V. 1. Hear, O Israel, that you are going over Jordan today to invade the nations that are greater and stronger than you, great cities walled up to heaven 2c.
In the beginning of this fifth book of Moses [Preface § 2. 3.I have said that it is nothing else than a beautiful, delicious sermon or interpretation of the ten commandments of God, and especially of the first and most noble commandment, which he expounds in length and breadth through many chapters, with great diligence and excellent earnestness, as a great master and preacher, so that one may ever learn to esteem the ten commandments dear and great, and see how no better, more useful or more necessary teaching and preaching, nor any higher wisdom or art is to be found on earth.
(2) Now he has hitherto, in order to explain the first commandment well and to make it understandable, told us of many temptations and hindrances that run against it in the world on every side, namely, the great idol Mammon, money and goods, friendship and favor, power and honor, and the like; so that he may warn us to beware and take heed that no one sets his heart on anything other than the word that he has given us and put into this commandment, that he will be our God. For all power is to keep the confidence or trust of the heart pure, so that no one sees or knows anything other than what his God says, speaks or gives.
(3) But of all the hindrances, or vexations, or idolatries, none is greater, nor more injurious, than that which is called our own righteousness or holiness, by which we defy our works and merits. But it is not a coarse, common idol, like the others that rule in the world among the rabble, but the most subtle, beautiful and mischievous devil, which alone charms the highest, most refined people, but most of all afflicts and attacks the right Christians, even clings and clings so tightly that no one can get rid of it as long as we wear this flesh around our necks.
4. for I have often said how we are naturally
t is a very inherent and shameful evil that one seeks holiness in works and fails to earn it from God, so that even the very highest Christians have their greatest trouble and work with it. St. Paul, I think, will be one of the greatest saints, like the prophet David; but when they have reached the highest, they cannot be safe from this idol, as they themselves always complain. For Paul freely confesses that God had to send him an angel of Satan out of hell, who speared him and tortured him quite well, only so that he would not exalt himself to great enlightenment, as if he were better and holier before God than others because of it [2 Cor. 12:7].
Behold, the excellent man in spirit and faith stands in such great danger that he would fall into such hope that he would tickle himself and come before God with his own holiness, and with such a register: So much have I done, suffered, preached, converted 2c., that there was no counsel to resist your misfortune, but that he had to have such a devil on his neck, who plagued him in such a way that he had to remain in the confession that what he was was out of pure grace, for the sake of neither work nor merit. Thus, the hole to boast about himself was lost.
(6) This is the complaint of all Christians until the last day, how it is so sour and difficult to resist this challenge. Therefore Moses did not put this idol last for nothing, as he is the last one. And even though the others have all been overcome and subdued, this one remains undead even into the pit. For though they also rule mightily, they can all be weakened and overthrown: mammon with poverty, honor and power with shame and misfortune 2c. Even wisdom can be turned into foolishness and disgrace. But where holiness reigns, it cannot be weakened or dampened by any human art or power. For even if one wants to attack and condemn it, it only boasts of its suffering all the more.
and innocence, makes herself a martyr for the sake of God and justice. Summa, it is our old, thick, tough and stretchy 1) skin, which does not want to be peeled off, as one blues and beats oneself with it.
7. Some pious fathers also complained about this in the desert, and one of them gave a simile, saying: It reminds him of this abomination as of an onion, which, when one skin is peeled off, always has another underneath, as long as something of it remains; so is this filth; though it is overcome in one piece once or twice, so that God's grace retains the glory and honor, yet it always comes back, clings and attaches itself to all works, so that no one can remain untouched by it, for it also has some devil who tramples it underfoot, so that it cannot muster holiness.
(8) Therefore it is a great preaching about the first commandment, especially in this piece, that a man should come to the point of not presuming holiness in works before God. Although, I hope, it is not very necessary for the common crowd, because they do not stand for great piety or holiness, they remain with their idol Mammon and other common idols, so that they cannot come so high. There are few of them who defy great art or wisdom, which is also subtle and high; but none does so much harm as this one, for he wants to be nowhere but with the very best, and because he is the most beautiful, he also seeks the most beautiful church, leaving the others well satisfied. So they are careful enough not to do so, for he who does not do good works does not suffer much.
9th Now this is the right devil and great abomination, hitherto most highly honored under the papacy, shouted out in all churches, monasteries and convents, in all pulpits and high schools, in addition to which so much worship has been instituted and established, and the world's goods have been heaped in heaps; yes, torn down to such an extent that no rich man has died otherwise than in the opinion that, because he would leave nothing better behind him, nor take anything else with him but good works and worship, he should make his will, and contribute so much to the church.
1) stretchy --- stretchable.
so that God would be served and remembered. Summa, God began in time, yes, he was the first in the beginning of the world; but in particular he has been in the ascendancy and publicly raised as the highest worship in Christendom, now longer than a thousand years, since nothing else has been taught or known, but to place our confidence and blessedness on our own works.
(10) Therefore Moses comes first to overthrow and condemn this idol, using all kinds of ways to frighten and tear his Jews away from it, even though it did little good with them, because afterward they fell as deeply into idolatry as we have been so far. First of all, he warned them when they came into the land, so that they would not go away and say that they had earned it from God, as if their holiness had been so great that he should have given them the land and driven them out and destroyed them.
11. But notice how evenly and masterfully he meets and depicts their mischievousness and hypocrisy, so that they make a pretense of holiness. For this they do nevertheless, the pious peelers, that they give God the glory that he has done it; they are not so rude that they attribute the work to themselves, but in their hearts they play this along with God: He must let them make him a fool and an idol, and take the name that he must look upon their righteousness, and give the land for it, if he would keep his honor otherwise. But they want to do their best, that the blame and cause of the work is not God's, but their own merit, and yet it should be called God's honor, as said, that he is so pious and gives the pious what they deserve, when it is truly nothing else than God's honor robbed, and measured out to them themselves. For God's glory is only that He gives, helps, benefits and saves everyone out of pure grace.
12) Now this is certainly the characteristic of their own righteousness and of all false saints, that they pretend great honor to God, and pretend to be excellently humble, saying that they are poor sinners, not worthy of God's grace, do not want to be called holy nor pious, 2c. but in essence it is nothing else than a desperate, doubtful hopefulness and presumption, so that they cannot be called saints.
rather come before God, they are pure and holy beforehand, nor accept his grace, they have earned it beforehand, that not he but they have the glory. [She] will not take anything from him as a gift, but will give it to him first, that he may repay her as he is our debtor. That is to say, she has made of God a faithful one, who cannot do without our holiness and merit, and has no gratitude for giving us anything unless it is well deserved. Behold, this is a virtue of praiseworthy piety.
(13) The other is like it, in that it comes before God, adorning itself with a work or two that it has done, and wants to cover all the sin and shame that it has ever committed. As we have seen under the Pabst: If someone has lived thirty or forty years in vain sin and iniquity, and after that has fallen down, made a will, or said so many masses, God should welcome him, and all the evil things he has done all his life should be paid for with one florin or ten florins. Is this not a devilish presumption, yes, an insulting mockery and ridicule of the divine majesty, that he, putting all wickedness aside and keeping silent, should for the sake of one florin let everything be given and settled, and give heaven in addition? Yes, he will give them a heaven in which the angels walk with clubs (as people say).
(14) Moses also wants to expose such disgraceful virtue of false holiness, how it conceals countless disgraces and vices under a small appearance, and yet is allowed to step unashamedly before God, to reckon with Him, and to boast as if there were pure holiness, that He must see no more sin and forget all wrath. Therefore, he continues afterwards, telling and reproaching them to see what they have done against God all the forty years before they came into the land. As if he should say: Dear one, if it is to be reckoned and set on an equal footing with God, then you must put so many works against it. Now you consider him to be such a fool, 2) who does not see your iniquity, or ever to it
1) In the original: gerathet.
2) Potzen --- scarecrow, popanz.
And be glad of your impotent money, and not count against it the goods he has given you, life and limb, house and home, sun and day, and all that heaven and earth can do or bear; in sum, be silent of all his benefits, none of which is so small as to outweigh all your works, if you can give him.
(15) But if you say, "Yes, God is merciful, and does not demand or reckon so harshly, but spares and gives, as we angered Him before. Answer: So you should also have a good year! Can you now believe that he will forgive you in vain so many sins and iniquities in which you have lain so long, and that God will show you all kinds of good deeds of which you have never been worthy, and think that he cannot or will not take you to heaven without your ten guilders, or whatever you may give him? What is this but that either thou art a fool, that thou missest to put away innumerable sins with one florin, if thou hast never done a good work unto death, or that thou thinkest God, as a desperate knave, to be a fool, who, like a child with a number penny, can be fooled or deceived into not seeing thy wickedness?
16 Now this is all the blindness of evil nature, that where it sees only a spot that is a little pure and white, if it once imposes a good work that it calls well done, it can make it so useful to it, reflecting and tickling itself, that it should regard God as the greatest saint. This is the cleverness of the ostrich, which, when it comes under a bush to cover its head, thinks that it has hidden its whole body so that it cannot be seen, and like young children, they close their eyes and think that if they do not see, no one should see them.
(17) Therefore Moses will teach and conclude: If anyone wishes to come before God, let him not prescribe for himself the way to bring forth his works and to stand on his rights, but let him look at another record and count how much God has given him and done for him without merit, so that he may learn that all our righteousness is nothing and condemned, and that there is no other way or path to righteousness but to know and confess this, that we are before God.
God are not pious nor righteous, but must receive what he gives us out of pure grace, no work being required or considered for it. As the prophet says in the Psalter, Ps. 143, 2: "Do not go into judgment with your servant, for there is no living man righteous before you. Item, Ps. 130, 4: "With thee there is nothing but forgiveness to fear thee." Such a heart that denies itself, that finds neither piety nor merit in itself, is true piety before God. And for the sake of such faith and confession, it is called pious and righteous to confess 1) freely: Dear Lord, I know of no piety in my body and in my life, but this is my comfort and defiance before you, that you gladly give to a poor sinner, and forgive all sin out of sheer grace.
The Pharisee comes and stands before God with his works: "I thank you, Lord, that I am not like other people, nor like this tax collector; I fast two times a week, and tithe everything I have. O an excellent saint, whom no one could punish without the shameful idol of 2) presumption, that he comes trolling, boasting, and giving thanks not of grace, but of his fasting and good works, as if he had no right to grace.
(19) Next to him is the poor tax collector, who has neither works nor merit, and knows nothing that God should look upon unless he freely confesses that he is a sinner, and for this very reason he comes and asks for mercy, seeking and desiring nothing but to receive from God. Christ pronounces judgment on this one, that he has gone home righteous and pleasing to God because of this faith; but the other, with his holiness and many works, is condemned and not worthy to hold a candle to the publican.
020 Behold, we all lack this now, even as the Jews lacked it. For this, as I said, is our old skin, through flesh.
1) In the original and in the Erlanger: er.
2) In the original and the Erlanger: "and" instead of: the. Cf. in the previous chapter § 40 and § 44.
and blood, marrow and bone; for everyone would like to raise up something that would be valid before God, on which he would like to rest and rest, and boast that [it] would be his own, and not have to stand naked and bare before God, and bring his shame before Him [Gen. 3:11]. For this reason all spiritual orders have been established, all churches and services have been set up, all wills and spiritual devices have been created, so that everyone hoped that God would look at it and consider it so exquisite as they thought that He would have to lift us up to heaven and take us.
21 Therefore, if one rejects this and teaches against it, it will immediately follow that everyone will cry out, "Well, then, let us do no good works;" and quickly go the wrong way, either making God a fool and an idol with our works, or doing nothing at all. There is no way to avoid 3), there is no way to stop here. No one wants to remain on the middle road, that we denied ourselves badly before God, as those who sought nothing but to receive the grace and promise offered, but then went and did what we could, even freely for nothing, for the sake of no merit or our own enjoyment. It is said, preached, and heard, but no one can do it, if one is to be able to do it and prove it. For my part, I must confess it, and I respect that no one so holy and full of the spirit will have to confess it. For, since all the saints have felt it and lamented it, we will certainly not be above it. I feel it well, when it is a matter of meeting, how nature resists, seeks and reaches out, and would like to find a work that it could push up to God, and speak: I have nevertheless done this, preached and directed so much. And even though I know that [it] does not apply, nor should it apply, I cannot let it go, nor can I come to the point that I could so merely surrender to His grace.
22 But is it not a miserable pity that a man should not be able to do so much, when God Himself beckons to him, saying, "Dear one, you have two paths before you; take them.
3) "Dem" put by us instead of: "Denn" in the original.
and yet choose one: Wouldst thou rather have my grace and eternal blessedness freely, given and carried home, without all thy cost and labor; or stand to gain it by thy works, and yet not obtain it? Yes, [he] exhorts and entices to grace, and against it dreads eternal wrath and punishment, where we do not accept it. How should or can he do more, if he does not help us, that he so abundantly offers and pours out his grace, provokes and gives, admonishes and frightens, punishes and strikes us? he himself would like to let go of justice, and make a line through it: so we want to have justice without grace, and yet also have our own little idol with us.
(23) Such is the misery of our lives that we do not accept the treasure, on which we should devote life and limb, spare no food or effort, and run so that we would sweat blood if it were to be found in any place. Now he comes from himself and brings the treasure to the door, admonishing so warmly and fatherly, praying so earnestly, threatening so terribly; so may we not be. If we should spit on ourselves and become enemies, that we are such unholy people, who against the offered grace rightly defy, that is, invite wrath and disfavor upon us.
(24) For what is it but to seek and to require justice, saying, Go into judgment with me, and give me that which I have earned? Summa: I am not allowed to your mercy anywhere; but next to it out of sight all sin and wickedness, as if you had not angered God once. See, this is what Moses wanted to put down, to warn and to defend, that one should look out for this idol and beware of it. Therefore, let him who can learn learn that he should by no means seek merit or his own righteousness, nor should he have anything to do with any work that he wants to bring before God, but run and flee from it, as from the devil himself.
25 Thus sayest thou: How is it then that there are so many sayings and promises in the Scriptures, that those who are pious and do good works shall both here and there receive their reward? as [Luc. 6:38], "Prayer, and it shall be restored unto you" 2c. Answer: It is therefore necessary to know what is to be done.
To be righteous before God and to do good works, of which I have said enough; that is, not that you should come in disguise and say, "Lord, I have done this, write it down, and repay it;" but that you should say from the heart, "Lord, I take all your goods, benefits and graces as a sinner and a desperate man, worthy of eternal wrath and hellish fire, as I go and stand, if you should deal with him according to justice and merit. But I do not look at my sin, nor at what I have earned, but at your word and earnest commandment, that you command, admonish and forbid that no one bring any work before you to earn anything, but out of fatherly kindness receive forgiveness of sin and all kinds of benefits, and stand and remain in the pure confidence of your grace.
26 Wherefore if there be such confidence in the heart, the works that are done therein shall be called good and acceptable unto God, and for that cause shall obtain the promise. For this is the promise: He that keepeth the first commandment, and standeth in grace, shall also all his life, and whatsoever he doeth, be acceptable and well-pleasing; for apart from grace an idol is so soon made of it, under false pretences of good works. But he that hath this understanding cannot trust in them, nor make them an idol, but abideth pure and right in faith, and doeth works in and of grace. Therefore they are called righteous good works. Behold, the Scripture speaks of this in the 112th Psalm, v. 1, 2: "Blessed is he that feareth the Lord, that delighteth in his commandments: his seed shall be mighty upon the earth; the generation of the righteous shall be blessed." So also in the 128th Psalm, v. 1. 2, the Holy Spirit says in the same way: "Blessed is he who fears the Lord and walks in his ways. Thou shalt be nourished with the work of thine hands: thou shalt prosper." As if to say, it is in the work that it lies, which must be before and in all works; for fear suffers not that one should trust in works, or leave his comfort. But if the heart's confidence in God's grace is right, God is so pleased with the works done from such a heart that he graces them with all kinds of blessings and benefits, as the Psalms now quoted indicate.
The other part.
27 From all this we see why Moses is so diligent and serious about the first commandment, and so faithfully warns against this idol as against the most harmful poison. But he needs a strong defense against it, shows and gives strong medicine, so that one can come before it and resist it.
28) First, by indicating and concluding that God did not bring them into the land for the sake of holiness, nor for the sake of wickedness, but for the sake of His promise, which He holds out to them, saying [v. 5]: "That He may perform the word which the LORD swore to your fathers 2c, which is, as he elsewhere often says, for his name's sake; whence also the 25th Psalm, v. 11. asks, "For thy name's sake, O LORD, be merciful to my iniquity." Now where is the name? Just in the first commandment, where he unites himself and lets preach and offer to the whole world that he wants to be our God and give everything good. With this, it is said: Your holiness counts for nothing, your piety deserves nothing, but the commandment, in which his name is written, his promise is bound and set forth, that counts, that does it, that is the only reason why he does you good and gives you the land.
29. If you want to know where you got body and soul, money, goods, honor, art, wisdom, power, etc., just look at this commandment, which will show you that you were not born to it, nor did you acquire or earn it through your luck, cleverness, work, or effort, but everything came from the fact that he promised, before you ever did anything, that he would be your God; therefore you have everything you can, down to the last penny. It is always necessary to do this, as Moses does here, so that one learns to regard this commandment rightly, and to recognize and extend it in such a way that one draws and grasps oneself and all divine goods into it, yes, also the Lord Christ and the whole New Testament, which even springs and flows from this promise, and finally remains in it, as in him such promise is fulfilled and confirmed, that he is our gracious Father, and through Christ forgives all sin, redeems from sin and death, gives all his goods, and gives eternal life.
(30) Secondly, that Moses might teach them these things, and put away their pride, he began to describe their legend, and made a long register, wherein he told them, and set before them all that they had committed, because they were in the wilderness; that they might see and understand that God gave them nothing for their merit, but only for his promised grace. And this is the summary of the whole chapter: What should he give you because of your piety? You have been a stiff-necked, stubborn people from the beginning to the present time, who have continually provoked and angered God, so that when he should have acted according to your merits, he should have destroyed you all in one heap long ago.
Behold, there stands the glory and praise of us all, a beautiful and praiseworthy virtue, which befits the wretched creature in the face of its God and Lord. When God does us all good, more than we can wish, we give him nothing in return but cursed disobedience and a stiff-necked head. How then the world is now everywhere full of stiff-necked, unruly people, servants, maids, peasants, burghers, nobility, like the coarse, crooked and awkward blocks 1) and logs, who have nowhere to serve but in the brick kiln with fire to cope. Let them not be told, nor hindered, nor controlled, as they are threatened with fire, water, pestilence and all misfortune, as if they had iron and steel in their necks, which no one can break until the executioner knocks them in two with the wheel or death strikes them.
But much harder and more stiff-necked is the people, who are under the delusion that they are holy and God's people, as the Jews boast [Matth. 19, 20]. There are people so hard and stiff that neither God nor the world can bear them, in whom everything is lost, how one deals with them, one warns, urges, begs or pleads. As this history sufficiently shows and paints, how they were so often tormented and beaten during the forty years, and daily had so many cruel, terrible examples of God's wrath before their eyes, before which their heart should have melted; nor was it forgotten and despised from hours. This is the fruit of the
1) In the original: ungelenkten Blöcher.
great holiness, sought and praised by his own works, which, as said above [§ 15], may throb, boast, and defy God with a florin or two, and have a work or two so blown out, proud, and stiff, as if he must count their unvirtue and idolatry to great merit.
(33) Behold, Moses will enforce these things upon them, and bind them up, that they may be reflected in them, and have them always before their eyes: therefore he speaketh so much, and maketh it great and dreadful, that they may tremble at it, as they have been ever disobedient and rebellious from the day that they came forth out of Egypt (Exodus 32:8, 9). And consider especially the thing which they did as soon as they came out of the land into the wilderness, at Mount Sinai, when God made a covenant with them, and gave the ten commandments, how they committed idolatry with the golden calf, and angered God so much that he wanted to destroy them all at once, that Moses also had to burn the calf with fire and turn it into powder, and then throw the dust on the water and give it to them to drink. 32, 20. ff.] that they had to drink their own abomination. Behold, the sin he will not keep silent nor forget, writes it in the book, that they had to read and hear [it] publicly several times a year, drives also even the words: Remember it, and do not forget 2c. So that they do not throw it behind them and put it under the bench, nor leave it out of consideration, as if God had forgotten it, but always let it ring in their ears, and hear nothing but their sin and shame.
34 Let this be said to him by way of example, both by me and by others, against this temptation; for, as I have said, there is no better counsel nor art against it, than that every man should take hold of his own bosom, and there he will find a register, which will tell him much other than his holiness, that thou must put down the peacock's tail, and say, Lord, I will gladly forget all works and merits, that I may only come to grace. Like the poor publican (Luc. 18, 11. ff.], who lets the Pharisee read his register, and boasts of good works; but he knows neither works nor holiness, but uses another register, which is called: Mihi peccatori, in which is written
Nothing but vain trespasses and sins; such a sight teaches him finely to despair of it, to make no holiness of his own, and to run from the merit of works to grace.
For this reason, God also rules His saints in such a way that they always carry sin around their necks, even keeping such rough knots on them, that they must remain in fear and humility and not become too secure or presumptuous. Christ wanted to have St. Peter and Paul as high apostles, but before that, he wanted them to start and fall low enough that the former denied him [Matth. 26:74] and became apostate to him; the latter persecuted him [Acts 9:4], blasphemed him and condemned him to the utmost; only because he tied a shackle around their necks, so that they could not forget their misfortune, otherwise they would also have fallen into this desperate misfortune. But now they must remain here, so that they may not presume on any holiness, and may not despise any sinner. Therefore, whoever wants to escape from shameful presumption, let him also do so that he looks behind him and reckons how he spent his life before. As I and others have to say, "As long as I have been a knave, deceiving countless souls with false doctrine and idolatry, blaspheming and crucifying my Lord daily," 2c., so he will probably crawl to the cross and be glad that he may come to grace as a sinner.
36 The Book of Jesus Sirach also teaches this on the 5th, v. 5: Noli esse sine metu de propitiato, do not be sure and without fear of the sins that are already forgiven. Why is that? Precisely because Moses also teaches us to ward off misfortune. For as soon as we forget what we have been, we forget the grace that has been given to us. Because we no longer consider the misfortune that should humble us, it soon follows that the gospel is no longer tasty, and after that all kinds of horrible bad habits come in again with heaps, ingratitude, pride and arrogance, contempt for one's neighbor, 2c., and then becomes seven times worse, as Christ says (Matth. 12, 45. Luc. 11, 26.), than it was before; as we now see and experience all too much every day.
37 St. Peter must have seen this as well,
since he says of such 2 Petr. 1, 9: 1) "With whom these things are not, he is blind, and seeth nothing, and forgetteth the purifying of his former sin." 2c., that is, such a man is made of them, as one that goeth blind, and seeth nothing with open eyes, nor regardeth or feeleth, and is secure and presumptuous, as if he had never troubled no water, 2) and could no more err. But it is said: "That your sins are never sins and forgotten is not the fault of your yellow hair, but of grace and forgiveness; but if you are thus forgotten, and neither see nor consider how much God has confessed to you, and how great a treasure he has bestowed on you, you give place to the devil again, so that he plunges you into blindness, and all kinds of sin and shame. Therefore also now so many of our kind have fallen away from the gospel, only because they make themselves believe that they now have it, are full and safe, and no longer think that before they also lay in hell and deep blindness, or were before the net and yarn.
38 Therefore, lest we fall into this accursed evil, let us diligently learn the first commandment, and always keep it. Learning, I say, so that we remain disciples all our lives, and beware of overindulgence and harmful delusion, as if we had heard enough and could now do it well; for we have no rest, even from all other idols and temptations, but much less from this conceit of righteousness. I confess myself to be one of the most, for I have done diligence, so God also has great mercy, and helps to resist confidently, yet I cannot bring myself to get rid of the idol, and must remain a disciple of the first commandment as long as I live. All the other people on earth can do it all too well, not only the ten commandments, but also far above them, so many orders, and ranks, and works to excess; think that the Holy Spirit had to teach and set much higher things in conciliis, as if they had gone far beyond all ten commandments, yet there never was, or still is, anyone who has rightly considered the least commandment, or understands the least part.
1) In the original: "2 Pet. 2."
2) saddened--distressed.
V. 8-10. For in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to anger, so that he would destroy you with wrath, when I went up into the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which the LORD had made with you; and I tarried forty days and forty nights in the mountain, and ate no bread and drank no water, and the LORD gave me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God, and on them all the words as the LORD had spoken to you out of the fire on the mountain in the day of the assembly.
39. It has been shown to you many times how Moses used many words in the interpretation of the first commandment, which he practiced with great diligence, just as a schoolmaster reads and teaches the lesson to his students with great diligence, so that they may grasp and learn it well; Or as a mother spreads porridge on her child, that it may eat it and be nourished; so he wills that the people of Israel, through these many words and sermons, may well understand the first commandment, learn it diligently, and live by it. And he would gladly bring them to the knowledge of themselves, that they should take it by the nose, and think behind themselves, as they had done in the wilderness, saying: I fasted for forty days in the wilderness for your sake, and had great labor and trouble, that I might fetch you the commandments of God, and bring them to you from Mount Sinai, which trouble I had to lose; this labor was done in vain, because ye angered our Lord God with the golden calf.
40 He reads this virtue to them in this register, always impressing upon them that they have been a stiff-necked and stubborn people, idolatrous and disobedient, and that it has cost him much effort to swear them in to God, 3) and to bring them back to grace. They are to read this register, they are to look into this mirror. He sets it before them written, so that they should not forget it, but be humbled by their legend. And their sins and vices must now serve them so that they may be more devout.
41. we should also not forget the wrongdoings we have committed.
3) eintheidingen --- to bring back to grace through original language.
but to remember it for our humiliation. I also use to do the same for him. For I, Martin Luther, have also been a prankster for a long time, and have been in the monastery life, have seduced people, and I cannot pay the souls that I have seduced. I must still keep this record and this bad habit in mind, so that they may preach to me about my good works and my own righteousness, on which I also relied in the papacy, and may now remember that I no longer desecrate and blaspheme God. And even though I am now no longer a blasphemer nor a desecrator of God, for I do not deceive the people with my preaching, I also no longer sacrifice and crucify Christ in the mass, but I praise and extol the mercy of God: nevertheless, my life is done in such a way that I need God's grace and mercy, my life is insufficient, and my works are so incompetent that I may not defy God on them, nor ask and desire heaven for them. I must say with David, Ps. 143, 2: "Lord, do not enter into judgment with your servant" 2c., my life is too weak and frail, and my faith too little, so love is somewhat cold in me. I need the mediator and throne of grace, the Lord Christ JEsu. I must crawl under this cover and ask him for forgiveness of sins; he must forget that which is still sinful and frail in me, cover it up, and grant me grace. But whoever else wants to seek right from God will find right enough.
V. 11. And after the forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two stone tablets of the covenant 2c.
(42) These are the virtues they should look at; they should look at this list and sit down, look behind them, and realize who they have been. They shall not put this painting under the pew, but put it before their eyes, and look at it, and preach from it in the pulpit, and let them bring up their badness, and let them always hold it up before their noses, as they have done from their youth, and what wicked deeds they have committed against God, so that their hearts may be afraid of it, and the people may say, "Lord,
Do not deal with us according to our sins, do not repay us according to our iniquities", Ps. 103, 10, but be merciful to us poor sinners, we desire mercy and not justice [Dan. 9, 18. 19.]; thus they would remain finely humble. Therefore, if we do not curb the old rascal, we also forget the grace of God. Therefore, Moses is always reproaching the children of Israel for breaking in two the tablets that God Himself had written. He makes their sin great and grievous, so that they almost despair, for he says that he is angry with their sin and has broken the two tablets of the Ten Commandments.
(43) And they would say, Though our fathers have sinned, yet will we not do so, and sin. Yes, they did it even worse than their fathers, after they had entered the land. Under the papacy we also made it bad enough with idolatry, and also made idol calves more than they. The people of Israel did not worship the cast calf, but they wanted to worship God Israel by this calf; they wanted to serve God under the image of the calf, they erected it in honor of God. For they knew that in the Old Testament the Old Fathers and Patriarchs, as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, sacrificed calves to our Lord God, therefore they approached, wanted to improve it, and also erected a golden calf to the living God, thus they wanted to serve the God who had led them out of Egypt; they certainly did not want to serve the devil.
(44) Just as today, with our apparent and glittering works, we also want to honor and serve God and make Him gracious to us. For my own part, I did not enter the monastery to serve the devil, but to earn heaven by my obedience, chastity and poverty. That is, to raise a calf and to worship the calf. But this, the sin of the Jews with the calf, was still a golden and delicious sin against our idol and sin. And if we had been there, we would have eaten the calf with great devotion and holiness. You have certainly taken into consideration and remembered the glorious examples of your
Ancestors, that the patriarchs used calves for their sacrifices, therefore they wanted to follow their fathers, and honor our Lord God in this image, and he who should have overthrown them and talked them out of it, he must have been bold.
(45) We are all of such a mind and nature that we soon forget our sins, but Moses brings it up again, and says to the people, "Remember how you kept yourself, and what trouble you caused me, that I turned away your sin, and reconciled you to God by my prayer, and stopped his fierce and burning anger.
V. 25. and fell before the Lord, as at first, forty days and forty nights, and ate no bread, and drank no water 2c.
46. in the other book of Moses [Cap. 32, 20] you have heard how Moses burned the golden calf to powder, and poured water into the dust, and also gave the Jews who had worshipped the calf the dust to drink, so that they might see what a weak, loose and impotent god they had served and worshipped. Moses did this to their great shame, that they had to eat their god and drink it into themselves; he turned their worship into dust and ashes and destroyed it completely, so that he would not have left even a small pea of this calf. From this we learn that one should not establish one's own worship, nor should one defy and rely on it, for one's own righteousness is a great sin.
(47) And that Moses also did not leave the dust, he shows the great displeasure and serious anger of God when we do our own worship.
(48) We must do the same to this day, and not cease from destroying the pope's idolatry and false worship and abuses. We must give up to the pope and his
They curse the rich, blaspheme and defile them, and do not shut their mouths, but preach against them without ceasing. For some now pretend that we can do nothing else but condemn, reproach and blaspheme the pope and his own. Yes, this cannot be otherwise; for as soon as one forgets the errors, the grace of God is also forgotten, and the grace offered is despised; therefore one must always remember it and preach against it. For God is heartily hostile to one's own chosen devotions and worship, and does not want one to leave a single stump of it, but to keep one's heart pure in the faith and trust of God, who thus says: "I am the Lord your God. And we should know that God gives us everything; for He has promised to be our God, and to keep His faithful all here and there.
So Moses is a fine teacher. He interpreted the first commandment well, and led the people to their own knowledge, and humbled the hopeful, presumptuous spirits, above which he also reproached them with all kinds of bad habits, so that they would deserve something else than the promised land. Just as we think ourselves worthy of the good gospel, so now our evangelicals are seven times worse than they were before. For after we have learned the gospel, we steal, lie, deceive, eat and drink, and do all kinds of vices. Since one devil has been cast out from among us, seven more wicked ones have now come back into us, as can now be seen in princes, lords, noblemen, citizens and peasants, as they are now doing, and behaving without all shyness, despite God and His decree. 1)
1) Note of the Eisleben edition: "End of these sermons on the 4th Sunday of Advent [December 19] Anno 1529. D. M. Luth. has not preached more in this book, because the Imperial Diet at Augsburg Anno 1530 has followed it."