Martin Luther and the Black Plague
March 18, 2020 By
This is what Martin Luther wrote to his fellow Christians as they navigated a local bubonic plague:
“You ought to think this way: ‘I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence.
If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person, but will go freely.’ See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”
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