Part 11 (2/2)

[Sidenote: The Spice Trade]

2 In like manner it is also necessary to restrict the spice-traffic[263] which is another of the great shi+ps in whichus, by God's grace, more to eat and drink than in any other land, and just as choice and good Perhaps the proposals that I ive the ireatest of all trades, that of coenerally introduced, then let every one who is willing reforood custoh commerce, and in ancient times God made His people of Israel dwell away froe much in commerce

[Sidenote: The Traffic in Annuities]

3 But the greatest misfortune of the German nation is certainly the traffic in annuities[264] If that did not exist olden ties ornaments, spices and ornaments of every sort It has not existed ht almost all princes, cities, endowed institutions, nobles and their heirs to poverty, misery and ruin; if it shall continue or another hundred years Ger_ left and we shall certainly have to devour one another The devil invented the practice, and the pope, by confir it[265], has injured the whole world Therefore I ask and pray that everyone open his eyes to see the ruin of himself, his children and his heirs, which not only stands before the door, but already haunts the house, and that emperor, princes, lords and cities do their part that this trade be condeardless whether or not the pope, with all his law and unlaw, is opposed to it, and whether or not benefices or church foundations are based upon it It is better that there should be in a city one living based on an honest freehold or revenue, than a hundred based on an annuity; indeed a living based on an annuity is worse and rievous than twenty based on freeholds In truth this traffic in rents rievous sins, has been sold to the devil, so that both temporal and spiritual possessions must fail us, and yet we do not notice it at all

Here, too, we ers and similar corporations[266] How is it possible that in the lifeti, can be piled up, and yet everything be done legally and according to God's will? I am not a matheulden can ulden in one year, nay, hoith one gulden he can riculture or cattle-raising, in which increase of wealth depends not on hu I coian, and find nothing to bla appearance, of which St Paul says, ”Avoid every appearance or show of evil” [1 Thess 5:22] This I knoell, that it would be riculture and di to the Scriptures, till the soil and seek their living from it, as was said to us and to all men in Adam, ”Accursed be the earth when thou laborest therein, it shall bear thee thistles and thorns, and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread” [Gen 3:17 ff] There is stilland Drinking]

4 Next coives us Gerh it were our special vice Preaching cannot stop it; it has becoot too firmly the upper hand The waste of , were it not followed by other sins,--, irreverence and all the vices The te to prevent it; or else it will be as Christ says: ”The last day shall co, ” [Luke 21:34 f] It is soleast of all about it

[Sidenote: The Social Evil]

5 Finally, is it not a pitiful thing that we Christians shouldus open and coh all of us are baptised unto chastity? I know very hat some say to this, to wit, that it is not the custom of any one people, that it is hard to break up, that it is better that there should be such houses than that married women, or ed But should not the teovernment consider that in this heathen way the evil is not to be controlled? I the people of Israel could exist without such an abomination, why could not Christian people do as es exist without such houses? Why should not great cities also exist without them?

In this, and in the other ood works the teovernovernment, to the end that every one may learn what an awful responsibility it is to rule, and to have high station What good would it do that an overlord were in his own life as holy as St Peter, if he have not the purpose diligently to help his subjects in these matters? His very authority will condemn hihest good of their subjects But if the authorities were to consider how the young peoplethe reatly help every one to endure and to resist temptation

[Sidenote: Celibacy and Its Abuses]

But now everythem, I fear, there is not one in a hundred who has any other reason than that he seeks a living, and doubts that he will ever be able to support himself in the estate of h beforehand, and wish, as they say, to ”wear out their lust,” but rather wear it in[269], as experience shows I find the proverb true, ”Despair s are as we see them

My faithful counsel is that, in order to avoid many sins which have become very common, neither boy nor maid should take the vow of chastity, or of the ”spiritual life,” before the age of thirty years[271] It is, as St Paul says, a peculiar gift [1 Cor 7]

Therefore let hi a cleric and taking the vows Nay, I will go farther and say, If you trust God so little that you are not willing to support yourself as a married man, and wish to become a cleric only because of this distrust, then for the sake of your own soul, I beg of you not to become a cleric, but rather a farmer, or whatever else you please For if to obtain your temporal support you must have one measure of trust in God, you must have ten measures of trust to continue in the life of a cleric If you do not trust God to support you in the world, hoill you trust him to support you in the Church? Alas, unbelief and distrust spoil everything and lead us into all misery, as we see in every estate of life!

Much could be said of thispeople have no one to care for theovernment is of as much use to them as if it did not exist; and yet this should be the chief concern of pope, bishops, lords and councils

They wish to rule far and wide, and yet to help no one O, what a rare bird will a lord and ruler be in heaven just on this account, even though he build a hundred churches or God and raise up all the dead!

[Sidenote: Conclusion]

[Let this suffice for this tiht to do, I think I have said enough in the little book

_On Good Works_[272] There is room for improvement in their lives and in their rule, and yet the abuses of the temporal power are not to be compared with those of the spiritual power, as I have there shown][273]

I think too that I have pitched h key, have ht is too sharply But what am I to do? I am in duty bound to speak

If I were able, these are the things I should wish to do I prefer the wrath of the world to the wrath of God; they can do no more than take my life[274] Many times heretofore I have made overtures of peace to h theive theh to say, bark, shout and write, since they have nothing else to do Ah well, I know another little song about Ro the too, and pitch the notes to the top of the scale Understandest thou, dear Ros for investigation and judgment, but it has been of no use To be sure, I know that if my cause is just, it must be condemned on earth, and approved only by Christ in heaven; or all the Scriptures show that the cause of Christians and of Christendoed by God alone Such a cause has never yet been approved by reat and strong It is reatest care and fear that my cause may remain uncondemned, by which I should know or certain that it was not yet pleasing to God

Therefore let theo to work,--pope, bishop, priest, ht people to persecute the truth, as they have ever done

God give us all a Christian mind, and especially to the Christian nobility of the Gere to do the best that can be done for the poor Church A, 1520

FOOTNOTES