You shall not commit adultery.
1 ) O a very short word, but a very far-reaching opinion, therefore it needs interpretation. Therefore let us listen to Christ who says Matth. 5, 27. f.: "You have heard that it was said to the ancients: You shall not commit adultery. But I say unto you: Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." This also he speaks briefly, leaving it free to derive the same distinction of degrees from the preceding commandment, and setting only that which is in the heart. Therefore we also want to set the same four stages here, namely, in the heart, in signs, in words, in works. For this commandment the Lord interpreted for this reason, because the ancients, that is, the Jews, took it according to the meaning and sharpness of the word, and so taught, nullifying this commandment, as well as all others, that only he was an adulterer who violated it by works, but did not care for the lusts, signs, and words; therefore they became unclean. And in this opinion they stood so firm that Jeremiah said to them [Cap. 5, 8.], "Every man neighs after his neighbor's wife, as the full idle stallions." Therefore he speaks to the new, that is to us, differently, so that all covetousness may lose its place here.
For it says St. Augustine in this place about the Sermon on the Mount: that under the name.
1) Löscher: "Luther held this on St. Nicholas' Day [December 6, 15161]." - The Exordium Hiezu is no longer available.
Adulterers, which are considered in this chapter, are understood to be all carnal and unchaste desires.
The first stuse is therefore the outward work, which undoubtedly arises from the inward desire, as St. Augustine proves there. But if in it all carnal desire is forbidden, then also every work that arises from it is forbidden. Therefore, many distinctions are made between the works.
1. simple fornication of a single person with a single woman, from which others distinguish
2. Fornication, because the former has to do with only one wife, but the latter is an unseemly rut of unchastity against many.
3. defilement, that is, weaknesses of a virgin.
4. kidnapping, that is, when a daughter or son is stolen, wherein at the same time a theft is committed, and the very greatest theft.
5. adultery, which is sometimes single, sometimes double, depending on whether both are married or only one.
6. incest, which goes against the reverence owed to blood relations.
7. sacrilegium, that is, when a spiritual person (religiosus), a priest, a nun, and all others who have vowed chastity to God, commit fornication.
8. Some add to this the excess in marriage.
These degrees in the work are in such a way
The values are different and greater and lesser among themselves, depending on the circumstances. For in the previous commandment, too, many different values were forbidden in the death stroke, as it is said, depending on different circumstances.
Although every commandment of God is, as it were, a light by which it is known what man, the world and the flesh are, and how far we are from God, it is this commandment that primarily shows this. For the apostle says [Rom. 3, 20.]: "Through the law comes knowledge of sin." Thus, the law is a light by whose shining we see the countless miseries of the human race.
For who is such a stone that he could even refrain from sighing and weeping when he hears these commandments of God, and they enlighten him, yes, show him the whole world, if he would only pay attention to how infinitely large a number of people lead their lives in such a way that they do not walk according to the commandments? If there were no other cause why we should never be joyful, but always mourn, this alone would be sufficient, if we were to look at the lives of men in comparison with the commandments of God. For then we would see how the human race is quite a miserable lost lot, since one so rarely sees people who live and act according to the commandments of God, and especially in this commandment. Is it not frightening that there are so many degrees of works by which this commandment is acted against, and that people without all fear perform them insolently (ruere) and perish? And yet we can laugh at such things! Therefore, we should pay attention to this commandment as to a lamp, and by it we should recognize how so many people come to ruin. Then we will see that this world is an abominable abyss and very close to hell, and little justice and truth in it; indeed, the Scripture says [Ps. 39:6, 12, 62:10] that all men are "nothing at all" and "liars" [Ps. 116:11], therefore in truth hell is in the world.
The first misery of men, then, is simple fornication, in which not only those who commit it sin, but also those who encourage it, help it, counsel it, and do not resist it.
stand, laugh, clutch, mediate, and especially those who give cause.
But they "favor" those who harbor them in their houses, or even if princes, overlords and judges do not resist it, but allow it. It will not be of any use to them that they themselves do not fornicate, but it will be said to them [Ps. 50:18, 21]: "When you see a thief, you run with him, and have fellowship with adulterers. This thou doest, and I hold my peace; then thinkest thou that I shall be like thee. But I will punish thee, and will make thee see it." And this misery, alas! as a great pestilence it prevails, since everyone instructs his own kind, seduces, corrupts, both among young men and virgins 2c.
But the "mediators" are those who are intermediaries and matchmakers. You can find a beautiful history about this in the fifth section, in the 80th chapter of the "Mirror of Examples". For what the devil alone cannot or would not be able to do, he accomplishes through these people. 1)
But they "do not resist" who do not admonish or punish according to the commandment of Christ, neither have pity on their souls, nor pray for them, as befits Christians. Moreover, they make a joke of it, with telling and laughing at the ruin of their neighbor, while it should be considered, as I have said, a state of great misery.
"Cause", however, those who excite the lusts of others with lewd gestures and impure words or exceedingly splendid finery, especially if they do it on purpose; for excessive adornment is always a cause, though only a secondary cause (per accidens) of evil desire, as happens at dances, in the streets, at banquets 2c. But woe to those who wound the hearts of the innocent with lewd words, as is now going on in a frightening way in the public inns where merchants gather. It is, as they say, not necessary to put lice in the fur, for they grow in it by themselves.
For our flesh is through the first sin
1) Compare the narrative Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. VIII, 544, 8 132, and Tischreden, Cap. 43, 8 40. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XXII, 1146.
with a twofold wound exceedingly grievous. The first is the sensitivity to offenses, the other is the evil desire; these two wounds are revealed to us by the commandments, but by grace they are healed. But the worse wound is the evil lust s, and the more dangerous), the less it pains and grieves, but moves in a pleasant way; therefore it is not regarded by foolish men as an evil, though it is twofold worse than the other, so that the Scripture says [Job 40:11.], "His strength is in his loins, and his ability in the navel of his belly." For before (ante) sin there was nothing to offend, nothing to lust after. But now both are there.
Therefore, a Christian man should know that when he feels that he is moved to anger or to evil desire, he should not think otherwise than that he feels a deadly poison and an exceedingly evil sore, and for this he should sigh to the Lord that he may be healed. For it is a certain truth that, though this tickle is pleasant and sweet, yet it is an exceedingly fiery bite of the old serpent, which brings forth the most terrifying anguish of conscience and the utmost bitterness. And thereby he is moved to seek mercy, as the figure in the fourth book of Moses [Cap. 21, 9.] contains in itself, that those bitten by the fiery serpents looked up to the serpent of brass and were healed. So also he who feels the tickle of the flesh should look up to Christ crucified. For by this account is given why the Lord, not satisfied that man is of himself inclined to evil, still uses the devil as a tempter and motivator, namely, [first] since man is negligent in seeking his recovery from God, he urges him by temptations, so that he forces him to seek the mercy and grace of God; secondly also, so that he may not exalt himself in the gifts he has received. This is what he did with the Apostle Paul, with St. Jerome, and with many others until their death. See in the "Mirror of Examples" under the title "Challenge".
However, there are others who are attacked very violently by this evil, but others who are not attacked by it.
linder, nor others even a little. Nevertheless, no one remains chaste (continet) without the grace of God, as it is said in Wis 8:21: "But when I learned that I could not be chaste in any other way, unless God gave it to me (and that was also wisdom, to recognize that such grace is), I went to the Lord" 2c. See how one must seek healing from this disease through prayer, and it is great wisdom that one should know this his malady and the place of the remedy. So also the martyr St. Chrysantus says: He is mistaken who thinks that he can maintain himself in chastity by his own efforts. Therefore, St. Augustine says in the 1st book "On the Sermon on the Mount": Whoever feels that his carnal lust is rebelling against his right will through the habit of sins, by which, if it is not restrained, he is forcibly led into captivity, let him remember, as much as he can, how great and glorious a peace he has lost through sinning, and let him exclaim [Rom. 7, 24. f.]: "I wretched man, who will deliver me from the body of this death? I thank GOD through JEsum Christ our Lord." For thus, crying out as a wretched man, he implores the help of the Comforter through his mourning, and the recognition of his wretchedness is no small approach to blessedness. This is a golden saying. For he does not say that one should laugh. To have pleasure and be merry in the tickling, but to bear sorrow, because he feels the poison of death in him. Furthermore, where are those who praise free will? Why do they not immediately desist as they will? nay, why do they not will, and cannot will? Why could not St. Jerome and St. Paul lay aside the sting of the flesh? Because if they had wanted, it would have been badly done, but they could not want sufficiently; therefore they wanted against their will. It is the same with anger. For why do those who are angry not immediately stop it, if they can, yes, if they want to? But they cannot, nor do they want to, because their will is already torn elsewhere and led captive.
Thirdly, 1) this is our comfort, that those who are suffering here should be comforted [Matth.
1) This "third" corresponds to the "serstenss" and "second" at the end of the penultimate paragraph.
5, 4.). For in such a way the most wise mercy of God leads us out in a wonderful way, by driving out the poison with poison, and making a plaster of chastity out of unchastity, since he lets it break in for the sake of it, so that man may feel it, sigh, suffer, seek grace, and thus acquire the greater inclination to chastity. For he is all the more chaste, not the calmer he is, but the more he suffers because he cannot be chaste as he would like. And from this we gather (although all this belongs to the fourth stage, which will be discussed hereafter, yet, lest it slip away from us just as the opportunity presents itself), 1) that those should be comforted who feel that they are tormented by such thorns, lest, out of a foolish delusion, they immediately lower their hands and give themselves over to despair, as if he could not be chaste who suffers heat in his innermost marrow and thoughts. This thought is very dangerous and exceedingly inclined to all sins in the work, because of despair. For so a young man, who has not experienced the carnal thoughts before, and thinks that he cannot be chaste if he is not without them, immediately says: "Why do I hesitate to do the work? for it is all the same whether I do it or not, for the chastity of the heart is lost. Not so, wretched man, not so; chastity is not lost by such thoughts. Rather, you have never been more chaste, if you only feel that you have it against your will. For chastity, like every other living virtue, is so hidden that it cannot be known by him who has it, but only by God. For God hides the whole life of the saints so deeply that they themselves cannot know it, as the first Psalm, v. 6, says: "For the Lord knows the way of the righteous." Therefore, just as the living and true honor of the righteous consists in shame, true wisdom in foolishness, true rest in affliction, true joy in sorrow, true liberty in captivity, true riches in poverty, so also true chastity consists in unchastity and true love in the way of the righteous.
1) These brackets are set by us.
And the more abominable chastity is, the more glorious is chastity. Oh, that this wisdom is unknown to men, how great harm it does! A true sign of living chastity is when a man feels that he is now displeased, not that it is a complete displeasure (for otherwise the tickling would not last), but a mixed one: Sometimes he wants, sometimes he does not want, sometimes he lies above, sometimes below, so that, like a wheel, he is rolled about in the muck by his thoughts, and yet the resolution of chastity remains. For if there were not the living and true chastity, he would not persevere nor resist, but would let his thoughts shoot the reins freely, and would feel no complaint. For because he wants and delights in the thoughts, and yet at the same time feels that he does not want them, they become mixed, sweet and bitter, and thus burdensome to him, since he is not free to go to either side, but is rolled about in a middle state. For the spiritual man, that is the inclination to chastity, remains and preserves chastity, although the outer man stirs up whimsical storms in the limbs and in the heart. Therefore, the struggle for chastity is no different than when a ship is tossed to and fro in the sea by the tides while Christ sleeps in it. Therefore, one must only see to it that he is awakened, and command the sea, which is the flesh, and the wind, which is the devil. For he also often gives the priests such impurities to keep them from the altar; let him be despised, not only in the mere vile objects which he stirs up in the mind, but also when he inclines the will to it and brings forth evil impulses; yea, the more must one run to the Sacraments to obtain grace and help. But I now know many who would not go there unless they had not only rest from such inclinations, but were also free from these shameful objects, as all too foolish obedient servants of the devilish deceit and its wickedness.
So in such a way God uses the mercy and goodness of our adversity, that through it He may promote our best more, so that
[Rom. 8, 28. Everything must serve the elect for the best, even sins; all this [God does] to hide and cover the life and grace that is in us, so that we do not become lukewarm when we recognize it and are satisfied with it; but rather, since we do not know about it, as if we did not have it, we strive and groan for it all the more. But as it is said of chastity, so it is also with all other virtues, which are given most when they are denied, and are there when one thinks that they are most remote, and then man cannot believe otherwise than that they are not there, and that he is lost: hence then comes the groaning, the hatred of oneself, the longing for the virtues, and the pleading for them. Then God gives His grace to the humble, which He then hides and takes away in order to add greater grace, hiding the opposite under the opposite. This is therefore the wisdom that is drawn from the hidden and is in the hidden.
But this chastity is golden compared to that which is without evil thoughts, like patience and gentleness, without incitement [to anger]. For what kind of meekness would that be? For such gentleness even the wild beasts and at least the heathen have. So also is chastity, which is without lust and thoughts in tranquility, even in whores and the worst whoremongers, who are chaste when the flesh, sated, is still. By the way, this rest belongs to the future life. Therefore, chastity is dangerous, since it may lead to hope when it is manifest (that is, when it is quiet); but it may also be dangerous to lust when it is hidden (that is, when it is contested). Since there is danger on both sides, the danger of pride is greater than that of fornication.
That is why both happen. The commandment is not fulfilled spiritually as long as there is still evil desire in us; from this it comes that no one can be presumptuous about his chastity and cannot boast everywhere that he has fulfilled this commandment, but only accuse himself and confess his sin. How
Therefore, it is fulfilled by the fact that the spirit hates this evil desire. Therefore, he is completely pure from it and indeed a fulfiller of the commandment, because he agrees with the law in everything, approves of it and loves it by hating its misery.
But others, lewd people, do not hide their chastity, but rather erase it. So it is nothing that they can boast that they do not know their chastity. They do not belong here.
The second (different work) is common fornication (meretricium), which is a great evil, since unchastity passes into a way of life (habitum) and habit, which are very difficult to get rid of (curantur). For the Scripture says [Ps. 137:9], "Blessed is he that taketh his 2) young children, and dasheth them to pieces against the stone." But he who makes his young children grow to great sneezes, who makes them grow old and strong, how then can he crush them, and is not rather crushed? And parents should instill this exceedingly noble teaching of the Holy Spirit into their children, so that they will not only be kept in check by force, but also willingly drawn to chastity. For the struggle of chastity is in vain if this rule of the Holy Spirit is not kept; namely, the rock is Christ, our young children are the evil impulses, the evil desires. If someone feels them, what should he do? how should he overcome them? Listen: No other way than to smash them on the rock. How does that happen? Just as someone grinds a worm on a stone with his hand, so when the will and the thoughts touch Christ, the evil thought is immediately crushed. Just try it, and you will see how pleasant it is to crush the desires in this way; for as soon as the heart touches Christ, the crucified, all evil disappears. This is how it was once depicted in the Law, Deut. 21:9, when those bitten by fiery serpents were healed by the sight of the bronze serpent hanging on the wood. Furthermore, the fiery serpent is the slippery one.
1) Löscher: "Luther preached the following on the day of the conception of the Virgin Mary (December 8, 1516). - The Exordium Hiezu is found in Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XII, 1788.
2) In the Vulgate and in our Bible: "your".
and gently creeping pleasure, which the thoughts pretend: Flee, flee this cruel serpent, for she inflames and makes the flesh extraordinarily horny and full of rut. So it is also said in Gen. 3:15 [Vulg.], "She [the woman] shall bruise thy head," that is, the believing soul bruises the beginning and the first stirring; otherwise, when it has grown up or slipped all in, it poisons and kills. Oh, if only we could think of the image of the poisonous creeping serpent at the time when unchastity attacks us, and apply the spiritual interpretation (mysterium) of it, then we would easily flee to Christ with our thoughts.
The third kind is defilement, that is, the weakening of a virgin, which in former times was punished more mildly in the law than simple or common fornication, because the man was required to expel her or marry her. But now it is something very great; for then virginity was an exceedingly great disgrace, but now it is a very high glory, then a damnable dishonor, but now an incomparable adornment, at least for those who have not had the intention to marry. But those who are willing to enter into marriage do not in fact have such a great adornment, but could have it if they were encouraged to virginity. Many have written wonderful things about this, because in fact no virgin can be fully restored. But understand this rightly: Against a virgin who has consented, the violator is not punished so severely (tenetur); but against her will virginity cannot be taken from her; but she can be induced to it, and so it can be taken from her.
1 ) The fourth type is kidnapping. This is punishable by death in the laws. It applies not only to a virgin, daughter or maid, but also to the wife or other person under his care; but the greatest offense is abduction.
1) Löscher: "Luther recited the following on the 3rd Sunday of Advent on the 14th of December in the year 1516".
of a wife. However, the abduction sometimes happens with the consent of the girl, namely when she is persuaded by flattery; sometimes against her will; this is the most serious crime. But one reads many cases where it did not go well. Guarinus of Verona has written an elegiac poem about a miserable case that happened with a certain virgin Alda. She left her parents, followed her abductor, and was finally violated and abandoned by him in a forest. As she was ashamed to return to her parents, she asked him to stab her with a sword. This he did and killed her. This sin also contains a theft, the greatest of all.
The fifth type is adultery. This is the most intricate and severe as far as punishment is concerned, but it is too much neglected nowadays. This sin is the cause of many questions concerning property rights; whether the woman should tell the man that the child is a bastard. See the Angelus in the Summa, 2) which gives rules about this. But who will dare to believe the rules, or who can put a case in bounds? For the minds of men are different; today they think so, and after a year they may think differently, even if in that year they would have patience with their wife who confesses her adultery.
But it is certainly a good reason to be angry that a man has given his body for the body of his wife, and another uses the body for which he has given his own body, for the sake of which he carries on his trade, for the sake of which he does everything, suffers; yes, even he has made himself a slave and bound himself to many things who has bound himself to a wife, and behold, another subjects himself to defile all this: who could bear this calmly? See also the law of zeal [Deut. 5:12 ff.], which once existed; now the wives are freed from it, and are no longer burdened with it; therefore they should rather cling to their husbands.
Interpretation of the Epistle to the Galatians (Walch, St. Louis ed., vol. IX, p32 s 168) a "devilish" one.
The sixth kind is inoostus, which is called in German "Blutschande", because it is a disgrace against the blood friendship and the kinship, to which the greater honor is due, the closer it is. For also in the law the Lord has forbidden certain degrees, and once seven degrees were forbidden. For in the law almost only the second degree of blood friendship and kinship is forbidden, because grace, which cures evil desire, did not yet exist, but the law prevailed, which stimulates and increases it.
The seventh kind is the sacrilegium, where already not only chastity is violated, but also that which was dedicated to God alone is abrogated and the sacred is profaned. But this is with the priests more according to an ordinance of the church than according to the order of God; but with those in the spiritual state (religiosis - monks and nuns) it is an exceedingly grave sin, because they have consecrated themselves voluntarily to the Lord, and again withdraw from Him.
As the eighth kind is added [by some] the excess of the spouses, as St. Ambrose is quoted in the second book against Julianus of St. Augustine: "A too hot lover of his own wife is an adulterer. Of this the apostle says 1 Thess. 4, 3. ff.: "This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you avoid fornication"; this is the first, after that: "That each one may know to keep his barrel (that is his spouse) in sanctification and honor, not in lust, as the Gentiles, who know nothing of God." And 1 Petr. 3, 7: "In like manner, ye husbands, dwell with your wives with understanding, and give honor to the female, as to the weakest instrument," 2c. of which enough has been said above. But it is difficult to give them a rule, except that it is vicious to do enough for one's lust and desire at every stirring of the flesh, for that is called being in the lust pestilence.
Now follow three other kinds: Softness, when a man stains himself while he is awake; sodomy, when a man abuses another man's wife, or a man's wife, or a man's wife; all these are too shameful to be spoken of; cattle-like nature; of which see Deut. 18:23. The other belongs in confession.
Above this are the nightly stains, which in themselves are not sinful, as the law Deut. 23, 10. f. says: If there is a man among you who is stained with semen at night, he shall go out of the camp and not return until he bathes himself with water toward evening, and after sunset he may return to the camp. This has a spiritual meaning: a person so stained (although it means something else) should abstain from the communion of saints (that is, from the sacrament) until the sun (that is, the heat and heat remaining from the stain) is at rest, and so, having washed himself by humble confession, he should enter. But this [defilement] often has a cause that is a sin, such as gluttony, idleness, intercourse with the opposite sex, or thinking about it.
Finally there are also defilements in the waking and in the daytime, but without their will, which happens to many, while they have to do with something completely different than scratching, riding, driving, that is, without them causing it. Of these the Scripture says 3 Mos. 15, 2. ff, 1) that they have a river.
2) Now follows the second stage of adultery, which consists of words, as some speak exceedingly shameful words of carnal sins, against which the apostle speaks Eph. 5, 3. f."But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be said of you, as is fitting for the saints; neither shameful words, nor foolish things, nor jesting, which are not fitting for you, but rather thanksgiving", that is, let not the rumor arise that you are such people.
But he has put three sins of the tongue, namely in the "shameful words" that excite evil desire, that is insolence, lewdness, shamelessness in words. This is a twofold sin:
First, by those who make a laugh out of these shameful words, and who
1) Here the Weimar edition, like Walch, has the wrong citation 3 Mos. 15, 16.
2) Löscher: "Luther preached this on the 4th Sunday of Advent, December 21, 1516. - The exordium belonging to it is found in Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XII, 1790. There, the text should not have been John I, 19. ff. but "Luc. 3, 5.
They speak, as it were, consolationem to each other, as if it were a sweet thing of which they speak. Here one does nothing but show how insolent he too can be by calling the members and the works of the members by name with all shamefulness; but another tells stories that belong to it with all insolence; then one laughs, and it is considered something quite delicious, until one finally also brings up the monks and the priests with their sins. Oh how frightfully this mischief (morbus) prevails in the inns and hostels nowadays, so that it is dangerous or at least deplorable when a clergyman or any other chaste man has to travel overland.
I beg you for God's sake, see what these people are doing. First of all, if they are Christians, as they want to be called, they should love a chaste nature so much that they would not allow such things to be called among them if they could prevent it. Secondly, they should at least be sorry if they could not. Thirdly, they should not grieve over the tales of fallen men, be they priests or monks or princes or persons in authority (for these people's faults are told all the more readily, the stronger an example they give to those who follow them, and the more licentious their conduct), in any other way than over their own fall (for this is what love demands). Yes, the higher a class is, the more one should sigh for them and ask God for them, because that would be Christian.
But now see how far away from Christian behavior these quite tasteless people are. First, not only do they not do this, which they surely owe to Christ, but second, they amuse each other with the most wicked things. Third, they tickle and provoke themselves to evil lust with these fiery darts. Fourth, they stain other people's lives and reputations with this exceedingly grave evil libel, stirring up the stench of the dead, when they should be burying the dead. Fifth, they mock their own and other people's ruin and misery and rejoice in their and other people's damnation.
I beg you, consider when the Lord says [Matth. 12, 36.] that men will have to give an account at the last judgment for every useless word they have spoken, Dear one, where will these remain? Woe, woe, how far this plague reigns!
These people are like, first, the nonsensical, yes, who is so nonsensical that he laughs and is cheerful in his misery and plague? Is not this a pity above all pity? If an ulcer or an eye hurts, the lamenting and sighing does not stop, and everyone has lost his laughter so completely that he hates and detests even those who laugh as the most wicked people; one looks only for one who has compassion and helps or gives good advice. But behold, when the flesh tickles, even the conscience suffers the most grievous pains, furthermore your own soul or that of another, your neighbor, falls away: there is so little search for one who has compassion or gives counsel, so little sorrow is borne and sighed, that even he who has compassion and wants to counsel or hinder is mocked, despised and hated. Great God, when will we open our eyes to see what the world is? Is this not perversity beyond all measure? Is not unchastity the worst of all wounds? Is it not a boil and a plague above all boil and plague? As Jeremiah, Cap. 10, 19, says: "Oh, my sorrow and heartache! But I think it is my plague, I must suffer it." And Isaiah, Cap. 1:6, says of the people of Israel, "The wounds, and the welts, and the boils, are not healed, nor bound up, nor soothed with oil," and again, "From the sole of the foot even to the crown of the head there is nothing sound in him." These are plagues and wounds inflicted not by man but by the devil. See then, a wound made by a man is lamented, but one made by the devil is laughed at and thought to be something quite lovely. But ah, that it is taken for something lovely! But blessed is he who recognizes the wound and realizes that it is a bitter wound, as it really is. For although its bitterness is not felt, it is at last extraordinarily felt in the conscience.
to be perceived as unpleasant. Therefore it says Prov. 5, 2. ff. (Vulg.): "Be not carried away by the deceit of a woman (that is, of the flesh and sensuality), for the lips of the harlot are sweet as honey, and her throat is smoother than oil; but afterwards bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword. And Cap. 23, 31. f.: "It [wine] enters smoothly, but afterward it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder." Therefore we are to learn from God that to joke with such words, to laugh at them, to rejoice in them, is the same as to rejoice in one's own death and sorrow, which only a nonsensical person does, or one who is more than nonsensical.
Secondly, they are like him of whom it is written in Marci 5:2 ff. and Luc 8:27 ff. that he was possessed by a legion [of devils], who wore no clothes, nor abode in any heap, but in the tombs; and being bound with chains and taken into custody, he broke the chains, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness, and was day and night in the tombs and in the mountains, crying out, and smote himself with stones. I hope that if those who speak shamefully would see that their vice is described in this man, they would be more afraid. For what is it that he was naked, but that a man who speaks shameful words also exposes his own shame with words, when he should rather cover it, that he might be healed? Then he does not remain in the house, that is, with the living, and has to do with the affairs of the living, but in the graves, and has to do with the dead, that is, he tells the vices and evil deeds of others, and lives and weaves in them completely. For a grave, spiritually interpreted, is the memorial sign of a dead person, that is, the evil reputation and the nasty story of a sinner, namely a prince, monk, priest 2c. Likewise, he beats himself with stones and cries out, that is, he harms himself, thinking to benefit himself most and in a pleasant way. Thus it is said in Isa. 3:9, "They have not concealed their sin, but have gloried in it, as they did in Sodom." Although this is said of Pharisaic righteousness in spirit, it belongs to
but also according to the letter here. Likewise, he has a legion [of devils], so that no one can pass by there because of their rage, that is, they do the work of many devils by harming many people. And where they flatter the most, there they are the most cruel, so that no one can deal with them without danger, as I also said above. But I know that no one is so foolish and senseless that he could laugh if he saw such a man, but he would rather flee as far as he could: and yet he laughs, and one laughs at him, whose figure that man has only been. Finally, this was also said there, that he could not be held with chains and custody, yes, that he broke the bonds, and was driven into the deserts; no one could restrain him. This almost agrees with the apostle Jacob [Jac. 3, 8.]: "No man can tame the tongue." So they let themselves be restrained by no man's prohibition, by no words of the Gospel, that they should not "break forth" with an untamed tongue, and roam about where they are wont to roam, naked and torn, and uncover and tear other people in like manner. And that I also speak out roughly against this quite abominable vice: Are not the pigs unclean animals, because they eat human dung? But those people dig with tongue and teeth in their own and other people's dung. Is the dung of the body worse than the dung of the soul? For one must speak to the sows in a filthy way, so that they understand. Now when you see a swine eating filth, think: Behold, a man speaking filthy and shameful words is such a beast. The apostle says very rightly [1 Cor. 12:23] that we do the most honor to the most dishonest members, but those also dishonor the honest members by the dishonest. But who could suffer another to expose his backside or his shame or his disgrace to him with laughter? But what shame is greater than the disgrace of sins against us and our neighbor? But the law has forbidden [Deut. 18] that we should not expose our neighbor's shame.
Secondly, it is also sinned by impolite speech when such things are said in front of innocent people.
Boys and girls are called and talked about. But they find guilty of all the sins and all the blood (mortium) that results from it. For the tender age, inexperienced in such things, is exceedingly easily stained, and, what is worst, it retains very firmly such shameful things as it has heard, just as a stain that comes into a clean and tender garment adheres more firmly than when it comes onto an unclean or coarser stuff, which also the heathen have learned from experience, as Horace says: A new pot long retains the odor of that which is first put into it, and Juvenal: If thou undertake anything shameful, beware with all diligence lest a child be offended thereby; do not despise his youth.
But what do those do who are guilty of this? First of all, since it is a very good thing to take good care of the tender age, to preserve and promote it in chastity and a shamefaced manner, as it is said that it is the most pleasing sacrifice to God, to take care of the souls diligently, all should certainly take the greatest care and watch over it, that they guard and protect the boys and girls, so that they do not learn, see and hear anything that is lewd, since they are already full of heat in their innermost marrow, and one must not be careful how one only adds fire and ignites them, but rather that one pours water over them and extinguishes them. But not only do they not do this, but they also do the devil's real work and corrupt innocent souls with their poisonous talk of shameful things. For the devil is called a corrupter of souls, but he corrupts them no other way than through the service of the tongue of those people who adhere to him and follow him. For how can a boy or a girl eradicate a shameful word that he has once heard? but the seed is sown and takes root in the heart even against his will; after that it grows into strange and weird (incognitas) thoughts, which he does not dare to confess, and yet does not know how to get rid of them. But woe to you who poured this burden, this danger and this poison into this simple mind that did not know such things!
You have done no violence to the body, but the soul, which is incomparably more noble, you have defiled (as much as is in you). For through the ear you have poured it into him and impregnated his soul with the most harmful fruit (foetu). Therefore Baptista of Mantua says: Through the senses, as it were as streams, Venus pours her sharp poison into the mind; if this has taken it carelessly, it causes a wound that can only be healed by the power (dextra) of the deity.
Therefore, the shamefulness (obscoenitas) of these people is greater than those who were mentioned before, because it is not shamefulness but the murder of innocent souls, and they belong to the family of Herod, who killed many children in Bethlehem Judah [Matth. 2, 16]. But behold, is it not so that no father could suffer his children to be slain after the body? Since you did not want it to happen to you in the bodies of your children, why do you dare to do this to the souls of the children of another, even to the children of God? Saint Louis, King of France, learned from his mother that she would rather see her children killed in the flesh than commit a mortal sin. For in this way his mother had also spoken to him.
But the Lord threatens such people in a terrible way, Matt. 18:6, when he speaks the terrible words: "But whoever offends one of these least ones who believe in me, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the deepest part of the sea. See how Christ takes care of the little and innocent children with great concern, that he also ordains a new punishment for those who give them offense; for for no one else did he lay down such a punishment, namely, in expressing his will that they should be martyred before others with a new and peculiar punishment. Then follows [Matth. 18, 7.]: "Woe to the world because of trouble! Trouble must come, but woe to the man by whom trouble comes." And afterwards [v. 10.], "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones. For I say unto you: Their angels in heaven always behold the face of my
Father in heaven." See, he wants that at least out of consideration for the angels of the children one should spare and show restraint towards them. Now if someone wanted to call such people chaste because they play with words, but are in fact chaste, just as their father Ovid lies: "Believe me, my life is quite different from my poems: My life is honorable, my muse jokes, Christ answers and shuts them up [Matth. 12, 34.]: "When the heart is full, the mouth overflows. As the tree, so the leaves.
This is also the cause of the degenerate state of the church altogether; for if it is ever to flourish again, it is necessary to begin by instructing the children. This is said of the shameful words. But that one speaks here also of "foolish things" and "jesting" [Eph. 5:4] does not belong here, although these two things are now so much in vogue among the most respectable and God-fearing people (religiosissimos) that they want to be considered respectable precisely by that, by which they show that they are doing foolish things and useless jesting.
But "foolish fables" are all useless fables, in which there is no instruction and knowledge (scientiae), as he himself interprets it and says [Eph. 5, 4. Vulg.]: "which do not serve the cause". Christ calls the same "useless words"; therefore one should only speak useful or necessary things. Such are the old wives' tales and the ludicrous farces, the histories of the priest of Kalenberg, Dietrich of Bern and all kinds of talk (disputationes) about things that are far from us and out of our reach. The opinions of the philosophers and the glosses on Aristotle, the chatter about dialectics, and the dreams of the astrologers are also of this kind. For he calls these things "foolish things," because they are words not of wisdom but of foolishness.
Ευτραπελία, or "jest," is witty (facetia) or fine conversation (urbanitas), which Aristotle considers a virtue, namely, when things are said that are neither disgraceful nor foolish, but at the same time pleasant and instructive, so that among the amiable intercourse there is also usefulness. Therefore, such an attitude is
It is commendable that the conversation or loquacity, or fine conversation or humorous speech, which is done in order to lift up in the spirit the sorrowful and the afflicted; but that which is done without cause, only to gratify vanity and the flesh, especially since only frivolity is the cause of it, and only the desire to gossip and laugh moves one to it, does not befit Christians. So also St. Augustine says in his "Confessions" that it is not at all Christian to make jokes with friends; that the Christian's nature and words must have to do with well-founded and great serious things, which require a full seriousness and reliability (autoritatem), as the Psalm [Ps. 35, 18. Vulg.] says: "Among a serious people I will praise you." Further, this buffoonery and jesting becomes the more wicked the more sacred the things in which it moves, as then some with the most brazen levity abuse the sayings of sacred Scripture for this shameful activity, twisting it in a ridiculous and witty manner (jucunde) to where they seek their vanity, while yet these sacred words are always and everywhere due the highest reverence and fear.
1) The third level of adultery is that which consists in gestures, one of which the Lord expressed when he said [Matth. 5, 28.]: "Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her" 2c. Behold, even looking, which is a sign of evil desire, is adultery. Is not this law of Christ very hard? But for this reason it is exceedingly wholesome and undefiled and converts souls. But in this gift all others are understood, since sight is the smallest and most subtle sign. Therefore, some have made five subdivisions (lineas) of love: seeing, speaking, touching, then kissing and doing. And here is also understood another talking than the shameful talking, likewise also another touching, likewise also kissing. But we want to deal with the individual pieces more extensively. But there are more than seeing, hearing and talking,
1) Löscher: "The following was spoken by Luther on the day of Thomas [the 21st of December in the year 1516." - The Exordium Hiezu is found in Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XII, 1794.
Letters, intertricks, groping, embracing, laughing, kissing, but not as if there were as many adulteries as someone gave signs; for someone in one adultery can show all these signs: otherwise the work itself would always be a triple adultery, since it does not happen without touching and evil desire.
The appearance is therefore the first. This is the quickest and most frequent of all these signs, because it does its work far and wide and quickly, and perceives very much and very clearly. This is why so much is said in Scripture about taking care of the eyes, since no sense is so easily irritated by so many objects, nor any other sense so horribly wounds the soul; for the clearer the eye perceives a thing, the more deeply it fixes it in the heart, so that there is also the saying: What the eye sees, the heart believes. And Horace says: That which is delivered by the ear excites less than that which the reliable eyes see; and again: It delights more 2c., as is evident from experience, because he who hears of death is not so moved as he who sees it, nor he who hears shameful, carnal, and worldly things so much as he who sees them. As an example may serve Alipius, the comrade of St. Augustine, about whom he writes in the 6th book of the "Confessions" that he was led to the spectacle against his will, and closed his eyes, because he despised it: nevertheless, when he opened his eyes afterwards, he was so carried away by it that he himself added many afterwards.
Therefore, just as it is the highest adornment for young men and virgins to lower and cast down their eyes, so it is something extremely reprehensible if they let them wander and do not keep them, so that some say that it is a sign of corruptionis that they let their eyes wander; and this is true. Sirach 26, 12. [Vulg.] it is said, "A hurish woman is known by the bold lifting up of her eyes, and by her eyelids. "2c. See there. Either it is a sign of a woman who has already fallen, or of one who can very easily be brought down; for a woman who is in truth chaste stares
The woman does not look a man in the face, but becomes coy, as it is written about Rebekah in Genesis 24:64 ff. that as soon as she saw her bridegroom Isaac, she took her veil and covered herself.
Similarly, one reads of a holy man who closed his eyes when he came to Rome with St. Anthony and did not want to see anything of this great city except the church of St. Peter. Similarly, one reads of Sylvanus that he always walked with his eyes covered and did not want to look at the sun. Likewise Job says, Cap. 31, 1: "I made a covenant with my eyes that I would not look at a virgin," that is, a young girl.
But when Dinah went out [Gen. 34:1 ff] to see the women of the land, she was put to shame. And since Bernard had looked at a certain woman rigidly, he punished himself very severely because of it. And St. Benedict was very severely challenged by the fact that he had seen a woman while he was still in secular life (saeculo). Likewise, what did David encounter when he looked at Bathsheba [2 Sam. 11:2], and the children of Israel when they looked at the Moabite women [4 Mos. 25:1 ff]? Likewise, when another was offended by the sight of a woman, and heard that she was dead, he cured his evil desire by the stench of her corpse.
Therefore, not only does the image of the present excite evil desire, but also the impression of past things remains firmly and long in the memory, and causes strange temptations. That is why Jeremiah says in Lamentations, Cap. 3, 51: "My eye eats away my life," and again Jer. 9, 21: "Death has fallen in at our windows," and 2 Pet. 2, 14: "They have eyes full of adultery." See how he shreds adultery into the eyes. Likewise Eve [Gen. 3, 6.] was first moved by the sight of the apple, that it might be lovely to behold 2c. And of the children of God it is written in Genesis 6:2 that they fell by sight, for it is said, "Then the children of God looked upon the daughters of men as they were fair, and took them wives whom they would." Therefore also the wise man teaches [Sir. 9, 5.]:
Do not look into the face of a virgin, lest her beautiful appearance disgrace you. Again, a girl should not look into the face of a young man, because of the same danger.
Therefore John says [1 John 2:16]: "that all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the life of hope. By "the lust of the eyes" is meant the desire to experience and know many things through the senses.
One reads of Saint Elizabeth that she was suddenly punished by the Lord when she once looked at her husband lustfully (jucunde) in church. What will happen to those who do almost nothing else in church than what Ovid says: They come to see, they come to be seen; nothing but to see, to be seen, to desire, to be desired? But it is, of course, by a kind of natural disposition, peculiar to women that they want to be desired and loved, and peculiar to men that they desire and love, although it also happens the other way around, that a woman madly desires and loves, but a man seeks to be desired and loved.
It is therefore a strange misery that our own senses are so harmful to us, so that Christ says with truth [Matth. 10, 36.): "A man's enemies are his own household" (that is, his senses), and the 38th Psalm [v. 12.]: "My loved ones and friends stand against me." For what does the forwardness of the eyes do but contend against the soul? Therefore St. Augustine also calls sensuality a serpent, because it is slippery and easily moved by many objects, which is represented by the serpent in Paradise. Therefore, see that Christ did not teach in vain in the Gospel that we should hate and deny ourselves, that we should hate our eyes and all senses and all members, because they take the soul captive to the law of sin, especially the eyes. Hence says Sirach, Cap. 31, 15. [Vulg.], "What is more mischievous created than the eye?"
But it is not only that which evil desire does through the eye that is evil, but also that it is not satiated, as Ecclesiastes says Cap. 1, 8: "The eye looks at itself.
and Prov. 27:20: "Hell and destruction are never full, and the eyes of men are not satisfied. What is the use, then, of appealing to the lust of the eyes, and when the beginning of sight is ended, of producing an endless desire which has no end? It is better that you immediately keep the eye (visum) in check from the beginning, before it opens the maw of its desire so wide that you cannot fill it.
Therefore, as St. Augustine says in his Rule: "Do not say that you have chaste hearts when you have unchaste eyes. For an unchaste eye is the indication (nuncius) of an unchaste heart. Let no one therefore presume that he is not an adulterer, if he does not perform the work, but yet covets with the eye.
Let this be said of the first and greatest sign.
The other is hearing, by which is indicated the evil desire that burns within. To these belong those who either provoke shameful things to be said or sung (and these are the most wicked), or who listen quietly and gladly, even if they do not give occasion for it; for they delight in these things, nor do they turn away from them as from an impurity and a harmful thing. The third would be those who do not prevent such things, do not punish those who listen to them or teach them better things, do not confront and rebuke people, and show their abhorrence of such things to frighten those who listen. Namely, these sin by omission, because they are not concerned about the blessedness of their neighbor, and do not care to pull him out of his ruin, and are less careful than they should be.
The third is talking, namely with a woman or with a man. For the evil desire brings about that they chat with each other, show each other courtesies (salu
(tent), to make a fuss with each other; although these are sometimes honorable things, they are not done for honorable reasons. For that is where the laughter, the jokes, the gossip, the conversation comes from, just so that they please each other and make each other feel good.
Love irritates. And women suffer greatly from this fault when they love. But with a girl not only this talking, but absolutely all talkativeness is very indecent (turpissima). Nor is it a sign of constant virginity or chastity when a girl is garrulous and talkative, especially with young men. For behold, when the holy virgin was addressed by the angel with such a great text [Luc. 1, 28.], she said nothing more than this [v. 34.): "How shall this be?" 2c., but, as St. Ambrose says, she did not even return his greeting. Therefore, what do the girls (quae), who like to be heard with their singing or talking, and in turn hear the singing or talking of the opposite sex, do other than prove that they burn with evil desire for that sex? If they did not burn, they would not care for the conversation or seek to see it, as they do not care for other things to which they are not attracted by any inclination. But now most girls seek it with great (tota) levity.
The fourth is touching, as there is the giving of the hands and the grasping, which can also happen honorably according to the appearance, but in that the evil desire is stirred up inside. Here the fire of unchastity is fiercely kindled, so that St. Jerome also says that the evil desire immediately recognizes the sex by touching. Therefore, one must avoid touching as much as possible, as one reads of a priest (I do not remember the name now) that he had his hand cut off when he, as is the custom, offered his hand for kissing, and felt a tickle by the kiss of a woman.
The fifth is kissing. Let's skip that one.
These signs, however, are nowhere more in the swing and in a coarser way than at the public dances. One must wonder how many and how great sins occur there, what sight and hearing catch, what touching and speaking produce. In short, world is world, yes, impure 1) and
1) ivundus - iillinuiMus, a play on words that cannot be rendered in German.
an enemy of God, and one must not seek anything good to please God in the world: there one drives and heaps sin upon sin, there one sees the wrath of God beyond measure; yet one laughs, dances and is merry, as if they were quite harmless things, yes, good and useful.
The sixth sign, which is no small one, is the foreign and new adornment, which is now eagerly brought about by so many inventions, arts and efforts that one cannot but say: the world is mad, while there is no other cause than that they want to please and make themselves like the world. For necessity or usefulness, yes, even respectability, which alone are just causes [to adorn oneself], does not require such things, but is satisfied with moderate (adornment). But who can sufficiently speak of those things, since they are quite outrageous kinds of expense and dress? But these things are a violent evil and a tinder of unchastity; although one does not care about them. I believe that at last they will go naked, since they already go half naked. But let go, our customs will also have their time: The wrath of God has finally come upon the world [1 Thess. 2, 16.), and good to him who recognizes that the wrath of God has in truth already come upon those people.
I will also pass over the lovers here, that is the nonsensical, 2) madness, who with nightly service wait on their lovers with play, song and music, and offer everything so that they please them, because the world also judges that it is exceedingly great fool's work; therefore we will pass over it.
Finally, the fourth stage is the inward evil air itself, of which enough has been said above. No one is without it in this life, but we are saved by not giving in to it, as it says in Rom. 6:13, 12: "Neither commit your members to serve sin, to obey it in its lusts." For although the completely pure (immaculata) law of God demands that there should be absolutely no evil lust, but a complete and completely un-
3) "msntium - "Montium, a play on words.
In the meantime, God's mercy bears with us and is pleased that the new man fights against it inwardly, so that all unrighteousness does not reign over us. This must be killed over and over again by groaning, watching, work, prayer, humiliation and other parts of the cross, finally also by death.
From all these things it is evident that this commandment does not only forbid, as it can be seen from the words and the letter, but forbids in the strongest way, namely because it forbids chastity and a completely pure abstinence, inwardly and outwardly. But who would be so foolish as to deny that chastity is something that exists in itself (rem affirmativami)? But it is commanded in a negative way, since unchastity is forbidden, so that it may be understood that it is commanded purely, without all admixture of unchastity, as the 12th Psalm, v. 7, says: "The speech of the Lord is pure as silver refined through, proved in the earthen crucible seven times."
But by this it is now clear how through the law comes knowledge of sin [Rom. 3, 20.], for I did not have to say that evil desire was sin, "where the law did not say, Let not thy desire be" [Rom. 7, 7.], namely because the work alone was considered sin. Therefore it is not enough that you do not break the marriage with the work, not enough that you are chaste in words, and with reputation or any other gift; yes, even that is not enough that you do not consent with the heart, if you do not also finally become pure from all evil impulses that bubble up inside. Therefore nothing else remains but that you sigh for the grace of God with the apostle, Rom. 7, 24: "I wretched man, who will deliver me from the body of this death?" 1)
The seventh commandment follows.
1) It should be read here with our Bible and with the Vulgate: cts eorpors mortis Kusus. In contrast, all editions offer: äs worts eorporis Kusus, and even the old translation: "from the death of this body".