This is a picture of the entrance and the exit from the Wartburg Castle where Luther was hidden and where he translated the Bible into German.
When Luther came back from the Wartburg where he had been in exile and where he completed the translation of the Bible he confronted people who believed that he had not “reformed” enough and that everything had to be scrapped and everything be changed. They wanted to tear out the altars and the pulpits. They wanted to do away with baptism and the Lord’s Supper and he wrote these words. They wanted to coerce church attendance.
“No violence against the superstitious or unbelieving. Let him that believes stand clear and let him that does not believe stand away. Nobody is to be constrained; liberty is essential for Faith and all that belongs to it. You have acted in faith, but do not forget charity and the wisdom which mother shows in the care of her children. Let the reform of the mass be undertaken with earnest prayer. The power of the word is irresistible: the idols of Athens fell not by force, but by the mighty words of the apostle.”
