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+*The Project Gutenberg Etext of An Open Letter on Translating*
+Translated from Sendbrief von Dolmetschen By Dr. Martin Luther
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+An Open Letter on Translating
+
+By Dr. Martin Luther, 1483-1546
+
+June 25, 1995  [Etext #272]
+
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+*The Project Gutenberg Etext of An Open Letter on Translating*
+*****This file should be named ltran10.txt or ltran10.zip******
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+Translated from:
+"Sendbrief von Dolmetschen"
+in _Dr. Martin Luthers Werke_,
+(Weimar: Hermann Boehlaus Nachfolger, 1909),
+Band 30, Teil II, pp. 632-646
+by Gary Mann, Ph.D.
+Assistant Professor of Religion/Theology
+Augustana College
+Rock Island, Illinois
+
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+
+
+An Open Letter on Translating
+By Dr. Martin Luther, 1483-1546
+Translated from:
+"Sendbrief von Dolmetschen"
+in _Dr. Martin Luthers Werke_,
+(Weimar: Hermann Boehlaus Nachfolger, 1909),
+Band 30, Teil II, pp. 632-646
+by Gary Mann, Ph.D.
+Assistant Professor of Religion/Theology
+Augustana College
+Rock Island, Illinois
+
+Preface
+
+Wenceslas Link to all believers in Christ:
+
+The wise Solomon says in Proverbs 11: "The people who withhold
+grain curse him.  But there is a blessing on those who sell it." 
+This verse speaks truly concerning all that can serve the common
+good or the well-being of Christendom.  This is the reason the
+master in the gospel reprimands the unfaithful servant like a lazy
+scoundrel for having hidden and buried his money in the ground. 
+So that this curse of the Lord and the entire Church might be
+avoided, I must publish this letter which came into my possession
+through a good friend.  I could not withhold it, as there has been
+much discussion about the translating of the Old and New
+Testaments.  It has been charged by the despisers of truth that
+the text has been modified and even falsified in many places,
+which has shocked and startled many simple Christians, even among
+the educated who do not know any Hebrew or Greek.  It is devoutly
+hoped that with this publication the slander of the godless will
+be stopped and the scruples of the devout removed, at least in
+part.  It may even give rise to more writing on such matters and
+questions such as these.  So I ask all friends of the Truth to
+seriously take this work to heart and faithfully pray to God for a
+proper understanding of the divine Scriptures towards the
+improvement and increase of our common Christendom.  Amen.
+
+Nuremberg Sept. 15, 1530.
+
+To the Honorable and Worthy N., my favorite lord and friend.
+
+Grace and peace in Christ, honorable, worthy and dear Lord and
+friend.  I received your writing with the two questions or queries
+requesting my response.  In the first place, you ask why I, in the
+3rd chapter of Romans, translated the words of St. Paul:
+"Arbitramur hominem iustificari ex fide absque operibus" as "We
+hold that the human will be justified without the works of the law
+but only by faith." You also tell me that the Papists are causing
+a great fuss because St. Paul's text does not contain the word
+sola (alone), and that my changing of the words of God is not to
+be tolerated.  Secondly, you ask if the departed saints intercede
+for us.  Regarding the first question, you can give the papists
+this answer from me - if you so desire.
+
+On the first hand, if I, Dr. Luther, had thought that all the
+Papists together were capable of translating even one passage of
+Scripture correctly and well, I would have gathered up enough
+humility to ask for their aid and assistance in translating the
+New Testament into German.  However, I spared them and myself the
+trouble, as I knew and still see with my own eyes that not one of
+them knows how to speak or translate German.  It is obvious,
+however, that they are learning to speak and write German from my
+translations.  Thus, they are stealing my language from me - a
+language they had little knowledge of before this.  However, they
+do not thank me for this but instead use it against me.  Yet I
+readily grant them this as it tickles me to know that I have
+taught my ungrateful students, even my enemies, to speak.
+
+Secondly, you might say that I have conscientiously translated the
+New Testament into German to the best of my ability, and that I
+have not forced anyone to read it.  Rather I have left it open,
+only doing the translation as a service to those who could not do
+it as well.  No one is forbidden to do it better.  If someone does
+not wish to read it, he can let it lie, for I do not ask anyone to
+read it or praise anyone who does!  It is my Testament and my
+translation - and it shall remain mine.  If I have made errors
+within it (although I am not aware of any and would most certainly
+be unwilling to intentionally mistranslate a single letter) I will
+not allow the papists to judge for their ears continue to be too
+long and their hee-haws too weak for them to be critical of my
+translating.  I know quite well how much skill, hard work,
+understanding and intelligence is needed for a good translation.
+They know it less than even the miller's donkey for they have
+never tried it.
+
+It is said, "The one who builds along the pathway has many
+masters."  It is like this with me. Those who have not ever been
+able to speak correctly (to say nothing of translating) have all
+at once become my masters and I their pupil.  If I were to have
+asked them how to translate the first two words of Matthew "Liber
+Generationis" into German, not one of them would have been able to
+say "Quack!"  And they judge all my works!  Fine fellows!  It was
+also like this for St. Jerome when he translated the Bible.
+Everyone was his master.  He alone was entirely incompetent as
+people, who were not good enough to clean his boots, judged his
+works.  This is why it takes a great deal of patience to do good
+things in public for the world believes itself to be the Master of
+Knowledge, always putting the bit under the horse's tail, and not
+judging itself for that is the world's nature.  It can do nothing
+else.
+
+I would gladly see a papist come forward and translate into German
+an epistle of St. Paul's or one of the prophets and, in doing so,
+not make use of Luther's German or translation.  Then one might
+see a fine, beautiful and noteworthy translation into German.
+
+We have seen that bungler from Dresden play master to my New
+Testament.  (I will not mention his name in my books as he has his
+judge and is already well- known).  He does admit that my German
+is good and sweet and that he could not improve it.  Yet, anxious
+to dishonor it, he took my New Testament word for word as it was
+written, and removed my prefaces and glosses, replacing them with
+his own. Then he published my New Testament under his name!  Dear
+Children, how it pained me when his prince in a detestable preface
+condemned my work and forbid all from reading Luther's New
+Testament, while at the same time commending the Bungler's New
+Testament to be read - even though it was the very same one Luther
+had written!
+
+So no one thinks I am lying, put Luther's and the Bungler's New
+Testaments side by side and compare them.  You will see who did
+the translation for both.  He has patched it in places and
+reordered it (and although it does not all please me) I can still
+leave it be for it does me no particular harm as far as the
+document is concerned.  That is why I never intended to write in
+opposition to it.  But I did have a laugh at the great wisdom that
+so terribly slandered, condemned and forbade my New Testament,
+when it was published under my name, but required its reading when
+published under an other's name!  What type of virtue is this that
+slanders and heaps shame on someone else's work, and then steals
+it, and publishes it under one's own name, thereby seeking glory
+and esteem through the slandered work of someone else!  I leave
+that for his judge to say. I am glad and satisfied that my work
+(as St. Paul also boasts ) is furthered by my enemies, and that
+Luther's work, without Luther's name but that of his enemy, is to
+be read.  What better vengeance?!
+
+Returning to the issue at hand, if your Papist wishes to make a
+great fuss about the word "alone" (sola), say this to him: "Dr.
+Martin Luther will have it so and he says that a papist and an ass
+are the same thing."  Sic volo, sic iubeo, sit pro ratione
+voluntas. (I will it, I command it; my will is reason enough) For
+we are not going to become students and followers of the papists. 
+Rather we will become their judge and master.  We, too, are going
+to be proud and brag with these blockheads; and just as St. Paul
+brags against his madly raving saints, I will brag over these
+asses of mine!  They are doctors?  Me too.  They are scholars?  I
+am as well.  They are philosophers?  And I.  They are
+dialecticians?  I am too.  They are lecturers?  So am I. They
+write books?  So do I.
+
+I will go even further with my bragging: I can exegete the psalms
+and the prophets, and they cannot.  I can translate, and they
+cannot.  I can read Holy Scriptures, and they cannot.  I can pray,
+they cannot.  Coming down to their level, I can do their
+dialectics and philosophy better than all of them put together.
+Plus I know that not one of them understands Aristotle.  If, in
+fact, any one of them can correctly understand one part or chapter
+of Aristotle, I will eat my hat!  No, I am not overdoing it for I
+have been educated in and have practiced their science since my
+childhood.  I recognize how broad and deep it is.  They, too, know
+that everything they can do, I can do.  Yet they handle me like a
+stranger in their discipline, these incurable fellows, as if I had
+just arrived this morning and had never seen or heard what they
+know and teach.  How they do so brilliantly parade around with
+their science, teaching me what I grew beyond twenty years ago! 
+To all their shouting and screaming I join the harlot in singing: 
+"I have known for seven years that horseshoe nails are iron."
+
+So this can be the answer to your first question.  Please do not
+give these asses any other answer to their useless braying about
+that word "sola" than simply "Luther will have it so, and he says
+that he is a doctor above all the papal doctors."  Let it remain
+at that.  I will, from now on, hold them in contempt, and have
+already held them in contempt, as long as they are the kind of
+people that they are - asses, I should say.  And there are brazen
+idiots among them who have never learned their own art of
+sophistry - like Dr. Schmidt and Snot-Nose, and such like them.
+They set themselves against me in this matter, which not only
+transcends sophistry, but as St. Paul writes, all the wisdom and
+understanding in the world as well.  An ass truly does not have to
+sing much as he is already known for his ears.
+
+For you and our people, however, I shall show why I used the word
+"sola" - even though in Romans 3 it wasn't "sola" I used but
+"solum" or "tantum".  That is how closely those asses have looked
+at my text!  However, I have used "sola fides" in other places,
+and I want to use both "solum" and "sola".  I have continually
+tried translating in a pure and accurate German.  It has happened
+that I have sometimes searched and inquired about a single word
+for three or four weeks.  Sometimes I have not found it even then. 
+I have worked Meister Philip and Aurogallus so hard in translating
+Job, sometimes barely translating 3 lines after four days.  Now
+that it has been translated into German and completed, all can
+read and criticize it.  One can now read three or four pages
+without stumbling one time - without realizing just what rocks and
+hindrances had once been where now one travels as as if over a
+smoothly-cut plank.  We had to sweat and toil there before we
+removed those rocks and hindrances, so one could go along nicely. 
+The plowing goes nicely in a clear field.  But nobody wants the
+task of digging out the rocks and hindrances. There is no such
+thing as earning the world's thanks.  Even God cannot each thanks,
+not with the sun, nor with heaven and earth, or even the death of
+his Son.  It just is and remains as it is, in the devil's name, as
+it will not be anything else.
+
+I also know that in Rom. 3, the word "solum" is not present in
+either Greek or Latin text - the papists did not have to teach me
+that - it is fact!  The letters s-o-l-a are not there.  And these
+knotheads stare at them like cows at a new gate, while at the same
+time they do not recognize that it conveys the sense of the text -
+if the  translation is to be clear and accurate, it belongs there.
+I wanted to speak German since it was German I had spoken in
+translation - not Latin or Greek.  But it is the nature of our
+language that in speaking about two things, one which is affirmed,
+the other denied, we use the word "solum" only along with the word
+"not" (nicht) or "no" (kein).  For example, we say "the farmer
+brings only (allein) grain and no money"; or "No, I really have no
+money, but only (allein) grain"; I have only eaten and not yet
+drunk"; "Did you write it only and not read it over?"  There are a
+vast number of such everyday cases.
+
+In all these phrases, this is a German usage, even though it is
+not the Latin or Greek usage.  It is the nature of the German
+tongue to add "allein" in order that "nicht" or "kein" may be
+clearer and more complete.  To be sure, I can also say "The farmer
+brings grain and no (kein) money, but the words "kein money" do
+not sound as full and clear as if I were to say, "the farmer
+brings allein grain and kein money."  Here the word "allein" helps
+the word "kein" so much that it becomes a clear and complete
+German expression.
+
+We do not have to ask about the literal Latin or how we are to
+speak German - as these asses do.  Rather we must ask the mother
+in the home, the children on the street, the common person in the
+market about this.  We must be guided by their tongue, the manner
+of their speech, and do our translating accordingly.  Then they
+will understand it and recognize that we are speaking German to
+them.
+
+For instance, Christ says: Ex abundatia cordis os loquitur. If I
+am to follow these asses, they will lay the original before me
+literally and translate it as: "Out of the abundance of the heart
+the mouth speaks."  Is that speaking with a German tongue? What
+German could understand something like that?  What is this
+"abundance of the heart?"  No German can say that; unless, of
+course, he was trying to say that someone was altogether too
+magnanimous, or too courageous, though even that would not yet be
+correct, as "abundance of the heart" is not German, not any more
+than "abundance of the house, "abundance of the stove" or
+"abundance of the bench" is German.  But the mother in the home
+and the common man say this: "What fills the heart overflows the
+mouth."  That is speaking with the proper German tongue of the
+kind I have tried for, although unfortunately not always
+successfully.  The literal Latin is a great barrier to speaking
+proper German.
+
+So, as the traitor Judas says in Matthew 26: "Ut quid perditio
+haec?" and in Mark 14: "Ut quid perditio iste unguenti facta est?" 
+Subsequently, for these literalist asses I would have to translate
+it: "Why has this loss of salve occurred?"  But what kind of
+German is this?  What German says "loss of salve occurred"?  And
+if he does understand it at all, he would think that the salve is
+lost and must be looked for and found again; even though that is
+still obscure and uncertain.  Now if that is good German why do
+they not come out and make us a fine, new German testament and let
+Luther's testament be?  I think that would really bring out their
+talents.  But a German would say "Ut quid, etc.." as "Why this
+waste?" or "Why this extravagance?" Even "it is a shame about the
+ointment" - these are good German, in which one can understand
+that Magdalene had wasted the salve she poured out and had done
+wrong.  That was what Judas meant as he thought he could have used
+it better.
+
+Now when the angel greets Mary, he says: "Greetings to you, Mary,
+full of grace, the Lord is with you."  well up to this point, this
+has simply been translated from the simple Latin, but tell me is
+that good German? Since when does a German speak like that - being
+"full of grace"?  One would have to think about a keg "full of"
+beer or a purse "full of" money.  So I translated it: "You
+gracious one".  This way a German can at last think about what the
+angel meant by his greeting.  Yet the papists rant about me
+corrupting the angelic greeting - and I still have not used the
+most satisfactory German translation.  What if I had used the most
+satisfactory German and translated the salutation: "God says
+hello, Mary dear" (for that is what the angel was intending to say
+and what he would have said had he even been German!).  If I had,
+I believe that they would have hanged themselves out of their
+great devotion to dear Mary and because I have destroyed the
+greeting.
+
+Yet why should I be concerned about their ranting and raving?  I
+will not stop them from translating as they want.  But I too shall
+translate as I want and not to please them, and whoever does not
+like it can just ignore it and keep his criticism to himself, for
+I will neither look at nor listen to it.  They do not have to
+answer for or bear responsibility for my translation.  Listen up,
+I shall say "gracious Mary" and "dear Mary", and they can say
+"Mary full of grace".  Anyone who knows German also knows what an
+expressive word "dear"(liebe)  is: dear Mary, dear God, the dear
+emperor, the dear prince, the dear man, the dear child.  I do not
+know if one can say this word "liebe" in Latin or in other
+languages with so much depth of emotion that it pierces the heart
+and echoes throughout as it does in our tongue.
+
+I think that St. Luke, as a master of the Hebrew and Greek
+tongues, wanted to clarify and articulate the Greek word
+"kecharitomene" that the angel used.  And I think that the angel
+Gabriel spoke with Mary just as he spoke with Daniel, when he
+called him "Chamudoth" and "Ish chamudoth, vir desiriorum", that
+is "Dear Daniel."  That is the way Gabriel speaks, as we can see
+in Daniel.  Now if I were to literally translate the words of the
+angel, and use the skills of these asses, I would have to
+translate it as "Daniel, you man of desires" or "Daniel, you man
+of lust".  Oh, that would be beautiful German!  A German would, of
+course, recognize "Man", "Lueste" and "begirunge" as being German
+words, although not altogether pure as "lust" and "begir" would be
+better.  But when those words are put together you get "you man of
+desires" and no German is going to understand that. He might even
+think that Daniel is full of lustful desires.  Now wouldn't that
+be a fine translation!  So I have to let the literal words go and
+try to discover how the German says what the Hebrew "ish
+chamudoth" expresses.  I discover that the German says this, "You
+dear Daniel", "you dear Mary", or "you gracious maiden", "you
+lovely maiden", "you gentle girl" and so on.  A translator must
+have a large vocabulary so he can have more words for when a
+particular one just does not fit in the context.
+
+Why should I talk about translating so much?  I would need an
+entire year were I to point out the reasons and concerns behind my
+words.  I have learned what an art and job translating is by
+experience, so I will not tolerate some papal ass or mule as my
+critic, or judge.  They have not tried the task.  If anyone does
+not like my translations, they can ignore it; and may the devil
+repay the one who dislikes or criticizes my translations without
+my knowledge or permission.  Should it be criticized, I will do it
+myself.  If I do not do it, then they can leave my translations in
+peace.  They can each do a translation that suits them - what do I
+care?
+
+To this I can, with good conscience, give witness - that I gave my
+utmost effort and care and I had no ulterior motives.  I have not
+taken or wanted even a small coin in return.  Neither have I made
+any by it.  God knows that I have not even sought honor by it, but
+I have done it as a service to the blessed Christians and to the
+honor of the One who sits above who blesses me every hour of my
+life that had I translated a thousand times more diligently, I
+should not have deserved  to live or have a sound eye for even a
+single hour.  All I am and have to offer is from his mercy and
+grace - indeed of his precious blood and bitter sweat.  Therefore,
+God willing, all of it will also serve to his honor, joyfully and
+sincerely.  I may be insulted by the scribblers and papists but
+true Christians, along with Christ, their Lord, bless me. 
+Further, I am more than amply rewarded if just one Christian
+acknowledge me as a workman with integrity.  I do not care about
+the papists, as they are not good enough to acknowledge my work
+and, if they were to bless me, it would break my heart.  I may be
+insulted by their highest praise and honor, but I will still be a
+doctor, even a distinguished one.  I am certain that they shall
+never take from me until the final day.
+
+Yet I have not just gone ahead, ignoring the exact wording in the
+original.  Instead, with great care, I have, along with my
+helpers, gone ahead and have kept literally to the original,
+without the slightest deviation, wherever it appeared that a
+passage was crucial.  For instance, in John 6 Christ says: "Him
+has God the Father set his seal upon (versiegelt)."  It would be
+more clear in German to say "Him has God the Father signified
+(gezeiehent)" or even "God the Father means him."  But rather than
+doing violence to the original, I have done violence to the German
+tongue.  Ah, translating is not every one's skill as some mad
+saints think.  A right, devout, honest, sincere, God-fearing
+Christian, trained, educated, and experienced heart is required.
+So I hold that no false Christian or divisive spirit can be a good
+translator.  That is obvious given the translation of the Prophets
+at Worms which although carefully done and approximating my own
+German quite closely, does not show much reverence for Christ due
+to the Jews who shared in the translation.  Aside from that it
+shows plenty of skill and craftsmanship there.
+
+So much for translating and the nature of language. However, I was
+not depending upon or following the nature of language when I
+inserted the word "solum" (alone) in Rom. 3 as the text itself,
+and St. Paul's meaning, urgently necessitated and demanded it.  He
+is dealing with the main point of Christian doctrine in this
+passage - namely that we are justified by faith in Christ without
+any works of the Law.  In fact, he rejects all works so completely
+as to say that the works of the Law, though it is God's law and
+word, do not aid us in justification.  Using Abraham as an
+example, he argues that Abraham was so justified without works
+that even the highest work, which had been commanded by God, over
+and above all others, namely circumcision, did not aid him in
+justification.  Instead, Abraham was justified without
+circumcision and without any works, but by faith, as he says in
+Chapter 4: "If Abraham is justified by works, he may boast, but
+not before God."  However, when all works are so completely
+rejected - which must mean faith alone justifies - whoever would
+speak plainly and clearly about this rejection of works would have
+to say "Faith alone justifies and not works." The matter itself
+and the nature of language necessitates it.
+
+"Yet", they say, "it has such an offensive tone that people infer
+from it that need not do any good works."  Dear, what are we to
+say?  IS it not more offensive for St. Paul himself to not use the
+term "faith alone" but but spell it even more clearly, putting the
+finishing touches on it by saying "Without the works of the Law?" 
+Gal. 1 [2.16] says that "not by works of the law' (as well as in
+many other places)  for the phrase  "without the works of the law"
+is so sever offensive, and scandalous that no amount of revision
+can help it.  How much more might people learn from "that they
+need not do any good works", when all they hear is about the
+preaching about  the works themselves, sated in such a clear
+strong way: "No works", "without works", "not by works"! If it is
+not offensive to preach "without works", "not by works"! If it is
+not offensive to preach "without works", "not by works"!, "no
+works", why is it offensive to preach "by faith alone"?
+
+Still more offensive is that St. Paul does not reject just
+ordinary works, but works of the law!  It follows that one could
+take offense at that all the more and say that the law is
+condemned and cursed before God and one ought only do what is
+contrary to the law as it is said in Rom. 3: "Why not do evil so
+that there might be more good?" which is what that one divisive
+spirit of our time was doing.  Should one reject St. Paul's word
+because of such `offense' or refrain from speaking freely about
+faith?  Gracious, St. Paul and I want to offend like this for we
+preach so strongly against works, insisting on faith alone for no
+other reason that to offend people that they might stumble and
+fall and learn that they are not saved by good works but only by
+Christ's death and resurrection.  Knowing that they cannot be
+saved by their good works of the law, how much more will they
+realize that they shall not be saved by bad works, or without the
+law!  Therefore, it does not follow that because good works do not
+help, bad works will; just as it does not follow that because the
+sun cannot help a blind person see, the night and darkness must
+help him see.
+
+It astounds me that one can be offended by something as obvious as
+this!  Just tell me, is Christ's death and resurrection our work,
+what we do, or not?  It is obviously not our work, nor is it the
+work of the law.  Now it is Christ's death and resurrection alone
+which saves and frees us from sin, as Paul writes in Rom. 4: "He
+died for our sin and arose for our righteousness."  Tell me more! 
+What is the work by which we take hold of Christ's death and
+resurrection?  It must not be an external work but only the
+eternal faith in the heart that alone, indeed all alone, which
+takes hold of this death and resurrection when it is preached
+through the gospel.  Then why all this ranting and raving, this
+making of heretics and burning of them, when it is clear at its
+very core, proving that faith alone takes hold of Christ's death
+and resurrection, without any works, and that his death and
+resurrection are our life and righteousness? As this fact is so
+obvious, that faith alone gives, brings, and takes a hold of this
+life and righteousness - why should we not say so?  It is not
+heretical that faith alone holds on to Christ and gives life; and
+yet it seems to be heresy if someone mentions it.  Are they not
+insane, foolish and ridiculous?  They will say that one thing is
+right but brand the telling of this right thing as wrong - even
+though something cannot be simultaneously right and wrong.
+
+Furthermore, I am not the only one, nor the first, to say that
+faith alone makes one righteous.  There was Ambrose, Augustine and
+many others who said it before me.  And if one is to read and
+understand St. Paul, the same thing must be said and not anything
+else.  His words, as well, are blunt - "no works" - none at all! 
+If it is not works, it must be faith alone.  Oh what a marvelous,
+constructive and inoffensive teaching that would be, to be taught
+that one can be saved by works as well as by faith.  That would be
+like saying that it is not Christ's death alone that takes away
+our sin but that our works have something to do with it.  Now that
+would be a fine way of honoring Christ's death, saying that it is
+helped by our works, and that whatever it does our works can also
+do - that we are his equal in goodness and power.  This is the
+devil itself for he cannot ever stop abusing the blood of Christ.
+
+Therefore the matter itself, at its very core, necessitates one
+say: "Faith alone makes one righteous."  The nature of the German
+tongue teaches us to say it in the same way.  In addition, I have
+the examples of the holy fathers.  The dangers confronting the
+people also compel it so they do not continue to hang onto works
+and wander away from faith, losing Christ, especially at this time
+when they have been so accustomed to works they have to be pulled
+away from them by force.  It is for these reasons that it is not
+only right but also necessary to say it as plainly and forcefully
+as possible: "Faith alone saves without works!"  I am only sorry I
+did not add "alle" and "aller", and said "without any (alle) works
+of any (aller) laws."  That would have stated it most effectively. 
+Therefore, it will remain in the New Testament, and though all the
+papal asses rant and rave at me, they shall not take it away from
+me.  Let this be enough for now. I will have to speak more about
+this in the treatise "On Justification" (if God grants me grace).
+
+On the other question as to whether the departed saints intercede
+for us.  For the present I am only going to give a brief answer as
+I am considering publishing a sermon on the beloved angels in
+which I will respond more fully on this matter (God willing).
+
+First, you know that under the papacy it is not only taught that
+the saints in heaven intercede for us - even though we cannot know
+this as the Scripture does not tell us such - but the saints have
+been made into gods, and that they are to be our patrons to whom
+we should call.  Some of them have never existed! To each of these
+saints a particular power and might has been given - one over
+fire, another over water, another over pestilence, fever and all
+sorts of plagues.  Indeed, God must have been altogether idle to
+have let the saints work in his place.  Of this atrocity the
+papists themselves are aware, as they quietly take up their pipes
+and preen and primp themselves over this doctrine of the
+intercession of the saints.  I will leave this subject for now -
+but you can count on my not forgetting it and allowing this
+primping and preening to continue without cost.
+
+And again, you know that there is not a single passage from God
+demanding us to call upon either saints or angels to intercede for
+us, and that there is no example of such in the Scriptures.  One
+finds that the beloved angels spoke with the fathers and the
+prophets, but that none of them had ever been asked to intercede
+for them.  Why even Jacob the patriarch did not ask the angel with
+whom he wrestled for any intercession. Instead, he only took from
+him a blessing.  In fact, on finds the very opposite in revelation
+as the angel will not allow itself to be worshipped by John. [Rev.
+22]  So the worship of saints shows itself as nothing but human
+nonsense, our own invention separated from the word of God and the
+Scriptures.
+
+As it is not proper in the matter of divine worship for us to do
+anything that is not commanded by God (and that whoever does is
+putting God to the test), it is therefore also not advisable or
+tolerable for one to call upon the saints for intercession or to
+teach others to do so.  In fact, it is to be condemned and people
+taught to avoid it.  Therefore, I also will not advise it and
+burden my conscience with the iniquities of others.  It was
+difficult for me to stop from worshipping the saints as I was so
+steeped in it to have nearly drowned.  But the light of the gospel
+is now shining so brightly that from now on no one has an excuse
+for remaining in the darkness.  We all very well know what we are
+to do.
+
+This is itself a very risky and blasphemous way to worship for
+people are easily accustomed to turning away from Christ. They
+learn quickly to trust more in the saints than in Christ himself. 
+When our nature is already all to prone to run from God and
+Christ, and trust in humanity, it is indeed difficult to learn to
+trust in God and Christ, even though we have vowed to do so and
+are therefore obligated to do so.  Therefore, this offense is not
+to be tolerated whereby those who are weak and of the flesh
+participate in idolatry, against the first commandment and our
+baptism.  Even if one tries nothing other than to switch their
+trust from the saints to Christ, through teaching and practice, it
+will be difficult to accomplish, that one should come to him and
+rightly take hold of him.  One need not paint the Devil on the
+door - he will already be present.
+
+We can finally be certain that God is not angry with us, and that
+even if we do not call on the saints for intercession, we are
+secure for God has never commanded it.  God says that God is a
+jealous God granting their iniquities on those who do not keep his
+commandments [Ex.20]; but there is no commandment here and,
+therefore, no anger to be feared.  Since, then, there is on this
+side security and on the other side great risk and offense against
+the Word of God, why should we go from security into danger where
+we do not have the Word of God to sustain, comfort and save us in
+the times of trial?  For it is written, "Whoever loves danger will
+perish by it" [Ecclus. 3], and God's commandment says, "You shall
+not put the Lord your God to the test" [Matt. 4].
+
+"But," they say, "this way you condemn all of Christendom which
+has always maintained this - until now."  I answer: I know very
+well that the priests and monks seek this cloak for their
+blasphemies.  They want to give to Christendom the damage caused
+by their own negligence.  Then, when we say, "Christendom does not
+err,"  we shall also be saying that they do not err, since
+Christendom believes it to be so.  So no pilgrimage can be wrong,
+no matter how obviously the Devil is a participant in it.  No
+indulgence can be wrong, regardless of how horrible the lies
+involved.  In other words, there is nothing there but holiness!
+Therefore to this you reply, "It is not a question of who is and
+who is not condemned."  They inject this irrelevant idea in order
+to divert us from the topic at hand.  We are now discussing the
+Word of God.  What Christendom is or do does belongs somewhere
+else.  The question here is: "What is or is not the Word of God?
+What is not the Word of God does not make Christendom.
+
+We read that in the days of Elijah the prophet there was
+apparently no word from God and not worship of God in Israel. For
+Elijah says, "Lord, they have killed your prophets and destroyed
+your altars, and I am left totally alone" [I Kings 19]. Here King
+Ahab and others could have said, "Elijah, with talk like that you
+are condemning all the people of God."  However God had at the
+same time kept seven thousand [I Kings 19].  How?  Do you not also
+think that God could now, under the papacy, have preserved his
+own, even though the priests and monks of Christendom have been
+teachers of the devil and gone to hell? Many children and young
+people have died in Christ.  For even under the anti-Christ,
+Christ has strongly sustained baptism, the bare text of the gospel
+in the pulpit, the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed.  By this means he
+sustained many of his Christians, and therefore also his
+Christendom, and said nothing about it to these devil's teachers.
+
+Now even though Christians have done some parts of the papal
+blasphemy, the papal asses have not yet proved that they did it
+gladly.  Still less does it prove that they even did the right
+thing.  All Christians can err and sin, but God has taught them to
+pray in the Lord's Prayer for the forgiveness of sins.  God could
+very well forgive the sins they had to unwillingly, unknowingly,
+and under the coercion of the Antichrist commit, without saying
+anything about it to the priests and monks!  It can,however, be
+easily proven that there has always been a great deal of secret
+murmuring and complaining against the clergy throughout the world,
+and that they are not treating Christendom properly.  And the
+papal asses have courageously withstood such complaining with fire
+and sword, even to the present day.  This murmuring proves how
+happy Christians have been over these blasphemies, and how right
+they have been in doing them!
+So out with it, you papal asses!  Say that this is the teaching of
+Christendom: these stinking lies which you villains and traitors
+have forced upon Christendom and for the sake of which you
+murderers have killed many Christians.  Why each letter of every
+papal law gives testimony to the fact that nothing has ever been
+taught by the counsel and the consent of Christendom. There is
+nothing there but "districte precipiendo mandamus" ["we teach and
+strictly command"].  That has been your Holy Spirit. Christendom
+has had to suffer this tyranny.  This tyranny has robbed it of the
+sacrament and, not by its own fault, has been held in captivity. 
+And still the asses would pawn of on us this intolerable tyranny
+of their own wickedness as a willing act and example of
+Christendom - and thereby acquit themselves!
+
+But this is getting too long.  Let this be enough of an answer to
+your questions for now.  More another time.  Excuse this long
+letter.  Christ our Lord be with us all.  Amen.
+
+Martin Luther,
+Your good friend.
+The Wilderness, September 8, 1530
+
+***
+
+This text was translated for Project Wittenberg by Dr. Gary Mann
+in 1995 and was placed by him in the public domain.  You may
+freely distribute, copy or print this text, providing the
+information in this statement remains attached. Please direct any
+comments or suggestions to: Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther
+Library at Concordia Theological Seminary.
+
+E-mail: CFWLibrary@CRF.CUIS.EDU
+Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St.,Ft.  Wayne, IN 46825 USA
+Phone: (219) 481-2123                       Fax: (219) 481-2126
+
+***
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of An Open Letter on Translating
+
+