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The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio)

Martin Luther · translated by Edward Thomas Vaughan · 1823

Luther's 1525 reply to Erasmus on free will — the book he counted among his best — with Vaughan's preface and notes.

Edition: Internet Archive scan · archive.org

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From the opening: Cut Out Without Hands

In 1520, Miltitz advised a second letter to the Pope. Advancing, as he now was, towards meridian light, he found it difficult to do this with integrity; it may be questioned, whether he succeeded in his attempt. Already he had disclosed to his friend that he had not much doubt but the Pope is the real Antichrist. ' The lives and conversation of the Popes, their actions, their decrees, all, said he, agree most wonderfully to the descriptions of him in Holy Writ.' With what consistency could he still approach him as his authorized head and desired protector, flatter his person, and propose terms of mutual silence? True, the tone of his address is much altered from that of his former letter; he declares many of the abominations of his government; he expressly refuses to recant;

he insists upon his great principle, c perfect freedom in interpreting the word of God.' He is also peculiarly wise, just, plain and forcible in warning him against the big swelling words, with which his flatterers dignified him: " O my people, they which call thee blessed cause thee to err/' But we could be glad to see more of frankness and less of compliment; the person not so subtilely separated from the office, the man from his court; wishes and prayers for good suppressed, where he had begun to be persuaded that there could be only curse and destruction. The only plausible defence is, his mind was not yet fully made up as to what the Pope is: he had doubts, he thought himself bound to go to the uttermost in endeavours to conciliate, such an appeal would be a touchstone. In estimating the rectitude of this measure, every thing, it is plain, depends upon the degree of light which had then beamed upon his mind: but it is difficult to conceive, that, writing, as he had done, early in this same year to Spalatinus, and writing, as he afterwards did, in the month of June, his treatise on the necessity of reformation, and, in the month of August, his Babylonish captivity, he should, in the intermediate space, have retained a state of mind which, consistently with simplicity, could dictate his, or indeed any letter of accommodation to Leo.

At length, however, having abundantly proved his David, and convinced him of his foolishness, the Lord took it clean away from him, whilst He sealed up his enemies in theirs. Never was there a more manifest illustration of Jewish blindness and induration —…

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Contents (84 sections)

  1. Opening
  2. Erasmus of Rotterdam
  3. With a Preface and Notes
  4. Who Knoweth That
  5. Preface
  6. Divine Permission, and the Consent of the Faithful
  7. Cut Out Without Hands
  8. Cut Out Without Hands (continued)
  9. Cut Out Without Hands (continued)
  10. Cut Out Without Hands (continued)
  11. PART I. — Erasmus's Preface reviewed
  12. Part I
  13. Part II
  14. Part III
  15. Part IV
  16. Part V
  17. To the Venerable Mister Erasmus, of Rotterdam
  18. Introduction
  19. Bondage of the Will
  20. Introduction
  21. Bondage of the Will
  22. Introduction, 7
  23. 8 B0n6age of the Will
  24. Introduction
  25. SECTION I. Assertions defended
  26. Erasmus's Preface Reviewed. H
  27. Part I
  28. C
  29. Erasmus's Preface Reviewed. ]9
  30. Erasmus's Preface Reviewed. 27*
  31. D
  32. Part I
  33. Part I
  34. Part. I
  35. Bondage of the Will
  36. Part. I
  37. Section I
  38. Part II
  39. Part II
  40. Part II
  41. Bondage of the Will
  42. Erasxmus's Proem Reviewed. 101
  43. Part II
  44. ]04 Bondage of the Will
  45. Ho Bondage of the Will
  46. Erasmus's Proem Reviewed. Hi
  47. Section I
  48. Texts for Freewill Disproved. ]47
  49. Part III
  50. Texts for Freewill Disproved. 1 53
  51. Part III
  52. M
  53. 16g Bondage of the Will
  54. 1G8 Bondage of the Will
  55. 178! Bondage of the Will
  56. PART in. the nethermost hell/'0 Do you think that God is
  57. PART in. the nethermost hell/'0 Do you think that God is (continued)
  58. Part III
  59. XXV
  60. XXXIX
  61. Section I
  62. Section I (continued)
  63. Section I (continued)
  64. Section I (continued)
  65. »08 Bondage of the Will
  66. The third of these elaborate excogitations is., sc.xxtx
  67. Part IV
  68. Part IV
  69. 330 . Bondage of the Will/
  70. Part IV
  71. Part IV (continued)
  72. Bondage of the Will
  73. Bondage of the Will
  74. Part V
  75. Part V
  76. Part V
  77. PART V. sins did not abound, without the law, but inas
  78. Part V
  79. Part V
  80. Part V
  81. Fueewill Proved to Be a Lie
  82. 458 - Bondage of the Will
  83. Part V
  84. ' a World Leader in Paper Preservatk

How to cite it

Chicago
Martin Luther. The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio). Translated by Edward Thomas Vaughan. Internet Archive scan, 1823. https://archive.org/details/martinlutheronbo00luth
MLA
Martin Luther. The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio). Translated by Edward Thomas Vaughan, Internet Archive scan, 1823. https://archive.org/details/martinlutheronbo00luth
APA
Martin Luther (1823). The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio) (Edward Thomas Vaughan, Trans.). Internet Archive scan. https://archive.org/details/martinlutheronbo00luth

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