Our evangels are now sevenfold more wicked than they were before. In proportion as we hear the gospel, we steal, lie, cheat, gorge, swill, and commit every crime. If one devil has been driven out of us, seven worse ones have taken their place, to judge from the conduct of princes, lords, nobles, burgesses, and peasants, their utterly shameless acts, and their disregard of God and of his menaces…
As I explained previously, the quote below from Catholic Answers is actually at least three quotes from three different contexts pasted together. Why would someone paste three different quotes together? My suspicion is dramatic effect at best, or perhaps a propaganda effort at worst:
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 VERY sad and telling quote from Martin Luther...
...as he begin to see the effects of his revolt against the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
“Every thing is reversed, the world grows every day the worse for this teaching; and the misery of it is, that men are nowadays more covetous, more hard-hearted, more corrupt, more licentious, and more wicked, than of old under the Papacy… Our evangels are now sevenfold more wicked than they were before. In proportion as we hear the gospel, we steal, lie, cheat, gorge, swill, and commit every crime. If one devil has been driven out of us, seven worse ones have taken their place, to judge from the conduct of princes, lords, nobles, burgesses, and peasants, their utterly shameless acts, and their disregard of God and of his menaces… Under the Papacy, men were charitable and gave freely; but now, under the gospel all almsgiving is at an end, everyone fleeces his neighbor, and each seeks to have all for himself. And the longer the gospel is preached, the deeper do men sink in avarice, pride, and ostention.” - Martin Luther Lutherans, we love you. Come home. You can read more: http://catholicism.org/the-devastati...nt-revolt.html |
Documentation
Some of the nuts and bolts of the documentation for this quote can be found in a previous entry. The quote was translated into English by the Dublin Review (Sept. 1848). So far, their's is the oldest English translation I've found of this quote, and it appears to me that this is its main source in English Reformation polemical writings. The Dublin Review didn't get it directly from Luther, but rather they claim they took it from Döllinger's Die Reformation: Ihre innere Entwicklung und ihre Wirkungen vol. 1 (The Reformation: It's Interior Development and Effects, 3 vols. 1846-1848), p. 285. The quote appears to based on this snippet from Döllinger:
Döllinger cites Walch, Ausg. III, 2727. The Walch edition of Luther's Works dates from 1740-1753, compiled by Johann Georg Walch. The text being cited is from Luther's comments on Deuteronomy 9:25
To my knowledge, the complete context this comes from has yet to be translated into an official English version of Luther's Works. LW does include an entire volume containing Luther's Lectures on Deuteronomy (Deut. 9 begins at LW 9:99). LW includes only a translation of pages Walch / St. Louis pp. 1370-1639 (see LW 9, introductory comments). Their translation is based on WA 14:489-744 (Lecture on Deut. 9 can be found here). LW 9 explains Luther began lecturing on Deuteronomy in February 1523 "to a small gathering of close associates in his own house at Wittenberg" (LW 9, preface).There are several transcriptions of these lectures done by Luther's associates, none though going past Deut. 7. Luther's own transcription of his Deuteronomy notes began in 1524. The official work was completed and published in 1525. Walch (St. Louis) III includes this work in III 1370-1639.
The quote in question though is not from these earlier lectures. It's from a series of sermons preached in 1529 in Wittenberg (Brecht says between February and December 1529, and that Luther did not go beyond Deut. 9, Brecht 2, 302-303). The notes to these sermons were taken by Roerer, Lauterbach, and Fabricus, and were first published by Aurifaber (What Luther Says, III, 1613). The text can be found in WA 28, The quote the sermon comes from: WA 28:762.
Context
Back in 2009 I came across an English translation of paragraph 49 from Walch III, 2727.
Moses is thus a fine teacher; he has well expounded the first commandment, and led the people to a knowledge of themselves, and humbled the proud and arrogant spirits, besides which he upbraided them with all kinds of vices, so that they had merited anything but the promised land. If we do not abide by our beloved Gospel, we deserve to see those who profess it, our Gospellers, become seven times worse than they were before. For, after having become acquainted with the Gospel, we steal, lie, cheat, we eat, drink, and are drunken, and practise all sorts of iniquity. As one devil has been driven out of us, seven others, more wicked, have entered in; as may be seen at the present time with princes, noblemen, lords, citizens, and peasants, how they act, without shame and in spite of God and His threatenings.Conclusion
I've written about this quote before: Luther: Evangelicals are now seven times worse than they were before..having learnt the Gospel, we steal, tell lies, deceive, eat and drink to excess (2009). In that entry, I explained I found this obscure quote in an old book, Luther Vindicated by Charles Hastings Collette (Published by Bernard Quaritch, 1884) on page 117. Collette's book is quite fascinating, as he similarly examines obscure out-of-context Luther quotes and offers corrections and contexts. It wasn't Roman Catholics he defended Luther against, rather, the culprit was the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, who, according to Collette was "a professed Minister of the (Reformed) Established Church of England." Interestingly, Baring-Gould appears to have gathered some of his Luther material from Roman Catholic sources, and was part of a group sympathetic to Rome. Of this group, Collette states, "These gentlemen sigh for pre-Reformation days when the priest ruled and the sacramental system flourished, to the glorification of the priest, and ignorance, superstition, thraldom, and degradation of the people" (p.6). If this link is about the Sabine Baring-Gould in question (which I think it is), he's the writer of the famous hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers." Of this quote in question, Collette quotes Baring-Gould stating:
"...let us take Luther's own account of the results of his doctrine :—' There is not,' says he,—' one of our Evangelicals who is not seven times worse than he was before he belonged, to us,—stealing, lying, deceiving, eating, and getting drunk, and giving himself up to all kinds of vices. If we have driven out one devil, seven others worse than the first have come in his place."Collette begins analyzing the quote stating,
"The reference is 'Ed. Walch, iii. 2727.' Here it is self-evident that the rev. gentleman, by 'our Evangelicals,' intends to point to the new converts to Luther's teaching."
"By the reference we are guided to Luther's Commentaries on the 'fifth Book of Moses, ix. 25.' On turning to the column indicated, we find the passage purported to be quoted, but in it there is not the most distant intimation that Luther was pointing to his own people, or to the new converts; but to the state of utter depravity to which priests and people, nobles and commoners,—nominal Christians of all ranks,—had fallen."After documenting this moral climate, Collette states,
But what I have to expose is the barefaced mistranslation put before us in the above extract by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, thereby making Luther allude to "our Evangelicals" as "belonging to Luther's disciples," who had become seven times worse by the change from Popery. I will let the reader judge for himself by placing before him a literal translation of the original; the text I add as a footnote :—Collette then cites the context of Luther's statements:
"Moses is thus a fine teacher; he has well expounded the first commandment, and led the people to a knowledge of themselves, and humbled the proud and arrogant spirits, besides which he upbraided them with all kinds of vices, so that they had merited anything but the promised land. If we do not abide by our beloved Gospel, we deserve to see those who profess it, our Gospellers, become seven times worse than they were before. For, after having become acquainted with the Gospel, we steal, lie, cheat, we eat, drink, and are drunken, and practise all sorts of iniquity. As one devil has been driven out of us, seven others, more wicked, have entered in; as may be seen at the present time with princes, noblemen, lords, citizens, and peasants, how they act, without shame and in spite of God and His threatenings."The key to the quote is the phrase, "Our Gospellers." Collette explains,
" 'Our Gospellers' I have thus translated 'unsereEvangelischen.' Luther did not mean the true believers in and followers of the Evangelists, which some readers might suppose to be a name applicable to all members of the Reformed Churches, from their known attachment to the Gospel, but he applied the expression to outward professors of the Gospel.Addendum
Another popular Roman Catholic version of this quote can be found in Henry O'Connor, Luther's Own Statements Concerning His Teaching and Its Results: Taken Exclusively from the Earliest and Best Editions of Luther's German and Latin Works (1884), p. 55. I've included this version for those of you searching the quote wondering where the English translation came from:
"We deserve that our Evangelicals (the followers of the new Gospel) should now be seven times worse than they were before. Because after having learnt the Gospel, we steal, tell lies, deceive, eat and drink (to excess), and practice all manner of vices" (Walch. III. 2727)
"After one Devil (Popery) has been driven out of us, seven worse ones have come down upon us, as is the case with Princes, Lords, Nobles, Citizens and Peasants" (Walch. III. 2727).
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