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**DMcFadden** · #23 (**permalink**) 06-03-2008, 09:38 PM

I never heard that one, but I know that a quick look at his Complete Works turns up 153 instances of the barnyard words for excrement.

No. 5418: A Story About a Dog who Was Lutheran Between April 11 and June 14, 1542
The doctor [Martin Luther] said, “I just received a letter from Jonas. He wrote that a dog had s*** into the grave of the bishop of Halle. I believe it’s fatal, for it has also happened to others before. Once when there was a procession with banners around a church, the verger put the holy water pot on the ground. A dog came along and p***** into the holy water pot. A priest noticed this because he was sprinkling the water, and he said, ‘You impious dog! Have you become a Lutheran too?’ ”

Luther, M. (1999, c1967). Vol. 54: Luther's works, vol. 54 : Table Talk (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (54:421). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

Even at a funeral for the Elector, Duke John of Saxony, he said . . .
Lo, when I believe this with my whole heart, then I have the greatest treasure, namely, the death of Christ and the power which it has wrought, and I am more concerned with that than with what I have done. Therefore, devil, begone with both my righteousness and my sin. If I have committed some sin, go eat the ****; it’s yours. I’m not worrying about it, for Jesus Christ died. St. Paul bids me comfort myself with this, that I may learn to defend myself from the devil and say: Even though I have sinned, it doesn’t matter; I will not argue with you about what evil or good I have done.
Luther, M. (1999, c1959). Vol. 51: Luther's works, vol. 51 : Sermons I (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (51:241). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

And, in private correspondence . . .
I shall not answer Emser. Anyone who seems fitting to you may answer—perhaps Amsdorf, if he is not too good for dealing with this ****.
Luther, M. (1999, c1963). Vol. 48: Luther's works, vol. 48 : Letters I (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (48:257). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

And, writing about the Jews . . .
Therefore we must not consider the mouth of the Jews as worthy of uttering the name of God within our hearing. He who hears this name from a Jew must inform the authorities, or else throw sow **** at him when he sees him and chase him away. And may no one be merciful and kind in this regard, for God’s honor and the salvation of us all, including that of the Jews, are at stake!
Luther, M. (1999, c1971). Vol. 47: Luther's works, vol. 47 : The Christian in Society IV (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (47:286). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

His venom, however, was reserved for the papists . . .“Yes, we afterward established in our decretals that only the pope should convoke councils and name the participants.” But dear one, is this true? Who commanded you to establish this? “Silence, you heretic! What comes out of our mouth must be kept!” I hear it—which mouth do you mean? The one from which the f***s come? (You can keep that yourself!) Or the one into which the good Corsican wine flows? (Let a clog s*** into that!) “Oh, you abominable Luther, should you talk to the pope like this?” Shame on you too, you blasphemous, desperate rogues and crude a****—and should you talk to an emperor and empire like this? Yes, should you malign and desecrate four such high councils with the four greatest Christian emperors, just for the sake of your f**** and decretals? Why do you let yourselves imagine that you are better than crass, crude, ignorant a**** and fools, who neither know nor wish to know what councils, bishops, churches, emperors—indeed, what God and his word—are? You are a crude a**, you a**-pope, and an a** you will remain!

Luther, M. (1999, c1966). Vol. 41: Luther's works, vol. 41 : Church and Ministry III (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (41:281). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

Historical distance and the problem of particularity apply here as well as in interpreting the Bible. The sensibilities of the age were far different from our own.