# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1846 02 21_S51
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

In this sermon he also took his final leave of his beloved people of Eisleben, saying: "Since I have now been here for a while and have preached to you, and must now return home and perhaps will not be able to preach to you again, I wish hereby to have blessed you and to ask that you remain with the Word which your preachers and pastors faithfully teach you concerning the grace of God; and also accustom yourselves to prayer, that God may protect you from all the wise men and would-be clever people who despise the doctrine of the gospel, for they have often done harm and may still do so." At the close he added further: "This, and much more, could be said about this gospel, but I am too weak; let us leave it at this. May the dear God grant grace that we may receive his precious Word with thanksgiving, and increase and grow in the knowledge and faith of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and remain steadfast in the confession of his holy Word to the end. Amen." These were Luther's last words from the pulpit, and God graciously granted him, two days after this his public closing wish and blessing, a blessed end.

(To be continued.)

Luther and Calvin Concerning Their Doctrine of the Lord's Supper.
At the same time a continuation of the reply to the recent "Defense of the Union."
(Continued.)

II.

Did Luther, Before His Death, Approve of Calvin's Particular Doctrine?

Mr. Nollau writes in his tract, "A Word for the Good Cause of the Union," p. 44, the following: "That account bears entirely the stamp of truth, that Luther, in the year 1545 — that is, only one year before his death — read the Latin translation of Calvin's little book De Coena (On the Supper), and at last said: 'He is certainly a learned and pious man, to whom I might well have entrusted the whole matter of this dispute from the outset. I confess for my part that if the other side had done likewise, we would soon have come to an agreement from the beginning; for if Oecolampadius and Zwingli had at first declared themselves in this way, we would never have fallen into such extensive disputations.'"

Mr. N. does indeed say that this account "bears entirely the stamp of truth and is an unimpeachable testimony," but it is very fortunate that he added this himself, for otherwise scarcely anyone acquainted with the history of the Reformation would arrive at such a notion — unless, perhaps, the old orthography (spelling), in which Mr. N. has certainly not reproduced this account without intention, should lead someone to so remarkable a notion.

But that we regard this account as a fable is due to the following considerations. First, it cannot be made even probable by a single written word of Luther's that he ever read anything of Calvin's writings at all, much less that he approved of them. On the contrary, the opposite can be concluded on good grounds from a letter which Calvin himself wrote to Luther in Latin in the year 1545, but which reached Wittenberg only after Luther's death, was sent back by Melanchthon, was preserved in the library at Geneva, and was later published in print. In it Calvin writes, among other things: "Most reverend father in the Lord, I beg you most earnestly through Christ that you not feel burdened to overcome your distaste on my account and theirs, so that you would first glance over, in idle hours as a pastime, the letter written in the name of several Frenchmen and my little book, or else entrust the reading of it to someone who could give you its general content, and that you would then write us your opinion in a few words. I do this reluctantly, since I must trouble you with this at a time of such important and varied business, but since I do it only under compulsion, I trust that in your fairness you will grant me forgiveness. Would that I might be permitted to hasten to you, to enjoy your company for at least a few hours! For it would be dearer to me and far more useful to discuss, not only this matter but others as well, with you by word of mouth." Unschuldige Nachrichten, 1722, p. 627; cf. orat. A. Mori, Geneva, 1648.

Judging by this letter, which, as noted, reached Wittenberg only after Luther's death, it becomes very improbable that Luther ever read Calvin's little book on the Supper, or that he had so favorable a prejudice concerning it. According to his own letter, Calvin fears that Luther might be filled with "distaste" and aversion on his account, and that Luther would scarcely find enough time even to skim through the little book enclosed. Let the reader now weigh the above account against this and judge for himself.

We have, however, irrefutable evidence that Calvin himself, in Luther's last years, counted himself among his adversaries. For after Luther, in 1544, published his last confession concerning the Lord's Supper, in which he attacked the sacramentarian fanatics more severely than ever, Calvin wrote, still in that same year, to Bullinger of Geneva and others, the following:

"I hear that Luther has finally broken out with furious invectives, not so much against you as against all of us. Now I scarcely dare ask you to remain silent, since it is unjust to suffer such ill treatment undeservedly and not be permitted to justify oneself, and it is hard to determine whether that would be advantageous. But this, I beg you, bear in mind: first, what a great man Luther is, and by what great gifts he is distinguished — with what courage, with what steadfastness, with what skill, with what penetrating power of teaching he has hitherto labored to overthrow the kingdom of the Antichrist and at the same time to spread the doctrine of salvation. I am accustomed to say often: even if he were to call me a devil, I would still show him this much honor, that I would acknowledge him as an outstanding servant of God who, however, just as he is rich in excellent virtues, also suffers from great faults... Yet it is our duty to reprove the evil in him in such a way that we give him credit on account of his excellent gifts... In this, I wish you would look more to that than to what Luther, with his immoderate vehemence, may have deserved." Cf. J. Calvini Epistolae et Responsa, ed. Beza, Lausanne, 1576, Ep. 57.

From this it is beyond all doubt: even if Luther had had no inkling of the difference — which later became evident — between Calvin's doctrine on the article of the Lord's Supper and his own, Calvin nevertheless knew very well that whenever Luther attacked the Zwinglians, he was also fighting against him.

When, moreover, Mr. N. appeals to the claim "that Luther did not speak out against the Calvinist doctrine, but wielded his weapons only against Zwingli and Carlstadt" (p. 44), this is an assertion without proof. That Luther did not come forward by name against Calvin is indeed true, but this is easily explained by the fact that, during Luther's lifetime, Calvin publicly conducted himself as a Lutheran, as we have demonstrated in issue No. 7 of this volume. But that Luther fought against the Calvinist doctrine of the Lord's Supper just as decisively, as a perversion of the words of Christ, as he did against the Zwinglian doctrine, can only be denied by someone who knows neither the one nor the other.

Two passages may suffice here as proof of our assertion. In the last confession of 1544 Luther writes, among other things: "I must let them go and avoid them.... whether he be called Schwenckfeld, Zwingli, or whatever he wishes to be called; for I reckon them all as one and the same cake, being as they are, people who will not believe that the Lord's bread in the Supper is his true, natural body, which the ungodly man or Judas receives with the mouth just as truly as St. Peter and all the saints do. Whoever, I say, will not believe this, let him leave me in peace with letters, writings, or words, and let him hope for no fellowship with me — nothing else will come of it."

Finally, Luther writes further, still in the year 1545 — the very year in which Mr. N.'s story has been placed — as follows: "Concerning the Zwinglians and all sacramentarians, who deny that the body and blood of Christ are received with the bodily mouth in the venerable Sacrament, we hold firmly that they are heretics and severed members cut off from the congregation of God." (Luther's Works, XIX, 2257.)

Now since Calvin and all the Calvinist churches