Do Not Quell the Tumults, and Smile at the Upheavals

In response to Erasmus' assertion that, "It is lawful to speak the truth, but it is not expedient to do so in every company, nor at every time, nor in every way," Luther writes:

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536)

. . .You make it clear that this carnal peace and quiet seems to you far more important than faith, conscience, salvation, the Word of God, the glory of Christ, and God himself. . .You say this sort of thing simply because you have not read, or at any rate have not noticed, that it is regularly the case with the Word of God that the world is thrown into confusion by reason of it. Christ openly affirms as much: "I came not (says He) to send peace, but a sword (Matt 10:34). So in Luke: "I came to send fire on the earth" (12:49). So Paul, in 1 Cor 6: "In tumults," etc. (2 Cor. 6:5). The prophet in the second Psalm bears elaborate testimony to the same truth when he declares that the nations are in uproar, the peoples rage, the kings rise up, the rulers conspire, against the Lord and against Christ--as though to say that the many, the mighty, the wealth, power, wisdom, righteousness and all that is exalted in the world opposes the Word of God. Look at the Acts of the Apostles, and see there what happened in the world by reason of the word of Paul alone (to say nothing of the other apostles)--how, single-handed, he threw into confusion Jews and Gentiles alike. As his foes said of him, he turned the world upside down! (Acts 17:6). The kingdom of Israel was thrown into confusion under Elijah, as Ahab complained (1 Kings 18:17). What upheaval was there under the other prophets, when they were all executed or stoned, and Israel was led captive into Assyria, and Judah to Babylon! Was that peace? The world and its god cannot and will not bear the Word of the true God, and the true God cannot and will not keep silent. Now these two Gods are at war; so what else can there be throughout the world but uproar?
     To want to quell these tumults, therefore, is really to want to remove the Word of God and stop its course. When the Word of God comes, it comes to change and renew the world, and even heathen writers acknowledge that such changes cannot take place without commotion and upheaval--nor, indeed, without bloodshed. Now it is the Christian's part to expect and coolly to endure these things--as Christ says, "When you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be not dismayed: for these things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet" (Matt 24:6). Personally, did I not see the upheavals, I should say that the Word of God was not in the world. Now that I see them, I rejoice from my heart and smile at them, knowing for sure that the Pope's kingdom and all its allies will fall; for the Word of God is now in full cry, and these are its principal target. . .
 

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

  Stop your complaining, stop your doctoring, the origin and continuance of this conflict is from God; and it will not cease till all who oppose the Word have become as the mire of the streets.
     . . .You grovel on the ground and cannot conceive of anything that is above man's understanding. But there is nothing childish, or merely man-like, about the operations of God; they are Divine, and they exceed man's grasp. And that is why you fail to see that it is by reason of God's will and activity that these tumults and divisions are raging throughout the world--and so you are afraid that the sky will fall. . .You see again how unadvisedly you rush against the Word of God, as though you rated your own thoughts and ideas far above it. -- From The Bondage of the Will, Revell Edition, pages 90-95