First Part.
First piece.
How Abraham remarries and bears children.
V. 1-4 Abraham took a wife again, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Simran and Jaksan, Medan and Midian, Jezbak and Shuah. And Jaksan begat Seba and Dedan. And the children of Dedan were: Assurim, Letusim and Leumim. The children of Mdian were: Epha, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaa. These are all the children of Keturah.
Here we will bury the holy patriarch Abraham, an example that is well worth keeping in the church of God. But in this chapter there is a piece and an example that can be seen as very evil, and everyone is very angry about it. For since Abraham is an old and gray man and
Now that he is close to the grave, he can have nothing else in mind or in his thoughts but certain death, so he takes a young wife and has many children with her.
In the previous chapter he decided the time of his life, made his will and appointed Isaac as heir to all his goods. But now that his son is married and has married, he himself takes a wife. What one is to answer to this is uncertain: whether it is to be understood in such a way that the scripture puts 'one thing before another, the last before the first or vice versa the first before the last, about this I am completely uncertain. Now that we follow the order in the text, we find a strange question. St. Paul Rom. 4, 19 describes Abraham himself that his body had already died and he was not able to bear children because he was almost a hundred years old. Therefore, it can be considered that this part of the chapter should have been placed before and at the beginning.
and that Abraham took Keturah to wife before he begat Isaac. So perhaps one could answer this important question. But I cannot say anything certain about it.
003 For though we should suppose that he had taken Keturah, when he had cast out Hagar, yet at that time he was not far from an hundred years old. For Hagar gave birth to Ishmael when Abraham was six and eighty years old, and Sarah to Isaac when he was a hundred years old. Therefore, this answer is not yet sufficient, but the question still remains in doubt.
But let us follow the common way according to the description in the text. St. Paul says that Abraham's body died after he begot Isaac. And when Isaac took Rebekah to wife, Abraham was 140 years old; there may have been another year or two between his and his son's marriage: what shall we answer then, nevertheless? Some want to say that Keturah is Hagar, whom Abraham, after the death of Sarah, his wife, again accepted as a favor and then also took as his wife, since she had now humbled herself and repented. This is a fine thought and full of kindness, which I would like to believe and agree with, that he would have taken Hagar and her son into his house again and provided for them: but it is nothing certain.
Jerome is very angry at this, and would gladly blaspheme this great man if he could: but he stops his anger and says that Abraham is excused by his gray age, that he cannot be blamed for the fact that he, as an old man, was still so horny after the death of his old Sarah that he took another wife.
6 But this opinion is the meanest, which Lyra also allows himself, namely, that it is Hagar, although he sees that in the text it is written, which is contrary to that, that the children of the concubines were given gifts, among which Hagar must have been the one and Ketura the other. My opinion is that Keturah was not Hagar,
and most of all I am moved by this cause, because the chronology does not agree with that opinion. For Hagar gave birth to Ishmael when Abraham was six and eighty years old, to whom she was given in marriage when she was thirty years old, and she raised Sarah from her fifteenth year, when she first took her into the house, until the thirtieth, when she became Ishmael's mother; but Isaac is born in the fourteenth year after Ishmael. If one adds now these years together, then they make four and forty or yes at least forty years. Add to this the forty years of Isaac, who takes Rebekah in the fortieth year of his age. So it is to be counted from it that Hagar was at four and eighty years, in which age her body naturally must have been outdated and barren. And it follows from all this that it is impossible that she should have borne six children at such an age.
007 Therefore I hold that Hagar cannot be Keturah, unless it be understood that the scripture puts one thing before another, and that Abraham took Keturah, when Hagar was given unto him above. After it also the text calls the concubines, and speaks of it, as that her more than one had been. Therefore Keturah is another wife than Hagar, and Abraham had two concubines, one with and beside his wife Sarah, who is called a concubine, the other because his wife had died. So there is still the very serious annoyance that Abraham, when he was a hundred and forty years old and now had a dead body, took a young wife and fathered six sons with her, since he had previously had no children by Sarah, except Isaac.
(8) Now, first, there is the question of this being an impossible thing for the sake of the dead body of Abraham. Secondly, of the vexation. To the first I answer thus: That at times old men can and do beget children. Therefore it was also possible by nature that Abraham was still able to beget children in the hundred and fortieth year of his age. For he was of a good age, that is to say
He has not been burdensome or annoying with anything, and has not been like our people, among whom the majority, when they have barely reached their fiftieth year, have already completely dried up and become weak; but he has undoubtedly had a strong, able body, as even today some are so strong and able in their old age that they can carry great burdens and heavy work in secular or domestic regiment.
(9) After this, it is also believed that God strengthened Abraham over nature, and he became much stronger both in mind and body, since his son Isaac, who was to be the heir of the promise, was born to him.
(10) Now, as for the other question of the trouble, namely, that he takes a young wife, Lyra puts forward this reason, that the young prostitutes tend to get pregnant more easily from the old than otherwise women who are a little older. But in this way, the trouble will be better repelled if we distinguish the time and customs of the fathers from the time and customs that exist now. Many are offended by the fact that Moses writes so much in this first book about the childbearing of the fathers: but people who are offended by this do not consider that in many times there are also many customs. At that time faith reigned in the fathers, and also the faith of this article, that God said, "Grow and multiply." In our time, and especially after the abominable works of papist monasticism or celibacy have taken over, the married state has been deprived of its dignity and due honor, and the true knowledge of the Word and divine order, which was pure and righteous in the Fathers, has died out.
011 Therefore it shall not be thought that Abraham was driven by lust to take Keturah to wife. For before, when Sarah was still alive, he waited long enough for the divine blessing, and was never suspected of lewdness. Therefore, he did this out of love, children and
Especially since he heard in the promise that God said to him Gen. 17:4: "You shall become a father of many nations," not only of Isaac, but "of many nations," so that God would multiply him not only spiritually, but also physically.
12 Then Shem, Eber, and Salah lived, and Abraham lived with Noah eight and fifty years, who heard Shem before and after the flood. But Shem outlived Abraham by one and thirty years. Therefore there was a glorious time then, in which many excellent men lived, all of whom would not have allowed Abraham to do anything shameful or foolhardy; indeed, what is more, it can be seen as if they had advised him to do so. Such counselors and rulers do not have other wicked men, who are more like sows than Abraham. Therefore they had a completely different intention and purpose in marriage than Abraham. But one should not rumble into it, as such sows and papists do, who seek only fornication, shame and the pleasure of the flesh, in which they are not only immersed, but almost devoured.
(13) Therefore, in this place, consider the time of the most holy patriarchs, which undoubtedly belonged to Abraham; as it follows, how Rebekah asked counsel of Shem the patriarch. Therefore this is an honest marriage, and therefore belongs the saying of Malachi in the 2nd Cap. V. 15: "What did the one do? He sought the seed promised by God." He was not a lecherous old man, but everything he did, he did out of love and desire, so he had for children, and on divine command, and finally also on the advice of the most holy patriarchs, who will have said: Dear one, take the other wife, so that your church may become great and spread over the whole world.
Jerome had the same thoughts that I had when I was still a monk; but one must judge differently of these great men, who were the most holy and full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and also of those who were the most holy and full of the Holy Spirit and faith.
The greatest patriarchs, Shem and the others, were governed. And I say this to excuse Abraham, the most holy man, so that no one may interpret this deed as if he had done it out of pride, lust or fornication; but it should be considered that obedience and the love of children led him to take Keturah as his wife. After this, a special counsel of God is seen in this place; for the Holy Spirit, who foresees the future errors long beforehand, takes care to prevent and refute them, so that the heretics may be put to shame who in the future have wanted to condemn the second marriage. One of them is Jerome, who is so vehemently against the second marriage that he considers it an adultery.
15 Therefore in this place God has given us an example and a perfect testimony of His will, that He does not condemn the second marriage that takes place when one's first wife has died, but rather that He has commanded through His patriarch Shem that this old man should still take another wife when Sarah had died.
16. and it can be seen that God wanted to teach and testify that child rearing is very pleasant and pleasing to Him, so that we think that He wants to protect and defend His word when He says: "Grow up". etc. He is not hostile to children, as we are; for many of us ask nothing of children: but God is so firm about His word, that at times He gives children even to those who do not desire them, even to those who are hostile to children; without at times giving to those who fiercely desire children any to tempt them with. And that is even more, it can be seen that he wants to have promoted the childbearing so much that he also lets children be born to adulterers and prostitutes against their will.
17 How great then is the wickedness of human nature! how many are the harlots who prevent them from conceiving, killing and driving away the fruit, when bearing children is a work of God! and even the spouses themselves, who have been married with honor and dwell with each other, see also
on many benefits and causes of marriage, but rarely on children.
(18) The first group of married couples are those who seek and desire children, and therefore enter this state so that they may become parents and have children; and although original sin also comes to this, it is the most prominent cause. Such people are indeed angels compared to others, for they desire to use the marriage state so that they may produce children therein: but of these there are almost few, and I simply count them among the angels and not among men. For this is a great gift of God, if I desire children only from the wife, especially if I understand the toil and trouble of the marriage state, and also the stings and arrows of the devil. Such a husband was Abraham, whom I count among the angelic husbands who seek the seed promised by God, as Malachi Cap. 2, 15.
(19) The other company of husbands and wives are those who take wives to avoid fornication; they do not despise children, nor are they hostile to them; but the chief cause they look to is that they may live chastely and modestly. These are also good, but are not equal to the first: where God gives them children, they delight in them, and love wife and children, and do diligently what is due them in their profession.
20] The third is those who desire to take wives only for pleasure, who do not ask for children, but want to live a gentle and tender life, want to have a beautiful virgin to amuse themselves with.
(21) The fourth is those who take old women for great good and honor and let them be their masters. To them give God the cup of suffering, as Bernard says; for they seek only good and honor, not that they may beget children; and yet they are not to be rejected for the honor and glory of the married state.
22 But let it be diligently said unto the people, that it is not necessary to follow such examples of the fathers: for there is a great difference between the pleasure that Abraham had, and that which is now about an old hag.
who frees a young journeyman. For though Abraham also is subject to the sin of fornication, as well as other men, yet he is a lord, and not a servant of it; yea, there is in him a purity and a right love of children. For the love of children and of the seed surpasses all; as among the Gentiles, as well as among the Christians, there were many who, for various reasons, had a great desire for children.
(23) First, then, I hold that Ketnrah is not Hagar; then I hold that Abraham is not to be punished, but that the chastity of the married state is to be spoken of gloriously, and the love which Abraham had for children is to be praised. For he had love and care for them, so that the household, the secular and church government might be increased. Where other weaknesses may have been involved, this is not the most important thing.
024 And I think that Keturah was the daughter of some pious and faithful servant, as Eliezer was. She was not an Egyptian, nor a Cananite. For so the word Keturah is, as if thou wouldest say, One bound to one; for she was kinswoman to Abraham by reason of his servants, or by reason of the family of Lot.
025 Now why is Keturah called Abraham's wife in this place, when it follows that Abraham gave gifts to the concubines? If she was a concubine, how is she called his wife? Above Gen. 16, 3. it is written in the same way: "Sarah gave Hagar to her husband Abram as a wife. I leave the grammatical disputes to the grammarians. The Latins call pellex a woman who is given to a man who already has a wife, and they have had many such concubines. But concubina, a concubine, is the name given to one who has no wife or lives outside the married state, to whom he adheres; such a one is neither a concubine nor a proper wife; and such a concubine or concubine Augustine had.
26. but time also changes the laws
and customs of the people; therefore one must pay attention to how in this place and before the law of Moses these names are to be distinguished. For there is a difference between woman and wife. Abraham never had two wives. Lamech had two wives for the first time, but Abraham is said to have had only one, and yet there were two of them.
27 The Latin word uxor actually means and once such a woman, who is free and begets heirs to all goods. Such a woman is Sarah. In another way, however, it is called improperly one who is in bondage, who bears children, but not heirs. Moses changed everything afterwards. Jacob had four wives and the two maids also brought him heirs. But here "wife" actually means the one who is free and bears children. Then it is also called she who is in bondage, who bears children, but not heirs. Keturah is Abraham's wife and yet is a concubine, as follows in the text; and in the first book of Chronicles in 1 Cap. V. 32. the children of Ketnra, the concubine of Abraham, are listed one after the other. In Hebrew it is called pilegesch, from which the Latin word pellex comes. Therefore it can be seen that this woman Keturah was a maidservant and bondwoman, because she is counted among the concubines. She is not considered the wife of the house or an heiress, but is assumed only to be a mother and to bear children. Such women are not the right free wives or women in the Hanseatic League.
28 The names of the children of Keturah are mostly lost. Midian has been praised in the holy scriptures, the others have died out and are not remembered at all; as the scriptures indicate, that the children of the maidservant are servants, who do not remain in the house. In the prophet Isaiah, 60 Cap. V. 6, Midian and Ephesus are remembered, who dwelt in stony Arabia, situated after Egypt, and held a large portion of the rich and blessed Arabia. Midian is situated after the Red Sea; Ephah is a part of the rich and blessed Arabia and has had the name from this father.
29 This is the new and different marriage of the most holy man Abraham, of which this should be noted primarily, that God thereby praises the work of childbearing, and thus counters the anger and error of the heretics who condemn the second marriage. For all this is written in praise and honor of the marriage state, in which God looks upon childbearing, and after that also upon chastity, which two things adorn the marriage state. For where there is childbearing, there is also the highest blessing; but where no children follow, marital chastity is nevertheless to be praised. And this is a useful and necessary doctrine against the heretics, who approve only of the first marriage, or that which is always fruitful; item, those who want that like should come together with like in this state, as that an old man should take an old wife. But we should pay attention to the two things I have said, and whether the man is satisfied with his wife, be she what she will, and live with her honestly and chastely.
Second piece.
How Abraham makes his will, gets everything right and dies blessed.
V. 5, 6: And Abraham gave all his goods to Isaac. But to the children whom he had of the concubines he gave gifts, and let them go by his son Isaac, because he was yet alive, toward the going forth into the east country.
30 Now the holy father gives good night to the world and makes his will with a good peaceful heart. For he respects death as he respects life. We are taught in this example that we should take care that we depart from this life in good peace, and that we do not leave behind us a cause of quarreling and strife for the sake of our goods and possessions; but while the father is still alive, the children or heirs should be assured of how much of the good should belong to each, either according to the content of the will or by virtue of law.
31 So Abraham lets the children, if he has them
The name of the woman, who had been given by the concubines, went away with her gift and sent her to the Orient. Some of them came to India, but the names that are given here are names of the rocky and blissful Arabia. To the same place, which at that time was still desolate and unbuilt, he sends them, after he has given each one his gift. But Isaac alone is the heir. And this should also be noted for the sake of the heretics, who either confuse or condemn these works of the common life. While Abraham was still alive, he decreed this out of good counsel, so that after his death no one would have cause to quarrel or argue.
But Abraham also showed us many and great benefits, because we have all the holy scriptures from him. Adam may have preached the doctrine of God and the right worship orally to the patriarch Noah in the beginning, and Noah in turn to Abraham, and delivered it as it were with his hand, so that it came from one to the other: But I think that Abraham will have compiled a booklet or a small history from Adam to his time; but finally, after he had left behind him the seed or his son Isaac, from whom Christ was to be born, and after he had also ordered and ordained the church and the house government, he departs from this life and bids the world good night.
V. 7-10: Now these are the days of Abraham, which he lived an hundred and five and seventy years. And he departed, and died in a quiet old age, being full of life, and was gathered unto his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the twofold cave of the field of Ephron the son of Zoar the Hittite, which is toward Mamre, in the field which Abraham bought of the children of Heth. There Abraham is buried with Sarah his wife.
(33) Abraham was a stranger in the land of Canaan a hundred years, after he went out of Ur of Chaldea in the fifth and seventieth year of his age. But this
Above Cap. 15, 15. the Lord said to Abraham: "And you shall return to your fathers in peace, and be buried in a good old age", of which it is written here in this place that it was fulfilled, "He declined", says Moses, and died. This belongs to our consolation. For it is not written for the sake of oxen or other unreasonable animals. "He decreased," says Moses, as another man, "and died." Behold, such a great man, full of all virtues, a father of promise, of faith, of the children of God and of all nations, dies away as we do. He dies, but in a good, gentle, quiet age, being old and tired of life and full.
(34) Therefore this is the first text in all Scripture that testifies that the death of the saints is gentle and quiet, and that it is also esteemed in the sight of the Lord, and that they do not taste of death, but gently fall asleep. The prophet Isaiah also read this text and interpreted it diligently. For that is where the comforting sayings came from, as, in 57 Cap. V. 1. ff: "The righteous perish; and there is none that taketh it to heart; and holy men are raised up from calamity, and come to peace, and rest in their chambers." And in 26 Cap. V. 20: "Go, my people, into thy chamber, and shut the door upon thee; hide thyself a little while, till wrath pass."
(35) The righteous and the pious are despised, lowly and rejected in the eyes of the world, and their death is seen to be very sad; but they sleep a most sweet and very gentle sleep. When they lie in bed and die, they die in no other way, than as if a sleep were quietly coming upon them in all their limbs and senses. For they have been humbled by many a trial, and have become peaceful and quiet, so that they say: "Dear Lord God, I will gladly die, if it will please you. They are not afraid of death like the wicked, who tremble and are terrified when they die. This serves to awaken us, so that we learn to be obedient to God when He calls us out of this pit of misery, and then we can say
nen: I would not desire to live one hour longer, dear Lord JEsu Christe, come thou when thou wilt; as Abraham dies, being full of life and well satisfied.
But where did Abraham go? Moses says, "He was gathered to his people." Are there any nations left after this life? For so the words are, as if he had gone from one people to another, from one city to another. Now this is an excellent and remarkable testimony of the resurrection and future life, which should be held up for comfort to all who believe in God. For although even more excellent and clearer testimonies are presented to us in the New Testament, it is nevertheless worth the effort to see what the holy fathers had in the Old Testament and what they believed. We have grace and gift, plus a manifest and manifold knowledge of death and life, since we are certain that our Savior Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father, waiting for us when we depart from this life. When we depart from this life, we go to the bishop of our souls, who takes us into his hands: he is our Abraham, in whose bosom we are, who lives, yes, reigns forever.
(37) We must speak differently of the fathers, and our consolation is much more glorious and rich, whether they also had the same testimony and consolation of eternal life and resurrection of the dead; as Moses testifies here that Abraham was gathered to his people, and as he also heard in the promise above Cap. 15:15 that he would go to his fathers. And these are the first two texts in all of Scripture that speak of the dead after this life. In the fifth chapter above, it is said of all: "And died", except for the only Enoch, whom God took away: but of Abraham it is said that he would go to his fathers and was gathered to his people.
(36) Such words of the Holy Spirit are not in vain, neither are they spoken to unreasonable animals, which do not go to their fathers or to their people, but are spoken to men.
and testify that after this life there is another and better life, even that before the future of Christ there was a people who dwelt in the land of the living and to whom the pious from this life were gathered. According to this, the Fathers understood the article of the resurrection and eternal life, and the words are actually and emphatically set forth in both texts: You will be gathered to the other saints who died before you. Therefore the fathers live and are nations, which is not said of the wicked, but is spoken only of the righteous and holy.
39 In the first book of Kings Cap. 2, 2. David speaks in a different way when he says: "I go the way of all the earth. But afterwards Moses kept the same form and manner of speaking, when he spoke of Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob: "He departed, and was gathered unto his people." Therefore the fathers concluded from these testimonies of the Scriptures that there was another life, and that the saints did not die and perish like unreasonable animals, but were gathered to the people in the land of the living. And this is also the reason why they are so honestly buried by their children, which is not done to unreasonable animals, namely, for the sake of a certain hope, through which they waited for another life.
(40) Therefore all these things belong to and serve for our comfort, so that we may not be afraid or fear death as much as the Audern who have no hope. For to those who believe in Christ, death is not bitter or hard, as it is to the wicked, but a change, whereby this miserable and wretched life is changed into a quiet and blessed life; which article we ought to consider the most certain, that we do not depart from a meek life into a miserable one, but from sorrow and affliction into rest and peace. For if the fathers long before Christ's coming had this comfort from so few testimonies of Scripture, is it not much more reasonable that we should also hold fast and keep it above the same, which we now have much more abundantly?
In the gospel Christ called it the treasury of Abraham, to which Lazarus and all the other saints were gathered; the explanation and description of which, or what, how, and where it is, I leave to each one his own opinion according to his own understanding, and do not want to conclude anything certain from it, since even Augustine says that he does not know this. But in this we do not do right, if we keep in the New Testament the Abraham's lock. For just as before the death of Abraham there was no Abraham's storehouse, so after the future of Christ there will be none. For this reason I do not make a bosom of Abraham at this time, nor do I think that there is any such place in which Abraham keeps us as in a bosom: but the bosom of Abraham, in which he keeps and has received all the saints who have died until the death of Christ, is the promise made to him: "Through your seed shall all nations be blessed," Genesis 22:18.
(42) Thus the bosom of Adam was also the promise given in Paradise Genesis 3:15: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent"; and those who have departed from this life in faith based on such a promise have also become blessed. For God's word is wider and greater than heaven and earth. Therefore Abraham's bosom is the promise of Christ to come, which promise is father Abraham's; but it has now been changed into the word which we have of Christ revealed in the flesh; and whoever would believe otherwise would be a Jew and condemned.
(43) For the bosom of Abraham was destroyed after the resurrection of Christ, and a better bosom came in its place, that is, the bosom of Christ. For when we depart from this life, we are received into the bosom of Christ. And just as the fathers died believing in the Christ who was to come, and so were gathered into the bosom of Abraham, that is, in the hope of the Savior who is to come, so we must die believing in the Lord Christ our Savior, who has already come, and after this life we will be gathered into the bosom of Christ, who became man for us, suffered, was crucified, and returned to the cross.
um rose from the dead, and so we no longer worry about the bosom of Abraham.
(44) Then the question may be asked in this text, "What is the fate of souls after this life? The body rots and is devoured by worms, but how the soul will fare before the Day of Judgment is asked. And I am touching on this dispute for this reason, so that I may cut off and avert other people's foolish questions and disputations. But there is a simple answer to this question, which Christ prescribes to us in Matth. 22, 32, when he says: "God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. From this we are certain that the souls live and sleep in peace, and suffer no torment or pain.
45 And many sayings in the holy scriptures prove the same, namely, that we do not die after death, but simply live, as the sayings from the prophet Isaiah quite clearly testify, as, in the 57th Cap. V. I. 2: "Holy people are gathered up, and no one pays attention to them. For the righteous are taken away from calamity, and come to peace, and rest in their chambers." These are very apt words, which clearly indicate how the dead are after this life. They go, he says, or come, not to death, purgatory or hell, but to peace and rest in their chambers. And it is a great comfort that he says that the righteous will be taken away before the calamity; so we will also die in peace before the calamity and misery will come upon Germany.
46 Therefore the testimonies and sayings of the prophets agree with this text, since Moses says that Abraham was gathered to his people; and we must not doubt these testimonies, for the holy Scriptures do not lie or lack. The saints lie down and rest gently and in peace; as in the Revelation of John Cap. 14, 13. the voice from heaven also testifies: "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: yea, the Spirit saith, that they may rest from their labor."
47. this rest is at the time of the lock
Abraham, and from the beginning, before Abraham, the bosom of Adam. For the saints who believed the promise of Christ all died, being taken away from the miseries and labors which they had in this life, and went into their chamber to sleep and rest there in peace. This is all true and correct, and agrees with Scripture and with the saying of Christ Matt. 22:32, that God is not God of the dead, but of the living.
Now another question comes to mind, namely: "Since it is certain that souls are alive and at peace, what kind of life or peace is that? But this question is somewhat higher and more difficult than that we can conclude something real or certain from it. For God did not want us to understand such things in this life. Therefore, we should be satisfied with this knowledge and understanding, so that we know that the souls do not depart from the body in such a way that they should come into danger, torment or pain of hell, but that a sleeping chamber has been prepared for them, in which they sleep and rest in peace.
But there is a difference between the sleep and rest of this life and the future. For a man who has grown weary in this life from daily labor goes, when night comes, to his bedchamber as in peace, that he may sleep there, and has the night's rest, and knows of no misfortune or harm, whether by fire or by death. But the soul does not sleep in this way, but wakes and has its visions, namely, conversations of the angels and God. Therefore, the sleep in the life to come is deeper than in this life, and yet the soul lives before God. I am satisfied with this likeness, which I have of the sleep of a living person. For in such a man there is peace and rest, and he thinks that he has hardly slept an hour or two, and yet he sees that the soul sleeps in such a way that it nevertheless also wakes.
50 Thus, after death, the soul goes to its chamber and peace, and by sleeping, it does not feel its sleep, and yet God preserves the waking soul. So
God will raise up Elijah, Genesis etc. and rule them so that they live. But how does this happen? We do not know, we are content with the likeness of bodily sleep, and that God says it is sleep, rest and peace. He who sleeps naturally knows nothing of what happens in his neighbor's house; and yet he lives, even though he feels nothing in sleep, contrary to the nature of life. The same will happen in that life, but in a different and better way. Just as the mother carries the child into the sleeping chamber and lays it in the cradle, not that it should die, but that it should sleep and rest gently: so before the coming of Christ, and much more now that he has come, all the souls of the faithful have gone and are still going into the bosom of Christ.
(51) They have also discussed the places where the souls have their containers. Augustine, in the Enchiridion ad Laurentium, says that such containers are hidden, and these are his words there: "The time between the death of man and the last resurrection keeps the souls in some hidden containers, according as every soul is worth either rest or sorrow for that which it obtained in the flesh while it was alive. There one feels the weakness of the human mind. But one should look at the word and the omnipotence of God; for as God grasps the heavens with a span and grasps the earth with a threefold, as Isaiah says in the 40th chapter, v. 12. V. 12, then truly His word is much greater and reaches further. His word is infinitely great and wide. That is why the container of souls is God's word or the divine promises, in which we fall asleep. It seems bad and small when it is spoken through the mouth of man, but when we take hold of it with faith and fall asleep in the word, the soul comes into an infinite space.
(52) I have said this to put an end to the useless and futile thoughts of these questions and to ward them off. For it is abundantly sufficient for us to know that we shall depart from this life into the bosom of Christ with safety and tranquility, that is, if we have faith in the Word of God.
and keep the promise," then we escape the tribulation and misery of this life, and come to eternal peace and rest, as the saying of Christ is, John 8:51: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if any man keep my word, he shall never see death." Therefore it follows that he will be in eternal life.
(53) Here we must also punish the folly of the papists, who have made five kinds of places for the souls after death. The first, hell, for the damned; the second, for the unbaptized children; the third, purgatory; the fourth, the bosom of the fathers. In the New Testament they have added paradise for the sake of the saying Luc. 23, 43: "Today you are cast with me into paradise." The fifth place they call the open heaven.
The first place, they say, is for the damned, which is the torment and torture of eternal fire. But whether the souls of the wicked are tormented immediately after death, I cannot say for sure, although the example of the rich man Luc. 16, v. 23, belongs here. But in the other epistle of Peter in 2 Cap. V. 4, there is a saying that is completely contrary to this, namely, that he speaks of the evil angels, that they will be kept for judgment. And the words of Paul 2 Cor. 5:10 are also contrary to this, when he says: "We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive after he has acted in the life of the body, whether good or evil." Therefore, it seems that they also sleep and rest. But I cannot say anything about it.
The other place is for the children who have not been baptized. Of them they say that although they shall be damned, they suffer no torment from fire or worms, but they alone must be "deprived" of seeing God's face. The light, they say, they do not have, so that they might see God and the angels, and yet they are not tormented.
The third circle is purgatory, where neither the damned nor the children go, but those who believe but have not done enough for their sin. The same souls are redeemed with papal indulgences and are therefore the taint of the innumerable
Indulgences and the whole Papist religion have come.
57 They call the fourth place limbus patrum, the bosom of the fathers: to it, they say, Christ descended and broke it, and delivered the fathers not from hell but from this circle, who had been tormented by great longing and waiting for the Lord Christ, for they had suffered no other torment or torture.
(58) With such lies the papists have filled the church and the whole world; but we overthrow such things and say that the unbaptized children do not have such a circle. But how it is with them, or what is to be done with them, we command to divine goodness. They do not have faith and baptism, but whether God receives them in a special way and gives them faith is not written in God's Word, nor may we conclude anything from it. To be deprived of the face of God is hell itself. They admit that they have a will and a mind, especially of the divine vision and life, but they are lies.
(59) And they especially lie about purgatory, because it is based on ungodliness and unbelief. For they deny the doctrine that faith saves, and set satisfaction for sin as the cause of salvation. He who is therefore in purgatory is in hell itself, for he thinks thus: I am a poor sinner and must do enough for my sin; therefore I make no will. I will give a certain sum of money for the building of churches, so that with it I may solve the prayers and sacrifices of the monks and priests for the dead. Such people die in faith in their good works and know nothing of Christ; indeed, they are enemies of him. But we die believing in Christ, who died for our sins and has done enough for us: he is my salvation, my paradise, my comfort and my hope.
60 They did not actually speak of the limbo or circle of the fathers; they should rather have called it the bosom of Abraham, which would have been better. For those who died before the future of Christ have been preserved and saved in the promise of the Word of God.
tes in which they lived in this life; and having died, they also entered into life and were quite alive.
This is the meaning of the words of Christ, which he spoke to the thief on the cross, Luc. 23, 43: "Today you will be with me in paradise", that is, in my bosom: where I am, there you will also be: there heaven and paradise are one thing, except that there is still rest and peace among the saints and the kingdom is not yet. Christ is in heaven or paradise, ruling, judging and guiding his church, sending his angels to serve the church. To distribute gifts among men, to exalt the wretched and lowly etc. For he is always at work, not resting, as the saints do who sleep, of whom it is said in Isa. 63:16, "Abraham knows not of us, neither does Israel know us." Therefore there is a great difference between the saints who sleep and Christ who rules and reigns: they sleep, or do not know what is happening, and yet they rest.
(62) But when the wicked die, whether they depart before the coming of Christ, or whether they depart this day, when Christ is come, they simply go into everlasting damnation. But whether damnation begins immediately after your death, we cannot know, because it is written in Romans 14:10 that we shall all be presented before the judgment seat of Christ; and they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, but they that have done evil shall come forth unto the resurrection of judgment.
(63) Therefore we should know to remember that after the future of Christ the bosom of Abraham has ceased, and the promises of the future seed have all been fulfilled; and now we have other promises much greater than these, which the Son of God gave us, when he suffered and rose again; and they that believe not the same shall be eternally damned. But how it may be about those who are condemned in the New Testament, of this I cannot say anything certain; I therefore leave it undecided. But of the pious it is certain that they live and go into peace, of which we have many more and clearer examples and testimonies.
In the New Testament, from the sermons of Christ and the apostles, because the fathers had only a few sayings, in which the resurrection and eternal life were obviously indicated. The saying in the Book of Wisdom in the 3rd Cap. V. 1: "The souls of the righteous are in God's hand, and no torment touches them" etc. is taken from the prophet Isaiah.
This is both the faith of the fathers and also our common and one faith, that after this life there is another and a better life; and if Christians were to doubt it in such great light, it would be the greatest disgrace. Therefore, let us accept this teaching and cling to it with a firm heart, which is revealed to us by the great grace of God in many clear testimonies.
For a very evil and harmful time is now coming, and many epicureans are now becoming, which is a certain sign of a great confusion and disorder in all things, and that God's judgments are approaching. For what need have I of God and the knowledge of Christ, if I do not believe in a future life and resurrection of the dead? Or how can I believe that there is a God who wants to punish the wicked and do good to the righteous? For where one denies the life to come, one simply takes away God, and thus we would become like horses and mouths that ask nothing, neither for death nor for life. And one can certainly notice this in the Epicureans, with whom everything they hear is ridiculous and a loose fable, either where God promises something or where he threatens to punish. We Christians, however, should flee from such gruesome certainty and hold fast to the testimonies of eternal life and the resurrection, as they have always been revealed and taught in Scripture from the beginning of the world.
66. Moses describes the death of Abraham only with two words, which both mean to die: "He took off," he says, "and died." Above in the 7th Cap. V. 21, it says of the Flood: "All flesh perished that creepeth upon the earth"; there he has used the first word, gava,
Afterwards, when he speaks of Jacob, Gen. 49, 33, there is only the other word: "He passed away and was gathered to his people. Here he puts both words together. And I think that the difference is: With the first word he wants to indicate the behavior of a dying man when he is in the last stages. As if he wanted to say: He has been very ill, has lain hard in bed, has wrestled with death, so that there was no longer any hope of life, and yet he had not died. Therefore I give it thus: Abraham died and died, that is, he lay in the last stages and wrestled with death, after which he soon died and went into eternal life.
67 And Moses was so diligent to tell us this for our comfort, that we should know that Abraham departed from this life, as other men also depart, and that he had no advantage at all over other men, but suffered such a death as is common to all men. Since this is said of the greatest and holiest men, we should also be patient and make do with the state in which all men are, and with the same patience, faith and hope for a better life, prepare ourselves for departure from this present miserable life and for the immortality to come.
68 We have buried the holy patriarch Abraham, and it is very useful and good that his memory should always remain in the church, for the sake of the promise of the future seed, which was repeated and declared to him; and also for Abraham's faith, and for the sake of the various and very beautiful examples of many virtues that were in him. And that we may keep all these things fresh in our minds, and be thankful for them, and so follow him, may Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who sits at the right hand of the Father, and gives gifts to men, help us to gather and maintain a church; to whom be praise and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever, amen.
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