The twentieth chapter.

V. 1. And the Lord spoke all these words.

001 Now when Moses had commanded the people that which the Lord had commanded him, that they should stand at the bottom, when he had set up the signs, etc. he held his peace, and God spake unto the people alone. You can see how it must have been a bright, great voice, not the voice of a bad man, which such a great people might have heard. For

There were six times a hundred thousand men, without wives, and children under twenty years old. They occupied a large area, probably two or three miles, at the least a mile; in addition, Mount Sinai was a very high mountain. One of us can hardly bring his voice over six thousand people; if it is even strong, over ten thousand; but it was clear, resounded over the whole Polk,

and could be heard by everyone; therefore it must have been a mighty, strong voice. They saw nothing but the clouds of water and the fire from which they heard the voice. Now this was the voice, as follows, namely the ten commandments.

The first commandment.

V. 2-6: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods beside me. Thou shalt make no graven image, nor any likeness, either of that which is in heaven above, or that which is in the earth beneath, or that which is in the water under the earth. Do not worship them or serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a strong zealot, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children that hate me unto the third and fourth generation. And do mercy unto many thousands that love me, and keep my commandments.

The other.

V. 7. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him innocent who takes His name in vain.

The third.

V.8-1. Remember the Sabbath day, that thou hallow it: six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in the which thou shalt do no work, neither thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is in thy city gate. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Then the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.

The fourth.

V. 12. You shall honor your father and your mother, that you may live long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

The fifth.

V. 13. You shall not kill.

The sixth.

V. 14. You shall not commit adultery.

The seventh.

V. 15. You shall not steal.

The eighth.

V. 16. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

The ninth.

V. 17: Thou shalt not lust after thy neighbor's house.

The tenth.

Thou shalt not lust after thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that thy neighbor has. 1)

This is the sermon that God Himself preached to all the people of Israel in the cloud and fire, on Mount Sinai, with a bodily voice; although an angel, by command of God, led the voice, as is written in another place, with glorious splendor, in the place of God. But the people saw nothing, but heard the voice etc.

We will briefly go over the ten commandments. First, it should be noted that the Ten Commandments do not concern us Gentiles and Christians, but only the Jews. The text testifies to this and compels us as it speaks:

V. 2. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

This is true and clear enough that we Gentiles were not brought out of Egypt by God, but only the Jewish people Israel. That is why Moses points the Ten Commandments only to the people who were brought out of Egypt by God. But that we also recognize, worship and honor the God whom the Jews honor, the one who led them out of Egypt, we have not from Moses or from the written law, but from other scriptures and from the law of nature. This I speak

1) In the Wittenberg and Erlangen versions, the last two commandments are in reverse order.

But again, to ward off the false spirits who would force Moses down our throats to keep him with all his commandments. But let us not do this, and let us not accept him with the slightest shake, 1) for so far as he agrees with the natural law. We want to read him as another teacher, freely and without constraint, but we do not want him to be our lawgiver. For we have laws enough in the New Testament; therefore we do not want to have him in our conscience, but keep that purely for Christ alone. So it is clear that the Ten Commandments were given to the Jews alone, and not to us. In spite of all the red spirits, that they say otherwise with truth!

The sign that the Jews shall take hold of God.

Now God, the Lord, as is his divine nature, gives the Jews a sure sign, so that they may take hold of him, grasp him and recognize him. This is what he does in all his dealings with us; he does not leave us gawking toward heaven, for he does not want us to serve him out of our own choice and discretion, as nature and reason are wont to do, leaving behind God's command and choosing their own worship; but God wants to be served, grasped and known, according to his own word and command. That is why he gives us signs, so that we may grasp him with certainty. To the Jews he gave the sign, he put the word in their mouth, so that they should call upon him. Which one? I call upon you, my God and Lord, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Item, other words more, as follows: You who led us miraculously through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, fed with the bread of heaven, watered from a hard rock, led us through the Jordan into the Promised Land etc. This was their word, their signs, by which they knew God.

The Christian's sign to take hold of God.

(6) Whereby do the Christians recognize and take hold of him, because the Jews' sign is not valid for them? Do they not also have a sign or word, God?

1) In the old editions: Title.

to seize with it? Yes, they also have their own sign and word, namely this: O God, Creator of heaven and earth, Who sent Thy Son, Jesus Christ, into the world for me, to be crucified for me, to die, and on the third day to rise again, to be taken up to heaven, to sit at Thy right hand, and have all things in his hand, and send his Spirit, that we should wait for his coming, to judge both the living and the dead, and so attain with him 2) the eternal kingdom, our inheritance, which thou wilt give us through him.

7 For this purpose, O Lord God, you have given us and instituted baptism and the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, your Son etc. For he has bound us Christians to these sacraments of his and revealed himself to us in them; if we take hold of him there, we have certainly met him. But all other things, which are not commanded us, we are to leave aside, for we would otherwise fall far short of him. This is the title we are to use, just as the Jews used to use their title when they were brought out of Egypt, out of the house of service.

8 Against this title Jeroboam king of Israel first contended, and afterward all the Jews. The same Jeroboam made calves of gold, and set one at Bethel, and the other at Dan, intending to bind God to them, and to seize him: for he said, 1 Kings 12:28, 29, "Behold, thy God, O Israel, which brought thee up out of Egypt." But it was the devil. Why? And was his opinion that he meant the right God? But God cannot suffer it; indeed, there is no God either in heaven or on earth who wants to have such a self-chosen service. So, this king paints God in his heart, and chooses his own sign from his own goodwill, in which he wanted to take hold of God. God does not want that, but he paints himself, and gives a sign to the Jews, saying: "If you find me, I will be sought and called: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of service"; then you shall take hold of me, there I am sure, there you will find me. But that thou shouldest take me in the calf, in the

2) "him" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Jena.

the altar, to this place, you will err; you will not find me either, indeed, you will miss my far, for I am not there.

(9) So it has also happened to us; we have a sign that we cannot fail to 1) meet God. But this is the sign, as reported above [§ 6]: O Lord God, heavenly Father, who for me gave your Son to become man, to die, to be buried etc., in the same name I call upon you etc. I cannot fail, [I] must meet, my prayer is also surely answered, if I can say and believe otherwise from my heart. For in this way he has commanded to call upon him 2), so he will let himself be found by the sign, seize and grasp, and give what we ask, we ask otherwise in Christ's name and in faith.

10. But if I made a special sign for myself according to my own liking, like Jeroboam and other godless people, and said: O God, my Lord, I call upon you to see that I have built a church, founded a mass, an altar, put a chasuble in the church, worn a plate, put on a cap, prayed my seventh, 3) matins, firsts, thirds, texts, nones, vespers and completers with great diligence, whipped myself with scourges, walked woolen and barefoot, wore a hare rope and shirt, slept on the bench, on the ground, fasted, prayed, suffered great poverty, kept virginity, obedience and poverty, have been a monk, nun or priest: what shall he say to this? [He] will not court you much about it, but say to it: Have I thus painted myself to thee? Did I command you to recognize me by such works? I do not know you and your works, I did not give you the sign, it is the devil's sign and image, there is no God either in heaven or on earth who is so minded, who would be gracious to you because of such self-selected and self-chosen works; I did not command you, I did not command you.

1) Wittenberger: künden; Jenaer: künnen, Erlanger: kunnten.

2) In the old editions (according to Latin construction) "himself" instead of: him.

3) Seven tide ---- lrorus ounonious; the names of the "seven tides" follow here in full: Mette etc.

so want to be seized. Which devil has called you? Then the plate, the cap, the monasticism, the piety all fall to the devil, 4) cannot stand the judgment of God, melts like the snow. God says: I have given you a sign and a measure, hold fast to it, let the other go, it is not valid before me; you have devised your own way yourself, the devil has given it to you.

(11) We Christians have been just like the ancients, who devised their own way of serving God; one took this sign, the other another, as he dreamed; they went and said: It is an old thing that God brought us out of Egypt; but at Bethel and Shiloh is the right place of worship, and there we will meet with God. Yes, they met their God, the devil. Over this they built churches and altars on the mountains etc., thinking that they had met it. Then the prophets cried out against it, saying that it was wrong. Then the quarrel arose: Away with the heretics, only strangled and beaten to death. Then many a prophet had to lose his life. This is what happened to us: our dear papists invented many a little sin, one after the other, none of which was commanded to them by God. If we preach against them, they become mad and foolish, accusing us of being heretics, seducers, and seditious, forbidding good works; we shall all be strangled and put to death.

012 Now the Jews were to have kept their signs and their commandments, that God might have apprehended them; and that they also might have apprehended him, they were not to have devised new signs and measures for them. But now the same sign is over, [it] has been granted until Christ. But we Christians should not pray in this way, nor should we carry the sign upon us; it is now finished. The Jews would pray thus: O Lord God, who hast brought us out of Egypt etc. Now if he had said to me, I have brought you out of Egypt, I am right in praying, O Lord, you who brought me out of Egypt etc.

4) The words: "hat dichs... zum Teufel" are missing in the Wittenberger.

(13) Now, if I do not want to fail, I must grasp the word that has gone out into the whole world: I have given my Son for you, who shed his blood for you, died and redeemed you, and reconciled you to me, making me your friend and father.

(14) I may pray thus: Heavenly Father, who created all things, who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt [Ex. 12, 51], through the Red Sea [Cap. 14, 22], through the deserts and through the Jordan, redeemed them from the hand of Pharaoh, fed them with bread from heaven [Cap. 16, 15], watered them with water from the rock etc. [Cap. 17, 6. 7.], but all this is not my business. Who did great wonders with Noah [Gen. 7, 5. f. Cap. 8, 15. f.], neither is it my business. You who let Peter walk on the sea [Matth. 14, 29], who commanded the lepers to show themselves to the priests [Luc. 17, 14], does not concern me either. I must call upon him and take hold of him with the word and sign that concerns me, namely, "O Lord, you who have redeemed me through the blood of your Son Jesus Christ. The word concerns me, it penetrates the heavens, with the word I certainly meet God, with it he has tied himself. So he tells the Jewish people in a special way that they should take hold of him in this work, by which they have surely met him. Therefore Moses put in the first commandment: "I the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt" etc. You Jews should remember this work and recognize me. The sign has been granted until Christ, and no further.

(15) For this reason I want to warn all preachers here. For I see that it is necessary for them to learn the right custom of Moses, and to let the people swear by Moses, and to let him be no more than an example, and where he is an evangelist and prophet. Now if a preacher urges you to Moses, ask him if you were brought out of Egypt under Moses. If he says no, say, What is Moses to me, because he speaks to the people brought out of Egypt? Moses is finished, for his ministry lasts only until the time of Christ.

(16) So this text strongly enforces that the Ten Commandments are given to the Jews alone, and not to the Gentiles, as is also enforced in the third commandment. For the Gentiles were never brought out of Egypt. We have another work and another teacher, who does not, like Moses, force and frighten, but offers grace, comforts, gives and helps and saves, namely, Jesus Christ.

17. in Adam's and Abel's time the sacrifice [Gen. 4, 4.] went, that was their sign. But it is none of my business. Noah had his word and command of the rainbow and other things [Gen. 9:13, 14], [which] is not my business. Abraham had the circumcision [Gen. 17, 10. f.], which was given to him as a sign of his faith [Rom. 4, 11.], but it does not concern me. Isaac and Jacob had their command. Moses, Aaron, Joshua also had their word. But I was not told to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, the wilderness and the Jordan; yet this is God's word and command. Forasmuch as he saith not, I command thee, and thou shalt do this, I will not accept it. David had a word that Christ should be born of him, as is often indicated in Scripture [2 Sam. 7, 12. 19.] and Paul highly exalts it in Rom. 1, 3. and Christ is called a son of David in the Gospel [Matth. 9, 27. 12, 23. 15, 22. 20, 3O.] now and then; therefore it does not follow that I must be Christ's father according to the flesh. It is God's word, as the fanatics and the red spirits chatter. It is true; but it is not said to me. Moses also had a command to build the tabernacle [Ex. 26, 1. ff.] and to establish the priesthood [Cap. 28, 1. ff.], but I and you are not commanded to do so.

(18) So through and through; see in all the Scriptures all God's words and commands, and do not point them out to yourself until 1) you are sure that [it] has been said to you; do it then, do not ask what is held up to others and commanded. Yes, you speak to the spirits of the wicked, God spoke it to Moses, therefore I must also do it. Rather, say: There is no power in it, the word does not extend further than to the one to whom it is commanded. God means

1) Wittenberger and Erlanger: that.

the fish swim in the water, as it is written in the first book of Moses [Cap. 1, 20. ff.], the birds fly in the air, the worms crawl on the earth, the sun shines; there is also God's word. Will you therefore become a fish, and dwell in the water? float in the air like a bird? Will you become the sun, the moon and the stars? See how it will be for you. Will it not be seen that Moses is given to a peculiar people? Therefore do not show him to the whole world, but to his people.

19 Thus we have [the] reason why God bears this name: "I am your God, who brought you out of Egypt"; for he takes care of them as his special people, whom he has chosen as his own. But it is no longer valid, because now I do not call upon God, who brought me out of Egypt. So that the spirits of the swarms may be answered and their mouths shut, who want to force Moses upon us. Let them go with their Moses, and let Moses remain a lawgiver to the people of Israel, and do not charge him against the Gentiles and Christians. For in the New Testament he has come to an end, and his laws are no longer valid; he must hide from Christ.

20) But that we Gentiles have a law, this is taught to us by our own conscience and reason; as also St. Paul Rom. 1, 19-21. says that the Gentiles also have a knowledge of God; for "God has revealed this to them, that they see God's invisible essence, that is, His eternal power and divinity, as it is perceived in the works, from the creation of the world; but they have not praised Him as one God" etc. With which words St. Paul indicates that all pagans have knowledge of God, namely, that he created all things, gives all things, feeds all things, sustains all things; therefore their own conscience urges them to give glory to God and thank him for all benefits.

21 Therefore, even though Moses never wrote the Law, all men have the Law written in their hearts by nature. But God also gave the Jews a written law, that is, the Ten Commandments, for abundance; which are also nothing other than the law of nature, which gives us

is naturally written in the heart. What Moses wrote in the Ten Commandments, we naturally feel in our conscience. "For the Gentiles," says the apostle [Rom. 2:14, 15], "who have not the law (that is, the written law of Moses), and yet by nature do the things which are in the law, the same, because they have not the law, are themselves a law unto them, that they may prove that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their consciences bear them witness, as also their thoughts, which accuse or excuse one another." etc.

22. Now even though both Jews and Gentiles have a law, they have nevertheless lacked God. For the law cannot be sufficient without God's spirit and faith, because God has decreed all things among unbelievers, that He might have mercy on all [Rom. 11:32], and all the world sinned in Adam [Rom. 5:12].

(23) Now God has honored and benefited the Jews by giving them the Ten Commandments orally and in writing, for the sake of becoming a man of the Jews. But we Gentiles, to whom God has not given a written law, should nevertheless honor, praise and thank him. For he is our God as well as the God of the Jews [Rom. 3, 29], as we will say later.

I am the Lord, your God.

(24) These words alone, separated from the others, namely from those: "He who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage," etc., we must strike them out and pay careful attention to them. For they concern us all, the whole world in general, and every man in particular, Jew and Gentile; not because Moses wrote it, but because God created, sustains and governs all men etc. As Paul also says Rom. 3, 29. 30: "Is God the God of the Jews alone? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, indeed, also the God of the Gentiles; for there is One God who justifies circumcision by faith, and the foreskin by faith.

25 And these words, "I am the Lord your God," God speaks to all the people.

not otherwise, but as if there is only One Man. He does not say: I am the Lord, your God, but: "Your God. The little word "your", see well, because the greatest power lies in the little word. So now he says: "I am the Lord, your God", as if he wanted to speak: I will take care of all of you, and of each one in particular, as if there were only one, and no one else on earth. And this I do, that ye may the more diligently apprehend, perceive, and keep my words, lest any man say, God hath given the law, hath highly and abundantly offered to be gracious unto men, and to be their God, to do unto them as a father doeth unto his child; but it may not be my business, who knows whether he meaneth me also; it is the business of the multitude only.

(26) For this is the way of men, that they throw the word of God to the wind, not accepting it, only gazing at other people, not thinking that it should apply to them. Now God wants to intervene here and prevent them from opening their mouths and watching what others do, but wants to make them certain that He means each one in particular when He says: "I am the Lord, your God"; I mean you and no one else, as if He were speaking: See not what others do, but hear thou what I say unto thee, and see how thou receive and believe it; see not others, I will deal with thee, I will deal with thee, and thou shalt deal with me.

27. Therefore I have often said that one who wants to be saved should be of one mind, as if there were no other man on earth but he alone, and that all the consolation and promise of God now and then in the holy Scriptures should concern him alone, even if it were written for his sake alone, so that the devil would not deceive him when he is about to die, and would open his eyes, and many thousands of men wise, who have all lived and done as he has, and yet are condemned, would say to him: What wilt thou now presume to be saved, because thou art surely lost? Wilt thou be better than others, who have not done otherwise than thou, and yet are like-

1) In the old editions: as he speaks.

2) "not" is missing in the Wittenberger.

gone to the devil? Do you think you want to run away from him? Thus the devil can lead one into despair, as if there were no God to take care of him, to help him, and to save him from all distress.

Therefore, one should grasp the word that there is a God who is able and willing to help, as the same knowledge of God is naturally written in the hearts of all men, as Paul says in Romans 2:15, namely, that God, as the text indicates, is your God who created you. But when it comes to temptation, it is hard to persevere, to recognize God rightly, to believe and trust in Him, so that even the pious, who have the Holy Spirit, above the natural knowledge of God, hardly break through; it is such an excellent puff, when the devil thus drives us along, as I said, in the temptation, that he also makes work for the pious, and if it were imposed on him by God, overthrows them. If those who are under God's protection are so severely challenged, how will those who have only the natural knowledge of God, which is completely dark and faded through sin, survive? The devil leads them wherever he wants, because they do not respect God's word, it is a dream to them; the devil has possessed and blinded their hearts.

29 Thus it is well to note what God says here to the first: "I am the Lord, your God. "Thine, thy God," who takes care of each one in particular, more than a father of his own child. But few grasp it, few believe it. God is much too great, unbelief thinks, that he should look at me; should God, the high majesty, let himself down in such a way that he should have respect for me, a poor sack of maggots? yes, he lets it happen, he sits up in heaven, lets the 3) angels serve him; what am I against God? A poor water bubble, which breaks 4) by itself. But faith does not doubt that God, who created all things, heaven and earth, and all that is in them, will take care of 5) us. For there is the word:

3) Erlanger: three.

4) In the old editions: their.

5) Erlanger: he himself.

I am the Lord, your God.

30 Therefore he is my God and yours, that he takes care of everyone in particular: feeds me, helps, saves, 1) and cares for me, gives me everything I need in body and soul, deals with me like a mother with her child, acts and behaves 2) with me as if there were no other man on earth but me. This was well seen and understood by St. Augustine when he said: "Lord God, you rule everything in a strange way, you deal with everyone as if you had nothing to do with anyone else but with him; you bring everyone through his whole life. One is born poor in this city, goes to another city, there he becomes abundantly rich. Another has enough, goes to another country, there he becomes a beggar. He gives to one and takes from another, and it is so strange that no one can say that he has led his life out according to his ideas and thoughts; it all goes differently than we think.

(31) There are many devils around us who could kill us every hour, but God is there to prevent evil from happening to us, otherwise all the princes and lords of the whole world would not be able to protect us from the devil's power. For he is a lord and god of the world, and has a thousand ways in which he would harm us, by fire, water, air, sword etc. But God is stronger than he, defend him, so that he will not break my leg, ruin my eye, harm me, not even a hair's breadth. Otherwise the devil would be too powerful, would soon give me a defeat; there I would lie, and all my armor and weapons could not save me from him for a moment, if God did not stand over me. And where [it] God decrees, he devours the one with fire, the other with water; to the one he does otherwise, to the one so.

32) But God preserves us from him, and cares for us in a thousand ways, using parents also, so that the mother sees to it with care that the child suffers no lack, watches, sleeps the less, so that the devil does not bring the child. 3) This is a small

1) Wittenberger: redt; Erlanger: rett.

2) Erlanger: eloquent. - gebaren - to act, to proceed.

3) Thus the Wittenbergers and the Jenaers. Erlanger: "But that she does not kill the child." These words must be found in the original edition, because Walch's old edition has both readings next to each other.

care, as opposed to the care that God has for us; fer] cares for the child more than the mother herself. But no one sees this, no one even believes it; and yet it is certainly true that God cares for us in this way and resists the devil and all creatures, so that the devil could kill us. He who takes such great care of one man, takes no less care of them all in particular, so strangely that one even thinks he has to send with him alone. We will see this in eternal life; here we see it in faith alone. But few believe it, and yet it is certainly true. Therefore God is thus famous:

I am the Lord, your God.

If God would have us understand it as He speaks and proves it daily. I will take care of you when you work, when you sleep, etc. that no one will harm you until the hour of your death comes. So the little word: "I am the Lord, your God," is not to be applied to the Jews alone, but to all people in the world, for he cares for them all, except that they, like the Jews, were not brought out of Egypt. One says: God is with in the ship. It is true and finely said. If he is not there, it sinks, and all care is lost, if he does not care, guard and watch, Psalm 127, 1.: "Where the Lord does not guard the city, the guard watches in vain."

V. 3. 4. Thou shalt have no other gods beside me. Thou shalt make no graven image, nor any likeness, either of that which is in heaven above, or that which is in the earth beneath, or that which is in the water under the earth. Do not worship them or serve them.

This is the other part of the first law, in which God forbids us to have strange gods. [He] himself indicates in the text who the foreign gods are, namely, that they should have no image, neither heavenly nor earthly etc. That is, you shall not paint the sun, the moon, the stars, or any image of man, beast, or fish.

From the dilators. 4)

This text has been led by the spirits of the devil, and they have wanted to drive it upon us.

4) Thus the Jenaers. Wittenberg and Erlangen: This is the title of the pictures.

Therefore, let us deal with it, first, in the controversial way, then in the simple way. Our red spirits, Master Klügling, who have even eaten the Scriptures, speak: Do you hear the word of God, which says to you: You shall not have foreign gods? So they frighten people with this pretense that they are using the word of God; they force them not to suffer the images, because God has forbidden it; they think it is a good thing to storm idols. But what shall we say to this? It is God's word, we cannot say no to it.

(36) Dear Christians, you have heard that when they come in with their Moses, wanting to bind your conscience with his laws, say to them: Dear Lord, put your glasses on your nose and look at the text properly. We know well that one should be obedient to God in what He says, and that we belong to God as well as the Jews. But a distinction must be made between the words of God and the words of God. When God speaks something, I should pay attention to whether it concerns me. Therefore, dear journeyman, if you want to force me with God's words, tell me a text that concerns me, otherwise I won't mind you telling me a lot from Moses. For Moses with his word was not sent to us; and even if Moses had not come, we would nevertheless have had this natural knowledge written in our hearts through God, that there is one God who makes and sustains all things. For the Gentiles also worshipped God without Moses' teaching, even though they lacked God, just as the Jews did.

(37) Therefore, you may soon answer thus: "My dear fanatic, Moses to one side, Moses to the other. If you want me to hear you, tell me a word that concerns me, or I will consider you a deceiver and an apostle of the devil, because you preach what is commanded to others, not to you. If I were to accept and keep all the words of God, I would also have to build a box, like Noah; for God's word commanded him to build a box [Gen. 6:14]. Now there is 1) God's word; so go and do as Noah did, build a box. Item, Christ

1) Wittenberg and Jena: that.

[Matth. 17, 27. 1 told Peter to go to the sea and cast a line, and when he saw a fish coming out at first, he would find half a florin in its mouth, which he was to give to him and to himself. There is also God's word. But, dear enthusiast, go and do as Peter did; let us see how you will fare. Such blind minds are our red spirits, clumping into the Scriptures like a peasant into his boots. How would I get them all to put God's word on me? They prove earlier that God wants to have the words preached to me.

Therefore, God's words must have the addition, that I may know to whom they are spoken. The angels also have God's word, but what is it to us, because it is not spoken to us? Therefore we keep the word that is spoken to us. Christ drove Peter back; when he asked of John, "What shall this man do?" Christ answered, "What is it to thee, follow me" [John 21:21, 22]. I did not tell him, but you, you; you, you follow; he will also get his decision. I do not say it to him, but to you. That is why I said that God attacks each one in particular, as if he had no one else to do with but him. Now when he interprets a word to you, accept it, and keep your command, and let another wait for his command. They are hopeless drips and real swine, they want to be great doctors, they write great books, yet they know no difference of the word of God. Abraham received circumcision from God as a sign of his faith, as Paul also indicates Rom. 4, 11. There is God's word. But it is over with the circumcision of Abraham, it stands alone as an example of faith, but does not bind and force me.

(39) So I say here, that the idolatry and the overthrowing of idols may not be enforced from this text. For it 2) is said to the Jews alone, and not to us. Show me a text, so that God has forbidden me the images; not that I should be fond of the images, but that we should know for certain what our faith is founded on, so that we do not build on the sand, and our adversaries can

2) Jenaer: it.

answer. For a preacher, yes, also every Christian, should and must be certain of his doctrine; not build on a delusion, or deal with human conceit, but be quite certain of the matter, that [it] is thus, and not otherwise [Col. 2, 2.], which Paul calls Plerophorian; so that he could stand in all temptation, and answer the devil and all his angels, yes, God Himself without all wavering.

(40) Therefore they must bring up another reason to prove that images must be stormed. For if they were challenged, and had no other reason, they would have to flee back, could not stand, and would accomplish nothing. Therefore I say, fo one must be certain of the matter, if one wants to teach others 1) with God's word. So Peter also teaches [1 Ep. 4, 11] that no one should speak, because he speaks it as God's word, which God has called and pleases Him; and "if anyone has an office, that he do it as from the wealth that God provides" [Rom. 12, 7]. But they cannot muster anything that God has commanded, storming and overthrowing images.

(41) Secondly, I say that the images must be torn down and cut off, that the hearts must be torn away and turned away. For what does an image hinder me if my heart is not attached to it? But then the heart is not attached to it, if I do not believe in the images, do not rely on them, and do not call upon them in a special way, as if I wanted to show God great honor and service with the images, as has happened until now. For up to now we have made images of Our Lady, St. Anne, Crucifix 2) and the like, and had the opinion that [they] were better than other wood and stones; indeed, that we would do God a great favor if we honored them; thus we had confidence in them. So they deprived us not only of money, but also of our souls. Now it is not necessary to break the arms and legs of such images, to smash them, for the heart would still remain unclean, but it is necessary to bring the people with the word that they have no confidence in images, as if they could help them, or as if they wanted to

1) Erlanger: the others.

2) Erlanger: St. Anne Crucifix.

To do God a special service with it; for the heart must know that nothing pacifies nor helps it but God's grace and goodness alone.

(42) But that the iconoclasts taught these things, they let stand, but go rather, and provoke the people to storm the images. Then the heart remains full, full of idolatry, thinking no other way than that it would do good, and please God, to storm the images, and proceeds to judge the others who do not, when there is neither a word nor a command from God. But if the people were taught that nothing helps in the sight of God but His grace and mercy, the images would fall from them and come into contempt. For they would think, "If it is not a good work to make pictures, then the devil will make pictures and painted panels; I will henceforth keep my money or invest it better. But the spirits of the red men must do something special, otherwise one would not think anything of them.

(43) The Jews have a commandment that they should not have images, but they have stretched the commandment too thin. For God rejects the images that one sets up, worships, and puts in God's place. For they are two different images. Therefore he makes a distinction and gives a rule as to which images are forbidden, namely, those that are set up as if they were images of God, as the text is very clear. Therefore, those who say, "All images are forbidden to the Jews," 3) are muzzled.

(44) The Jews are also too superstitious to make this text too strict, as our mad sophists do with Sundays and holidays, who soon make it a sin to sell herbs or do anything else of little consequence on Sundays. If they want to make it so tight, it would be better to sleep the whole holiday; otherwise one cannot be without work, as the Jews and Sophists interpret it. For it is work to put on a skirt, to take off shoes, to walk, to stand, to get up, to eat and to drink. But if one wants to interpret the Scriptures and the Word of God in this way, what will come of it? But this is the opinion

3) "da" is missing in the Erlanger.

with the celebration that they should not do any work that would prevent God's work.

So also here no image is forbidden, because those, thereby the service is prevented. So now here no other image is forbidden, because God's image, which one worships.

(46) They forbid children to sit on benches and tables, lest they fall; they forbid them to go to water, lest they be drowned; they forbid them to hold bread knives in their hands, lest they be stabbed; thus they forbid children, which nature does not forbid. For because the children are weak and without understanding, they would be harmed if they were not resisted. So God also guided the rude Jewish people with such commandments, forbidding them the outward images, so that they would not abuse them, would not fall into idolatry. But those who have understanding and are full of the Holy Spirit are not allowed to follow such commandments.

(47) If I were to be forbidden to take a knife in my hand to cut bread, lest I harm myself, or to walk on water, for yesterday a child would have drowned in the water, or to climb a bench, lest I fall, it would be a foolish, ridiculous commandment; I would say: Thou fool, lookest on me for a child, shall I first be swayed? So do our enthusiasts, pretending to be such foolish children, and still want to be taken for great teachers; but they may well go to school for a while. Moses was a disciplinarian of the Jews, as Paul says [Gal. 3, 24], who were a coarse, carnal people, to whom it was necessary to give outward commandments of images, so that they would not be offended by them. And it could still happen today that such commandments are given to the coarse people; but we Christians, who have God's word, are not allowed to do such jiggery-pokery, we do not belong to Mosi's school, we have a better master.

(48) Therefore, the Jews, as a rude and foolish people, were forbidden the images only because they wanted to honor God. But the Jews are nevertheless so

1) In the old editions: "heutes tages". Cf. 1 Sam. 17, 46, where in the Weimar Bible: "Heuts Tages" is found.

Foolishly, they do not throw away the good guilders and fat pennies, of which they have a lot, even if Mary's or St. John's picture is stamped on them, so that they, if all pictures were forbidden to them, would also have to avoid these. But this is just fool's heiding. Christ is probably as wise and learned as the spirits of the swarms; nevertheless, he is not afraid of committing sin, since he attacked the interest penny on which the image of the emperor, who was a pagan, stood, since he also asked [Matth. 22, 19. 20.] what the image and the inscription were, he did not say to the Jews: Fie, that this and 3) that concern you, why do you show me such an image, which God has forbidden you? you shall certainly not attack it. That is why you attack it on the wall, that not all images are forbidden. But if we were to follow the enthusiasts, we would have to coin no money, look into no water, look into no mirror, and put away everything that has only an image; indeed, we would have to put out people's eyes if we were to have no image at all, for we see images on money, in water, in the mirror. Are these not fine preachers? Therefore, you see clearly that God does not mean all kinds of images.

(49) Answer, then, the enthusiasts: Dear, what does the first commandment hold? What is its opinion? It does not teach about external things, such as plowing the fields or making shoes, but how to honor and serve God, both internally and externally. If you want to teach well and interpret the Bible correctly, you have to find the right opinion. Now, the first commandment teaches that I should have one God, serve and honor him alone; all the words in this first commandment apply to the sense and understanding. Therefore, the images are forbidden here that are needed contrary to the meaning and understanding of this commandment, namely, that one should not have confidence in images, but should look to God alone for all good things, and avoid everything that hinders us from this confidence.

50: Now by this text: "You shall have no other gods beside me", only the divine images are forbidden; 4) in addition to that the

2) In the original edition and in the Wittenberg: da er auch gefragt ward.

3) Erlanger: or.

4) Divine ones that represent God.

Jews, and not us. For this is said to the Jews alone. The words are well to remember. He does not say, "You shall have no other image before you," but says, "You shall have no other gods beside me," or before me. What does it mean to have gods? Wooden, stone, and silver images, which are gods, as follows. For men are caused to become idolaters; and though they do not worship wood, stone, silver, and gold, yet they have confidence that it pleases God to set up images in his honor; which then is contrary to the opinion of the first commandment, "I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not" etc.

51 Therefore take heed to the meaning of this commandment: I will, saith he, be thy God, I will save thee. I will help you, and that out of pure grace; [you] must not serve me, you must not establish a service out of your own conceit; you must not have the glory before me, that you buy something from me by your merit; I will not look upon your service. If I am to be your God, I will give you everything for free, body and life, wife and child, fields, meadows, wealth, honor and goods, forgiveness of sins and eternal life. These are divine works and gifts which I give thee; and thou canst neither give me nor do anything for them, but only give thanks unto me, praise me, and glorify me; not for that 1) which thou shalt yet receive, but for that 1) which thou hast now received. For thanksgiving is only for what you have received, not for what 1) you are yet to receive. What now wants to lead you against this opinion, that take away.

The iconoclasts, however, drive to, tear down the images externally. I did not almost want to dispute that. But they add: it must be, and it pleases God. In this way, they do not do anything different, except that they pull the images out of the eyes and put them in the hearts of the people, reversing the opinion of this commandment. Thus they deny God, and still boast, they tear down the images according to God's command and word. The devil on their head; if they tear down one, they will raise up twenty in the hearts;

1) "that" is missing from the outputs.

and of the same false confidence that the mob thinks it is doing God a favor by outlining the images, 2) they do not say a word.

(53) Now this is the right understanding, that Gentiles and Jews have the Lord for a God who gives everything for free, (2c) let it be said by Moses, or whoever wills it. Over this God commanded the Jewish people through Moses, that they should not have images to worship God. The other images are also not forbidden to the Jews, although they have been so foolish, and have interpreted that it is not proper for them to have any image at all. Thus, in sum, the first commandment requires righteous faith and trust in God, and nothing external is commanded in it. But no one can have this, if the Holy Spirit gives it 3) into the heart first.

The promise and urging of the first commandment.

The third part of the first commandment is a comforting promise. We have heard, first, the opinion of what God wants to be understood by it, when he says: "I am the Lord your God," item, that we should have no other gods beside him. Secondly, he also explains what he means by this, when he says that they should not have other gods beside him, namely the images that are worshipped; and that he holds this against the Jews alone, and not against the Christians and the Gentiles; and thereby wants to avert from them all cause by which they might come over to a false faith. Now, thirdly, the prophecy and the promise have remained behind. For God does both in the Scriptures, forewarns or terrifies, and comforts; terrifies the transgressors and the ungodly, comforts the faithful who keep His commandments, and speaks as follows:

V. 5 For I the Lord thy God am a strong zealot, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation that hate me.

55 In this piece it is to be noted that God here, first of all, is threatening, and secondly, is comforting.

2) Thus the Jenaer. Wittenberger: "bild umkreisten"; Erlanger: "umbreißen Bild".

3) In the editions: "jnen".

[He] sets beforehand that he is a strong zealot, who searches for the iniquity of the fathers etc., after that he sets mercy afterward, and says: And do mercy to many thousands who love me etc. For this is God's way and nature, as He also proves by deed from time to time in Scripture, that He first afflicts, terrifies, and makes the heart despondent, then He comforts and restores the heart; first killing the flesh, then making the spirit alive. This is what he is wont to do; therefore he does not change this order here 1). Whom he wills to raise up, him he first thrusts to the ground; whom he wills to make alive, him he first kills; whom he wills to make righteous, him he first makes a sinner; and whom he wills to make rich, him he first makes poor; whom he wills to have heaven, him he thrusts forward into hell; so that terror always precedes, consolation and joy follow after, as the Scriptures now and then indicate.

56. also Hannah, the mother of Samuel, 1 Sam. 2, 6. 7. speaks: "The Lord kills and gives life, leads into hell and out again, the Lord makes poor and makes rich, humbles and exalts" 2c, Item, 5 Mos. 32, 39.: "No God is beside me, I can kill and make alive, what I break, that I heal". This is his glory and title, which he alone wants to lead. He is angry and strikes first, then he is kind and heals, gives his comforting gospel, with it he comforts again, and offers his grace and friendship. The devil, however, reverses this order of God and makes it equal to absurdity.

(57) Secondly, it should be noted here that such a prophecy and promise does not concern us Gentiles and Christians either (for the way must be cleared for the evil spirits everywhere); for we have other prophecies and promises, but these concern only the Jews, not us, as we have been told in other passages above (§ 12 ff.). For Moses is a teacher of the Jewish people, therefore his words are all directed to concern the Jews alone. Although the commandments of God are written in the hearts of all people, the hearts are so much influenced by the devil, that they are not

1) "here" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Jena.

But God now reminds the Jews of the commandments imprinted in their hearts, gives them a written law above the natural light, and even gives it to them orally, so that they may see it as it is written in their hearts.

The law, of course, is in the heart.

(58) If the natural law was not written and given by God in the heart, one would have to preach for a long time before the consciences would be struck; one would have to preach to a donkey, horse, ox or bark for a hundred thousand years before they would accept the law, even though they have ears, eyes and heart like a man; they can also hear it, but it does not fall into the heart. Why? What is the fault? The soul is not formed and created for such things to fall into it. But a man, when the law is held up to him, soon says, "Yes, it is so; I cannot deny it. He could not be persuaded so soon, unless it were first written in his heart.

(59) Because it was in the heart before, although dark and completely faded, it is awakened by your words, that the heart must confess that it is so, as the commandments say, that one honors, loves, and serves God, because he alone is good and does good, and not only the pious, but also the wicked. Although the devil strongly defends that man neither feels, knows, nor performs; indeed, man is not able to do anything without the work and light of the Holy Spirit.

(60) Now this is a bright and clear indication that these words, so that God here prophesies and promises, concern only the Jews, as is now indicated. But this is certainly true, so that everyone should be sure that this commandment applies to the Gentiles or Jews, and that it applies to whomever it pleases: "Whoever does not fear God, he punishes; but whoever honors and fears him, he is gracious to him and honors him again, as it says in 1 Sam. 2:30: "Whoever honors me, I will honor; but whoever despises me will be reviled." But he did not proclaim this prophecy verbally to the Gentiles,

2) Erlanger: "das selbs".

but only to the Jews; as the 147th Psalm, v. 19. f., says: 1) "He shows Jacob his word, Israel his customs and rights. He does not do this to the Gentiles, nor does he let them know his rights.

I am a strong zealot.

(61) That he now says, "I am a strong zealot," is also said to the Jews, not to us. For here he threatens with a bodily punishment, that he will punish the father in this way, if he acts against his commandment, so that the child must also be punished, even to the third or fourth generation. But he does not punish the soul in this way, but only physically and externally. As when he punishes a man's house, farm, fields and meadows, money and goods, as he did to the pious Job, whom he also attacked in the flesh [Job 2:7], though in a different way than when he punishes the wicked, of which he speaks here. Item, when he shows goodness in a thousand members, that is also bodily, and is so much: I will do you good in children and children's children, not only to the fourth, but in many generations and members, so that the house will remain in a good nature 2) and the generation will last through and through, as David's generation lasts through many generations until Joseph and Mary, even until Christ [Luc. 3, 23. f.].

62. again, the wicked generation shall 3) be cut off, as happened to Jeroboam's and Ahab's generations, whom God thus cut off, that of them it is written, 1 Kings 14:10 and 2 Kings 9:9, "he will cut them off, even him that pisseth against the wall, and will sweep out the descendants of Jeroboam, as one sweeps out filth, until [it is] all over with him." And of Ahab it says, "he will make his house like the house of Jeroboam" etc. He can do such honor to those who honor him; despise and fail those who despise him.

In the New Testament, however, this punishment is abolished. For we see how God leads, and lets the worst, most desperate boys become rich, live in all courage and have the best luck, so that even the pious are annoyed and offended by it. Again, the righteous he lets flay and scrape, well torment and torture, sends them all misfortune.

1) "speaks" is missing in the Erlanger.

2) Wittenberger: Ways.

3) Erlanger: should.

on the neck, so that she thinks that everything goes against the stream, as David nicely indicates in the 73rd Psalm, v. 9. ff. But David sees there the end of both, the ungodly and the godly, that God will thus fatten the ungodly to the slaughter, and the Christians he will keep in check with such misfortune that they will not depart from God, will not lick 5) and become too horny. Therefore no one should refuse to carry the cross, because our Lord and Master, Christ, carried it himself [Matth. 10, 38. 27, 31.]. Now the disciple is no more than the master, and the servant no more than the Lord [Matth. 10, 24].

In the New Testament, however, we have other predictions, namely, eternal death, the wrath of God with the last day, hell and eternal damnation, Marc. 16, 16: "He who does not believe will be condemned"; Joh. 3, 18: "He who does not believe in Christ is already condemned". 6) Joh. 3, 36.: "He who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him"; item, Rom. 2, 5.: "You are storing up for yourself a treasure of wrath for the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God" etc. Item, again we have also in the New Testament not bodily but spiritual and eternal promise, Joh. 3, 16.: "He who believes has eternal life"; item, Joh. 7, 37. 38.: "He who thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He that believeth on me (as the scripture saith), of his body shall flow rivers of living water"; item, Joh. 4, 14.: "The water that I give shall become in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

But in Moses it sounds different: he wants to keep the promise to them, even if they are outwardly pious. And this is the opinion: If the Jews guard themselves against the images and live in the fear of God, then he will accept them and provide for them in body and soul. In body they shall have enough; and if they know him as a true God from the heart, the soul also shall be saved.

66. this text, since God promises them,

4) "der" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Jena, 5) locken - to strike out arrogantly behind.

6) Erlanger: but.

Many prophets have exalted themselves in their writings and prophecies, so that they also foretold future misfortune to the people because of their sin; and 1) they promised happiness and blessedness, 2) if they turned away from their ungodly life and converted to the Lord. 3) Again, many false prophets have been strengthened in their iniquity and false pretensions, have not understood the text correctly, have quarreled with the godly prophets, as several Psalms show, especially the 144th Psalm, in which the prophet David complains about these false prophets, saying, v. 11 ff: Their mouths speak uselessly, comforting the people when they should terrify them, saying, "Our sons grow up like plants in their youth, and our daughters like hewn-out oriels, like palaces," and all the corners are full, house, boxes, chests, cellars and floors, they have fine cattle, sheep, many friends, children, in the field all things are well turned out, and sing 4) all that stand and walk, "Blessed are the people who thus prosper."

This was the preaching of the false prophets in the Old Testament, which they based on this text, deceiving the poor people, promising them peace, and yet was peace, blessing, and yet was malediction. Then the godly prophets preached against it, wanting to lead them to a right understanding, but the false prophets sat down against them, as happened to St. Isaiah and Jeremiah, and then the false prophets said: Behold, what is written here? God will do good from heaven to those who keep His commandments, and will do evil and punish the wicked. But to us he does good, giving house and home full, money and goods enough, and beautiful children to boot; all because we keep his commandments. Again, he punishes with poverty and misfortune those who do not keep his commandments.

68. the entire book of Job goes through and through: there Job judges the 5) his

1) Jenaer: also.

2) In the original and in the Wittenberg: Verheißung.

3) Erlanger: And.

4) Erlanger: senget.

5) "den" is missing in the Jena.

Friends, and quarrel with him, saying [Job 4, 7. ff. 36, 6. ff.]: Do you consider God an unjust God, who punishes the pious? Turn it around: He does good to the pious, but punishes the wicked. The false prophets also judged in the same way; when they saw that someone was in trouble, that a wheel had fallen over a leg, or that someone's arm had fallen in two, or that some other misfortune had befallen him, they quickly judged: "He deserved it, God is punishing him, he is a wicked man. And this was a common rule, drawn from this text; so the people followed the same deceivers, judged also like them; when they saw poor or sick people, grind, sinners etc., they said: Do not touch me, I am pure, God is favorable to me, he punishes you because of your sin.

69 The apostles were also under this delusion when they asked Christ about the blind man, Joh. 9, 1. 2: "Lord, who sinned, this man or his parents? Simon also, who had invited the Lord to his house, when the poor sinner washed the Lord's feet, judged also by the outward appearance, turned up his nose at the woman, she stank before his eyes, and grumbled against Christ, and said to him himself [Luc. 7:38, 39], "If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him; for she is a sinner." So Christ was not only not the right, true Messiah for the holy Pharisees and scribes, but also not a prophet. Yes, shall this beggar be Christ? Put the glasses on his nose, he is of the devil; for he teaches against Moses, has to do with the leprous, blind, lame people, and, what is worst of all, mixes with whores and boys, with whom he goes around, eats and drinks with them; fie of the loose man! In sum, they thought that God gave to the pious what they wanted and to the wicked what they deserved, and they wanted to conclude from this, because they were doing well in body and in temporal good, that they were the ones whom God was doing so well for the sake of their piety. But they were far from it.

70 What then is the deficiency? That is what is lacking; they have not quite understood the text.

6) "it" is missing in the Erlanger.

stood. It is true and never lacking: What God promises, be it temporal or eternal, He keeps [Ps. 33:4], He also gives faithfully; but they have looked at the text diligently and understood it fleshly. This is true, those who know, love, honor and believe God, as their dear God and Father, by a pure, true and uncolored faith, are sure of all God's promises. But here it is not brightly and clearly expressed and written that He will provide for the belly and not let it suffer any need, that He will feed in the midst of hunger, even if there is not a penny in store, and that He will protect in the midst of enemies without all sword, spear and armor, and make merry and healthy in sickness and temptation.

(71) But the Jews thought thus: If you serve God, you do not have to worry about bread from heaven, no roasted dove will fly into your mouth. It will happen like this: 2) You will have beautiful wives and children, a large household, a safe house, live in comfort, and have provisions for ten, twenty, or thirty years, and will not have to wait for hours from heaven, if you have nothing in your fist. In sum, there will be no lack, but superfluous enough of all things. So they wanted to be sure, and freshly concluded, where there was enough, and a large supply: There is God, that is a blessed man; but where there was lack, behind and in front: He is not pious, he is maledicted, and a jack in the skin, God is not with him. Yes, even the great saints lacked in this piece.

72) But this is not what God wants here, but this is His opinion, that He will be merciful and not let His own suffer any lack, whether there is a supply or not, whether the bag is full or empty, and even if there were not a grain on the ground, and the wine and the beer had completely run into the cellar, and the hail had killed all the grain, there would be no lack.

1) Thus the Jenaers; Erlanger: "alone regarded"; Wittenberger: the text alone bodily understood.

2) pause --- bulge, be thick.

Heller iin bag would be, nor would there have to be any shortage, neither hunger nor thirst would harm.

So God wants them to be attached to Himself and not to the present, perishable good. They did not want to understand it this way, but understood that such promises of God would be fulfilled if they did not suffer any lack, did not try any adversity, but lived according to all will and desire. That is, not needing God and never asking for Him. Yes, such people wanted God to wait for them in heaven and let them wait for their money and mammon on earth. This does not mean to believe, but to feel; not to wait for God, but to have it in one's fist beforehand. So the false prophets went on, chattering to the people, where they were blissfully happy: There, there is happiness and salvation, there dwells God. So the verdict had to be constantly true among them: Whoever has sinned, God punishes him so that he suffers evil, and whoever does right, He gives him abundance.

74. But God proposed a bodily promise to this physical, rude people; but they should have understood by it the spiritual promise. He wanted to accustom them to Himself and teach them that they should wait for Him, that He would surely feed them and provide for them for time and eternity. So he mixed both promises, bodily and spiritual, into each other, although it is not clearly and brightly read and expressed. But he tied the spiritual promises to the bodily ones in such a way that they could not be separated from each other. They were to wait daily for bread from him, and to be sure that he would feed them for and for; but they did not want to be in the mind, relied on their holiness, thought that God must give them their need for the sake of their piety; thus they made of God an idol, which they should not need very much. For he who has no lack is cheerful and does everything according to his will, he does not need God's kindness, comfort and help, therefore he would wait for his angels up there, so they would wait for their guilders down there. That is to say, trusting and serving Mammon, and not God, have

3) Erlanger: let them.

so want to serve two masters and limp on both sides.

God can also give a boy a box full, but it does not follow that he is pious, because he wants to pay him here. Again, he makes it difficult and bloody for a pious man; however, he is not his enemy because of this, yes, he means it paternally well with him. For this is the highest sentence, that God does not punish, but keeps quiet, and lets one live according to his will in the day.

76. he who lives without God is not glad of a penny, and enjoys little of all his goods, for he has an evil conscience, as the Scripture says Isa. 57:21: "The wicked have no peace"; and they are like the rich man in the Gospel, of whom Lucas writes in chapter 12, vv. 16-21, saying: "There was a rich man, whose field was fine, and he thought of himself, and said, What shall I do? I have not where to gather my fruits. And he said, This will I do: I will break down my barns, and build greater ones, and gather therein all that I have grown, and my goods; and I will say unto my soul, Dear soul, thou hast a great store of many years; have now rest, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, and what shall it be that thou hast prepared? So goeth he that gathereth him treasures, and is not rich in God." Such people have no heart for God, therefore they are always afraid of death, they are not safe, not only inwardly, but also outwardly; they fear that their house will burn down, that thieves will come and steal their guilders; there is no happy heart, no joy, no rest, neither day nor night. It seems as if they are rich, in good spirits, as if God is favorable to them; but it is the opposite with them. But what joy and good life is this to me, when one is never of good cheer, cares without ceasing, and thinks only how he will keep and increase mammon. That is why Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 9:9 that there is nothing better in this life than for a man to be happy with his wife and to do away with all worries. But no one, not even a king, can do this if he is godless, for he fears death,

his enemies etc. [From] such fear nothing can save him etc.

But God wants the heart to be right on the inside; let it be right on the outside, as it always can be, whether there is a supply or not, as Ecclesiastes chap. 9:7-9 says: "Go, eat your bread with gladness, drink your wine with good courage; for your work pleases God. Let thy garments always be white, and let not thy head lack ointment. Use life with thy wife whom thou lovest, as long as thou hast the vain life which God hath given thee under the sun" etc. No wicked man can do this; as has been said, he is always in trouble. For God is not in his heart, [he] fears his enemies, thieves, moths, lest they bite and devour his God, and, as the Scripture [3 Mos. 26, 36.] says, he fears a rustling leaf. For he that hath God for an enemy hath all creatures for enemies.

78. But it is true that God not only gives some saints the spirit and courage within, but also showers them with riches without. Thus He gave much wealth to the pious Abraham; He made David a mighty king; He made Job richer than all those who dwelt in the east; but they also had the Holy Spirit, accepted it as a gift from God, were in good spirits, and their hearts were not set on riches, but on God; as David himself admonishes all the rich, Psalm 62:11, saying: "If riches come to you, do not set your heart on them.

Thus, all other pious fathers and God's friends were like them, placing their hope not in temporal goods, but in God. Their heart was thus: Why do you insist on wealth, honor, health, etc., it all does not remain, today or tomorrow you must leave everything and go. So they were rich, both outwardly and inwardly. But there are so few of them, but the others have so much.

80. item, one also finds many [rommer people, who have great lack of food, but a good, sincere heart to God, and are those who hold fast to His promise that He will feed them, they trust in it with all their heart, and God also does it with

So they have better courage and conscience with a penny or a penny, even with an empty bag, than a prince, king or emperor with all his goods and wealth, and a morsel of bread and a drink of water tastes better to them than all their tasty morsels and the best wine to great, rich lords.

81. What does that do? God, who says: I will provide for you, cast your care upon me, I will feed you [Ps. 55, 23]. Item sMatt. 6, 33.]: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." And though it be not present in your sight, yet it shall be abundantly given unto you, more than they that have it a hundredfold in store. This St. Paul well knew, therefore he may write it of himself and other Christians, 2 Cor. 6:10: We are "as those that mourn, yet always rejoice; as those that are poor, yet abound in riches; as having nothing, yet possessing all things"; and to Philippians the fourth, v. 12: "I know not how to be, yet I know how to lead on high; I am in all places and in all things skillful, both to be full and to hunger, both to have left, and to be in want."

(82) Many wicked are also found, to whom all misfortune comes, and they have scarcely enough food in the house; but they cannot be in such good spirits as the godly, but begin to reproach, curse and blaspheme, and become impatient and foolish, saying: Has the devil brought me into this life; what does God take me for, that he has not given me even so much as my neighbors? He has created me in an unrighteous time. Where are they lacking? They are lacking in that their heart is unclean, that they have no faith, know nothing of God, in sum, are without God, as Paul says Eph. 2, 12.

This is the right understanding of the words of Moses: "I am a strong zealot, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation, and doing mercy unto many thousands that love me, and keep my commandments. He promises the Jews bodily welfare. But he wants it to be understood that he wants to bind them to himself, as if he wanted to say: "If you have nothing in the box, in the cellar or in the bag, then you will have nothing.

you shall have it with me. Why, "I am the Lord thy God." If I am your God, I am able to give you without any store; my hand is not shortened [Deut. 11:23, Isa. 50:2]. Some have their treasure in money and goods, some in me alone. What is it to thee, whether thou hast a store of money or of goods, 1) or not: it 2) is so certain to thee with me, and more certain than if thou hadst it in a heap? For the stock you have with you can burn, drown, be stolen, or be eaten by moths and worms and perish. But with me it shall surely remain; and though thou hast nothing, yet art thou rich and provided for, because thou hast me, and in me all things.

84 Again, a wicked man has nothing; and though he is rich in sight, yet he has want, he has misfortune enough; and though he has all things in store more than too much, yet he is poorer than poor. For what harm does Lazaro's poverty do him? What good is the rich man's great wealth? [Therefore no one is rich, if he is called emperor or pope etc., because he is rich in God [Luc. 12, 21].

So these are the promises: If you serve God and recognize him as God, you shall have enough, whether you have it in store or not. But it is presented to them rudely and childishly. For as the law led them outwardly like a disciplinarian, so God also promises them outward prosperity; it is a child's school and child's teaching.

The New Testament, however, turns it around and looks at the spiritual and inward, holding faith before it, and says: If you believe and are devout, you shall have enough, Matth. 6, 33: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," so the belly is well provided for. Both testaments have this, but the Old Testament begins with the body, and yet the spiritual is hidden underneath, namely, that one must have enough in faith. It is the same thing in the old and new testaments, but it is a different order. The new

1) So the Jenaer. Wittenberger: bei dir Vorrath; Erlanger: an ihn Vorrath.

2) Wittenberg and Jena: es.

seethes on the spiritual, drags the physical with it afterwards. As: I believe God could feed my belly, even if I have nothing in store; and if I trust Him for one day, I trust Him also for one, two or three years etc. And so the inward faith brings with it, by which the soul is rich, that I also believe that I will have plenty as far as the body is concerned.

Abraham was promised [Gen 12:7, 13, 15] that he would take the land of Canaan, and yet he did not take it by one foot, Acts 7:5. 7, 5. But he trusted in God and believed that he would take it, so he died there and believed to his end that 1) he would take it, and yet he did not get there in body. But in faith he took it, for it was given to his seed. For God promised him that he and his seed with him would take the land. So under the bodily promise a spiritual promise was included, on which Abraham also looked more than on the bodily promise, as the epistle to the Hebrews indicates, Cap. 11, 9. St. Stephen also speaks of this in the stories of the apostles, Cap. 7, 5. f. So this promise was not made to the Gentiles but to the Jews.

So also that he is angry in the third or fourth member also belongs to the law, indicates a physical anger and punishment, not an eternal one. But in the New Testament it is different: the child is not punished for the father. But it goes like this: Every man believes for himself, the father for himself, the son for himself, the mother and daughter for themselves; as also in Ezekiel [Cap. 18, 20.] it is written: I will abolish this, that the son shall not suffer for the father, neither the father for the son. Because he promised the Jews a bodily promise, he also pardoned or punished them bodily.

In the New Testament, however, the promise begins with the spiritual, because he promises eternal bliss. So also, the punishment starts with the spiritual punishment: "He who does not believe (Marc. 16, 16.) is condemned." He does not say: I will punish the

1) In the Jenaer the words stand here: "and had nevertheless no Erbtheil inside, also not one foot wide". The Erlanger reports that this is a note of Walch.

The son cannot be condemned for the sake of the father, but the father himself must be condemned. The judgment is a harsh one, not on the goods but on the person. If one counts the members, then it goes to the Jews, whom he punished bodily, as, at the goods, house, yard, field, meadows, wife and children, servant and maid; as is proven in the histories.

God's natural work, benevolence.

90] It is also to be noted that in wrath and anger God counts and punishes only to the fourth member, but in love He proves His mercy, not only to the fourth, fifth, tenth or twentieth member, but to many thousands, and is a very fine and sweet saying. The pope also imitated God, wanted to become like him, cursed up to the ninth member. He had not learned it from God, but from his father, the devil, who can do nothing but lie, murder and curse. But God does not do it this way; He shows Himself that we should learn to recognize Him as a true God, who is naturally a thousand times more inclined to kindness than to anger.

91 Therefore his own work is to do good. But to be angry is the work of others, Isa. 28, 11. It is also necessary for us, that he should do more good than punishment. For we human beings can by nature suffer God to do us good for ten, twenty, thirty years; but when an evil year comes, with the storm, war, or pestilence, we want to despair; then God is no longer at home, there is only loud clamor. If God favors us for a year or ten, no one knows it, no one thanks Him for it. So our nature can suffer the good deed, but it does not want to suffer the punishment, grumbles from hours on, and would have deserved loud anger. God, however, gives us credit for showing more kindness than anger.

92. so also here; [he] punishes only to the fourth member; but his mercy he lets go to many thousands. If he would punish as severely as he shows kindness and mercy, who could remain before him? Therefore, if one wants to look at the goodness, no divine plague and punishment is too great.

also none to appreciate against his goodness. But we do not see it, we are blind. But when misfortune comes upon our necks, then we see what we have had. If God were so much angry and punished, as much as He is kind and merciful and benevolent, how could we bear it? Who would not despair?

We cannot give credit to God, who is so merciful, who shows us so much good, who showers us with so many benefits, if he sends us an evil hour; what would we do if he sent us so much evil time, sickness and all kinds of misfortune, when he graces us with good time, health and all happiness? Some people go along for twenty years, not having any offense; once a fever comes that lasts more than three days, they want to go out of their skin.

So it is clear and bright enough that God is more inclined to 1) mercy than to 1) wrath. You know how many thousands are slain from the peasants; there appears God's wrath and punishment. But this wrath is not to be estimated against the goodness of God. For on the other hand, many thousands have lived who would have deserved the same punishment, that God should have had them slain as well. 2) Now this has happened as an example and warning to others, and has been a fox's tail. And God shows what kindness he proves to us with it, that he does not let us all fall like this, who deserved it as well as the peasants. But we do not recognize it until the punishment comes home to us.

If he took my eye, broke my leg, cut off my arm, sent me a disease for eight days, so that I could not work for half a year, there would be weeping and wailing. But I do not want to forget that I have had good and healthy days for twenty years. Even if he takes away one eye, the other limbs are still healthy. So he does not punish the hundredth part, counting against the benefits he gives us. But when we die, it is all over with each other, for we owe him a death.

1) Wittenberger and Erlanger: "auf" instead of: zu.

2 l So the Wittenbergers and the Jenaers. Erlanger: would also have had them strangled.

So, when he punishes, we shall know that it is only a fox's tail, for we shall not be repaid the hundredth part, as we well deserved.

Question: why does the son suffer for the father?

96. this question, why the son suffers for the father, the prophet Ezekiel has dealt with, and says [Cap. 18, 2.]: "You have a saying among you in Israel, the fathers have eaten sour grapes 3) and our teeth have become dull." And Jeremiah [Cap. 31, 29.] saith, Our fathers have sinned, and perished; but we must repay their sin. And it is still the same today: we sin, and we deserve that our descendants should pay for it. But this is not to be understood that it is a punishment of the soul, that the child is condemned for the father's sake; as Ezekiel himself indicates in this place. "The souls," says God through Ezekiel [Cap. 18, 4.] "are all mine, the father's and the son's, but whichever sins shall die"; but it is to be understood of the bodily punishment. He punishes the children for the sake of the fathers, lets them die, who must die nevertheless otherwise, and punishes thus the fathers that he sometimes exterminates a whole generation. So he blesses the fathers in the children, that [it] much descendants enjoy (bodily) that the fathers have been pious.

97. When therefore he will punish a father, he taketh away his children, as he suffered David's son to die [2 Sam. 12: 18]. For he punisheth us in the goods which he hath given us, showing that the children are the very best and dearest of all goods; and if he spare not the children, which are the best and dearest, how much less will he spare the oxen, asses, sheep, and other goods?

98. but it is to be noted that God rather reaches out to the pious than to the wicked and desperate boys, so that a saying has been made about it: The worse the scoundrel, the better the luck. So he took Job's children and all his goods, punished him bodily; yet he promised himself good things to God [Cap. 13,

3) Jenaer: "Heerling".

15.f. Therefore he had to have enough, because in the end everything he had lost was doubled [Job 42:10].

99. let this be said recently of the meaning of the first commandment, in which he exhorts the Jews to remember that they have such a God, who brought them out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; that he might prove that he is mighty to keep them from all enemies.

Epilogus or Summarium.

(100) So you have the first commandment, which has two kinds of understanding or usage. First, the external, crude sense, as when one worships stone and wood, as is clearly expressed in the text: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness, either of that which is in heaven above, or that which is in the earth beneath, or that which is in the water" etc. This is the gross and foolish idolatry.

The other mind and abuse is when one does not inwardly trust God with the heart in a right faith, but hangs the heart on other things and relies on a thing that is not God. This is then the right, inward idolatry, and the right, living devil. And although praying to external images of wood, stone, gold or silver is a great abuse, it is only a child's play, and a sign of the inward idolatry of the heart, in which the whole world is stuck and is completely drowned. For no one can believe God and trust that the Holy Spirit enlightens the heart. There are many who abstain from outwardly worshipping the images, but there is no one who does not worship the devil in his heart, whose heart is not drowned in unbelief, that he does not trust God, does not believe Him to be true, puts his trust much more in his own good, wisdom, ability, piety and holiness, than in God's goodness and mercy. That is the right idolatry.

Therefore, the first, highest and most noble good work in this commandment is faith in 1) God. For in this work all works must go, and their goodness must receive influence from it, like a fiefdom. And where faith is not, the works have their head cut off,

1) In the old editions: in.

and all their life and good is nothing; as Paul teaches Rom. 14:23: "Whatsoever is not of or in faith is sin." From faith, and no other works, we have the name that we are called believers in Christ. For a Gentile, a Jew, a Turk, a sinner may do all other works, but trusting God firmly is not possible except for a Christian enlightened by God's grace.

(103) In this faith also all works become equal, and one becomes like the other without any difference, whether they are great, small, short, long, much or little. For works are pleasing to God not on their own account, but on account of faith, which is united and without distinction in all and every work, works and does them all, however many and varied they may be. Just as all limbs have their life, work, and name from the Head, and without the Head no limb can live, work, or have a name.

This faith does not only consist in believing, first, that it pleases God that I eat, drink, sleep or wake, 1 Cor. 10:31, or do other such minor works, but also, secondly, 2) when things go badly for me in body, goods and honor, etc. that I nevertheless believe that God means it paternally with me, stands by me and will not abandon me. To believe this is the greatest art, namely, to have a good confidence in God, who is angry according to our sense and understanding, and to provide better things for Him than can be felt; for here He is hidden, as the bride says in the Song of Songs [Cap. 2, 9]: "Behold, He stands behind the wall, and looks through the windows, and peers through the lattice."

Thirdly, the highest degree of faith is when God does not strike and punish the conscience with temporal suffering, but with death, hell and sin, and immediately denies grace and mercy, as if He wanted to condemn and anger eternally, which few people experience, as David laments Ps. 6, 2: "Lord, do not punish me in Your wrath" etc. Here to believe that God has a gracious pleasure over us is the highest work,

2) "zum andern" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Jena.

that may come to pass from and in the creature. This good will and good pleasure, in which our confidence stands, was proclaimed by the angels from heaven when they sang on Christmas Eve [Luc. 2:14]: Gloria in excelsis Deo,

"Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill toward men."

This is the meaning of this commandment: "You shall have no other gods": because I alone am your God, you shall put all your trust, confidence and faith in me alone, and in no one else. For this does not mean to have a God, if you call him God outwardly with your mouth, or if you worship him with your knees and gestures, but if you sincerely trust in him and put all your trust in him, whether in life or death, in love or suffering, as John 4:23 says of true worshippers. And this faith and confidence of heart is the true fulfillment of this first commandment, without which there is no other work that can do justice to this commandment.

(107) And as this commandment is the first, highest and best, from which all the others flow, go in it, and are judged by it, so also its work (that is, faith or confidence in God's mercy) is the first, highest, best work, from which all the others flow, go and are judged; and other works against it are just as if the other commandments were without the first, and there were no God. For this reason St. Augustine says that the works of the first commandment are believing, hoping and loving. For such confidence brings with it love and hope.

The other commandment of the first tablet.

V. 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. The Lord will not hold him innocent who takes his name in vain.

Summa.

(108) The other commandment teaches how a person is to conduct himself outwardly in words before men, or inwardly before himself, namely, to honor God's name. For no one can denounce God either before himself or before men according to the divine nature, but by his name.

You shall call the name of the Lord etc.

In the first commandment you heard an urging and a promise if they kept his commandments. Here he puts only an exhortation and no promise. So the two commandments have the addition before all the others, that he will forbid with wrath, and will have kept them more than with any other. For the higher and greater the commandments are, the more easily, and the less, and the more shamefully, they are despised. The following commandments, such as killing, stealing, committing adultery, and bearing false witness, although they are also dangerous 1) and abused, are not as daily and mean as the first two commandments. For there are many of them who outwardly do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness; but here is no one who is not stained and defiled with idolatry in his heart, and does not take the name of God in vain.

Therefore, because it is so easily despised and thrown to the winds, God holds it in higher esteem, placing a charge that we should hold it in higher esteem. For He does not want it to be despised; indeed, He wants us to put more diligence and respect into it than into the others. For the others are easily kept where the first two are rightly taken. But we turn the page and hold least those we should hold most.

The commandment also has two abuses, like the first. The first is when one swears and curses uselessly by God's name and misuses it. 2) This is how the Jews understood it. Such swearing by God's name etc. is now quite common and in daily use. For among all the members we have no more frivolous 3) member than the tongue, which therefore snaps, esteems low, that it thus frivolously names the name of God in frivolous things, which it should nevertheless hold in great honor. Therefore, because he is held in such low esteem, he adds a word of condemnation, saying, "God will not hold him innocent," etc. It will not go well with him, he will see the punishment one day, he will grab him on the hood, so that he will rebuke and curse, and his

1) laughable --- gangly.

2) Erlanger: misuse the name of God.

3) Wittenberger: justified.

Name thus maltreated, he will not watch the length that one thus disgraces him.

This sin has been preached almost exclusively in this commandment, and has been practiced most of all, that we should not swear, curse, lie, deceive, conjure with the name of God, nor commit other abuses; all of which are gross, external things and well known to everyone. In which it is also understood that we are to prevent others from lying, deceiving, swearing, cursing, casting spells, and sinning in other evil ways with God's name.

The other abuse is so great that the first is child's play compared to the other, even though the first is horrible and great enough. This one, however, is so subtle and spiritual that no one understands it, not even the great saints; it takes a strong spirit to understand and see it. I will not say that one should get rid of it completely. For those who are in abuse consider that they are doing God a service by profaning and blaspheming His name in the highest way.

114. Just as many sin against the first commandment, especially those who have a pretense that they are the most pious and holy, throwing up their own works, putting themselves in the place of God, setting up an idolatry with their own conceit, under which they worship the devil, disregarding it and throwing it to the wind, even thinking that they are doing well and right, and have great pleasure in it; Yes, that is much worse, they want to have their deeds unpunished, they defend them by force; defiance that speaks against them; they do not think that God says he is a strong zealot, he does not let him grab the beard. And when they read it, they think that it does not concern them, and they swear to God that they are the dear children who sit in God's lap.

(115) So also those who have the greatest reputation for piety and holiness sin most grievously against this other commandment, namely, those who preach and teach under the appearance and name of the Word of God the doctrines of devils and the laws of men; preaching and teaching therefore according to their pleasure under the name of God, which they are not commanded to do, are quite insolent and obdurate.

in their proud sense, are not frightened by God's cruel insistence: "The Lord will not hold him innocent who bears His name in vain," which will pass over all such blasphemers; indeed, they still think they are doing right and please God, who will therefore also exalt them. Such spirits never come to recognize their sin; indeed, they consider it the highest righteousness, thus inwardly blaspheming the name of God under a holy appearance, which the world, reason and all human wisdom cannot recognize as evil.

The pope is completely drowned in this blasphemy. For he teaches under the name of God, which is against God, lays great burdens on men by his commandments; pretends that he does it by God's command, and yet the wretched devil told him to do it; thus he puts a lid on his teaching with the name of God: We command by reason of the almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and by authority of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, etc. whoever is not obedient to us is not obedient to God. He also knows how to apply to himself the sayings that Christ applied to the right preachers, such as: "He who hears you hears me, and he who despises you despises me." Rhyme. Then everyone fears, emperor, king, princes and lords, fall clumsily in, 1) to hell and the devil.

Thus the devil is able to disguise himself as an angel of light [2 Cor. 11:14], and gives false doctrine to false preachers and false spirits, under a semblance of right, wholesome doctrine. They proclaim the name of God in the world, pretending to be good and crying out: God's word, God's word! So they drive their evil poison into the people under the glittering color, so that the righteous doctrine is completely eradicated, are completely insolent, enter without all shyness, 2) fear neither God nor the world.

Therefore, God speaks here, and dreadfully dreads such blasphemers. Beware, I will not hold it against you; that is,

1) So the Jenaer; Wittenberger: fall in, plump; Erlanger: "fall in plump," etc.

2) Erlanger: ahn allen Scheu.

I will punish and afflict thee with a terrible punishment. It is much more severe that he says, I will not give you credit for it, than that he says, I will punish you; as if he could not name the great severity 1) of the punishment. As if a householder were to urge his son or servant, saying, I will not give it thee, it is much more vehement and angry than if he were to say, I will strike thee; or, If I give it thee etc. In such urges the negatio is much stronger than the affirmatio; the words of the urge are slight, but they will have a fierce, harsh and terrifying emphasis against [those] who blaspheme God's name in the way that is said.

119) This is the true abuse of the name of God, that one thus defends the false doctrine, and pretends that God wants it to be so, brazenly boasting: God's word, God's word, when God has not commanded it. And this abuse goes through and through in the whole world, namely with those who have the appearance and the name that they are learned and pious people, and pretend by the same appearance that their teaching is the right teaching. Therefore the common saying is true: In the name of God all misfortune arises. No greater misfortune has come into the world than that under God's name all idolatry and false doctrine is concealed, and such good appearances are made that they cannot be seen.

120 The peasants also got up in such a pretty shine. What moved them? What did they pretend? The name and glory of God. We want, they said, to defend, protect and handle the Gospel. As if God were too weak to defend His gospel, He should have such helpers to handle His gospel. So they took spears and swords at hand, thought they had God's word, thought they could justifiably kill the godless princes, because the Jewish people were commanded to do so in the Old Testament. So the name of God had to be their cover of shame. Who did it? The devil brought the prophets of murder, who persuaded them that they were doing the right thing; they should thank them. But

1) Walch and the Erlangers: size and gravity.

God did not forget his words and soon came with the punishment, as he said: "I will not hold him innocent who takes my name in vain. For he cannot suffer that one should thus jest with his name. He came suddenly upon them, and smote them over the heads; they lifted up the play against God, therefore the judgment came upon them. You have experienced the example and seen it for yourselves; remember it and do not forget it.

Thus it happens, and has happened, to all, as to those who take the name of God in vain. This is what happened to the heretics Ario, Manichaeo, Pelagio, 2) and to all those who took God's name in vain. God let them blaspheme for a while, abusing His name, but then suddenly He came upon them, and they fail so that their name now stinks in the whole world.

So also the pope has blasphemed God's name; although he has done it for a long time, the judgment has come upon him in the end, that now among the right Christians there is nothing more despised than the pope with all his monks and priests; it stinks like a wide-hop nest among them, and will also stink the longer the more, even among those who still hold him in high esteem. For it is true, and remains true, whoever dishonors and defiles the name of God must also be disgraced and dishonored.

This shall be a great comfort to us who teach rightly and know the name of God rightly, sanctifying and praising, not blaspheming and unholy. And even though we are despised, we are certain of our doctrine. But the sects and the spirits of the sects go along, boasting that they have the right spirit, soaring high, and yet nothing but blasphemy; chattering in, God's word, God's word; but they must come down. For the higher they are lifted up, the more they must be put to shame; and if it does not happen, let us scratch out the text here, and what is written here must be a lie.

God watches for a while, but he is a jealous man, he is envious, he cannot endure the length of it; therefore he finally throws in, and truly rudely. It is also annoying to a

2) In the Erlanger: "Ariano" and "Pelagiano".

to blaspheme and desecrate his name, namely God. If someone assaults a citizen in his hanse, blasphemes and reviles him, and wants to do violence there, who would like to suffer that? If someone were to seize such a person in the act and slay him, who would say that such a person had been wronged? For everyone likes to have peace in his house, and whoever wants to take it from him has lost his neck.

If we cannot suffer one another to reproach and blaspheme another, how much less will God suffer that His name should be taken in vain, and that He should be regarded as an idol? How could he do that? It is not his place to suffer. He is a true God, therefore he also wants to save his honor. No one should oppress him, but if he does, he will be thrown to the ground. So the commandment is naturally written in our hearts, that it is not right to desecrate God's name in this way.

(126) Now you have two abuses of this commandment; the first is outward and gross, so that one does not curse or rebuke. This one is so gross that everyone understands it, that even secular authorities punish it. If only they would do it! The other is more subtle, which has an appearance as if it were God's honor; as the false preachers, and those who accept their teaching from them, thus abuse God's name. God punishes both of them; both master and disciple go to the devil.

How is the other commandment fulfilled? The first commandment, you have heard, is fulfilled by a true, right, firm faith, and by a sincere heart and good confidence in God; so that a man looks to God to preserve him, to help him, to counsel him, and to give all good things, both temporally and eternally. This is the right way. But where this confidence is not there, it is not kept.

So, in this commandment, if one preaches the word of God rightly 1) the name of God is led rightly, and is accepted by the listeners rightly. And again, the name of God is blasphemed when the preachers do not

1) Wittenberger: not.

but deceive the people under the appearance of God's word and name. If the preacher is certain that he has the word of God and is preaching rightly, he does not submit to any honor that is due to God alone, but diligently does what he is commanded to do, does not lie or deceive, delivers the word clearly, without any falsehood, and fulfills the commandment. Item: Those who obey the preacher receive the word as if God Himself spoke it, grasping it with their hearts. etc. This is the right use of the name of God, namely, to preach the name of God, to believe in it, to confess it, to praise it, to call upon it, and to leave life and limb for it; for all this follows from the first one.

Thus the greatest and highest work according to faith is to praise, honor, extol, preach, sing, and in all ways exalt and magnify God's name. And although it is true, as stated above [§ 103], that there is no difference among the works where faith is and works, yet this is to be understood, that if the works are measured against faith and its works, there is no difference among them. But if they are measured one against another, there is a difference between them, and one is higher than the other. Just as in the corpse the limbs have no difference from health, and health works in one as well as in the other, so the works of the limbs are differentiated, and one is higher, nobler, more useful than the other. So also here, praising God's honor and name is better than the following works of the other commandments, and yet must go in the same faith as all the others go in.

130) This is also to be noted in this and other commandments, that just as the first commandment states that we are to have no other gods, so it also states that we are to trust in One, that is, the right God, through 3) firm faith, and to have confidence, hope and love for Him; which are the works so that one may have, honor and keep one God. So also in the other commandment it is forbidden: We are not to use God's name uselessly. But this is not enough

2) Sodie Jenaer. Wittenberger: like it; Erlanger: like.

3) Erlanger: by one.

but is also commanded under it: We are to use His name usefully, that is, to honor, call upon, praise, preach and extol. And it is impossible that God's name should not be dishonored where it is not properly honored. For even if it is honored with the mouth, bows, kisses, or other gestures, if such reverence does not take place in the heart through faith in God, it is only a pretense and glitter.

This commandment is also fulfilled when one calls upon the name of God in all distress and temptation. For this is why God still allows us to suffer in many afflictions, to be afflicted with the fear of death, to be challenged with evil desires, so that He may penetrate us through such trials and give us cause to run to Him, to cry out, and to call upon His holy name, as the 50th Psalm, v. 15, says: "Call upon Me in the time of trouble, and I will save you, and you shall praise Me. For a sacrifice of praise will I have, and the same is the way whereby thou mayest come to salvation. For through such trials man becomes aware and learns what God's name is, and how powerful He is to help all those who call upon Him, and thereby faith and confidence in God grows almost to the full. Of this David says Psalm 54:8, 9: "Thou hast delivered me from all distress; therefore will I cleave unto thy name, 1) and confess that it is so good 1)." Psalm 91, 14. God says: "I will deliver him, because he hopes in me; I will help him, because he knows my name."

This is the greatest and most difficult work of this commandment, to protect the holy name of God against all those who misuse it spiritually, and to spread it among all people. For it is not enough that I praise and call upon [the] divine name for myself and in myself, in fortune and in misfortune; I must also go forth, and for the sake of God's honor and name, invite upon myself the enmity of all men, as Christ [Matt. 24:9] says to his disciples, "All men will be enemies to you for my name's sake." Here we must Father

1) The Jenaer has here the reading of our Bible: "danken" ("thank") and "tröstlich" ("comforting"); both the Erlanger notes as remarks of Walch.

and mother and best friends, as Christ Himself says in the Gospel Luc. 14:26: "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and child, and brother, and sister, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple"; and Matt. 10:35, 36: "I am come to stir up a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the cord against her sister-in-law; and a man's enemies shall be his own household."

Here we must also have the name that we strive against the authorities, both spiritual and temporal, and are scolded for disobedience. Here we must arouse the scholars, saints, the rich, the powerful, and everything else that is in the world against us; that is, God's friend and the enemy of all the world. And although those who are commanded to preach God's word are especially obliged to do so, every Christian is also obliged to do so when time and necessity require it.

When a man accepts the word of God, the gospel, he should not think otherwise than that in the same hour he will be in danger of all his goods, house, farm, fields and meadows, wife, children, father and mother, even his own life. If danger and misfortune come to him at home, it is all the easier for him, and remember, I knew it well before, that [it] would be like this. This is where the Proverbs come from, Matth. 10, 24. 25.: "The disciple is not above the master" etc., item: "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call the members of his house"; item, Jac. 4, 4.: "Whoever wants to be the friend of the world will be the enemy of God"; item, Joh. 15, 19.: "They will hate you, because you are not of the world"; item, Matth. 10, 34.: "I have not come to send peace on earth, but the sword."

From the oath.

135 Here it is also appropriate to speak of the oath. For by a right oath God's name is also used and honored outwardly, and by a wrong oath it is not honored.

136. is now here a question: whether one may also swear by the name of god in the

new testament? For in the Old Testament [Deut. 6:13, 10:20] they were commanded, if they would swear, to swear by the name of God; but Christ, Matt. 5:34-37, declares, "Let no one swear at all, neither by heaven, nor by earth, nor by the city of Jerusalem, nor by the head, etc. but let our speech be yea, yea," if it be yea, "and nay, nay," if it be nay. It has often been said of this, but for the sake of the young 1) and simple-minded we must repeat it.

137. It is the same with swearing as with striking to death. Death is strictly forbidden, as we know, in the Ten Commandments; but if it is done by command of the word of God, it is right and good. Thus, if a judge allows a murderer or a man who has beaten to death to have his head cut off or to be put on a wheel, he does well and rightly, and does not violate the fifth commandment of God, for God has ordered and commanded it to punish the wicked for the sake of public peace. Thus the dear saints Moses, Samuel, David etc. slew by the command of God, and not by their own desire and choice. But he that taketh the sword without the command of God shall be judged with the sword [Matt. 26:52]. Now if I kill out of anger or malice, whether I am a judge or not, I am doing against the commandment of God: You shall not kill. But if the judge, for the sake of his office, has someone beheaded, hanged, drowned, or burned, it is not the judge who does it, but the judgment of God, yes, God Himself. For who else would be a judge, and hold such an office, if one were not certain of God's command, and had such defiance that it would carry out God's word and command, not he. If this were not the case, the conscience of a judge would have to despair.

But thus the judge can lift up his eyes to God and say: Dear Lord, I do not like to kill the man, because in your sight I am not more pious than he; but because it is your will and command that the public evildoers should be punished, that one may have peace before them, I am

1) Wittenberg and Jena: "Jews".

I am sure and certain that I am doing the right thing, and that I am obeying you in letting him be strangled; yes, Lord, you are doing it yourself, for it is your command. Then God will do him justice and say: You have done right, you have obeyed my command, for I have commanded you. A judge must keep this defiance if he wants to stand before God otherwise.

(139) Just as death, beheading, wheel-breaking, and other such judicial acts should not be done of one's own will, desire, or choice, so it is with oaths. In short, oaths and swearing are forbidden, as is beating to death; but if the authorities require an oath from me, I shall swear. It is often found in Scripture that the prophets swore; item, Christ and the apostles, especially Paul, often swear. Why? Did he forbid swearing? Christ brought his teaching into the world by command of his Father, and to confirm his teaching, which was unknown to the world, and to excite and confirm the weak hearts of men, he used the oath. So also from time to time Sanct Paul swore.

140 Therefore, an oath is forbidden if it is made out of one's own conceit, wantonness, recklessness, and evil desire. But if it is done out of necessity, it is not forbidden, nor is it wrong. But then it is done out of necessity when the authorities require an oath in court etc. As also happens when one pays homage to princes and lords and swears; and it is right. So also one may swear out of duty of love, namely, if one neighbor swears to another to keep faith with him, if the other desires it; not (as they said) in spiritual things alone, but in all things against one's neighbor, to make him sure, if he desires it, and will not give you faith otherwise; or that one may be reconciled to him, as the epistle to the Hebrews indicates, Cap. 6, 16, where it thus speaks: "The oath is the end of all strife, for a fortification among them." So Joseph swore by the name of Pharaoh, in the first book of Moses Cap. 42, 15. So the prophets swore by the life of kings. For such oaths are not forbidden, as the mad sophists quite

Therefore, this is the decision: If it is called the authority, and your neighbor desires it, and benefits him, then swear that it is right; because you pledge him to God, and give God the honor that he is faithful, and will see such testimony. It is the highest honor one can give to God that one considers him faithful and true.

141 This is what is said about keeping an outward oath when it is done by command of the authorities. But if one swears without the command of authority and without the duty of brotherly love, but out of frivolity and one's own will, it is forbidden and unlawful, and contrary to the other commandment, which says that one should not use the name of God uselessly. Then (as Christ says Matth. 5, 34. 35.) "one should not swear, neither by heaven, nor by earth, nor by Jerusalem, nor by our head" until necessity demands it. But then necessity requires it, if your neighbor has it and will not believe without the oath, and the authorities swear to it. For then it is the same as calling upon God to bear witness to the matter. If it is not wrong to call upon God over a drink of beer or a morsel of bread, it is also not wrong to use the name of God for the benefit of one's neighbor.

Now let this be said of the two customs of this commandment. The outward abuse is gross and low; but the inward abuse is so high and great, 1) that it is beyond all measure. Namely, with false doctrine and false worship, God's name is dishonored and blasphemed, but through right doctrine, which teaches the word of God rightly and clearly, God's name is praised and glorified. Therefore the sayings from the Psalter, Ps. 7, 18. belong: "I will praise", extol and honor "the name of God the Lord." Item [Ps. 99, 3.]: "We give thanks to thy great and wonderful name, which is holy." Item, Ps. 100, 4. 5. "Give thanks and praise to his name, for the Lord is good." Item, Ps. 113, 1-3: "Praise the name of the Lord. Praise his name from now until forever. From the going out of the sun to its going down, praise be to him.

1) Walch and the Erlangeners: roughly.

the name of the Lord." And Solomon in his Proverbs [Cap. 18, 10.]: "The name of the Lord is a strong castle; the righteous runneth thither and is protected."

Such praise should not be done with the mouth alone, for monks, priests and nuns also praise God's name in this way, but only to proclaim and preach God's praise and glory, that he does not make us blessed because of our good works, merits and piety, but only because of his grace and mercy. So do not our ministers praise him. And that they not only preach and hear the same, but also confess it before the world and the devil, and leave life and limb over it. Oh Lord, there are so few of them who praise, confess and glorify the name of God.

The third commandment of the first tablet.

V.8-11 Remember the sabbath day, that thou hallow it: six days thou shalt labor, and do all thy work: but on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God, in the which thou shalt do no work, neither thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Therefore he blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.

Summa of this commandment.

The third commandment teaches how man is to keep himself outwardly against God in works, that is, in worship.

V. 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; six days you shall labor etc.

145 St. Paul and the whole New Testament have set forth the Sabbath of the Jews, so that it may be understood that the Sabbath concerns the Jews alone. Therefore it is not necessary for the Gentiles to keep the Sabbath, although it was a great and strict commandment among the Jews. The prophets have also indicated how this Sabbath should be abolished. Isaiah at the last Capi-

v. 23 says: "When the Messiah comes, there will be such a time that one new moon will be on another, one Sabbath on another. As if he wanted to speak: There will be a Sabbath every day, and a new moon every day. So, in the New Testament, the Sabbath is inferior, according to the gross outward manner. For this commandment also has two senses, like the other commandments, an outward and an inward or spiritual.

In the New Testament, every day is a holy day for Christians, and all days are free. Therefore Christ says: "The Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath", Matth. 12, 8. Therefore Paul admonishes the Christians from time to time not to be bound to any day [Gal. 4, 10. 11.]: "You keep days, and moons, and feasts, and seasons. I fear yours, lest perhaps I have labored with you in vain." Item, to Colossians [Cap. 2, 16. 17.] even clearer: "Let no man therefore make you conscience of meat or drink, or of any part of the days," namely, the feasts, "or new moons, or sabbaths, which is the shadow of things to come." etc.

147 Although the Sabbath has been abolished and consciences are free of it, it is still good and necessary to keep a special day each week to act, hear and learn the word of God 1). For everyone cannot wait all the days. Nature also demands that one day a week be quiet and refrain from work, both human and animal.

But whoever wants to make a necessary commandment out of the Sabbath, as a work required by God, must keep Saturday, and not Sunday; for Saturday is commanded to the Jews, and not Sunday. The Christians, however, have kept Sunday and not Saturday, because Christ rose on Sunday. This is a sure sign that the Sabbath no longer concerns us, or even the whole of Moses; otherwise we would have to keep the Sunday.

1) Taken by us from the old edition of Walch. Jenaer and Erlanger: "for the sake of the word of God"; Wittenberger: "for the sake of the word of God".

and is a great and strong proof that the Sabbath is abolished. For we find in no place throughout the New Testament that the Sabbath is commanded to be observed by us Christians.

Why then do Christians keep Sunday? Although all days are free, and one is like the other, it is nevertheless useful and good, indeed, very necessary, to keep a celebration on one day, be it on the Sabbath, Sunday, or another day. For God wants to keep the world clean and to govern it peacefully; therefore He has given six days for work, but on the seventh day servants, day laborers and all kinds of workers, yes, also horses, oxen and other hard-working livestock are to have rest, as this commandment says, so that they may recover with rest. And especially that those who do not have leisure at other times may hear the sermon on the feast day and learn about God through it. And for this reason, that is, for love and need, Sunday was kept, not for the sake of the commandment of Moses, 2) but for our need, that we might rest and learn the word of God.

Our papists, however, have unfortunately made it so that we have been harder on our holidays and have had more of them than the Jews. But it does not matter whether we celebrate or not, consciences are free; whoever does not want to celebrate, let him work anyway; we do not want to scold him or chase him away. But if he wants to be pious, to know God, he needs the holiday for the sake of hearing the word of God. But if he wants to be insolent and wicked, let him go to the devil, as those who do nothing else on holidays but eat, drink, and revel day and night.

This is the gross and external meaning of this commandment, which does not bind us, but is free to us, is in our power and arbitrariness, whether we want to celebrate 3) or not. If it is necessary for my neighbor, then I drop the holiday and serve my neighbor; but if he needs instruction from the word of God, then I abstain from the work. Therefore, the pope does not have the power to keep neither Sundays nor

2) Erlanger: will.

3) Wittenberger: should.

to celebrate other days [than] necessary to command. That is why we celebrate, because we need to learn God's word. That the Sabbath is a free holiday is indicated by Christ from time to time in the Gospel, and when he interprets the Sabbath.

Of the spiritual Sabbath.

152) Here it must be known that Sabbath in Hebrew means celebration 1) or rest, because God rested on the seventh day and ceased from all His works which He had created, Genesis 2:2. Therefore He also commanded the Jews to celebrate the seventh day and to cease from all their works; and the same Sabbath is now changed into Sunday for us, and the other days are called working days. But Sunday is called a day of rest or a holiday or a holy day. It is probably translated as holiday, because we celebrate and stand idle on it. The Jews called it Sabbath, but we call it holiday.

143] After this, it has also become customary to call it a holy day; and here it is taken from the text, as it says: You shall keep the Sabbath holy, that is, you shall keep it holy, let it be holy to you. Now this was a gross, outward holiness with the Jews, that they did not work on it, ate and. drank differently, dressed differently. Now this is a bad holiness before God, that I need different clothes, food and drink in honor of the Sabbath etc.

The spiritual holiday, however, is the right Sabbath, which is kept when the heart celebrates the right Sabbath; which is the highest and most spiritual work of this commandment, which comprehends the whole nature of man.

This Sabbath Christ modeled for us in the tomb, where he kept the Sabbath rightly, where he lies in rest and celebration, abstaining from all works. He sees not, he hears not, he sleeps not, he wakes not, he eats not, he drinks not, he dwells not, stirs not tongue nor veins, neither hand nor foot, he stands not, so he walks not.

156 Anyone who wants to keep the true spiritual Sabbath must be completely dead with Christ. No one will keep it rightly, unless he is really dead. But we saw the right

1) Wittenberger: frey.

Sabbath here to keep, when our old Adam ceases from all his works, reason, will, desires, lust, which all is dead, and shall hear in the right Sabbath. And everything that is in us shall be divine, as Paul says Gal. 2, 19. 20.: "I died to the law through the law, that I might live to God. I am crucified with Christ. I live, but now not I, but Christ lives in me. For what I live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God" etc. This is a proper celebration of Christians. Item, Gal. 6:14: "Through Christ the world is crucified to me, and I to the world." [One has died to the other. The world does not know what I do, and I do not know what the world does; none knows the other, all is dead and pure. But this Sabbath is finally kept only after we have died.

157. If then we live as Paul writes of himself, everything becomes divine, hands and feet, tongue, ears, eyes, body and soul, all thoughts; and whatever I do, I am sure that God will do it in me. When I do my handiwork and work, I know that it is pleasing to God, for it is His divine command. Therefore, if I am certain that it pleases God, it is not my works but God's, for I do them in obedience to God, and do what pleases God, and not what pleases me, do it with my will and with my whole heart. But if I do my own works, and my members, ears, eyes, tongue, hands and feet, heart and thoughts, are directed according to my will and not according to God's will, they are all works that go outside and against faith. Therefore these are the right works of the right Sabbath, which proceed from faith, in obedience and command of God: for God works the right Sabbath.

That is why God was so strict and harsh about the Sabbath in the Old Testament, by which this spiritual Sabbath was signified. For it all happened in one figure, Col. 2, 16. 17. The old Jewish Sabbath was only a shadow compared to the true Sabbath of the Christians, therefore God also had him stoned who picked up wood on the Sabbath, as is written in Deut. 15, 32. 35. But this was done for our sake, so that we might be able to live with

To be diligent in our celebration and not to do or establish anything without God's word or against God's word, 1) but to do what we do by God's command.

But those who, with their own reason and conceit, fall into idolatry and preach unrighteousness, giving false doctrine under the name of the word of God and the appearance of the word of God, deceive the world and go out fresh, so that they will only be heard; thinking that they have done well, if they only bring something new into the world. But this text here admonishes us to stand idle and beware of such works that are not commanded by God; so, like swine, they plunge in, tear down images, and then boast that God told them to do it, that it was God's word, that it was done by God's command. But it is their own choice, and not God's work, as mentioned above.

[§ 35 ff.] is indicated in the first commandment. God says to us: Keep still, sanctify the Sabbath for me, let me work. If we now choose our work and leave God's command next to it, we are keeping the devil's celebration, not God's.

160 St. Peter, 1 Ep. 4, 11, says: "If anyone speaks, he speaks it as the word of God; if anyone has an office, he does it as from the wealth that God has to offer: Let all your words and works be founded in the word and command of God, and if you are not sure of this, let it be so that you are not harmful to yourselves or to others. Item, St. Paul, how often he indicates that all his works, preaching and teaching are from God's command; as he says Eph. 3, 7: "According to the gift of God's grace, which is given me according to the working of His power." Item, 1 Cor. 15, 10.: "By the grace of God am I that I am, and his grace toward me hath not been in vain, but I have wrought much more than they all; not I, but the grace of God which is in me." Item, 2 Cor. 13, 3: "Ye seek to know him that speaketh in me, even Christ." Romans 15:17-19: "I can boast through Jesus Christ that I deal in divine things. For I

1) "Word" is missing m the Erlanger.

should not speak anything where the same Christ did not work through me to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and work, by power of signs and wonders, and by power of the Spirit of God" etc.

The holy people were careful not to interfere with anything, because they were sure that God was working in them beforehand; but when they were not sure, they kept quiet with all their doing, singing and saying. This is called the true Sabbath, which the whole world has kept and the devil's celebration has accepted. The pope and all his followers, monks, nuns and priests, have taught only the works of men, and have left the true divine and spiritual works aside, even despised them and considered them heretical, and have spent their lives in their own chosen works and beings.

162. even now, when the true Sabbath was restored through the preaching of the holy gospel, the sects rose up anew, established new works according to their own conceit, and thus tore up the true Sabbath, so that God might not have His work in us.

For if the true Sabbath is to be kept, the old Adam with his arrogance must be subdued and killed, so that nothing happens inwardly in the heart, except God Himself, so that each one may be certain in his state that his deeds please God. A married woman shall be sure in her state that her childbearing, childbearing, suckling and childbearing are as pleasing to God as if He had spoken to her Himself and commanded her diligently. Thus a maid, when she sweeps the house, cooks, waits on the cattle, shall also have the defiance to keep the Sabbath right, and walk in God's command, if she faithfully carries out what she is commanded. So, in all ranks, one should keep the defiance that God has thrown them into such ranks and works, and each one should let his rank please him, however bad he may be. Then all ranks become equal in faith. For God does not see how great or small your status is, but whether the status pleases you and you accept it as given by God. Therefore, a shepherd can come before God just as well as a

the emperor, and his low, despised status does not hinder him at all.

Therefore, only God's word, command and work should be considered. Therefore, only God's word, command and work should be considered, and only that should be praised and commended; the other should be reproached for everything that goes beyond God's word and command. If a maid waits for cattle, a woman carries children, a man waits for his work, a servant feeds horses, a prince or lord cuts off the head of a bad boy, all of them, each in his own class, may defy God and say, "God has done it.

So also those who curse rightly and by faith can say: God curses you. For so the prophets cursed the wicked, yea, God did it in them. But in this way the prophets cursed: Lord, let them be put to shame, let them stand in disgrace, destroy and smite their counsel and counsel, and all their doctrine, drive them back etc. So Moses also prays against Korah and his band [Num. 16, 15]: "Lord, do not look at their sacrifice", do not let them continue.

If you notice a work in yourself that God does not work in you, trample it underfoot and ask God to disgrace everything in you that He does not work Himself. And if you could save the whole world with one sermon, and you do not have the command, let it stand, for you will break the Sabbath, and will not please God.

The works that are needed to kill nature and the old Adam are fasting and mortification of the body etc. Of which, how far and long they are to be used, is dealt with in the booklet of Christian freedom and good works. 1) Of the Sabbath also says the Epistle to the Hebrews in the third, v. 11, and in the 4th chapter, v. 5.

(168) Now this is to be noted, that such Sabbath works are to be done in faith and good assurance of divine grace, that all works may abide in the first commandment and faith, and that faith may exercise and strengthen itself in the same, for the sake of which all other commandments and works are written.

Therefore, see how a beautiful golden ring is made of these three commandments and their values.

1) This refers to Luther's Sermon of Good Works, Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. X, 1298.

The first commandment and faith flow into the third, and the third in turn flows through the other into the first. For the work of the first commandment is to believe, to have a good heart and confidence in God. From this flows the other good work, praising God's name, confessing His grace, and giving Him alone all glory. Then follows the third, worship with prayer, listening to sermons, writing poetry and contemplating God's good deeds, mortifying oneself and forcing one's flesh.

When the evil spirit becomes aware of such faith, God's honor and worship, it rages and begins to persecute, attacking body, property, honor and life, bringing upon us sickness, poverty, disgrace and death, which God also decrees and decrees upon us. Behold then the other work, or the other celebration of the third commandment; by it faith is tried almost as high as gold in the fire. For it is a great thing to have good faith in God, even though He inflicts death, dishonor, sickness, and poverty upon us, and in such a cruel image of wrath to take Him for the most gracious Father; which is done in this work of the third commandment. Suffering then urges faith to call upon God's name and praise in such suffering, and so, through the third commandment, comes again into the other; and through the same calling upon God's name and praise, faith grows, and comes into itself, and so strengthens itself, through the two works of the third and other commandment. And so it goes out into works, and comes back to itself through works; just as the sun rises to its setting, and comes out again etc.

Thus we have the summa of the first three commandments. In the first is commanded how our heart shall mind God in thought; in the second, how our mouth shall mind God in word; in the third, how we shall mind God in deed. And this is the first and right tablet of Moses, in which these three commandments are described, and govern man on the right side, that is, in the things that concern God, and in which God has to do with man, and he with God, without the help of any creature.