1. Luther's challenge to his doctrine, so that the devil often plagued him, and how he fought him off.
2. the power of the divine word.
How a Christian should resist the heavy thoughts of death that the devil gives him, as if God is angry with him.
4. the usefulness of the challenges.
5. temptations are a sure sign that God loves us.
6. that two things are blasphemy.
7. how to overcome the temptations.
8. what a man cannot hinder and is unjust, let him be patient and pray; but do not approve, but command God.
9. a remedy against useless thoughts.
(10) How to answer the devil's grievous temptations because of sins.
11) How a Christian should conduct himself in poverty and affliction.
(12) Challenge teaches, but we soon forget.
Pious Christians have to suffer a lot.
14. a rhyme by D. Luther.
15. consequence of the challenge.
16. what challenges are for.
17. what the challenge is.
The Christian victory through the Holy Spirit.
19. Christians must suffer.
20 Not everyone can endure temptations in the same way.
David's trials were much more severe than ours.
(22) How to comfort one who is challenged and thinks he has sinned against the Holy Spirit, which sin is not forgiven.
23. how D. Luther answered the devil when he challenged him at night.
(24) For which people are chastened by God.
25. the challenge of youth, and of any age.
26. of David's temptations.
27. how to keep with the challenged consciences.
28. exhortation to patience in temptations.
29. spiritual temptations the most severe.
30. comfort in the highest temptation.
31. from a contested person.
32. comfort Wider sadness.
33. the benefit and fruit of the holy cross.
34. the devil's restlessness.
God helps from temptation.
The righteous church is always in danger and challenge.
37. of temptations, how to drive them away and how to resist them.
(38) Wherever the gospel is taught purely, persecution and temptation always follow.
39. comfort for one who is challenged.
40. contestation of faith.
How to defend yourself against spiritual temptations.
From what causes God lays out the holy cross to the godly.
43. the greater the saints before God, the greater the challenge.
44. heavy thoughts offend the body.
45 Every man has his challenge.
46 D. M. Luther's wish in his illness.
47. physical temptations are much easier than spiritual ones.
In suffering, one should have patience.
49) What the cross and the challenge are good for.
The unchallenged understand nothing in the matters of God.
51. how to resist the challenge.
52. of melancholicis, and how their melancholy had been driven out of them.
53. Luther's concerns under the papacy.
54 Of Satan's temptations.
(55) Let them that are in temptation and weak take heed lest they be alone.
(56) Which is the greatest challenge.
The most difficult thoughts that the devil enters.
58: How Luther visited and comforted a sick and challenged woman.
59 Luther's letter of consolation to Benedict Pauli, whose son had fallen to his death from the house.
60. consolation to 21. ambrosium Bernd von Jütterbock, to whom his wife, children and mother had died in one week.
61. comfort for a sick, afflicted person.
Another of Luther's consolations to a sick woman.
How Luther comforted the old master Lucas Kranach, painter at Wittenberg, because his son John had died in Italy.
64. comfort for a sick person.
65: About Luther's illness, how he comforted himself.
66. Another comfort for a very sick person.
67. Luther's prayer of consolation in the last hour..
68. consolation Against the challenge of oversight.
69. how to overcome the challenge of the accident.
70 Consolation against the temptation of our unworthiness.
71) How to comfort those who are challenged in faith.
The devil's most noble challenge.
73- Admonitions of other people comfort in temptations.
74 A different one from the accident.
The first is that one should not argue about the provision.
76. benefit of the sayings of the accident.
77. cause of temptation.
78. beginning in the thoughts of the accident.
79 Of Christ's temptations.
Christians should not like to be alone.
81. em lonely life one should flee.
What harm loneliness brings.
Sadness is the devil's instrument.
Of the sorrow and bloody sweat of the Lord Christ in the garden.
How to ward off the spirit of sadness and comfort the sorrowful.
86 D. Luther's Weakness.
How Luther comforted a sick woman.
How to defend yourself against the challenge.
89. benefit and fruit of the challenge.
90. devilish temptation of a woman.
1. M. Luther's doctrine, so that the devil often plagued him, and how he resisted him.
(The first paragraph of this § in Kummer, 2. part, x. 366 b.
[Lauterbach, p. 203.])
One should not argue with Satan about the law. He who disputes with the devil about the law has lost. He only stops at the right time. Therefore, let no one dispute with this excellent speaker about the law or about sin, for he has the handwriting against us. He can make a big mountain out of a beam, therefore he must be overcome with the word of the gospel and the doctrine of grace, which annoys him very much. Judas is as necessary in the number of apostles as otherwise three apostles, and solves countless arguments etc.
I know, praise God, that my cause is good, right and divine; for if the gospel, baptism, sacrament and absolution are right, then I am also right. If Christ is not in heaven and a Lord over all, then my cause is wrong. What I teach, write, preach, and intend to do in the school and church, I do freely in public during the day, not hidden in
I am in a corner, and I judge everything from the Gospel, baptism, the Lord's Prayer etc. The evil one still wants to turn everything around for me. Christ stands there, I cannot deny him. I base my cause on the gospel; if I revoke it, my God will protect me. Nevertheless, he often brings it so close to me with his disputes that I break out in a cold sweat. He is fiercely angry, I understand and feel that. He sleeps much closer and more with me than my Kätha, that is, he makes me more uneasy than she makes me happy.
But through the gospel, I solve and dispel all his arguments, if only I can remember it and take hold of it, and meet him with it. But I sometimes lack it. That is why he reproaches me: The law is also God's word, why then do I always hold the gospel against him? Yes, I say, but as far apart from the gospel as heaven and earth. For in the Gospel, God confides in us His grace, wants to be our God, and out of pure love gives us His only begotten Son, who redeemed us from sin and death and acquired eternal righteousness and life through His suffering and resurrection.
I do not want to make him a liar. Besides the gospel, he also gave the law, but for a different use.
2. power of the divine word.
(The first paragraph in Cordatus No. 1362.)
When the devil finds me idle and without reflection on the Word, he drives into my conscience that I have disturbed the world order by false teaching, that I have stirred up sedition, he often brings me to that. But when I take the floor again, I am victorious. For I counter him that my teaching is not mine, but the Son of God's, that God does not ask about worlds, even if ten of them were rebellious and perished. It is said [Matth. 17, 5.]: "You shall hear him," or it] overthrows all in one heap, and [Pf. 2, 10. 12.]: "Let yourselves therefore be instructed, ye kings," "that ye perish not." Thus Paul also had to comfort himself when they accused him in the Acts of the Apostles [16, 20.; 17, 6.; 24, 5.] as a rebel against God and the emperor. God wants the article of justification in its entirety, and if men accept it, they will not lose the rule of the world and the household; but if they do the opposite, they may blame themselves for the evil.
So Christ also had to die, as if he had forbidden to give the emperor the womb, arousing the people; item, blaspheming God, that he had made himself the son of God. Therefore I say to the devil: As you have been disgraced in Christ and Paul, Squire Satan, so shall it be with me etc.
3. how a Christian should resist the heavy thoughts of death, which the devil gives him, as if God were angry with him; but if he gives us a thought of death, he will be angry with us.
Christ sent, that we should live through him etc.
All gloom and sadness comes from the devil, for he is a lord of death, Ebrews 2:14; especially when a man is sad and anxious, as if he had an ungracious God, it is surely the devil's work and operation. Therefore, if a heavy thought comes into your head, as if God wants to be
have mercy on you, or that he will let you die in your sins and condemn you, or that you will now give up the ghost because of fear, then soon conclude that such a thought comes from the devil. For this reason God does not afflict, does not terrify, does not kill, but is a God of the living, and sent his only begotten Son into the world, not to terrify sinners, but to comfort them; and Christ died and rose again to destroy death, which is the work of the devil, and to become Lord over it, and to make us alive. Therefore in the Scriptures these and similar words of comfort are used: Be glad. Rejoice in the Lord. Do not fear. Be undaunted. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. The sting of death has become dull and chipped on me, even broken.
Therefore, you should take courage in such a challenge and think that from now on you are not a man's child, but God's child through faith in Christ, in whose name you were baptized: therefore death cannot thrust its spear into you. For if you belong to Christ, believe in him and have been baptized into him, death has no right over you, much less can it harm you, for he is eternally devoured through Christ.
But the wicked Satan resists as much as he can, so that such good, comforting thoughts of God do not occur to us in our temptation; or he darkens and obscures them for us. For the heart of the one who is challenged is then so violently taken up with the heavy thoughts of the law, of sin and death, that it cannot grasp the article of justification and faith: I believe in Jesus Christ etc., much less comfort itself.
On the other hand, all joy, comfort, peace, well-disposed, joyful heart in Christ comes from God. 1) For the Holy Spirit is undaunted and undaunted in the hearts of believers; indeed, He is the courage and comfort even in the trials of death. He speaks out courageously: World, sin, death, hell, leave me alone, you have no part in me: if you will not let me live, then I will die, in God's name.
1) Cf. cap. 38, § 12.
But you shall not succeed. If you cut off my head, it won't hurt; I have one who will probably put it back on.
4. use of the challenges.
Such trials are not only necessary for us, but also good and useful, otherwise we would surely go without all fear of God and not call on him for help. For he who is healthy and happy has no need of a physician or comforter; then the devil could easily deceive us. After this, temptation also serves to make us live in the fear of God, walk carefully, pray without ceasing, grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, and learn the power of the word: and though we are still weak, yet the power of our Lord Christ is mighty in the weak, 2 Cor. 12:9.
5. temptations are a sure sign that God loves us, because He chastens all whom He receives.
(Cordatus No. 863,564,565,566,567. The last number here transferred from § 35 of this chapter).
Better is the sadness of the spirit than the security of the world. And the temptation that torments the conscience is twofold, for the devil torments us first with lies when he accuses us, who are justified by faith, of sin, but he attacks the body with murder. By sadness he kills the body, by certainty the conscience, that is, as much as is in it. Furthermore, let no one choose a trial, but when it comes, let him suffer it, and let him think that it will profit him very much.
From all temptations we shall learn by experience that the devil kills with lies and murders. Through the spirit of sadness he denies us the joy of conscience from faith, his lie is opposed to the truth of Christ. He will not yet tear Christ down from heaven; when he has done so, I will hang myself on the nearest tree.
Since one 1) said he would rather suffer the greatest diseases than this his challenge
1) According to Rebenstock II, 223 d D. Hieronymus Weller.
of conscience, he answered, After that are the diseases. For to every sickness impatience is added, and the devil's delight is lifted up, which happened to Job, who at first was very patient. But when he said in his heart, "God is angry," he became angry, and blasphemously said, "God is no longer merciful," which is to say, "God has changed His nature. But if He has not changed His nature, He does not cease to be merciful.
But that God puts an end to all temptation, I am a witness, for ten years ago my body was so tormented by sadness that I could hardly breathe. The cause of this is that God calls to that which is not that it be. [So he delivered me alone, by struggling and writing, alone, I say, for whomsoever I approached and sought comfort, all answered, I know not his. He is not alone who is challenged, which the Psalm indicates [Ps. 116, 11.]: "I spoke in my trembling" etc. There, of course, one finds temptations in the Psalter. I have experienced this verse every night [Ps. 6, 7]: "I wash my bed all night long"; nevertheless, the devil does not get the upper hand, because he has burned himself on Christ.
The sadness of the spirit is the conscience itself, which, suffering the same, gives birth to the last day. But since we give birth to him, we will not perish for Christ's sake, because Satan has not yet condemned Christ. And such a contested one does not feel temptations of the body, like those of fornication. Such little devils have nothing to do there, but the passions hinder good works, because a fornicator does not study.
(Here a paragraph is omitted because contained in Cap. 58, § 9, and Cap. 13, § 70.)
6. blasphemy is twofold.
When one of them told D. Martin, "How that another was severely challenged, that he did not find in him a perfect righteousness, that he was not as pious as God requires of us in the Law, and in prayer always felt such blasphemy against Christ," D. Martin said. Martin: This is a good sign; for blasphemy
is twofold: An activa, really, when one knowingly and wantonly seeks causes to blaspheme God; as Faber (Doctor Schmid) does, H. M. 1) etc. God protect us from that. The other is a suffering blasphemy, passiva, when the devil, against our will, gives us such evil thoughts before we know it, and we resist them: with which God wants us to be exercised, so that we do not lie and snore, or become lazy, but fight and pray against them. So at last such thoughts will disappear and subside, especially at the last end. Then the Holy Spirit is with his Christians, assists them, drives away the fierce devil, subdues him and makes a fine calm and peaceful heart and conscience.
Therefore write to him, said D. Luther, that he neither worry nor torture himself, but be confident, trust God, and keep his word: the devil will then cease from himself to awaken and increase such blasphemy. But as far as perfect righteousness is concerned, that he would like to be completely righteous and pious, and feel and experience that he is completely holy and pure, nothing will come of it in this life, but this is an angelic life that will happen to us in the life to come. Here we are to be satisfied with the righteousness of Christ, which he has earned and merited for us with his rose-colored, innocent blood, and bestows it on us in the Word out of pure grace and mercy, without any merit or worthiness on our part, to those who grasp it with faith, and then prove it with good works, as fruits, which God has commanded, not we ourselves choose, etc.
7. to overcome temptations.
(Contained in Cap. 26, § 16.)
8. what one cannot prevent, and is wrong, he should have patience and pray, but not approve, but command God.
David was a wonderful man, because he was allowed to teach and speak publicly against the false worship of the Jewish people.
1) Perhaps Heinz Mordbrenner, the Duke of Brunswick.
He was the first to see the people, and yet he could not prevent it. He saw one of them measuring and sacrificing, and the other one teaching falsely. And these were the greatest and most mighty multitude. If he had been able to overthrow and defend everything with his might, he would have done so; but because he knew neither counsel nor help against it, he had to have patience, and sang a little song to our Lord God about it, and called to him.
9. remedy against useless thoughts.
When I, said D. Martin, when I am in thoughts concerning the worldly or domestic government, I take a psalm or a saying of Paul and fall asleep over it. But the thoughts that come from the devil cost me something more: there I have to make a strong joke until I pull myself out.
(10) How to answer the devil's grievous temptations on account of sins.
(Contained in Cap. 24, 814.)
11) How a Christian should conduct himself in poverty and affliction.
(Contained in Cap. 12, § 84.)
(12) Challenge teaches, but we soon forget.
(Cordatus No. 283.)
When one challenge is over, there is certainly already another one that we have to face; but when the other one comes, we should hold ourselves in the same way, 2) as if it were the first one and we had not experienced any before. But we are thus dismayed, or sometimes we succumb to the new-arriving [temptations], since we should have become wiser through the experience of the former. This is reproved by the evangelist, who says, "And they heard not of the loaves." And Paul exhorts and says: "And do not grow weary" [Eph. 6, 13.namely because one temptation follows another. For all at once afflict our flesh for our good.
2) It is not necessary to change A6rarnu8 to gerimus, since it fits well.
Pious Christians have to suffer a lot.
1) The barley must suffer much from people. First, it is thrown into the ground so that it rots. When it has grown and ripened, it is cut or chopped off. Then it is threshed and soaked, dried and boiled to make beer or kofent, which is drunk by the peasants and given back down and up, and peed on the fences.
Flax is a similar martyr. When it is ripe, it is gathered, roasted, dried, blued, broken, spun, woven, and made into canvas for shirts and coats, which are then torn. Then they use it for wiping, smearing plasters on it, which they put on wounds and sores. Item, the rags are taken from it, put them in stamps on the paper mill, crushes it small: from it one makes paper for playing cards, for writing, for printing: the paper is torn, and used for the very lowest works.
These and many such creatures, from which we have much benefit, must suffer. So all godly and pious Christians must suffer much from the wicked and evil ones. David was a wonderfully chosen man and was rolled away desolately. But such a man is dear to God. Barley, wine, grain etc. have an advantage over flax and flax, become flesh and blood, and inherit the kingdom of God in the godly and Christians. But at the last judgment they will cry out against the godless peasants, burghers, nobles etc. and accuse them of having abused them so shamefully.
At one time D. M. Luther told this rhyme:
Christ lets sink well, but not drink away.
15. consequence of the challenge.
(Cordatus No. 1541.)
Cross and persecution teaches one the golden art.
1) The first paragraph is probably formed from what Cordatus offers in No. 891: I have often cursed the first brewer. All of Germany would like to be preserved with the barley, since one brews the disgraceful liquid manure, which one then pisses on the wall.
16. what challenges are for.
(The first three paragraphs of this § at Cordatus No. 813. 814. 815.)
No one can write or speak anything properly about grace unless he has been exercised by spiritual trials. The monks and the lawyers have not been able to speak of it properly.
If I dispute with the devil about the law, he has won. Therefore, I will help stone Moses, or he will remain with the defiant and stiff-necked people, not with the fearful and faithful consciences.
The wicked are made worse by the preaching of the gospel, for they learn from it only the licentiousness of the flesh. Therefore, the people belong under the law, not under the gospel. For it happens to them as to evil-disposed and evil-acting children, who become worse when they are honored and not chastised when they have sinned. A rod belongs on wicked children, not sugar.
This distinction is to be diligently noted and kept, that the ungodly may be terrified and deceived by the law, and held as prisoners in a dungeon; but grieved and distressed consciences, recognizing their sin, feeling the wrath of God, and being terrified, are to be restored and comforted with the gospel, 2) preaching Christ to them, that the heavenly Father has accepted and loved them with grace, out of pure mercy, for the sake of His dear Son JEsu Christ. To him he has earnestly commanded that we should hear him saying, "Be of good cheer." "Fear not, I have overcome the world," John 16:33. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden," etc., Matt. 11:28. Therefore, if ye will hear Christ, and call upon him in time of trouble, all things shall be added unto you.
And this is the right worship, yea, the very easiest, and comforting to the poor, troubled, and burdened consciences, who otherwise cannot do the law enough, and are grieved because they have not kept it, nor are able; to whom the gospel is to be preached and reproached.
2) Cf. cap. 12, § 20.
17. contestation.
All temptation is to forget the present and desire the future, as Eve did in Paradise.
The Christian victory through the Holy Spirit.
(Lauterbach, April 25, 1538, p. 69.)
On April 25, he spoke much of human frailty, which would be exposed to all temptations and dangers, internal and external, the devil and the spirits in the air, and if God were not for us, who could endure it One Hour? That is why the Scripture calls the Holy Spirit by a very beautiful name ðáñÜ÷ëç-ï, i.e. an advocate who guides our cause in the dispute, gives victory to faith, intervenes in the case, chases away Satan. This is the victory of faith, by which we overcome the world, not by our strength and power, but by the action of the Holy Spirit and faith. It is truly something great that the wretched flesh and blood of the [weak] little children of men can overcome those spirits and powers of the devils.
19. Christians must suffer.
We, who are baptized, must endure and suffer, both active and passive, from God, who works and creates everything in them, as a potter prepares the clay, and from the devil and the world, who afflict them and wear them down, so that a Christian only suffers constantly and is a true martyr.
Item: When M. Georg Rörer's little children lay ill, D. Martinus said: Our Lord God vexes all his saints, they must all drink from the chalice. He did the same to Mary, his mother. Summa, what is dear to him, that must endure. Christians overcome when they suffer, and when they fight, they lose. I am afraid of that.
(Here 4 lines are omitted because contained in Cap. 26, § 33.)
20 Not everyone can endure temptations in the same way.
(Cordatus No. 475.)
Just as strong bones must be there to support the great mass of the body, so
God does not lay great or many trials on the weak, because if there were all flesh, not bones and nerves, it would fall in a heap. That is how it is in the Church, that is why we pray for each other. And since it is impossible for the human heart to have and keep the fear of God, the very best treasure, without the cross, the temptation is something very good, and whoever has temptations certainly has a gracious God. What are we groaning for?
David's trials were much more severe than ours.
David must have had worse devils than we do, for he could not have had such a great revelation without great temptations, for they are great and glorious. David made and sang psalms, let us also, as best we can, make and sing psalms, in honor of our Lord God, and to the displeasure of the devil and his bride.
(22) How to comfort one who is challenged and thinks he has sinned against the Holy Spirit, which sin is not forgiven.
Doctor M. Luther, when asked about this, said: "Let it be said to him that he is idle in his temptation and does not worry about it, for he is not guilty of such sin. Our Lord God does not say to an adulterer or a murderer, "You have trampled my son's blood underfoot," but: If you are sorry and believe in the Son, your sins are forgiven. As he said to the adulteress, Joh. 8, 11. and to the murderer at the cross. But to the Pharisees and scribes, who opposed the righteousness of the gospel and trusted in their own piety, he said, "Woe to you.
Then one asked him, "Did he also sin against the Holy Spirit who knowingly denies the word of God, as there are many of them now among the rulers of George who deny it? No, he said, because it is done in weakness; as Peter denied Christ, and yet did not sin against the Holy Spirit; but Judas persisted in it, truly repenting, and remaining obdurate.
How M. Luther answered the devil when he challenged him at night.
When the devil comes to me at night, 1) said D. Martinus, to trouble me, I give him this answer: Devil, I must sleep now, for this is God's command and order, to work by day and sleep by night. On the other hand: If he will not desist, and holds my sin against me, then I say: Dear devil, I have heard the register, but I have done another sin, which is not in your register, write it also: I have thrown in my pants, hang it on my neck, and wipe my mouth on it. Thirdly: If he now continues, presses hard, and accuses me as a sinner; then I despise him and say: Sancte Satana, ora pro me: Dear devil, pray for me, for you have never done evil, you alone are holy. Go to God and obtain mercy for yourself; and if you want to make me pious, I say to you: Medice, cura te ipsum: Physician, help yourself.
The devil, however, is such a wicked man that he does not bring great and heinous sins before me and keeps them, namely, keeping Mass, despising God etc. Also, God protect me for this. For if it occurred to me what a great abomination is the faithful work with the mass, and the greatness of the sins against the first table of the ten commandments of God; then I would have to die. I would not like to beat my husband very much, otherwise he would become stupid and hostile to me, so I would know no greater heartache. So God also does, and says: "I chastise you, little children, but through another, namely, through the devil or the world; but if you have recourse to me and cry out to me, then I will save you and help you. For our Lord God ever did not want us to become enemies of Him.
(24) For which people are chastened by God.
The godly is chastened, lest he be condemned with the world; but the ungodly, that he may know himself, or be hardened. The greater the Christian, the greater the condemnation; the greater the sin, the greater the fear.
1) Cf. cap. 24, § 120.
2) Cf. § 56 of this Cap.
25. the challenge of youth, and of any age.
(Cordatus No. 1525.)
Young men and young men are challenged by beautiful virgins, the great multitude by other vices. The men of 30 years by gold, of 40 by ambition. If only I were pious!
26. David's temptations.
(Cordatus No. 545.)
"Absalom, my son" [2 Sam. 18:33]. The writing of this song represents in all its pieces the movements of a mourner, and shows the sobbing and the greatest anguish that that holy king had, which obscured all his promises, and he had only two tribes for eight years. When he had become king in Israel, a conspiracy arose against him, Absalom killed his brother Ammon, his daughter was violated by her brother, purely tragic upsets that could have made him feel sorry for his life, even thinking it an evil. I would not have endured such a puff to our Lord God. This is how it goes in the life of all patriarchs, whose examples more obscure than promote grace and promise. It is necessary to hold here.
27. how to keep in mind the contested consciences.
(Contained in Cap. 24, § 117.)
28. exhortation to patience in temptations.
(Cordatus No. 716. 717.)
If we considered the greatness of the matter and the glory of the life to come, which we expect when we rise from the dead, we would not be so unwilling to suffer the plagues of this godless world. But when Christ comes to judge the living and the dead, and we experience this, we must be ashamed in our hearts and say to ourselves, "Fie on you!
If I believed the word, on the last day, when the verdict is passed, I would not only have suffered bad an-
I would also say: Oh, that I had not thrown myself under the feet of all the Turks and the ungodly for the sake of this glory, which I now see revealed, which has been bestowed on me through the merit of Christ. Therefore Paul says [Rom. 8, 18]: "I consider that the suffering of this time is not worthy of glory" etc.
29. spiritual temptations the most severe.
(Cordatus No. 1659.)
The struggle of the Church is the most difficult of all, because it is not with flesh and blood, but with spiritual wickedness. The flesh takes away the body, fields and children, but spiritual wickedness takes away the soul and God Himself, eternal life and all heavenly goods. This struggle has made the night quarrels with the devil much more painful for me than the day quarrels with the papists and the enthusiasts.
30. comfort in the highest temptation.
(Cordatus No. 378 and 379.)
To another, 1) who was afflicted, I said: Be of good cheer, you will get better, your affliction will be to [God's] honor, to your and many people's benefit. That should be believed, because I was also sick in this hospital and had no one to comfort me, not even Staupitz, who once answered me when I complained: Magister Martin, I don't understand. Therefore it is nothing that we go either to Philip or Cordatus, that they say many things to us who are afflicted, - to Christ verse you good and good shall befall you, because he is a thousand times better than I, or Philip or Cordatus. Hold Christ up to the devil, and he shall surely come on.
When he complained again that his challenges were on the right and on the left, I answered: "The devil can do this masterfully, because he would not be the devil if he did not understand this. But this is to consider" that even the apostles were great husks, which Paul testifies of himself [1 Tim. 1, 13.], and has
1) According to Rebenftock II, 221 d. Joh. Schlaginhaufen.
Did not Peter commit an act of evil with his denial? These are the ones Christ presented to us as an example in the forgiveness of sins, so that we might observe the mercy of God in them. I believe that the prophets were also often such people, and the Fathers said that one should stick to one's first intention. The first intention of Christians is to obtain forgiveness of sins from God, and we should always leave other thoughts behind.
31. from another challenged person.
(Contained in the conclusion of the previous §.)
32. comfort against sadness.
(Cordatus No. 414.)
Doctor Martin Luther looked at a challenged man 2) and said: "Be of good cheer, you are not the only one who is challenged, I am also one, and have much greater sins than you and your fathers. I would rather have been a whoremonger or a robber than to have sacrificed Christ like this in the mass for fifteen years.
33. benefit and fruit of the holy cross.
(Transferirt after § 20 of this Cap., where it belongs).
34. the devil's restlessness.
(Cordatus No. 494. 495. 496.)
The papists have little devils, but we have doctors, they have lawyers, we have theologians [to devils], and the devil has good advantage against us, because our own flesh agrees with him. But what do we care? Since he says [2 Cor. 12:9,j: "My power is mighty in the weak." And if God did not humble us, we would become very hopeful boys. I would have long since become a Münzer or Zwingli.
Those who are of a broken heart and spirit are afflicted, Ps. 51, [19.]. Wisdom does great things in such hearts, in the weak and foolish, 1 Cor. 1, [25. 27.], but not without challenge. Yes, Jeremiah takes offense at the weakness of God,
2) According to the Hall manuscript II, 292 D. Hieronymus Weller.
and complains [Jer. 23:23, 24] that God is too far away from us, as if He were a guest on earth.
When I am so cold in heart that I cannot pray, I confront the ungodliness and ingratitude of the adversaries, of the pope, of Ferdinand, so that I may inflame my heart with righteous anger, so that I may say, "Hallowed be thy name, come" etc., and my prayer becomes fervent.
God helps from temptation.
(This § is omitted because it is contained in Cap. 26, § 5; the last paragraph is transferred there.)
The righteous church is always in danger and challenge.
(Cordatus No. 284.)
We now see from Scripture and experience alike that the church is in constant great distress. For what else did we see before the Diet of Augsburg but that the cause of the church was in despair? At the Diet everything was in despair. But now that we have been freed from this evil by God's mercy, even greater distress is breaking in through sectarians, mainly the Anabaptists etc. Therefore, the church stands in fear, and this prayer is always true in it [Ps. 119, 92]: "If your law had not been my comfort, I would have perished in my misery" (that is, in despair).
37. of temptations, and how to drive them out and resist them.
(Cordatus No. 1651. 1652. 1653.)
Fearful thoughts, and that is if they are connected with sadness, are the surest weapons of death, because they dry up the bones. Such thoughts have tormented me more than all the enemies and my works. Whatever I did to dispel these thoughts of the devil, I did not achieve anything with them. I have sought consolation even from my wife. But we do not want to be comforted, so corrupt is our nature. However, we must make every effort to drive away the devilish thoughts by some more violent movement of the mind.
All sadness is diabolical because Christ, in whom we believe, came to comfort and have mercy. Therefore, in sadness, the Holy Spirit must be invoked, who is the defiance against death and dangers. When there is sadness because of death, say [Ps. 118, 17.], "I will not die, but live," and will rejoice. But, dear God, the article of faith does not want one. That is why so much sadness comes. Often I am angry with myself for having given so many lectures, preaching and writing how to overcome this temptation, and when I myself am challenged, I cannot eradicate the sadness. But the Scripture says [Ps. 32:11], "Rejoice in the Lord."
Even if you have to suffer many plagues, let them go, for they are necessary and useful to us, so that power may be exercised through weakness. [See the little faith of the patriarchs, prophets and apostles. What if we were also the very weakest in this last worst time, in which complete godlessness reigns and rages, and the godly are slackened? Such thoughts can be dispelled through Christ and prayer, and God's Word drives away sadness.
(Similar thoughts as in this § in Kummer p. 287 f. [Lauterbach p. 73 f.])
As one takes a thing, so it is. [That is why, in the time of the challenge, it is necessary to turn one's thoughts away from the tribulation, to think and speak of Christ: Christ lives. I am baptized, God is not a God of sorrow and death. But the devil, on the other hand, is such a God. The true God is a God of joy, that is Christ, who is a gracious God, who does not want to strangle. A Christian should and must be a joyful person. If not, he is tempted by the devil. I was once very much tempted in my garden by the lavender. There I sang the song: "Christum wir sollen praben schon", otherwise I would have died there. Therefore, if you feel such thoughts, say: This is not Christ. It may bear Christ's name, but it is a lie. For Christ says: Peace be with you; likewise: Let not your heart be troubled; be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. Because of God, we are commanded to be joyful. Be joyful. But I preach it now, and I also write it, but I do not understand this art yet, when we are challenged like this. This fruit we have from being instructed. If we should always have peace, the devil should cheat us. God knows that our hearts are frightened. Therefore He speaks and commands: Do not let your heart be troubled. Furthermore, we are not equal to the holy fathers in faith. But the less we are compared to the fathers, the more glorious victory this will bring for Christ. For we are very inexperienced, very weak, very foolish against the devil, for he has a great advantage over us, because there was such great wisdom, power, holiness and faith in the fathers. Namely, our Lord God wants to put an end to extreme foolishness. Paul had to say: I alone am an apostle for all attempts of the devil. Either hypocrisy or violence rules. Violence with the rebels like Muenzer, hypocrisy with the monks and in the papacy. The devil often tormented me with these words: Who sent you to teach against the monasteries? Likewise: Before there was the most beautiful peace, which you have disturbed, who ordered you to do it? Here a certain one interrupted the speech and said: Your fatherliness has not commanded it, neither with regard to the monasteries, nor to disturb the peace. But he [God] only taught: "In vain do they serve me, because they teach such doctrines, which are nothing but the commandments of men" (Matth. 15, 9.); from this then followed of its own accord and from God's permission that which your fatherliness says. Luther said: "Before this occurs to me, I have already left a sweat over it.
(38) Wherever the gospel is taught purely, persecution and temptation always follow.
The gospel cannot be without persecution. For the man who is called Christ must taste blood; as Moses' wife said before to her husband, Moses, Ex. 4:25: "Thou art a bridegroom of blood unto me." For the Antichrist cannot be Christ's friend; as we now, in our times, know by experience.
see how the pope rages and thunders against the gospel. If I had not been biting, the pope would have eaten me: Nisi ego fuissem mordax, Papa fuisset vora. He would have eaten and devoured us all. I am the Pabst's Kaulbars, which has spiky scales, which he cannot devour. He found a hedgehog to chew on me.
39. comfort for one who is challenged.
The Lord, our God, is a God of the humble and afflicted, who are in distress, temptation, persecution and danger, in which God demonstrates His power and strength. For if we were strong, we would be proud and hopeful, since God cannot show and prove His power except in our weakness. He does not extinguish the smoldering wick; neither will he crush the broken reed. But the devil would like to extinguish it and crush everything.
God loves temptations and is also hostile to them. He loves them when they provoke and entice us to pray and to trust in Him; He is hostile to them when we despair for their sake. Therefore said D. Martinus said: "If you are well, sing a little song to God and praise him; but if you are not well, call on God and pray, for "the Lord is pleased with those who fear him and wait for his goodness," Ps. 147:11. Peace has its time, war has its time; being wise and foolish has its time; being happy and sad, as well as affliction and temptation, also has its time. It is with us, like the April weather.
He who feels that he is weak in faith desires to be strong: the food pleases God in us and is pleasing to Him. Oh, how great a part and piece of righteousness it is to desire to be righteous and godly. Therefore, do not despair, but straighten yourself up and comfort yourself with God's word and with the examples of the holy Scriptures. For God, who has helped all the patriarchs, prophets and saints, will not abandon you.
40. contestation of faith.
The contestation of faith is the very greatest and heaviest; for faith is supposed to be the
And the other temptations must all be overcome. If this one is defeated, then all the others, even the smallest and worst, must overtake man. But since faith remains, one can despise the greatest temptations and dangers. For if faith is right and sound, all other temptations must diminish and abate. This challenge to faith has been St. Paul's scolops, a great spit and stake that has passed through both spirit and flesh, body and soul. It has not been a challenge nor a plague of carnal immorality, as the papists dream, when they have felt no other but such carnal immorality. They have not tried the great battles, nor have they ever experienced them; therefore they speak and write of them as the blind do of paint.
41. how to resist spiritual temptations, r)
(Lauterbach, Jan. 5, 1538, p. 4.)
Holy devil, pray for us, if we have not sinned against you, merciful Lord Devil, you have not created us, nor given us life. Why then do you accuse us so harshly before God, as if you were so holy and the supreme judge of the right saints of God? Take the staff in your hand and go to Rome to your servant, whose idol you are. (Mockery of Satan.)
From what causes God lays out the holy cross to the godly.
(Lauterbach, Feb. 20, 1538, p. 34.)
God puts tribulations on the believers because of what is still backward in the flesh and because of the present sin. Therefore, the argument is not valid: the righteous must have it good; the believers in this life are righteous; therefore, they must have it good. It is to answer the subordinate clause: the pious are righteous in this life by imputation [of righteousness], but because of the flesh which they still have about them, they feel the tribulations. The supersentence is a sentence of the law.
1) According to the sense contained in Cap. 24, § 14. § 44; Cap. 26, § 23.
43. the greater the saints before God, the greater the challenge.
(Lauterbach, March 29, 1538, p. 49f., except the last paragraph.)
Then came Doctor Weller, very challenged and fainthearted, whom Luther comforted to take heart in the Lord and deal with men, and asked him whether he was angry with God, or with Luther, or with himself. He answered: I confess my murmuring against God. On the other hand, he said: God does not give up anything. I myself often serve my God in this way. If I should put on good incense to him, I bring stinking pitch and devil's filth of grumbling and impatience, and if we did not have the article of the forgiveness of sins, of which God has promised for certain that he shall perform it, we would be in a bad way. Weller said: The devil can seek you out masterfully where it hurts the most. [Yes, he does not learn that from us. He can do it very nimbly, because if he did not give it to the patriarchs, prophets and the prince of the prophets, Christ, then he will not overtake us either. He can make the most wonderful final speeches: You have sinned, God is angry with sinners, therefore despair. Then we must descend from the law to the gospel and take hold of the article of the forgiveness of sins. You are not alone, dear brother, in suffering these temptations. For Peter admonishes that we should not let it alienate us that the same afflictions come upon us as upon the brethren (1 Pet. 4:12; 5:9). Moses, David, Isaiah suffered much. What do you think that David will have had for temptations when he made the Psalm (6.): "Oh Lord, do not punish me in your anger" etc. He would much rather have perished by the sword than have felt the horror against God and God against him. I believe that such confessors far surpass the martyrs, who daily see the idolatries, aversions, sins, happiness and security of the wicked, but the fear of the pious, who find themselves like sheep for slaughter.
March 29. After that he urged Wellern that in such sadness he should seek contact with people, not live alone. "Woe
to the man who is alone," says the Holy Spirit (Gal. 4:10). I flee loneliness with great diligence when I am unhappy, although even Christ was alone in the desert and was challenged by the devil. The desert of John the Baptist was inhabitable like thieves [Düben], Jesson [Jessen] and such oerter before men. In short, spiritual temptations are far greater than bodily afflictions. The challenge of Judas: "You have betrayed innocent blood" (Matth. 27, 4.) was the worst death for him; especially when the devil makes a law out of the gospel. For the teachings of the law and the gospel are very necessary and must be intelligently combined, otherwise people either despair or become presumptuous. Thus Moses describes very well this teaching by the upper and lower millstone. 1) The upper stone rumbles and pushes, it is the law. But it is rightly hung by God, that it only rubs. But the lower stone lies still. This is the gospel. Our Lord God has hung the upper stone finely, so that it does not grate completely and feeds the grains to the lower one. This is the only and most important advice, so that you will not be alone in the challenge or even flee into loneliness. As that monk did when he was challenged in his cell and said, "I will not stay here. I will run away from the cell to the brothers. Thus it is written in the Acts of the Apostles (28:15) about Paul, who had endured much through hunger and shipwreck for fourteen days, that afterward, being received by the brothers, he gained a confidence. So do I to him. I would rather go to my shepherd John, even to the swine, than be alone.
Bishop Albrecht of Mainz used to say that the human heart is like a millstone in a mill. If grain is poured on it, it runs around, grinds, crushes, and makes it into flour: but if there is no grain, the stone still runs around, but it grinds itself so that it becomes thinner, smaller, and narrower. Thus the human heart wants to create: it does not have the works of its profession before it.
1) Cf. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XI, 86, § 33.
Then the devil comes and shoots in temptation, melancholy and sadness, and the heart eats itself up with sadness, so that it pines away, and many a man is distressed to death. As Sirach says, "Sadness kills many people, and sadness consumes the marrow and legs, and there is no benefit in it. Sir. 30, 25. 38, 19.
44. heavy thoughts offend the body.
(Lauterbach, 29 Apr. 1538, p. 73.)
On this day he encouraged D. Wseller] that he would like to resume his profession so that he would not be troubled with his thoughts. But he objected to his health, that he was bothered by constant rivers. Luther answered: I believe that easily, because thoughts make rivers. For if the soul is occupied with thoughts, sleep, food and digestion are hindered. For if the soul does not revive, the body must repay it. Therefore Augustine said very well: The soul is more where it loves than where it animates. For all inclinations and passions that go beyond measure exhaust the body. Without soul it is dead, as a horse without the steer. But a calm spirit takes care of the body. Therefore, one must resist the thoughts as much as one can. Because it is also a very difficult struggle for me to argue with these thoughts.
45 Every man has his challenge.
(Lauterbach, April 5, 1538, p. 56.)
After that he advised someone in his complaints and finally said: "No man's life is peaceful, for everyone has his troubles, and he himself should cause trouble. For no one is content with his fate. He who has a wife wants to be single, the single wants to be married, the master a servant, the servant a master, the poor rich, the rich desires more.
46 D. M. Luther's wish in his illness.
Oh, how I would like to die now, for I am now weary and worn out, 2) and have
2) Cf. Cap. 48, § 26, and Cap. 4, § 32, Cordatus No. 1380, Appendix II.
For I know that as soon as I get well again, I will have neither peace nor rest; sorrow, trouble and temptation will not remain outside. For since the great man Paul could not be exalted, who thus complained "of Satan's angel that smote him with fists," 2 Cor. 12:7, neither shall we have it all in peace without temptations. For "we must go through much tribulation into the kingdom of God." Apost. 14, 22.
Oh, if St. Paul were alive now, how I would like to learn from him what a challenge it would have been. It has not been a thorn in the flesh of dear Thecla 1) to fornication, as the papists make them dream. Oh no! because it has not been a sin, nor that would have bitten him in the conscience. I do not know what it has been. It is something higher than despair because of sins, as the temptations are in Ps. 8:6: "You will let him be forsaken by God for a little while"; and Ps. 22:2: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" as if he wanted to say: You are an enemy to me without any cause. And yet there was no sin: item Ps. 73, 21: "It stings me in my kidneys," that is, a spear goes through my kidneys.
The book of Job is full of such challenges, since his friends and counselors are wise, prudent, just and pious people, yet they do not meet it. For from this is the whole dispute in the same book: I am righteous and innocent, says Job, though God asks nothing of human piety and innocence. But they speak against it and say: "This must be the devil, that you should be pious and righteous, so God must be unrighteous. Over this quarrel and question goes the whole dispute. I think that the Book of Job is a history, and then put into a poem and poem, which happened to one, but not in such words as it is described.
Jerome and other fathers did not feel such temptations, had only carnal and childish temptations, which
1) Cf. § 30 of this Cap.
They are also somewhat vexed. Augustine and Ambrose also had temptations and were afraid of the sword, but it is nothing against Satan's angel who strikes with fists. Scolop's stake, when one is hanged on the gallows, the childish temptations of Hieronymi and others pass away.
If I should live a while longer, I would write a book of temptations, without which no man can understand the Scriptures, nor know godliness and love; indeed, he cannot know what spirit is. As our Grickel is, who misses much and lets himself think, since he has never had any temptation, has neither tried nor experienced anything. He will do harm after my death.
Oh, dear Lord God, it is not so easy to understand the Holy Scriptures, even if you read them diligently. Let us learn the three words well, and remain eternally students of what it is to love, fear and trust God. Can we not learn Virgil, Cicero, Terence; how are we so presumptuous in the holy scriptures? Fie on you!
47. physical temptations are much easier than spiritual ones.
(Lauterbach, Aug. 2, 1538, p. 105.)
August 2. During the night Luther had the most severe pain in his arm from tearing limbs. Then he said: "May the name of the Lord be given. This can still be said, because it is still easy to send in the penny, the skirt, the skin. But when spiritual temptations come, so that the day must be lost in which I was born (Job 3:1 ff.), then it is difficult. Christ was almost in a similar trial in the garden, when he said: Father, take this cup from me; there was will against will, but soon he surrendered to the will of the Father and an angel appeared and comforted him. (Matth. 26, 39. Luc. 22, 43.) In short: Christ, who is tempted in our flesh, is the best representative before God in all temptations. He presides as
we are only responders 1). Granted that God's wrath manifests itself in our misfortunes, but if we repentantly believe, God's grace and goodness is hidden under wrath, like power under weakness, only that we must persevere in hope and pray, not fretting at appearances.
48. to have patience in suffering.
On August 8 of the 38th year, D. M. and his wife were sick with fever. Then he said: God has nevertheless attacked me quite a bit, I have also been impatient, because I am exhausted by so many and great illnesses; but God knows better what it is for than we ourselves. Our Lord God is like a printer who puts back the letters: we see his typesetting and feel it well, but we will see the imprint there; however, we must have patience.
49) What the cross and the challenge are good for.
(Lauterbach, Aug. 31, 1838, p. 125.)
On the last day of August, Luther was informed by Jonas of the many and varied temptations with which the pious were whimsically afflicted. He answered: "One must have patience and pray. For if everything went according to our will, we would only become sluggish and brutish, as happened to the Romanists. Therefore, the temptations are our best remedies, which strengthen us against many evils, as your stone, D. Jonas, makes you suffer and is of more use to you than ten cotters. 2) God knows best how he must govern the life of his own; we are to obey according to our profession.
(The last paragraph is spurious, an adaptation of Aurifaber on Cap. 20, § 7, which immediately follows this § in the original).
1) The idiom is taken from court proceedings, where names are called out to determine who is there. Hence responäentes, answerers. The meaning is: Christ, by seme representation, does everything, man nothing.
2) Kux -- share in a mine.
The unchallenged understand nothing in the matters of God.
The temptations of God-fearing Christians are powerful and useful, and a proper Christian school and training for the flesh and blood. He who is not tempted nor challenged understands and knows nothing. Therefore the whole Psalter is almost in every verse nothing but temptation, grief, sorrow, and a book full of temptations. The temptations of the holy fathers are childish in comparison, in the first table of the ten commandments of God; like St. Jerome's temptation of carnal lust. Ah! the great temptations can well ward off the party devils. Therefore, they do St. Paul injustice by blaming him for longing for the Thecla, as if he had called it a stake in the flesh, when it says that Satan's angel beat him with his fists.
How to resist the challenge.
(Cordatus No. 467 and No. 570.)
This morning the devil began to dispute with me about Zwingli, and I learned that a satiated person is not disposed to dispute with the devil, but an empty stomach. Example: A bishop had a sister who was challenged that her brother, who was still alive, was damned. Since her brother could not dissuade her from her thoughts, he kept her for three days in the most glorious way and asked her how she was. She answered: "Fine. When he then inquired where her former thoughts were, she answered: I have forgotten her. So do good, you who are afflicted. But the fornicators must fast.
Where there is a melancholy head, there the devil has his bath. For such a one, a hungry stomach or a lonely life does not fit. Here belongs the example of the bishop's sister. [In the preceding.]
52. of melancholicis, and how their melancholy had been driven away.
(Cordatus No. 1129.)
Where there is a weary head, there the devil has his bath. That is why Jesus says Sirach,
Cap. 38, [21.], well, "Let not sadness enter into thy heart, but put it from thee." Well known is the story of the one who said he was dead, and a dead man does not eat etc. Another said he was a rooster, had a comb on his head and a beak in his face, so he also crowed like a rooster. For three days, another monk was like him; at last he said that he was no longer a rooster, but a man, and so he freed the other one. Another heard a monk preach that the flesh must be tortured; one must let it turn sour. This one decided that he would not let his water. This one was also freed by one who pretended that he had done the same, but when he realized that he had become more hopeful through this vow, he desisted, and that one also desisted from his preaching.
53. Luther's concerns under the papacy.
I often confessed to Doctor Staupitzen, not about women, but about the right knots. Then he said: I don't understand it. 1) That means quite comforted! When I went to another one after that, I felt the same way. In sum, no confessor wanted to know anything about it. Then I thought, no one has this torment and temptation but you. Then I became a dead corpse. At last, Father Staupitz spoke to me over the table, because I was so sad and exhausted, and said: "How are you so sad, Father Martine? Then I said: Ah! where shall I go? And he said, Alas! You do not know that such treatment is good and necessary for you, otherwise nothing good would come of you. He did not understand this himself, for he thought that I was learned, and that if I did not have a challenge, I would become proud and hopeful. But I accepted it, as Paul says in 2 Cor. 12:7: "I have been given a stake in the flesh, that I should not exalt myself to high revelation"; therefore I received it as a word and voice of the Holy Spirit.
I was very pious in the papacy, since I was a monk, and yet so sad and distressed.
that I thought God would not be merciful to me. Then I said mass and prayed, and had neither seen nor had a wife, since I was in the order and a monk. Now I have to suffer other thoughts from the devil. For he often reproaches me: Oh, how many people you have seduced with your teaching! Sometimes I am comforted and my heart is again troubled by a bad word in my temptation. Once my confessor said to me, because I always brought foolish sin before him: "You are a fool, God is not angry with you, but you are angry with Him; God is not angry with you, but you are angry with Him. A precious, great and glorious word, which he said before this light of the gospel.
Therefore, whoever is afflicted with the spirit of sadness, let him take the greatest care and see to it that he is not alone. 2) For God created the society in the church, and commanded the brotherhood, that its members should hold themselves together; as the Scripture says: "Woe to the man who is alone; for if he falls, he has not one to help him up," Eccl. 4:10. Also, God does not like the sadness of the heart, although He allows worldly sadness: but He does not want me to be sad against Him; as He says: "I have no pleasure in the death of the sinner," etc., Ezek. 33:11; item: "Rejoice in the Lord," Phil. 4:4. He will not have such a servant who does not think well of him. Even though I know this, I may change my mind a hundred times in one day, but I resist the devil.
Sometimes I hold up the pope to him and say, "What is your pope, if you make it so great that I should celebrate him? Behold, what abomination hath he wrought, and hath not ceased this day. So I hold before me forgiveness of sins and Christ; but I reproach Satan and set before him the abomination of the pope: so then is the abominatio and the abomination so great that I become courageous over it and freely confess that the abomination of the pope, after Christ, is my greatest comfort. Therefore, these are unholy fools who say that the pope should be
2) Cf. the last paragraph of Cap. 24, § 5, and § 43 of this Cap.
do not scold. Only quickly scolded, and especially when the devil challenges you with the Justification. He often attacks me with an argument that is not worth a damn, but I do not see it in the torment and challenge; but when I am recovered, I see it finely.
Well, the poisonous spirit does us much harm: but because we have and keep the doctrine pure, it shall not harm us; but if the doctrine falls, or is counterfeited, we are done for. But praise be to God, who has given us the Word and has sent His only Son to die for us. He did not do it in vain, so we should have some hope and believe that we are holy and blessed. If he has so accepted the thief on the cross, and Paul after so many blasphemies and persecutions, we have no reason to doubt. And indeed, we must all thus come to blessedness, like the thief and Paul. Dear God, what do you mean that He gave His only Son? For this reason he also sets apart all other good things that he has. For this reason we have no reason to fear his wrath, and yet we must fear it for the sake of the old Adam, who cannot grasp it as he might. And if we had only the first three words in faith, "I believe in God the Father," they are far beyond our understanding.
54. challenging Satan.
(This § is an excerpt from the "Tröstlichen Unterricht," Walch, St. Louis edition, Theil X, Col. 1780 ff, A 2-18.)
(55) Those who are in trouble and weak should take care that they are not alone.
(This § ibid. Walch, St. Louis ed., vol. X, 1786 ff. 8s 24-32.)
(56) Which is the greatest challenge.
On 14 Decembris Anno 1541 spoke D. M. Luther: The greatest challenge of the devil is that he says: God is hostile to sinners: you are a sinner; therefore God is hostile to you etc. One feels this temptation differently from the other. He reproaches me for not having
Sin, which I did in my youth, as especially among others, that I kept mass 1) and sacrificed and martyred God's Son, and thereby blasphemed Him: but many other things, which are nowhere equal to these; others he reproaches for what they did before in their lives.
But in this syllogism and conclusion, the major, the first part, is to be denied, namely: it is not true that God is hostile to sinners. If then the devil says against this, and holds up Sodom and other examples of divine wrath to you, hold him up against it again before Christ, the Son of God, whom he made man for the sake of sins. If he were hostile to sinners, would he not have sent his Son for our sake, and not let him be miserably executed, tortured, suffer and die? But he is hostile to those sinners who think they are pious and righteous; that is, those who do not recognize themselves as sinners, whom he will neither hear nor see until they come to the right knowledge of their sins and hold to Christ alone by faith in the word.
Such trials are very useful, good and necessary for us, and do not happen, as is thought, because we should be corrupted and lost by them, but rather be instructed and taught. For every Christian should remember and know that he cannot rightly learn or know Christ without trial and the cross, which is the school by which one rightly learns to know the man and the Savior. Twenty years ago I first felt this despair and challenge of divine wrath. Before that I had peace of mind that I also took a wife; I had such good days. But after that it came again.
When I complained about it to D. Staupitzen, he said: He would never have felt nor experienced such temptations; but as far as I understand and realize, he said, they are more necessary to you than food and drink. Therefore, let those who feel them get used to them and learn to bear them, for this is true Christianity. If Satan had not tormented and exercised me so, I would not have been so hostile to him, I would not have been able to
1) Cf. the second paragraph of § 23 of this chapter.
Nor can we do so much harm. For when the challenge comes, I cannot overcome even a few, daily, smallest sins; therefore, it keeps us from hope, and at the same time increases the knowledge of Christ and God's gifts. For from the time I began to be challenged, God gave me this glorious victory, that I overcame monasticism and the shameful, cursed, blasphemous life that is in it.
And how should our Lord God do it differently? Because Pope and Emperor cannot restrain me, there must be a devil who assails me, so that God's power may be known, and so that I may not grow weary and perish without enemies. St. Peter has a fine saying in 1 Ep. 5:9, where he says: "And know that the same afflictions pass over your brethren in the world," that we are not alone, but suffer much in the world from time to time, the same ones with us whom we do not know. Yet we are not left desolate, but our victory remains, that we may overcome and succumb, for we have forgiveness of sins. Therefore, those who feel our sin have no reason to fear us, but those who do not feel it may well fear them. Everything depends on it, that we, who are frightened before, do not accept the hard, terrible sayings, nor the terrible examples, because only the consolation belongs to us.
57. the most difficult thoughts of the devil.
(The first two paragraphs Cordatus No. 357 and 358.)
The most difficult temptations are when the devil brings this into our temptations, that we search for the causes of well-being and unhappiness, why it goes well with me and badly with you, why this or that happens. These temptations are very heavy and easily bring down. This is what he started in paradise with Eve and deceived Adam and all his descendants.
There is no prouder thing on earth than a hopeful healer at the time of prosperity, and there has not yet been anyone among the saints who has not been troubled with the why, wherefore. 1)
1) Another relation of what is contained in these two paragraphs in Cordatus No. 1412.
Gerson writes that nothing can better avoid and drive away the devil's temptations and thoughts, which he gives you, than to despise him honestly. Just as if one despises a dog that barks in a hostile manner and passes by, it not only does not bite, but also stops barking. But if you provoke him with striking and throwing, he is likely to attack you and bite you and tear you to pieces. So the devil never ceases his temptations when he sees that you fear him and do not despise him, but you encourage and help him more and more.
58: How Martin Luther visited and comforted a sick and challenged woman.
Doctor Martin Luther visited a woman and comforted her, who had a great longing and desire for him. However, she had a serious illness in her and endured terrible paroxysms, which no physician could advise or help; for it was a pure evil work and unnatural thing and of terror and devil's ghost origin, because the devil in the form of a calf had pressed her, that she even fell into unconsciousness. Therefore she arrived afterwards for several days in great terror and trembling, so that she had four paroxysms, each of which lasted three or four hours, at which time she fell to the ground and died, so that she had to be resuscitated, fed and cooled, and became very ill, so that she could not breathe. Therefore she clasped her hands together and looked up to heaven with her eyes and sighed. Her hands and feet were so crooked because of the spasm, as if they were horns, and in addition they were very cold, and her tongue was dry and parched. Also, her body was lifted up by the disease and fell down again. When she was very ill, she opened her eyes, which were as if she were drunk with sleep, and said, "Oh, how heavily I have borne; take this great stone from me. And as she thus spake, she saw Martin Luther standing before her bed. Then she was very happy, got up and received him, and said, "Oh, my dear father!
in Christ, prayed to God for me, and fell back into bed, saying: I am still drunk asleep.
Then said D. Martin Luther: Devil, God command you that you leave this divine creature and creature satisfied. And turning to those who had gone with him to this sick woman, he said, "She is afflicted in body by the devil, but her soul is blessed and preserved; therefore let us give thanks to God and pray for her. And he prayed aloud over her the Lord's Prayer, and concluded with these words: "O Lord God, heavenly Father, who hast called us and the sick to pray, we beseech thee through Jesus Christ, thy dear Son, that thou wouldest fatherly deliver this thy servant from her sickness and from the devil's bonds. Save, dear God, her soul, which you have purchased and saved from sin, death and the power of the devil, together with her body, through the shedding of the blood of your dear Son Jesus Christ. 1) Thereupon the sick woman said, Amen; and said to D. Luthern: Oh dear father, pray God for me, that I may abide in the Lord Christ, whom you have so faithfully preached to me: he is my only comfort and life. Even though he is now stumbling, he is doing it so that he may humble me, but not so that I may be saved again through this. But, O dear Lord Christ, grant patience and knowledge of my sins.
Then Doctor Martin Luther comforted her with God's word and said: "She should recognize this fatherly will of God and command herself to him, for our Lord God used to nudge his little children so that their spirit would be blessed. Then the woman made a glorious Christian confession of her faith, and a beautiful thanksgiving, and said: I have been proud and hopeful, relying more on jewelry than on the word of God; the sermon went in one ear and out the other. But now I am in the right school, where God preaches to me. Therefore help, dear Lord God, for the sake of your Son. She spoke more such glorious words, and said, "When she is in the pa-
1) This prayer is already printed in Walch, St. Louis Edition, Theil X, 1501.
roxysmo, she felt nothing, she heard nothing; but only rested as in a deep sleep, and as if she carried a heavy burden; and when she came to herself again, she would be very tired in all her limbs. And when she had visited D. Luther the same day, she had good peace the following night, but after that the weakness had come again. But in the end she was mercifully delivered from it.
59: Letter of consolation from Doctor Martin Luther to D. Benedict Pauli, whose son had fallen to his death. 2)
(Cordatus No. 1690. 1691. 1692.)
It is not forbidden in Scripture for a father to mourn his blessedly dead child, because the holy patriarchs also did this; only moderation must be kept, and a Christian also has comfort in his mourning, namely, that God reclaims the gift he has bestowed, as Job [had this comfort] when he says, "The Lord gave it, the Lord" etc.
He who rightly contrasts good and evil [sees that] he gains more than he lost, just like Job. Therefore, one must not focus on the existing evil, but on the many other gifts that God has left us until now. Even though the Son died, He [God] did not take away the knowledge of the Word; He left a good conscience, which is better than all good, for an evil conscience is true death and hell.
When the children die, the parents must think that Abraham suffered much hardship,
2) This § in Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 1565 to 1568, where another relation is found, which seems to be a translation of the Rebenstock text. (Rebenstock II, 2a.) With minor deviations from Rebenstock also in the Hall manuscript (Bindseil III, 206). Also in De Weites Briefen Vck, 218, where the same text is found as in Aurifaber's Tischreden, with the date 1538. Without date (After December 5?). This date is incorrect, because none of Cordatus' speeches can be dated after 1537. Most likely, it is not a consolation writing, but a consolation speech, which therefore does not belong in the collection of letters. The reason for this was that the nine-year-old son of the mayor Benedict Pauli in Wittenberg had fallen down from the roof while removing sparrows' nests. - Cf. Cap. 13, § 34.
because he was commanded to kill his own son, and Jacob, [who thought] his son was torn by a wild beast, and David, because he was driven away by his son. Furthermore, this is a certain comfort to the parents, that it was God's good will that the child should die. Whoever holds another against them is the devil.
60. consolation to L. Ambrosium Bernd of Jüterbock, to whom his wife, children and mother in
One week had died. 1)
(Cordatus No. 615. 615a. 615b. 616.)
I comforted a magister, who had lost his mother, wife and children in one week, as much as I could, saying: God's mercy in our misfortunes is much greater than all our misfortunes. You have cause for sadness, but it is nothing, there is a good sugar in this vinegar. Your wife etc. is very well off, for she is already living with Christ. Have taken a leap from this misery into eternal life. Oh, that I had already gone through this leap, I would not long for it again.
Do not look at the vinegar alone, let the sugar also count for something. Behold also other calamities full of vinegar where there is no sugar, as in the downfall of Zwingli, Münzers etc. Thy afflictions are only bodily, namely óôïñãáú φυαιχαί [natural affections]. Your wife has well died, leaving you nothing but the fondest memory of her intercourse and obedience. Be comforted by this; by this affection show thyself to be a kind and pious husband, and do not forget her.
You are a very good dialecticus, you teach
1) This § in De Wette VI, 189 ff. in the excerpt, "from 6o6. 187. 4° Ootb." - According to the superscription, it is Mag. Ambrosius Berndt from Jüterbock to whom this consolation was addressed. He studied in Wittenberg since 1520 and became a master of philosophy in 1528. In the summer of 1537 he administered the decanate of the philosophical faculty and died in 1542. In 1538 he married Luther's niece Lene Kaufmann in second marriage. All these colloquia fall into the year 1532, therefore the death of Berndt's first wife will probably also fall into this year. (Wrampelmeyer.) Therefore also the date of the letter to Ambr. Berndt in De Wette, VI, 195 f.: "After May 1, 1538", is incorrect.
Now practice this art publicly and explain well, distinguish, summarize, learn to distinguish the spiritual from the physical. Let the sugar also be something. Compare other misfortunes with your misfortune, then you will see that the death of your wife is not miserable in truth, but only in affection, because there are óôïñãáú φυσιχαί. Therefore it is a memorable saying of Maximilian, who comforted King Philip, his son: you must get used. You will lose her many more who are dear to you. This is what those who have a noble, Christian spirit must do; nothing else will come of it. For the devil, who is the author of death and error, does not cease to work his wickedness on Christians. But he does not prosper; that is why Christ was under his hands, that he might destroy his dominion and overcome the author of death. For the devil is the author of death, God himself does not kill. For if Christ killed, who would run to him for help? For this is not the business of God, but of the sinner. When he takes away his hand, the devil eats us up. He inflicts death, of which God is not the author. Our death is indeed the will of God, but he has no desire for it. In short, God and the devil are opposed to each other. Everything that God does, He does so that it may be, but Satan does so that it may not be. Therefore, the devil is the author of death, a liar and a murderer, that is his craft.
We cannot make the world pious, Master Hans must draw it. Therefore, Emperor Carl does right, who also kills the murderers again and spares none.
61. comfort for a sick afflicted person.
Anno 36, the 18th of July, after the sermon, D. M. Luther went to an honest, pious matron. M. Luther went to an honest, pious matron, who had been driven from Leipzig: who, because her husband had drowned, was in such distress and heartache that she also fell ill over it and fainted fifteen times in one night. When the doctor came, she received him kindly and said, "Oh, my dear doctor, how do I deserve it for you? D. Martin ant
Waited and said, "It is long deserved; Christ Jesus with his blood has done and deserved much more.
Then he asked her: How was she, how was she doing? He admonished her that she wanted to please God's will and bear it with patience, as he chastised her as a father, whom he had previously redeemed from the greatest evil, from Satan and the abominations of the papacy. Dear daughter, he said, be content, and suffer the father's chastisement, be it for life or for death, as it pleases the dear God; for we are the Lord's, we live or die; as he himself says: "I live, and you also shall live", Jn. 14, 19. He has sent you a noble treasure to suffer, he will give you that you may bear it with patience, therefore pray diligently. To this she answered very Christianly: She would be well satisfied, God would ever weep well and fatherly with her, would also give her patience and help her bear such a cross etc. So the doctor parted from her, blessed her and entrusted her to the protection of our dear God.
Another consolation of D. M. Luther to a sick woman.
In 36, August 4, Luther visited Hohendorff, 1) mayoress of Wittenberg, in sickness, and said to her: "My dear godparents, you should have patience and gladly bear the will of God, which is good and holy; for the body that has sinned must suffer and die. But we have the comfort and advantage of handing over our dear soul to the one who redeemed it. The world does not have this consolation.
How M. Luther comforted the old master Lucas Kranach, painter at Wittenberg, since his son John had died in Italy.
Anno 1536, the first Decembris, D. M. Luther visited the mayor Lucas, painter, who was very sad and distressed about his dear obedient son's departure, so with the
1) Cf. cap. 30, z 13.
He died in Bononia 2) on the 9th day of October, in the evening, in a beautiful, glorious, Christian confession. But the parents, beyond their natural love and inclination, were also tormented and tortured in conscience, as if they had been a cause of his death, because they had sent him into it.
Thereupon spoke D. M. Luther said, "If it were true, I would be as high a cause as you, for I have faithfully advised you and him. But we did not do it in the opinion that he should die. Our conscience gives us witness that you would much rather have him alive, yes, much rather storm yourselves, and lose all your goods. Therefore put down this thorn in your conscience, for both heart and will bear much different witness to how you feel about your son.
Then he turned to his father, who was weeping, and said: "Dear Master Luke, be still, God wants to break your will, because he likes to attack you when it hurts him the most, to kill our old Adam. And even though we do not have the greatest temptations, ours, which we feel, hurt us the most. Remember dear Adam, what a sorrow of heart it was when the first two brothers murdered each other in his presence. Remember dear David, who wept two whole years over his firstborn son Amnon, when Absalom stabbed him to death, 2 Sam. 13. Then, when he found Absalom stabbed to death in his sins, hanging on the tree, there was a wailing: when he saw his son eternally damned, there was weeping and anguish, 2 Sam. 18. for one.
On the other hand, we should be comforted by his piety and obedience. For the world is so wicked and rude nowadays that even the very finest young men come to shame and sin: this could also have happened to your son, for you see how naughty and desolate the world is, that one may sin freely and do everything in denial, so that even in public sins and misdeeds one may impudently say, "My no!
2) Bologna.
is as much as your yes. 1) And said, first of all, about the desert life of our students. After that he said of a master at Erfurt, who had been a learned and pious man, but after that, when he became a priest, he fell into adultery with a stone-breaker's wife, who was ugly enough, but could not leave her: finally, one day, early at six o'clock, after he had taken mass, he went to the wife, and was seized by the man and stabbed. That is a terrible death. I also have five children, who are dear to me; but when I think of the evil courses of the future time, in which they might also turn out badly; when I think of it, I wish that they had all died, for there is little improvement to be hoped for in the world; as before my eyes.
Thirdly, although it is painful that you had a pious, obedient son, for one can ever forget the evil, disobedient ones before the pious and faithful ones; let his obedience and Christian farewell be a joy to you, for he has received a good, blessed little hour, brought to him by God. Oh, blessed and blessed is he who comes well with the hour: it is my daily sighing and pleading that God grant me a blessed, happy hour, then I will have been well here and, delivered from all misery and sorrow, will be happy with God.
To the fourth: Dear Master Luke, command this to God, the highest Father, who has more right to your son than you do: for you are only his physical father, have nurtured and nourished him only for a time, but God has given him body and soul, has protected and preserved him until now, is much, much closer father than you are, who knows and can preserve, care for and nourish him much better than you and the whole world.
Fifth: Make a measure of hardship and mourning, forget it always cleanly, command it to God's will, which is better than ours! Your son is well pleased...
1) Lauterbach, Nov. 16, 1538, p. 169: My no is as valid as your yes. D. Gregorius Brück answered: The cause of the one who denies something is much more worthy of applause than the one who claims something, because the plaintiff has the proof.
happen. Eat and drink, refresh yourselves, and do not grieve so, for you shall serve more people: But sadness and sorrow dry up the legs.
64. comfort for a sick person.
In Torgau, Luther visited a clerk who was a pious, diligent man and was sick with dropsy. He comforted him that he should be unconcerned about this illness of his, that he should not trouble himself with sadness, but should keep to the doctors' rule, so that God's blessing would not be hindered by sorrow and heartache. For, as they say, good courage is half the body; when the heart is glad, there is no need for the body. And that he should keep himself according to the counsel of St. Peter, and commit his soul to the faithful Creator. We should die gladly, he said, for we have lived enough, only that we must live a while longer for the sake of others.
65. of D. M. Luther's illness, how he comforted himself.
(Lauterbach, July 17, 1538, p. 98.)
When Luther was still seriously ill on July 17, he noticed a change in his pulse. The doctor comforted him. He replied: I surrender to the will of God; to Him I have surrendered completely. He will do it well. I know for certain that he will not die (John 11:25), because he is the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in him will live, even if he dies. Therefore I let him have his way.
66. another comfort for a sick person.
Doctor Martin Luther even visited an honest matron who was lying very ill, and comforted her thus: "Muhme Lene, do you also know me, and do you hear me? And when she understood and knew him, he said to her, "Your faith rests entirely on the Lord Christ. And he said unto her, The same is the resurrection, and the life. You will not lack anything, 2) you will not die, but like the Lord you will live.
2) So Stangwald instead of "grant".
You will fall asleep in a cradle, and when the dawn rises, you will rise again and live forever. Then said she, O yes; and the doctor asked her, saying, Have ye no temptations? No, she said. How, then, do you not suffer? Yes," she said, "my heart aches. Then he said, "The Lord will soon deliver you from all evil, and you shall not die. And he turned to us, and said, O how good is he, for this is not death, but sleep. And straightway he went alone to the window, and prayed; and departed from her again about twelve past noon: and in the evening about seven she gently fell asleep in Christ.
67. Consolation prayer of D. M. Luther in the last hour.
(This § is in Walch, St. Louis Edition, Part X, Col. 1420 f.).
68. consolation Against the challenge of oversight.
(Cordatus No. 1705. 1706. 1707.)
If the justified have peace, then those who do not have peace are not justified. Whoever should be thus challenged should know that the Christian life or righteousness moves in the midst of sorrow, trouble, tribulation and death. But they are God's children who suffer such things, according to this, "My son, do not slight the chastening of the Lord," Ebr. [12:5J So if they are children, they are not neglected by God, even though they are very severely afflicted by the devil, and because of God's good will toward them, it behooves them to be joyful in the midst of the afflictions, even because of the good conscience of faith [it behooves them to be joyful], through faith.
The peace of faith, of which Paul says [Phil. 4, 7J, is higher than all reason, in such a way that it must also be there in death, in which nothing is seen less than peace. The flesh and the senses do not know it, but feel the struggle and the unrest. Thus David complains [Ps. 38, 4.]: That there is no peace in his
Even Christ on the cross did not feel peace, and if a Christian did not feel the same, to what should the promises and consolations of the gospel refer? Likewise the preaching of grace, such as [Matth. 11, 5.]: "The poor have the gospel preached to them", [Luc. 12, 32. "Fear not, little host", [Rom. 14, 1,:] "Receive the weak in faith", [2 Cor. 13, 11.:] "Comfort one another", and many similar words], which are mainly spoken and written for such people.
Christians always have tribulations and feel sadness. That is why the first commandment is given, so that the sad and afflicted may be comforted. Would that they would accept the consolations!
69. how to overcome the challenge of the accident.
(Cordatus No. 784. 785.)
The challenge of misunderstanding is like a very great fire and the wind that blows into it, because the more someone disputes about it, the more he despairs. God hates this disputation so much that He has instituted the Word and the Sacraments against it, so that we should hear that and look to this: I am baptized and believe in Jesus Christ, what do I care whether I am baptized or not? He has laid a foundation for us to stand on, Jesus Christ, and has made him a ladder for us to climb to heaven.
The only way and the door to the Father according to the will of God is Christ, so we want to build above the roof in the name of the devil with contempt for the foundation, therefore we must also fall. If only we could believe the promises that God has spoken them, and look to Him [who speaks], then we would esteem this word great. 1) But since the world regards them almost less than the words of men, they are the same to us as if a cow had bleated.
1) The bracketed words are added according to the unanimous testimony of the Latin table speeches, namely Kummer r>. 287 (Lauterbach p. 73), Bindseil III, 219, Rebenstock II, 8b.
70 Consolation against the temptation of our unworthiness.
(Kummer p. 423. "Lauterbach p. 62.))
This is copied from Luther's hand psalter: I Doctor Martinus Luther am unworthy, but I have been worthy to be created by my Creator; to be redeemed by the Son of God;
To be taught by the Son of God and the Holy Spirit;
that I have been entrusted with the ministry of the word;
that I suffered so much for the same;
that I have been preserved in so many evils; that I have been commanded to believe such things; that I have been threatened under the curse of eternal wrath not to doubt them in any way.
Therefore I will be mindful of your works and consider the deeds of your hands. Cast your care upon the Lord, and he shall feed you. - Be ye manly, and let your heart be strong, all ye that hope in the Lord.
Hallowed be your name Your kingdom come Your will be done
in
everything that concerns reason everything in which one may be angry everything that may be desired .
against
the devils the world the flesh
and so on.
How to comfort those who are challenged in their faith, D. M. Luther.
(This § is taken from Luther's letter to Dr. Wenc. Link, dated July 14, 1528. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. X, col. 1535-1537, § 10-§16.-In Cordatus No. 361 and 362 an excerpt from this. Cf. De Wette III, 349. the letter to Wenceslaus Link is again in Walch's old edition, vol. XVII, 2697 ff.).
The devil's most noble challenge.
(Cordatus No. 502. No. 1428.)
The devil holds up the law to the conscience and Christ as a judge, and thus says: God hates sinners because he is righteous, but you are a sinner, so etc. Thus he strikes down the conscience. Who could well distinguish and say: He hates not all but the ungodly sinners, and the penitent and
But he makes the weak sinner blessed, because it is a twofold sin, as well as a [twofold] righteousness.
Turning one's thoughts away from temptation is the best remedy against it, that is, one must think of Venice, the land of sleeping monkeys and similar things, but one must stop at prayer and adhere to some text from the Word of God.
Other people's admonitions comfort you in times of trial.
D. Luther said: "When he was in trouble, he would often have been comforted by a word he had heard from a good friend. For when, in 1535, the University of Wittenberg was transferred to Jena for the sake of the dying process, and I was quite distressed and sad about something, Doctor Pommer said to me: "Our Lord God is undoubtedly thinking in heaven: What more should I do with this man? I have given him so many wonderful, great gifts, and he still wants to despair of my grace. These words were a great and glorious comfort to me, and they remained firmly in my heart, as if an angel had spoken them to me from heaven itself; although Doctor Pommer did not think at the time that he wanted to give me any comfort with his speech.
74 A different one from the accident.
One should beware with all diligence of the disputation of the dispensation, for thereby a man is brought by Satan to disregard God's word and the sacraments, to consider Christ more a cruel tyrant and executioner or cane-master than a savior; He even abolishes Christ's office and custom, and makes us forget God, so that the whole service of God, which consists in praying and giving thanks, is extinguished and perishes, and nothing else but blasphemies prevail and are multiplied.
Therefore, against this disputation, take the word, in which you have revealed God as He has revealed Himself and depicted Himself correctly, and recognize the great good deed of Christ, that for your sake He came down from heaven to give you
He became a good man and your brother, yes, flesh and blood, took all your sin upon himself, paid enough for it, and paid the Father for you with his bitter suffering and death, rose again from death, overcame death, the devil and hell, and took them captive through his ascension, all for your good. This is a great unspeakable love that God the Father has for you, that He did not spare His only begotten Son, but gave Himself to death for you. Let no other thoughts lead you away from this, but remain with Christ, lying in the bosom of his mother, or hanging on the cross.
(75) That one should not argue about the accident. 1)
(Cordatus No. 812.)
The disputation of the verse is to be completely avoided, and Staupitz said: If you want to disputate about the verse, then start at the wounds of Christ, and it will cease. If you continue to argue about them, you will lose Christ, the Word, the Sacraments and everything etc. I forget everything that is Christ and God when I get into these thoughts, and come to think that God is evil. We must remain in the word in which God is revealed to us and blessedness is offered if we believe Him. But in the thought of the transgression we forget God, and the laudate [praise] ceases, and the blasphemate [blasphemy] begins. But in Christ all treasures are hidden [Col. 2, 3.], without him all are closed. Therefore, one must simply deny the argument of misappropriation.
76. benefit of the sayings of the accident.
The sayings about misfortune, which have the appearance of frightening us, are only intended to do this and serve to show us the weakness of our strength and inability, and to admonish us to pray. If we do this, we are provided.
But since one wants to argue and say: He who is provided, pleases God.
1) Cf. cap. 2, § 84.
David is provided for; therefore he has not done wrong nor sinned. Answer: It is not our duty to judge according to what we have seen, but according to God's word, which is revealed and condemns evil works. For a godly and right pious Christian is not idle, but good works are only testimonies and fruits of our believing heart, yes, a newborn man is guilty and obligated to do what God has commanded.
77 Cause of the oversight.
The reason why God calls this one or that one is not to be put on our Lord God, but on man; he is to be blamed, not God. For the promises are universal, given and promised to all men, no one excepted, be he who he will, without distinction. Now God wants all men to be saved; therefore the guilt is not of our Lord God, who promises and will faithfully and surely keep what he promises, but of our own who do not want to believe it.
78. beginning in thought of the accident.
In the disputation of the verse it is useful and best to start at the bottom of Christ, so one finds and hears the Father; for all those who started at the top have fallen down the neck. So I once heard from Carlstadt in a disputation about the verse, that he said: If that should be, it would be just as much run into hell as carried into it. And M. Eisleben once went forth with these words: I am worried that it will rain dirt. And Muenzer, when we reproached him with this saying of St. Paul, Rom. 8, 30: "Whom he hath before ordained and called, them also hath he justified, them also hath he glorified," said he: "I know your sayings well. Therefore they fought hard in the disputation, because no one wanted to believe in Christ: and God says of the Lord: "Him you shall hear", Matth. 17, 5.
Thus Christ says: "No one comes to the Father except through me"; but they do not want Christ and his word. As Muenzer also said (that God would forgive him): "If Christ did not want to speak to me, I would have him speak to me.
do not look at etc. Therefore they also went to the ground, and Muenzer set up the first sect with the spirit, and despised the oral word. Carlstadt did not think anything of the Sacrament, so the Sacramentarians came out; and the Anabaptists also set up their sect. These are three hard, horrible sects; but after our death many sects will go out. God help us.
I was plagued and tormented by thoughts of misfortune, namely, what and how God wanted to do with me? But in the end, praise God, I have let them go and despised them, and I have swung again and held to the revealed will of God and His word. We cannot go any higher, for man can never know the secret will of God, and God hides it for the sake of the devil, so that the wise spirit may be deceived and put to shame; for from us he has learned the revealed will of God, but God Himself reserves the secret will for him and hides it. We have enough to learn from the humanity of Christ, in which the Father has revealed Himself: but we are fools not to heed the word and the revealed will of the Father in Christ, to ponder and search out the secrets that are hidden, which God has not commanded us to know; therefore, many of them also fall down their necks over it.
79 Of Christ's temptations.
Christ returned to Jerusalem on the tenth day, and on the fourteenth day he was slain and killed. His thoughts and temptations were of sin, of God's wrath and of death, of which even kings and great lords fear and are afraid. 2) The other temptation and affliction of the Lord Christ was that he would work in vain and in vain for his people.
1) So Stangwald and Bindseil instead of "divine".
2) Thus Stangwald. In Aurifaber the unseemly words follow: "But being young, he wept." Perhaps after Luc. 19, 41. the words should be read: "When he came near, he wept."
the misfortune overtook, and miserably went to failure.
Now we also lament and cry out about the plagues that are coming upon us, so that we may be justly punished, but we remain silent about the cause, namely the sins that well deserve such. If we said how we should do justly: I will no longer live like this against my Lord's command, for my redemption has cost him much, has turned sour in his blood etc. [And it is a great and terrible thing that such a punishment should come upon his city and people, where his church, priests and authorities were. What is against her Babylon, Nineveh, Assyria, Sodom and Gomorrah? What is Jerusalem now, even Antioch, where the first Christian school was, and so many martyrs are buried? How many stones are left on the walls? What is Rome? How has she fared? How do you think Germany will fare?
Christians should not like to be alone.
(Cordatus No. 541.)
The papists and the Anabaptists teach a solitary life, and whoever wants to be saved likes to be alone. They say: Become a brother of St. Nicholas, which completely contradicts the first and second tablets. In the first commandment, God demands faith and fear, and in the second commandment, He wants this to be preached and praised publicly among men, but certainly not in the corner. Thus the second tablet teaches that one should do good to all neighbors. With this teaching he certainly teaches sociability, not separation. This also contradicts marriage, the household, the world order, which require companionship, not segregation. And Christ's life was thoroughly social and never lonely, except when he prayed, although this was very similar to a riot, because the people constantly ran and wanted to be around him. Therefore, away with those who say, "Stay alone and your heart will remain pure.
A solitary life, or vitam solitariam, is to be fled.
(Cordatus No. 376.)
The challenged person should be told that he does not have to be alone, because he is not subject to the devil, who is
is stronger than a thousand worlds, too weak, and yet they want to be alone. Christ also did not like to be alone, which we know from the fact that when he was sad, he said, "You leave me alone," John 16:32. But even so he does not want to be alone, because he says that the Father is with him, with whom he comforts himself alone. 1)
What harm loneliness brings.
(This concern is Walch, old edition, vol. XXI, 179," No. XII.)
Sadness is the instrument of the devil.
(Cordatus No. 1067.)
The deeper someone is in sadness and passions, the more suitable a tool of the devil he is. For our passions are the tools through which he enters us and is effective in us if we are not careful. Where it is wet, one may easily water, and where the fence is evil, one may easily get over. So the devil has easy access where there is sadness. Therefore, one must pray and deal with godly people.
84. sadness and bloody sweat of the Lord Christ in the garden.
One does not find in any Historiis gentium that a man would have been so very distressed that he would have sweated blood. Therefore it is a wonderful history. No man can understand what the bloody sweat is, and that the Dominus Gratiae et irae, vitae et mortis should be so weak and so highly afflicted that he must seek solatium from the poor disciples, and say: Oh, dear, do not sleep, yet awake, yet talk with one another, so that I may hear that people are around me. That is right, as the 8th Psalm, v. 6, says: Minuisti eum paululum ab angelis, Ebr. 2, 7; but the sins of the whole world press him thus, and drive out his sweat. Against this he will have prayed: Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me, nec in ira tua corripias me, Ps. 6, 2. He drew out the heavy psalm, and many words will have fallen in the long prayer.
1) According to Aurifaber's Tischreden, the challenged person was Dr. von Schafhausen.
How to ward off the spirit of sadness and comfort the sad.
(Contained in § 5 of this Cap.)
86 Doctor Luther's Weakness.
Doctor M. Luther once fell ill during communion in the church at Wittenberg, and as he was leaving the church, he said on the way: "Yesterday I was fine, today it is completely reversed; it is the mutatio aeris". People are the best and most natural mathematicians; they soon feel it in their bodies and limbs when there is a conjunction, opposition, or change in the weather in the sky and the stars. Thus the devil is such a companion, he can soon cause diseases; as St. Peter says in the stories of the apostles that the diseases are Vincula Diaboli. And although God has ordained many medicines for one disease alone, and the same is often used, yet it works nothing; for the devil is so powerful, he can change medicines and apothecaries, and put dust in the boxes. Therefore we should have recourse to the right and true physician Christ, and ask him that when the hour comes that is to strangle us, as it must be one day, that he will give us a happy end.
How Luther comforted a sick woman.
Doctor Luther once visited a sick woman of nobility in Wittenberg, called the Selbitzin, and comforted her thus, saying: "It has taken far too long, if we only now in the last need want to learn to recognize Christ. He came to us in baptism and was with us, and has already made a bridge for us, so that we can go on it 2) from this life through death into that life; you should certainly believe this.
How to defend oneself against contestation.
In omni Tentatione one should see to it that one does not interfere with thoughts by reflecting; for if one does the same, it follows
2) Aurifaber: "him".
soon there is a case of being plunged into sin. For where the serpent puts his head into a hole, he will certainly crawl in with his whole body; there is no defense. Therefore it is said: Principiis obsta, sero medicina paratur. And the apostle Peter also admonishes us to resist the devil, who walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, in faith, 1 Pet 5:8, 9, so we must do in high temptations. It is true that we should first be terrified because of our sins, but we should not remain and persist in this terror forever, but return to the grace of God. Otherwise one does too much on both sides: for great joy is generally followed by security, and great terror causes despair. And our Lord God has forbidden both with the highest punishment, namely, that one should not despair of Him, and that one should not be secure in us.
89. benefit and fruit of the challenge.
In 1541, Doctor Luther remembered his spiritual challenge and illness, since he had neither eaten, drunk, nor slept in fourteen days; and said: "During this time, I argued a lot with our Lord God out of great impatience, and reproached him with his promise: God taught me to understand the Holy Scriptures correctly; for when one does everything according to his will, he does not know much about God's word. Now, God does not want us to become too impatient, therefore He requires throughout the Scriptures that we hope and wait, as the Psalm says: "I wait for the Lord from morning till morning," or until evening, Ps. 130:5, 6, for if God does not help soon, He still gives grace so that one can endure the temptation. So Job [13, 15] also says: "Even if God kills me, I will still hope in Him." As if to say, "Though it seems that you have turned your face away from me, yet I will not believe that you are my enemy.
The Book of Job is a good book, and in it one has a fine picture and example of a challenged and afflicted Christian man:
because the same book is not written for Job or any other single person, but is a mirror of all suffering Christians. For we see in it what kind of trial God leads with the temptations of the saints. For if the devil and the Arabs are wicked, Job is patient and able to suffer, saying, "May the name of the Lord be blessed forever. But when God is angry with him, he cannot bear it; and he falls into trouble and into the disputation of the happiness of the wicked. But he also worked his way out of this trouble and said: I know that thou art merciful, though he hardly says so. In sum, all men have flesh and blood in their bosom that murmurs against God and resents God, for it is hard to believe, when we are in temptation, that God will be gracious to us.
St. Jerome wrote only thoughts about the Book of Job, because he did not have much anguish. But if I had been able to preach in my illness, I would have preached many a beautiful sermon and lecture on temptations, for then I understood the Psalter and its consolation a little. Christians should not be at all displeased that the wicked are well in this life: it should be a comfort to them that they should wait for what God wants to give them so abundantly in heaven. My illness has come libratim, and will go away unciatim, said the Count of Nassau.
90. devilish temptation of a woman.
One told D. M. Luther about a woman who was plagued by the devil with these thoughts, as that she did not believe. Luther answered and asked, "Does she also believe what is preached about Christ, how he died for our sin and has done enough for it? Then they said, "Yes, she professes the Christian faith and loves God's word, but the devil frightens and torments her so badly that she is very distressed and worries that she herself might die if she did not spare her children. Then said D. Luther said, "Tell these women that she should avoid such fear of the
For if the devil should hasten to hang or drown her, it should not harm her soul, for it would happen to her as if she were walking in a dream at night and had her neck cut in two.
For this is the work of the devil, which cleaveth and layeth hold on the pious: if he know a pious heart, he layeth hold on it, as on a poor weak creature; as on this woman, or else on a sick man:
Then this strong spirit proves its power and strength, and does harm to the poor Christian's body, but the devil shall be rewarded again on that day. It is only Tentationes charitatis et spei erga Deum, if one makes the devil out of God. But nobody understands that, because Filius Dei, he also tried this tentation and sweated blood over it. In former times we called it Ten- tationes Blasphemiae, and it is also rightly so called, that one spits God straight into the face of our Lord. And our Lord God protect us from such a deed.