Mat 5:13 | Luther | STEP | V.13. Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. With the word salt he indicates (as above said) what their office is to be. For salt is not salt for itself; it cannot salt itself; but this is the use of it, that one salts meat with it, and other things needed in the kitchen, so that they retain their taste, re main fresh, and do not decay. So, says he, Ye are also salt; not that which belongs to the kitchen, but that with which this flesh, which is the whole world, may be salted. This is indeed a glorious office, and a great, excellent honor, that God should call them his salt, and adds, that they are to salt everything that is upon earth. But to be this a man is needed, who is ready, as Christ has hitherto taught, to be poor, wretched, thirsty, meek, etc., and to suffer all kinds of persecution, reviling and defamation. If this be wanting, the man will never be a preacher who will do the right kind of salting, but he will be a savorless salt, that is of no manner of use. For it is asking a great deal, and heaping it on too heavily, that the poor fishermen or any poor despised man should be called before God a salt of the earth, and undertake to lay hold and salt everything that is of human kind upon earth. Reason and nature cannot do it; for it grows weary of it, and cannot bear that it must get from it only disgrace, shame and misfortune, and would soon say: Let the devil salt the world for me. Therefore our holy fathers, bishops, monks and hermits have acted shrewdly in neglecting preaching and attending to other matters, or have withdrawn from intercourse with the people; for they saw that it costs too much to sit in constant danger of losing honor, property and life, and they thought, we will hand it over to others, and meanwhile creep into corners and serve God, having a good time. Hence it is a difficult matter to be an apostle or preacher, and fill such an office; yes, impossible, judging according to flesh and blood. But there must be such people as do it willingly for the sake of God and Christ the Lord, who does not wish to force any one to it or drive him with commands. For to be a Christian demands a willing heart; he who does not heartily desire it had better let it alone. But our joyful and defiant confidence is this, when we are in trouble, the world and the devil looking askance at us, and doing us all the harm they can, that he says to us: Ye are the salt of the earth. When this word shines into the heart, so that a man can rely upon it, and be absolutely sure that he is God’s salt, then let him be wrathful and malicious who will not laugh. I can be more confident and boast more upon his single word than they upon all their power, swords and guns. For because he recognizes me as being that, and gives the evidence of it through his word, all the angels in heaven, yes, sun and moon, together with all creatures, must confirm it and stand by us against the world and the devil. And even if that were not so, we would still have enough in his single word, that he thus names and baptizes us. That they must let stand; and we will surely be before them in honor as long as Christ and his word endures. Now it is easy to understand how it is with this salting, namely, that one must stand up and say: everything that is born and lives upon earth, is of no account, it is rotten and corrupt before God. For, because he says bluntly and plainly, they shall be a salt of the earth, that is, as to everything that the world is; then it must follow, that everything that is in the world, and is called flesh, or mankind, must be rebuked and thoroughly salted, so that we condemn the sanctity, the wisdom and the divine worship of all the world, self-devised, aside from the word of God, as coming from the devil and belonging to the pit of hell, if it do not hold to Christ alone. This is then a harsh style of preaching; it makes us disagreeable to the world, and deserves that men get angry at us and strike us in the mouth. For the world could easily endure that we preach aright about Christ and all the articles of the faith; but it we want to lay hold of them and salt them by showing that their wisdom and sanctity are of no account, yes, are blind and damned, this it cannot and will not endure, and it charges the preachers with not being able to do anything but scolding and biting; it blames us with having disturbed society and created discord, with having maligned the clergy and good works. But what can we do about it? If we are to salt, it must bite. And although they denounce us as biters, we know that it has to be so, and Christ has ordered this, and he means that the salt shall be sharp and bite away, as we shall hear. So St. Paul also does constantly; he rebukes the whole world and denounces all its living and acting, if there be no faith in Christ; and Christ says, , “when the Holy Ghost comes, he shall reprove the world of sin,” etc., that is, he shall attack everything that he finds in the world, shall make no exception or difference, shall not rebuke some and praise others, or punish only thieves and scoundrels: but he will seize all, all in a mass, one with another, whether one be great, small, pious, wise, holy, or whatever he may be; in short, everything that is not Christ. For the Holy Ghost does not need to come into the world or send preachers into the world that he may exhibit and punish outwardly gross sins, adultery, murder, etc., which the world itself can very well know and punish; but that which it regards as the most precious, and in which it is at its best, claiming to be pious and holy, and meaning thereby to serve God. Therefore it is all wrong, that some now sophistically assert that it is enough that a preacher tell every one what is right, and simply preach the gospel, but that one dare not touch the Pope, the bishops, princes and other ranks or persons, whereby much discord and contention are occasioned; but the real meaning is: If you will preach the gospel and be of use to the people, you must be sharp and rub the salt into the wounds, that is, must show the opposite and rebuke what is not right, as now the mass, monkery, indulgences, etc., and everything that is connected with them, so that these scandals are removed and no one is thereby deceived. Therefore we must keep on here with our salting, that we may protest and leave no room for its coming back again or being sneakingly introduced; for this will happen, if the salting is not diligently kept up, as used to be the case in Christendom, so that miserable rotten human teaching ruled and ruined everything; which would not have been the case, if the salt had remained. For there would have been no lack of sound doctrine, because by the grace of God still the Scriptures, the gospel, the sacraments, the pulpits remained in the Church, if only the bishops and preachers had attended to this, and had employed these means for salting with them whatever is of the old Adam. Therefore Christ here exhorts and warns the disciples so diligently that they see to it that this salting is always attended to, and says: If the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it then be salted? Salt that has lost its savor means that which has lost its strength and sharpness, and no longer seasons or bites; that is, when the office in Christendom deteriorates so that one ceases to reprove the people, and does not show them their misery and their inability, nor insist upon repentance and self-knowledge, lets them live along as if they were pious and all right, and thus allows their wrong notions of self-righteousness and self-chosen worship to prevail so long, until the true doctrine concerning faith is entirely wrecked, and Christ is lost, and things come to such a pass that there is no help for it. This he foresaw as here intimated, and he predicted the future danger, even the injury and corruption of Christendom, that this salting or official rebuking would be neglected, and instead of it there would arise a swarm of parties and sects, when every one would herald his own hobby as a true doctrine and worship, when all this is nothing else than worldy, carnal notions, originating in our own head and reason, wherewith we tickle ourselves and thus actually rot in them, as in a mass of natural, stinking, rotten flesh, upon which salting and rebuking are thrown away. From this you see how much importance is attached to this matter, so that Christ with good reason treats of it here, before all the rest, and commends it so earnestly. For without this Christendom cannot exist, and Christ cannot endure, nor can there be proper thinking or living: so that there is indeed no great injury or corruption of Christendom, except where the salt, wherewith everything else should be seasoned and salted, has lost its savor. And this happens so easily. For it is a poison of such a kind that it is pleasant to take, and exactly suits the old Adam. For he does not like to stand in such danger, risk life and limb or suffer persecution, disgrace and defamation. Hence our bishops and clergy are the shrewdest people upon earth, in this matter, (though they are not good enough to be called salt that has lost its savor, but are the very devil himself, for they do not at all attend to their bishop’s office, but are themselves the greatest persecutors); for the), preach in such a way, as to keep out of danger, and have money and property, besides honor and power; for whoever has to rebuke the world at large, emperors, kings, princes, wise men, learned men, and say that their way of living is damned before God, he must have his head taken off. But if I act the hypocrite before them, and say they are all right, then I go scot free, keep my favor and honor, etc., and meantime flatter myself that I mean nevertheless along with this to preach the gospel. But despite all that, I have become salt that has lost its savor. For in that way I let the people stick in their own old crazy notion and carnality, so that they go to the devil, and I at the head of them. This office thus encounters many temptations and hindrances, both on the right and left, so that many keep silence either through fear of the danger of harm and persecution, or for the sake of honor, property or enjoyment. Besides, we are weak, lazy and averse to this duty, so that we are easily led to neglect it, and grow weary, when we see that things do not go as we like, and it looks as though it were of no use, and the people act contemptuously, yes, even become worse the more we rebuke them. Therefore we must be firmly set against all this, and have respect only to the command of Christ, who imposes this office upon us, and means that we are to open our mouths promptly, and rebuke what is to be rebuked; paying no attention to our own danger, inconvenience or advantage and enjoyment, neither to the malice and contempt of other people, and take comfort from the fact that he makes us his salt, and will support us in doing our duty. And he commands us confidently to salt, without giving heed to it or allowing ourselves to be alarmed about it, whether the world will not endure it, and consequently persecute us; nor are we to despair although, as we think, we are accomplishing nothing. For what he commands us to do, we should be pleased and satisfied with, and let him decide what and how much he may accomplish through us. If the people will not hear or accept it, we are nevertheless salt, and have done our official duty. Then we can with all honor and cheerfulness stand before the bar of God and testify that we have faithfully told every man his duty, and have stuck nothing under the bench, so that they have no excuse, as if they did not understand, and it had not been told them. But those who allow themselves to be scared, and are silent for the sake of favor, honor or worldly good, they will have at the last day to hear it said of them: This was our preacher, and he did not tell us of it; and he will not excuse them, although they say: Lord, they would not hear. For Christ will say in reply: Do you not know that I commanded you to salt, and diligently warned you to do it; ought you not to have feared my word more than them? This ought in all conscience to alarm us. For here you hear the sentence that he pronounces upon all such salt that has lost its savor, and says: V.13. “It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.” That is as much as to say: They shall not have a good time of it even here upon earth, but shall be completely rejected by Christ as those who no longer belong to him, and shall never be his preachers nor belong to Christendom, wholly cast out and robbed of all fellowship in heaven and with all saints; although they may retain the name, and are held in high honor by the people as the best preachers and holiest people upon earth; as was the case in the papacy at the time when it was the most pious and holy, (not as now, when it has grown to be a worldly imperialism and a spiritual devils’ government,) when the pope himself preached and ruled the churches, and had everything admirably arranged, and brought under settled rules and regulations, (as St. Gregory did, and some before and after him,)which all the world held to be the best government, and the holiest form of worship that could be established upon earth, and yet it was all of no account. For there was no salt there, by which this should have been brought to the test of the word of God, and should have been rebuked, as being our own self-devised holiness; but all the world praised and sanctioned it, and thus gave encouragement to those who were arrogantly presumptuous and trusted in it, as if they were leading a truly blessed life and were a holy class; as it also praises and exalts St. Gregory himself, so that, although he was a holy man (as I regard him) yet he accomplished no good by his teaching, and yet made so fair a show that no one can find fault with it, so that, if they could now bring back matters and restore them to what they were, nobody would dare say a word against it, or he would have to be called the vilest heretic that ever was. This is now one part of the warning, namely, if the salt have lost its savor it is no longer of any use. The other part sounds still more terrible, when he pronounces the sentence upon it, that we are to let it be “cast out and trodden under foot of men.” If the true salt, that is the true interpretation of Scripture, has disappeared, by which the whole world should be rebuked, and which should let nothing avail but only simple faith in Christ, then it is all over, and all our teaching and rebuking does no more good. For God has already rejected and damned both the teaching and the living, the master and the pupil. In short, if this point concerning Christ be not insisted upon, that we are justified and saved through him alone, and if we do not hold all else, aside from him as damned, all resistance and restraint is at an end, yes, there is no measure or limit of all heresy and error, of all sects and parties, when everybody invents and scatters abroad something peculiar of his own; as used to be the case among us under the Pope, when no monk could have a dream without dragging it into the pulpit, and making a special divine service out of it, and no lies were so shameful that they were not accepted, if only any one ventured to take them into the pulpit; until at last things went so far that not only Christ was lost, but God besides, and they themselves believed hardly a single article of the faith any more, so that I may say that in a hundred years there were few Popes that believed a single article; just as it is now in German countries, among those with whom the article concerning Christ has disappeared and one factious party and error after the other has arisen: when one denies the sacrament, another baptism and other articles, and many become altogether Epicurean, who believe nothing at all, just like the Popes and their cardinals at Rome, and so at last become nothing but swine and kine, and die like these. Therefore, I have always exhorted, just as Christ here does, that the salt remain salt, and lose not its savor, that is, that we urgently insist upon the principal article of the faith. For if this be neglected, not one part can rightly remain, and all is lost; there is no faith or understanding any more, so that no one can give right instruction or advice. In short, one must let everybody trample upon him, that is (as above said,) no bacchanalian or jackass is so contemptible, but that if he can only invent something new, everybody will run after him and believe it. For what have not the abominable monks hitherto dared brazenfacedly to preach, and beguile the people with their brotherhoods, little prayers, rosaries, yes, with their scabby hoods, that they put upon the dead, and therewith promise them heaven? What is that else, than to let every body trample upon you, and be at the mercy of every preacher of lies? This comes from the devil’s getting possession of the heart and totally ruining it with his rotten, damnable doctrines and superstition, so that Christ is gone, and the knowledge of him is lost. For if I cling to this, that Christ alone is my righteousness and holiness, no monk will ever persuade or mislead me by his hood, rosary, this or that work and childish human notion. For through faith I am a judge of all imaginable conditions and ways of living, so that I can condemn everything that offers to show me anything else that is to avail before God. But if I neglect this, and let the treasure go, and am instructed to seek elsewhere and otherwise to be pious, to conciliate God and atone for sin, then I am already prepared for all sorts of snares and nets of the devil, and to let myself be led as he pleases; then presently comes some one who preaches to me: If you want to be pious and serve God, then put on a hood, pray daily so many rosaries, burn so many little candles to St. Anna: then I fall in with this like a blind man and everybody’s fool and prisoner, and do everything I am told, so completely that I cannot defend myself from even the most trifling mistake. See, Christ has himself here foretold this, and given warning that so it would be; and no one has ever lived who knew just how to be on his guard against it. And if we are not now wide awake, and do not take good care that we firmly hold this article, then it will happen to us also, that we hold no article properly and purely, nor cease to err and create factious parties until it is all over, and no preaching or teaching will be of use any more, but we shall stay swine and kine; as it is, alas! already among the great mass, because of our despising the gospel and being ungrateful for it.

Matthew 5:13

_V.13. Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

With the word salt he indicates (as above said) what their office is to be.

For salt is not salt for itself; it cannot salt itself; but this is the use of it, that one salts meat with it, and other things needed in the kitchen, so that they retain their taste, re main fresh, and do not decay. So, says he, Ye are also salt; not that which belongs to the kitchen, but that with which this flesh, which is the whole world, may be salted. This is indeed a glorious office, and a great, excellent honor, that God should call them his salt, and adds, that they are to salt everything that is upon earth. But to be this a man is needed, who is ready, as Christ has hitherto taught, to be poor, wretched, thirsty, meek, etc., and to suffer all kinds of persecution, reviling and defamation. If this be wanting, the man will never be a preacher who will do the right kind of salting, but he will be a savorless salt, that is of no manner of use.

For it is asking a great deal, and heaping it on too heavily, that the poor fishermen or any poor despised man should be called before God a salt of the earth, and undertake to lay hold and salt everything that is of human kind upon earth. Reason and nature cannot do it; for it grows weary of it, and cannot bear that it must get from it only disgrace, shame and misfortune, and would soon say: Let the devil salt the world for me.

Therefore our holy fathers, bishops, monks and hermits have acted shrewdly in neglecting preaching and attending to other matters, or have withdrawn from intercourse with the people; for they saw that it costs too much to sit in constant danger of losing honor, property and life, and they thought, we will hand it over to others, and meanwhile creep into corners and serve God, having a good time. Hence it is a difficult matter to be an apostle or preacher, and fill such an office; yes, impossible, judging according to flesh and blood. But there must be such people as do it willingly for the sake of God and Christ the Lord, who does not wish to force any one to it or drive him with commands. For to be a Christian demands a willing heart; he who does not heartily desire it had better let it alone.

But our joyful and defiant confidence is this, when we are in trouble, the world and the devil looking askance at us, and doing us all the harm they can, that he says to us: Ye are the salt of the earth. When this word shines into the heart, so that a man can rely upon it, and be absolutely sure that he is God’s salt, then let him be wrathful and malicious who will not laugh. I can be more confident and boast more upon his single word than they upon all their power, swords and guns. For because he recognizes me as being that, and gives the evidence of it through his word, all the angels in heaven, yes, sun and moon, together with all creatures, must confirm it and stand by us against the world and the devil. And even if that were not so, we would still have enough in his single word, that he thus names and baptizes us. That they must let stand; and we will surely be before them in honor as long as Christ and his word endures.

Now it is easy to understand how it is with this salting, namely, that one must stand up and say: everything that is born and lives upon earth, is of no account, it is rotten and corrupt before God. For, because he says bluntly and plainly, they shall be a salt of the earth, that is, as to everything that the world is; then it must follow, that everything that is in the world, and is called flesh, or mankind, must be rebuked and thoroughly salted, so that we condemn the sanctity, the wisdom and the divine worship of all the world, self-devised, aside from the word of God, as coming from the devil and belonging to the pit of hell, if it do not hold to Christ alone. This is then a harsh style of preaching; it makes us disagreeable to the world, and deserves that men get angry at us and strike us in the mouth. For the world could easily endure that we preach aright about Christ and all the articles of the faith; but it we want to lay hold of them and salt them by showing that their wisdom and sanctity are of no account, yes, are blind and damned, this it cannot and will not endure, and it charges the preachers with not being able to do anything but scolding and biting; it blames us with having disturbed society and created discord, with having maligned the clergy and good works.

But what can we do about it? If we are to salt, it must bite. And although they denounce us as biters, we know that it has to be so, and Christ has ordered this, and he means that the salt shall be sharp and bite away, as we shall hear. So St. Paul also does constantly; he rebukes the whole world and denounces all its living and acting, if there be no faith in Christ; and Christ says, John 16:8, “when the Holy Ghost comes, he shall reprove the world of sin,” etc., that is, he shall attack everything that he finds in the world, shall make no exception or difference, shall not rebuke some and praise others, or punish only thieves and scoundrels: but he will seize all, all in a mass, one with another, whether one be great, small, pious, wise, holy, or whatever he may be; in short, everything that is not Christ. For the Holy Ghost does not need to come into the world or send preachers into the world that he may exhibit and punish outwardly gross sins, adultery, murder, etc., which the world itself can very well know and punish; but that which it regards as the most precious, and in which it is at its best, claiming to be pious and holy, and meaning thereby to serve God.

Therefore it is all wrong, that some now sophistically assert that it is enough that a preacher tell every one what is right, and simply preach the gospel, but that one dare not touch the Pope, the bishops, princes and other ranks or persons, whereby much discord and contention are occasioned; but the real meaning is: If you will preach the gospel and be of use to the people, you must be sharp and rub the salt into the wounds, that is, must show the opposite and rebuke what is not right, as now the mass, monkery, indulgences, etc., and everything that is connected with them, so that these scandals are removed and no one is thereby deceived. Therefore we must keep on here with our salting, that we may protest and leave no room for its coming back again or being sneakingly introduced; for this will happen, if the salting is not diligently kept up, as used to be the case in Christendom, so that miserable rotten human teaching ruled and ruined everything; which would not have been the case, if the salt had remained.

For there would have been no lack of sound doctrine, because by the grace of God still the Scriptures, the gospel, the sacraments, the pulpits remained in the Church, if only the bishops and preachers had attended to this, and had employed these means for salting with them whatever is of the old Adam.

Therefore Christ here exhorts and warns the disciples so diligently that they see to it that this salting is always attended to, and says: If the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it then be salted? Salt that has lost its savor means that which has lost its strength and sharpness, and no longer seasons or bites; that is, when the office in Christendom deteriorates so that one ceases to reprove the people, and does not show them their misery and their inability, nor insist upon repentance and self-knowledge, lets them live along as if they were pious and all right, and thus allows their wrong notions of self-righteousness and self-chosen worship to prevail so long, until the true doctrine concerning faith is entirely wrecked, and Christ is lost, and things come to such a pass that there is no help for it.

This he foresaw as here intimated, and he predicted the future danger, even the injury and corruption of Christendom, that this salting or official rebuking would be neglected, and instead of it there would arise a swarm of parties and sects, when every one would herald his own hobby as a true doctrine and worship, when all this is nothing else than worldy, carnal notions, originating in our own head and reason, wherewith we tickle ourselves and thus actually rot in them, as in a mass of natural, stinking, rotten flesh, upon which salting and rebuking are thrown away. From this you see how much importance is attached to this matter, so that Christ with good reason treats of it here, before all the rest, and commends it so earnestly. For without this Christendom cannot exist, and Christ cannot endure, nor can there be proper thinking or living: so that there is indeed no great injury or corruption of Christendom, except where the salt, wherewith everything else should be seasoned and salted, has lost its savor.

And this happens so easily. For it is a poison of such a kind that it is pleasant to take, and exactly suits the old Adam. For he does not like to stand in such danger, risk life and limb or suffer persecution, disgrace and defamation.

Hence our bishops and clergy are the shrewdest people upon earth, in this matter, (though they are not good enough to be called salt that has lost its savor, but are the very devil himself, for they do not at all attend to their bishop’s office, but are themselves the greatest persecutors); for the), preach in such a way, as to keep out of danger, and have money and property, besides honor and power; for whoever has to rebuke the world at large, emperors, kings, princes, wise men, learned men, and say that their way of living is damned before God, he must have his head taken off. But if I act the hypocrite before them, and say they are all right, then I go scot free, keep my favor and honor, etc., and meantime flatter myself that I mean nevertheless along with this to preach the gospel. But despite all that, I have become salt that has lost its savor. For in that way I let the people stick in their own old crazy notion and carnality, so that they go to the devil, and I at the head of them.

This office thus encounters many temptations and hindrances, both on the right and left, so that many keep silence either through fear of the danger of harm and persecution, or for the sake of honor, property or enjoyment.

Besides, we are weak, lazy and averse to this duty, so that we are easily led to neglect it, and grow weary, when we see that things do not go as we like, and it looks as though it were of no use, and the people act contemptuously, yes, even become worse the more we rebuke them.

Therefore we must be firmly set against all this, and have respect only to the command of Christ, who imposes this office upon us, and means that we are to open our mouths promptly, and rebuke what is to be rebuked; paying no attention to our own danger, inconvenience or advantage and enjoyment, neither to the malice and contempt of other people, and take comfort from the fact that he makes us his salt, and will support us in doing our duty. And he commands us confidently to salt, without giving heed to it or allowing ourselves to be alarmed about it, whether the world will not endure it, and consequently persecute us; nor are we to despair although, as we think, we are accomplishing nothing. For what he commands us to do, we should be pleased and satisfied with, and let him decide what and how much he may accomplish through us. If the people will not hear or accept it, we are nevertheless salt, and have done our official duty. Then we can with all honor and cheerfulness stand before the bar of God and testify that we have faithfully told every man his duty, and have stuck nothing under the bench, so that they have no excuse, as if they did not understand, and it had not been told them.

But those who allow themselves to be scared, and are silent for the sake of favor, honor or worldly good, they will have at the last day to hear it said of them: This was our preacher, and he did not tell us of it; and he will not excuse them, although they say: Lord, they would not hear. For Christ will say in reply: Do you not know that I commanded you to salt, and diligently warned you to do it; ought you not to have feared my word more than them? This ought in all conscience to alarm us. For here you hear the sentence that he pronounces upon all such salt that has lost its savor, and says:

_V.13. “It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.”

That is as much as to say: They shall not have a good time of it even here upon earth, but shall be completely rejected by Christ as those who no longer belong to him, and shall never be his preachers nor belong to Christendom, wholly cast out and robbed of all fellowship in heaven and with all saints; although they may retain the name, and are held in high honor by the people as the best preachers and holiest people upon earth; as was the case in the papacy at the time when it was the most pious and holy, (not as now, when it has grown to be a worldly imperialism and a spiritual devils’ government,) when the pope himself preached and ruled the churches, and had everything admirably arranged, and brought under settled rules and regulations, (as St. Gregory did, and some before and after him,)which all the world held to be the best government, and the holiest form of worship that could be established upon earth, and yet it was all of no account.

For there was no salt there, by which this should have been brought to the test of the word of God, and should have been rebuked, as being our own self-devised holiness; but all the world praised and sanctioned it, and thus gave encouragement to those who were arrogantly presumptuous and trusted in it, as if they were leading a truly blessed life and were a holy class; as it also praises and exalts St. Gregory himself, so that, although he was a holy man (as I regard him) yet he accomplished no good by his teaching, and yet made so fair a show that no one can find fault with it, so that, if they could now bring back matters and restore them to what they were, nobody would dare say a word against it, or he would have to be called the vilest heretic that ever was.

This is now one part of the warning, namely, if the salt have lost its savor it is no longer of any use. The other part sounds still more terrible, when he pronounces the sentence upon it, that we are to let it be “cast out and trodden under foot of men.” If the true salt, that is the true interpretation of Scripture, has disappeared, by which the whole world should be rebuked, and which should let nothing avail but only simple faith in Christ, then it is all over, and all our teaching and rebuking does no more good.

For God has already rejected and damned both the teaching and the living, the master and the pupil.

In short, if this point concerning Christ be not insisted upon, that we are justified and saved through him alone, and if we do not hold all else, aside from him as damned, all resistance and restraint is at an end, yes, there is no measure or limit of all heresy and error, of all sects and parties, when everybody invents and scatters abroad something peculiar of his own; as used to be the case among us under the Pope, when no monk could have a dream without dragging it into the pulpit, and making a special divine service out of it, and no lies were so shameful that they were not accepted, if only any one ventured to take them into the pulpit; until at last things went so far that not only Christ was lost, but God besides, and they themselves believed hardly a single article of the faith any more, so that I may say that in a hundred years there were few Popes that believed a single article; just as it is now in German countries, among those with whom the article concerning Christ has disappeared and one factious party and error after the other has arisen: when one denies the sacrament, another baptism and other articles, and many become altogether Epicurean, who believe nothing at all, just like the Popes and their cardinals at Rome, and so at last become nothing but swine and kine, and die like these.

Therefore, I have always exhorted, just as Christ here does, that the salt remain salt, and lose not its savor, that is, that we urgently insist upon the principal article of the faith. For if this be neglected, not one part can rightly remain, and all is lost; there is no faith or understanding any more, so that no one can give right instruction or advice. In short, one must let everybody trample upon him, that is (as above said,) no bacchanalian or jackass is so contemptible, but that if he can only invent something new, everybody will run after him and believe it. For what have not the abominable monks hitherto dared brazenfacedly to preach, and beguile the people with their brotherhoods, little prayers, rosaries, yes, with their scabby hoods, that they put upon the dead, and therewith promise them heaven? What is that else, than to let every body trample upon you, and be at the mercy of every preacher of lies? This comes from the devil’s getting possession of the heart and totally ruining it with his rotten, damnable doctrines and superstition, so that Christ is gone, and the knowledge of him is lost.

For if I cling to this, that Christ alone is my righteousness and holiness, no monk will ever persuade or mislead me by his hood, rosary, this or that work and childish human notion. For through faith I am a judge of all imaginable conditions and ways of living, so that I can condemn everything that offers to show me anything else that is to avail before God. But if I neglect this, and let the treasure go, and am instructed to seek elsewhere and otherwise to be pious, to conciliate God and atone for sin, then I am already prepared for all sorts of snares and nets of the devil, and to let myself be led as he pleases; then presently comes some one who preaches to me: If you want to be pious and serve God, then put on a hood, pray daily so many rosaries, burn so many little candles to St. Anna: then I fall in with this like a blind man and everybody’s fool and prisoner, and do everything I am told, so completely that I cannot defend myself from even the most trifling mistake.

See, Christ has himself here foretold this, and given warning that so it would be; and no one has ever lived who knew just how to be on his guard against it. And if we are not now wide awake, and do not take good care that we firmly hold this article, then it will happen to us also, that we hold no article properly and purely, nor cease to err and create factious parties until it is all over, and no preaching or teaching will be of use any more, but we shall stay swine and kine; as it is, alas! already among the great mass, because of our despising the gospel and being ungrateful for it.