The Candle is Lighted, We Cannot Blow Out

The Candle is Lighted, We Can Not Blow it Out refers to a series of engravings featuring a set of Protestant reformers seated around a candle on a table. The central figure is Martin Luther, surrounded by both contemporary and historical Protestant reformers. Opposite him is a group of Catholics trying to blow the candle out. Often the first part of the text is pointing towards the bible, on which the light of the candle is shining, and the second part of the text is somewhat hidden under the puffs of breath coming from the Catholic objectors. Sometimes the candle is labelled "Evangelarium" or Gospels.

Little is known of the origins of the text, but many assume the popularity of the scene in English means it was a 17th-century English invention. Luther with his bible translations and the other reformers through their questions regarding papal bulls and so forth have shed light on the bible, but they must protect it from the Catholics (the bull represents the papal bulls) who would wish to plunge it into darkness. Sometimes the text has the footnote Matthew 6.

A German, Dutch, and Latin inscription is known.

Known engravings from which paintings were modelled
In this engraving-painting pair showing 16 reformers and 6 theologians, the men sitting around the table are identified as A John Wycliffe, B Jan Hus, C Jerome of Prague, D Ulrich Zwingli, E Martin Luther, F John Oecolampadius, G Martin Bucer, H John Calvin, I Philip Melanchthon, K Peter Martyr Vermigli, L John Knox, M Matthias Flacius, N Heinrich Bullinger, O Hieronymus Zanchi, P Theodore Beza, and Q William Perkins.