The first sermon. From the angels.*)
(1) The feast of the angels was instituted in the Church for the sake of the young people, or, if I may say so, for the sake of all Christians, so that they might learn to remember the dear angels and thank God for having ordained such great lords to be our servants and serve us. As the epistle to the Hebrews therefore calls them ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for the sake of those who are to inherit blessedness.
It is true that God could preserve us and protect us from the devil and all misery, for Himself, without the service of angels. Just as he could make us human, like Adam and Eve, without father and mother; just as he could govern land and people without princes; just as he could give us bread without sun and stars, without plowing and farming and other work. But he will not do it; but he has so ordered that one creature shall always serve another. Just as we should thank God for giving us father and mother, worldly authority, sun and stars, grain and all kinds of creatures, so that they serve and help us in this life, so we should also learn that God protects and helps us through His angels, and we should also be grateful to God for this.
3. for your love has often heard that
*) Held in the house, in 1532.
the devil is everywhere around men: in the courts, in houses, in the fields, on all roads, in waters, in wood, in the fire; in sum, everything is full of devils, who do nothing but want to break everyone's neck at any moment. And it is certainly true that if God did not fight the evil enemy without ceasing, he would not leave one grain, neither fish nor flesh, not a drop of water, beer or wine unpoisoned.
4 Therefore, when a man loses an eye or a hand, or when a man is strangled, or when a pestilence comes upon him, or when another disease comes upon him, these are the devil's blows and casts; he throws at one man's head, and at another man's. If he hits, he has it; but if he does not hit, it is really a sign that God is feeding him through the good angels. If he hits, he has it; but if he does not hit, it is actually a sign that God has fed him through the dear angels. So, when unexpected cases happen, that one falls into a fire, the other into water, these are vain blows and throws of the devil, who is always stabbing and throwing at us, and would gladly inflict all kinds of misfortune on us.
Against such a wicked, poisonous, mischievous enemy, God has ordained the dear angels to watch, so that wherever a devil strikes and throws pestilence, fire, hail, etc., an angel may be there to defend. For it is a constant battle between angels and devils. The devil would like to have everything
As we see and experience every day, many a person breaks a leg on the ground, many a person falls down a staircase or stairs, so that he himself does not know what has happened to him. Such and other things the devil would probably always do if God did not intervene through the dear angels. For this reason, he lets us see such individual pieces from time to time, so that we may learn that if God did not intervene every hour, such things would always happen, and therefore we should be more diligent in praying and more grateful to God for such protection.
For God is a God of life, who wants to save and help where we need it. But if we are wicked and do not ask for His word, nor thank Him for His fatherly protection and care, then He becomes angry and keeps His angels at home, and leaves room for the devil to tame wicked boys with pestilence and other misfortunes, because they do not want to do any good; so it is over with us. Just as if you pull off your hand and will not give your children food, clothing or anything else, they are already poor and corrupt. So God also punishes the ungrateful, wicked wretches by not intervening and keeping His angels at home.
7 So we see that it also happened to the pious Job. For in his history it is written that our Lord God asks the devil: "Where did you come from? The devil answers and says, "I have wandered through the land." There is no doubt that it will not have gone without harm. For as the journeyman is wont to go about, Peter says, seeking as a lion where he may feed and choke. Then the Lord speaks further: "Have you not taken care of my servant Job; for he is not like him in the land, wicked and righteous, God-fearing and shunning evil." Satan answers God again, saying, "Job hath been well godly: for thou hast kept his house and all that he hath round about, and hast heaped a wall about it." With such words he means: The dear angels must be around him, and look at his wife, child, field and cattle. As if the evil enemy wanted to say: "I would have come to that, where you did not defend yourself.
Now our Lord God lets him try, he shall do with Job's goods as he pleases. In a flash the devil comes, arouses some evil men, who drive away Job's thousand oxen and donkeys and slay the servants. Then he causes fire to fall from heaven and burns seven thousand sheep, shepherds and all. Third, he arouses the Chaldeans, who invade with three bands and take three thousand camels from Job and slay what they find.
(9) All this happened in one day, and it was not enough. For Job had three daughters and four sons; and while they were together, merry and of good cheer, behold, the devil stirred up such a tempest as threw the house into a heap, and slew all that was therein. The devil was able to do this, but not before God had allowed him to. So it can also happen to us. When our Lord God calls the angels back, ours is not, it is dead in a moment.
010 But what did Job do when he heard such affliction? He made himself very miserable, tore his clothes, pulled out his hair; but still he fell to the ground in all humility, prayed and said, "I came naked from my mother's womb: naked shall I go again. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, the Lord be praised." That makes me a very good and holy man. But what happened next? "It came to pass in the day," saith the Scripture, "that Satan stood again before God, and the Lord said unto him, Whence comest thou?" This way of speaking the Scripture has here, that it speaks of a thing as it happens with us and we think of it. For God must not ask, he knows all things beforehand, even before they happen. Satan answers, "I have compassed the land round about." Here you hear once again that the enemy is not idle nor does he celebrate, he is always creeping after us humans. We must learn this and therefore beware of him and take good care of ourselves.
11) The Lord asks Satan again, saying, "Have you also taken care of my servant Job? for it is his fault.
He is not a wicked and righteous man in the land, fearing God, avoiding evil, and still holding to his piety; but thou hast moved me to destroy him without a cause. Satan answers the Lord, "This is no miracle; all misfortune is yet to be overcome, because it is not skin deep here. But let me attack him on his skin, on his flesh and bones; what does it matter? the good words will remain behind; he will let himself be heard differently than now, since it has not gone over his own skin, but over others. Now the Lord also allows Satan to do this, saying, "Behold, he is in your hand; attack him in his body, and afflict him as you will; but spare his life, and do not kill him." This is a particularly comforting piece, that nevertheless our Lord God has caught the devil in such a way that he cannot go any further than God allows him to go. What happened? The devil went out and struck poor Job so full of evil swarms that there was not a single spot on his skin, from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, that he sat down in the ashes and scraped himself with broken pieces.
The pagans do not know where such misfortune suddenly comes from. But we know that it is the work of the devil, who has such halberds, lead bullets and guns, such spears and swords, so that he shoots, throws and stabs among us, if God allows him. Therefore, no one doubts it; where there is a fire, that a village or house burns down, there is always a little devil sitting there, who always blows into the fire, so that it should become bigger. So if someone dies of pestilence, drowns, falls to his death, the devil does it and God forbids it, because otherwise we would become too evil. As you can see, even though such punishments are carried out, the world does not turn away from them.
(13) Therefore we need such punishment and examples, so that we do not live so boldly and recklessly, but ask God for the protection of the dear angels daily and thank Him for it. For although He could protect us by Himself without the help of the angels, He will do so through the angels: they are like a chariot around us, so that the
Devil does not break in on us every moment and do harm.
(14) Therefore let us learn and know that the devil harms us all in body, goods and honor: he does it by himself, as when he attacks Job in the body; or by his servants, the wicked men, as when he attacks Job in the goods, and arouses the Chaldeans and others against him. For our Lord God, as reported above, is a God of life, and can do nothing but good through Himself. But this serves us, that we should not be insolent and sure, as if we were alone and the devil were a thousand miles away from us. No, you are not alone; the devils are swarming all around, as Paul says: They fly in the air like jackdaws and crows, shooting and throwing at us without ceasing.
15 But there is the consolation: they cannot strike rather than God wills it; otherwise we should fear to death. After that there is another consolation, as we see in Job, that God does not let the devil have his way all the time, as if we deserved it and God was angry with us; but that he wants to try us, whether we will also be patient and hold on to his goodness.
16 After this, the third consolation, of which we are particularly concerned today, is that against such evil and harmful actions of the devil, God created the dear angels to serve us and protect us. For they are kind, merciful, benevolent spirits, who gladly let themselves be used to hinder the devil's activity. Therefore, if the dear angels were not in the courts of emperors, kings and princes, the devil would not tarry long, but would cause all misery, so that they would fall into each other every hour. But our Lord God allows it to happen that great lords become divided; he sometimes lets the devil light a fire, but there are the dear angels who extinguish it again and make peace. But where God withdraws His angels because of our sins or other causes, there it goes badly, with murdering, burning, ravishing women and other things, and the devil takes pleasure in it. So there would be no peace in the household either,
but an eternal discord, stealing, unfaithfulness, neglect etc.; nothing would go right, but everything would be full of misery and heartache, where it should follow the will of the devil. But God controls him through his dear angels, even though he has sometimes lit a fire, stirred up mischief and other things, so that he must give way and desist.
(17) Therefore let no man be safe; for all things are full of devils, which would gladly hurt the body, the goods, and the soul, with bitterness, hatred, wrath, jealousy, and other things, that they might bring us down to hell. But that this does not happen, we have to thank our gracious Father in heaven, who, through his angels, the high and excellent spirits, prevents the devil: that nevertheless more good than harm always happens; that there is more peace than war; that more grain remains and grows than is destroyed by frost, hail and other things; that more houses remain standing than burn down; that we humans have more healthy limbs than sick ones. If the devil attacks an eye, a foot, an arm, the other body is healthy. Thus, more of them are left to die than die of pestilence.
18) But that it does not go so purely, and the devil does harm now here, now there: God allows this to happen, so that he wakes us up, and we open our eyes, look around, what we have and keep besides such harm for grace; and thank God for it, if war, pestilence or other misfortune goes, that it has not gone to failure, but still something, and most of the part, has remained. As the prophet Jeremiah does: he admonishes his people to be silent and not to complain that they have been punished and led away; for this is a great mercy, he says, so that we are not completely destroyed. For this is how the devil would like it: he is not content to break your leg, he would like to tear your neck off. He is not content that one or two of a house should die; he would gladly clear the house. As it also happens from time to time; as a warning to us that we should live in the fear of God and ask for the protection of the dear angels. For we are too weak for the enemy. Therefore, where a
If such an accident occurs, we should get used to it and say with the pious Jeremiah: "Well, if a child has died for me, if an eye has been spoiled for me, praise God that the others will remain and that not everything will be lost. For with this, God wants to teach us what the devil would dare to do if he were not defended by the dear angels.
Therefore let us learn that we are in great danger day and night, and that we are like a target to the devil, who always has a cocked crossbow and a loaded rifle, and aims at us, so that he shoots among us with pestilence, with the French, with war, with fire, with hail, with storms. But our dear Lord God, through His dear angels, makes the crossbow fail him and the rifle burst or fail. He also lets him be struck at times, so that we may learn that we are not nobles and that not everything is in our hands, and therefore pray all the more diligently that God will not leave the devil his space, but will graciously ward him off through his dear angels.
20 We are to learn this today, that our Lord God has appointed His angels, so that every Christian has not one, but many angels to guard him; just as every one has his own devils who creep after him; and where they cannot do more, they give you evil dreams, hang evil mouths on you, which are to deceive, hinder and revile. Then know that all this is called the devil's trick; *) and beware lest thou live as the heathen do: they also see and experience such calamities, but they think they happen by chance, for they know nothing of the devil. But learn thou, and say, This is what the wretched devil hath done. Again, when thou seest that a thing is well done, say, He hath had a good angel; otherwise it should be worse done. As when a man comes out of a flood, or a stone falls on him and does him no harm, this is not called good fortune, but the work of angels.
(21) Now there is a difference both among the angels and among the devils.
*) Gerick - young brood. D. Red.
Princes and lords have great and excellent angels, as is seen in Daniel 10; children and wicked servants have lesser and meaner angels, for one is always greater, stronger and wiser than the other. So also the devils. For this very reason Christ says they have one kingdom, Luc. 11. For as to one kingdom belong many persons and unequal offices, so are there unequal offices among the devils. These are lesser devils, who attack with fornication, avarice, honor and the like; but these are higher spirits, who attack with unbelief, with despair, with heresies. Such devils have to deal with the pope, where they otherwise do not all have to deal with him, and with the spirits of the rotten. Therefore, it is highly necessary that we get used to prayer and faithfully cry out to God in such high journeys that He will not take such protection of the dear angels from us. Otherwise we are finished; we are much too weak for the devil.
(22) But this also belongs to prayer, that one may live in the fear of God and beware of sins. For the dear angels are holy and pure spirits, and therefore they cannot suffer where one leads an ungodly life, lives in fornication and other vices.
wanted. As it is also evident that God punishes such vices very severely. That is why the 34th Psalm v. 8 says: "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and helps them out. For whoever does not want to fear God and is in trouble and distress, the angels will leave him in the lurch and will not help him. For their protection shall be such that God's word and order shall not be shattered, and the wicked shall not go unpunished for their sins.
(23) Therefore, if you want the angels around you and with you, fear God and be godly; as the Lord Christ says in the Gospel, that they rejoice over sinners who repent. From this must ever follow, where there is an impenitent man, who continues in sins forever, that the dear angels see their sorrow, and have vain grief and displeasure from it, and cannot remain with such people, though they would gladly; their kind and nature cannot endure it. Let this be preached by the angels this time, so that we may learn to thank God for such glorious protection, and pray from the bottom of our hearts every day that God will not take it from us, but will graciously rule over us, amen.