Bondage of the Will

Introduction to the Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther, translated by Henry Cole. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Introduction Martin Luther to the Venerable Dr. Erasmus of Rotterdam, wishing grace and peace in Christ. That I have been so long answering your diatribe on free will, Venerable Erasmus, has happened contrary to the expectation of all, and contrary to my own custom also. For hitherto I have not only appeared to embrace willingly opportunities of this kind for writing, but even to seek them of my own accord. Some one may, perhaps, wonder at this new and unusual thing, this forbearance or fear in Luther, who could not be roused up by so many boasting taunts and letters of adversaries congratulating Erasmus on his victory, and singing to him the song of triumph. What that Maccabee, that obstinate asserter, then, has at last found an antagonist a match for him, against whom he dares not open his mouth! But so far from accusing them, I myself openly concede that to you which I never did to anyone before, that you not only by far surpassed me in the powers of eloquence and ingenious, which we all concede to you as your desert, and the more so, as I am but a barbarian, and do all things barbarously, but that you have damped my spirit and impetus, and rendered me languid before the battle, and that by two means, first by art, because, that is, you conduct this discussion with a most specious and uniform modesty, by which you have met and prevented me from being incensed against you, and next, because on so great a subject you say nothing but what has been said before. Therefore you say less about, and attribute more unto free will, than the sophists have hitherto said and attributed, of which I shall speak more fully hereafter. So that it seems to me even superfluous to reply to these your arguments, which have been indeed often refuted by me, but trodden down and trampled underfoot by the incontrovertible book of Philip Melanchthon concerning theological questions, a book, in my judgment, worthy not only of being immortalized, but of being included in the ecclesiastical canon, in comparison of which your book is, in my estimation, so mean and vile, that I greatly feel for you for having defiled your most beautiful and ingenious language with such vile trash. And I feel an indignation against the matter also that such unworthy stuff should be borne about in ornaments of eloquence so rare, which is as if rubbish or dung should be carried in vessels of gold and silver. And this you yourself seem to have felt, who were so unwilling to undertake this work of writing, because your conscience told you that you would of necessity have to try the point with all the powers of eloquence, and that after all you would not be able so to blind me by your coloring, but that I should, having torn off the deceptions of language, discover the real dregs beneath. For although I am rude in speech, yet by the grace of God I am not rude in understanding. And with Paul I dare arrogate to myself understanding, and with confidence derogate it from you, although I willingly and deservedly arrogate eloquence ingenious to you, and derogate it from myself. Wherefore I thought thus. If there be any who have not drank more deeply into, and more firmly held my doctrines, which are supported by such weighty scriptures, than to be moved by these light and trivial arguments of Erasmus, though so highly ornamented, they are not worthy of being healed by my answer. Because for such men nothing could be spoken or written of enough, even though it should be in many thousands of volumes a thousand times repeated. For it is as if one should plough the seashore, and sow seed in the sand, or attempt to fill a cask full of holes with water. For as to those who have drank into the teaching of the Spirit in my books, to them enough and abundance has been administered, and they at once contemn your writings. But as to those who read without the Spirit, it is no wonder if they be driven to and fro like a reed with every wind. To such God would not have said enough, even if all his creatures should be converted into tongues. Therefore it would perhaps have been wisdom to have left these offended at your book, along with those who glory in you, and decree to you the triumph. Hence it was not from a multitude of engagements, nor from the difficulty of the undertaking, nor from the greatness of your eloquence, nor from a fear of yourself, but from mere irksomeness, indignation, and contempt, or, so to speak, from my judgment of your diatribe, that my impetus to your answer was damped. Not to observe in the meantime that, being ever like yourself, you take the most diligent care to be on every occasion slippery and pliant of speech, and while you wish to appear to assert nothing, and yet at the same time to assert something more cautious than Ulysses, you seem to be steering your course between Scylla and Charybdis. To meet men of such sort, what, I would ask, can be brought forward or composed, unless anyone knew how to catch Proteus himself? But what I may be able to do in this matter, and what profit your art will be to you, I will, Christ cooperating with me, hereafter show. This my reply to you, therefore, is not holy without cause. My brethren in Christ press me to it, setting before me the expectation of all, seeing that the authority of Erasmus is not to be despised, and the truth of the Christian doctrine is endangered in the hearts of many. And, indeed, I felt a persuasion in my own mind that my silence would not be altogether right, and that I was deceived by the prudence or malice of the flesh, and not sufficiently mindful of my office, in which I am a debtor both to the wise and to the unwise, and especially since I was called to it by the entreaties of so many brethren. For although our cause is such that it requires more than the external teacher, and besides him that planteth and him that watereth outwardly has need of the Spirit of God to give the increase, and, as a living teacher, to teach us inwardly living things, all which I was led to consider, yet, since that Spirit is free, and bloweth not where we will, but where he willeth, it was needful to observe that rule of Paul, be instant in season and out of season, 2 Timothy 4, 2. For we know not at what hour the Lord cometh, be it therefore that those who have not yet felt the teaching of the Spirit in my writings have been overthrown by that diatribe. Perhaps their hour was not yet come. And who knows but that God may even condescend to visit you, my friend Erasmus, by me his poor weak vessel, and that I may, which from my heart I desire of the Father of mercies through Jesus Christ our Lord, come unto you by this book in a happy hour, and gain over a dearest brother. For although you think and write wrong concerning free will, yet no small things are due unto you from me, and that you have rendered my own sentiments far more strongly confirmed, from my seeing the cause of free will handled by all the powers of such and so great talents, and, so far from being bettered, left worse than it was before, which leaves an evident proof that free will is a downright lie, and that, like the woman in the gospel, the more it is taken in hand by physicians the worse it is made. Therefore the greater thanks will be rendered to you by me, if you by me gain more information, as I have gained by you more confirmation. But each is the gift of God, and not the work of our own endeavors. Wherefore prayer must be made unto God, that he would open the mouth in me, and the heart in you, and in all, that he would be the teacher in the midst of us, who may in us speak and hear. But from you, my friend Erasmus, suffer me to obtain the grant of this request, that, as I in these matters bear with your ignorance, so you, in return, would bear with my want of eloquent utterance. God giveth not all things to each, nor can we each do all things. Or, as Paul saith, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12.4. It remains, therefore, that these gifts render a mutual service, that the one with his gift sustain the burden and what is lacking in the other. So shall we fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6.2.