Luther: They accuse us of being rebels, of having destroyed the unity of the Church

Here's another obscure Luther quote typically used by Rome's defenders:

'They accuse us of being rebels, of having destroyed the unity of the Church, and of being the authors of all the evils of the day . . . Many are saying, "Religion is going to the dogs; there is no reverence for God . . . What good has come out of the Gospel. Everything was formerly in a far better state."'(in Janssen, ibid., vol. 5, 284-285)[link]

I came across a defender of Rome using this quote two different ways. First, it was used as an example of "The Agony of Luther" over "the State of Early Protestantism." Second, as proof of "The Unpopularity of Luther and Other Protestant Revolutionaries" and "The attachment of the people to Luther's doctrine was no greater than to his person..." We'll see that this quote isn't one quote but actually two quotes from two different sources.

Documentation
The quote is said to come from Johannes Janssen's History of the German People From the Close of the Middle Ages Volume 5. On pages 284-285, Janssen states:

The attachment of the people to Luther's doctrine was no greater than to his person. 'They say nowadays,' wrote Luther in the year before the Augsburg Diet, "Ah yes, the monks used to sing, and pray, and fast a great deal; and they did all this for the honour and glory of God. That sort of thing pleases the common people hugely. They cannot restrain themselves from applauding it."' but the people went much further than this. 'They accuse us of being rebels,' exclaimed Luther, 'of having destroyed the unity of the Church, and of being the authors of all the evils of the day. 'Formerly, under the papacy,' so went the popular cry, 'things were not so bad. But now, since these teachers have come, there is nothing but disaster — famine, war, and the Turk.' 'Many are saying, Peace is at an end; the world is topsy-turvy; men are confused and bewildered in spirit; religion is going to the dogs; there is no reverence for God; obedience to law is a thing of the past. What good has come out of the Gospel? Everything was formerly in far better state.' Shortly after the close of the Diet of Augsburg Luther made the avowal: 'Everybody is now complaining and crying out that the Gospel has brought much discontent, wrangling, and disorderly living into the world, and that everything is in worse condition since its introduction than before, when things ran smoothly and there was no persecution, and people lived peacefully together, like good friends and neighbors.' The people would willingly drive him, 'together with the Gospel' — to wit, his peculiar tenets — 'sheer out of the country, or else starve him to death.' On the other hand the people clung so tenaciously to the ways of the old Church that Luther declared: 'Were I so disposed I am confident that with two or three sermons I could easily preach my people back into popery and re-establish pilgrimages and Masses.' 'I know for certain that here in Wittenberg you shall scarcely find ten men whom I could not seduce if I returned to practice the sanctity which I practiced in popery when I was a monk.' (Collected Works vi. 280; xliii. 63, 279, 316. Compare ix 336, vi 106).

For a similar version of this quote, see William Stang's Life of Luther. He similarly says the quote is from "Sammtliche Werke 6, 280; 43, 63, 279, 316; 9, 336; 6, 106" (He also appears to have blatantly plagiarized a large amount of this exact text from Janssen).  The tricky part about this extended quote, is it isn't one quote. It's multiple quotes from different sources. It appears to me that some of  Janssen's references are not documented. It  also appears to me there are seven different quotes put forth by Janssen, and they should be divided like this:

1) The attachment of the people to Luther's doctrine was no greater than to his person. 'They say nowadays,' wrote Luther in the year before the Augsburg Diet, "Ah yes, the monks used to sing, and pray, and fast a great deal; and they did all this for the honour and glory of God. That sort of thing pleases the common people hugely. [Sammtliche Werke 6, 280; English: Festival of Christ's Nativity, Third Sermon, Isaiah 9:1-7, December 26, 1532, House Postil, The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther 7:233] 

2) But the people went much further than this. 'They accuse us of being rebels,' exclaimed Luther, 'of having destroyed the unity of the Church, and of being the authors of all the evils of the day.' Formerly, under the papacy,' so went the popular cry, 'things were not so bad. But now, since these teachers have come, there is nothing but disaster — famine, war, and the Turk.' [WA 37:403f, Erl. 5:187; Walch (St Loius) 13b:2058; English: Holy Pentecost, First Sermon, Acts 2:1-3, Pentecost Day 1534, The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther Volume 6: 162-163].

3) 'Many are saying, Peace is at an end; the world is topsy-turvy; men are confused and bewildered in spirit; religion is going to the dogs; there is no reverence for God; obedience to law is a thing of the past. What good has come out of the Gospel? Everything was formerly in far better state.'

4. Shortly after the close of the Diet of Augsburg Luther made the avowal: 'Everybody is now complaining and crying out that the Gospel has brought much discontent, wrangling, and disorderly living into the world, and that everything is in worse condition since its introduction than before, when things ran smoothly and there was no persecution, and people lived peacefully together, like good friends and neighbors.' [Collected Works; xliii. 63,LW 21:51] 

5. The people would willingly drive him, 'together with the Gospel' — to wit, his peculiar tenets — 'sheer out of the country, or else starve him to death.' [Collected Works xliii. 279; LW 21:224]

6.  On the other hand the people clung so tenaciously to the ways of the old Church that Luther declared: 'Were I so disposed I am confident that with two or three sermons I could easily preach my people back into popery and re-establish pilgrimages and Masses.' [Collected Works xliii 316;  LW 21:253]

7. 'I know for certain that here in Wittenberg you shall scarcely find ten men whom I could not seduce if I returned to practice the sanctity which I practiced in popery when I was a monk.

Of these seven quotes, only five are documented (1,2,4,5,6). #3 and #7 are not. When Janssen states, "Compare ix 336, vi 106," neither of these refer to #3 or #7.  In English ix 336 corresponds to The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther Volume 4, 2: 343-344. In English vi 106 refers to  The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther Volume 7: 74-75.

The Luther citation which began this entry is a combination of #2 and #3, which are two different sources (even though there is no reference provided for #3 to verify). Because only quote #2 and #3 were cited in the opening entry, below is the context of quote #2 (I could not locale a context for quote #3).


Context
Quote #2 is from Luther's first Holy Pentecost Sermon, preached at the parish church on Pentecost Day, May 24, 1534. Ewald Plass records the quote as follows:

3807 History Repeats Itself

People accuse us of being seditionists, as they accused the apostles (Acts 17:6) and of breaking the unity of the church. Every evil that happens, happens because of us, they say. Formerly under the papacy, the situation was not so bad, our slanderers cry, but now that these teachers have arisen, all the trouble has come: famine, war, the Turk. All this blamed on our preaching. If they could burden us with the fall of the devil from heaven, nay with the Crucifixion and death of Christ, they would not fail to do so (Weimar edition 37:, 403 f, Erlangen 5:187; Walch (St Loius) 13b:2058).[Ewald Plass, What Luther Says Volume 3 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), p. 1195-1196]

The sermon Luther preached is available in The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther Volume 6 (Michigan: Baker Books, 2000) pp. 151-165. The text of the sermon was Acts 2:1-13. Luther was expounding on the courage given by Holy Spirit to the early Christians, despite all the adversity they faced. The early Christan's would speak the truth, even if it meant their death (like Stephen). All the world will be against the Gospel. Luther then states:

22. That's the kind of mettle the apostles and disciples required then, and that's also the kind of spirit we need today. People accuse us of being revolutionaries, just as they accused the apostles.They accuse us of dividing the unity of the church, and they blame us for whatever else goes wrong. Our detractors claim that when we were still under the papacy, things weren't so bad; but now that these teachers have come, we've had nothing but bad luck, hard times, war, and the Turks. All these things they blame on the message we preach. If they could blame us for the devil being kicked out of heaven, they'd do that too. As a matter of fact, if they could accuse us of having crucified and killed Christ, they'd also do that. That is why we need the Holy Spirit's Pentecost sermon so desperately to help us remain content and cheerfully to disregard such slander.

23.The apostles and disciples needed that message in their day; for what we are experiencing today is what they experienced in their day. They were told that the whole world stood against them. This is the way the accusations against them went: Since these people came and started preaching, the kingdom of the Jews has been divided and the whole world is in an uproar. If anyone doubts this, let him read the Book of Acts and he'll find that it's true. When they preached among the Jews, the latter shouted, These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here. Away with them, kill them! (Acts 17:6). And when they preached among the heathen (non-Jews), the Gentiles shouted, These men are leading our people astray, and they are Jews, and they're advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice (Acts 16:10-21). In short, every bad thing that happened was blamed on the apostles and disciples.

24. But theirs was a self-fulfilling prophecy, for what they said is exactly what happened to them. About Paul, the Jews shouted, "This is the man that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place" (Acts 21:28), that is, he teaches what is contrary to God and contrary to his worship. "Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live!" (Acts 22:22). But theirs was a self-fulfilling prophecy, just as in the case of the high priest Caiaphas (John 11:49-52). What they claimed is what happened to them. Also the Romans shouted, These men are leading our people astray and dividing the Roman Empire. Exactly what they said is what happened to them: the Roman Empire was eventually divided and destroyed.

25.Our own aristocratic landowners, the godless bishops a princes, are today shouting about us, that we are leading Germany astray and turning everything topsy-turvy. But their prophecies will also be self-fulfilling. For they know very well that what they're saying is nothing but lies by which they are slandering our teaching. That is why the same thing will happen to them as happened to the rogue of whom the Lord says (Luke 19:22): "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant!" They claim that we are their destroyers, and that is exactly the way it'll turn out; not that it will be our fault or the fault of our teaching, but their own fault, because they are so hard-hearted and stubborn, refusing to accept the message we are proclaiming.

26. We desperately need this Pentecost sermon of the Holy Spirit, so that he may give us a courageous heart, so that we, too, may persevere, regardless of who is offended, regardless of how much people may slander us. And even if cults and sects arise, we will also ignore that. That's the kind of courage we need, a courage that remains undisturbed by any of these things and simply continues fearlessly to confess and publicly proclaim Christ, who was so grossly misjudged, condemned, and killed.

27. You see, it is in the nature and character of the gospel to be a foolish, offensive message, and almost universally rejected and condemned. If the gospel didn't upset citizens and peasants, bishops and princes, it would be a nice, sweet message, easy to proclaim, and the public would gladly accept it. But because it is a message that offends people, especially the high and mighty, therefore it takes great courage and the help of the Holy Spirit to proclaim it. The fact is that the poor beggars and fishermen come forward and preach in such a way that they rouse and bring down upon themselves the anger of the whole council at Jerusalem, the wrath of the whole government, the ire of the spiritual rulers, and, on top of that, also the hatred of the Roman emperor. What's more, they dare to accuse all of the above of being traitors and murderers, fully expecting to get their teeth knocked out. None of this could have happened without the Holy Spirit. That is why the Holy Spirit's Pentecost message is our comfort and joy, because we, too, can ignore the anger and slander of the world. It is this same message that produces such joy-filled people in Christ, people who are willing to undertake anything in behalf of Christ, willing also to suffer anything for his sake. (pp.162-163)

Conclusion
Now compare this context to the points made by Rome's defenders. Luther argues the world hates the Gospel, and this is to be expected. Rome's apologists argue Luther "agonized" over the state of early Protestantism. If he did, this text doesn't prove it. Rome's defenders also state this quote proves people were in general, unhappy with Luther, and his doctrine. According to Luther, if this is a valid argument, the apostles likewise fall to it. As Luther stated, "it is in the nature and character of the gospel to be a foolish, offensive message, and almost universally rejected and condemned."

Addendum (2016)
This blog entry is a revision of an entry I posted back in 2010. The original can be found here. Because so many sources are now available online, I'm revising older entries by adding additional materials and commentary, and also fixing or deleting dead hyperlinks. Nothing of any significant substance has changed in this entry from that presented in the former.