not move me thereto," which was said against the Manichaeans in this sense: Ye are heretics, I do
not believe you; I go with the church, the bride of Christ, which cannot err (Erl. ed., XXX. 394
sq.). Augustin did more than all the bishops and popes who cannot hold a candle to him (XXXI.
358 sq.), and more than all the Councils (XXV. 341). If he lived now, he would side with us, but
Jerome would condemn us (Bindseil, III. 149). Yet with all his sympathy, Luther could not find
his "sola fide." Augustin, he says, has sometimes erred, and is not to be trusted. "Although good
and holy, he was yet lacking in the true faith, as well as the other fathers." "When the door was
opened to me for the understanding of Paul, I was done, with Augustin" (da war es aus mit ihm.
Erl. ed., LXII. 119).
Next to Augustin he seems to have esteemed Hilary on account of his work on the Trinity.
"Hilarius," he says, "inter omnes patres luctator fuit strenuissimus adversus haereticos, cui neque
Augustinus conferri potest" (Bindseil, III. 138). Ambrose he calls "a pious, God-fearing, and brave
man," and refers to his bold stand against the Emperor Theodosius. But his six books on Genesis
are very thin, and his hymns have not much matter, though his (?) "Rex Christe, factor omnium,"
is "optimus hymnus." He praises Prudentius for his poetry. Tertullian, whom he once calls the
oldest of the fathers (though he lived after 200), was "durus et superstitiosus." Of Cyprian he speaks
favorably. As to Jerome, he had to admit that he was the greatest Bible translator, and will not be
surpassed in this line (Erl. ed. LXII. 462). But he positively hated him on account of his monkery,
and says: "He ought not to be counted among the doctors of the church; for he was a heretic, although
I believe that he was saved by faith in Christ. I know no one of the fathers, to whom I am so hostile
as to him. He writes only about fasting, virginity, and such things" (LXII. 119sq.). He was tormented
by carnal temptations, and loved Eustochium so as to create scandal. He speaks impiously of
marriage. His commentaries on Matthew, Galatians, and Titus are very thin. Luther had no more
respect for Pope Gregory I. He is the author of the fables of purgatory and masses for souls; he
knew little of Christ and his gospel, and was entirely too superstitious. The Devil deceived him,
and made him believe in appearances of spirits from purgatory. "His sermons are not worth a
copper" (Erl. ed., LI. 482; LII. 187; LX. 189, 405; XXVIII. 98 sqq.; Bindseil, III. 140, 228). But
he praises beyond its merits his hymn Rex Christe, which he wrongly ascribes to Ambrose (Bindseil,
III. 149; comp. Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnol., vol. I. 180 sq.).
With the Greek fathers, Luther was less familiar. He barely mentions Ignatius, Irenaeus,
Origen, Eusebius, and Epiphanius. He praises Athanasius as the greatest teacher of the Oriental
Church, although he was nothing extra (obwohl er nichts sonderliches war). He could not agree
with Melanchthon’s favorable judgment of Basil the Great. He thought Gregory of Nazianzen, the
eloquent defender of the divinity of Christ during the Arian ascendency, to be of no account
("Nazianzenus est nihil." Bindseil, III. 152). He speaks well of Theodoret’s Commentary to Paul’s
Epistles, but unreasonably depreciates Chrysostom, the golden preacher and commentator, and
describes him as a great rhetorician, full of words and empty of matter; he even absurdly compares
him to Carlstadt! "He is garrulous, and therefore pleases Erasmus, who neglects faith, and treats
only of morals. I consulted him on the beautiful passage on the highpriest in Hebrews; but he
twaddled about the dignity of priests, and let me stick in the mud (Bindseil, III. 136; Erl. ed. LXII.
102).
Of mediaeval divines Luther esteemed Nicolaus Lyra as a most useful commentator. He
praises St. Bernard, who in his sermons "excels all other doctors, even Augustin." He speaks highly
of Peter the Lombard, "the Master of Sentences," and calls him a "homo diligentissimus et
tuis.
(Tuis.)
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