“Others sin on the right hand. They are much too rash and reckless,
tempting God and disregarding everything which might counteract
death and the plague. They disdain the use of medicines; they do not
avoid places and persons infected by the plague, but lightheartedly
make sport of it and wish to prove how independent they are. They
say that it is God’s punishment; if he wants to protect them he can do
so without medicines or our carefulness. That is not trusting God but
tempting him. . . .
No, my dear friends, that is no good. Use medicine; take potions
which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons
and places where your neighbor does not need your presence or has
recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning
city. What else is the epidemic but a fire which instead of consuming
wood and straw devours life and body? You ought to think this way:
“Very well, by God’s decree the enemy has sent us poison and
deadly offal. Therefore I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I
shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I
shall avoid persons and places where my presence is not needed in
order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and
pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence.
If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me, and I have
done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for
either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me,
however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely, as stated
above. See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither
brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”
Martin Luther
Martin Luther faced his own plague. Wise words. Yes, religious in
nature but reflective of those who are flaunting our epidemic or
spreading lies and misinformation. Whether one is religious or not,
these words hold decent truths.
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