Note 1838 — Chapter XXXIV

In the work “Von Anbeten des Sacramẽts” (1523) Luther says that “each one should be left free to adore or not, and that those who do not adore the sacrament are not to be termed heretics, for it is not commanded, Christ not being there in His glory as He is in heaven.” Those do best who forget “their duty towards the sacrament” and therefore do not adore, because there is “danger” in adoration. “Werke,” Weim. ed., 11, p. 448 f.; Erl. ed., 28, p. 410 f.—Still, in 1544, writing to the Princes Johann, George and Joachim of Anhalt, he says: “Cum Christus vere adest in pane, cur non ibi summa reverentia tractaretur et adoraretur etiam?” Prince Joachim declared that he “had seen Luther kneel down and reverently adore the sacrament at the elevation.” Mathesius, “Tischreden,” p. 341 (Notes by Besold, 1544).