from: _The_Jews_and_their_Lies
                           by: Martin Luther

     [Warning: the text which follows contains violence, and may not be
               suitable reading for children.]


     "What shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned
     people, the Jews? Since they live among us, we dare not tolerate
     their conduct, now that we are aware of their lying and reviling
     and blaspheming. If we do, we become sharers in their lies, cursing
     and blaspemy. Thus we cannot extinguish the unquenchable fire of
     divine wrath, of which the prophets speak, nor can we convert the
     Jews. With prayer and the fear of God we must pratice a sharp mercy
     to see whether we might save at least a few from the glowing flames.
     We dare not avenge ourselves. Vengenance a thousand times worse
     than we could wish them already has them by the throat. I shall
     give you my sincere advice:

     First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and
     cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever
     again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of
     our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are
     Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public
     lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians.
     For whatever we tolerated in the past unknowingly - and I myself
     was unaware of it - will be pardoned by God. But if we, now that we
     are informed, were to protect and shield such a house for the Jews,
     existing right before our very nose, in which they lie about,
     blaspheme, curse, vilify, and defame Christ and us (as was heard
     above), it would be the same as if we were doing all this and even
     worse ourselves, as we very well know.

     Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For
     they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead
     they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies.
     This will bring home to them that they are not masters in our
     country, as they boast, but that they are living in exile and in
     captivity, as they incessantly wail and lament about us before God.

     Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings,
     in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be
     taken from them. (remainder omitted)

     Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth
     on pain of loss of life and limb. For they have justly forfeited
     the right to such an office by holding the poor Jews captive with
     the saying of Moses (Deuternomy 17 [:10 ff.]) in which he commands
     them to obey their teachers on penalty of death, although Moses
     clearly adds: "what they teach you in accord with the law of the
     Lord." Thoses villains ignore that. They wantonly employ the poor
     people's obedience contrary to the law of the Lord and infuse them
     with this poison, cursing, and blasphemy. In the same way the pope
     also held us captive with the declaration in Matthew 16 {:18], "You
     are Peter," etc, inducing us to believe all the lies and deceptions
     that issued from his devilish mind. He did not teach in accord with
     the word of God, and therefore he forfeited the right to teach.

     Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished
     completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the
     countryside, since they are not lords, officials, tradesmen, or the
     like. Let they stay at home. (...remainder omitted due to violence)

     Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash
     and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put aside
     for safekeeping. The reason for such a measure is that, as said
     above, they have no other means of earning a livelihood than usury,
     and by it they have stolen and robbed from us all they possess.
     Such money should now be used in no other way than the following:
     Whenever a Jew is sincerely converted, he should be handed one
     hundred, two hundred, or three hundred florins, as personal
     circumstances may suggest. With this he could set himself up in
     some occupation for the support of his poor wife and children, and
     the maintenance of the old or feeble. For such evil gains are
     cursed if they are not put to use with God's blessing in a good and
     worthy cause.

     (more garbage ommitted)
     Seventh, I recommend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a
     distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and
     Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their
     brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam (Gen 3[:19]}. For it
     is not fitting that they should let us accursed Goyim toil in the
     sweat of our faces while they, the holy people, idle away their
     time behind the stove, feasting and farting, and on top of all,
     boasting blasphemously of their lordship over the Christians by
     means of our sweat. No, one should toss out these lazy rogues by
     the seat of their pants.

     (many pages of garbage omitted)

     Accordingly, it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter
     but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our
     souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal
     death. My advice, as I said earlier, is:
          First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who
     are able toss in sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone
     could also throw in some hellfire. That would demonstrate to God
     our serious resolve and be evidence to all the world that it was in
     ignorance that we tolerated such houses, in which the Jews have
     reviled God, our dear Creator and Father, and his Son most
     shamefully up till now, but that we have now given them their due
     reward.

     (Luther repeats his earlier suggestions, but with an even more
     vicious slant)

     I wish and I ask that our rulers who have Jewish subjects exercise
     a sharp mercy toward these wretched people, as suggested above, to
     see whether this might not help (though it is doubtful). They must
     act like a good physician who, when gangrene has set in, proceeds
     without mercy to cut, saw, and burn flesh, veins, bone, and marrow.
     Such a proceedure must also be followed in this instance. Burn down
     their synagogues, forbid all that I enumerated earlier, force them
     to work, and deal harshly with them, as Moses did in the
     wilderness, slaying three thousand lest the whole people perish.
     They surely do not know what they are doing; moreover, as people
     possessed, they do not wish to know it, hear it, or learn it. There
     it would be wrong to be merciful and confirm them in their conduct.
     If this does not help we must drive them out like mad dogs, so that
     we do not become partakers of their abominable blasphemy and all
     their other vices and thus merit God's wrath and be damned with
     them. I have done my duty. Now let everyone see to his. I am
     exonerated."

    _Luther's_Works_, Volume 47, "The Christian in Society IV".
              (Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1971. pp 268-293).
=========================================================================

     I apologize for the length of this message, but I thought it
     important for everyone reading this conference to learn the depth
     of Luther's depravity. If anyone recognizes the events of
     *Kristallnacht* in these writings, then the message has been driven
     home. The Nazi's weren't much more vicious than this man!

     Was Luther a reliable biblical scholar? Not by any stretch of the
     imagination! Is it any wonder why we don't put much faith in
     whatever else he had to say...

     I also wish to assure any Lutheran's who might read this, that I
     am confident that they do not subscribe to this fanatic's
     viewpoints, nor do most other Protestants.

     This is not an attempt to mitigate the awful atrocities committed
     by the Catholics either; there was and is sufficient blame to go
     around. I mainly wanted to show that the issue was never one sided.
     Anti-Catholic writers have always been eager to show the
     "depravity" of some in the Catholic heirarchy, while simultaneously
     ignoring _their_own_ignoble_ past_.

     May God have mercy on us all!

     your brother in Christ Jesus,

                     -= Br. Bill Leaming, S.D.V. =-
           Wednesday, March 11, 1992 at 7:39 pm, Newark, NJ


 * OLX 2.1 * One who is cool in spirit has understanding. -Pv. 17:27