First sermon.*)
You know that today one should hear God's holy word. Therefore, let us let our Lord God be our preacher, and let us be his disciples and hear his holy word. Thus writes St. Matthew:
Matth. 18, 1-10.
At that hour the disciples came to Jesus and said: Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus called a child to him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. He therefore that bringeth himself low, as this child, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives such a child in my name receives me. But whosoever shall offend the least of these that believe on me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the deepest part of the sea. Woe to the world because of trouble. Trouble must come, but woe to the man by whom trouble comes. But if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for you to become lame or crippled, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. See that you do not despise any of these little ones. For I tell you, their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
From the angels.
This feast of the angels was arranged in the church for the sake of the young people, or to put it correctly, for the sake of all Christians,
*) Held in the house, 1532:
that they may learn to remember the dear angels, and thank God for having ordained such great lords to be servants to us; as the epistle to the Ebrews says they are therefore servants of God.
Spirits sent out 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; even as He could make us human like Adam and Eve, by Himself, without father and mother; as He could rule without princes; as He could give us light without sun and stars, without plowing and farming and other work. But he will not do it, but he has given father and mother, who shall keep house, beget and raise children; he has given princes and authorities, who shall rule; he has created sun and moon, who shall shine; and in sum, he has arranged it so that one creature shall always serve the other. Just as we should thank God for giving us father and mother, worldly authorities, sun, moon, stars, grain and all kinds of creatures to 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.
For your love has often heard that the devil is everywhere around men, in courts, in houses, in the fields, on all roads, in water, in wood, in fire: everything is full of devils. They do nothing but want to break everyone's neck every moment; and it is certainly true that if God did not stop the evil enemy, he would not leave a grain in the field or on the ground, not a fish in the water, not a piece of meat in the pot, not a drop of water, beer or wine in the cellar unpoisoned, item, not a healthy member of man.
4 Therefore, when a man loses an eye or a hand, when a man is strangled, or when a man gets pestilence or another disease, these are all blows and throws of the devil. He throws at the head of one or the other: if he hits, he has it; if he does not hit, it is a sure sign that God has strengthened him through the dear angels. So, when accidental cases occur, that the one in a
Fire, which falls into a water, these are vain devil's strokes and throws, who always stabs and throws at us, and gladly inflicts all misfortunes on us.
Against such a wicked, poisonous, mischievous enemy, who pursues us without ceasing, 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 cause all misfortune; as we see and experience every day, that some break a leg on level ground, some fall down a staircase or stairs, 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, if God did not intervene every hour, that such things would always happen, and that we should therefore be more diligent in praying and more grateful to God for such protection.
When he wants to punish, he removes his hand and takes away the protection and service of his dear angels, and leaves the devil room and power over us. He strikes down one here, another there, so that ten, twenty, thirty, yes, often a hundred die of the pestilence in one day. These are the plagues of the devil, his poisonous arrows, his lead bullets, namely, pestilence, glands, Frenchmen and other misfortunes. God allows these things to happen so that He may warn us and draw us to Himself, so that we may adhere to Him and be obedient to Him.
(7) For he is a God of life, who will save and help where we need it, if only we fear him and call upon him. But if we are wicked and ask nothing of his word, nor thank him for his fatherly protection and care, then he is angry and keeps his angels at home, leaving room for the devil to tame wicked boys with pestilence and other calamities, because otherwise they will do no good. Just as if you pull off your hands and will not give your children food, clothing or anything else, they are already poor and corrupt. So
God also punishes the ungrateful, bad boys by not resisting the devil and keeping his angels at home. When he speaks to Michael, Gabriel and others: Stop resisting; let the devil be tamed, because otherwise the boys will do no good, so let them go and strangle the pestilence; so it goes on.
8 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. This will undoubtedly not have gone off without harm, for the journeyman is wont to go about, says Peter, seeking like a lion where he may feed and choke. Then the Lord says further, "Have you not taken heed of my servant Job? For he is not like him in the land, bad and righteous, fearing God, and shunning evil." Satan replies: Yes, dear one! Job has been good to God, for you have kept his house and all that he has all around, and have poured a wall around it." By this he means the dear angels who had to be around Job, looking at his wife, child, field and cattle. As if he wanted to say: I would have come to this, where you did not defend.
Now our Lord God lets him try, he shall do with Job's goods as he pleases. In a moment the devil comes, arouses some evil men, and they 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 companies and take three thousand camels from Job and slay what they find. All this happened in one day, and it was not enough. For Job had three daughters and four sons. While they were together, happy and in good spirits, behold, the devil stirred up such a storm that he threw the house into a heap and killed everything inside. The devil was able to do this, but not before God had allowed him to. So it can happen to us as well.
When our Lord calls back the angels, ours is none, he is dead in a moment.
(10) Then Job, falling down on the earth in all humility, prayed and said, "The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away, the Lord be praised!" God said to Satan, "You see, Job is still righteous, and there is no one like him in the land." Satan answered: This is not a miracle! All misfortune is still to be overcome, because it does not apply the skin. But let me attack him on his skin, on his flesh and bone: 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 flesh, and afflict him as you will; but spare his life, and do not kill him. This is a special, comforting little piece, that nevertheless our Lord God has caught the devil in such a way that he cannot harm any further than God grants and allows him. For he could not come to Job's skin until God allowed it. But when our Lord God permitted it, the devil came out and covered poor Job with so many evil Frenchmen that there was not a single spot on his skin, from the sole of his foot 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 comes from so suddenly, but we Christians know that it is the work of the devil, who has such halberds, lead bullets and guns, such spears and swords, so that he throws, shoots and stabs among us when God allows him to. Therefore, let no one doubt: where a fire breaks out, that a village or a house burns down, there always sits a devil with it, who blows, always into the fire, so that it should become bigger. So, if someone dies of the pestilence, drowns, falls to death, that is done by the devil, and God decrees it, because otherwise we would be too evil. As you can see, even though such punishments are carried out, the world does not turn away from them, and God cannot make us righteous through them.
(13) Let us learn these things, and know that the devil harms us all in the following ways
Body, goods and honor, he may do it by himself, as when he attacks Job in the body, or by his servants, the wicked people, 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. For this he needs the service of the dear angels, even though he could do good by himself without the angels; just as he needs the evil angels to punish and do harm, even though he could punish by himself.
(14) For the sake of this blessing we should thank our dear Lord God that he has given us the dear angels who, as a wall, represent and protect us against the devil; we should not be insolent nor secure, as if we were alone on earth and the devil were a thousand miles away from us. No, you are not alone, the devils are all around you, as Paul says, flying in the air like jackdaws and crows, shooting and throwing at us without ceasing, and if they could strike us down with one throw, they would.
Against these evil spirits and devils, God created the holy angels, who are kind, merciful, benevolent spirits that help prevent the devils from doing everything they want. Therefore, if the holy angels were not in the courts of emperors, kings and princes, the devil would reign there; as you can see, no unity can be made there, because the devil, who is at court, blows into them and causes all discord; and if the holy angels were not there and weeping, they would fall into each other every hour, and no day would pass without war and murder. Our Lord God lets it happen that great lords become divided, he sometimes lets the devil light a fire; but there are the dear angels, who extinguish again and make peace. But where God withdraws His angels because of our sins, there it happens that people burn, murder, stab to death, defile women, and so make it that the devil takes pleasure in it.
16. so in housekeeping also would not be
There would be no peace, but eternal discord, scolding, quarreling, stealing, unfaithfulness, neglect, etc.; nothing would go right, but everything would be full of sorrow and heartache, where it should go according to 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, 'that he must give way and desist.
Therefore let no one be safe, for all things are full of devils; they would gladly harm the body, the goods, and the soul with bitterness, hatred, wrath, jealousy, and other things, so that they would bring us down to hell. But that it does not happen, we have to thank our dear God, who through his angels prevents the devil, that nevertheless always more good than harm happens, that there is more peace than war, that more grain remains and grows than is spoiled 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, this happens to us as a punishment, that God wakes us up, and we open our eyes, look around, what we have and keep besides such harm for grace and good deeds; and thank God for it, if war, pestilence or other misfortune goes, that it did not go completely to failure, but still something and the most part remained. Thus does the prophet Jeremiah, exhorting his people to thank God that they have not been destroyed, as he speaks in his chapters Cap. 3:22: "The goodness of the Lord is that we are not utterly destroyed." As if he wanted to say, "Be silent and do not complain that you have been punished and led away; it is God's grace and mercy that you are not completely destroyed. For that is how the devil would like it. He is not satisfied with breaking your leg, he would like to tear your neck off; he is not satisfied with breaking one or two of you.
He wanted to clear the house and throw it into a heap. Therefore, we should fear God and ask Him to protect us from the devil through His angels; and when one dies in the time of pestilence, or one perishes in war, we should say with the pious Jeremiah: Praise God that the others remain and not everything is gone. 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. Again, he 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 when they can no longer do so, they give you evil dreams, hang evil mouths on you, which are to deceive you, hinder you, and revile you. Know that all this is called the devil's trick, and beware lest you live like the heathen: they also see and experience such misfortune, but they think it happens 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 the water, or a stone falls on him and does him no particular harm, this is not called good fortune, but the work of the angels themselves.
Now there is a difference both among the angels and among the devils. Princes and lords have great and excellent angels, as is seen in Daniel 10. Children and wicked servants have common angels. For one angel is always greater, stronger and wiser than the other. So are the devils. For this very reason, says Christ, they have a kingdom. Luke 11: For as in one kingdom there are many persons and unequal offices, so there are unequal offices among devils. These are lesser devils, who prey on fornication, avarice, vain honor, and other such sins. But these are higher spirits, who attack with unbelief, with despair, with heresies, just as the spirits of the rotters and the pope have such devils. Therefore, it is highly necessary that we get used to prayer and faithfully cry out to God in such high journeys that he does not take such protection of the dear angels from us, because otherwise it is over with us, we are too weak for the devil.
22 This is what the Lord means in this gospel, in which he also speaks of the angels. But it is a pity that this gospel should be preached to such people as do not take it to heart and consider it diligently. For it is an excellent word that the Lord says here of the children, saying, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones. For I say unto you, that their angels which are in heaven do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."
23) It would be enough said that he says: These little ones have their own angels. But with this he makes it still greater, that he says: "These same angels see the Father's face in heaven. As if he wanted to say: I command you the young people, that you do not anger them, but rather that you take good care of them, because God is very interested in them. And though ye despise them, and have not pity on them, to spare them, yet spare their angels, and fear them; and learn, because these same great spirits serve them heartily, and do what is best for them, which always stand before the face of God, and always hear him, and see him, and serve him, and serve him; that ye also do such things, which ye have done, and have not done.
be far, far inferior, and yes not annoy them, but serve them gladly. The angels are the highest servants, who are as at court around the prince, stand before the table and hear and see the prince himself. The same servants have the children also to servants. Therefore I ask and warn that you do not annoy the children, but wait for them and serve them.
(24) If we had no more than this one saying, where Christ lets himself be heard, how his heavenly Father cares so much for the young people, we should conclude that among all good works there is no greater nor better than to raise young people rightly. For who would not consider it great to serve those whom the angels serve, who are always before God? Therefore, father and mother, servants and maids, schoolmasters and preachers, and all those who deal with young servants, should be cheerful, willing and merry for such service from the bottom of their hearts, and not let anything spoil it; because these great princes of heaven are not ashamed to serve the young servants and to look upon them. This is the first thing to be learned from today's Gospel, besides the teaching about the angels.
(25) The other is, not only to serve the youth gladly, but also not to vex them, either in word or deed, that they be not deceived, but brought to the best: that they learn to pray, to be chaste, temperate, obedient, faithful, quiet, and true, not to curse, not to reproach, not to be lewd in word and deed, and in sum, not to become carnal, coarse, naughty, wild, desolate people. As it happens very soon, where one does not prevent it by diligent discipline.
026 For this we see by experience, that youth is like tinder, which overmuch easily catcheth that which is evil and grievous. Therefore it is necessary to take special care that both the children and their angels are watched: the angels, that they be not deceived; but the children, that they be not offended. For hear how the Lord takes care of the children:
27 "Whoever welcomes such a child in my name welcomes me." As if
He who takes care of a child bodily and spiritually, who brings him up rightly so that he learns to know God and does not learn to curse, swear and steal, I promise him that he will take me in himself and do me such kindness as if he were carrying me, little Mary, in his arms and caring for me as my mother Mary cared for me. That is ever sweetly preached and kindly enticed.
28 But why does the Lord do this? Only because he knows well how the young people like to hear lewd things and are soon seduced. So one finds wicked mouths that gladly help to do so, and God in heaven be praised! one now finds boys and maidens of ten or twelve years old who can curse torture, velten, Frenchmen and other vile oaths and are otherwise shameful and coarse with words. From whom do they learn it? From no one, but from those who are supposed to teach them, from father and mother and from the shameful, evil servants. Such things come to the young people much sooner, and they notice them much better, than the Lord's Prayer. This is caused by the old evil tinder, the corrupt nature that is in us. Therefore Christ preaches so sweetly and exhorts so kindly that one should take care of the young people, and says: "If you teach anyone of these little ones, so that they are brought up to fear God and knowledge, to godliness and discipline, then you have done me the greatest service. I have appointed my great servants, the dear angels, to serve them and wait for them. Behold, and do ye also, vex them not, let them hear no evil, and serve them gladly.
2S. Therefore one should be more careful and more deliberate with the young people, and not speak or do everything that one usually speaks and does. The pagans also said: Maxima reverentia debetur juventuti: The greatest shame and honor belongs to young people. But Christ preaches much differently here, namely, when one receives young children and serves them, that it is as dear to him as if one carried him himself in his arms, as the Virgin Mary carried him. But how many are those who do it? Very few. Therefore the Lord sets a hard sentence on them, and says:
But whosoever shall offend the least of these that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the deepest part of the sea.
(30) He is very angry, the Lord, and is vexed that the young people are not taken care of. Whoever offends one of these least ones," he says, "whoever teaches the young people to curse, to swear, to lie, to talk back, to be lewd, etc.: it would be better for him if he were already dead. This is to indicate that such sin will be punished not only with temporal death, but with eternal damnation. The world considers this to be a bad punishment; that is why all kinds of troubles are going on in full swing, and it is the evil devil that the young world is now so wild, wild and naughty that vain devils' children come out of it, who can do nothing but curse, swear, blaspheme, lie, behave lewdly, be disobedient and exercise all courage. Woe to those who help them! For the judgment is already passed on such as these; as Christ saith, "It were better for them to have a millstone about their necks, and to lie in the midst of the sea, than to offend such." But the world does not hear until it learns, feels and grasps with its harm.
31 Therefore our dear Lord Jesus Christ exhorts us to serve the youth gladly and not to offend them, saying: "If you will not be afraid of the children, be afraid of their angels; and if you are so ashamed before them, think that their angels are standing there and are afraid of them, and therefore look sourly. If the angels are displeased, and if they are always standing before our Lord God, our Lord God (who otherwise also sees and notices, as nothing is hidden from Him) will see and notice it in the angels, and will therefore be angry; so that both God and the angels will be grieved and angered if one annoys the children. For this reason, care should be taken to train the youth, not only not to do anything bad in front of them, but also to keep them from doing bad things and to discipline them diligently; as when a child curses or utters a shameful word, it should be spoken to him seriously:
Be ashamed in thine heart, and do it no more: for thine angel standeth there, and heareth, and is afraid of such a curse, and looketh sore upon it. If then your angel is afraid of it and sees it sore, and he stands before the face of God, thinkest thou not that God will perceive it, and therefore also see it sore, and therefore be angry? Therefore, do not do it at all! With such words and others, the youth can be trained, because otherwise they will grow up in their sod and learn and practice all naughtiness. But where words and faithful admonition do not take place, nor will they help, parents have orders to quickly spur them on with the rod and not to let the children lose their will to be brave.
32 But if anyone says, "Should we not curse at all? Christ and the apostles did curse. Answer: It is true that Christ and the apostles cursed and reproached, but they did so out of love, not to offend, but for punishment and correction. But if one curses in such a way, as the world does now, that neither punishment nor correction follows from it, but rather annoyance, especially among the young people: that should not be. This is what the Lord means here, that everyone should do this and take precautions, so that the youth will not be angered. If one does this, one is doing such a great service as if one were carrying Christ himself on his arms; as he says here, "If one reproves the young people, one is serving them.
(33) So it says both that it is a great service to Christ himself to serve the young people, and again that it is a great sin to offend the young people. If the dear angels keep the young children and serve them gladly, we should think that we also help them to be well brought up and serve them gladly. But the world does not believe it. Therefore, what Christ wants to happen does not happen, but the contradiction happens, as can be seen everywhere. I would rather be dead than live ten or even three years and see how my boys live. Therefore I will also serve our Lord God, and not have a millstone hung around my neck for their sake.
This is what is taught and preached today, that the angels rule the whole world and serve the young people, and that Christ wants us to do the same. Therefore, we should learn that father, mother,
Schoolmasters do God the highest service they can do Him by raising and instructing young people properly. That is enough of this gospel and of the dear angels.