#4 The Second Way is The False Teachers trample the life of Preachers

{Now, who are the ones that trample on what is holy and turn against us? This, too, happens in two areas, both in doctrine and in life…..In the second place, the situation is the same with regard to life. This is true most of all among us, where there is contempt or boredom with the Gospel and where things have progressed so far that a preacher can hardly make a living any more. Squire Bigwig out in the country monopolizes all the land and keeps the preachers in such a way that they cannot help losing their taste for preaching. He makes them his servants so that they have to preach and do what he wants. After him comes a Squire Skinflint in the cities and Tom, Dick, and Harry. They maintain that they do not want any Gospel or Word of God. Yet it is from us that they got their freedom from the tyranny of the pope and all their other possessions, even the outward ones. Now they would like to drive us out into the country along with our Gospel, or to starve us out. (Luther’s Works, v. 21, pages 224).

Posted in 2023 Doctrine & Practice.