1. what power prayer has.
2. about prayer and its power.
3. a different one from the power of prayer and from the Lord's Prayer.
4. another one of these.
5. another one different from the power of prayer.
6. that prayer should be practiced and practiced daily.
7. that peasants do not like to pray.
8. of a monk's prayer.
9. that preachers should put their prayer together.
1V. Causes of prayer.
11. D. M. Luther's prayer for a gracious rain.
12. of the papist prayer.
13. D. M. Luther's exhortation to prayer.
14. to ask for peace.
15. Asking for peace.
16. an exhortation to give thanks for peace.
17. about world peace.
18. from unity.
19. of disunity in churches among the servants.
20. about the power and ability of prayer.
21: Admonition of D. M. Luther's Exhortation to Pray Against the Devil and Papists.
22. that the prayer will surely be heard.
23. sighing of the heart.
24. D. M. L. and other plague in the Pabstthum with the Horis canonicis.
25. whether to curse in prayer.
26. of the spirit of grace and prayer.
27. your will be done.
28. the power of prayer.
29. righteous prayer is surely heard.
30. prayer for a child prayer.
31. negligence to prayer.
The best prayer is the Lord's Prayer.
33. exhortation to prayer,
34 Whether foreign faith helps anything.
35. Christ directed the prayer to the Father alone.
36. Against temptation one should not pray.
The children's prayer.
38. of some sayings.
39. as D. M. Luther prayed.
40. Through prayer one should command everything to God.
41. the power of prayer.
42. With prayer, one must stop.
43. D. M. L. Prayer that the last day may come.
44. God demands the heart in prayer.
45. you have to pray, and what it creates.
Christians pray forever.
47) How lawyers should begin their dealings with prayer and the fear of God.
48. of the father-our and its power.
49) That one must stop with prayer.
1. what power prayer has.
(The first three paragraphs in Cordatus No. 355, No. 1411 and No. 1234.)
Well, no one believes that the power and effectiveness of our prayer is so great who has not experienced it. But then it is also a very great thing to be able to resort to prayer when sad cases occur. As often as I have been serious about my prayers, I have been answered more abundantly than I have asked. God may sometimes forego and yet he hears.
The prayer of the righteous is heard before it is finished. But no one performs such a prayer unless experience teaches him and necessity drives him. I have often experienced this, obtaining more than I asked for.
Jesus Sirach says that the prayer of the godly can do more to heal a sick person than the treatment of doctors.
Item: Oh, what a great thing it is about the
a righteous prayer of devout Christians! Jac. 5, 16. How powerful it is with God that a poor man should speak to the high majesty in heaven in this way and not be afraid of it, but know that God is looking kindly upon him for the sake of Jesus Christ, His dear Son, our Lord and Savior! The heart and conscience must not run back, nor be in doubt because of his unworthiness, nor be deterred. As once happened to a Bavarian who called on St. Leonard very devoutly. There stood one behind the idol and image, who answered and said: Fie you, Bavarian! and often drove him back, would not hear him. At last he went away and said: Fie you, Ledla! We must not let it come to this, but in our hearts we must surely believe and conclude that we are ready to hear what we have asked in faith in Christ.
Therefore, the ancients described prayer very finely and well, that it is an ascension of the heart to God, Ascensus mentis ad Deum, when the heart rises and sighs to God. It is very well said. I myself, and the others in general, did not understand the definition correctly. We praised and said of the rising of the heart, but there was a lack of syntax, so that we could not bring the Deum (the word God) to it: yes, we fled from God, could not freely and surely go before God and ask Him through Christ, in whom all power and certainty of prayer is seen; but have always prayed con- ditionally, with a condition and a certainty, uncertainly, on adventurousness and counsel. Therefore, dear brothers, pray in your heart, sometimes also with your mouth, because, by God, prayer sustains the world, otherwise it should be much different. At home I am not so brave and cheerful, for I must always protest beforehand; but in church among the congregation it is heartfelt and also penetrates.
2. about prayer and its power.
As a cobbler makes a shoe, and a tailor a skirt; so a Christian should pray. A Christian's trade is prayer. And the prayer of the church is a great miracle. In our time, three of them have been raised from the dead: I, who have often lain deathly ill; my housewife Käthe, who was also deathly ill; and M. Philippus Melanchthon, who lay deathly ill in Weimar in 1540: although deliverance from illness and bodily dangers are bad miracles, they should be noted because of the weak in faith. For these are far greater miracles to me, that our Lord God baptizes every day in the church, administers the sacrament of the altar, and saves from sin, death and eternal damnation. These are great miracles to me.
3. a different one from the power of prayer and from the Lord's Prayer.
In the Lord's Prayer, the Lord Christ has understood all needs in very few words, what we should ask and how we should ask. But apart from the temptation, no right prayer can be
happen. That is why David says Ps. 50:15: "Call upon me in time of need"; otherwise, without that, it is a cold babble and does not come from the heart; as they say, "Need teaches to pray.
(This paragraph in Lauterbach, no date, p. 155.)
The papists say that God understands all the words of those who pray. But Bernard judges differently, saying that God does not hear the words of a prayer if they are not first heard by the prayers.
The pope has tortured the consciences as a real cane-master and weighed them down without measure. The assembly of his scribblers and religious, priests, monks and nuns, was nothing else than a frog's fiddle, which neither served nor built anything: and if one thought that they had taught and done much, it was only sophistry and deception, without any benefit and fruit.
4. another one.
What a strong wall and rampart of the church is the dear prayer, and weapon of the Christians and godly, no one knows and learns, except a Christian and believer who has the spirit of grace and prayer. Oh, how an excellent master has composed these words, in which there is and is an infinite rhetoric and oratory, in which all things, needs and troubles are comprehended! The first three petitions contain and comprehend such great, excellent, celestial things that no heart can ever be able to comprehend them. The fourth petition includes, as if in a bundle, the whole police and economy, the worldly and domestic government, and everything that is physical and temporal, which is necessary for this life. The fifth petition is against the devil's own evil conscience, both inherent and committed sins that weigh down the conscience 2c. Truly, a wise man has made it, and no one can do the same.
prayed often, but they did not pray. For Christ says to John in the 16th chapter, v. 24: "You have not asked anything in my name before," since they undoubtedly prayed much and spoke the words: but when the Holy Spirit came, only then did they pray rightly in the name of Christ. Summa, the righteousness of the law makes no one righteous before God: if prayer and reading is a mere work, it is nothing. Righteous prayer of Christians is a strong wall, as God Himself says in the prophet Ezekiel, Cap. 22, 30: "I sought among them if any man would make himself a wall, and stand against the breach against me, for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none" 2c. Therefore let us pray, since others blaspheme.
Anno 1532, den 18. Augusti, da keine Hoffnung mehr der Besserung und Gesundheit des godmen, christlichen Churfürsten, Herzog Johannes zu Sachsen 2c., sprach D. Martin Luther: 1) Dear Lord God, hear our prayer, according to your promise: let us not throw the keys at your feet; for if we become angry with you in the end, and do not give you your honor and interest, where will you stay? Oh dear Lord, we are yours, do it as you will, only give us patience.
On August 20, he spoke again with great heartfelt compassion about the pious, sick Elector, and said: "Dear God, you have a title that you hear the sighs and prayers of the poor, as David says in Ps. 1:45, 19: "He does the will of those who fear him, and hears their prayer. Dear Lord, let us ask no evil, let us not throw the keys at your door.
5. a different one from the power of prayer.
Said D. Luther: Our Lord God always gives more than we ask: if we ask for a piece of bread, he gives us a whole field. When my housewife was sick, I asked God to let her live; so He gives her the Zülsdorf estate in addition, and otherwise gives us a rich, fruitful year.
1) The two following prayers are already printed in Valch, St. Louis edition, Thxil X, Col. 1519.
But I think it will be a good pestilence
follow it, for we are too wicked and cause heresy even among ourselves.
The doctor said to him, "Doctor, how is it that in the priesthood we prayed so fervently, so diligently, and so often, but now our prayer is quite cold, indeed, we pray seldom? Then the doctor answered and said: "The devil is always driving his servants, who are laborious and diligent in their worship; but the Holy Spirit teaches us and instructs us how we should pray rightly; but we are so cold, and so lacking in prayer, that it does not want to go anywhere.
6. that prayer should be practiced and practiced daily.
D. Luther said that he had enough to do with himself every day so that he could pray, and let it suffice him when he lay down that he could pray the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, and then take a saying or two from the Bible and fall asleep with the same contemplation.
7. that peasants do not like to pray.
M. Luther said that the pastor of Holzdorf did not want to let his peasants go to communion, because they did not know the main parts of the catechism. Now the peasants accused him before the Visitatoribus. The priest answered: "Dear sirs, I confess that I did not want them to go to communion, because they cannot pray. Then one of the peasants came out and said, "We are not allowed to pray, because that is why we keep you and give you your wages, so that you may pray for us.
8. bon of a monk prayer.
(Cordatus No. 404.)
Monachus super latrinam Non debet orare primam? Deo quod supra, Tibi quod cadit infra.
This is how someone answered the devil. 2)
2) The other half of this number of the Cordatus is found Cap. 24, § 23.
9. that preachers should put their prayer together.
Once upon a time in Wittenberg, D. Johannes Aepinus was the superintendent of Hamburg. When he departed from there again, and D. M. Luther blessed and said: I entrust myself and my church in Hamburg to your reverence" prayer; then D. Martinus answered: "Dear Domino Aepine, the matter is of our Lord God, let us sit down together with our Lord's Prayer, then the matter will be decided; otherwise nothing helps: I will pray against the Pope and the Turks while I live. And I like it very much that in the Hamburg ordination you seriously command to pray against the pope and the Mahomet.
10. of the causes of prayer.
(Cordatus No. 1717.)
The causative cause [causa per se] of prayer is faith, but the incidental [per accidens] is necessity, the form [forma] is seized by undeserved mercy, the matter involved [materia circa quam] is the promise and command to pray, the end [finis] is the answer or deliverance.
(A single sentence that follows here, torn out of No. 1481 of the Cordatus, rst omitted here ; communicated in Appendix No. II.)
11. prayer of D. M. Luther for a gracious rain.
(This § is already printed in the St. Louis edition, vol. X, Col. 1498 f. - The second part of this 8 is printed again Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 1591, No. 157. - Cordatus No. 1492. 1493. 1)561.)
Since he always prayed and sighed at the time of drought, he always complained that the stinginess of the peasants prevented the prayer of the Christians, that GOD did not give rain when reminded of His promises. God wants to punish the peasants, but He also knows how to provide for His own in times of famine. Those mammon servants have become quite confident.
God has different means to preserve and to destroy. Thus, God could also strike down the Turk with the greatest army by locusts, as one reads in the church history that a very great army of the king
of the Persians, which besieged Nineveh, was chased away by mosquitoes. 1)
In the time of drought he prayed with his eyes lifted up to heaven: "O Lord God, you have said by the mouth of David your child [Ps. 145:18, 19]: "The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him with earnestness. He does what the godly desire, and hears their cry, and helps them." How then, that thou wilt not give rain, because we cry and entreat so long? Well, if you do not want rain, you will give something better, a quiet life and peace. But what will the wicked say to these words [John 16:23], "If ye shall ask anything of the Father in my name" ? I know that from our hearts we cry out to you and groan 2c. And the same night rain came.
12. from the papist prayer.
(Here 24 lines are omitted because contained in Cap. 12, § 55, last paragraph).
After that, he, Martin Luther, began and said how he had toiled in the first week, when the Gospel had begun, with the horis canonicis, which he had omitted and not spoken, before much business. On Saturday he would have locked himself up in his cell, and what he missed that week he would have fulfilled. Finally, however, he would have been so burdened and prevented by business and weakness of his body that he could not have complied with and fulfilled it. And since the others, as Amsdorf, laughed at and despised such prayers, he would also have dropped them, for it would not have been possible for him to do so, and would therefore have refrained from doing so out of despair, and said: "It was a great torture and torment from which we are redeemed through the gospel, and if I had done no good but this alone, I should be thanked for it. No one can believe what a torture it was, how ver-
1) From the above relation of Cordatus, Kummer seems to have formed his own, which we have already communicated Cap. 2, Z121. The date given there (1542) is certainly incorrect, because Cordatus concluded his diary with the year 1537. The year 1532 was a year of great drought, therefore this speech is probably to be put there. The statement "at this time of drought came many locusts" is a later addition.
and burdensome: and it cannot be otherwise than that without spirit innumerable laws and works are given and taught; as in the book "Rationale divi- norum" innumerable monstrous things are written.
13. exhortation of D. Martin Luther's exhortation to prayer.
In 1539, January 6, on the Feast of the Three Kings, Martin Luther exhorted the people to pray diligently against the devil's raging and raging in the blinded papists, who incited the emperor and other kings, potentates and great princes and lords against the gospel. They are, he said, mad and foolish with their blasphemy, and still want to defend it as right. On the other hand, we provoke God's wrath with our great wickedness and ingratitude. Therefore, repent, amend, and pray that God will judge, guide, and keep the emperor's heart, which he has in his hand, for the planting of the Gospel, so that he will not wage war against the revealed teachings of the Gospel, to preserve the great, shameful abominations, errors, and excesses of Pabstism and its worms and vermin. For we have, by the grace of God, the true, pure Word of God, the sacraments, and how to live a proper Christian life, along with fine Christian ordinances. Therefore, let us pray diligently and repent in this time of grace, that we may not be condemned with the world. And thus concluded: Dear God, 1) govern me, that with spiritual eyes I may recognize and confess my inherent sickness and weakness, and thus be led to the right knowledge of Christ, and be governed, cleansed and sanctified by your Holy Spirit, amen.
14. to ask for peace.
Anno 1539, Sunday Reminiscere, D. M. Luther made an earnest exhortation to ask for peace in these very perilous times, since we have had peace in a most marvelous way for twenty years; since no time, when the Gospel is preached
1) This prayer is already printed, Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. X, Col. 1505.
has been as long as there has been peace. Dear God, 2) Protect us from war, which desolates the country and all estates. Rather, give us a strong pestilence, in which the people are pious, and religion, police and economy, the church, true pure doctrine, secular and domestic government are not so devastated and violated, corrupted nor adulterated.
Item: In the same year, on the 15th of March, there was talk about the fury, rage and fury of the papists, who described and gathered war people in the country of Bohemia under a foreign name. Then Luther said: "Lord God, give us peace, spare us, and do not let us be repaid for our sins: we are too wicked, ungrateful and secure, since Satan does not sleep. They can soon invade this land and destroy everything, for it has no fortified city or castle inside; everything is open to them. But I am glad that we are not the first to attack, and if we were to remain in this little country and be strangled, the noise would then continue to spread across the Rhine, Bavaria 2c. We Saxons are weak, sit among thorns, have evil neighbors as patrons, the M[ainz] and H[archduke] G[eorg]; but God is the supreme patron, who says: My will shall be done. Even though we should be more pious, he has patience with us, only that we do not despise his grace and word.
Well then, if they attack us, God grant us patience: if we bet a penny, they must bet a florin; for they have hair, we are bare. The LORD will terrify the Amorites and defend Jacob, as Moses says. If God were not for us and on our side, we would have been discovered long ago; and since they are about to strangle us and kill us, they will not gain much nor accomplish much.
15. Asking for peace.
Doctor Martin Luther read a letter that M. Philip had written to him, as it would be on the Colloquio; and said: what Philip-.
2) This prayer is already printed, Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. X, Col. 1489.
pus writes, that has hands and feet, authority and gravity, is important, in few words; as I notice from his writing, so I think it will be a war. For the papists would like it, but they do not have so much courage, so ours cannot; so that it would be. Well then, let it go in nomine Domini, in the name of the Lord, I will let God rule, and I will be Crito in the game and Homo pax. 1) We want to ask God to change our adversaries; we have a right good cause: who would not want to fight pro Sacris, for the sanctuary (which is God's word, which sanctifies everything), to lose life and limb, goods and blood? Moreover, the secular rights and political orders are also right, for our people have always and still ask for peace and confess that they would be provoked and provoked in such a way that they would have to protect and defend themselves and their subjects against unjust violence. But they do not want to give peace.
But the sissy at Mainz wreaks all misfortune, and Hseinz] Mordbrenner continues in his malice. Therefore, our people must answer promptly and immediately. It is not good to wait long; it is better to come first, before others come. If I were a landgrave, I would bet the three of them, and either perish or kill them, because they do not want to give peace in a very good and just cause. But it is not for me, as a preacher, to advise such things, much less to do them. If they sincerely desired peace without falsehood, they would have given it immediately from the beginning, and not delayed twelve days. At last he said, "This letter was given ten days ago; it will now be decided how it is to be. May the eternal merciful God give His grace to it. Let us pray and watch, for Satan truly does not sleep nor celebrate.
16. an exhortation to give thanks for peace.
On May 11, on the Sunday Vocem Jucunditatis 1539, D. M. Luther exhorted the people to give thanks that God had given peace this year. For we see publicly,
1) In ?1autu8 Irinurni". 4, 2. 94 ff. (Förftemann.)
he said that God is watching and still resists the bloodthirsty papists, who rage and rage against us out of devilish hatred, and every year get pregnant and thirst for our blood, which God has often put to shame and will continue to do so; as the dear God Himself has now miraculously made peace, in that the godless man Duke G[eorg] has been killed. Therefore, we should thank God for this, pray and repent, for there is no peace to be hoped for: because the Pope reigns and the Gospel shines, hatred and disunity will last forever and will not cease. God protect us from bloodshed. This is what we should ask for.
When the same time was said about the peace that was made at Frankfurt, D. M. Luther said: "I cannot think how peace can be made between us and the papists. M. Luther: "I cannot think how peace can be made between us and the papists, for neither part yields to the other, and there is an eternal war between the seed of the woman and the old serpent. They do not tire of each other, as secular kings, princes and lords do; when they have tired of each other, they make peace for many years. Such conditions and means do not apply in this matter, for we cannot depart from the confession of the right, true Christian religion and the Word of God, which they insist upon. In turn, they do not want to let go of their idolatry and abominations. The devil does not want to cut off their feet, so Christ wants to preach and spread his word unhindered. Therefore I cannot think and hope for any decency or peace between Christ and Belial.
17. world peace.
(Cordatus No. 1002.)
Civil peace is a very great gift of God on earth, but it is a very great abuse of it when everyone lives in peace, as he pleases, against God and against the authorities. Oh, how the nobles, peasants and citizens will pay for it one day, like the Hungarians and Austrians.
18. from unity.
There was talk of quarrelsome jurists and despisers of theology; then D. M. Luther spoke:
By unity we take too small things and goods, as the pagan says; but discord and dissension is dangerous and harmful, especially in schools, professions, high arts, and the same professors, since one should and must reach out and kiss the hand of the other. But if we bite and devour one another, let us take care that we are not consumed among ourselves. Therefore let us pray and fight, for the word of faith and the prayer of the righteous are the mightiest weapons: so God himself sends his holy angels round about them that fear him, Ps. 34:8. We shall fight, for we are under one Lord of hosts and princes of war; therefore with one hand we must build, and in the other hand we must wield the sword, doing both to teach and to defend.
It must have been very serious, since the Jews led the trowel in the hand and walled, and soon twitched the sword; therefore we may well pray against the old serpent, which stabs Christ in the heel. Now is the time to watch, for it is for us; for they will join with the Turk against us. They truly mean us, we may and must dare, for the Antichrist will war against the saints of God and prevail, as Daniel says. Externally, we are in great danger from traitors, for the papists will take it upon themselves to corrupt and smear all our captains with money. A donkey loaded with money can do anything, as the pagan Cornelius Tacitus writes of the Germans: We have taught them to take money. There is no more faith nor belief on earth. The Welsh and the Spaniards conspire and hold themselves together against us, only for the sake of their own enjoyment.
19. disunity in churches among the servants.
(Lauterbach, Feb. 2, 1538, p. 21.)
On this day came the request of a pastor who complained about the disobedience of his deacon. Luther answered: Ah dear God, how hostile is the devil to us that he stirs up even the ministers of the Word with hatred against one another! The devil always lights one fire after another. Let us extinguish it by praying, by reconciling and yielding.
We may disagree in morals, but there must be unity in true doctrine. Not like the papists, who are very unequal both in doctrine and in life. Afterwards he sighed with uplifted eyes: "Lord God, how great is the ungodliness and ingratitude of the world, which so neglects and persecutes your ineffable grace; even we, who boast ourselves evangelical and know that the word of God is genuine, as the testimony spoken from heaven indicates (Matth. 17, 5.): "This is my dear Son, hear him!" But we hold this most holy gospel of Christ in such low esteem, as if it were a word from Terence.
20. of the power and ability of prayer.
Praying from the heart, and poor people's lamentations raise such a clamor that all the angels in heaven must hear it. Our Lord God must have great ears and a sharp, silent hearing.
21. exhortation of D. Martin Luther's Exhortation to Pray Against the Devil and Papists.
(Lauterbach, Dec. 25, 1538, p. 194.)
On December 25, Christmas Day, Luther preached at noon, after which he exhorted to public prayer for the course of the Word against all attempts of Satan, especially against the bloodthirsty papists, who would be the most bitter opponents, could not provide us with anything better than that they daily counsel against God's Word and the public peace. Therefore, you who are pious, pray, repent. Do not only hear the word, but also live according to it, so that we may put a little candle 2) or incense on our Lord God, because all the world, papists, epicureans, nobles, peasants, cause so much trouble, who live freely according to the flesh, without all faith and love. They accept everything from God without thanksgiving, serving no one.
22 The prayer will surely be heard.
All who call upon God in right faith with earnestness from the heart will certainly be heard, and
1) The same thought Cap. 15, § 23.
2) trutzischk, English trookislc, a medicinal cake, cookie, here probably for incense.
They receive what they have asked for and desired, although not immediately at the same hour, time, measure, or just what they ask for; yet they receive much better, greater, and more glorious things than they can hope for. As St. Paul testifies in Romans 8:26, "For we do not know what we ask," since we do not know what or how it would be better. Thus, if I pray that Duke George may die and not be heard, I should not be taught that my prayer is in vain and in vain, for it is perhaps better that a godless ruler should live than that, if he should die, there should be six, seven, or more godless rulers in his place. Therefore God heareth them that pray in faith, though not at the same hour, nor in the manner, and for that which they prescribe; but when and as it shall please him, and he knoweth that it is profitable for us. If we are sure that it is for the sanctification of his name and the increase and honor of his kingdom, and that it is done according to his will, he will surely hear us. But if we ask against these things, we will not be heard, for God does nothing against His name, kingdom and will.
23. sighing of the heart.
(Cordatus No. 825. 826.)
Even in the greatest saints, faith has often been weak, which can be seen in Moses. For when he had the people grumbling against him, and he himself knew no way of deliverance, he trembled in all his words and almost despaired, and yet he hears God saying to him, "Why are you crying out? [Ex. 14, 15.] O how a cry will 1) he have raised, when he could not lift up his tongue. Nor will he fill God's great ears. O how hard willO he have struck into the sea who did not believe this. And yet he obeyed the word of God, which he would not have done if he had had another way of escape. He would not have believed that the people would go dry-footed through the depth of the sea.
We are talking about the greatest miracles that
1) Both times in the original: "shall".
are quite inscrutable to reason, mostly with cold words, such as that there was a way in the Red Sea as long as from there to Koburg, through which Moses, without the children, led six times a hundred thousand men, for which he must have had fourteen days, and so long always had to keep house. In the meantime, the angel stood between them until they passed through, and Pharaoh entered with his own and perished. Mosi's faith in the meantime was small with him, but with God it was great, and so faith is powerful in weakness.
24. M. Luther's and other plagues in the papacy with the Horis Canonicis.
When I was still a monk in the monastery, I had so much to do with reading, writing, preaching and singing in the church that I could not pray my Horas Canonicas before that. Therefore, if I could not pray them during the six days of the week, I took the Saturday before me, and stayed without eating at noon and in the evening, and prayed all day long. So we were poor, troubled people with the decrees and statutes of the pope, of which the young people know nothing now.
In Bononia 3) there were students who sought a dispensation from the pope for the sake of the Horas Canonicas: the pope wrote again: LurZo vaanius otora eittuo:Surge manius et ora citius Get up earlier and start praying. But when Mercurinus, Emperor Carl's chancellor, who had first been a bishop and then became a cardinal, did this and prayed early in the morning, quickly and hurriedly, the devil appeared to him in the form of a poor soul and said to him: Tu non justa hora oras: You do not pray at the right hour. So the devil could vex us. We also had a brother in the monastery who missed many hours of prayer for the sake of his studies, but he could not attain jndulgenz: so he hired someone to pray for him during the day, so that he might read twice during the day.
2) Cf. § 12 of this Cap.
3) d. i. Bologna.
(25) Whether one also curses in prayer.
(Cordatus No. 1326.)
All who pray curse; for example, when I say, "Hallowed be thy name," I curse Erasmus and all who contend against the Word.
26. the spirit of grace and prayer, Zech. 12, 10.
(Contained in Cap. 8,§ 1, para. 1.)
27 Your will be done.
One of them complained to M. Luthern: "Dear Doctor, it does not want to go anywhere, nor do we want to go the way we want. Yes, said the doctor, that is just right; why have you surrendered your will to our Lord God, and pray every day: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"?
28. the power of prayer.
In 1540, D. M. Luther said to Philippo: "Let good things come to pass, whatever they may be, they come to pass, they go, and are brought about by prayer, which alone is the almighty Empress. In human affairs we direct everything through prayer: what is ordered, we govern; what is erred, we change and amend; what cannot be changed and amended, we suffer; overcome all misfortune, and preserve all good. There is no counsel against violence, but only prayer.
29. righteous prayer is surely heard.
It is God alone who gives life in the midst of death, is merciful and saves, and laughs in the midst of the wrath and rage of men; so when we think that our prayer is in vain and unheard, he gives what we have asked according to his will. All his works are marvelous and incomprehensible: for before him is that which is not; that which is corrupt becomes before him; that which falls down stands; and nothing is all before him. To him alone be glory, who alone is God and the Creator, who alone governs all things.
30. prayer for a child-worshipper. 1)
(Cordatus No. 933. 934.)
We have the advantage that our prayer is always answered. For if it is not answered according to our will, it is nevertheless answered according to the will of God, which is better than ours. And if I did not know that my prayer would be answered, then 2) the devil should pray in my place.
It is not necessary that God always hear me according to my will, for He would be my prisoner; and why should He hear us, since we ask, when He knows better?
31. negligence to prayer.
(Cordatus No. 1551.)
If I were as devout to pray as Peter Weller's dog is to eat, I would still want to achieve Judgment Day by praying; for he thinks of nothing else all day long but licking out his bowl.
The best prayer is the Lord's Prayer.
When they were talking about prayer, D. M. Luther: "I have never prayed the Psalter all my life without ever taking some psalms from it. The Lord's Prayer is my prayer, that is what I pray, and from time to time I mix in something from the Psalms, so that they (the loose despisers and false teachers) may all be put to shame and disgraced. Summa, none is like the Lord's Prayer among all prayers: I prefer to pray it rather than any psalm.
33. exhortation to prayer.
(Lauterbach, Oct. 10, 1539, p. 145.)
Friday, October 10, he preached at the castle. Afterwards he exhorted to pray for the daily bread. For in the gardens is such a damage by the mice, which gnaw everything 4) and crush in the earth that to
1) The superscription is fictitious.
2) In the original "bettet" is conjunctivus imperfecti.
3) So Stangwald instead of: "des Vater-Unsers ist kein Gleich".
4) "to ride" perhaps: to tear? - Immediately after: a necessary teurung, i.e. teurung by necessity.
I am afraid that a theurge will follow through necessity. For we have otherwise the wanton theurge through the wickedness of the peasants and usurers who ride the thalers; I fear that from necessity a theurge will follow as punishment. Let us pray for the pious poor, who must bear the highest, that they may have daily bread and God's blessing. Amen.
34. whether foreign faith helps anything?
One of them asked, "Does someone else's faith help you to salvation? Luther answered: "Stranger's faith is only useful to him who has it; but I will not be saved because of your faith, for no one can believe for another; each one must believe for himself, and through this [his own faith] he will be saved. But the prayer of another, which is done in faith, helps and promotes, yea, obtains, that another may be converted, and receive his own faith, and so be saved.
Therefore, it is said that Paul was converted and saved through the prayer of St. Stephen. However, he was not pleasing before God, nor did he become God's dear child and a chosen instrument of Christ for the sake of Stephen's faith; but through Stephen's faith, through prayer, Paul obtained faith from God, through which he became blessed before God. Thus, many are still preserved through prayer, as we prayed M. Philippum alive in Weimar, 1) otherwise he would have died. Prayer does much.
Then someone said, "Was Paul converted long after Stephen's death? No, said Luther, he was converted in the same year. He was still a fine young man, and learned: he stood firm and firm on the righteousness of the law, which says: whoever does this will live inside. Therefore, he thought that it pleased God that he consented to the death of St. Stephen by keeping and preserving the clothes of the witnesses while he was being stoned to death. 2) He was not a man of the law. It is impossible that God will not accept the prayer that is in faith.
1) Cf. § 2 of this Cap. and Erl. Vol. 56, 226, Luther's letter to his wife, July 8, 1540.
2) In all editions: his clothes.
He should not hear the request that is made to Christ. Whether he does not always do it, nor soon gives what one asks, that is a different matter. God does not give according to the measure, manner and time that is prescribed for him, he wants to be free; but he heaps it up and shakes it, as Christ says Luc. 6, 38.
So he did to St. Augustine's mother. She asked God that the son be converted. But it would not happen anywhere. She appealed to all the scholars to persuade him and persuade him to do so. Finally, she suggested to him that she wanted to free a Christian virgin for him, so that she would draw him back and bring him to the Christian faith and baptism; but it would not work either. But now that our Lord God comes, he comes well and makes such an Augustinian out of him that he is now called a light of the church. That is why St. James says Cap. 5, 16: "Pray for one another, for the prayer of the righteous is heard" 2c. This is also one of the best sayings in the same epistle. It is a strong thing about prayer, if only we could believe it; for God has joined and bound Himself to it.
35. Christ directed the prayer to the Father alone.
(Cordatus No. 70.)
Before his glorification, Christ did not want to be glorified. That is why he prescribed the Lord's Prayer to the apostles in the Jewish way, since it only worships the Father. But now we will not be heard if we do not ask through Christ.
36. Wider 3) the temptations should not be prayed.
Some have prayed so hard and so much for temptations that they would not be idle without the cross; but I will never pray for some temptations, but only, Lead me not into temptation. Many have been heard by God, but afterward have fallen into great temptations, out of which they could hardly have come.
3) This heading is wrong. It should read: To contestations etc.
The children's prayer.
Jonas said that his little children prayed against the Turk, whether they did not understand what they were praying for. Luther said, "The children's prayer is good, because they still have pure voices and have not had an opponent who contradicts them and holds oppositum.
38. Bon quite a few sayings.
Martin Luther was asked if these sayings were against each other, since God says to Abraham: "If I find ten of them (in Sodom), I will not destroy them", Gen. 18, 32. and since Ezekiel Cap. 14, 14. says: "Even though Noah, Job and Daniel would pray, I will not hear them" 2c., and Jerem. 7, 16. does God tell the prophet not to pray for the people? To this the doctor answered and said, No, they are not against one another; for in Ezekiel it was forbidden them that they should not pray, which was not with Abraham. Therefore one must see where the word is. When God says: You shall not pray, you may well stop. As I may say: Do not pray for my Andres N., if you already pray, it will not help. But if I say: If someone asks for my Andre N., that would be different.
Another said: "How can we know now, when we should pray, whether God will hear us? Said D. Martin Luther: We do not have the word or command that we should not pray; if we did, we should not pray, but we have it that we should pray. That is why I would have stopped praying against the Turks long ago if I had a command, but because I do not have one, I have to pray, even though it seems as if we should never pray.
39. as D. Martinus Luther prayed.
(Contained in Cap. 15, § 6.)
40. By prayer one should command God everything.
In 1543, Luther said: "You should command God to do everything, He will do it well; as he finely says Isa. 46, 3. 4.
to me, you of the house of Jacob, and all the rest of the house of Israel, who are carried in the womb, and lie in the mother; yes, I will carry you to old age, and until you grow gray. I will do it, I will lift, and carry, and save"; therefore only lay it on me, dear one, command me. So also St. Peter says 1 Epist. 5, 7: "Cast all your care upon him." That is a fine comforting saying; and Psalm 55:23: "Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall supply thee: he shall not leave the righteous in trouble for ever." These are beautiful, comforting sayings. But we want to do and accomplish everything, since we are not able, indeed, it is impossible for us. We want to lift and lay, and forget our Lord God in the process; so we sink, and make evil worse. Yes," you say, "I have commanded him, but he will not come: he consumes too long. Wait for the Lord; you must wait and endure, for he will surely come at last. It is better to wait for the Lord than to go to the side of the pope or the bishop of Mainz, since there is no hope that they could help, for they themselves are poor sacks of maggots.
Eck is now dead, as they say. I am sorry for the loose man: I would have hoped that he would have recognized his blasphemy; but he has not done so, but has been accustomed to boasting, flaunting, fornication, whoredom, 2c., has become obsolete in it, and out of constant practice and habit has become a nature, and thus [he has] died and corrupted. What does he get out of it, but death? nothing more; although eternal death is still behind.
41. the power of prayer.
In 1542, Martin Luther spoke of the power and benefits of prayer and told this story: "When the king of Persia besieged the city of Nasili 1)) and the bishop saw that he was too weak for human help and could not stand or protect himself,
1) Perhaps "Nisibis", which was em episcopal see at the time of the Arian disputes. Cap. 2, §121, Lauterbach p. 201 states "Nineveh", in the old table speeches "Edessa"; Cordatus No. 1493 also Nineveh. Cf. Appendix No. II.
and could not protect or defend the city against such a mighty king, he climbed the wall, lifted up his hands to heaven, and prayed; then he made a cross over the enemies. Then the eyes of all the horses were full of gnats, and [the Persians] fled out to the land. 1) So God could also order and direct the heart of the Turk, if we only prayed diligently in faith.
42. With prayer, one must stop.
When Martinus prayed for rain, but none came, he said: God hears us, but he does not do otherwise than like the unjust judge in the Gospel Luc. 18, 2. ff, he does not hear, but one overpowers him with constant perseverance.
(Here 11 lines are omitted because contained in Cap. 6, § 7.)
43 A prayer of D. M. L. that the last day may come.
(This § is already printed in Walch, St. Louis Edition, Part X, Col. 1520. Originally it comes from the second sermon on the 4th Sunday after Trinity, Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XII, 735, § 18, and is somewhat changed from it.
44. God demands the heart in prayer.
One says of a monk, spoke!). Martin Luther, who daily hid in a corner, fasted and prayed a lot. When he was tired and weary from praying, he asked God if it was enough that he prayed for and for? Then he heard a voice saying to him: "Speak to me mediam Lunam, Solem et Canis iram 2); that is, Cor. And it is also thus. God does not want to have only outward giving, but to be called upon with all the heart: and it is not to be said how hard a thing it is to pray from the heart.
1) Thus changed by us, instead of: "and flown out to the country".
2) In this and the following Latin saying is the same word play. The half moon is 6, the middle letter of 8ol is 0, the middle letter of irn is R. - A half circle is 6, a circle is O, the beginning of coma - H, so in both cases Oor.
That is why another said: To a righteous prayer belongs Dimidium Sphaerae, Sphaeram, cum principe Roma, exigit a nobis summi creator olympi; that is, Oor, because the prayer must go from the heart.
45. you have to pray and what it create.
Dear God, said Doctor Martin Luther, we must pray. I think that if we prayed earnestly, the Turk should not break off anything from our people now. When a man asks a king or a prince for something, 3) he thinks himself so proud, and pleases him well: why then do we not let Christ say: Dear, kneel before me, lift up your hands and your heart, ask only what you want, I will give it to you, only have no doubt about it.
Christians pray forever.
(Cordatus No. 1182.)
A Christian always prays, whether he is sleeping or awake. For his heart is always praying, and groaning is a great and powerful prayer. For thus says [the Lord] (Ps. 12,) [6.], "Because the poor groan, I will arise, saith the Lord." Thus a Christian also always carries the cross, even though he does not always feel it.
47. How the lawyers should start their trade with prayer and the fear of God.
D. M. Luther said: "Affects are like a painted glass: as it falls before one's eyes, so he sees it; for he sees nothing as it is in himself, or as it has a form. So the lawyers in their schools also know what is right, indeed they teach it to others; and this cannot be blamed, because they are in theoria. But when it comes to the practica, the painted glass is soon there and the affects, and hinder it; be it Cupid, Odium, Avaritia, or whatever it may be.
Therefore, a lawyer must be a pious man who prays diligently and says, "Dear God, I am to do justice; help me not to be lacking, nor to be too close to anyone. This do
3) So Stangwald instead of: requested.
But they do not, for they think they can do it all. If a matter comes before them, they soon answer, "The matter can be helped; and God is not thought of there. But we poor theologians must first kneel down with the church and pray if we want to preach a sermon. But the lawyers are not allowed to pray, as the peasants of Holzdorf 1) said; that is why things are so bad in the secular government.
48. of the father-our and its power.
(Cordatus No. 1657.)
The Lord's Prayer binds people together, therefore it becomes the strongest prayer.
49) That one must stop with prayer.
Doctor Martin Luther said that the church was preserved by prayer, because prayer had done the best for the church until now;
1) Cf. Cap. 15, § 7. Stangwald also correctly has "Holtzdorff", i.e. Holzdorf near Schweinitz, instead of "Golsdorf".
therefore it must still be prayed. Therefore Christ says: "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. First of all, he wants us to ask when we are in temptation: for God often hides Himself somewhere, and will not listen, yes, He will not let Himself be found; so then one must seek Him, that is, stop by praying. If one then seeks him, then he closes himself up in a closet: if one then wants to enter to him, then one must knock: if one then has knocked once or twice, then he interrogates a little. Finally, if one knocks too much, he opens and says, "What do you want? Lord, I want this or that. Then he says, "Get it for yourself. So he must be awakened. I believe that there are still many devout people here who pray very diligently, although there are also many bad boys here. Therefore this saying: "Ask" means nothing else than: ask, shout, scream, knock, rumble. And this one must do for and for without stopping.