The other table of Mosi.

The commandments in the other tablet descend to the neighbor, and indicate how one man should behave toward another. Thus follows the first commandment of the other tablet:

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.

Summa.

The first teaches how to behave toward all authorities who sit in God's stead, as they are to honor father and mother, lords and wives 2c. Therein this fourth commandment follows the other first three, which meet God Himself.

You shall honor your father and your mother, that you may live long 2c.

174 This addition, that he says, "that you may live long in the land which the Lord your God will give you," also indicates that the Ten Commandments are given to the Jews alone, and not to the Gentiles. For he speaks here to those to whom the land of Canaan was promised; now it is promised only to the Jews, as he teaches afterwards.

This commandment, says St. Paul Eph. 6, 2, is the first one that has a promise from God. He who is obedient to his parents and honors his father and mother will live long and remain in the land. Now you have heard above, in the first commandment, that it also has a promise and a promise, and the other a promise; how then does St. Paul say that the fourth commandment is the first that has a promise from God? Answer: Paul usually lists the commandments in the other table, and not in the first. So also Christ, when he speaks of the love of neighbor, introduces the commandments of the other table. When the scholar asked him what he should do, he said [Matth. 19, 16, 18.]: "You shall honor father and mother, not kill, steal, commit adultery, not bear false witness" 2c., not remembering the first three commandments.

This is the reason for the question: St. Paul is talking about Christians who are now sufficiently instructed in the faith and in what God is doing; and, as is indicated in the first three commandments, who are now already full of the right worship. As if St. Paul wanted to speak: You must not now do more than keep yourselves to your neighbor, as God has kept Himself to you. Now, the first commandments are not fulfilled by works, but by the Spirit of God in the heart. But the faith that they have in God in their hearts, they are to prove outwardly in their works, so that the works show how they stand before God, but so that these works are established by the Spirit in the heart. Thus the New Testament keeps the commandments of the other table; therefore Paul also calls it the first commandment, understood, of the other table, which has a promise, namely, if you honor your father and mother, you shall remain in the land; if not, you shall be cast out of the land.

177. You see how God holds this commandment of the Father and the Mother so high that He makes it almost equal to the first commandment, leading almost such words. For as the first commandment has a promise, namely: He that keepeth it shall obtain mercy unto many thousands of years, 2c. So also this fourth commandment, before the other commandments of the other table, hath its promise unto them that keep it, that they may live long, 2c. So he will have nothing more feared and honored after him than his father and mother.

(178) Secondly, he uses the glorious word, "Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother. "Honor" is not a small word; it does not mean: You shall love your father and your mother, be obedient to them, do them good, or the like, but you shall honor them. But honor extends further than love; therefore God thinks highly of father and mother. For honor is due to God alone. Now he shares the honor with father and mother; therefore there is no greater dominion on earth than the dominion of parents. But it has become common, therefore never respects it.

The world despises it, and soon grows tired and weary of it. Kings, princes and lords also have their honor, wear a golden crown on their heads, a golden scepter in their hands, golden chains on their necks; now they should also be honored, Rom. 13, 7. 1 Petr. 2, 17. and feared. But it is not the same honor as the honor one should show to father and mother.

For the authorities of princes and lords are not pleasant authorities, but fearful, for they are our Lord God's masters, judges and executioners, with whom he punishes the wicked; but father and mother are not so fearful, but quite pleasant. It is written in Rom. 13, 3. ff. about the authorities, that they should ward off the wicked, wild people, and handle the pious; therefore they take money, interest and womb. But father and mother is a gentle, fine, merry authority, they do not take from children, but they dare life and limb, strike into the entrenchment for the sake of the children's belongings, put for them neck and belly and everything they have. Worldly authorities only want to have; they cannot give anything, because the children are of their flesh and blood. The princes and lords cannot boast of such things, for we are not their flesh and blood.

But father and mother, they can boast. As soon as the child is born, it must be nourished by the sweat, flesh and blood of its parents. They toil themselves, care day and night, and there is only love, and no seriousness or anger. For if it were not so sweet, if father and mother did not love the children so warmly, how would they be brought up and nourished? They would have to rot in the dirt. But there is nothing but love, service and benevolence on the part of father and mother; they put their bodies and goods into it, bear care and anxiety; there is nothing but toil and labor day and night for the children; yes, everything must serve the children, property, house and farm, maid and servant.

Thus the authority and power of the parents is separated from the power of the worldly lords. With the parents there is no fear and terror, but pure love. With the authorities

t is not much love, but fear and trembling, Rom. 13:3, 4: "The mighty are to be feared of evil works." Item: "If you do evil, fear; for she does not bear the sword in vain. She is God's servant, an avenger of punishment on him who does evil." This power does not give, it takes from us, so that it could protect the good and punish the evil.

God is recognized and finely painted in the image of the parents.

Here we should also learn that father and mother are very similar to God in their ministry to the children, and in them the divine and fatherly heart towards us is finely depicted. For in father and mother we can feel and experience how God is disposed towards man. Therefore He is not ashamed of the fatherly name, and Christ, His Son, calls Himself a bridegroom, Matth. 9, 15: "How can the bridegroom's children suffer, as long as the bridegroom is with them?" and Joh. 3, 29: "He who has the bride is the bridegroom" 2c., and calls the community of His believers the bride. And 2 Cor. 11, 2: "I trusted you to a man to bring a pure virgin to Christ"; and those who are born of His bride through preaching and faith are called children of God, Joh. 1, 12. Matth. 6, 9. Rom. 8, 16.

This is now finely painted in marriage. But in the eyes of the world, it is a frivolous thing that despises all these things, for it must remain blind and obdurate, so that it does not see the great wonders and great works of God. If we had nothing else from God but the great, glorious goodness of our parents, in which God shows His goodness, we could not thank God enough for it. But the world does not respect him; [it] is a bad thing to it such a fine, delicious work of God, to be father and mother, to beget children, to wait for them. Yes, our unspirituals turn up their noses at it, when one praises the married state, do not see that the command of God is attached to it. For God commands father and mother to wait for their children, so that we can learn and see, as in a mirror, how God treats us.

that is, as the father's heart is toward his children, so is God's heart toward you.

This is where the common saying comes from, and it is also true: that father and mother can earn heaven and hell from their children, if they preside over them for better or worse. For father and mother must take care and remember to provide the children with food, drink, shoes and clothing in the flesh, and also in the soul, so that they may learn to know God through His word; thus the hungry, thirsty, naked, imprisoned, sick, etc., whom father and mother must provide for, are the souls of the children. Then God makes a hospital out of every householder's house who has children, and sets him up as a hospital master, to take care of his children, to feed and water them, and to preside over them with good teaching and example, so that they may learn to trust God, to believe in Him, to fear Him, and to put their hope in Him, to honor his name, not to swear nor curse, to chasten themselves with prayer, fasting, watch, work, worship, and word, and to celebrate the Sabbath to him, to learn to despise temporal things, to bear adversity with gentleness and patience, and not to fear death, not to love life.

Behold, what great lessons these are. Behold, how many good works thou hast before thee in thy house, in thy children, who have need of all these things, as of a hungry, thirsty, bare, poor, captive, sick soul. What a blessed marriage it would be, if such a married people were together, and thus stood before their little children. Truly, their house would be a real church, a chosen monastery, yes, a paradise. For father and mother become like God here, for they are regents, bishops, pope, doctor, pastor, preacher, schoolmaster, judge and lord. The father has all the names and office of GOD over his children; and just as GOD cares for us, nourishes us, protects and shields us, teaches and instructs us, so also the father teaches the child, nourishes and provides for him.

In the same way, the child could not be closer to its parents, for it is flesh and blood, indeed, the nature of its parents. Therefore, a pious child has no greater confidence in any creature than in its parents, in whom it is so excellently depicted to us how

God is against us, and we are against Him. For as a child takes care of all that is good toward its parents, so a Christian takes care of all that is good toward God; and again, God takes care of a Christian as a father takes care of his child, and even more kindly. A Christian also knows that God cares for him more than all men and creatures, yes, more than he himself.

187 So that the children may know this about their parents, God has commanded them to honor their father and mother. They shall not look at the flesh and blood of their parents alone, for if they look at that alone, they will not find anything delicious in them, and will soon despise the parents; but they shall open their eyes and lift up their faces above flesh and blood, and they will find a wonderful thing in their parents.

For two things must be seen in the parents: first, that they are flesh and blood; second, the jewel that God has attached to the parents, namely his word. For He has thus put them in His word, as in a monstrance, and clothed them with His will. Thus, the parents must now be regarded as bearing the word and the will of God. Just as in the past the pope put the bones of the dead in precious monstrances, in gold, silver, silk, purple and precious stone: this had a great reputation because of such splendor; otherwise it would have remained in contempt, if it had not been so adorned. But the 2) is the right living sanctuary in father and mother. For God has placed his word there, in which is the whole divine majesty. And so it is his divine will that they should be honored; therefore they should not be measured by flesh and blood alone, but by the word of God.

People have run to St. James and other saints, to Rome, to Jerusalem, to Aach, to see the sanctuary; but here no one wants to run to the right sanctuary. Why? It is God's work, therefore one soon gets tired of it; the devil drives us away, flesh and blood do not like it. Because it does not glisten, that is why it is also valid before

1) "in" is missing in the Wittenberger.

2) Erlanger: da.

of reason. There is one who runs to St. Jacob, who vows to Our Lady; another runs to the monastery, but none has commanded you, but wants you to serve your parents; there you find him, not for the sake of parents, but for the sake of His word.

190. But just as the children despise God's commandment in this, and prescribe special ways for them to serve God, so do the parents. One vows this, the other that; but no one vows to govern and teach his children well, in honor of God; abandons those whom God has commanded him to keep in body and soul, and wants to serve God in another place, of which he has not been commanded. No bishop resists such a perverse nature, no preacher punishes it; indeed, for the sake of avarice they confirm it, and every day they only think up more pilgrimages, elevation of saints, and other such devilish specters.

But if you want to find the right sanctuary, stay at home, whether you are a father or a child; do not run to St. Jacob, to Rome, to Aach, 1) to Our Lady, to the Holy Blood, to the monastery. Look at father and mother,.there the word of God will teach you, if you honor father and mother, that you honor not flesh and blood, but God Himself, who has put His word on them. And you parents, if you preside well over your children, you do God great favor, as St. Paul teaches in 1 Tim. 5:4, 8: "Let a widow who has children or nephews learn beforehand that her own household is godly, and repay her forefathers in kind, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. But if anyone does not provide for his own, especially for his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever." If we were not so mad and foolish, and completely hardened, and possessed by the prince of the world, the devil [John 12:31], we could well realize and grasp that these are the right works that come from God's word and command.

1) In the editions the comma after "After" is missing. Now there is indeed a vestment of the holy virgin at Aachen, but that there was a special Marian cult there, is not known to us. On the other hand we find with Luther particularly mentioned: gen Lorett zur Alarm, Maria zur Eiche, zur Maria gen Regensburg.

These have been the good works of the world until now: to shut oneself up like a wild animal in the monasteries, to count the grains at the paternoster, to wear caps and plates, to put on hard shirts and gray skirts, and to do such monkey business. But no one has been able to see this delicious work of honoring parents and raising children, even though a true Christian is recognized from these works and their like, done in faith. But the world does not want works that are good, but those that shine and are adorned; so it runs to them, giving with both hands. But if a pious and obedient son has walked along in a red or green robe, honoring his father and mother, he has been nothing.

Now it would be necessary to show here how one sins against this 2) commandment, as briefly explained above; but it would be too long. To speak briefly of it: The pope has even nullified and abrogated this 2nd commandment. This is also how it happened with the Jews, as Christ indicates Matth. 15, 3-5. "For your own sins," says Christ, "you have abolished God's law. GOD commanded: You shall honor your father and mother; but he who curses his father and mother shall surely die. But ye say unto the children, that they should say unto their parents: Corban"; that is, if an adult child has money and property, and his father and mother were poor, they would not receive help from their child, then the Pharisees went to it, freshly concluded that it should be given to God and for worship, because it would be better invested than if it were given to the parents. That is nothing else than to prove God wrong.

This is how it happened with us: If one should give father and mother, it was a bad thing; but if one should endow anniversaries, masses for the souls, vigils, carry them to the priests and monks with heaps, help them to their lazy days, that was a spiritually good work, they were our intercessors, lifted us up to heaven. To hell with the good works! The children left their poor parents, who probably needed their help, and ran to the monasteries, pretending that they wanted to serve God. Yes, the devil. Because,

2) Thus the Jena. Wittenberg and Erlangen: that.

3) Jenaer: Essays. The Erlanger again refers to this as a note by Walch.

If serving God means leaving father and mother in misery against God's commandment, then it is a strange service to me. Therefore, all monks and nuns are against this commandment, of which enough is written in the booklet of monastic vows. 1)

195. about the punishment of the disobedient children it is written, Deut. 21, 18-21.If any man have a wilful and disobedient son, which will not obey his father's voice, nor his mother's voice, and when they chasten him will not obey them, his father and his mother shall take him, and bring him unto the elders of the city, and unto the gate of the same place, and shall say unto the elders of the city: This our son is wilful and disobedient, and will not obey our voice, and is a taciturn and a drunkard; let all the people of the same city stone him, that he die. "2c.

What was the honor against the parents?

The first honor to show to father and mother is to be obedient to them, to follow their commandment, as St. Paul says Eph. 6:1: "Children, be obedient to your parents. The other honor, when we have been brought up, and have now become men and women ourselves, where father and mother are lacking, that they are poor, hungry, thirsty, naked, sick and weak, that we reach out to them, help them, serve them with food, drink, clothing and all kinds of necessities, and consider them the greatest sanctuary that is on earth. For honor is not in words and gestures alone, but rather in deeds. It would be a small honor if I took off my hat to my parents and still let them suffer hunger beside it. "Not with words alone (says St. John in his first epistle Cap. 3, 18] we should love, but in deed and in truth," that is, that the work of love should proceed with a will and from a right believing heart. That is, to love with truth and with action. Item, to esteem them great, and to think much of them, and to esteem us quite lowly toward them, that we may know that God is thus well pleased with us.

1) This is the text: "Luthers Urtheil von den geistlichen und Klostergelübden," Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XIX, 1500.

2) "against the parents" is missing in the Erlangen edition.

that we should be born of our parents, whether they be of high or low estate, rich or poor; even that which they call us, which is not contrary to God, that we should not think of it otherwise than that it is called and required of us by God. For it is so ordained of God that we have become their sons and daughters. Therefore, we should accept their words and works as if God Himself created them with us. Therefore he does not say, "You shall love them, but you shall honor them.

For honor is greater than love. Love is toward those who are like us; as when two love 3) each other, neither esteems himself higher than the other. But honor is toward a superior, and has a fear with it, lest we offend him whom we honor, and do to him also as to a lord, not for punishment, but that he may love him whom he honors. In the same way, we should not only love our father and mother, but also honor them, hold them in high esteem, and fear them as our overlords, ordained by God.

And no one is exempt here to pay such honor to the parents, be he ever so high. Yes, the emperor, pope, and all cardinals are not above the commandment, because they are not above God. Therefore the pope and emperor are under father and mother, according to this commandment. And Christ also confirms this in Matth. 22, 45, when he says: "If David calls him a Lord, then how is he his son?" As if to say, If he were his lord, the son would be over the father. This does not rhyme. The king's son must still take off his hat before his father, as Solomon also did; even though he was king, 1 Kings 2:19, he stood up and went to meet his mother and worshiped her.

Therefore the parents' authority and rule surpasses all other authorities, the pope's, emperor's, kings', princes' and lords'. It is the highest estate, soaring high above all estates, and the others are but pieces and patches against it; indeed, all estates come from it. But because we all have father and mother, the rank has become a mean, despised thing; not much is thought of it, as

3) Erlanger: an einander Lieb.

God's works happen; if they become mean, one soon tires of them, seeks only what is new and strange.

Now, such honor should not only be done to the parents by bowing the head and taking off the hat, although this is also strange now, but with all the heart. For God does not say: Your hand, mouth, tongue or knee should honor father and mother, but "you". But what is "you?" "You" does not mean your hand, tongue, heart, body or soul, but all of this in heaps with your whole being and nature, how you walk and stand, body and soul, sense and wit, what is on, off and in you.

201. How, if they command something against God, shall I obey? No, God is excepted; we shall not obey if they command against the commandments of the first tablet; they shall have the preference. Then shall the son say unto his father, We have a God more than thou. I will gladly be obedient to you, as long as it is not against God, as Peter says Apost. 5, 29: One must be more obedient to God than to men. It would be fine if it were so in the world that children honored their parents, but if the children do not want to obey, God commands the parents to be ruthless. And where they are not strong enough, God has given them a helper to punish the naughty, naughty children, namely, the secular authorities; as God commanded in the Old Testament, Deut. 21, 18-21, as indicated above [§ 195].

God indicates through the Ten Commandments what He thinks of the race.

Now we can see what God thinks of us, that he gives us such commandments that we should not have strange gods, that we should not use his name uselessly, that we should keep his Sabbath holy. That we may know that we are suspect in his sight; yea, he thinks no more of us than that we are desperate wretches in skin, full of idolatry, blaspheming and profaning his name, and breaking the Sabbath. For if he thought us pious, what should he command us to do? But he lets such a rumor

go out from us, makes us sing and say that we are such fine, pious children, who do not know their own Father, their God and Creator, yes, despise him, [and revile and disgrace [him] in the very highest.

It is annoying that he spares no one, that he does not spare the Pharisees and scribes, nor our monks and priests, the holy, pious people; lets the judgment go straight over kings and emperors, popes, cardinals, princes and lords. 2c, sings and says of them that they do not know God, that they do not love God, but that they are desecrators and blasphemers, yes, that they are also murderers, death-rowers, and rascals in the skin; why does he not spare the holy people? He does not desire it. He does not say it to me and you alone, but to all people: "Honor father and mother." He knows what is in us.

Therefore he comes before us, frightens us with his commandments, so that he shows what he thinks of us. It is a great defeat; we may well become ashamed. If someone said to me: "Dear friend, honor your father and mother, do not break your marriage, do not steal; dear friend, do not hit your father and mother; I should soon accept it with displeasure, I should say: Are you mad, who do you take me for? Now God does not think us better. Shouldn't we be displeased with God, that he deals with us so seriously, considers us disobedient, murderers and thieves 2c.? Oh, dear Lord God, do you not think more of me than that I should be such a one as sleeps with another's wife, standing by another's goods 2c.? If we were serious about what God meant by this, we would find 1) nothing else, but that God considers us desperate boys. As we all are, we do not keep His commandments, none excepted; for God has decided us all under sin, Rom. 11, 32. Gal. 3, 22.

So the Ten Commandments are a mirror in which we see what kind of people we are. Yea, saith thou, I will keep the ten commandments well; I will not take from any man his own, neither will I kill, neither will I lie with my wife, neither will I deceive, neither will I lie 2c. Well, dear one, we are not talking here about outward doing or not doing, but that you do what is right.

1) Erlanger: find.

the commandments of God require, or refrain from what they forbid, with a whole, pure heart. Thou mayest say, I will honor my father and mother; yea, thou mayest honor them, but not farther than it pleaseth thee, and because it is good for thee, and [thou] profitest by it. But when father and mother are ruined and have nothing, and you are rich, when they are sick and you are well, then it is when you are to provide them with clothing, food and drink, when you are to bear their old age, weakness and unwillingness, that you will realize how you will honor them from the heart. Then the common saying will be fulfilled, that a father can more easily feed ten children than ten children can feed one father.

There is an example told of a father who gave his children all his goods, house, farm, fields and meadows, and all his provisions, and said to his children that they would feed him. When he had been with a son for some time, the son was tired of him and said, "Father, when will you go to my brother? When he had been with the other son for a while, he got tired of him and sent him to his sister. She soon had enough of him. So the good old father was completely worthless and badly taken care of. When he was about to die, he sent for an old box, put a sealed letter in it, and called all his children to him, as if he wanted to give them a will and a treasure. The children came and were all obedient. But they did not mean the father. When he died, they found a letter that said: No father shall hand over his property to his children, or give up his staff, because he can hold it himself. Therefore it is lost. As these have done, so do all.

Therefore no one keeps this and other commandments, nor can anyone keep them. For if we could keep it, God would not have commanded it; but because he commands it, it is a sign that no one honors his father and mother. It is commanded, but father and mother are well aware of how the children keep it. Therefore remain unsworn, keep your goods, and do not look the children in the mouth 2c. One can find children who honor their father and mother because they do not need help, but if they have to help them, they do not do so.

If there is no one at home, the honor is already over. Know then that by nature all children disobey their father and mother. Now if a child is to honor his father and mother from the bottom of his heart, as this commandment requires, it must be by the grace of the Holy Spirit; nature cannot do it.

Now parents deserve so much ingratitude for their disobedient children that some say they are doing well: "The devil should take a wife and beget children, if it happens that way. For if father and mother work and make it sour for them, and bring up their children in toil and labor, and risk life and limb for them, what do they earn thereby? Nothing else but, when they grow old, that the children do not grant them life, would rather that they were dead, that they came into the goods. Is this not a shameful, annoying thing, that the children do not grant their parents life? O world, you noble child! You should be crowned for being so grateful. Canst thou not do good to those from whom thou hast all good, yea, life? Whom should you do good to? They have served you and fed you for twenty, thirty, forty years, and you cannot serve them and feed them for two weeks? Fie on you, you shameful world, can't you do anything good to your father and mother who raised you from the dirt, who are you going to do it to?

209] So it is with other commandments, Thou shalt not kill. 2c. But if thou sayest, I will not slay any man. Yea, because thou canst enjoy thy neighbor, do not thou against him: but if he touch thee, tell how thou art disposed against him; then search thine own heart, and thou shalt find that thou art a murderer and a slayer. For if thou hate thy brother, thou art a murderer, as John saith, 1 Ep. 3:15: And though thou kill him not with thy fist, yet thou grudge him life; and if it be evil in his sight, thou laughest with thy fist. This is innate in us; nature, reason and free will can do nothing but kill 2c. There is a murderer, a bloodhound, in all men; in you as well as in me, that thus

1) "him" is missing in the Wittenberger.

No one is found righteous in the sight of God; indeed, we are all like evil-doers, and though our fist be still, yet the fault is in our heart. For that which is born of the flesh is flesh [John 3:6]. Therefore we see clearly in the ten commandments, as in a mirror, what God would have of us, namely, that we are knaves in the flesh, and his judgment is not lacking.

We have now heard enough in the fourth commandment about how to honor father and mother, and what this commandment contains and teaches, so that it is clear that God is very concerned that this obedience to father and mother should continue. And where this does not happen, there are no good customs, nor good government. For where obedience is not kept in the home, it will never be possible for a whole city, country, principality or kingdom to be well governed. For there is the first regiment, from which all other regiments and dominions have their origin. Where the root is not good, neither stem nor good fruit can follow.

For what is a city but a heap of houses? How could a whole city be governed, where there is no rule in the houses, where neither child, servant nor maid is obedient? Item, a whole country, what is it but a heap of cities, markets and villages? Now, where the houses are evil governed, how can a whole country be well governed? Yes, there must be nothing else out of it but vain tyranny, sorcery, murder, thievery, disobedience. For a principality is a heap of countries and counties, a kingdom a heap of principalities, an empire a heap of kingdoms. These are all spun out of single houses. Where father and mother rule badly, they leave their children to their will of courage, and there neither city, market, village, country, principality, kingdom nor empire can be ruled well and peacefully. For the son becomes a householder, a judge, mayor, prince, king, emperor, preacher, schoolmaster 2c.; where he has been brought up badly, the subjects become like the lord, the limbs like the head.

For this reason, God has made it most necessary to rule well in the house. For where the rule of the house is good and

The one who walks righteously is well advised to the other. Cause, because we see that the whole human race comes from it. For it pleased God that the whole race should come from father and mother. He could well make men out of stone and wood, yes, children of Abraha, as St. John the Baptist says, Matth. 3, 9; but he does not want to do it, but he wants one to come from the other. Therefore he also creates children for us, and gives them to be obedient to their parents, and us to bring them up and keep them for the best. For what good would we be to God if we did not do this? For this reason he has implanted children in us so closely that he does not spin them out of stone or wood, but out of our own flesh and blood; so that the honor and obedience of the children toward their parents, and the care, effort and great diligence of the parents toward the children, may be the more heartfelt and willing. If we do not govern, train and teach children well who come from our flesh and blood, how would we take care of them if they were made of stone or wood?

For this reason, parents see to it that, according to God's command, they preside over their children well, and do so promptly in the first place, because they still allow themselves to be pulled, bent and guided, and do not wait until they grow up and become hardened in their will, or wait 2) until they come into the hands of other people. For one must not think that other people's children are as close to one's heart as one's own; and even if it happens at times, it still happens very seldom, so that among a hundred children there is hardly one that one takes as warmly as if it were one's own, physical child. If the children cannot govern themselves (as we see when father and mother are absent from the children, how they walk around so miserable and without 3) knowledge, and no one takes care of them properly), then God had to put such a hard commandment 4) on them.

1) "not" is missing in the Wittenberger.

2) "oder erharren" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Jena.

3) In the Jena: "weislos" - without instruction, "waislos" will probably be as much as: orphaned. The former reading seems to us to deserve preference. (See § 214: "no one to instruct them properly.")

4) Erlanger: also vonnöthen.

214. We also see that a greater fault and defect in parents than in children is that they are disobedient and ill-bred. For parents are neglectful, and do not give diligence to their children; and such parents are not worthy that their children should prosper. Now the commandment is there that parents should bring up their children in the fear of God, but where are the parents who do this? They do this, that they love and bring up their children according to the course of this world, as they should send themselves into the world; but according to the soul, in the fear of God, there is no one who instructs and teaches them rightly. Just look at the way they are taught, what schools are thought to be throughout the country. There is no one who teaches his children to pray properly and to do the things that belong to salvation. So no one wants to dare so much that his children would be educated, taught and instructed by other people.

There are some animals that eat their own young and spoil their own fruit. So are such men who do not teach and instruct their children. Indeed, there is no animal on earth that is so hard on its young as a human being, if we look at it in terms of the soul. Therefore, they would be worthy if God were not so pious and defended the parents from the children, so that the children would throw the parents over their heads, even beat them to death, because they have so little respect for them and do not teach and instruct them well.

The fact that the parents' rule still goes on a little, and the children are still a little obedient to them, does not come from our merit, but is the grace of God, who gives them this for abundance, and, like other gifts, throws it into the rapture; otherwise it should all go to ruin, as the devil takes pleasure in throwing it all into a heap and beating it into a lump.

The children grow up, they are not powerful of themselves, but are under the hand of the parents; if they do not do the best with them, nothing good comes out of them. What then is the fault? Is it the children? What can they do about it! That is why father and mother should think about

To keep them, to train, instruct and teach them diligently, not only in the worldly way, but also in spiritual things that pertain to the salvation of souls.

But what shall I say much? How shall they teach and instruct the children much 1) in spiritual things, if they do not teach them 2) how to live outwardly in the presence of the wager, how to keep house 2c. It does not happen, because it is a commandment of God. The devil has captured the hearts and leads them as he pleases; therefore the world remains full of wolves, bears, lions and unreasonable, wild animals.

219. But righteous men see well what God wants indicated by the rule and obedience of parents, namely, that father and mother are bishops, popes, doctors, emperors, princes and lords in their houses. Therefore a father should punish his child like a judge, teach like a doctor, preach to him like a priest or bishop. If a father does this, he can stand before God; if he does not, he will receive his reward from God in due time. For, as was said above [§ 184], father and mother can earn the kingdom of heaven from their children. So again, may parents not earn hell more easily than by their own children, in their own house, where they neglect them and do not teach the things as has been said. What good would it do if they fasted to death, prayed, and did all the works, and yet failed to do what they were commanded by God? God will not ask them about these things on Judgment Day, but about the children He has commanded them.

220. But it should be noted, as is said in other commandments, that this work must also be done in the main work, namely, in faith. For discipline and teaching to keep children is nothing in itself before God, unless it is done in faith, so that the person does not doubt that it pleases God that the parents had the children for the best, and let such a work be no other than an admonition and training of his faith to trust God and to do everything in his power.

1) "much" is missing from Erlanger.

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

To provide good things for him, without which faith no work is living, good and pleasant. For many pagans have brought up their children nicely and honestly before the world, but all was lost because of unbelief, as Paul says Rom. 14, 23: "What does not come from faith is sin"; and again: "To those who love God, all is well", Rom. 8, 28.

Now this is a glorious commandment. Though it is small in words, it is powerful in deed, for the whole world is governed by the commandment. For if this regiment of parents were taken away, 1) it would be done with the whole world; for without the regiment it cannot stand. Whoever then is in this regiment is commanded a great office. This St. Paul can finely emphasize and exalt, since he says [1 Cor. 11:7], "The woman is the man's honor." For God has commanded a man to rule his wife and children, not that a man should exalt himself and take pleasure in it, but that it is a good command from the divine majesty, therefore the man is honorable. 2) For the man is honorable, not that he should exalt himself and take pleasure in it, but that it is a good command from the divine majesty, therefore the man is honorable. 3) He who does not have a wife and child does not have this honor and office. Thus he also speaks of the man as having the honor of God, that is, as being under the authority of God, and is ruled by God. As the man is under God, so the woman is under the man. Thus the Scriptures everywhere praise and extol the conjugal state; but with us it is contemptible. Therefore we are swine, and remain swine, and do not see what God wants and commands. This is how parents should behave towards their children, and children towards their parents.

From the parents the rule comes to the secular authorities. For as parents have power over their children and household at home, so the authorities have power over a whole community. The parents establish justice and peace in the home; the authorities establish peace and justice in a whole community and in all places. Therefore

1) Erlanger: away is.

2) In the Jenaer and in the Erlanger: "sichs" -----sich deß. Wittenberg: sich.

3) In the Wittenberg and in the Jena: ehereich.

It is also the office of the authorities to be a father, to do good to all men, to show kindness, and to do neither violence nor injustice to anyone. Therefore they have also in the Hebrew language the name Nedibim [XXXXX] of beneficence; and in the 51st Psalm, v. 14, the Holy Spirit is called a princely spirit, that is, which can do nothing but beneficence, as should be the office of princes; and Christ [Luc. 22, 25] calls them beneficos, gracious lords, also of beneficence. But how secular authorities should behave toward their subjects, and the subjects toward their authorities, is sufficiently indicated in the booklet of secular authorities, 4).

223 This also includes the obedience of the spirit, the workers and day laborers to their masters, wives, masters and mistresses, of which Paul tells Titum Cap. 2, 9. Col. 3, 22. and St. Peter 1. Ep. 2, 18.

The fifth commandment, or the other commandment 5) of the other tablet.

V. 13. You shall not kill.

Summa of this commandment.

The other commandment of the other tablet teaches how one should behave toward one's equal or neighbor, for the sake of one's own person, so that one does not offend it, but rather, where it is allowed, promotes and helps it.

You shall not kill.

The first commandment in the other table is to honor father and mother, and is therefore the closest to the commandments concerning God; and therefore goes to the first table, because in the fourth commandment is understood the authority, which is in God's stead, as Paul Rom. 13, 2. indicates: "Whoever resists the authority, resists God's order. In the first three commandments one sins against God; in the first commandment of the other table one sins against the authorities, which God Himself ordered and instituted, Gen. 9:6, and Christ and Paul did not abolish them, but confirmed them.

4) St. Louis edition, vol. X, 374.

5) "Commandment" is missing in the Erlanger.

Now, the commandments that follow do not apply to the authorities, but to our equals and to our neighbors. We all lack and despise this, like other commandments, and do not believe that God speaks it, and that God is serious; we regard it as if a loose talker had said it. Therefore they remain commandments, because the natural man does not understand the things concerning the spirit [1 Cor. 2:14]. Therefore no man keeps the commandments unless he is a Christian and enlightened by the Spirit of God.

227 Thus the fifth commandment reads: "Thou shalt not kill," and applies to our neighbor's person. There we see once what God thinks of us, how much good he has in mind for us, what he has in mind with this commandment: "Thou shalt not kill. He thus remembers: I have wild, unreasonable, mad, raging beasts in the world, wolves, bears, lions, 2c., therein I must shut them up, bar them, grate them with iron bars, and close them with strong walls, lest they choke one another and do great harm. For if God did not have the care, what would He have the commandments to give? God knows our heart and nature well, that murder is innate in our flesh; therefore He also gives this commandment that we should know ourselves; He is concerned that we strangle one another like mad, raging dogs, wolves and bears; He therefore considers us to be desperate boys who strangle and murder one another. And the history, which Moses describes after Adam, is about murder and death, how one brother strangles the other.

228. Now go, dear man, boast, we want to be holy. [We boast of our reason, wisdom and free will; but what does God think of us? This is what He thinks of us, that we are all murderers and slayers, none excepted. And if God acts like a mayor or a prince, when he hears that some threatening words pretend that they want to do harm, to break in at night, then he lets watch and guard, so that they are resisted. So God does not do us any good, but considers us all to be murderers; therefore he commands us not to kill.

229. But it is annoying that God speaks into the community and excludes no one, lets the judgment go over all people, over pious and evil, poor and rich, high and low class, be it prince, lord or servant [Rom. 11, 32. Gal. 3, 22.]. He would have spared the holy people, the Pharisees. But he spares no one, he exempts no man, he strikes them all, and throws them all into one heap. As if he wanted to say: They are all boys, murderers and death thrower, it is none, he has a bloodhound in his bosom. This is now a short decision: as we are all at once disobedient father and mother, so we are also all at once murderers. Now learn what the world is like for a child; which the ten commandments show very well, in which you see, as in a mirror, what we are like outside and inside.

But you say: 2) I do not want to kill, murder, or strike anyone dead; I would also not like to harm a child. Well, my dear, if one does what you would like, because one smiles at you kindly and calls you dear friend, then you are well pious; but if one does you wrong, if one takes you by surprise, if one is angry with you, then it is found, then one will see your patience well, you should soon hit one in the mouth, yes, strangle, if it would be without danger for you. What is the cause? Your evil nature, in which you were born, God sees it in you, who is a searcher of hearts [1 Chron. 29:9], therefore he has given this commandment. But if thou couldst have a sweet heart toward thine enemy, and grant him all good, and no evil, if he enrage and provoke thine heart to anger, thou mayest boast: I do not kill. But where is one who does? No one does. For you can be kind to your neighbor so far as he does you no harm. If he does you harm, your friendship toward him is already over, and you cannot refrain from sinning against this commandment. You kill him; if you do not do it with your fist, you do it with your heart.

1) Erlanger: er.

2) The words: "I will ... todtschlagen" are missing in the Wittenberger.

Therefore it is not enough that you are not a murderer outwardly. For even if the hand remains still, the reason of the heart is poisoned, because you do not begrudge your enemy anything good, you laugh into your fist when he is bad, when he is ill, corrupt or dies; and when he is well, you do not begrudge him. All this is called murdering and killing. And this beautiful virtue is in the heart of all people by nature.

Therefore, as I have said, the Ten Commandments are given to us, that we may learn to know ourselves, what pious children we are, and what herbs our hearts are, and what God thinks of us, that we may be ashamed in our hearts and afraid of ourselves, when we see in the Ten Commandments, as in a mirror, that we are all idolaters, blasphemers of God's name, disobedient to our parents, murderers and bloodhounds.

233 Christ interprets this commandment, Matth. 5, 21. 22. when he says: "You have heard that it was said to the ancients: You shall not kill. But whosoever killeth shall be guilty of judgment. But I say unto you: Whosoever is angry with his brother is guilty of judgment." There Christ shows that you sin against this commandment, not only if you kill someone with your fist, but also if you are angry with your neighbor. And Christ makes several degrees and distinctions of anger. First, do not be angry in heart; second, do not show anger with signs or gestures; third, do not rebuke with words; and fourth, keep silent with your fist.

No one is exempt, but we all become guilty. For although the fist, the mouth and other limbs keep still, the heart is full of anger, envy and hatred. All these are found among us. If each one looks into his heart, he must not be shown much scripture; his own conscience will tell him and convince him that he is guilty in this. It is evident from our outward fruits and conduct what kind of companions we are; no one can ignore another's word; how then can he be kind to his enemy with all his heart?

The third commandment of the other tablet.

V. 14. You shall not commit adultery.

Summa.

The third commandment of the second tablet teaches how to treat one's neighbor's most valuable possession as one's own person, that is, one's legitimate spouse, child or friend, so that one does not disgrace them but keeps them in honor.

You shall not commit adultery.

This is a great and beautiful honor that God bestows upon the world, namely, that it is a stable full of adulterers and adulteresses! God deserves it from us that we should become enemies of Him, because He thus disgraces us, scorns us and reviles us, and does not exempt anyone from this, not even our monks, even if they had vowed chastity once again. There you see that God does not trust us to have a husband who would let himself be pleased with his wife 1) and again, a wife who would let herself be pleased with her husband. It should still annoy one, if one peeled him an adulterer, and said to him: Dear, keep your marriage, don't go to another man's wife, don't disgrace his daughter, and so on; 2) if it would be a pious man. He should soon speak: What do you consider me to be, do you consider me to be such? But God does not spare any of us; in this commandment he scolds all of us as adulterers and adulteresses at the same time; he wants to show what kind of companions we are.

So this commandment is also a book of blasphemy and a title of shame; reproach us all, no one excepted, that we are whoremongers; though we are not so publicly before the world, yet we are so in our hearts, and if we had space, time, place and opportunity, we would all break the marriage. The species is implanted in all people; none is exempt, whether man or woman, old or young, they all lie ill in this spital. And this plague does not cling to us like a red skirt, so that we could get rid of it.

1) Erlanger: Weibe.

2) Wittenberger: and so on. Erlanger: forthrightly from. Jenaer: before from.

1) or put away, but we brought it from our mother's womb, and it has passed through our skin and flesh, marrow and bone, and through and through all our veins. Are there not many who do not fornicate, but lead a good life? Well, my dear, I do not say of the doing, but of the kind. God does not allow Himself to be mimicked by works; the Scriptures call Him a knower of the heart [1 Kings 8:39], He sees deeper than we do.

That some are pious and do not sin against this commandment is judged by his divine grace, or by Master Hans with the sword and the whisk, 2) who 3) puts a fear into them, so that they publicly avoid such sin; if this were not the case, we would probably reveal what is in our hearts, and thus live like some pagans who have not punished fornication outside of marriage. Thus God says: "You shall not commit adultery," but you shall be chaste; as if he wanted to speak: You are all of the kind that are fornicators and adulterers, one as the other.

Because the species is in us, God has permitted every man to take a wife, and every woman to have her husband, so that fornication and adultery may be avoided [1 Cor. 7:2.j]. For this vice is very widespread in the whole world, like a great fire, neither sword nor spirit helps. Therefore it is very necessary to punish such sin externally and not to allow it to be a warning to others. And the rulers should diligently strive for this and not be negligent in this.

(240) Our reason tells us that fornication, adultery and other sins are wrong. For every man's own heart tells him to honor his father and mother, because we come from them, and have flesh and blood from them; [they] risk life and limb for our sake, lay up all their goods and chattels for us. So also nature teaches us 4) that we should murder no one, not be our own judges. And summa, in nature all these commandments are written; but we are so mad and so 5) full of blindness that we do not obey them.

1) Erlanger: to strike out.

2) Wittenberger: stäupe und besem.

3) "the" is missing in the Erlanger.

4) In the editions: lernet.

5) "so" is missing in the Jena.

not see nor recognize. So also nature teaches us that we should not defile anyone's wife or children. For nature says, Do not do to others what you would not have done to you [Matt. 7:12]. Now no one wants his wife and child to be violated, so let your neighbor's wife and child be unviolated.

But when one comes into the heat, one forgets everything, law, nature, scripture, books, God and His commandment, there is only a pure request to atone for evil desire.

The fourth commandment [of the other tablet].

V. 15. You shall not steal.

Summa.

The fourth commandment of the second tablet teaches how to treat one's neighbor's temporal goods, so that one does not take away or hinder them, but promotes them.

You shall not steal.

243 There comes another large register, from which no one is exempt; the smallest part of the thieves is hanged with the rope. For if all thieves in the world were to be hanged, where would one get enough ropes? One could not get enough of them; all belts and straps would have to be made into ropes.

The order of the commandments of the outer table.

Now notice the order of the commandments of the other table. The first concerns the authorities. The other concerns the person of the neighbor: Thou shalt not injure thy neighbor in his own person. The third concerns the persons belonging to your neighbor, as: Thou shalt not ravish thy neighbor's housewife, daughter, sister, maid 2c. The fourth concerns the goods of your neighbor, that you do not steal them from him, nor do you destroy them.

This commandment shows us once again what God thinks of us, namely, that we are all thieves, none excepted, before God and before the world. But since the theft remains to a certain extent, this is the reason that one has to be careful before the executioner and the

The thief fears the gallows; also, where God's grace and the Holy Spirit dwells, there is no sin against this commandment; otherwise the thief lies buried in the heart, and where God does not hold, or the executioner does not shrink, then the thief goes out into the work, to the utmost.

246 But thou shalt not think that it is only stealing when thou doest thy neighbor his own; but when thou seest thy neighbor in need, hungry, thirsty, without lodging, shoes, or raiment, and dost not help him, thou stealest as well as when one stealeth money out of another's purse or casket; for thou owest to help him in his need. For your goods are not yours; you alone are appointed as a guardian to distribute them to those who need them. Therefore those who have goods belong to the round table and to this great register, in which thieves are written, and they do not give to those who need it; 2) they do not take care of their neighbor's need, they pass by.

Therefore there is seldom a rich man who is not a thief in this case, even a great thief; there would have to be a great rope to hang such great thieves. But there are not too many such thieves, for the common man does not have such great goods as the rich, great merchants, who only scrape, scrape, and scrape the poor, collecting great treasures. These are the right and greatest highwaymen, they are not hanged on gallows, but are honored by everyone, they sit on top; but they will not escape the gallows, the devil himself will become master of them, he will tie them up in hell so that they will not escape him.

But the petty thieves who steal scarcely ten pennies must flutter. The Romans, who were wise and prudent people, were well aware of this. For one of them, called Cato, said: "The petty thieves are hanged on gallows, but the great thieves go in in handcuffs. Another wise man said: "The law is like a spider's web; if the petty thieves are hanged, they are hanged.

1) Thus the Jenaer. Wittenberg: reien; Erlangen: Reihen.

2) Erlanger: they.

If flies get into it, they have to hold out, but if the large bumblebees get into it, they drive through it and tear the spider's web with force. And it is truly so; for if a poor man has stolen barely five pennies, he must hang. Only to the gallows with him, there no pleading helps, 3) there the law is strict. But those who toil and scrape day and night, as usurers, deceive and lie, sell wicked goods, give false measurements, are called mercy junkies, who would have deserved thirty times more to be hanged on the gallows than the petty thieves. But they will be hanged more shamefully than if they were hanged by the executioner.

249. item, who sit in a city or town, as brewers, wine taverns, fishermen, butchers, tailors, shoemakers and all craftsmen 2c. [There is seldom one among them who does not carry a thief in his bosom. He gives false measures, the other has false weights, cubits 2c., 4) he cheats his neighbor otherwise, the other so. With his false, small goods, each one does as he pleases. And even if some abstain, 5) the way is there; where they could or might, they also lead out. It is the same with the merchants. There is not one of them who could escape from the thief. Behold, whether any of them have conscience or reason? They sell their goods according to their liking, and still want it to be right; they also say: It is my property, I may deal with it as I please. Praise yourself, cuckoo, with your song; one can hear by your cry what kind of bird you are.

The farmers who come to the market can do it well. If someone brings rotten, stinking eggs or nasty cheese to the market, he is more proud of it than someone with stuff worth several hundred guilders. Another comes with other humbug, and cannot make himself disgusted enough with it. No one thinks that such is thievery; indeed, one thinks that it is an art to handle with knowledge of advantage in our dealings, and thus to deceive our neighbor. But thou shalt not be a-

3) Wittenberger and Erlanger: Prayer.

4) "Elle 2c." alone in the Jena.

5) Wittenberg and Erlanger: they.

think that you would be excused by this; you are both a thief, where you use such trickery, as if you had stolen it from someone's bag. You know that you do not act right, because your conscience punishes you. And yet you do not want to be a thief; yes, you let other people call you a pious, honest and upright man, sometimes you give a penny to a poor person for the sake of God, so that it shall be paid. But it will be otherwise. You may have a good praise and name before the world, but see how you are before God. Let princes and their rulers see to it that a remedy is found for it. 2c.

251 We can see how it was done in those days, how they traded with the grain; everyone gave it only as he pleased, so the poor had to buy it as much as they offered, because they had to eat. This is not considered theft. Yes, such sellers boast 1) even more, and say: I have now gained so much. Rather, what you gain from it, grease your shoes with it. Item, such fellows, when one leads a thief to the gallows, laugh into their fist and say: It serves him right; forgetting themselves that they are greater thieves than he, and deserve to hang better than he.

252 This is what is said about gross, outward theft, which can be grasped and is seen daily before one's eyes; that is, that there is seldom a man 2) who does not carry a thief in his bosom and is a thief in the eyes of the world. And this vice is more common and more running in the world than adultery or murder. For because murder and adultery are punished, they are not so much more prevalent than such usury and petty thievery. For every man may sell his own as he pleases, without any penalty; so it goes on and on, and there is no end of cheating. But the authorities should see to it that this is done properly, and punish those who deceive the poor in this way. But those who should punish are themselves criminal in this; that is why no crow scratches out the eye of another.

1) Erlanger: they.

2) Wittenberger and Erlanger: be.

Now God allows this to happen, but he can bring it back again, namely, he can delight those who have been deceived, and punish those who have wrongfully obtained it, with their neighbor's harm. For when one has long plowed and gathered, another comes and consumes it, and kills it uselessly. It also happens as one sees and experiences before one's eyes. How often does it happen that someone is so rich that he does not know the end of his wealth, and yet it is so soon dispersed and flies away that one does not know where it goes. Hence a common saying has come from such daily experience: De male quaesitis non gaudet tertius haeres, evil gained good does not come to the third heir; and: Male partum male disperiit, 3) evil gained, evil devoured.

So you see that God considers us all to be thieves; if we are not all thieves outwardly, we are not thieves at heart. For he who covets his neighbor's goods is a thief in the sight of God, as the last two commandments show. But that we do not all go out with the deed and steal, that Junker Henker repels with the rope; he is a fine man, makes many pious children. For many more do not steal for fear of the gallows than for love and piety.

255 So this is not only theft, when one breaks into houses at night and secretly takes one's possessions by night, but also any damage or loss that is done to one's neighbor's good, whether by buying, selling, working, or unlawful trade, so that theft is a common vice in the whole world, and those who cannot accomplish it by deed do it with their thoughts; but those who have room do it with their fists. Today there is a great deal of fraud in buying and selling by all craftsmen, all of whom are engaged in great thievery. We can do no more than preach against it, but the secular authorities must prevent it and do so in earnest. But the heart remains full of thievery, unless God enlightens the heart in a special way. The judge will not force it; God, however, who is

3) In the issues: (Usxsrit.

is a right judge [Ps. 7:12], can repay finely, as said above.

But how is one to resist it? No one can resist the heart, but God alone through His grace. But outwardly it would be good, and indeed necessary, that a proper order be established in a city, and that such racketeering and scraping be stopped, so that the poor man could come to it. Where the merchants or craftsmen would not allow themselves to be instructed, I would give such advice that a mayor would summon the butchers, bakers, brewers, taverns, etc. before him and admonish them to handle the matter properly and to sell their goods without falseness, and to do so in such a way that it would not end up with their children. For if they would thus toil and scrape, let them know that God will not allow such unrighteous, wickedly obtained goods to prosper, nor to benefit their descendants, as is said above. For as it comes, so it goes again.

257. Where such counsel and faithful exhortation would not help, but the people would strut and defy according to their pleasure, it should be done, as is the custom and usage in some cities, that an honest, pious man be charged, to whom a council would advance two or three hundred guilders, so that he would provide a whole city with meat or bread, and the council would allow him to slaughter alone in the city, so that such proud fellows would be humiliated and not strut like that, as we have to hear and experience. One could teach them mores in this way, so that they would not say so defiantly: If you do not want it, leave it.

258 So if one had to go along with other craftsmen, who wanted to strut in the same way and thump a whole community, then others would be careful and not say so defiantly: One must have it well. Because they are allowed their courage, 1) they do it with their craft according to all their liking, toil and scrape without any shyness, and still think that they are in the right. I ask you: Are you not a worse thief, if you do your will with your selling, than a public highwayman?

1) Erlanger: lets her courage.

Yes, of course; one can beware of such a one and flee him, or defend oneself against him; in addition, the same highwayman stands all hours in danger of his life, because if he is seized, he must be held up; but no one can beware of you. For this you are in no danger, but live, grow and steal without fear, and on top of that you want to be called an honest man. Therefore you are a thief and robber, yes, much worse than a tramp. Remember your conscience and your soul's salvation. 2)

259 This, then, is a broad commandment, to which all men are guilty. Therefore let every man take heed how he acts. For even if one does not steal by pointing fingers at him, it is sufficiently said how broad this commandment is, and how the whole world sins against it.

The fifth commandment [of the other panel].

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

Summa of this commandment.

The fifth commandment of the other tablet teaches how to behave toward one's neighbor's temporal honor and good report, so that one does not weaken them, but rather protects and preserves them.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

This commandment is to be understood primarily from the way things are done in court, and springs from theft. And just as the other commandment of the other tablet forbids harm to the body, the third to the person belonging to your neighbor, the fourth to the good of your neighbor, that you do not translate it or preach it: so this fifth commandment forbids harm to the honor and name of your neighbor, that 3) no one should injure or damage his name.

This commandment springs from the previous three. For if a man is wounded in his body, in his persons belonging to him, he is wounded in his body.

2) "und Seelen Seligkeit" is missing in the Erlanger.

3) "man" is missing in the Wittenberger.

and his good, then quarrels and disputes arise, and most of all about the good. And this happens in the whole world where the Holy Spirit does not dwell.

As all men are thieves and adulterers, so are they guilty of this commandment. Because the transgression of this commandment is so great, public courts must be held to prevent it from becoming worse. Therefore this commandment is good for the innocent, lest violence and injustice be done to him in the courts.

Therefore, in such a case, both parties should be questioned publicly, and the innocent should not be wronged or allowed to be wronged, neither should gifts be taken, nor should friendship or favor be considered. But vice is common in the world, and is in full swing. People take goods and money and turn right into wrong. It is also rare to find a pious prince, judge or jurist who does not stumble in it, indeed, who does not become a knave over it. For more attention is paid to the great, mighty merchants than to the poor people.

It requires great courage and a bold man who, in this case, can rightly 1) execute his office. For where God's grace does not dwell in a judge, he never does his office sufficiently, falls to his friend and good patron, or otherwise to a great man; thus sees through the fingers, and pronounces a wrong judgment against the other party, where there is no reputation, power and friendship. As when a poor man comes, one must not be afraid of him, wait for no harm, he must be held out. The pagans have finely illustrated this by a likeness of a spider's web: When the small flies come in, they remain covered in it, but the large bumblebees pass through and tear the web. It is the same in a court of law: If a poor man comes in, and no harm is done, he must suffer himself; but if someone is concerned that he will be avenged, he passes through, even if he is seven times wrong.

So it is with false witness, which is a common vice in the world. For

1) "recht" is missing in the Wittenberg.

A man who does not have the Holy Spirit clings to what is good and does not want to lose it; so there is strife, and a man will swear ten oaths before he leaves. God has seen in all of us that we are false witnesses.

266 Therefore the regents shall not judge a case and bring it to an end, because they have heard both parts. Let the plaintiff, however powerful he may be, adorn his cause as high as he can, and a judge shall speak: I have two ears, and you have one mouth. What you say, I take with one ear; but what the mouth of him whom you accuse says, I take with the other ear.

God knows who we are and does not consider us better than when we come to court, that we should make our cause beautiful, adorn it and defend it, so that it is right, but the other's must stink. In sum, no one is so pious as to disgrace his cause. Since we are by nature so minded that each seeks his own, and no one inquires of the other, we should not believe one part to have heard the other part also. So every one, as far as he is a man, is a false witness, a traitor, a liar, and no true word comes out of his mouth, that is, when it comes to a meeting. It may well happen that you do not bear false witness against your neighbor, because he laughs with you and is in good spirits; but when it comes to the serious matter, that your neighbor has a promise to you, or to your good 2c., then you will not be without lies, unless God puts them into your heart; otherwise you make yourself pious and righteous, and adorn your cause to the very best, let the other party be as pious and righteous 2) as he always wants, and let your cause be as rotten and evil as it always can.

Now this is a beautiful title and glory, so that God will mark us and call us liars, false witnesses, traitors and evil-doers. Therefore, we should be justly terrified before him that he thinks nothing better of us than that we are all liars and false witnesses. For if he did not think us so, he would not have given such a commandment. So

2) Erlanger: like.

But here we learn what God thinks of us; indeed, each one feels it in his heart.

269 Therefore the common saying is also true, which goes everywhere in the world: There is no faithfulness in the world. Item: Faithfulness is miserable. The father must not trust the son, the son the father, the daughter the mother, the mother the daughter. And as a heathen says: The brothers are seldom one. Therefore it is not new that one is deceived and lied to, it has always been so, we bring it from mother's womb. That is certain. Therefore, if you deal with a man, whether buying or selling, if God is with him, he is pious and deals honestly with you; but if God leaves him, and there is only man, without God's grace, he is deceitful and deceives you wherever he can. If then thou wilt deal with him, remember this: God will give him grace, so that he will keep faith with me. For love keeps the best of the neighbor. But nevertheless, beware; faithfulness is evil, as a Greek prince, 1) Epicharmus, said: Remember that you believe no one. This 2) saw what the man, what the world was for a pious child, namely, therein is no faithfulness and faith.

270. Summa Summarum: We must trust, and also not trust, and know, first of all, that the world is full of devils, bad boys and husks, and we live among wolves and wild, unreasonable animals, who deceive us and lie to us falsely. If anyone does not want to suffer this, let him go to another place where there is no world, for he will find this everywhere in the world, as Paul also says in 1 Cor. 5:10: "If you did not want to live among evil men, you would have to leave the world. We must not provide ourselves with anything else or better; man remains man, the world remains world, the devil remains devil. Whoever can send himself into it, that is a great grace; but whoever cannot, there is misery and distress. Secondly, that we know that one may freely trust one's neighbor, and that one may hit him in the redoubt or not. Hit

1) "a Greek prince" is missing in the Wittenberg.

2) Erlanger: The Prince.

it that he keeps faith with you, it is a grace from God; if it does not happen that he does not keep faith with you, and deceives you, you knew beforehand that [it] would not be better by nature with him.

271 This commandment, Thou shalt not bear false witness, speaks primarily of the fact that when one has to deal with one's neighbor in court, if it is a matter of property, honor, or whatever, one must act righteously. 3) This also includes all lies that cause harm to one's neighbor. This is also the place of all lies that cause harm to one's neighbor. But lies to joke and fool are not true lies, for one knows that no harm will come to his neighbor. But if I want to harm my neighbor with lies, be it to his body, property, honor or name, these are called right lies.

Item 272: Therefore also belong the useless, washy mouths, which people like to hit the bank and carry out, if it does not happen in court, but against other people in secret, or in collation, 4) As those do, so one calls afterreder, who have a desire to talk evil to other people, have nothing else to send, but that they align the people, and no one is prettier than they; they are pure, and everyone stinks before them. If another fills in sin, everyone must know it, carry it back and forth, thus slandering their neighbor, defiling and blaspheming in the very worst way.

273. Where one would speak of other people's vices, if it were right, this should be done for the neighbor's correction, not for harm and damage; but if I cannot correct it, I should keep silent and cover up my neighbor's infirmity; but if I can correct it, I should deal with it alone with him, as Christ teaches Matth. 18:15: "Punish your brother between you and him alone"; this is then a secret correction. The other correction is public; if you know anything about your neighbor, go to the place where it can be corrected. So, if your neighbor's child, son or daughter sins, punish him first; then, if you do nothing, tell his parents, or the priest, the mayor, the judge, or those who have

3) Wittenberg and Jena: that one.

4) Thus the Jenaer: Collation - Society, Gasterei. Wittenberg" and Erlanger: Collatien.

If you have the power to punish, it is not wrong; indeed, you do right when you report your neighbor's sin in this way; not that you take pleasure in it, but only for his correction. But the wicked mouths do the contrary, not speaking of their neighbor's faults and infirmities, that he should be corrected thereby, but that they tickle themselves with it, have pleasure and joy in it, not even thinking that they would punish or correct their neighbor's sin with it.

Such people are real swine and filth eaters. For the neighbor's sin is no different than dung and dirt. So those who delight in other people's sin are like sows, waiting for the dirt to run through their teeth and mouths. For they take pleasure in other people's sins and wash their mouths with them, as swine do in the street, picking up dirt; they take pleasure in it and are not sorry that their neighbor falls into sin or disgrace; they talk about it and then paint the sin in the sharpest way, and can help the matter finely and make it much worse than it is in itself. They would also be sorry that their neighbor remained pious, for they could not atone for their lust and wash their mouths. Such people alone are beautiful and pure; the others are all unclean. Their thing must be right and pure balm, but other people's thing is all devil's filth with them.

Now there are few of them who are not guilty of this commandment, for it is widespread, and vice is common everywhere. And even if one does not speak of other people's sins, he least of all likes to hear it, or does not prevent it when he hears it.

276 So you have recently understood the concept of this commandment. It forbids all harm done to one's neighbor with the mouth, or with the tongue, so that one harms him in his honor or good report. On this commandment they also drew the forgery of letters, but it belongs more to the other commandment. This commandment is so broad that all the world is drowned in it.

The Ten Commandments are a mirror in which we see that the world is nothing but a wicked, desperate multitude that does not trust in God, does not believe, has little faith in God, and does not know Him.

He strives against him day and night with all his might, blasphemes God and reviles his holy name, does not respect the works of God, but rather reproaches his own work, despises father and mother and all authorities, is full of murder and strangulation, full of thievery and adultery, full of false witness and lies. This is what God makes us sing and say. Therefore, our hearts should tremble and our bodies shake when we hear that God, the highest Majesty, passes such a judgment on us.

Decision.

278 Thus it is forbidden to harm all the goods of one's neighbor, and commanded to pity him. If we now look at the natural law, we find how just and equal all these commandments are. For nothing is commanded here to be kept against God and neighbor that each would not have kept if he were in God's and his neighbor's stead.

The sixth and seventh commandments of the other tablet.

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

Summa.

The last two commandments teach how evil nature is, and how pure we should be from all desires of the flesh and foreign 1) goods. But there remains war and labor while we live.

Thou shalt not let thyself lust 2c.

Some divide the two commandments. There is not much in the division, St. Paul summarizes it in one commandment (Rom. Cap. 7,2 ) 7. where he says: "Thou shalt not let thyself lust. Thus lust is forbidden.

The Jews have thus glossed and interpreted the commandment: The thoughts, as one is wont to

1) "der fremde"" is missing in the Erlanger.

2) Erlanger: "Rom. on the 17th."

in a proverb, are duty-free. As when one thus wishes: If the ox, the cow, the donkey, the house, the field, the property were mine. These thoughts they counted for no sin; the other sins of the other commandments they interpreted 1) as being done outwardly by works and by deeds. As when a man sets up an idol or makes an image, blasphemes the name of God, does a bodily work on the Sabbath, strikes his father and mother, slays his neighbor with the sword, breaks into his house by night and takes away his goods, sleeps with his wife, and gives false testimony against him in court.

But the last two commandments they have interpreted thus, If a man show himself with an outward sign, and yet perform it not. As if a man were not obedient to his father and mother, though he did not curse them, or strike them, or lift up a club, or take hold of a stone, or lift up his fist against them, and strike them not, yet do such things as if he would strike or throw them; the sign would be contrary to the commandment, according to the interpretation of the Jews. Thus, to violate one's neighbor's wife is against the sixth commandment; but if it is not carried out, but is only done with a sign, as if one were seized from another's wife in a chamber, sitting with her on the bed, the commandment and sign have led them to this commandment, even though the work is not done. So stealing with the fist is against the seventh commandment; but if a man is seized on a floor, in the cellar, in the chamber, by the chest, and lets himself be marked with a sign, as if he would steal, and take away his neighbor's goods, and yet has not taken them away, he sins against this commandment.

The Jews interpreted it this way, but they were far wrong and glossed it wrongly. For it is not so interpreted here, nor shall it be so interpreted. Moses was not so unlearned that he did not know how to speak. Therefore the gloss is not valid at all. So we also know well what lust and desire mean. It is not written in the fist or in the outward spirits.

1) "for no sin.... they have" is missing in dT'Wittenberger.

The words of the Bible do not refer to the fist or other parts of the body, but to the heart; as now and then the Scriptures refer to lust or desire not in the fist or other parts, but in the heart. As when it is written, the desire of their heart. So Christ also rightly interprets Matth. 5, 28: "Whoever looks at another man's wife and covets her (not with his mouth, eyes, hand or feet, but in his heart) is an adulterer," even though he gives no outward sign of lust. So the commandment is in the heart, though it does not break out with signs and works. For this lust is in our hearts, marrow and legs.

When he says, "You shall not let your neighbor's wife lie with you," it is to be understood that if a man desires to have it for himself, God will give him what his neighbor has; do not allow his neighbor to have a pious, honorable wife, honorable and disciplined children. So it is to be understood with other things, as with servants and maids, house and farm, oxen, cows, donkeys and other goods; if one is sorry that his neighbor has such a pious servant, such a beautiful house, such good fields and meadows, fat oxen and sheep; he would that he alone had it, although his neighbor had nothing. So that it is not only that one is sorry that his neighbor has such a delicious thing, but that he also wants to have it himself and possess it, where he can easily get it.

Thus we have the Ten Commandments, which make us all scoundrels and knaves before God. And although the worldly sword outwardly defends, and makes a difference in the world, that one says: He is pious, he is a rogue, nevertheless all men are sinners in heart with one another. Therefore no one may boast that he is pious before God, but must confess that he is guilty of all the commandments as they read. Let every man take hold of his own bosom, and he shall find it so. Therefore we should cry and howl to God, that He may give us the Spirit, that we may not only be outwardly pious before the world, but also 2) before God in our hearts. Amen.

2) "also" is missing in the Wittenberg.