, and on February 24, 1646, the House of Commons ordered its printing.

In the preface to this first English edition, published in 1652, a letter to the translator is prefixed. In one paragraph of the letter are these words of commendation: We should, indeed, seek in vain elsewhere for more striking and interesting specimens of the talents, the disposition, and the manners of the great Reformer, than in this volume of his ‘Table Talk.’ And certainly if the personal character of any individual deserves to be dwelt upon, it is that of Luther. In no other instance have such great events depended upon the courage, sagacity, and energy of a single man, nor can there be found a more profitable study than the temper and peculiarities of one, who, by his sole and unassisted efforts, made his solitary cell the heart and centre of the most wonderful and important commotion the world ever witnessed; who, by the native force and vigour of his genius, attacked and successfully resisted, and at length overthrew the most awful and sacred authority that ever imposed its commands on mankind.

In recent years Ernest Kroker in six large volumes has collected 7,075 speeches of Luther, and has arranged them in the most exact possible order. This chronological arrangement has increased the value of Table Talk as historical sources. The recording of these table talks began in 1531, possibly in 1529. Many of these conversations were originally taken by students in shorthand in Latin and German. These students would sit around Luther and his famous guests, recording what they could of Luther’s words. Sometimes Luther would ask them to write down something he wished to say. Luther’s wife once jokingly told the students that they should pay to hear his conversations in the manner they paid to hear lectures at the university!

It was as much the purpose of Table Talk to benefit the hearers spiritually as to cheer them up and amuse them. Some of Luther’s statements about the papacy, the antichrist, councils, excommunication, his adversaries, the Jews and Turks, do not necessarily deal with highest spiritual values. Some of his ideas on subjects such as astronomy and astrology, princes and potentates, idolatry, belong to the religious atmosphere of the sixteenth century. Both of these types of material are deleted from this volume, which is mainly concerned with Luther’s conversations about high spiritual values. Luther’s table talk on the great spiritual verities sounds a deep religious note. His statements on such themes can be placed among high devotional literature. The purpose of this volume, based upon the translation of William Hazlitt (1778–1830), is to let Martin Luther’s insights into spiritual truths speak to the needs of modern man. Though some of his ideas may be attached to the sixteenth century of western Europe, many of his spiritual suggestions in Table Talk sound a sane and inspiring note for those living in the contemporary world.

Martin Luther’s life was open to the high inspiration offered him from the past. Psalm 46, called the sublime song of faith, and written in a time of Jewish national calamity after the Babylonian exile, encouraged Luther at the time of the Reformation. As this psalm showed the Jewish people that their chief source of courage and strength abode in God, so Martin Luther felt this support in his day. Inspired by this lofty psalm, he wrote his great hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Though a man of great physical vigor, he realized that his main support lay in God’s grace,

Therefore in God I place my trust,

My own claim denying.

Believe in him alone I must,

On his sole grace relying.

He pledged to me his plighted word.

My comfort is in what I heard.

Therefore will I hold forever.

The great reformer felt that music was one of the greatest means to make the worshiper aware of God’s grace. In 1524 he brought out a hymnbook of twenty-three hymns to be used in public and private worship. I always loved music, Luther remarked. Whoso has skill in this art, is of a good temperament fitted for all things. We should not ordain young men as preachers, unless they have been well exercised in music. The singing of hymns is a goodly thing and pleasing to God. Music is a goodly thing and pleasing to God. Music is a noble gift of God, next to theology. I would not change my little knowledge of music for a great deal.

The strong faith which Luther held in God, and the deep joy of the Christian religion as expressed in his enthusiasm for music, show themselves again and again in the religious theme in Table Talk. Luther did the work of more than five men, says a contemporary biographer of the reformer. Table Talk shows the breadth of Luther’s interests, and reveals that, in his busy life which he followed, he had time to converse with his friends on numerous topics, most of which were closely related to the central values of the Christian religion.

The text of this volume is based on the English translation of William Hazlitt (1778–1830), British literary critic and essayist. Hazlitt’s translation has proved itself the most clear and accurate text of Table Talk in English, and the one usually resorted to in editions of Luther’s conversations.

THOMAS S. KEPLER

OF GOD’S WORD

• 1 •

THAT the Bible is God’s word and book I prove thus: All things that have been, and are, in the world, and the manner of their being, are described in the first book of Moses on the creation; even as God made and shaped the world, so does it stand to this day. Infinite potentates have raged against his book, and sought to destroy and uproot it—king Alexander the Great, the princes of Egypt and of Babylon, the monarchs of Persia, of Greece, and of Rome, the emperors Julius and Augustus—but they nothing prevailed; they are all gone and vanished, while the book remains, and will remain for ever and ever, perfect and entire, as it was declared at the first. Who has thus helped it—who has thus protected it against such mighty forces? No one, surely, but God himself, who is the master of all things. And ’tis no small miracle how God has so long preserved and protected this book; for the devil and the world are sore foes to it. I believe that the devil has destroyed many good books of the church, as, aforetime, he killed and crushed many holy persons, the memory of whom has now passed away; but the Bible he was fain to leave subsisting. In like manner have baptism, the sacrament of the altar, of the true body and blood of Christ, and the office of preaching remained unto us, despite the infinitude of tyrants and heretic persecutors. God, with singular strength, has upheld these things; let us, then, baptize, administer the sacrament, and preach, fearless of impediment. Homer, Virgil, and other noble, fine, and profitable writers, have left us books of great antiquity; but they are nought to the Bible.

While the Romish church stood, the Bible was never given to the people in such a shape that they could clearly, understandingly, surely, and easily read it, as they now can in the German translation, which, thank God, we have prepared here at Wittenberg.

• 2 •

The Holy Scriptures are full of divine gifts and virtues. The books of the heathen taught nothing of faith, hope, or charity; they present no idea of these things; they contemplate only the present, and that which man, with the use of his material reason, can grasp and comprehend. Look not therein for aught of hope or trust in God. But see how the Psalms and the Book of Job treat of faith, hope, resignation, and prayer; in a word, the Holy Scripture is the highest and best of books, abounding in comfort under all afflictions and trials. It teaches us to