Epistle to Martin Micron, Part 1

“For no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” First Corinthians 3, verse 11.

The pure, true knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Son of God in truth; a new, regenerated and understanding heart; a new, impartial, true hand and tongue; a new, godly, blameless life in the fear and love of God; together with the unadulterated, pure and good disposition, nature, fruits and anointing of the Holy Spirit: these I wish to Martin Micron from the inmost part of my heart, to the enlightenment of his soul, from him who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift, through Jesus Christ, his beloved, chosen Son, our Lord and eternal Savior. Amen.

All the Scriptures teach and enjoin, honorable Martin, that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and our neighbors as ourselves. On these two commandments, says Christ, hang all the law and the prophets, Matthew 22, verses 37 to 40; Mark 12, verse 29; Luke 10, verse 27; Deuteronomy 6, verse 5.

All that Scripture teaches is love. “Everyone who loves,” says John, “is born of God, and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.” And, “He who dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him,” First John 4, verses 7, 8 and 16. Without this love it is all vain, whatever we may know, judge, speak, do or write, First Corinthians 13, verse 1. The nature and fruit of love is meekness and kindness; it is not envious, not crafty, not deceitful, not puffed up, nor selfish. In short, where love is, there is a Christian also.

We are pointed to love by the Scriptures, and we cannot be Christians without love; and you call yourself not only a common layman but also an exemplary teacher. Therefore you have done quite wrong in not considering the commandment of love, in the fear of God, before you published your false, infamous, ambitious, antichristian “Narration” and book.

You have shown yourself before God and man as though you had never in your life felt or confessed the least particle of the pure, unadulterated nature of love. This I shall show and explain, by the grace of the Lord, with an impartial, sincere conscience, in this my admonition, out of love for the divine honor and the holy word, and also out of love for your poor soul: so that you (if there is still a spark of life and a faint light left in you) may by this showing, written for your own good, be moved to see your ulcers and deadly wounds, and yet be cured by the heavenly medicine of the Lord’s Spirit and word, through sincere repentance, to the praise of the Lord and the salvation of your soul. If there is still any reason left in you, reflect on what I tell you.

First, it is manifest, and neither you nor anyone else can successfully deny it, that by your writing you have made a liar of the almighty, great God, the God of heaven and of earth, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who can neither lie nor deceive. For he testifies of Christ and says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” Matthew 3, verse 17; Matthew 17, verse 5; Mark 1, verse 11; Mark 9, verse 7; Luke 3, verse 22; Luke 9, verse 35; Second Peter 1, verse 16. And you say that he is not; for you have confessed to us by word of mouth, and you still write so in different places, that the man Christ (whom you call the human nature in Christ) had no Father.

Observe whether you are not one of the spirits of whom John says, “He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he does not believe the record that God gave of his Son,” First John 5, verse 10. Beloved Micron, reflect, and see if I do not write the truth.

Secondly, it is manifest that by your writing you have also made a liar of Christ, who is the eternal truth. For he confesses more than sixty or seventy times in John that he is the Son of God, and that God is his Father; that he came from heaven, and that he went forth from the Father; that he is the only begotten Son, and so on. And you boldly proclaim to the public that he is not; that he had no father according to his humanity; that he is of the flesh and seed of Mary, of earth, and the natural son or seed of Abraham and David.

Observe and see if you are not one of the false teachers and prophets who forsake the Lord who bought them, Second Peter 2, verse 1. Dear Micron, reflect, and see if what I write is not the truth.

Thirdly, it is manifest that by your writing you make false witnesses of the heavenly messenger, the angel of the Most High, Luke 1, verse 31; of the humble, plain Nathaniel, in whom there was no guile, John 1, verse 47; of John the Baptist, the holiest born of woman, Matthew 11, verse 11; of Martha, the hostess and servant of the Lord, Luke 10, verse 38; of Peter the faithful shepherd, John 21, verse 6; of John, the apostle whom Jesus loved, John 13, verse 23; John 21, verse 20; and of Paul the chosen vessel, Acts 9, verse 15. For they all testify with one voice, and without any division whatever between humanity and divinity, that Christ Jesus is the Son of God; and you publicly proclaim that he is not, according to his humanity.

Observe and see whether you are not a servant of the abominable beast that opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven, Revelation 13, verse 6. Dear Micron, reflect, and see if I do not write the truth.

Fourthly, it is manifest that you have made your own brothers who were present at the discussion (and who, alas, did not know much about the matter) into witnesses like those who testified against Christ, Stephen and Naboth (that is, if your brothers agree with your unjust, partial charges, which I hope they do not). For as those testified against the righteous out of hatred of the truth, to please Jezebel and the scribes, so these testify against me out of hatred of the truth, to please you and those of your faith (I speak of the guilty ones), and so to defame me. And this although they heard your confession concerning the seed of woman, on which foundation your whole doctrine is built; and also concerning the two Sons in Christ, that the crucified one is supposed to have had no father; and again, that you could not successfully maintain the purity of your Christ; that you could make no reply to the Scriptures we read; that you tried to take shelter behind an unscriptural question, which we answered in such a way that all your refuge was cut off, and you had to turn from one thing to another. One would reasonably suppose, if they were people of common self-respect who sought the honor of God and your salvation, as we supposed them to be when we first met them, that they would charge you before all men with having spoken partial, devilish falsehoods out of mere hatred and envy, and not the impartial, godly truth, to defame your neighbors, and with having done so to your own eternal shame. But it is an old proverb: “As the shepherd goes, the sheep follow.” Christ truly says, “If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch,” Matthew 15, verse 14. Dear Micron, reflect, and see if I do not speak the truth.

Fifthly, it is manifest that you lamentably deceive all your readers and hearers who believe your writing, and that you kill their poor souls. For it is known to the Lord, who has eyes like a flame of fire, to yourself, and to all of us who were present, that your cause was in fact lost. Yet you console them with invented lies, as is the way of all false prophets. By this, according to John, you rob them of both the Father and the Son, First John 2, verse 23; you keep them under the wrath and curse, John 3, verse 36; you keep them out of God, and God out of them, First John 4, verse 15, so that they do not overcome the world, First John 5, verse 4; for they do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Observe and see if you are not one of those who shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, as the Lord says, Matthew 23, verse 13. Dear Micron, reflect, and see whether what I write is not the truth.

Sixthly, it is manifest that with your writing you have acted toward some of us, and also toward me personally, not as an honest, virtuous, godly, pious Christian, but rather as a dishonest, shameless, indiscreet and bloodthirsty Corycaeus, or informer. For it is a fact that, without the truth, you have listed a poor, innocent man (whom you knew well) as a teacher, who is no teacher, nor ever likely to become one. By this you will perhaps deprive him or his poor children of their whole welfare, indeed, of thousands, unless the Lord in his providence prevents it. The Spirit of the Lord does not direct you to act like this toward the innocent. [Note 1]

Dear Micron, if you had had a single drop of pious blood in your veins, you would have had mercy on the poor, innocent, unworthy servant, whom you, alas, now repay in this way before the whole world for the faithful services of love he willingly showed you and yours with sincere, Christian intentions.

In the same way you have acted toward the others who furnished you with a place to live, food and drink, who solicitously led your people into the city, found them positions, and showed them every kind of kindness in pure love. Let the Christian reflect and judge according to the Lord’s Spirit and word whether this is the work of unadulterated Christian love, which wishes harm to no one, much less does it.

Besides this, you have also nearly pointed out the place where I had been living until that time (of which Herman also had to deprive a poor child), though you are well aware that everywhere they are trying to take my innocent life, out of mere hatred of the truth. By such doings you surely cannot teach anyone to righteousness or instruct the ignorant. And the deed itself does not show the reasonableness and love of a regenerated Christian; rather it shows an unmerciful, cruel, envious, hateful, ravenous, bloodthirsty heart, and the bitter mind of an informer, as all the reading world must judge and say.

Whether you have done this by the merciful, compassionate, faithful, unadulterated and pure Spirit of Christ, as a pious, virtuous man, or by the unmerciful, tyrannical, faithless, false and unclean spirit of antichrist, as an ungodly and shameless spy, to cause me, an old, afflicted man, some trouble, I will leave to the consideration of your own soul, as before God, who tries the hearts and reins, in Christ Jesus. [Note 2]

Observe and see if you are not one of those who say in their hearts, It is hard for us to see him, for his life does not conform to ours. Dear Micron, reflect, and see if what I write is not the truth.

Seventhly, it is also manifest that by your writing you encourage and strengthen not a little the rulers in their impenitent lives, rulers who as a general thing are quite obstinate, proud, ambitious, puffed up, self-conceited, pompous, selfish, earthly, carnal and in part bloodthirsty. And so that you may gain their favor and praise all the more, I, a miserable man, must be your blind and imprisoned Samson, whom you make play and dance before the princes of the Philistines as a mockery and derision, although I have never in my life spoken an indiscreet word against the rulers, or against their office and service.

From the beginning of my ministry I have warned them in my writings as a brother, in faithful, unadulterated truth, from my soul, against the corruption of their souls; I have admonished them to a godly, penitent, Christian life, and pointed them with the Scriptures to the blameless Spirit, word, commandments, prohibitions, ordinances and example of Christ. And when you put to me your Pharisaical, Herodian question concerning the magistracy, I said nothing more to you than that it would hardly become a true Christian ruler to shed blood, for this reason: if the transgressor should truly repent before his God and be born of him, he would then also be a chosen saint and child of God, a fellow partaker of grace, a spiritual member of the Lord’s body, sprinkled with his precious blood and anointed with his Holy Spirit, a living grain of the bread of Christ, and an heir of eternal life. And for such a one to be hanged on the gallows, broken on the wheel, placed on the pyre, or harmed in any way by another Christian, who is of one heart, spirit and soul with him, would look somewhat strange and unbecoming, according to the compassionate, merciful, kind nature, disposition, Spirit and example of Christ, the meek Lamb, an example he has commanded all his chosen children to follow.

Again, if he remains impenitent and his life is taken, one would be doing nothing other than unmercifully robbing him of the time for repentance, which he might still make use of if his life were spared; nothing other than tyrannically offering his poor soul, which was purchased with so precious a treasure, to the devil of hell, under the intolerable judgment, punishment and wrath of God, so that he would have to suffer and bear forever the tortures of the unquenchable burning, the consuming fire, eternal pain, woe and death. All this without ever considering that the son of man, who says, “Learn of me,” Matthew 11, verse 28, “I have given you an example,” John 13, verse 15, “Follow me,” Matthew 16, verse 24, has not come to destroy souls, but to save them, Matthew 18, verse 11; Luke 19, verse 10.

See, this was the foundation of the innocent words I spoke to you at that time in sincerity of heart, according to the manner and Spirit of the gospel of Christ. To these words you give this hateful color before all men, saying, “That I make many pious rulers murderers of men; that I protect and encourage the rogues in their wickedness.” I will leave it to your own judgment what kind of spirit prompted you to write so enviously about my plain words. O Micron, you carry this thing too far. For what else do you do by your writing but upbraid and blaspheme Christ Jesus himself, whose example I follow in this matter, for pointing the adulterous woman, who was already condemned by the law of Moses, to repentance and letting her go unpunished, Leviticus 20, verse 10; Deuteronomy 22, verse 22; John 8, verse 11; and also faithful Paul, who punished the Corinthian, who according to the Mosaic and human law deserved death, no further than with separation, and by this won him to God, something he could not have done had the man been killed? Dear Micron, reflect, and see if I do not write correctly.

I do not doubt in the least that all reasonable men who read my writings, if they have any knowledge of Scripture at all, will say that I have not spoken unreasonably, but truly and in a Christian way, although I have to hear such a base greeting from you.

Profane history shows that the Lacedaemonians, who were heathen, did not practice capital punishment, but imprisoned them and put them to labor. There are instances of some of them who, when they showed natural piety and were found to be wise in counsel, honorable and masters of their passions, were called to high offices. They were not driven by the bloodthirsty spirit of murder, as some of the preachers and writers are who dare to boast of the crucified Christ and his office or service. These not only imprison and take the life of those who are guilty according to the justice of the world, such as thieves, murderers, sorcerers and so on, but also deliver the sincere, faithful children of God, who sincerely seek Christ Jesus and his holy truth and walk blamelessly before the world, without mercy into the hands of the bloodstained beadle, to be tortured, drowned, burned or put to the sword, out of mere hatred of the truth, because according to the word of God they shun their deceiving doctrine and false religion. O Lord! [Note 3]

That I write the truth in this matter is shown to you and all the world not only by the papist and Lutheran writers, but also by the books of your highly esteemed predecessors and brothers, John Calvin, Theodore Weselin Beza and John A’Lasco, which were prepared for printing but were recalled again because some people objected.

Beloved Micron, if you and they were born of God and moved by the Spirit of the Lord, if you had tasted the sweet word of God and the fruits of the world to come, you would never have troubled the pious as you have done by your untrue, false writing, nor would you encourage anybody in their bloody doings; but you would point them to the meek Lamb, and let the dead bury the dead. Ponder what I mean.

I cordially agree with you that the office of the magistrates is of God, and that it is an ordinance of God. But I deny that anyone is or can be a Christian who does not follow his Prince, Head and Forerunner, Christ, but adorns and decks out his unrighteousness, boldness, pomp, splendor, avarice, robbery and tyranny with the name of magistrate. For whoever would be a Christian must follow the Spirit, word and example of Christ, no matter whether he is emperor, king or anything else, Matthew 22, verse 21; Romans 13, verse 1; First Timothy 2, verse 1; Titus 3, verse 1. For the following admonitions apply to all alike: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 2, verse 5. “He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk, even as he walked,” First John 2, verse 6.

See, you show by actual facts that you speak and teach to tickle their ears and the lusts of their hearts, since you point them back to the vengeance of the Mosaic law and not to the longsuffering of Christ. In this way you encourage them in their vain, proud, pompous, unmerciful, carnal life, which is so little in keeping with the life of an innocent, contrite, humble, merciful, compassionate, pious and regenerated Christian, whose conversation is in heaven, Philippians 3, verse 20. It is manifest that you are a deadly enemy to their poor souls, and do not deal with them as befits the service of a true messenger of God. For they build the wall, and you daub it with untempered mortar, Ezekiel 13, verse 10. You cry peace, peace, when there is no peace, Jeremiah 8, verse 11. Beloved Micron, reflect whether what I write is not the truth. [Note 4]

Your unscriptural flatteries concerning the oath show that I write the truth. For Christ says, “You have heard that it has been said by those of old time, You shall not forswear yourself, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord. But I say to you, Do not swear at all; neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool,” and so on, Matthew 5, verses 33 to 35. And you, Micron, say that only lighthearted, false oaths are prohibited here, as if Moses allowed Israel to swear lightly and falsely, and Christ under the New Testament only then forbade it; even though all intelligent readers know that Israel was not merely allowed to swear truly, but was also commanded to do so, Leviticus 19, verse 12; Deuteronomy 10, verse 20.

If, then, the Israelites had the same liberty in this matter that we have, as you would have it, and if it is such a glorious thing and such an honor to God to swear rightly by the name of God, as you boldly dare to lie against your God, then tell me why the Wisdom did not say, You have heard that it has been said to those of old, You shall not forswear yourself; so I say, You shall do likewise. Instead he says: Moses commanded you not to forswear yourself, but I say to you, You shall not swear at all. O God, what a pity that such plain words of the Son of God are so lamentably adulterated and daubed over with the foul mortar of serpentine flattery, merely to suit the rulers, who are but dust, as Musculus and you have done! How little you have pondered the Scripture that says, “We ought to obey God rather than men,” Acts 5, verse 29.

It is very plain that Christ Jesus, the teacher of righteousness, forbids us the oath of Moses, which was also an oath of truth and was sworn by the name of the Lord, the very oath that you use and highly recommend to the reader, and that he commands us to use the true yes and no. And I know for certain that his word is the truth, and his commandment life eternal. Therefore I am sincerely frank and bold to teach it so, truly believing that he will not deceive us by his doctrine, John 17, verse 17; John 12, verse 50.

I heartily rejoice that such children, faithful in the truth, are found, who are ready to seal the holy commandments and testimony of the Lord with their possessions and blood, even though I have to hear so much from you on that account. Nor do I doubt in the least that they will have a part in my crown at the day of Christ. For they suffer as a testimony against you and all the world, for reproving your deceiving, lying hearts and tongues in faithful love, so that you may be brought to reflect; even though they, alas, are called such detestable people by you.

If they were no more faithful to the truth than Herman and you have shown yourselves to be toward me, they would not hold so valiantly to their true yes and no, even to death. Of this we are convinced.

It is manifest that they hold so faithfully to their undeceiving yes and no, which Christ has commanded us, Matthew 5, verse 37; James 5, verse 12, that they would rather give up their possessions and life than transgress this commandment; and their whole mind and life always conform to this yes and no, always spoken truthfully before God and man; and these same people are now troubled on that account. Therefore I will hereby leave it to the consideration of all impartial, reasonable readers, and to yourselves as well: whether I and our beloved brothers deserve such innocent bloodshed because, by the help and power of the Lord, by virtue of the word in the Holy Spirit, we lead them from falsehood to truth, from unrighteousness to righteousness, from darkness to light, and from the old, sinful life of ungodliness to the penitent, new life of godliness, to which Moses and Christ, together with all the prophets, apostles, sacrifices, commandments, prohibitions, ceremonies and sacraments, unanimously point; or whether those deserve to be called deceivers by you and your like, tickling and bloodthirsty preachers and writers, who teach the powerful doctrine as it was taught from the lips of the Lord; and whether all such valiant witnesses and saints of Christ, who would rather die than willfully transgress the word of the Lord, or confirm anything further than by yes or no, deserve such treatment, by which you throw the doors wide open to the rapacious rulers to rob such pious souls, and to the bloodthirsty to murder them.

Dear Micron, if you were one of the true messengers and servants of Christ, as, alas, you boldly boast, one would reasonably expect you to point the magistracy, who as a general thing have high and proud minds and are quite carnal in their lives, to the true, sincere repentance that avails before God, and to teach them the Spirit, mind, nature and word of the Lord. For then the anointing itself would teach them, even without the counsel of man, how they should conduct themselves in the delicate matters of bloodshed, the oath and other things. But now, alas, things are turned upside down, so that something may be invented with which to charge us before the blind world, and cry that we are unfit to live. O Martin, your scorpion’s sting and lion’s teeth are too sharp and envious; for your venomous, deadly stings and bites are, alas, too many!

Tell me, who is wronged because we cannot in good conscience swear, since the Lord has forbidden it, if we testify to the truth when required and make use of no deceit?

The oath is required for no other purpose than that we testify truthfully. Can the truth not be told without being sworn? Does everyone testify to the truth, even when under oath? To the first question you must answer yes, and to the last, no.

Since the oath is not the truth itself to which one testifies, and the truth is not established by the one who takes the oath, why, then, cannot the magistracy accept testimony confirmed by yes and no, as God has commanded, instead of testimony confirmed by what is forbidden? For they can punish those who are found false in their yes and no just as well as those who commit perjury by forswearing themselves.

I trust that no one is so confused as not to know that the ordinances of God, which are of heaven, should not give way to the ordinances of men, which are of earth, but that the earthly ordinances of men should give way to God’s ordinances, if men would be Christians and act according to the truth.

Therefore it would be well for you to observe, first, that by your writing concerning the oath you make ignorant or false teachers of Christ, the Son of God, and of his holy apostle James. For Christ’s foundation and doctrine is that Moses had commanded not to forswear yourself, but that under the New Testament one should not swear at all. James says that we should not swear, “neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath,” James 5, verse 12 (note, he says, neither by any other oath); and you gloss it, by the infatuation of the serpent, saying that it is not so, but that we may swear to the truth, and so on. And so the eternal Wisdom himself and his holy witness James, alas, must be your disciples and servants.

Secondly, that you condemn the innocent and clear the ungodly, both of which are an abomination in the sight of the Lord, Proverbs 17, verse 15, and by this you strengthen the hands of the evildoers and daub the wall with untempered mortar, Jeremiah 23, verse 14; Ezekiel 13, verse 10, as was said before. Beloved, reflect, and see if you are not one of those whose mouths speak great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage, Jude 16.

Thirdly, that you cause great tribulation to the pious hearts who are born of the truth, who walk in it faithfully and seal it with yes and no, with their possessions and blood, and so you load the innocent blood upon yourselves, Revelation 17, verse 3.

John saw the finely dressed whore upon the scarlet-colored beast, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. Whether or not you in your heart have drunk or now drink such a draught of blood with her, I will leave to the all-knowing Judge and to yourself. Dear Micron, reflect, and see if I do not rightly point out your sores.

As you were not afraid, but diligently exerted yourself, to adulterate, obscure and break the Lord’s express word in order to please the magistracy, so you have also, alas, exerted yourself to garble my words. You make it seem as if I had cited the words of David (the one who does not delight in false doctrine and has not sworn deceitfully, Psalm 24, verse 4) in my article concerning swearing in order to prove that under the New Testament we should not swear; whereas I brought these words forward for no other purpose, as my words plainly imply, than to show that, alas, little attention was given to the piety implied in the words of that psalm, as is plainly shown by your false, defaming tongue and hand toward me, a poor man, who, alas, has or finds little consolation from the children of men.

Besides, I had written a note in the margin of the page, in plain words, that David spoke it in a spiritual sense, and that under the New Testament we were to use yes and no instead. You have spared nothing to make me ridiculous and offensive to the reader.

In the same way you have not held back from calling me inconsistent, because I wrote that we should not swear at all in temporal matters, since Christ did not use the word “verily” in worldly matters but only in his doctrine, and so on. I know of nothing I wrote that you did not wrongly explain and garble. I wish you would for once consider, in the fear of God, what kind of spirit it is that taught you this. My saying that one should not swear at all in worldly dealings was taught me not by the flattery of the old serpent, but by the word of the Lord, Matthew 5, verse 37; James 5, verse 12. [Note 5]