Held on the day St. Michael's afternoon (29. Seht. 1533).
Since I have no other sermon to preach today than about the holy angels, I will remain completely with the same subject, although I have always said what is to be said about it. So you have heard that God created the angels and ordered them to be his helpers, to help him rule the world and protect it against the evil devil, who has nothing else in mind with his angels than to tear down, break and destroy God's work.
Furthermore, we should know that if the dear angels have protected us in this temporal life, they will continue to be with us when we depart from here and go to another life. This is also a great comfort for us human beings; if we are to go to another inn and yet do not know where to go, God has ordained the dear angels to guide us and bring us to the place where we belong, so that we may learn to recognize the great goodness of God, that He protects us through the dear angels not only here in this life, but also when we are to enter another world and kingdom, there they shall receive us. They, the dear angels, are not our creators; just as the prince, preacher and judge are also not our creators; nevertheless, a preacher can do this by preaching the gospel, as St. Paul says in the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians in the 3rd chapter, v. 9: "We are God's helpers, you are God's field and God's building. I planted, Apollo watered; but GOd gave the flourishing" etc. A husbandman and a farmer cannot make the tree, nor can they plant the grain that the ear may grow out of it etc., a vinedresser likewise; but this they can do, that they plant the tree, water it, and wait for it, and put the foxes (seedlings) in the vineyard, and prune and hoe the vine, that the tree and vine may bear fruit etc. So, a preacher can give no one faith, make no one godly.
No one can comfort you, but he can hold up to you the sayings that are useful for comforting you, just as the husbandman and the vinedresser do their work. God will not build the house for thee, except thou do thine own: so will he give thee faith, if thou hear the word of God. He could do it without that, but he will not do it. It is the same with the angels. When it comes to the highest part, that they no longer govern us, but help us to take the great leap, yes, the murderous leap from this life into another life, they cannot lift us out of death into the other life, for they are neither the Creator nor the Redeemer, but they can put thoughts and causes into the heart, so that man may pass on the more gently. As the angels do with death, so they do with sin. They cannot forgive sin, for it is God's work alone; but they can do this, that they ward off the devil, so that the conscience is not so afraid, and can give man thoughts in his heart, so that he may firmly grasp God's word and through the word obtain the Holy Spirit, who comforts him. Such help of the dear angels seems small and little; but it is great and high. It is the work of the holy angels, who fight and struggle against the devil, so that he does not destroy such a regime.
This is our, the Christians', special consolation and joy, that we know that the dear angels are willing and ready to serve God and to assist a dying Christian, and help the devil so that he does not snatch away the soul through fear, doubt or unbelief. And as our own nature teaches, it is bad that a man should leave this life, if he knows and knows it, and go to another life, if he does not know, nor know where he will stay one night; as the common saying goes:
1060 E. 19,80-82. Three sermons on good and evil angels. - The 3rd sermon W. x, 1273-1231. 1061
I'm alive and I don't know how long;
I die and do not know when;
I'm going, but I don't know where I'm going; I'm surprised that I'm happy.
(4) And this is also true, whoever considers it rightly according to reason cannot be happy. But they are heathen sayings, and are not right, let them be rightly interpreted. It is true that my reason shall not know, but it shall be hidden from it, where I shall depart from this life; but a Christian shall say, I know that I thus depart: when my soul departs, there are appointed the highest kings and princes, even the dear angels, who receive me and lead me over. Or shall reverse the saying, and say:
I live and know how long;
I die and I know when;
I go and know, praise God, where; I wonder that I am sad.
(5) In this case, the dear children are just as when a child is baptized, the child does not know where it is going; but the priest and the baptizer are there, and the godparents and the women, and they have diapers and vestments to lift the child. So when the child is born, it does not know where it will go. But there are the women, they have troughs, diapers etc. and catch the child. So God catches us Himself in death, but He needs His helpers, the dear angels, not to give life or to lead us out of death, but to help the soul to be taken up and received when it departs from the body. These may well be dear angels and ministering spirits who deal so kindly with us that they protect and preserve us here in this life and fight for us against the devil, and finally, when we need them most, wait for our soul and bring it into God's bosom, for which it has been baptized.
Although our whole life, which we lead here on earth, is nothing else but death, we do not respect it. Our life and death are not far from each other, if I could look at it with right eyes. For when I lie down in bed, I do not know whether I shall get out of bed again. When I sit down at the table, I do not know whether I will get up again. And in sum, of life we are just like that
uncertain when we wake or sleep than when we die without being accustomed to it and do not consider it a miracle work. For ten years ago we went to bed and again woke up from sleep. Such a habit makes us not consider it so dangerous when we fall asleep, go out of the house, or do anything else than when we die; and yet there is no difference among these but mere habit. For the same angel must receive and lift me when I sink into sleep, who receives and lifts me when I die. When one sleeps, who keeps him? He is just as if he were in death.
007 Therefore let us learn to esteem death the less, and to fear it the less. We may say, It is much different when a man falls asleep and when he dies; but truly there is no difference among Christians. So be sure that when you fall asleep you will be guarded by the angels, and in all your other dealings, whether you go out of the house or go into the house, it is as if you were falling asleep or going to your death. For the devil pursues you everywhere when you go out of the house or fall asleep, just as he pursues you when you die. And if we were not protected by the protection of the dear angels, we would all perish at once through the wickedness of the devil. When we see that more people are healthy than are possessed and deprived of their senses, then we notice the power of the dear angels. Therefore, when thou diest, say, Christ shall be with thee, having with him an innumerable company of holy angels. So that you know that the angels will not only help you in this life, but also in death, as the 91st Psalm, v. 11, says: "He has commanded His angels over you, that they guard you in all your ways, that they carry you on their hands, and that you do not strike your foot against a stone" etc. How can God not keep you alone? He could do it by Himself, but He will not do it; but He commands the angels to do it: not that they create you or make you, but that they guard you. When you are created, you have flesh and blood, body and soul; you have God's word in addition.
1062 A-82-84. l. On the Christian faith in particular - first article. W. x, iWi-1284. 1063
and are thereby born again; which is all God's work alone and no angel's; then God says to His angels: There I have made a new man and a new Christian, for this I will use you; let him be commanded to you and keep him etc.
(8) So the angels' office is to guard and keep; as you have heard today that the Scriptures call the angels watchmen. Therefore they are also called watchmen, guardians towards men, but towards God they are beautiful and joyful spirits. How then are they to guard us? "In all thy ways," says the Psalm. Are these not apt, glorious words? Many philosophers and others have written of the angels, as Thomas, Dionysius; but they have written the sweat, none have touched these pieces, of which this psalm says. God the Lord says that he has this in mind, that you should not be afraid of him; therefore he gives guardians and keepers, father and mother, authorities, in addition to his holy angels. The parents are nothing else but a child's maid. So, a prince and authority is a servant of all servants, must watch and wait that my child and yours is not stabbed. So must the dear angels also do, that thou mayest see that God the Lord abundantly favors thee and keep thee safe.
9 But he says, "In all your ways," that is, in bed and out of bed, in church, in the city, and in the field; in sum, wherever we go or stand, his holy angel shall be with us; yea, even when we die and go to another world. Now go wherever you want to go, and you will have good escorts waiting for you. But who believes that? Duke John of Saxony is my and your guardian; but next to him are the dear angels, who go with you and me up and down the lane or street. So, in death I do not know where I will go; but the escorts, the holy angels, knew it well. When I fall asleep, I say: God, my Lord and Father, I entrust myself to you, as the supreme guardian, let your angels and guardians protect me etc. Alfo, in death comes trembling; for I feel sin. But it is not right for me to tremble; then I shall learn to believe and speak with confidence: It is written, Ps. 91:11: "He hath made his angels.
angels commanded over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways" etc. Here no way is excluded, you go to life or to death, you go into the house or out of the house etc., but there is a strong command that you shall be assured in all your ways. As good and sure as his guidance is to thee when thou liest down to bed, or goest to thy house; so good and sure shall thy guidance be when thou shalt die.
(10) I say this because it is not believed that both good angels and devils are around us. No one could enter the door of his house if the angels were not present and guiding us. The sovereign also guards and protects us; but the devil would soon prevent such protection if the good angels were not there. This can be seen in daily experience. Many a man goes out of his house and does not come back in again, for he either drowns in the water or is stabbed to death. So it would be with all of us if the good angels were not around us and protected us. Thus says the Lord Christ, Luc. 13:3: "If ye amend not your ways, ye shall all likewise perish." If I see that one drowns in the water, the other is murdered, the third perishes shamefully; I have had a good angel that it has not happened to me in this way. In the time of pestilence, the plague would strangle everyone and leave no one alive if the good angels were not present and saved some. As surely as I go to my house and lie down in bed, and am sure that the good angels have a command to watch over me, so surely and certain shall I be when I take my last walk under the earth into the grave with the worms, that the good angels will also be there to guide me. Do you say: Yes, I do not see them. Which angel do you see now? Thou seest no angel when thou goest to thy house and layest down to sleep, and yet thou art so accustomed that the angels are about thee in the house and in the bed. If sleep were as rare as death, and no one were accustomed to it, then no one would gladly fall asleep; then everyone would think, "In sleep I do not see, so that my senses escape me. But because we are used to sleep, we praise sleep and say: It is a delicious
1064 V. 34-86. Three sermons on good and evil angels. - The 3rd sermon W. x, 1234-1237. 1065
Thing about sleep. But because death comes only once, we would like to let the angels go in death. But we should know and believe that the angels are stronger with us in death than in sleep or when we wake up from sleep and get up; for the text says: the angels shall guard us in all our ways etc.So that we may not be afraid and think that we are alone, God appoints a multitude of angels to take us up: and this He does for us, because we are stupid and frightened: But if a dying man should not be comforted and be undaunted, because he has God's word, the preacher is there and devout Christians are around him, so that he is not alone; in addition, the dear holy angels and Christ Himself are around him. Thus God shows Himself to be a merciful Father, only that you recognize such service and especially the ministry of the angels in you.
11) The text of the Psalm (91:11, 13) says: "The angels will carry you on their hands"; and not only that, but they will also protect you, so that you will trample the vipers and dragons underfoot and walk on them as on a beautiful field etc. Is this true? if reason thinks it is, it is a great lie. For there are few who believe it, but there are many who punish it as a lie. Nevertheless the psalm says, "The angels shall not keep me alone; they shall not watch me alone, as the watchmen keep watch on the tower; but the angels shall be near me, and bear me, as a mother or a maid keepeth a child, to bear and to lift it up; not as one keepeth swine and cows. So then the dear angels shall not watch alone, but shall also take hold with their hands; for there is a black nickel, which also takes hold. When you fall asleep, you fall into the hands of the angels, who already have swaddling clothes in which they receive you and take hold of you; they must also carry you so that you do not fall, and they must not let you fall or despair. And above this, if the devil come, as he will not let him, for thou must have this tyrant, yet shalt thou be kept from thy weakness; and the devil shall not hurt thee, but thou shalt be kept.
crush the prankster's head. This happens in life and in death. This is what we should look for most, that we believe that the dear angels go to our aid and have orders from their God and ours, that they protect us so that we do not bump against a stone, and help us to tread the devil under our feet and overcome him; so that even if he gives us evil thoughts, as despair and others, which we bump against, we will still be preserved.
(12) Whoever could believe that God provides us so abundantly with such a good guard and watch, would be all the more blessed. The parents and overlords would be much too weak to protect us, where the good angels would not be; for a single devil, where God allows him, can carry off all the overlords in the world. Therefore, these great, mighty and excellent princes of heaven, the holy angels, are appointed by God to serve us above the parents' and overlords' protection. Just as an apple falls from a tree, so a whole kingdom falls away when the guard and protection of the holy angels ceases; as it happened with the kingdoms and empires of this world, of which Daniel, Cap. 2, 7. ff., Daniel writes etc. After that, when we die, we have the dear angels to escort us, who, because they can take the whole world in their hands, can also keep our souls safe. They have strong fingers, and do this also gladly from the heart and with all joy; as we say in our Lord's Prayer: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"; and the often-touched Psalm says: "That they may carry thee on their hands, and tread upon the young lions and dragons" etc. If we believed this, we would know what an angelic feast this would be, and thank God for such manifold hats, confessing and saying that we have such a gracious and merciful God, who means so heartily well with us. May this merciful God grant us His grace and the Holy Spirit, so that we may believe from our hearts all that is said by angels today and yesterday, praise, glorify and thank God for it, and use such comfort rightly and blessedly in all distress, blessed forever and ever, amen.