Of one's own wisdom and will.
Matth. 23, 34. 35.
Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scholars of Christ: and of them ye shall kill and crucify some, and some ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachai, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
001 Why saith he not, I send unto you the righteous, the pious, or such as are renowned by another name of will and power; but only such as are renowned in the word and in wisdom? For under the three names are signified three kinds of men learned in the word; even as learning is threefold. For first, some are directly blown by God, and instructed without human instruction, only by divine inspiration and revelation. And these are the prophets; as 2 Petr. 1, 21. says: "No prophecy has ever been produced by human will, but the holy men of God" etc. On the other hand, some [of which is just now said] are not only instructed directly by God, but also men are instructed by God through men and with a living voice. And in this way all are instructed by God to righteousness, through the ministry of men; and these are the wise, as it is said Psalm 37:30: "The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom"; and elsewhere, Psalm 49:4: "My mouth speaks wisdom." Thirdly, there are those who receive their instruction neither through the service of men, nor from God alone, but from the reading of the holy Scriptures, namely, who by reading, research and reflection practice to know the truth, and thus become mighty to interpret the Scriptures, and to write down that which is to be read.
den. Therefore, just as there is a threefold word, namely, thought, word and scripture, so there are also threefold scholars: prophets, who grasp the teaching with the heart; wise men, who grasp it with the ears; scholars of Christ, who grasp it with the eyes. And just as the teaching received by the heart is far more lively than that received by the voice; so also the teaching received by the voice is far more lively than that received by the letter. For the letter is a dead voice, but the voice is a living letter, yet it is still a dead thought. But the thought written with God's finger is the life of the voice and the letter; for the voice awakens more than the letter, but the thought awakens more than the voice. Yes, God writes in the hearts and makes prophets; man writes in the ears and books by voice and letters.
2 So the question is, as I said: Why does he send only these and not the righteous? Answer: To show that all reluctance comes from carnal wisdom, which cannot be subjected to God, since all have a zeal for God, and think that they obey God with a good will; but this does not happen according to the Word, nor do they throw down their wisdom and understanding. Therefore they demand and receive the righteous, the pious, and the kind, but they despise the truthful, the conscientious, and the wise. The whole dispute is over the means to the end:
As for the purpose, they are all unanimous. They all want to be blessed and please God, but they do not agree on how to please God. Therefore they always argue with pride and contempt against the justice of God, and consider as foolishness what is offered to them as wisdom; likewise the truth seems to be a lie to them, yes, they persecute and kill those who speak the truth. For so I also preach always of Christ our hen: but this must be erroneous and false [that is, with the world]. Christ wants to be our hen for salvation, but we do not want to be. For this is what I have said, that by all our righteousness we cannot be saved at all; but we must flee under the wings of this our hen, that what is not in us we may receive out of his fullness. For so it is said in Mal. 4:2: "But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise, and salvation under his wings"; and in the 91st Psalm v. 4: "He shall cover thee with his wings, and thy confidence shall be under his wings"; and Ps. 63:9: "Under the shadow of thy wings I glory; thy right hand sustaineth me." For he who walks securely in his own righteousness will be carried away by the birds of prey, that is, by the most cruel devils.
(3) But, behold, our Lord spreading his wings upon the cross to receive us, such [namely, those who rely upon their own righteousness] not only depart from his wings unto their own good works, but moreover they will not hear the voice of the calling hen. They will not, I say, hear that all their own righteousness is sin, so as to need the hen; yea, what is the worst, they themselves become birds of prey, and seek to snatch and rob others from the hen, persecuting also the other little chicks, who hope to be saved in the mercy of this hen, that they may devour them the more surely, when they have withdrawn them from trusting in Christ, and brought them to the trust of their own righteousness. Thus it happens that those who contest and deny grace the most are the ones who
boast of them the most. Just as the Jews at that time persecuted righteousness the most, when they persecuted righteousness for the sake of righteousness, namely, by considering as righteousness that which was pleasing to them; so also these call grace what they themselves dream. But stand firm, and let no one be moved by the contradiction; for it must be so. The prophets, the wise men, the scribes, when they are sent to the righteous, the holy, and the pious, are not received by them, but are put to death; but they are received by the unrighteous, and by sinners, and by publicans, and by whoremongers; for the latter desire to be instructed, and are hungry; but the latter are full, and are too learned.
The first teaching.
Since God wants all men to be saved and no one to be condemned, carnal wisdom alone makes divine wisdom say, "I have willed, but you have not willed. For it is strange that God's will and our will contradict each other and are not unanimous.
(5) The first is clear from 1 Timothy 2:4 and from everyone's own experience. For it is said: "God wants all men to be helped and to come to the knowledge of the truth"; and Ezk 18, 23: "Do you think that I am pleased with the death of the wicked? Likewise Ps. 30:6: "The wrath of the Lord endureth for a moment, and he delighteth in life"; and in the Book of Wisdom Cap. 1:13: "God hath not made death, neither doth he delight in the destruction of the wicked"; likewise: "He maketh whole the nations of the earth." And every man, when he is asked: Whether he will be saved? answers: Yes, I will; and when he is asked: Will he be damned? he answers: No. Is it not strange, then, that God's will and man's will are the same, yet one will says to the other, I have willed, and thou hast not willed? And this desire, which is still left in the human will, remains constant, namely, that man wants to be saved, to live well and happily, and not to be condemned.
The only thing that is still left of reason is to constantly focus on what is best, on what is true, right and just. For this is still a remnant and backward part of nature, which is corrupt, and, as it were, the tinder, seed and matter, so that it can be awakened and restored by grace; as it is said in Isaiah 42:3: "He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoldering wick"; as if he said: but rather he will restore and fortify it, he will rekindle and kindle it. Thus Isaiah Cap. 1, 9. says: "If God had not left us seed, we would have been like Sodoma", that is to say, if he had not preserved these remnants of nature, it would have perished completely. And Job says Cap. 14, 7. 8.: "A tree has hope, when it is already cut down, that it will change again, and its shoots will not cease. Though its root perish in the earth, and its trunk die in the dust, yet it greeneth again with the smell of water, and groweth therefore as if it had been planted." *)
(6) Thus nature can be revived if grace is not resisted, which is done by the wicked, who rely on this remnant, and from their own will and wisdom do not want to be renewed and restored, but imagine that they are healthy and whole. So this part of the will, according to the root, is still left, so much so that it is almost the only cause of their entire damnation, even among the damned, that they do not want it; and they demand a salvation with an immense vehemence, which is contrary to true salvation. For thus St. Augustine says that pain is the soul's displeasure with things that happen contrary to our will. Therefore, on the contrary, pleasure and joy are the soul's delight in the things that happen according to our will; and for this very reason the wicked will seek to escape damnation for all eternity, to turn away from it.
and yet run against it at every turn. Therefore, the wicked are described in Psalm 1, v. 4: "Dust before the wind," namely, they are always driven about, and flee with a terrible terror, and yet do not escape the dreadful misery. But the righteous shall take root in God by the rivers of water, that is, by the river of pure pleasures.
Addition.
(7) It is surprising that sinners will be punished solely by the will according to which they are in agreement with God, who desires the salvation of all men and does not want their damnation, that is, by wanting salvation and not damnation. This is evident from Prov. 1, 26, where it says: "I will also laugh at your calamity, and mock you when it comes that you fear"; item Ps. 3: "What the wicked desire is lost"; and Ps. 109, 7: "Let his prayer be sin"; item Book of Wisdom Cap. 5, 15: "The hope of the wicked is as dust" etc. For this good will, implanted by God, is, as I have said, indelible in man; indeed, by it he will be punished first of all, because he cannot help not wanting punishment, and because he cannot help wanting rest and blessedness.
The other part of the conclusion is proven because carnal wisdom dissipates the will of God, that he wills, not that he should and that God wills him to be blessed, but that it seems good to him, and that man himself chooses to be and to become blessed. For here the controversy arises between God and men, namely, concerning the way, and not concerning the purpose; as it is written Matt. 5:25: "Be ready to meet your adversary soon, while you are still with him in the way"; as if to say: Divine wisdom and carnal wisdom have one purpose before them, but in the way they are not of one mind. Just as two laborers are directed to the same work, but by different efforts, and opposing means, and discordant counsel, the one necessarily errs, but the other alone is on the way.
the right way. As when, among two builders, one prepares the wood rightly and well and makes it into a house, but the other, who does not agree with him and is proud, as if he knew better, makes the wood into a bridge, a fence, or anything else, and yet intends to build a house, he is not a builder but a cutter. So also when a tailor wants to make a skirt, and out of his own superfluous advice, so that he does not agree with others, finally produces pants. And Horatius says: Amphora coepit institui currente rota, cur urceus exit? (One begins to prepare a wine jug on the turntable, why does a waster jug come out. *) And the same: Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. (The mountains are crawling, and behold, a possessive mouse comes out.) If, therefore, all agree in intention and purpose, both the right and the wrong, both the learned and the unlearned; but because they are not united in the proposals and means, one of the two is deceived in the intended purpose and intention. Since then the right can say to the wrong: You certainly did not intend, but we did; but they [namely, the perverse ones, must say]: We did indeed intend the same, but we could not. Why? Because our own wisdom stood in the way. So among men, one seeks to be blessed in honor, another in riches, another in wisdom, another in his own righteousness; and in this very thing he is not in agreement with God through his mind, carnal wisdom and his own counsel; because God wants to lead to salvation through humility, which is obtained under the cross, and through the confession of sin. For this is the counsel of the wicked, Ps. 1:1, but the generation of the righteous will be blessed.
Therefore nothing is sought in the Scriptures, except that this wisdom be destroyed and cast down, that man may hear the voice of God, which teaches him and guides him by the right paths to the end, which he himself wants and desires, but cannot find and obtain for himself. Thus it is said in the 95th Psalm v. 8: "Today, if you hear his voice, you will hear his voice.
When you hear this, do not harden your hearts"; then follows: "Their hearts are always wrong, that is, they have a zeal and good will, but one that is in error. And Ps. 112:4: "To the pious the light rises in darkness"; likewise Ps. 97:11: "To the righteous the light must always rise", that is, to the one who believes God's word and counsel and rejects his own counsel, "and joy to the pious heart"; item Ps. 33:1, "Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous," that is, those who believe God's counsel, "the upright shall magnify him"; and v. 10, "The Lord destroyeth the counsel of the heathen, and turneth aside the thoughts of the nations." So throughout the whole eightieth Psalm, almost in all the verses, there is a plea for the law, command, word, sentence, judgment, righteousness, justification, that is, for the right means that leads to the end that all ask for; for it is not to ask that we will the good, but that we will it in the right way and that we will the true good. Therefore the Lord also says in this gospel that he will send, not righteous, pious and godly men, but prophets, wise men and scholars of Christ, namely: "Because he will send righteous guides, rulers and counselors, who shall lead us by the right ways and means," he opposes carnal wisdom and human counsel with all diligence. For carnal wisdom is a sensuality that goes on its own counsel and advice; that is, when reason is wise and states what seems to it to be right and good, since it is not able to do this, but should ask of God that it may be instructed by His Spirit to what is [in fact] right and good, and not only seems so. Therefore, the word has become both a hidden and a humiliated wisdom of God, so that it also hides and humiliates our most shameful wisdom, which is full of vanity, error and sin.
The second teaching.
(10) He who does not listen to Christ's counsel and departs from his own, though he does not kill, yet all righteous blood will be upon him, because he is of the race of the
is the slayer of death. And so Christ says Luc. 11, 23: "He who is not with me is against me"; and in Matthew Cap. 23, 31: "So you truly testify that you are willing to do the works of your fathers, for they killed the prophets," since they themselves did not kill them. And the reason is, "He who does not depart from the lineage of those who killed the prophets testifies by deed that he is of one mind with them; just as he who deals with thieves and robbers, and who is pleased with the thief and robber, shares in the punishment and guilt, even though he himself has offended no one in deed; just as Paul stoned St. Stephen, as he himself confesses in Acts Cap. 26, 10, by the hands of the Jews who stoned him. Thus the blood of Christ and all his saints is imputed to all ungodly men, because they are of the race and station of those who killed them and shed their blood. O a fearful word! O a carnal wisdom, which is to be fled with all diligence! For he that loveth his own mind, carnal wisdom, his own counsel, what loveth he but the weapons wherewith Christ and his saints are slain? For who killed him but the fury and love of his own mind? If, therefore, you have not killed the son of a prince yourself, but you take pleasure in the weapons, instruments, efforts, counsels, yes, you make use of them; and since the prince commands, under penalty of life, that they be banished and thrown away, and you praise them and keep them, will he not consider that you have already wanted to do the same, or have just done the same, and condemn you as one who disobeys his command? This is how it will be with all those who love their own proposals, for they love the instruments of Christ's death and of all the saints of God, whom every one should most surely love, if he would be his friend.
011 Is the excuse therefore vain, that thou hast not slain Christ and the righteous, seeing thou hast in thine hand the weapons wherewith he was slain? For if he should ask: What is the meaning of this? you will answer: It pleases me and seems to me.
to be fine. Then he will answer, "This is the very thing that killed my son, and if you had not known it, you could be forgiven. But since you know that these are weapons of blood, and that they signify Christ's death with bloody marks, you should have abhorred them and not loved them, just as the son abhors the weapons with which his father and brother were killed. Therefore this red and bloody dragon, whose weapons are anger, pride, wrath and the like, is to be fled with the utmost diligence, yes, with disgust, and to strive with godly alacrity for humility of mind. Solomon therefore draws from this generation when he says Prov. 1, 10: "When the wicked tempt thee" etc.; likewise v. 11: "Go with us, we will lie in wait for blood." And Rom. 3, 15. it is said of this whole generation, "Their feet are swift to shed blood," viz. because of fellowship, society, and union, though not because of the very same work; Acts 2:40: "Let this naughty generation help you"; and Ps. 12:8: "Thou, O Lord, wilt preserve them, and keep us from this generation for ever."
Addition.
(12) As often as we perceive through our own feelings that we are driven to accept our own opinion, we should detest ourselves with sighs and weep for our misery, because it is terrible that in a Christian is found the sting of death with which his Lord Christ is pierced; and because it is terrible that he lives and fights against his Lord, who should fight for his Lord with all his might, and even die. Therefore, we always have the opportunity for great sorrow and the most humble confession, because we realize that the bloody arrows of the generation of this murderess are still left in us, and if we do not feel pain and groan for their sake, all the righteous blood that has been shed will come upon us. etc.
The third doctrine.
(13) Though God has laid upon us impossible things which are beyond our power, yet no one is excused here: but he that excuses himself comes under greater accusation.
14 The first is clear, and is evident from the fact that he presents invisible things in which he wants us to be blessed, which carnal wisdom cannot appreciate and esteem, because it cannot grasp them. Above this, because the law is spiritual, but the wisdom of the flesh is carnal, it cannot attain to fulfill it. Thus the apostle Rom. 8:6 says: "The wisdom of the flesh is death, because it is not subject to God" etc. Since we are therefore carnal, it is impossible for us to fulfill the law, but Christ alone has come to fulfill that which we cannot fulfill, but which we can certainly dissolve. "For that which was impossible for the law," saith the apostle Rom. 8:3, "being made weak through the flesh. "etc. Behold, the law is impossible because of the flesh. But yet Christ communicates its fulfillment to us by presenting Himself to us as the hen, that we may flee under His wings, and that we too may fulfill the law through His fulfillment. O, a sweet hen! O, blessed little chicks who belong to this hen!
The other part is clear, because he interprets it for the sake of seeking and knowing grace, and emptying the wisdom of the flesh. "By the law comes knowledge of sins." For when it is recognized that lust cannot be removed from us by any suggestion or help, and that it is contrary to the law, which says: "Do not be tempted"; and when we all learn that lust is quite insurmountable, what is left but that the wisdom of the flesh should cease, give way, despair of itself, perish, and thus, humiliated, seek help elsewhere, which it cannot give itself. Therefore he says: "How often have I wanted to gather you" etc. See how he offers his grace even to those who do not seek it. Is therefore the charge greater, that man does not seek grace alone?
He does not seek it, for which he was admonished by the law, but that he also despises the offered grace, reviles the spirit of grace, and considers the blood unclean, so that he is cleansed. He considers it unclean, because he thinks he can help himself with his suggestions, as if he did not need it, and does not believe, nor does he want to listen. Therefore his house is left desolate. But we, as simple little chicks, want to pray with St. Stephen: Under the shelter of thy wings they shall rejoice; and again, They shall have hope under his wings. Rom. 8, 3. 4.: "God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemning sin in the flesh through sin, that righteousness might be fulfilled in us."
(16) That which is said of the human will, that it is unanimous with the will of God, is to be understood of the remaining part of the will, which naturally wills the good. For to speak of the whole will, it deviates both in the love of the good, and reason in the knowledge of what is right and true. Therefore, what remains of reason is also conformed to the wisdom of God, although the whole of reason is entirely unlike it. For if invisible and hidden things are presented to the will as well as to the reason, then the reason does not grasp such things, just as the will does not love such things, although they are inclined to recognize and love such things through what is left over. For what is left of the will is certain; but what is left of the understanding is weak and uncertain. Therefore the intellect recognizes only the probable things; likewise the will loves the same, and cannot rise above it that it loved the invisible before the same. But I call invisible things only that which is in God: visible, however, that which is not God Himself, as wisdom, virtues, gifts of grace. For although these are not sensual, carnal or corporeal, they are nevertheless presently known to man. Therefore, the heretics and the ungodly are mainly lost in them, because they are so
They love them stiffly and firmly, as if they loved God by loving these things. For this is why, when they are punished in these things, they are jealous and rage, and defend themselves, and practice jealousy before God with ignorance and without knowledge. But the commandment, "Thou shalt love God above all things," does not say, "Thou shalt love the gifts of God," etc.; but commands plainly that the invisible things are to be loved, which man's reason has not comprehended, no eye has seen, and no ear has heard. Therefore, even though they are wise and live well, they can rightly be said to live according to the wisdom of the flesh, and perhaps better than all others who are wise and prudent only in bodily things. The characteristic of them is that they are servants without fear and secretly hopeful. For the commandment, "Thou shalt love God thy Lord," shows superfluously enough the sickness of both [namely, of the mind and will], because we look to the visible, if we love and are wise in it, which yet is forbidden there. Yes, for the enlightenment of reason the Word, as the wisdom of the Father, became flesh, and for the healing of the will the Holy Spirit was sent; so that the Word would give light to reason, but the Holy Spirit would give fire to the will, so that the understanding would understand and the will would love those things that are invisible and above it, which it has been sent to understand and love through what remains, but in fact does not love or understand, because what is invisible to reason and the will is not loved.
is lacking, prevents him from doing so. Therefore, one must always sigh and pray.
17 A sick person, whom one tries to help with medicine, can serve here as an example. This sick person still has some remnant of health, which physicians call the forces of nature, because he is inclined to do what a healthy person does, but he cannot do it. For if there were not something left of health, the disease would be desperate and incurable. But regardless of all this, he who can take latwerge and other medicines should not consider himself healthy until he no longer desires them, or even despises them, and is hungry again for the usual food and is able to eat it. It is the same with the folly of hypocrites, who, because of God's virtues and gifts of grace, boast as if they were perfect and righteous, as it is with the sick, who, after taking medicine, imagine that they are healthy, and therefore prove themselves pompous and pompous to the physician. For just as this is not health, but only the means to health, so also the works and gifts of righteousness are not salvation itself, but the means to salvation and righteousness. But God alone is salvation, who is sought through all these things, of whom it is not to be boasted that he is already found. Therefore, just as a sick person does not act without fear, even though he can take medicine; so also a righteous person does not act without fear, even though he works good; because both are in danger of destruction.