XIV Interpretation of many beautiful sayings of sacred scripture,
which Luther wrote in the Bibles of some. *)
Preface by Georg Rörer.
To the most noble Prince and Lord, Lord Albrecht, Margrave of Brandenburg, Duke of Prussia, of Stettin in Pomerania 2c. and Burgrave of Nuremberg 2c. 2c., Georgius Rorarius wishes God's grace, through our Savior, Jesus Christ.
It is highly deplorable that we wretched people consider so little the wonderful counsel of God, and the great grace and blessing, namely that God has revealed Himself so often and with clear testimonies to the human race from the beginning, and do not want to think that we owe it to ourselves to listen to this high majesty, which presents its special secrecy to us.
If a faithful, well-learned schoolmaster gave a good, useful lesson at a certain hour every day, and the students always left it, did not want to listen, and mocked him for it, that would be a great, high and noble misdeed.
Now God is not much different in the human race. He is so gracious and merciful, and thirsts for our blessedness, as is clear from
his hidden throne, speaks to us with certain testimonies, and makes us proclaim his promise of the forgiveness of sins, and of eternal life, which is above all creature understanding and wisdom.
Nevertheless, the people run away like the wicked disciples, do not want to do so much honor to this high and most most important and most faithful schoolmaster that they listen to him; they mock him and consider his voice and teaching to be fables 2c. This great, terrible ingratitude and dishonor against God should be considered and deplored by the God-fearing, who should admonish themselves to listen to this schoolmaster with greater seriousness, to look at his prescribed teachings, and to read them.
But the fact that many do not respect this is mainly due to this blindness, that they think they are wise themselves and know what is right, even though they do not read the sermons of the peasants, which are written by prophets and apostles.
For it is in human reason a piece-
*It find the two main collections of Luther's Bible inscriptions and interpretations of sayings organized and edited by Aurifaber and von Rörer. The first edition by Johannes Aurifaber appeared without indication of place and time under the title: "Auslegung etzlicher Trostsprüche, so der ehrwürdige Herr, Doctor Martinus Luther, in seiner lieben Herren und guten Freunden Bibeln und Postillen mit eigener Hand (zu seinem Gedächtnisniß) geschrieben." This edition is provided with a letter from Aurifaber to the Count of Mansfeld, Volrath, dated "Erfurt on the 4th day Februarii 1547". This collection contains only the interpretations written by Luther himself, but not arranged according to the biblical books. Georg Rörer's collection is entitled: "Vieler schöne Sprüche aus göttlicher Schrift Auslegung, daraus Lehre und Trost zu nehmen, welche der ehrwürdige Herr Doct. Luther wrote in their Bibles. Such sayings, interpreted by other gentlemen, are also included. Wittenberg 1547." At the end: "Printed at Wittemberg by Hans Lufft." A second edition of this edition was published in 1549 by Hans Lufft, whose title was given the addition: "Mit Fleiß wiederum durchsehen und gemehret." This edition also contains interpretations by Melanchthon, Jonas, Creutziger, Bugenhagen, Georg Major, and Amsdorf. Later editions are that of Burkhardt Keller, Strasbourg 1621, and that of Emil Ohly at Frankfurt a. M. 1852. In the collective editions: Wittenberger, vol. IX, p. 480 (according to the Rörer edition with the letter to Margrave Albrecht of Brandenburg, dated August 21, 1547, which we reproduce here); Jenaer (1558), vol. VIII, p. 309; Altenburger, vol. VIII, p. 531; Leipziger, vol. XII, p. 96 and in the Erlanger, vol. 52, p. 287. The Jenaer and the following collections contain only Luther's interpretations. We base Mar on the Wittenberg edition, but leave out everything that is not by Luther himself, except the preface of Rörer. The "short explanations" of three sayings, which are printed separately from the others by Walch at the end of this writing, we have inserted at the appropriate place.
The only part of divine doctrine is the doctrine of the law, or the doctrine of outward discipline 2c. Because these worldly wise men think that this piece alone is the whole divine wisdom, and they know this piece by natural understanding, they despise the prophets' and apostles' Scriptures, do not read them, and thus remain in blindness, like the pagans.
I have also known a doctor in theology who spoke: If the books of the prophets and apostles were lost, the Church of God could be sufficiently taught and governed from the book Ethicorum Aristotelis. These are truly terrible and blasphemous words, and publicly prove that at that time the difference between the doctrine of the Law and the Gospel, or the promise of forgiveness of sins, was very obscure.
In order for us to understand correctly what divine teaching is, and what the divine secret counsel is that is above and beyond all angels and men's wisdom, which God has written through the prophets and apostles, we should always bear the difference between the teaching of the Law and the Gospel in our hearts, and we should not forget it, that this wisdom, that God will be gracious to us for the sake of His Son, that He will surely hear us and give us eternal blessedness, that He will also govern us in this life, and that He will help us in all our needs according to His counsel, cannot be taught to me in any other way than by reading or listening to the books of the prophets and apostles.
By this writing and preaching God wants to be known and to be powerful. Yes, when you begin to pray, you should remember this true God, who gave and commanded this teaching and word of His to the prophets and apostles, and gave certain testimonies to it with the raising of the dead and other miraculous works.
For in this life we cannot look at God or grasp Him in any other way than through His Word, so that He Himself may touch our hearts and work in us a light and comfort, in which, contemplating His speeches, we may look at Him and grasp Him in faith.
The human heart would like to see God with the eyes of the flesh and embrace Him with the arms, as the apostle says: "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied. John 14:8 But our Savior reproves these thoughts, and directs us from sight to word, saying to Thomas, "Blessed are they that believe, though they have not seen." But faith depends on the word, which must be read, heard and contemplated.
Therefore, it is necessary to read the writings of the prophets and apostles. To which the Holy Spirit also
Spirit so often points out. As Rom. 15:4: "That which is written is prescribed for our learning, that we through patience have hope through comfort of the Scriptures."
These words are strange among the world's tits. If Laurentius lies on the grate, what comfort can he have in the letters and syllables? If God took him alive out of the fire, this would be called a consolation. But Laurentius knows, if he himself holds these words before him: "Come to me, all you who are in distress, and I will refresh you," Matth. 11, 28, and if he concludes that these words are certainly true, that God's Son is with him and wants to make him blessed, and thus is satisfied in God through these words, then he certainly feels eternal comfort. This must be learned by experience.
To this also belongs this saying Rom. 1, 17: "The righteous lives by faith. If the heart is to have and receive comfort through faith, it must cling to divine, clear sayings and straighten itself up on them, as a sick person straightens himself on a pole. That is why the Psalm says: Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum: "Your word is a light to my feet," Ps. 119, 105.
And Paul exhorts Timothy 1 Ep. 4, 13. "Stop reading, comforting and teaching." He sums up three pieces, like a very understanding preacher. First, he says of reading, so that he may point us to this certain Scripture that God has prescribed for us through the prophets and apostles. As if he wanted to say: You should not invent your own fantasies if you want to teach yourself or others about God's nature or will, or comfort yourself or others. Only from this fountain one should draw teaching and comfort; therefore one must stop reading.
Whoever is so proud that he thinks it is enough once he has gone through the Bible, does not understand how God works with His words. Our hearts are daily challenged; therefore they need daily new admonition and new consolation. And does God give more light and comfort to the heart for and for, wanting us not to become lazy or proud, but to read and consider His Word for and for. Therefore Paul says, "Stop reading."
For this purpose, it is very useful to have many special, noble, exquisite sayings in fresh memory at all times, which soon remind, instruct, admonish or comfort us. How these sayings have often strengthened and comforted me, so that I have firmly decided with myself that God knows my misery and sorrow, and will not let me sink, namely: "All the hairs on your head will be cut off.
Head find gezählet", Matth. 10, 30. Item: "No one will snatch my sheep out of my hands" 2c., Joh. 10, 38.
Therefore, many such short sayings are collected in this booklet, together with the interpretation of the venerable Mr. Martin Luther blessed, and some others. 1) And although this work seems small, the benefit is not small, who wants to strengthen his faith with reading. As it was said before, God's serious command is that one should read and learn His Scriptures. So these short interpretations, in which the natural juice of the sayings is captured, give more understanding than many great old commentarii Origenis, or many others.
And I wanted to ascribe this work to E. F. G.'s humble and Christian opinion, because you know that Christian teachings are not fables, but unchangeable truth, and that God certainly accepts us, hears us, and wants to give us eternal bliss, as He has revealed in the Gospel, esteeming these divine promises higher than all treasures, all kingdoms, and all goods and pleasures on earth. Nor do we have any greater joy on earth than to contemplate the beautiful life to come, when we shall dwell with God His Son, with Adam, Noah, Abraham, David and other fathers, prophets and apostles, even with many of our dear parents and many good friends, in eternal wisdom and righteousness, and that this mortal life will be a life of peace.
1) We have omitted the interpretations that are from others.
Life alone is a short preparation, like a children's school, for the other life.
Therefore, E. F. G. is also doing great diligence to plant the studia, so that many people will be instructed in this children's school for their salvation. In addition, the almighty, eternal God, Father of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has revealed Himself with such certain testimonies that there is no doubt about His teachings, and wants us to ask Him for grace, wisdom, righteousness, life, relief from our misery, and eternal blessedness, may strengthen, preserve, and protect the Foundation for a long time against all enemies. May E. F. G. in all sorrow, for the sake of His Son JEsu Christ, comfort us with His Holy Spirit, Amen. Date Wittenberg, Anno 1547, on the 21st day of August, on which the church commemorates how the holy, excellent man, "John Baptist", whom God especially called to the ministry of preaching and adorned with high gifts, was murdered to please the unfaithful adulteress. So that we may be reminded that the Christian Church is placed under the Cross, and that God will certainly place her in eternal honor afterwards.
This is proven by the death of John. For since God so clearly testified to John earlier that he had called him and was merciful to him, and the tyrant now unjustly murdered him, God has not forgotten him and will hereafter be the judge between the tyrant and John. With such examples God wants us to strengthen ourselves in the right faith. For this purpose, may He grant us His grace. Amen.
From the fifth book of Moses.
You shall not do anything to it that I command you, nor shall you do anything to it.
Behold, nothing shall be done to it, nor of that which Moses commanded. And the pope wants to do from and to what Christ the Lord himself has ordered. O furious and foolish people! Moses says: "That you may keep the commandments of the Lord" 2c. That is, one cannot keep God's commandment where one wants to serve God with human doctrine. Is this not said clearly enough?
2) This year is in Walch, but not in the Wittenberg and in the Jena. Probably Walch inserted the same after Aurifaber.
Cap. 8, 10.
And when thou hast eaten, and art full, that thou mayest praise the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
Let this also be said to us, who are called and are Christians, that we also want to be held responsible for receiving the gifts from God Almighty with reverence and thanksgiving, and not to go to the table like swine to the trough, and again to run from the table when we have filled ourselves, not to thank our dear God with the slightest prayer or sigh, yes, never to remember our Lord God, who fed us ingrates out of pure mercy and mild kindness. So we forget our dear God, who gives us all kinds of rich things to enjoy.
Cap. 32, 2. 3. 1)
Let my teaching drip like the rain, and my speech flow like the dew, like the rain on the grass, and like the drops on the herb. For I will praise the name of the Lord.
Here Moses himself gives the gloss on his books, whereof he teaches and speaks, namely, he wants to prophesy 2) about the name of Messiah, Jesus Christ, who is certainly the Lord, with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. 'For all things pertain to the Son, even the Levitical priesthood, which he himself calls an image of the, future Christ, 2 Mof. 25, 40. "See that thou make it in their image, which thou sawest in the mount."' Therefore, the New Testament flowed and fell from Moses, like the rain from the clouds and the dew from heaven. Also before 3) all the prophets have it from Moses. 1544.
Martinus Luther, D.
From the Book of Joshua.
Cap. 1, 8. 4)
Do not let the book of this law come out of your mouth.
This is a glorious promise to him who loves to walk, to study the Bible, and to be diligent in it. Namely, he shall be happy and be able to drive wisely.
From the 2nd Book of Samuel.
Cap. 23, 2.5)
The Spirit of the Lord has spoken through me, and his speech has been through my tongue.
And if only the Son of Messiah, man and David's son is born, no other angel or man can understand the saying: Hebr. 1, 5: "To which angel did he ever say: You are my son, today I have begotten you"? Crede, et salvus eris.
1) This saying is found in the first part of a Bible, which is in the princely library at Dessau. (Erl. Ausg., Vol. 56, p. LXXI).
2) "er will" is missing in the Erlanger, vol. 56, p. HXI, while it is in vol. 52, p. 290, and in the Wittenberger and in the Jenaer.
3) Wittenberg and Jena: indeed.
4) Aurifaber v 2. -Walch.) This and the following interpretation are found only in Walch and in the Erlanger.
5) Aurifaber in the Trostsprüche Lutheri lüt. L4b. (Walch.) .
From the Psalter.
Blessed is he who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor treads in the way of sinners, nor sits where scoffers sit.
A hard, noticeable word is that apart from God's word all teachings of men are so utterly condemned that they are called the counsel of the wicked, the way of sinners, the seat of scoffers, and God does not want to know anything about them, they are also chaff that the wind weaves, although counsel, way, seat, are beautiful, glorious names, and shine, for the seduction of the world, and are also called God's service, Matth. 15, 8. 9. from Isaiah 29, 13.: "In vain do they serve me with the commandments of men; their heart is far from me."
Blessed is he who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked 2c.
This is just as if there were few on earth who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Now no one wants to be a sinner, nor to do wrong; where then do the wicked, and so many of them, come from? It is the cause, he says, they call it counsel, prudence, wisdom, right and good, all that they do, no one shall call it otherwise nor punish it. So it goes according to the proverb:
Everybody likes his way, that's why the world is full of fools.
Thus the earth is full of saints; only heaven must be full of sinners. Summa, only God's Son and His own must be sinners, the devil and his world is holy, and walks in vain counsel, holiness and wisdom; so it goes, so it must go. But it will end badly at last, if the end of this psalm will also come: "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked perishes.
Blessed is he who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor treads in the way of sinners, nor sits where scoffers sit, but delights in the law of the LORD, and speaks of his law day and night. 7)
6) This year only in Walch.
7) "Herr Lic. Heinrich Conrad Reuß, Hochherrl. Hofprediger zu Gera, from the library of the church there with
This is said not only of evil living, but much more of false teaching, from which no good work can come, even though it seems very good. Therefore the prophet warns that if anyone wants to become pious, do good and be saved, he should beware of all false teaching, and keep diligently to the word of God alone, and he will be safe.
Martinus Lutherus, D.
Blessed is he who delights in the law of the Lord and writes in his law daily.
It is true that in this life we are sought and entangled by the devil without ceasing. In addition, the world tempts and draws us to itself without ceasing. Thus, without this, our own flesh is lazy and sleepy for God's service. These three enemies do not let us rest, each one of them is drawing us to his own way, so that we should forget about God. Against them we have nothing else but God's word, so that we may defend ourselves and practice right faith against such powerful three enemies. But God says that "it shall be well with us" and that we shall have happiness if we diligently read, hear, speak, and keep His word, that is, if we win by the word, amen.