From the title of the psalm.

Now the title is easy: "A Prayer of Moses." Jerome notes among other things in this Psalm that in the Psalms it is an established custom that always the ten following Psalms come from the author whose name is expressly set in the preceding Psalm. He may have said this according to the tradition of the rabbis. But it is not doubtful to me that only this one psalm is from Moses, and not the following ones, which have no title. For the Epistle to the Hebrews [Cap. 4, 7] expressly says about the verse of the 95th Psalm [v. 7. f.]: "Today, when you hear his voice" etc. that God spoke this through David. Therefore we want to believe that Jerome followed a fiction of the Jews. But that the present Psalm was written by Moses is proved not only by the title, but also by the way of expression, the things treated in it and its whole theology. Moses is called "a man of God" because he is especially sent by God to teach the law among the people. But as Moses is otherwise in teaching the law, so he is also here in praying. He is a servant of the

Death, sin and condemnation, so that he may frighten the hopeful and those who are secure in sins, and clearly show them their misery (sua mala), neither covering nor hiding anything, which he does in this prayer, as we will see. Paul also calls Timothy "a man of God" [1 Tim. 6, 11], but this designation has a somewhat different cause. For the word does not designate a man per se, but is often used for a person in authority who is publicly a man, who is in a public office, as it is said in the 2nd book of Kings [Cap. 4, 40.]: "O man of God, death in a pot!" that is, you who are publicly placed in the office which is of God, you who are an instrument of God, whose sayings and deeds are received as if they had been done by God Himself. In this way, you must understand the designation "man of God" here, that Moses had such an office, which was commanded to him by God, so that when he teaches, one does not attribute less faith to him than God himself.

Therefore, the title conceives these dyei things in itself: the person, the reputation (auctoritatem) and the work. The reputation is this: as, since

738 L- XVUI, Ms-271. interpretations on the psalms. W. v. iW--ioso. 739

When Paul calls himself "a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 1, 1.), this is not a hopefulness, but a necessary price of his word and office. Thus Moses does not call himself a man of God out of hopefulness, but because the office commanded to him by God requires that he be believed, no differently than if God himself preached. But, you will say, he has sinned at the water of the Hader [Deut. 20:10 ff], therefore it is not safe to believe him in all things. I answer: It is true that he sinned, but he was also punished by a special judgment of God, and at the same time it is indicated what is sin and what is not. In that he has been punished, God has forbidden to believe him. But in that he has not been punished, Moshe's mission and reputation remain, his profession remains whole, he remains God's instrument. Therefore, whoever despises him despises God. Thus David remained a man of God or a king regardless of his sin or fall, for even though he sinned, his profession remained unharmed. Thus we may fall daily, but nothing is broken off from the office or the word by our sin, although I do not know whether our profession can be compared with the profession of those people. Thus the deeds and sayings of this Moses are to be considered divine, and must be accepted as sayings of the Holy Spirit, who recognizes our misery better than we ourselves do. Since the Gentiles do not recognize the misery in which they live and die, which they experience and feel, how should they recognize what concerns God? Therefore, we should consider that this psalm was made and presented to us by the Holy Spirit Himself, in which He teaches us about our misery, which He does not call a weakness or a disease, as some useless babblers (mataeologi) do, nor does He speak of tinder, as the sophists do, but He teaches as a man of God, who must be believed as if God Himself were preaching.

But also the title of the psalm, that it bears the inscription "a prayer," reminds us of the rule which is necessary and very comforting in theology, namely, that wherever the commandments or works of the first tablet are dealt with, the resurrection of the dead is indicated covertly, as

Christ's exceedingly beautiful masterly saying testifies [Matth. 22, 32.]: "God is not a God of the dead, but of the living." Therefore, although Moses, by his ministry, kills by indicating sin and its punishments, nevertheless, because he calls this Psalm "a prayer," he also indicates covertly, yet in certain words, the remedy against death, and thus in two ways surpasses the writings of all the heathen. Aristotle holds, as do the monks, that contemplation (meditatio) of death is the remedy that makes death more bearable. But if we weigh the matter rightly, it is clearly better to be an epicure than to contemplate death when the second part is missing, namely, after anger, the hope of life and mercy. When this is gone, it is better to eat, drink and take care of oneself than to toil in vain with worries about the evil that one cannot avoid, especially since these thoughts, when they are without hope of help, provoke the heart to anger against God, to blasphemy and impatience. For it is true what Cato said: He who fears death also loses what he lives. Therefore, this wisdom is not suitable for the human race, especially since it brings so much misery with it. We must climb higher and turn our eyes to the divine wisdom that Moses teaches here, which makes death so great and so frightening, and yet also shows that there is still hope, so that those who are frightened and humiliated are not driven to despair.

In this way, the pagans cannot teach, but only the Holy Spirit, and this knowledge does not grow in our house, but must be received from the Man of God. Death has such great power that it devours us before we mean it. Therefore, we must go to another light; it must be revealed from heaven how hearts must be raised up in this danger. The pagans prove their oratory here, as Cicero does in his Tusculanes, but he cannot indicate a right and certain remedy. For even while he discusses this, it becomes apparent that he cannot persuade himself of what he tries to persuade other people of. That now

The title Moses gave to this psalm, "A Prayer," at the same time indicates by this name that there is hope of life. For what does prayer mean? Does it not mean to seek help? Furthermore, what does it mean to pray to God in the danger of sin and death? Does it not mean to believe that grace still has a place with God, and that there is a certain help against these evils that lead to destruction? Does not praying against death mean hoping for life? For he who despairs of life prays nothing at all, as if it were a lost cause. So the rule is true that wherever a commandment of the first table is spoken of, or the works of the first table (as prayer is a work of the first table), faith and the hope of the resurrection of the dead are necessarily included. Christ taught us to draw this theology from the simplest words of Scripture, when He says [Matth. 22, 32]: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now GOtt is not a GOtt of the dead, but of the living." Therefore, all who worship this GOtt, who believe in Him and pray to Him, will live even in death. Why? Because it is not a God of the dead who is worshipped, believed in and prayed to, but the God of the living. Therefore, the service of God, faith and prayer in truth include the article of resurrection and eternal life.

No one would have thought that this was indicated in the first commandment if our Doctor, who came from heaven, had not reminded us of it. For the first tablet is not given to unreasonable animals, nor to men who are dead for all eternity, but to men who have a God, who themselves will also live forever with God, for God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. Prayer is a work of the second commandment; if it is done without GOt, it cannot be called a prayer. But since Moses gives this psalm the superscription that it is a prayer, it follows that he prays to God, and that he prays in the hope and confidence of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Thus shows

In the title itself, it already contains the remedy against the frightening doctrine of death, and mixes both with each other in such a way that neither those who are frightened by this doctrine despair, nor the others become stubborn and secure. For these things must be joined together, that those who are secure may be terrified, and those who are terrified may be raised up and encouraged, being commanded to believe and pray after the example of Moses. The voice of the law frightens by singing to the secure: "In the midst of life we are embraced with death"; but the voice of the gospel raises up again and sings: "In the midst of death we are in life. So much for the content and the title of the psalm, so that the listener may be reminded of what it is about, who and what kind of man the author is, and what his work is, namely prayer. Now let us move on to the psalm.

V. 2.1 ) O Lord God, who art our refuge (habitaculum) for ever and ever.

This beginning also breathes life and serves to give us a certain hope of resurrection and eternal life, since it calls God, who is eternal, our dwelling place, or, to put it more clearly, a place of refuge to which we can flee and be safe. For if God is our dwelling place, and God is life, and we are its inhabitants, then it necessarily follows that we are in life and will live forever. We know that all this follows from the power of the first commandment with good and certain inference. For who will call God a dwelling place of the dead? Who will consider Him a grave or a cross? He is the life, therefore also those will live, to whom he is a dwelling place. In this way, Moses strengthens the fearful immediately in the entrance, before he begins to thunder and flash terrifyingly, so that they may firmly believe that God is a living dwelling place of the living.

1) In the Vulgate and in our Latin text, the title is not counted as one verse, but the second verse of our Bible is counted as two verses. Here, too, we have retained the counting of our Bible. - In the Latin, throughout the entire interpretation, the verse number: krimns vsrsus "tv. is printed as the superscription; we have not retained this.

who pray to him and trust in him. 1)

But it is a wonderful way of speaking (locatio), the like of which is nowhere in the Holy Scriptures, that God is a dwelling place. Yes, the Scripture says in other places the contradiction, it calls people temples of God, in which God dwells. Paul says [1 Cor. 3, 16.], "God's temple is in you." This Moses reverses, and says that we are the inhabitants and lords in this house. For the Hebrew word XXXX actually means a dwelling place, as when the Scripture says [Ps. 76:3], "In Zion is His dwelling place," 2) it uses this word Because a house is there for protection, it happens that it is interpreted as a refuge or a place of refuge. Moses intended to speak in this way, so that he would indicate that all hope for us is certainly in God, and so that those who want to pray to this God would firmly believe that they will not suffer tribulation in vain in the world, nor die, since they have God as their place of refuge and the divine majesty as a dwelling place in which they may safely rest forever. Almost in this way Paul speaks, since he says in the letter to the Colossians [Cap. 3, 3.) says, "Your life is hid with Christ in God." For it is a much clearer and more glorious saying to say that believers dwell in God, than: that God dwells in them. For He also dwelt bodily in Zion, but the place is changed. But it is evident that what is in God is not changed, nor can it be moved. For God is such a dwelling that cannot perish. Therefore, Moses wanted to indicate the very certain life when he said: God is our dwelling place; not the earth, not heaven, not paradise, but absolutely God Himself, and that is

For and for (a generatione in generationem).

That is, from the beginning of the world to the end of the world, God has never abandoned His own. Adam, Eve, the patriarchs, the prophets, the godly kings sleep in this

Erlanger: eonütentinm instead of: eonüäontnim.

2) The old translator read utitur here instead of vsrtitur in the editions; the former is undoubtedly correct.

Dwelling. For if they have not yet risen with Christ (as I believe), their bodies rest in the graves, but their life is hidden with Christ in God and will be revealed with glory on the last day. In this way Moses indicates the resurrection of the dead and the hope of life against death, even if not yet completely clear, yet with significant (significantibus) words. For Christ had to be reserved to preach publicly in the new testament the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the dead, which were presented in the old testament in a kind of cover. Moses touches on these things and points to them with his finger, as it were, but afterwards, in inculcating wrath, he is much more eloquent and explicit. For this is what he seeks primarily to accomplish, that men learn to fear God and, terrified by God's wrath and death, humble themselves before God and be prepared for grace. For it is impossible for a man to be moved to fear God if he has not first been shown the wrath of God. But how can this be shown if sin is not shown, which then, as Paul says [Rom. 4, 15.], causes wrath? Thus, at Mount Sinai, the people began to fear the thunderclaps and the terrifying storm that reminded them of their sins and made the majesty of God unbearable to them. This humiliation or fear was pleasing to the Lord. For this is the way to deal with hardened and secure people who do not respect the word of God and all the punishments of ungodliness as well as the rewards of godliness.

Therefore Paul also commands that the word be rightly divided [2 Tim. 2, 15], so that the promises and the threats are not mixed with each other, as the Jews used to do in former times and the papists do today. For even though the prophets threatened the Jews with all plagues (dura), they did not take these threats into account and relied on the promises. In this way they extinguished the fear of God and became presumptuous and stiff-necked (intractabiles). In contrast, in the papacy, the tyran-

The niche teachers and torturers of souls turn all the wrath and all the reproaches of Scripture against the troubled consciences, whereas these should rather have been straightened up and treated in the gentlest way. Therefore, it is sinned against on both sides, if the word of God is not rightly divided. Therefore the abundance [of threats], of which Moses will make use afterwards, actually goes to those whom Paul [Eph. 4, 19.] calls "reprobates" (άπηλγηχότας), who, like

The same way that the brute warriors are wont to do, banish the thoughts of death and the wrath of God from their hearts. These cannot be brought back on the right track if one does not make the wrath of God great for them, so that in this way one cuts off the root that carries gall and wormwood (as Deut. 29:18 is written). On the other hand, the exceedingly sweet things that he mentions here in the beginning actually belong to those who fear death, so that they may learn to trust in the goodness of God and rejoice that they have so much life and feeling that they recognize their sins and do not belong to the number of those who either surely despise them or even make a mockery of them. For these let themselves be taught and prove willing to accept the consolation.

If you take up this psalm in this way, it will be pleasant to you and you will realize that it is very useful to you on all sides. At least it often happened to me, when I was a monk, that when I read this psalm, I had to put the book down. But I did not know that these horrors were not held up to a frightened mind, I did not know that Moses was preaching primarily to the hardened and hopeful crowd of those who do not care about God's wrath, death and all their misfortunes, nor do they realize it.

But here again we want to look back at the title. Moses gave this psalm the inscription that it is a prayer. But it appears here that the first virtue of a true and earnest prayer is that it grasps the hope of blessedness and firmly holds that God is merciful, and for this reason has the confidence that with Him is the [right] protection against death. For if

if this were not so, why would he call him our dwelling place? Therefore, these are words of the greatest confidence and the most perfect hope of attaining life, since he dares to say in the midst of the feeling of anger and sin: "O Lord, although you are justly angry with us because of our sins, you have never so forsaken the human race that you have not always preserved a church for yourself, that you have not been the dwelling place and the harbor of those who have placed the hope of salvation in you. This is the first virtue of prayer, that it takes hold of God, that he is merciful and gracious and wants to help.

Who would deny that the Holy Spirit in his own is the best praying person? Since Moses in the most difficult matter, in which he makes himself and the whole world guilty before God, so skillfully wins the favor and takes the judge for the matter through faith in the mercy of God, which he has shown to the Church at all times. Without this faith, prayer cannot be prayer. For how can one pray who does not believe that there is so much goodness in God that He hears those who pray, but either despises God or despairs of God? All the prayers of Pabstism are of this kind. Not only can they not pray in faith, since they do not recognize faith correctly, but they also spoil prayer by relying on the merits and intercessions of the saints. Therefore, let us follow this teacher who prays in the Holy Spirit, that is, in the true faith of the heart, saying: You are our dwelling place. No one can say this from the heart without faith, without the gift of the Holy Spirit.

But it is a necessary lesson, which is held up to us in this example, that we see that faith is necessary for right prayer. When this is there, we triumph. For it is because of faith in Christ that prayer is acceptable and pleasing to God and obtains all things. If you believe that God is your dwelling place, He is truly a dwelling place for you. If you do not believe it, He is not. Therefore, those who are without faith do not only pray without fruit, but their prayer also becomes a

Sin and they only provoke God to anger even more. For it is blasphemy to come before God with your prayer and yet think that you are praying in vain and that God will not hear you.

The other virtue of a right prayer is that it turns to God, not to other, carnal protection, and this is also a work of faith, which not only reconciles us to God, but at the same time protects us against all ungodly teachings and reliance on human shells (praesidia humana). For these are two virtues, that one may have God and keep God. He who has faith has a gracious God; therefore, prayer and all other works of the profession are pleasing to God. But it requires great diligence and care, indeed, great kindness on the part of God, that we may keep God in this way and not be overcome by Satan, who challenges us in many ways to see if he cannot in some way distract us from the true God and lead us to trust in human help. That is why Moses expressly says here: "You, Lord, are our refuge."

But why does he add: "For and for"? Certainly, to indicate that One Church would be from the beginning when man was created until the end of the world. For this is that he says: From the day that a generation or an age began, you are our dwelling place, as if he wanted to say: There has always been a church, there has always been a people of God, from the first man Adam to the last, although at times the church was exceedingly weak and so scattered that it could not be seen anywhere, as in Elijah's time, when the godless king Ahab had forbidden the true worship of God and had the prophets killed in great numbers, so that Elijah lamented that he alone was left of the servants of the true God. Therefore, the church was so hidden at that time that it was nowhere but in the eyes of God, who said [1 Kings 19:18] that he had preserved seven thousand who had not bowed their knees to Baal. Thus the church was and remained in the papacy, but it was in truth so hidden that if one had wanted to judge by the appearance that was before one's eyes, it would have seemed to be nowhere. And this is well and carefully to

notice, first, that there have always been, are now, and will be people who praise God, who teach rightly about God, even if they are very few. Secondly, that the Church is not perfect in holiness, without all the ailments and blemishes that the papists dream of. When they hear that the Church is called holy in the holy Christian faith, they think of such a people, which is without all sins and without all aversions. When they then look at their crowd, they must doubt whether it is a church. When they look at us and see the wickedness with which Satan disfigures our churches, they also deny that we are a church and cannot get out of this trouble. The Donatists judged in the same way; they put the fallen under ban and did not allow them to return to their congregations. For they wanted to be such a church that would be without any fault. Therefore, their congregations inevitably sank to a small number. In the same way, the Manichaeans and others have maintained that in truth the church is in eternal life and not in the flesh. In this way one does not have to dispute about the church. For the true church is that which prays, and by faith and earnestly prays, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." The Church is that which increases (proficit) from day to day, from day to day puts on the new man 1) and puts off the old. The Church is that which has received the firstfruits of the Spirit, not the tithes, much less the fullness in this life. We are not yet completely stripped and bare of the flesh, but we are in the process of taking it off and putting it on or becoming better. What is left of sin, therefore, annoys the spiritual (spirituosos) Donatists, Manichaeans and Papists, but God is not annoyed by it, because He accepts and forgives it for the sake of faith in Christ.

Therefore, if you want to judge the church, you must not necessarily look at where there are no infirmities and ailments, but where the word is pure, where there is a proper administration of the sacraments, where there are people,

1) Instead of induit-llr, Wohl should be read inäutt.

who love the word and confess the word before the world. Wherever you find this, make sure that the church is there, whether there are few of them or many. It is certain that there will always be some, for otherwise how would God have been our dwelling place from eternity? In this way, Anselmus disputes somewhere quite correctly, and concludes with a strange, but nevertheless good and true reason, that Adam and Eve were Christians and righteous, and that they should have returned to the right way immediately after the fall through faith, so that there would not be a time when the church would have repented. And indeed, in the story of the Fall, Moses shows that Adam and Eve were seized with remorse immediately after the sin and were afraid. But since the promise of the woman's seed was added afterwards, they became righteous in truth through faith in Christ. They fled from God out of fear of the wrath of God and the punishment to come, but God freely sought them out and restored them to righteousness (revocabat). This was the first Church born again through the Word and justified by faith in Christinn.

This is brought forward by Anselmus in a masterly way and according to the truth (disputantur). For it must always remain and be the church, as also Moses indicates here, since he says that God is the dwelling place of men for and for.

Before the mountains were created, and the earth and the world, you are, O God, from everlasting to everlasting.

Here Moses begins after the manner of his office, hastens to be Moses, and makes both our misery great and the wrath of God. But by this long description he separates the true God from the gods of the pagans, of whom it cannot be said that they have been from eternity and remain in eternity, as if he wanted to say: We do not worship a new or common god, not wood, not gold, but the one who was before the world, who is the eternal and true God etc. Then he also indicates that he is such a God, who has no need of any creature, but is the true God.

He is blissful in himself, since he is before the earth and the world were created. This majesty, which is understood in such short words, no one can explain (explicare). For it includes, if someone wanted to explain it in detail, all attributes of the Godhead, which can only be mentioned. For because he is eternal, it follows that he is immortal, omnipotent, blissful, wise, that he has received nothing from anyone, as the Scripture says [Rom. 11, 35.]: "No one has given him anything before," he alone is sufficient for himself etc.

The verbum is more significant than if he had said: before the mountains were created (crearentur) or made (fierent). For it really means the coming of the creature out of the nothing into the something (aliquid), as from man another body is born by a miraculous origin; not as a blacksmith makes something out of a material, by preparing the material, either taking something from it or adding something to it, while he forms the material etc., but as the trees grow out of the earth as it were on the nothing, so that it seems as if everything is in truth more born than formed or created. For he says that the mountains are born, in that God begat them, as it were, to indicate what is written in the Psalm from the first book of Moses [Ps. 33, 9. Gen. 1, 3.]: "He speaks, so it comes to pass." For by the Word all things came to be, so that it is more properly regarded as having been born than as having been created or fashioned, because there was no instrument in it.

But 1) actually means to be formed, as the fruit is formed in the womb, without the use of an instrument. But Moses wants to show by the meaning of this verb that the creation of the whole world was, as it were, a birth for God, or that it was a kind of birth at God's command, so that we may learn how easy it was for God to make everything out of nothing, since things grew up, as it were, through His word. For in growing we see that it is exceedingly easy; when a tree grows, it has no trouble about it.

1) This is kMel from

750 v- XVIII. 282-284. interpretations on the psalms. W. V, IIOS-IIM. 751

Such a GOd (he says) we have and worship, to such a GOd we pray, at whose behest all created things come into being. What do we fear, then, if this GOtt is favorable to us? What do we fear from the wrath of the whole world? If he is our dwelling place, will we not be safe even if the heavens should fall in? For we have a Lord who is greater than the whole world, we have a Lord who is so mighty that all things come into being at His saying, and yet we are so fainthearted that when we have to endure the wrath of a prince or king, yes, even of a neighbor, we tremble and despair, although compared to this King everything else in the whole world is like the lightest dust, which a small breeze moves from its place and does not make it stand. In this way, this description of God is comforting, and fearful hearts should look to this comfort in trials and dangers.

On the other hand, one can also learn from this how great the wrath of God is, as Manasseh remembers in his prayer [v. 4. f.] that rightly everyone must be frightened and afraid of the great power of God, "whose" wrath against the sinners is unbearable. For when the heart realizes that God, so mighty and great, is angry and threatens punishment, where shall it flee? For it will certainly speak with David [Ps. 139, 7. f.]: "Where shall I go before your spirit? and where shall I flee before your face? If I go to heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there also. "etc. For what refuge can there be when he is angry by whose hand all things were made and who is able to do all things? Therefore, those rightly say that this hellish punishment will consist in the fact that the wicked will wish to escape from the hand of God, but will not be able to do so, as Paul also indicates 1 Thess. 5, 3. With such thoughts the nefarious and senseless sinners, who nevertheless live securely in the greatest sins, must be attacked and, as it were, crushed by them with hammers. Let them hear who and how great he is whom they provoke with their sins so that he must carry out the punishment.

see the lightnings and hear the thunderclaps on Mount Sinai, they shall see the earth tremble and everything threaten instant death. But they that know their sins, and tremble before, shall be instructed concerning the tabernacle, and be raised up. For this is the right division of the word [2 Tim. 2:15], that those who are confident and secure should be taught in a different way from those who are already terrified and in fear beforehand, and who also fear everything in which they could be secure. These shall learn to think all the infinite, eternal, almighty dwelling. These shall know that they do not have an enraged devil, but God Himself, who is over all.

Therefore, from this description of God, that he is eternal and omnipotent, immeasurable and infinite, follows also this twofold, that his dwelling or his favor over those who fear him is infinite, and that his wrath or his anger over the secure is also immeasurable and infinite. For the effect is always according to the greatness of the causing cause. Therefore, this verse serves primarily to indicate that the death of man is an immeasurably greater misfortune than the death of other living beings. For although horses, cows and all unreasonable animals must die, they do not die under the wrath of God, but for them death is a kind of temporal misfortune that God has decreed, not for punishment, but because God has otherwise deemed it so good. But the death of man is in truth an infinite and eternal wrath and death, especially since man is such a creature that was created to live in obedience to the Word and to be like God; it was not created to die, but death is appointed as the punishment of sin, as God said to Adam [Gen. 2:17]: "Which day thou shalt eat of this tree, thou shalt surely die the death."

Therefore, the death of men is not like the death of animals, which die according to the law of nature, nor is it a death that happens by chance or would be temporal, but it is a death, that I say so, that is threatened.

1) Thus the Wittenbergers: vere. Jenaer and Erlanger: lers. .

and came from the angry and alienated God. For if Adam had not eaten of the forbidden tree, he would have been immortal. But now, having sinned through disobedience, he is punished with death, which was not created for him, as is the case with the death of the animals that are subject to man, but which was imposed and inflicted on him through wrath, and is due to him because of sin or disobedience. It is therefore a far greater pity to hear that man is destined to death, who nevertheless is created good and intact for life, that he would have his dwelling in God. From this blissful state he fell through sin, which Moses endeavors to show in every way by so carefully depicting the person of the one who is angry, in order to frighten the sure and impenitent.

V. 3. who let men die, and said, Come again, children of men.

In Hebrew this means: You make man return to the crushing, which is in fact nothing else than what we have translated: "You let men die", therefore I have preferred to use this, because it is clearer. Now as to the meaning, the Fathers here have the opinion that this is about the sin of evil desire, perhaps because they had no other temptations than these animal and carnal ones, for they seldom mentioned others in their writings. Hence it is that our papists, when they speak of original sin, understand nothing else by it than the evil lust of the flesh.

But since this only begins to be felt when men become manly, it follows that original sin is something far more serious, which is and lives also in those who have a lower age, in small children, even in the fruit that still lives in the womb, as the 51st Psalm [v. 7] shows. But because the teachers in general stopped at carnal (psychicis) thoughts, and were not able to apply the Scriptures to the more serious and spiritual infirmities of nature, it happens that even with the highest doctrines of Scripture they are exceedingly inferior.

We do not want to be careless with them. Therefore, we want to let them do as they please, but we want to follow the right and proper understanding.

Now the opinion of this passage is this: that Moses wants to teach us that it was through sin that man fell from grace and suffers the penalty of death. He says: you turn man to the crushing, and make him nothing again. Is this not a terrible saying and an exceedingly severe wrath, that man should die by the wrath of God, such a noble creature, which is better than all living beings, and was subject neither to angels nor to devils, but only to the divine majesty; yea, which was created in the image of God, that it should live and reign? This is truly a more severe death and a sadder case than when a cow is slaughtered, especially when you see the reproduction of evil. He says: you turn man to the crushing, that is, the whole human race. For with your one word he understands the whole offspring of the first parents. Thus, what was created for life is now destined for death, namely by God's wrath, and the whole human race has fallen from immortality into eternal death.

But see how carefully Moses speaks, as he attributes this wrath to the Creator, lest Manichaeus come with his foolish multitude, and make two gods, one gracious and good, and the other evil. For he saith not, The devil maketh man to be nothing; but thou thyself, which was before heaven and earth were created. For this was the mad doctrine of Manichaeus, and there is no doubt that even now many are in the same error, who imagine that all good comes from a good God, but all evil from an evil God. Augustine lived in this error for almost nine years. But it is impiety to invent a new God, and in this way to want to escape from God's wrath and to avert it, which has rightly been laid upon us for the sake of sin, as the men of war do who publicly despise death. But what

have you aligned yourself, even though you utterly despise death? Have you thereby also overcome death? Therefore, we should be mindful that the thoughts of Epicurus are not being discussed here as to how to alleviate the evils that cannot be escaped, but that we are being instructed so that we can trace both good and evil back to God alone, and learn how these evils can be overcome. For this is what Moses primarily wanted to accomplish.

Wisely, therefore, he says: "You let men die", that is, it is your work, yes, your wrath, that the whole human race is devoured by death. Not by chance do men come into being, not by chance are they born, not by chance do they suffer, not by chance do they die. For even the cattle does not die even by chance, but according to our will. For the accident of the same is under the dominion of men; how much less is the death and end of men without certain forethought. Therefore, as life is bestowed by certain and divine counsel, so also death is the work of God's wrath, by which he turns this creature to dust (vertit in contritionem), and thrusts it out of life into death. Thus, he attributes this effect to God, so that we, thus reminded, do not seek help elsewhere than from him who inflicted the evil. For the same one who struck us will also heal us. For this is the title of our God, "that he killeth and maketh alive, that he leadeth into hell and out again" [Sam. 2, 6], that he (as he says here) turneth men to the crushing, and commandeth the children of men to return, that we, as by him we received life at first, so also by him we finally overcome death. This death is not only the cause of evil desire, but also of all sin. God does use the devil to torment and kill us, but the devil cannot do this if God did not want sin to be punished in this way. We are therefore sheep for slaughter [Ps. 44, 23], subjected to death out of God's wrath for the sake of sin.

The second part of the verse, "And say, Come again, children of men," refers to the fact that, just as men die daily because of sin, so also others are born in the meantime, but in the same condition as those who died. Thus the world perished before the flood of sin, for the Lord had said [Gen. 6:17], "I will destroy all flesh wherein is a living breath," and yet the Lord saith to Noah [v. 14], "Make thee a box, and go in thou, and thy sons, and their wives" [Cap. 7:1, 7]. So he said to Adam [Gen. 2, 17.], "Which day thou eatest of this tree, thou shalt surely die of death," and afterward [Cap. 3, 19.], "Thou art earth, and shalt become earth." For this is the place which devours the whole human race, and yet others are always born into this life who are subject to the same calamity.

This is the opinion of God, which Moses has revealed to us; reason could not have recognized this by itself. Therefore, not only the pagans, but also the monks, have argued a lot about despising death, but in a very bad way. For in this way men become either safe or blasphemers, in that they abandon the fear of God and become displeased with God, as if God were acting tyrannically and abandoning this poor creature to death without reason. Moses teaches far better that even though God rejected man for sin, He did not reject him in such a way that He would not have mercy on him and help him. Reason does not know either of these things: first, that death for sin was laid upon man by God; second, that against this wrath there is a remedy in the mercy of God, that this angry God may be softened and overcome by supplication, that He may renew us to eternal life through the word of grace and His Holy Spirit.

But just as Moses says here: "You let the people die, and say: Come again, children of men", God promises in the first book of Moses at the same time the multiplication or the blessing, and at the same time involves the people in innumerable misfortunes. What he says in the first book of Moses [Cap. 1, 28.]: "Be fruitful and multiply," he says here: "You let the

Children of men return." What he says there [Cap. 3, 19.], "Thou art earth and shalt become earth," he says here: "Thou sufferest man to die." Thus he establishes and at the same time destroys the whole human race in One short utterance, that some shall be made dust and perish, others shall be born into the same misery, until the expected day of our redemption comes, when we shall live in truth. For then not only will all the misery of our wretched flesh be taken away, but also the glory of God will be revealed in His children. Meanwhile, these two works of God remain, that He both corrupts the human race by calamity and increases it by birth.

But even though this life is full of misery, it is extremely comforting that death precedes and life follows, as Moses carefully indicates when he says: "You let men die (this is the first), and say: Come again, children of men" (this is the second or last and best). So it is a misery to be poor, but who would be distressed by this misery if he finally became rich? It is a misery if one must hunger, but with the greater pleasure we enjoy the food afterwards. Now Moses also secretly indicates this hope here, that life will follow after death, and that people will not perish like other living creatures, but that they will die so that they will be humbled, not so that they will remain in death. This hope he shows to those whose hearts are terrified by the contemplation of their sin and the wrath of God. But at the end of the prayer, he will present this doctrine of overcoming death and the wrath of God more clearly.

But the reader's attention must also be drawn to the manner of speaking. For out of special advice Moses keeps the usual way of speaking, since he says: "You say: Come again, children of men. For he has this in mind in the first letter of Moses (Cap. 1, 6. 16.], "God said, Let there be a firmament, sun, moon," etc. Likewise [v. 26.], "Let us make man," because all these things are created and sustained by the Word. But he also does this, in order to show the greatness

The person who destroys everything and brings everything forth with a single word. What can be considered less than a word? But when God speaks a word, what is said immediately comes to pass. Thus He says to my mother: Receive, and she receives; to me He says: Be born, and I am born.

V. 4. For a thousand years are before you as the day that passed yesterday, and as a night watch.

Here he transfers us from the sight of human things into the Godhead, and on time into such a life, in which there is no time. But this also serves, like the preceding, to show the greatness of the person of God, who is angry with us. For if someone lived as long as Methuselah, who lived to be almost a thousand years old, we would think that such a person would be better off than the others, and that he would not be rejected by wrath. But Moses speaks differently, that not only the wrath of God weighs men down, but also the swift anger, that we die too quickly and do not have the comfort that death or misfortune is delayed or slow, because we have an exceedingly short and yet miserable life, but after that we die an eternal death. For even Methuselah, if you look at his life, did not live a thousand years. But what are a thousand years, if they are in the sight of God like the day that passed yesterday?

What man has ever painted this brevity of life in this way? For it indicates that eS not a run, but as it were a violent hurling fei, by which we are carried away to death. We imagine that seventy years is a long time, and what Cicero says is always true, 1) that no one is so old that he should not hope to live another year. This hope for a longer life is implanted by nature in all people. Hence it comes that people arrange all their intentions and plans as if they wanted to live forever. For through their delusion they make their life an eternal one.

1) Cicero, de senectute: Nemo est tam senex, qui se annum non putet posse vivere.

Life, while death follows our footsteps everywhere and is always very close to us. Thus Moses shows this greatest misfortune, that people do not feel their misery, namely the wrath of God and the shortness of life, which they nevertheless see and experience with their eyes. Today he dies who yesterday had hoped that he would live forty years or more; and if he had lived these forty years, he still would not have dropped the hope of a longer life. Therefore Moses exhorts that we should go out on time and look at our life with the eyes of God, then we would say that the whole life of man, even if it is the longest, is hardly One Hour. I am now one and fifty years old; if I consider this whole time rightly, it has passed as if I had been born on this day. For this is true what the philosophers say: The past is gone, the future has not yet come, therefore we have of all time nothing but what is now; everything else does not exist, because it has either passed or has not yet come.

In this way, Moses makes the wrath of God great over all that men think and judge of it, first (to keep a common word) in intensity, since it makes the death of men worse and more severe than the death of all living beings, because it is imposed by the wrath of God; secondly, in extension, because life passes exceedingly quickly. This whole time from the beginning, when man was created, will be the: Adam, when he rises, will seem as if he had slept only one hour. The eyes of the flesh are beastly; they judge that it is much if someone attains an age of a hundred years, but before God a thousand years are like yesterday, of which nothing is left. This Job also had in mind when he said [Job 14:1]: "Man, born of woman, lives a short time, and is full of restlessness." For it is, as I have said, not wrath alone, but swift wrath and sorrow, and as the person [of God] is infinite (infinita), so brevity is limited to the utmost (finitissima). What the Scripture says elsewhere [2 Petr. 3, 8.]: "A day before

To the Lord is as a thousand years", that goes to spiritual and eternal life.

About what Moses adds about the night watch, it is known that according to the custom of the ancients the night was divided into four watches. As he therefore compared a thousand years with yesterday's day, so he compares the whole life with a small part of the night, which we spend sleeping, as if he wanted to say: If you count the days of this life, they are days gone by; if you count the nights, it is as it were the fourth part of a night. In this way he not only makes the misery great, but also makes small what was best, namely the return to life. Life is indeed a good creature of God, but because it is so short, and is cut off by death, we rightly lament our misery. But the opinion is not inappropriate, which is followed by others who interpret the parable of the night watch to mean that, just as there is a change in the night watches, so there are also changes in this life. The one who lived today and, as it were, kept watch at his post, is called away by death, as it were, and another follows him. For the guards are not always occupied by the same men of war; he who has kept watch at this hour steps down, and another follows him. Thus, he says, some die, and others are born into life, and follow them as it were, but under the same circumstances as the former, so that when the time of the vigil is completed they depart. Now follow other parables.

V. 5, 6: You let them pass like a stream, and they are like a sleep; like a grass that soon withers, which flourishes early and soon withers, and in the evening is cut down and withers.

The Hebrew verb XXX actually means to flood, and to break in with impetuosity, as the floods are wont to do. It is therefore a very expressive simile, which denotes that the whole human race is swept away as by a flood; thus one human age after another passes away like a roaring stream. Does this not mean this vaunted life or rather the remnants of it?

of the praised life make them wonderfully small? Why are we nevertheless hopeful? Why do we exalt ourselves to such great pride and, in the manner of Epicurus, despise God for the sake of our own pleasure? Why do we not rather learn to consider the wrath of God, and to recognize our life as it is, and how quickly it rushes to destruction, that is, on a drop of blessing into a sea of curse? Do we not know what sleep is, which ceases sooner than we can perceive it? For before we realize that we have slept, the sleep is already gone. In truth, therefore, our life is a sleep and a dream. For sooner than we know that we are alive, we cease to be alive.

The simile of the grass is frequent in the holy scriptures. Therefore, it is obvious that the holy prophets drew and learned a lot from this psalm. David seems to have taken almost the entire 39th Psalm from it, in which he also illustrates this life with a new simile, since he says [v. 7] that people walk like a shadow. And in the 73rd Psalm it says [v. 19. f.], "They come to an end with terror, like a dream, when one awakes," and Ps. 76, 6.: "The proud must be deprived and fall asleep." So Isaiah says [Cap. 40, 6.], "All flesh is hay, and all his goodness is as a flower of the field." Ps. 102, 12.: "My days are gone as a shadow, and I wither as grass." Ps. 144, 4.: "Man is like nothing; his days pass away like a shadow." If this does not teach enough of our life, I do not know what stronger thing could be said. Childhood is the flower of human life; when the time of youth comes, the leaves soon become shapeless. For worry and various dangers hinder the calm flow of life; childhood does not recognize them and therefore does not fear them. Therefore, this part of life seems to be completed in the fastest course, as the poet also says. 1) Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi Prima fugit, subeunt morbi tristisque senectus, Et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis.

1) Virg. Georgica, lib. III, v. 66 sqq.

[Just the best time of life, the first, escapes the poor mortal man; after that follows illness and sad old age, and toil and the rough hand of relentless death takes them away]. This life is therefore rightly compared to the flower, which, when it blossoms, has splendid colors and smell, but loses both before the sun sets. Thus this likeness praises the blessing of creation that in such great misery a beautiful little flower nevertheless grows up, but it is lamentable that its leaves so soon perish and wither and cannot keep their natural (nativam) color and smell.

The verbum XXX means to change, like

Clothes are changed, therefore change clothes are called XXXXX. 2) So he wants to say,

that the grass or the flower changes when it begins to be a flower. This verbum is used by Scripture when it says that the heavens and the earth will be changed, to indicate that neither the heavens nor the earth are clothed with their proper adornment in this life, but now they are clothed, as it were, with a hairy garment; but then, when they are renewed, they will be clothed with another, more shining garment. Now the earth is marshy and dilapidated, but in that day it will be as if it were of precious stones and silver. The mountains will be demants, the rivers like the best balm etc. For the verbum denotes "to change" in a twofold way: either from being into non-being, or from non-being into being. This is also a very beautiful conception, if one understands by the name "grass" the whole human gender, which is transformed very early in the morning from a formless body fruit (embryone) into the form of a human being; then it is grass. For the whole human race comes forth (nascitur) out of darkness and winter, and as it were out of the dead seed into a living grass, and immediately after it has thus come into being, it is again transformed out of this form into its wind.

2) In the Erlanger: NeUpdos; in the Wittenberger and in the Jenaer: Nelipkns.

The sun changes from summer to winter and from day to night, as Solomon also says [Eccl. 1:5]: the sun rises and sets in a constant change. The verb actually indicates this change, as the year changes from summer to winter, the time from day to night. Thus Jacobus, Cap. 1, 17. says: "With God there is no change, nor change of light and darkness." The night is indeed changed into day, and the day again into darkness, but such things, he says, are not with God. But these changes are different from the change of which this psalm speaks. For those are natural changes, but the change of which this psalm speaks is not a natural change, but one that comes from the wrath of God.

Furthermore, I said above that it is very comforting that in the third verse he puts death first and then adds the word of life to indicate the secret hope that we will be raised again after death and that bodily death will end in a right and eternal life. But at this point the prophet does it differently, and reverses the order, since he describes the whole human race, firstly, as it is in life, and secondly, as it is in death. Early, he says, it blossoms like a flower, but in the evening it changes, is cut off and withers.

What does this change of order mean? Does it convince us that the opinion we have given before is uncertain or wrong? Not at all, but he simply holds up to us our misery as it is in our eyes, not as it is in the eyes of God. Since he said above, "Thou sayest, Come again, children of men," he immediately adds, "For a thousand years are before thee as the day that yesterday was." But it is quite different if we follow our judgment and our reason. For as it is something else to see a seal as it is engraved in a precious stone or in gold, and something else to see it as it is imprinted in wax (for God, that I use this simile, looks at the precious stone itself, we can only see the shape of the precious stone or the imprint in wax with our eyes), so is that which is life before God's eyes,

death before our eyes. What is temporal with us is not temporal with God; what is eternal with us is not eternal with God.

In this way he speaks here of the misery of the people as it is before our eyes. There we see that the one who lives today will die tomorrow. Apart from this death and beyond, reason sees nothing else, and always pays more attention to misfortune and misery than to life. For so are we by nature: ungrateful in good and impatient in evil, very tenacious, that I say so, in the remembrance of evil, and very forgetful in the remembrance of good. For look at the nature of the things among which we live daily, which we see, touch, which we enjoy daily: does not from the earth, yes, from stones and mountains grow the grain, the wine and everything what one needs for the need of this life? In fact, therefore, from nothing something becomes. Thus from the unfruitful and unquenched winter becomes -the fruitful and exceedingly lovely summer, on the night becomes the day. This is the constant change of the creature. But we, as ungrateful people, generally disregard this, and turn our eyes to the other change, which is sadder and more miserable, where something is changed into nothing, and from being to non-being. Moses shows this here by following our judgment and preaching first of the miserable nature of this life, then of death.

Here again we must be reminded of the difference between this change that takes place in the other creatures and that which takes place in us. For the fact that we are changed, and like the grass suddenly falls away, is a change that comes from the wrath of God. The grass, however, is not so changed by the wrath of God, but as it comes up by the decree of God, so it also perishes again, without having any trouble from it and without the wrath of God. Thus the day has its course according to the good will of God; but that we are changed and turned into black night, that happens out of God's wrath. In this way, Moses continues in his explanation of what the emphasis is on in this trade (ad epitasin), and complains, not without tears, of the burden of the

764 L- XVIII, 297-30". Interpretation of the 90th Psalm. Ps. 90, 5-7. W. V, II22-II2S. 765

God's wrath, as if he wanted to say: Is it not the utmost pity that man alone, without any example of this in all other creatures, must lead such a miserable life and then perish under the wrath of God? It is already pitiful that man is like grass, and dies sooner than he has learned to live properly. But in this the grass is better and more blissful, which springs up and falls under God's favor and laughter; but we, as he will now say, are consumed by your wrath and bear the unbearable burden of knowing that God hates us because of sin.

V. 7 Your wrath has caused us to perish, and your anger has caused us to perish so suddenly.

This, as I have said, is what is emphasized in this trade, and it shows the difference between man and the other creatures. The fact that man perishes in this way and is quickly carried away to destruction by the wrath of God is not suffered by the grass, not by the flower, not by the birds of the air, not by the animals of the earth, but only by man. He feels that with his death and the extreme misery of this life, sin and the wrath of God are also connected, whereas cattle, sheep and all other living creatures die according to the order of God, which comes from His good pleasure, without their own sin, without the wrath of God. This almost indicates a sense of blasphemy in Moses, for if then, where this is felt, the light of grace is not shown, it is impossible that despair and the highest blasphemy should not follow. For who can remember the wrath of God without grumbling? Even the innocent creature cannot bear its sufferings without complaint. When a pig is slaughtered, it shows its impatience and pain by its cry; when a tree is cut down, it does not fall without a crash. How, therefore, should human nature bear this thought of the wrath of God without tears, without grumbling, without the highest impatience? How should it endure with equanimity the death that it knows it suffers for sin's sake and out of God's wrath?

Therefore, reason takes either the path of contempt or the path of blasphemy. Among the colloquia of Erasmus is a dialogue to which he gave the title "Epicurus". In it he disputes the Christian religion, that it has the stone of Tantalus 1), since after the misery of this life it also threatens eternal fire. What can there be, he says, for a more suitable remedy against this evil than unbelief, or the nonsense that one does not believe that this is true? In this way the Verminst disputes. For it seems to be unbearable and unworthy of divine wisdom and goodness that, after the troubles of this life, eternal death should also be feared, and that out of anger, because God is also angry with the people so burdened with misfortune. Reason cannot bear these thoughts without falling into blasphemy. Therefore, Epicurns advises that you either become a nonsense or an unbeliever, and thus free yourself from the feeling of anger and sin in misfortune and in death. But what a sacrilegious counsel is this! For how? if you either cannot be faithless, and fear that after this life you may have to feel that what you despise here is true? or if you cannot be so senseless that you never think of this future danger? Therefore, nature can do nothing but be horrified and unwilling that such a Lord should still be left over us [after this life], whom we must fear even after death, as Vellejus speaks in Cicero: In this way he sets an eternal lord upon our necks.

Therefore, the example of Moses must be diligently remembered, so that we may learn to moderate and govern this groaning of our heart when we feel the wrath of God and death. For it is not an evil to feel the wrath of God in this way, only we must not fall into the folly of either despising or blaspheming God in tribulation, although it is impossible that the sighs of the saints in such afflictions should not have something of blasphemy about them. For can

1) Besides having to suffer constant hunger and thirst, Tantalus also had a rock hovering over him that threatened to collapse.

Do we excuse Job when he calls the day on which he was born a cursed one [Job 3:3] or Jeremiah [Cap. 20:17] who is angry that he did not die in his mother's womb? Jerome also uses a very harsh word when he says that men are more wretched than all animals, since after all other misfortunes in this life they still have to expect or at least fear eternal death. These are words that have come out of a heart that has become angry and unwilling because of the feeling of evil. But it is not an evil sign to be angry in this way, only this movement must be tempered and governed in the right 1) way. For just as a young man feels unchastity, but God forgives him for it if he either keeps this feeling in check and controls it or takes a wife, so those movements of a grumbling, blaspheming, doubting heart also cling to Christians, but they must be kept in check so that they do not, as with the ungodly, amount either to contempt of God or to despair.

Augustine says: "It is worse to be than not to be; but if you consult with yourself, you will say that the contradiction is better. These thoughts are not far from blasphemy, especially if you indulge in them. But it often happens, and I have seen this happen to many, that inexperienced people, when they felt these thoughts of blasphemy, almost died. Therefore, it is necessary to control them. But this is the right control of them, that you firmly believe that you are not rejected by God because you feel them. For although there is some cause of such thoughts in us, for they are the fruit of original sin, they are nevertheless also promoted and increased by the tempter, Satan. Thus it often happens to godly youths and virgins that they become inflamed with unchaste thoughts, even against their will. For when a man is seized by lust, he is completely seized, so that he sees nothing else,

1) Erlanger: eerte instead of: eorta.

can hear and think, than what the rut gives him. Thus the hearts are taken over by anger, worry, hatred and similar movements. In such temptations dominion [over ourselves] is necessary, that we strengthen ourselves by the Holy Spirit and take care that we will not perish for the sake of it, because we feel such things. For it is not always the fault of evil desire and one's own infirmity that a young person is inflamed with unchastity, that the heart is stirred up by anger and other sinful inclinations, but such things often happen from Satan, who drives hearts by his goads and inflames the flesh against their will.

For it often happens that you heartily desire to be freed from the impure impulse of the heart, and yet are unable to do so. Then we must follow this advice: first, that we do not despair of our salvation, as I said before; second, that we resist such thoughts, do not approve of them or indulge in them, and at the same time implore help from God through earnest prayer. For such thoughts do not come to you for the sake that you should judge according to them and follow them, but that you should resist and fight against them with prayer. But as I have said of the greater temptations of unchastity, of wrath etc., so must this temptation of blasphemy be held. For the devil disguises himself as an angel of light and in the form of God in order to lead us away from prayer and words, and thus to attack and overcome us uncovered. When he has challenged us with blasphemous thoughts, he immediately accuses us: "Look at your heart," he says, "what is it like? Are you not a sinner? This the heart must admit. Then he adds something else: "So God is angry with you, for how should God not be angry with sin? If you soften a little here, he overpowers you, and truly, many have Satan killed in this way.

Therefore, prudent behavior (gubernatione) is necessary, that you oppose the enemy, and firmly maintain that your weakness is known to God, and that God will not be offended by it if you do not let it take the reins. But that you are a sinner

If you are a man of God and acknowledge this with humble confession, this is a pleasant humiliation for God, since he taught this through Moses and the prophets and revealed his law so that he could humiliate us in this way. But what Satan brings in this humiliation, either to despair or to contempt and blasphemy, you shall regard as only sufferings and not real things or a judgment passed [by God]. Thus, when a son is chastised by his father, he does not think that the rod is a sign of disinheritance, but even though he suffers the rod, he still holds that his father is and remains his father. Thus, he who is burdened with serious illness puts the illness out of his sight, sees and hopes for healing. In this way the thoughts of blasphemy are indeed frightening, but nevertheless they are good, if one only guides them rightly and uses them well. For they include the inexpressible groaning that penetrates into heaven and forces the divine majesty, as it were, to forgive and make blessed. This can be felt, as can all arid spiritual things; it cannot be said, nor learned without experience. That is why Dionysius is rightly ridiculed, who wrote about the negative and the affirmative (negativa et affirmativa) theology. Afterwards he describes the affirmative theology as being: God is something (est ens); the negative one is: God is not something (est non ens). But because we want to describe the denying theology correctly, we must say that it is the holy cross and the temptations, in which God is not seen, but nevertheless the groaning is there, of which I have just said. But it is useful that this be often held up and impressed upon us, for the sake of those who either experience such temptations themselves, or others who are in them, must be comforted, as it is commanded in Scripture that the fainthearted should be comforted, and that the smoldering wick should not be quenched, but guarded. For the Holy Spirit knows that the devil is equipped in many ways, and at every hour endeavors to tempt us with those thoughts of despair and sadness.

to attack. Therefore, he reminds and exhorts everywhere that Christians should instruct and uplift one another with sayings of the Holy Scripture (divina auctoritate).

Therefore, also among us all diligence and effort shall be put into it, that you hear me according to God's commandment, and I comfort you when you are in battle and danger; that you believe me, and I in turn believe you when I am in similar danger. I am indeed a doctor, and many confess that they have been not a little encouraged by me in the holy scriptures, but it has often happened to me that I have felt that I have been helped and raised up by the word of a brother who in no way thought to be like me. For the word of a brother, which is held forth from the Scriptures at the time of danger, has tremendous weight. For the Scriptures have the Holy Spirit as their inseparable companion, who moves and directs hearts in many ways through the Word. Thus Timothy, Titus, Epaphroditus comforted St. Paul; also the brethren who went out to meet him from Rome, though he was in many ways more learned and skilled in God's Word. For even the greatest saints have their times when they are weak, but others are stronger. Now this is the constant law and rule of Christ, that the strong should bear the weaker, as the bones bear the flesh. For just as no one throws away his nose for its own sake, because it is full of unclean separation (phlegmate) and is, as it were, the cloaca of the brain, so also the weak in the time of their weakness are a part of the kingdom of Christ, and are not to be thrown away for its own sake, but must be cared for, healed, and raised up.

But we want to return to Moses. He is now, in truth, in the most difficult part of the bargain (in epitasi negotii); therefore, he freely presents his thoughts to God, so that he may the more easily persuade him to forgive and to make him blessed. What, he says, are we men whom your wrath kills? Truly our death is more dreadful than all death and sorrow, not only of other living creatures, but also of other men. For what is this, that Epicurus dies, who is not

not only does not know that there is a God, but also does not recognize his misfortune, which lies on his neck? But Christians and people who fear God realize that their death and all other misfortunes of this life are the wrath of God. Therefore, they are forced to fight and contend with the angry God in order to keep their blessedness. But what are the people who are already burdened and oppressed with the miseries of this life before? Even if this were not the case, the fear of death alone would be a great misery. For no other kind of living being is so tormented by the fear of death as man.

But what do I say about unreasonable animals? Consider the life of godless men, of Epicurus and his like, with whom it is in truth as Job 21:9, 13 says: "Their house is at peace from fear, and God's rod is not over them. They grow old in good days, and are scarcely a moment afraid of hell."

But the godly and the saints are martyred all their lives with many sorrows of death and other things, they are harassed by Satan with daily fear and uncertainty of life. For they recognize that God is angry with sins and that sin is the cause of all misery. This is not recognized by reason and the pagans. If we also experience such thoughts of fear and wrath of God, we must not despair for that sake, as if this were an evil sign. For afterwards we shall hear that Moses also asked this of God, that he might think of this wrath. For we see how frightening the security of the hearts of men is, that although they are reminded of themselves and of other people by daily and exceedingly hard miseries, yet they do not inquire of God, as it is said in Isaiah [Cap. 9, 13.], "The people turn not to him that smiteth them." For they are like sows, and entirely without feeling, and do not perceive that this misery is laid up by God.

But God wants us at least to recognize our misfortune and to be corrected by the plagues. Therefore, when you realize that out of God's wrath for the sake of sin you have fallen upon

If you are afflicted in various ways and therefore sometimes grumble out of impatience, do not lose heart. For the cause does not lie with you alone, but the devil is also involved, who instructed man in paradise that he should not be satisfied with what God had commanded, but should also ask about the cause. Therefore, such speeches arise from impatience: Why were we born? Why is our situation not the same as that of the animals? etc. Even truly holy people are plagued with this temptation, and this temptation was not entirely unknown in the monasteries, for it was called the spirit of blasphemy, and Gerson consoles against it in various ways. He uses a number of similes: just as we do not care for the hissing of geese, so we must despise it and cast it out of our hearts, even though we feel it. For just as a barking dog only becomes more irritated and rages more fiercely the more earnestly you make it your business to fight it off, so also the advice is given that one should not provoke such thoughts by pursuing them. Something similar is read in the "Descriptions of the Lives of the Fathers" (vitis patrum), for there one of them teaches that such thoughts are like the birds that fly in the open air, and says that it is not in our power to resist them, that they should not fly here or there, but that it is in our power that they should not make their nests in our hair. So also those thoughts originated from another cause, which lies outside of us, namely from the devil. Therefore it cannot be prevented that they should not invade us, but we can beware that we do not indulge in them and thus become entangled in sin. This is very wisely taught and from a great experience in spiritual things.

Therefore, we too should comfort ourselves in this way. When Satan shoots his arrows into our hearts, we should think that they are thoughts of the devil and of our weakness, which by nature is inclined to impatience and grumbling. So the devil has an open window to attack us. But it must not be due solely to the raging of the

devil, but also on the counsel of God. For he has promised mercy to the hearts that are so wounded, and for this reason he allows us to be humbled, so that we may sigh and pray to him. Thus he led Moses into the extreme distress at the Red Sea, not so that he would perish there and the Egyptians would return unharmed to their own after the extermination of the Jews, but so that Moses would pray and be saved, who alone had to bear the guilt, as if the people had fallen into this distress according to his will. But Moses feels this danger. Although he did not say anything with his mouth, the Lord nevertheless said to him [Ex. 14:15], "What are you crying out for?" Therefore, just as Moses did not perish in that danger, nor was he challenged for the sake that he should perish, but that he might be helped by the Spirit, and cry out to God with all his heart and be saved, so also those will not perish but be saved who feel the thoughts of blasphemy, yet control them and keep them in check, as I said above. For just as the tinder of unchastity is in the young, so the devil is at work in those who are spiritual (spiritualibus), to bring them to despair. For when he sees that people are dealing with it, that they would like to become blessed, then he strikes the hearts with thoughts of wrath and with examples of the terrible judgment of God, which subjects us to sin and death, so that they should begin to dispute with themselves like this: Why has God so burdened us with eternal misery? If someone lends his heart and ears to this disputation, he will gradually be so filled with the feeling of God's wrath that he will have nowhere to stay because of fear and terror.

Therefore, when this is felt, it must be considered that it is now time not to despair but to sigh. Therefore, sigh for salvation, which will surely come. But the reason why God allows this to happen, order Satan to find out from God. For this affliction and all other trials are laid upon us for this reason, that we may be humbled, not that we may be damned.

And this is also the reason for Moses to set up his sermon so sharply and to make the misery of the people great above all other misery, because it is connected with God's wrath. Therefore, those who do not raise themselves up by trusting in the mercy of God will feel nothing but either despair or blasphemy. But God's will is not that we should despair, but that through Christ we should overcome these things, just as the apostles and other saints overcame similar trials. Thus the holy virgins felt that they were women (suum sexum), the martyrs felt the pain of torture, but both mastered and overcame this feeling. In this way, all the saints feel this anger, but through Christ they also overcome it. For this feeling belongs to the mortification [of the flesh] (mortificationem). It is a great evil to be consumed, but to be consumed by the wrath of God is indeed something that human reason does not know how to overcome, unless it is instructed by the Word of God and supported by the Holy Spirit.

The second part of this verse, "and thy wrath maketh us to pass away suddenly," actually speaks of the terror of death; if it were not there, death would in truth be a kind of sleep. For just as a dead serpent retains the form of a serpent, but being without venom, cannot harm, so death would in truth be dead if it were without this terror, which is in truth, as it were, the poison of death. Therefore, we must pray that we do not have to suffer this terror in the last hour, but rather in life, even though we cannot bear it without grumbling. Thus Paul says [2 Cor. 7:5.], "Outward strife, inward fear." But this fear is necessary throughout life to kill and awaken the old man, lest he snore in safety. Therefore, just as children who cannot be corrected by the rod must be chastised with knives, so those who cannot be corrected by corporal punishment, nor taught the fear of God, must be punished with the

774 L- xvm, sos-^io. interpretations on the psalms. W. v. uss-nss. 775

The people should break with the hellish fire and the feeling of God's wrath, so that they do not remain unintelligent. But as soon as they feel the wrath of God, then they should be told to hope, and they should be raised up. Now this is the one misery that makes us more miserable than all other creatures. Although they are also mutable and subject to death, they are not changed in the wrath of God, as we, who live in the terror of divine wrath, are. Now follows the other sorrow, that we are also burdened with sins. The rest of the living beings do not feel and suffer this misery either.

V. 8 For our iniquity you set before you, our unconcealed sin in the light before your face.

He said that man lives in fear of death; why is that? Because we have sin, but death is the wages of sin. Therefore, when the conscience feels sin, it cannot hold and conclude otherwise than that it has an angry God and therefore must die. The word means our hidden or secret. This, he says, thou hast set before thee, as it were, in the clear light of the sun, and seest it, and "let me not be innocent," as Job [Cap. 9, 28.] says. This is also not far from blasphemy, especially when you look at the heart to whom: it speaks such words. It shows indeed that it desires to be free from sins, but, it says, that is impossible for me. Through whose fault? Certainly God, who sees our most secret, forgives nothing, takes everything into account, inscribes even the smallest thing in his debt book. This thought causes even our best works to displease us, since heaven and earth seem to be full of our sins. This is what matters in this thing that God does with us, so that we walk in the feeling of our sins and death. But it is not evil, as I also said above, that one should feel this, complain about his misery, and judge that there is nothing but damnation with us. Of course, you may complain and groan in this way, then also make an effort to lead and arrange your life according to this groaning, then it will happen that you will feel salvation.

Furthermore, it is important to note this statement that no man can see all his sins, especially considering the greatness of original sin. And this is not to be wondered at. For who can sufficiently describe only the one sin of unchastity, which is known to all, even if we were all poets, equal to Virgil or Ovid? That is why also Solomon says [Proverbs 30:19] that a man's way with a maid is unsearchable, that is, no one can explain the heart movements of lovers or express them sufficiently in words. How much less, therefore, can the other more serious and spiritual sins be sufficiently recognized, as there are the impatience in repulsions, blasphemies, murmuring against God etc. How deep an abyss is unbelief alone? In truth, therefore, sin is as great as he who is offended by sin. But heaven and earth cannot contain him. He therefore rightly calls sin something hidden, whose greatness cannot be grasped by the mind. For like the wrath of God, like death, sin is also infinite. But Moses wants us to learn and believe this, so that we may be terrified and sigh to God for mercy, so that we will not be among the number of those who despise, but, crushed and humiliated and ready to die, hope through the grace of God to attain eternal glory that is important beyond all measure [2 Cor. 4:17].

Those who are thus crushed and humbled by the hammer of the law can be instructed and taught to deflect those arrows of Satan when he provokes us, that we should investigate the causes why God deals with us in this way, why he exercises all his power against this dry leaf, as Job speaks [Cap. 13, 25]. These disputations may well occur to you, but do not let them frighten you. Rather, hold that these too are punishments of sin and arrows of the devil, which are repelled with the shield of faith, and serve 1) that our security and hope may never be-

1) Instead of val^nt6 should be read vulentek, referring to xosnas and Za^ittas. The former reading could only go to üüei. The then resulting sense seems to us to be inappropriate.

that is caused by the original sin. Therefore, as much as can be said about the misery of men, so much is said here by Moses, and I do not believe that this can be stated in better or weightier words. For he takes his sermon here to the extreme, that the cause of this misery is sin, which, although it is hidden from us and from the whole world, is nevertheless placed before God's face and in bright light. What can be said that is more weighty? Nevertheless, Moses is different from other blasphemers because he still maintains the childlike sighing against God, his Father. He does not turn his face away from God; he does not belittle God, he does not blaspheme, but looks straight at Him and in a childlike manner he murmurs and complains. The wicked do not do this in such a sense of God's anger, but because they throw away all hope in God's goodness, like Judas, Cain and Saul, they therefore burn with intense hatred against God, blaspheme God in their hearts, and sin more and more. Now follows:

V. 9 Therefore all our days pass away by thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale.

The verbum XXX (which we have translated by "to pass") contains an extraordinary diminution or disparagement of human life. For it expresses that our life does not turn its face toward us as if it were coming, but rather its back, as it flees in the quickest course, as the poet says in a delicate manner: 1)

Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi Prima fugit, subeunt morbi etc..

So, if you count all the years, from the sin of Adam to the last point of time, you will see that all those years with the whole human race are nothing but a shifting and fleeing. It is not a constant or fixed duration, but as the poet says: 2)

1) Vir§. deoi-^ioa, lid. Ill, v. 66 kq. Cf. above Col. 760. (Erl. 18, 294.)

Tempora labuntur, tacitisque senescimus annis. [The time passes, and will become old, while

while the years pass quietly].

Moses did not teach this first, nor did he teach it alone, but he received it from the fathers, who compared the whole life to an extremely fast flight. But this is by far the most important thing, that he not only says that life flees, but that this flight is also a punishment that God has imposed in his wrath. Other living creatures also have this evil upon them, that their life does not last very long, but with the animals this does not happen out of God's wrath. Therefore, Moses here directs his attention in his own way, and thus reminds us of our suffering, so that the hearts, frightened by such great dangers, may cast off all security, and at the same time learn to pray in the fear of God.

That he adds: "We spend our years like chatter" or a speech, this also serves to diminish our very miserable life. Just as a poem or rather some verse of Virgil passes by when it is recited, so does our life. Furthermore, this simile is very appropriate on both sides, whether one understands it from the essence or from the movement. As for the essence, no one knows what speech is. It is a sound by which the ears are struck, but one does not know its beginning or end, what it is or where it comes from. Before you begin to speak, it is nothing; when you have ceased to speak, it is also nothing; apart from the sound, we know nothing of what speech is. This, he says, is the nature of our life; it is, as it were, a kind of echo that ends and breaks off in the shortest time. If you prefer to understand the simile in terms of movement, it fits well. For what is faster than the human voice? The face is indeed quicker, but it only catches hold of one object, for it cannot be directed to different objects in an instant in order to recognize them correctly. But the speech comes out of the mouth in an instant and perfectly, and enters all ears in the same instant or time. This was the reason why the poets attached wings to Mercurius-.

and known is the epithet in Homer: Winged words, and Ovid 1) says: Volat irrevocabile verbum. [There rose the word, which cannot be called again].

Therefore, if one may understand the essence of speech or the movement of it, it is an exceedingly great diminution of the brevity of life that we know neither the beginning nor the end of our life, but just as a sound and a noise is produced and fades away (absolvitur), where neither anything is there before, nor anything remains after, so, says Moses, is our life. The nightingale is a small bird, and yet it fills heaven and earth with its voice. But whence this voice is, where it begins, where it ends, you do not know: such is our life. Who, therefore, should be hopeful of riches, power and dignity, since these things are not only transitory (fluxiles), but also our life is exceedingly short?

V.10. Our life lasts seventy years, and when it comes to the end, it is eighty years, and when it has been delicious, it has been toil and labor, for it passes quickly as if we were flying away.

If we make this comparison between our years and God's, seventy years are not equal to a moment or a dot. But Moses wants to compare them among themselves, as he says [in the Vulgate], in ipsis, there are seventy years of toil and labor. Further, "seventy" and "eighty years" must be understood according to the physical point, not the mathematical. For he does not want to designate exactly seventy or eighty, as if there were nothing below or above them, but since people generally reach this age, he sets this common goal. For what is above this age does not deserve the name "life," since then everything that belongs to natural life comes to an end: men enjoy neither food nor drink with pleasure, are almost unfit to do any business, and are preserved only for their own torment. But the preceding years, if you look to God, are like-

1) This word is found in Horatii Lpistolarum lid. I, ep. XVIII, v. 71.

With us they are, as it were, flying, during which one feels nothing but effort and work. Now notice here whether it is not a great pity that, although we all suffer and experience this, there are nevertheless very few who, I say, feel this sensation, as it is said in the German proverb that the old fools are the best (senes stultos stultissimos esse). For how many are there who, even though they have come to the misery of this old age, realize that old age, death and similar things are punishments? Yes, in strange foolishness they become young, not only according to the senses, but also according to the desires. O misery upon misery!

But here the question is raised whether at this time the years of life are less than at the time of Moses, and whether at the time of Moses all in general reached the seventieth or the eightieth year. Moses did reach the one hundred and twentieth year, but David did not reach the eightieth. Therefore, he sets this certain number of years, as it were, as a means for people to reach in general. Our age nowadays has not become much less, if only we lived moderately after the manner of those people and did not spoil our health and life by inordinate indulgence and eating and drinking. They lived according to the right measure in the highest simplicity, therefore it was also easy for them to bear the expenses, and they came to their right age, to which also we would perhaps arrive, if we controlled the body with the same moderation, although I do not disapprove of the opinion of those who think that in our time something has gone away from the age of man. Before the Flood, five hundred or four hundred years was the physical average that men generally attained. For the fathers came up to eight hundred and nine hundred years. But as after the Flood much of the age of man has departed, so it is probable that our time has departed somewhat from the time of David.

Therefore, just as Moses set a common goal of seventy years, so we can set forty or fifty years in our time. For there are

very few who reach the age of sixty, and they are considered to be at a great age. And it is not to be wondered at; for if one wants to reckon according to our intemperate way of life in comparison with the moderate and simple life of those people, it is rather to be wondered at that some can reach the sixtieth year. For children with weak bodies must necessarily be born of intemperate parents. Thus it is easy to judge from intemperance in eating and drinking alone that something has gone out of the life of the people. But what can be said here about the infirmities of the constitution of the body (complexionum) through the influence of the heavenly bodies (ex causis coelestibus), I leave to the philosophers and the mathematicians; for us daily experience is sufficient. It is not necessary to discuss the complaints of old age here; Cato, in the writings of Cicero, advocates with great earnestness that they are very small [, but in vain]. 1) For the thing counts more than words, and the general experience is the opposite. Is not this a great complaint, that an old man is deprived of almost everything by which this life is seasoned?

Cicero introduces a story about Sophocles from Plato. When someone asked him, since he was already very old, if he still cared for pleasure, he answered: "God forbid! I really liked to escape from him, like from a rough and angry master. Cicero praises this word very much; but if we consider the matter in the right way, we will see that in place of the one youthful pleasure (libidinis) with the ancients, I say, a hundred heavier and worse lusts (libidines) come, envy, anger, worry, impatience, suffering, which they inflict, evil examples [which they give] 2) etc. The comic poet therefore rightly says: old age is in itself a disease. With truth, therefore, it is called a burdensome life, which is a burden to itself and to others. If it now

1) Inserted by us.

2) Added by us. After movent a comma is to be put, which is missing in all editions. Accordingly, the translator has: "pain they received from evil examples" etc. Surely such pain is not sin?

there have been some people who have lived out their old age in such a way that it has neither been burdensome for others nor unpleasant for themselves, what are they compared to all the rest? Because, as it is said in the proverb: A swallow does not make a summer. The two words XXX and XXX are commonly taken figuratively, but here they stand in their proper meaning of Job 5:7. [Vulg.] "Man is born to labor [XXX] or complain, as the bird is born to fly." But the Scriptures elsewhere use these words for a fictitious worship of God or idolatry, and this because all superstition and idolatry in truth afflict men, as we call in German the "devil's martyrs," who without need impose many complaints upon themselves, and there is a German proverb that it costs much more trouble and labor to get into hell than into heaven. 3) For false religion or idolatry cannot have true joy of heart and peace in the Lord. Therefore, it necessarily brings with it a restless and anxious heart. Therefore, these terms fit idolatry very well. Thus, the whole life is toil and labor, unless these ills are alleviated by faith and the hope of mercy in the born-again, who are new men and cannot grow old.

What is written in the second part of the verse: "It flies quickly as if we were flying away" does not need a long explanation. For we learn from experience that this saying is true. When I was a child, I was told this fable: a patriarch had asked that God tell him how long he would live. When he heard that he would live a thousand and five hundred years, he began to build a hut in solitude, which would be sufficient for him alone, and not a house. Whoever invented this fable, surely wanted to indicate by the same that even a life, which is so many

3) The devil's martyrs suffer more than Christ's martyrs, and hell must be earned more sourly than heaven. Cf. Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. VIII, 1891.

years, was nothing but a flying and an exceedingly swift passing; but now men build their houses in such a manner as if they would live here forever.

V. 11: Who believes that you are so angry? And who is afraid of such your wrath?

This is a summa with which he concludes this sermon. There are very few, he says, who contemplate the greatness of your wrath and your so terrifying fury, the others live safely while your fury is present, reigns and is above them. They take no heed that they are in sins, and that thou art angry with them. They feel their misfortune, but do not recognize and believe it; they live like unreasonable animals, as if it were just the other way around with them, and they were in the highest grace, in eternal life. So they put all the evils of life out of their sight and put them out of their mind, and surely they either blaspheme or despise. They live seventy years; they hold them as high as if they were an eternity. Yes, one can find people who are subject to the fact that they want this so miserable life more than that life, and are unwilling about the fact that they are created for immortality, as one tells of a certain farmer. Hearing many things from his priest about heaven and life in the community of the blessed, he said: "What do you praise heaven for? if only we had grain! What heaven, if we had flour here! Such people do not feel anything of death, but are in truth unintelligent like the cattle, consider everything as nothing. This blindness Moses deplores here, that people are so senseless that they do not recognize their greatest evils, even if they feel them; but like servants who are used to suffer blows, they are not improved by God's ruth. Such people, says Moses, are we all; we suffer from an incredible dullness of heart that we do not recognize the evils we feel.

And here he shows why he preached this sermon and for the sake of whom, namely for the sake of the ignorant sinners, so that they may be brought to the knowledge of their misery. For this is the greatest misery,

That we humans live in such great hardships, of which there is no number, and in such a short life, and in the danger, yes, in the certain occurrence of eternal death, and yet do not feel this and do not sufficiently recognize it. Who can sufficiently explain this so great stupor? The philosophers describe man in such a way that he is a rational living being (animal). But who will say that this is true in theology? For there man is in truth a pillar of salt, like Lot's wife, because he does not recognize the great wrath of God, and throws himself unreasonably into a thousand dangers of death, yes, often with knowledge and will. Moses holds this misery of ours before our eyes, that we are accused and condemned before God, so that we may open our eyes and, believing this, lay down our security and ask for salvation, since we are so oppressed by eternal death and sins, and yet do not feel it if we are not reminded, but if we are reminded, do not believe. For since we do not recognize nor believe those temporal things which pertain to the misery of this life, how much less will we believe those spiritual things which pertain to eternal death and life? These are great things, he says, but who believes them?

Who is afraid of your grimace?

Your anger is as great as you yourself are, therefore the anger is infinite and the wrath immeasurable, and yet man does not feel this, but like the one in the comedy thunders towards the thundering Jupiter (oppedit), so those people despise God in the most certain way. In the midst of life we are in death, and yet we do not fear, do not believe, but walk along quite safely even when all dangers are already on our necks etc. But this lament includes the request that Moses wishes that this pernicious security be taken from his heart and from the hearts of all men, and that the hearts be inflamed with faith, so that they believe this to be true and are terrified because of the wrath of God that is so great. For those who recognize and firmly hold that this is true, they improve and show themselves willing against their teachers; the others remain in the

They are sure to condemn and despise their dangers until they suffer them. Therefore, this feeling of death and wrath, this humiliation and contrition is desirable.

V. 12: Teach us that we must die, that we may become wise (Doce nos, ut sciamus numerum dierum nostrorum, ut incedamus corde sapienti). 1)

So far we have heard that Moses indicated from the beginning that after this life there is another life, and not just another life, but either a life of wrath or a life of grace. For otherwise it would be in vain to call upon this King who is outside this life, indeed outside this world, if there were not another life and your other world. For God is not seen with human eyes, as the emperor; neither is He heard, as a man, but He is outside the realm of our eyes, yea, also outside the thoughts of the human heart, as is clearly seen from the books of the heathen; for though they speak of God, yet they speak in doubting malediction. Then, all that they do in service to God, they do only for the sake of this present life; they do not think of the future. It is a common saying in the schools of theologians that there are not many testimonies in the Old Testament about eternal life and the resurrection of the dead. But if you look at how the prophets and other saints call upon God, who is apart from all that we see, you will soon realize that it is precisely by calling upon God that they confess that there is another life after this life, whether it be a life of grace or of wrath.

In this way, the first tablet also teaches clearly, since it teaches that God is, and is both merciful to those who fear Him, and a very severe judge against the sure and impenitent, that not only after this life follows another life, but-

1) This is Luther's translation (not that of the Vulgate), which also corresponds to the first German translation of the Psalter. Cf. St. Louis edition, vol. IV, 80. Only it seems that there "einhergehen" should be read instead of: "eingehen".

but also that the condition of the future life will be such that it will be either under your grace or under your wrath. Such testimonies are certain, and not so rare as the school theologians have dreamed. But we have recalled above in what purpose Moses relates both our whole life and death to the invisible God who is outside all visible things, namely, so that he may drive us to fear and reverence the invisible God, likewise so that he may kindle in us the fear of the wrath to come and the hope of eternal life. And in this respect the books of the pagans are different from the books of the holy Scriptures, in that the pagans cannot be certain that God is and cares for people even after this life, as Moses shows here, and will show even more abundantly and clearly in what follows. For now we come to the second part of this psalm.

In the first part, he has presented all the miseries of the human race very diligently. But he sees that among the other miseries this is not the last, that either the wickedness or the punishment of original sin is so great that we do not even feel these miseries we suffer. That is why the prophets and the most holy people are forced to pray that people would at least recognize their misery. Therefore, even if we call original sin a characteristic or a disease, it is truly the most extreme evil that we not only suffer eternal wrath and death, but also do not even recognize what we suffer, so that prayer is necessary for the whole human race, that it may consider what it sees, yes, what it actually experiences, that this life is not only very short, but also subject to many adversities, and that, after these bodily hardships, eternal ones are to be expected. It would be bad enough if only original sin were hidden, but that the punishment of sin itself is hidden is not merely a leprosy that feels nothing, but in truth the nature of a stone.

Therefore, Moses asks that the Lord teach us to number our days. This is not to be understood as if he wished that

He does not want the day or the hour of death to be indicated, but rather that people reflect in truth on their life, how miserable and pitiful it is, that it escapes like a shadow, and that one must spend eternity either under wrath or under grace. He wishes that we all become such calculators, so that we do not invent years without number, as tyrants in particular are wont to do, that they are either intent on a very long life, or hope that they can survive all dangers in an unhappy hour. This is the highest misery, when the present death and the other urgent miseries are either disregarded or even despised. Against this misery he prays that we may be instructed by the Holy Spirit to number our days, and that we may be afflicted by the temptations of death and other dangers, so that we may consider what we are, and also consider a hundred years of our life equal to a mathematical point and the shortest moment, as indeed it is when we value our life according to the right way, which Moses teaches here.

If I did not see that Moses prayed for these things here with such great earnestness and with such care, it would never have occurred to me that it was necessary to ask for them. For I thought that the hearts of all men would be so afraid and terrified as I am in terror. But to the one who looks at this more closely, it becomes clear that one can hardly find ten out of ten thousand who look at it this way, the whole rest of the people live as if there is neither a death nor a God. This is the greatest and most lamentable misery, that people, since they are in the midst of death, dream of life, that since they are in the midst of all misery, dream of bliss, they are safest in the utmost dangers. Therefore, we are rightly taught to pray that our days be numbered, not so that we may know the time set for us, but so that we may take note of how miserable and short our lives are, because of death and the eternal wrath of God that may befall us at any moment. One can sometimes find troubled people who have this feeling exceedingly strongly, without praying for it; but

The majority has not, since almost all live in such a way that they consider the one moment they live as an immeasurable time (saeculum). For them this prayer is very necessary, which Moses prescribes here. But listen to what he adds:

That we may become wise. 1)

In the verbum XXX, incedemus], is a common way of speaking, for it is used for what we say: to carry out things, to have to do in business, to manage something, as if he wanted to say: This is such a life that one must not stand still nor be idle, but walk along, that is, have something to do, whether in housekeeping or in worldly government. Therefore give us grace to do this wisely, that is, in humility and in your fear, that we may remember that we are under your wrath because of our sin, and not be found under the heels of men who do not rightly know or care for either their life or their death, but only feed the belly, seeking honors and power. These walk in the highest contempt against God, who is angry with them, and care neither for grace nor wrath; they therefore live in the utmost foolishness and stupor. Therefore, keep us in this wisdom, that is, in your fear. For the beginning of wisdom, or rather the highest wisdom, is the fear of the Lord [Sir. 1:16], to know the wrath of God, and to live and do all things humbly.

In this way, the Scripture praises the fear of God when people live in such a way that they fear the wrath of God at every hour and think that they deserve death. For this is the first piece of blessedness, when one sees no blessedness because of sin. This is the highest wisdom, to walk in the knowledge of the wrath of God. For in this way we are prepared, as the earth is prepared by the plow, to receive the divine seed, the fruit of which is eternal life. Pharaoh, Sanherib and others lack this

1) In Latin: inesttsrnus eorUs sapienti, "and we shall walk with wise hearts," to which the interpretation refers.

Wisdom, therefore, they perish before they realize that they perish, for they are blinded by their power and forces. On the other hand, Hezekiah, who was besieged in Jerusalem, Moses and the Jews at the Red Sea find a certain and glorious salvation. Therefore, we should hold on to this: it is not condemnable to feel the wrath of God, but it is the beginning of blessedness, which cannot be obtained without constant prayer. For it is a special gift of God, which reason neither understands nor recognizes, otherwise Moses would not ask so earnestly for this wisdom to be given.

V. 13. Lord, return to us and be merciful to your servants.

This is the main part of the prayer that is offered. He sees that there are few who live in the fear of God, who count their days and act wisely; for these few, whom he calls servants of God, he prays that God will comfort them. But as he spoke above [v. 7], when he gives the whole human race to death (occidit), of death and the eternal wrath of God, so also here he does not speak of any comfort of the flesh in this world, but of eternal life. Not only does he ask for this, but at the same time he promises it to those who have this first grace, that they may recognize the wrath of God and feel the divine judgment. This request therefore includes the prophecy of the future Christ, since eternal blessedness could only be brought about through Christ. But this secret of blessedness had to be hidden for the sake of the Epicureans and other safe people until the future of Christ, in whom the treasures of God's mercy have been revealed.

The meaning is therefore easy: You have brought us low with sorrow, you have given this first wisdom, that we may know wrath; now, dear God, you have killed enough, brought us low enough, humbled us enough: now turn at last, and be gracious to us, show us also how kind and merciful you are, that we may have something with which to comfort our hearts in this terror. For he speaks of the turning away of all wrath and

Death, not of the temporal, but of the eternal. For what else should he ask in place of these terrors? What consolation would there be in it, if we were to pass a day or two in happiness? That is why he speaks of an everlasting life and blessedness. If others will not count their days, be merciful to your servants who count them continually and fear you, who walk with a wise heart and consider your wrath. For you are the God who will restore to life those who have been killed etc.

Of course, I have also reminded of this opinion above. For he prays to such a God, who is a king outside of this bodily life of ours, therefore he asks absolutely for the attainment of eternal life. For if there were no other life apart from this bodily life, what need would we have of God? We have dominion over all other creatures, over the fish, the birds and the beasts of the field; that would be enough for this bodily life, if the worldly regiment and the household were ordered. But Moses shows that after this life there is another life, since in this distress he prays to God, who is outside the world and invisible. It follows that His grace and the life we desire from Him is invisible and belongs to another life, as far as we are concerned, but does not concern the oxen, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 9:9: "He does not care for the oxen."

That he now teaches in this way that one should expect eternal bliss through God secretly indicates that God must become man. If the Jews have not all understood this, what is that to us? Not even today all of them know our religion or care about it. Therefore, just as there are many among us who sing this Psalm and yet do not understand it, so under the law only the spiritually minded people saw these darkly indicated mysteries and recognized that God, whom they worshipped in the tabernacle and whom they believed to dwell in the mercy seat, should become man in his own time and bring this blessedness to mankind, against the wrath of God and eternal death. The others, like swine, were only interested in their well-being.

We are not concerned with lust and temporal concerns, as many today misuse the Gospel, as if everything depended on temporal things. But it is fitting for us to expect another life and another kingdom, which Moses here refers to as an eternal kingdom; and no doubt, when he wrote this verse, he was looking at the mystery of our blessedness, and had a foretaste of eternal life, since he teaches those who are terrified by their sins to pray in this way and to hope for blessedness.

V. 14. Fill us early with your grace, and we will boast and rejoice all our lives.

By "grace" he actually understands the grace that belongs to the thing he is talking about, that is, not any particular grace, but the quite general one that serves this whole disease about which he has complained so far. But now he has confessed and complained, not about any particular misfortune or disease, such as the exile in Egypt or Babylon, but about the general misery of the whole human race, about sin and the wrath of God, under which the whole world lies oppressed. Therefore, since he now asks for mercy, it follows with inevitable consequence that he asks for such mercy, which is a remedy for this general and common evil. For what or why else should he ask for a small and small benefit for a few years against an infinite misery?

The Scriptures often use the word "grace" for special and bodily benefits, but here the text and the context force us to take "grace" in a general way, from the general blessedness against the general ruin of sin and death, so that the opinion is: Give an overflowing grace, not a special one, by which either the kingdom or health is preserved; we ask for a fullness and an abundance of your grace. For in this calamity, which afflicts the whole human race, not a special and (that I say so) dripping grace is enough for us, but as it were a flood and an abundance.

a sea that satisfies us; then we will rejoice and be glad. For grace alone, which frees us from sin and assures us of certain eternal bliss, produces constant and true joy, gratitude and thanksgiving.

V. 15. Now please us again, after you have afflicted us so long, after we have suffered such lukewarm misfortunes.

From the foregoing it is known of what humiliation or plagues he speaks. For he said [v. 7]: You make man nothing, [v. 9] our days pass away by your wrath and fury. There he speaks of the evils which we have seen, all the time we have been living, even which the whole human race has suffered and is suffering from the beginning of the world to the end. For this evil, he says, I ask you now, with which you humiliated us immediately from our birth, and for the years in which we have seen how we have all been ruined because of sin. He therefore shows that he asks for an eternal remedy against the evils that are born with us and always cling to us, namely against original sin and its punishments. Against these evils, he says, we pray, and ask for an eternal forgiveness of sins, - not for a legal one, - against the perpetual evil. Then we also pray for deliverance from punishment, that we may be not only righteous, but also joyful and cheerful, that humiliation and sin may be taken away through the forgiveness of sins, and also that the seeing of misfortune (visio malorum, 1) as he says, may cease through the joy and blessedness which is the deliverance from punishment.

Furthermore, it is not hidden that the prophet asks with these general words for the future of Christ into the flesh. For this redemption could not be brought about in any other way than through the only begotten seed. For this mystery had to be indicated in such obscure words, so that those who would be holy might know in what way they would be saved.

1) In Latin the end of the verse is: seeunäuru anllos, ^uibus viäiuaus atüietionem.

should be made blessed. And this is the light of the Holy Spirit, which the necessary context of the text proves, that Moses asks for a remedy against the general anger against sin. Since this was only with the Messiah, this request includes Christ. The saints recognized this by the help of the Holy Spirit, but the rest of the rough and carnal crowd did not see it, especially since the Scriptures often use the same words about bodily and special salvation. Therefore, those who do not pay attention to the context will never recognize that Christ is asked here to come into the flesh and free the world from sins and death. For this is that fullness and satisfaction of mercy which the 130th Psalm, v. 7, calls "much redemption." For by this ransom, which is paid for sins, innumerable wagers could be redeemed.

V. 16. Show your servants your works, and your glory to their children.

This belongs to the same prayer that was started above. The word is well known; it is usually translated by "work," but in such a way that one must understand a work of recompense or a reward, as Isa. 40, 10.: "His reward is with him," where ^2 is written, and in the 109th Psalm, v. 20: "So be it unto them" in the Vulgate: Hoc opus eorum, similarly in Job [Cap. 27, 13.]: "This is the reward (opus) of an ungodly man", that is, this is the reward (praemium), this is their inheritance or retribution. In this way, also here, the work of God is understood from the reward or reward which God pays to those who, trusting in His mercy, have endured the terrors of death and other perils of which Moses said, as if to say: We are afflicted with sins and oppressed by death, we have been the most shameful slaves of devils; therefore, give us your work against that work of Satan. For the pronoun "thy" emphatically includes the antithesis. Therefore, the manner of speaking and the meaning agree with what John says in his first epistle [Cap. 3, 8.]: "Christ has come to destroy the works of the devils.

of the devil destroy." The work of the devil is that he has trodden under the feet of Iins, and through sin has cast us out of life into death, as the epistle to the Hebrews [Cap. 2, 14.] calls the devil the author of death. Against this work of the devil Christ came with his work and took away the power of death and brought life to the light. For these are in truth divine works, which justify, quicken and save.

It is true that God also claims the work of killing for Himself, as we have heard above in the prayer of Moses, and the Scripture clearly says full of God that He kills and makes alive. But Isaiah makes a distinction here and says that some works are works of God, but some are foreign, and some are his own. His own works are the works of mercy, that He forgives sins, declares those who believe in Christ righteous and makes them blessed. Foreign works are that he judges, condemns, punishes the impenitent and unbelievers. God must take these and call them his work, because of our hope, so that we, humbled, may recognize him as our Lord and obey his will. Then he must also do this for the sake of the cause we have indicated above, namely, so that we do not invent for ourselves, according to the example of the Manichaeans, that there are several gods, or one author (principium) of good and one author of evil. God wants us to see to it that the evil that is inflicted upon us is inflicted upon us by His permission. For if he did not permit it, the devil could never have harmed Job in this way. But he allows it for his own sake, so that we, humbled, may throw ourselves on his mercy. Thus the word XXX denotes, as it were, a retribution, so that the opinion is: "Show your works," that is, make us alive who are humbled by death, make us righteous who are afflicted by sin, and thus show us your real work, life and righteousness etc.

But, you will say, he asked for the same above, wishing to be satiated with mercy. It is true, but this prayer is directed to ask that this work of mercy be shown to be felt. For it is not enough that one

794 xvm, 329-331. - Interpretations on the Psalms. W. v, iik3-iise. 795

have a gift, unless our eyes are also opened to see the gift, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 2:12: "The Spirit has revealed it to us, so that we may know what has been given to us by God." All men have life, but how many are those who believe that it is God's gift, who thank God for it, and ask that it be given to them? The purpose of this verse, then, is that the sensation of this benefit may permeate the hearts, so that they may not doubt the forgiveness of sins, that the work of God or grace may be demonstrated in such a way that the hearts may be certain of their salvation, that they may see their life, blessedness and righteousness, as David asks in the 51st Psalm, v. 12, that he may be strengthened by a certain spirit. But it is beautiful that he calls this work of God the glory of God, since he adds: "And your glory to their children." About in the same manner connects this the 19th Psalm, v. 2. "The heavens tell the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands"; but in this place [Ps. 90, 16.] XXX, which denotes a glorious and very beautiful ornament or delicious (splendidas) garments, is like Ps. 104, 1. "Thou art beautifully and splendidly adorned." The Scripture, however, uses this way of speaking and says that God is adorned with splendid clothing, in order to indicate that God appears in the hearts of men and is revealed through His glorious and sublime works, in which He lets Himself be seen, as it were, clothed with splendid clothing.

But it is these works that Christ is made unto us of God for our righteousness, wisdom, holiness, salvation, light, joy and all good things, that he is our way, truth and life. When GOtt appears to us in these works of life, blessedness and righteousness, then He appears to us in truth in His glory. But before He so appears, then He is in truth, as Moses says, under the dark waters. That is why despondent consciences are afraid of him, not seeing the works of his glory, imagining him to be the devil and not being able to picture him in a lovable form or clothing. They arm him with swords and lightning, so that indeed there is nothing more terrifying or abominable in heaven or on earth.

as the wrathful God. As such he appeared on the mountain Sinai, as such Moses also described him above. Here, however, he asks that another form be shown to us, which we can look upon with pleasure and about which we can rejoice. This is how God is in truth when we look at Him in the person of Christ. For in Him is the highest mercy, life, blessedness, salvation. In him GOtt is gloriously seen, that is, adorned with his glorious and lovely works. In this way, he says, show yourself to us miserable and damned sinners.

This is the first part of the petition by which he asks for forgiveness of sins and righteousness and eternal life. He asks for these things in such a way that we are certain and our heart can in no way doubt them. Since this only happens in Christ, this request actually includes the future of Christ in the flesh. What now follows, and with which he concludes the prayer, actually belongs to our works.

V. 17. And the Lord our God be kind to us, and promote the work of our hands with us; yea, the work of our hands will he promote.

In the word XXX ["kind"] there is, as it were, a flood of grace. Until now, he says, O Lord, we have asked for your work. There we do nothing, but are only spectators and recipients of your gifts, we behave only suffering. For then you show yourself to us and make us blessed only through your work, which you do by freeing us from the disease that the devil in Adam inflicted on the whole human race, namely sin and eternal death. After this thy work we also come with our work, when we are thus justified, and live holy in obedience to thy word, and this is well pleasing and acceptable unto thee; but yet this also is of thy grace, and proceedeth out of thy work, which thou didst first. Therefore let the Lord our God be kind to us, that we may please him, having been reconciled to him through the death of his Son. For he desires that the Lord be joyful and kind to those to whom he has given his life.

he has shown his works, so that we may not fear his face, but may firmly believe that we and ours are pleasing to him. He asks this because, even though we are saved from death, the remnants of sin remain in the saints, and many other troubles follow, as well as many sufferings and temptations within us and outside of us. Therefore, if God wanted to look at everything according to severity, God would be angry at any moment.

This is because God does not want to be angry with what remains of sin in us because of the flesh; therefore, He does not want to take away life and the forgiveness of sins from us; but rather that God remain kind and loving toward us, and in turn we should remain kind and loving toward God. For this is to show God in His glory (gloriosum), not as He is in Himself, but that He is kind, glorious, and joyful toward us, and then it is said that God is joyful over us if we consider that God is not angry with us, but is a friend to us and kind toward us. But this is a very necessary request; because our flesh is weak, our heart fearful, and our conscience exceedingly tender, therefore we are terrified at the slightest occasion. Then, because sins and the punishments of sins are daily, there is sufficient cause for sadness and weakness of faith. Now when our hearts become sorrowful, it is said that God Himself becomes sorrowful, who died for this reason, so that we might be righteous, holy and joyful. Therefore this petition belongs here, that we say: O Lord, you have given us your Son; keep this gift for us. Often we fall by a word, often by a work, often still by thoughts; this disturbs this joy. Therefore, even if we sin or are careless and ungrateful, you remain our God in such a way that you may be kind and loving, that is, that we may be preserved in the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit.

The other part of this verse repeats twice that the work of our hands may be furthered, perhaps for the sake of showing the difference between the spiritual and the spiritual.

The first is to indicate the kingdom of the flesh, for according to this our works are also distinguished. For some we do in the church and others in the home, either in the household or in the temporal government. In the church we do what concerns the soul and the spiritual life; in the home and in the household and in the temporal government, what belongs to the bodily life. Therefore, in the first part, he seems to say, "Direct the work of our hands" to indicate the work in which we are directed by God, and yet also do something with teaching, comforting, punishing, judging, baptizing, communicating, etc., which are works to govern the church and to guide the people in spiritual things. But we see how highly this work is needed, lest mobs break in, perverting the sacraments and their use, falsifying the word etc. Here it is truly necessary that God governs and directs this work in us, since we also do something and do not merely suffer, as in the first work of God. In this sense, I take it that he says: "Promote the work of our hands among us," as if he wanted to say: After we have been justified, grant that the doctrine may remain pure, lest in the time of the Law the Law of Moses be overturned by hypocrites, lest today the Gospel be falsified, thus grieving God and the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

The verbum means to make firm, as Peter speaks, 1 Petr. 5, 10.: "God will make you fully ready and strengthen you." Thus David calls the spirit [Ps. 51, 12] a certain, firm spirit, which does not doubt at all and accepts the word with great courage, so that, as Peter says [1 Ep. 4, 11], "If anyone speaks that he speaks it as the word of God, if anyone has a ministry," 2c, that there be no doubt of the doctrine, and that hearts be not uncertain of the gracious will of God toward them; that when any man ask forgiveness of sins, and hear the promise of Christ, he doubt not that his sins are truly forgiven him, as the word saith, and that he think it is not the work of man only, but of God. In this way, what is done in the church must be certain, not as if someone brushes the air [Cor. 9, 26],

798 L. xviii, 3Wf. Interpretations on the Psalms. W. v. iiss-ini. 799

and this is the actual meaning of this word that he uses here; we translate it generally by "promote" ([Ps. 7, 10.] confirmare - to fortify). And this request is truly necessary, because this work of God, which is administered through our service, is challenged by the devil on the outside and by our hearts on the inside. Therefore, it is difficult to hold on to this confidence that God is kind to us and not to doubt the work of God at all. But he who doubts is neither fit to teach nor to learn, but is unsteady in his ways, and is torn hither and thither. Therefore, Moses asks, not without cause, for the works of our hands to be promoted or strengthened, so that there may be certainty both in those who teach and in those who receive, so that there may remain in the church the firm foundation against which the gates of hell are powerless, and so that all may be certain about the word and the work of God.

That he now repeats: "Yes, He wants to promote the work of our hands", I take from the work in the worldly government and in the household, that God wants to give common peace, so that disruption does not occur, as Paul [1 Tim. 2, 1. f.] exhorts that one should pray for the kings, so that we may lead a calm and quiet life. Peace is necessary, not only for the nourishment of the body, but also for the education of the youth and the teaching of the churches. And it is mainly for this reason that the secular authorities are appointed, so that peace may be maintained through their efforts, works and help, lest either education be prevented by a relaxation of discipline, or the congregations may not be properly instructed through rebellion and war, as happens in war. For there is neither faith nor godliness in the men who have chosen warfare, 2) and the spirits are silent under arms.

1) Instead of ürinawentum, kunclamentani should be read, 2 Tim. 2, 19.

2) Nulln. 6(168 pietÄSHno viri8 <jUL6 castrg, 86Huuntur.

In short, the whole lovely order (harmonia) of the world regiment is dissolved by the weapons. Therefore, one must ask with Moses for peace, that God may guide the works of our hands, which are not above us, but in our hands. For that which belongs to the worldly regime and the household is subject to reason, according to the saying [Gen. 1:28]: "Rule over the fish of the sea" etc.

So Moses prays for the things that are necessary in this life: first, for forgiveness of sins and eternal life; then, because we are not idle in this life, but the soul must be strengthened by God's word until death, but the body must be nourished in peace, he prays that godliness may be taught rightly and peace may be maintained. If we have this, namely eternal life in certain hope, then pure teaching of the word (ministerium) in the church, and finally a quiet life or peace, then we have everything, and live in peace of body and soul, increasing daily in faith until we fly out to heaven. Now this is not merely a request, but also a promise, as we have said elsewhere of the prayers which the Holy Spirit has prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.

Now you have this Psalm, which I have interpreted according to the ability that the Lord has given me. After this, if the Lord will give us longer life, we will interpret the first book of Moses, so that we may finally die blessed in God's word and work. God and our Savior, Christ Jesus, grant this. Amen.

3) I will, God willing, see to it that this Psalm can be read by the godly people who do not know the Latin language in their native tongue. For it contains a useful and necessary teaching, and it is very important that it be known.

3) This last paragraph is missing in the two old "Uebersetzer".