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The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther
Translated by F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau
April, 1999 [Etext #1722]
Project Gutenberg Etext of The Large Catechism, by Martin Luther
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This Etext prepared by Rev. Bob Smith <bob_smith@mail.ctsfw.edu>
The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther
Translated by F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau
Published in:
Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church.
St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921), pp. 565-773
Preface
A Christian, Profitable, and Necessary Preface and Faithful, Earnest
Exhortation of Dr. Martin Luther to All Christians, but Especially to
All Pastors and Preachers, that They Should Daily Exercise Themselves
in the Catechism, which is a Short Summary and Epitome of the Entire
Holy Scriptures, and that they May Always Teach the Same.
We have no slight reasons for treating the Catechism so constantly [in
Sermons] and for both desiring and beseeching others to teach it, since
we see to our sorrow that many pastors and preachers are very negligent
in this, and slight both their office and this teaching; some from
great and high art [giving their mind, as they imagine, to much higher
matters], but others from sheer laziness and care for their paunches,
assuming no other relation to this business than if they were pastors
and preachers for their bellies' sake, and had nothing to do but to
[spend and] consume their emoluments as long as they live, as they have
been accustomed to do under the Papacy.
And although they have now everything that they are to preach and
teach placed before them so abundantly, clearly, and easily, in so many
[excellent and] helpful books, and the true Sermones per se loquentes,
Dormi secure, Paratos et Thesauros, as they were called in former
times; yet they are not so godly and honest as to buy these books, or
even when they have them, to look at them or read them. Alas! they are
altogether shameful gluttons and servants of their own bellies who
ought to be more properly swineherds and dog-tenders than care-takers
of souls and pastors.
And now that they are delivered from the unprofitable and burdensome
babbling of the Seven Canonical Hours, oh, that, instead thereof, they
would only, morning, noon, and evening, read a page or two in the
Catechism, the Prayer-book, the New Testament, or elsewhere in the
Bible, and pray the Lord's Prayer for themselves and their
parishioners, so that they might render, in return, honor and thanks to
the Gospel, by which they have been delivered from burdens and troubles
so manifold, and might feel a little shame because like pigs and dogs
they retain no more of the Gospel than such a lazy, pernicious,
shameful, carnal liberty! For, alas! as it is, the common people regard
the Gospel altogether too lightly, and we accomplish nothing
extraordinary even though we use all diligence. What, then, will be
achieved if we shall be negligent and lazy as we were under the Papacy?
To this there is added the shameful vice and secret infection of
security and satiety, that is, that many regard the Catechism as a
poor, mean teaching, which they can read through at one time, and then
immediately know it, throw the book into a corner, and be ashamed, as
it were, to read in it again.
Yea, even among the nobility there may be found some louts and
scrimps, who declare that there is no longer any need either of
pastors or preachers; that we have everything in books, and every one
can easily learn it by himself; and so they are content to let the
parishes decay and become desolate, and pastors and preachers to suffer
distress and hunger a plenty, just as it becomes crazy Germans to do.
For we Germans have such disgraceful people, and must endure them.
But for myself I say this: I am also a doctor and preacher, yea, as
learned and experienced as all those may be who have such presumption
and security; yet I do as a child who is being taught the Catechism,
and every morning, and whenever I have time, I read and say, word for
word, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Psalms,
etc. And I must still read and study daily, and yet I cannot master it
as I wish, but must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and am
glad so to remain. And yet these delicate, fastidious fellows would
with one reading promptly be doctors above all doctors, know everything
and be in need of nothing. Well, this, too, is indeed a sure sign that
they despise both their office and the souls of the people, yea, even
God and His Word. They do not have to fall, they are already fallen all
too horribly, they would need to become children, and begin to learn
their alphabet, which they imagine that they have long since outgrown.
Therefore I beg such lazy paunches or presumptuous saints to be
persuaded and believe for God's sake that they are verily, verily! not
so learned or such great doctors as they imagine; and never to presume
that they have finished learning this [the parts of the Catechism], or
know it well enough in all points, even though they think that they
know it ever so well. For though they should know and understand it
perfectly (which, however, is impossible in this life), yet there are
manifold benefits and fruits still to be obtained, if it be daily read
and practiced in thought and speech; namely, that the Holy Ghost is
present in such reading and repetition and meditation, and bestows ever
new and more light and devoutness, so that it is daily relished and
appreciated better, as Christ promises, Matt. 18, 20: Where two or
three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of
them.
Besides, it is an exceedingly effectual help against the devil, the
world, and the flesh and all evil thoughts to be occupied with the Word
of God, and to speak of it, and meditate upon it, so that the First
Psalm declares those blessed who meditate upon the law of God day and
night. Undoubtedly, you will not start a stronger incense or other
fumigation against the devil than by being engaged upon God's
commandments and words, and speaking, singing, or thinking of them. For
this is indeed the true holy water and holy sign from which he flees,
and by which he may be driven away.
Now, for this reason alone you ought gladly to read, speak, think and
treat of these things if you had no other profit and fruit from them
than that by doing so you can drive away the devil and evil thoughts.
For he cannot hear or endure God's Word; and God's Word is not like
some other silly prattle, as that about Dietrich of Berne, etc., but as
St. Paul says, Rom. 1, 16, the power of God. Yea, indeed, the power of
God which gives the devil burning pain, and strengthens, comforts, and
helps us beyond measure.
And what need is there of many words ? If I were to recount all the
profit and fruit which God's Word produces, whence would I get enough
paper and time? The devil is called the master of a thousand arts. But
what shall we call God's Word, which drives away and brings to naught
this master of a thousand arts with all his arts and power? It must
indeed be the master of more than a hundred thousand arts. And shall we
frivolously despise such power, profit, strength, and fruit -- we,
especially, who claim to be pastors and preachers? If so, we should not
only have nothing given us to eat, but be driven out, being baited with
dogs, and pelted with dung, because we not only need all this every day
as we need our daily bread but must also daily use it against the daily
and unabated attacks and lurking of the devil, the master of a thousand
arts.
And if this were not sufficient to admonish us to read the Catechism
daily, yet we should feel sufficiently constrained by the command of
God alone, who solemnly enjoins in Deut. 6, 6 ff. that we should always
meditate upon His precepts, sitting, walking, standing, Lying down, and
rising, and have them before our eyes and in our hands as a constant
mark and sign. Doubtless He did not so solemnly require and enjoin this
without a purpose; but because He knows our danger and need, as well as
the constant and furious assaults and temptations of devils, He wishes
to warn, equip, and preserve us against them, as with a good armor
against their fiery darts and with good medicine against their evil
infection and suggestion.
Oh, what mad, senseless fools are we that, while we must ever live and
dwell among such mighty enemies as the devils are, we nevertheless
despise our weapons and defense, and are too lazy to look at or think
of them! And what else are such supercilious, presumptuous saints, who
are unwilling to read and study the Catechism daily, doing than
esteeming themselves much more learned than God Himself with all His
saints, angels [patriarchs], prophets, apostles, and all Christians For
inasmuch as God Himself is not ashamed to teach these things daily, as
knowing nothing better to teach, and always keeps teaching the same
thing, and does not take up anything new or different, and all the
saints know nothing better or different to learn, and cannot finish
learning this, are we not the finest of all fellows to imagine, if we
have once read or heard it, that we know it all, and have no further
need to read and learn, but can finish learning in one hour what God
Himself cannot finish teaching, although He is engaged in teaching it
from the beginning to the end of the world, and all prophets, together
with all saints, have been occupied with learning it and have ever
remained pupils, and must continue to be such ?
For it needs must be that whoever knows the Ten Commandments perfectly
must know all the Scriptures, so that, in all affairs and cases, he can
advise, help, comfort, judge, and decide both spiritual and temporal
matters and is qualified to sit in judgment upon all doctrines,
estates, spirits, laws, and whatever else is in the world. And what,
indeed, is the entire Psalter but thoughts and exercises upon the First
Commandment? Now I know of a truth that such lazy paunches and
presumptuous spirits do not understand a single psalm, much less the
entire Holy Scriptures; and yet they pretend to know and despise the
Catechism, which is a compend and brief summary of all the Holy
Scriptures.
Therefore I again implore all Christians, especially pastors and
preachers, not to be doctors too soon, and imagine that they know
everything (for imagination and cloth unshrunk [and false weights] fall
far short of the measure), but that they daily exercise themselves well
in these studies and constantly treat them; moreover, that they guard
with all care and diligence against the poisonous infection of such
security and vain imagination, but steadily keep on reading, teaching,
learning, pondering, and meditating, and do not cease until they have
made a test and are sure that they have taught the devil to death and
have become more learned than God Himself and all His saints.
If they manifest such diligence, then I will promise them, and they
shall also perceive, what fruit they will obtain, and what excellent
men God will make of them, so that in due time they themselves will
acknowledge that the longer and the more they study the Catechism, the
less they know of it, and the more they find yet to learn; and then
only, as hungry and thirsty ones, will they truly relish that which now
they cannot endure because of great abundance and satiety. To this end
may God grant His grace! Amen.
SHORT PREFACE OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER.
This sermon is designed and undertaken that it might be an instruction
for children and the simple-minded. Hence of old it was called in Greek
catechism, i.e., instruction for children, what every Christian must
needs know, so that he who does not know this could not be numbered
with the Christians nor be admitted to any Sacrament, just as a
mechanic who does not understand the rules and customs of his trade is
expelled and considered incapable. Therefore we must have the young
learn the parts which belong to the Catechism or instruction for
children well and fluently and diligently exercise themselves in them
and keep them occupied with them.
Therefore it is the duty of every father of a family to question and
examine his children and servants at least once a week and to
ascertain what they know of it, or are learning and, if they do not
know it, to keep them faithfully at it. For I well remember the time,
indeed, even now it is a daily occurrence that one finds rude, old
persons who knew nothing and still know nothing of these things, and
who, nevertheless, go to Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and use
everything belonging to Christians, notwithstanding that those who come
to the Lord's Supper ought to know more and have a fuller understanding
of all Christian doctrine than children and new scholars. However, for
the common people we are satisfied with the three parts, which have
remained in Christendom from of old, though little of it has been
taught and treated correctly until both young and old who are called
and wish to be Christians, are well trained in them and familiar with
them. These are the following:
First.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
- Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
- Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain [for the
Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain].
3. Thou shalt sanctify the holy-day. [Remember the Sabbath-day to keep
it holy.]
4. Thou shalt honor thy father and mother [that thou mayest live long
upon the earth].
5. Thou shalt not kill.
6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7. Thou shalt not steal.
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor
his maidservant, nor his cattle [ox, nor his ass], nor anything that is
his.
Secondly.
THE CHIEF ARTICLES OF OUR FAITH.
- I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
- And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by
the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hell; the third day
He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to
judge the quick and the dead.
3. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy Christian Church, the
communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the
body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Thirdly.
THE PRAYER, OR "OUR FATHER," WHICH CHRIST TAUGHT
Our Father who art in heaven.
- Hallowed be Thy name.
- Thy kingdom come.
- Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
- Give us this day our daily bread.
- And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us.
6. And lead us not into temptation.
7. But deliver us from evil. [For Thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory, forever and ever.] Amen.
These are the most necessary parts which one should first learn to
repeat word for word and which our children should be accustomed to
recite daily when they arise in the morning when they sit down to their
meals, and when they retire at night; and until they repeat them, they
should be given neither food nor drink. Likewise every head of a
household is obliged to do the same with respect to his domestics,
ma-servants and maid-servants and not to keep them in his house if they
do not know these things and are unwilling to learn them. For a person
who is so rude and unruly as to be unwilling to learn these things is
not to be tolerated, for in these three parts everything that we have
in the Scriptures is comprehended in short, pain, and simple terms. For
the holy Fathers or apostles (whoever they were) have thus embraced in
a summary the doctrine, life, wisdom, and art of Christians, of which
they speak and treat, and with which they are occupied. Now, when these
three arts are apprehended, it behooves a person also to know what to
say concerning our Sacraments, which Christ Himself instituted, Baptism
and the holy body and blood of Christ, namely, the text which Matthew
[28, 19 ff.] and Mark [16, 15 f.] record at the close of their Gospels
when Christ said farewell to His disciples and sent them forth.
OF BAPTISM.
Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. So
much is sufficient for a simple person to know from the Scriptures
concerning Baptism. In like manner, also, concerning the other
Sacrament in short, simple words, namely the text of St. Paul [1 Cor.
11, 23 f.].
OF THE SACRAMENT
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the same night in which He was betrayed, took
bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and gave it to His
disciples and said, Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you:
this do in remembrance of Me.
After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, gave
thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; this cup is
the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the remission
of sins: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me.
Thus, ye would have, in all, five parts of the entire Christian
doctrine which should be constantly treated and required [of children]
and heard recited word for word. For you must not rely upon it that the
young people will learn and retain these things from the sermon alone.
When these parts have been well learned, you may, as a supplement and
to fortify them. lay before them also some psalms or hymns, which have
been composed on these parts, and thus lead the young into the
Scriptures, and make daily progress therein.
However, it is not enough for them to comprehend and recite these
parts according to the words only, but the young people should also be
made to attend the preaching, especially during the time which is
devoted to the Catechism, that they may hear it explained and may learn
to understand what every part contains, so as to be able to recite it
as they have heard it, and, when asked, may give a correct answer, so
that the preaching may not be without profit and fruit. For the reason
why we exercise such diligence in preaching the Catechism so often is
that it may be inculcated on our youth, not in a high and subtle
manner, but briefly and with the greatest simplicity, so as to enter
the mind readily and be fixed in the memory. Therefore we shall now
take up the above mentioned articles one by one and in the plainest
manner possible say about them as much as is necessary.
Part First. The Ten Commandments.
The First Commandment.
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
That is: Thou shalt have [and worship] Me alone as thy God. What is the
force of this, and how is it to be understood? What does it mean to
have a god? or, what is God? Answer: A god means that from which we are
to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress,
so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him
from the [whole] heart; as I have often said that the confidence and
faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and
trust be right, then is your god also true; and, on the other hand, if
your trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true God; for
these two belong together faith and God. That now, I say, upon which
you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.
Therefore it is the intent of this commandment to require true faith
and trust of the heart which settles upon the only true God and clings
to Him alone. That is as much as to say: "See to it that you let Me
alone be your God, and never seek another," i.e.: Whatever you lack of
good things, expect it of Me, and look to Me for it, and whenever you
suffer misfortune and distress, creep and cling to Me. I, yes, I, will
give you enough and help you out of every need; only let not your heart
cleave to or rest in any other.
This I must unfold somewhat more plainly, that it may be understood and
perceived by ordinary examples of the contrary. Many a one thinks that
he has God and everything in abundance when he has money and
possessions; he trusts in them and boasts of them with such firmness
and assurance as to care for no one. Lo, such a man also has a god,
Mammon by name, i.e., money and possessions, on which he sets all his
heart, and which is also the most common idol on earth. He who has
money and possessions feels secure, and is joyful and undismayed as
though he were sitting in the midst of Paradise. On the other hand, he
who has none doubts and is despondent, as though he knew of no God. For
very few are to be found who are of good cheer, and who neither mourn
nor complain if they have not Mammon. This [care and desire for money]
sticks and clings to our nature, even to the grave.
So, too, whoever trusts and boasts that he possesses great skill,
prudence, power, favor friendship, and honor has also a god, but not
this true and only God. This appears again when you notice how
presumptuous, secure, and proud people are because of such
possessions, and how despondent when they no longer exist or are
withdrawn. Therefore I repeat that the chief explanation of this point
is that to have a god is to have something in which the heart entirely
trusts.
Besides, consider what in our blindness, we have hitherto been
practicing and doing under the Papacy. If any one had toothache, he
fasted and honored St. Apollonia [lacerated his flesh by voluntary
fasting to the honor of St. Apollonia]; if he was afraid of fire, he
chose St. Lawrence as his helper in need; if he dreaded pestilence, he
made a vow to St. Sebastian or Rochio, and a countless number of such
abominations, where every one selected his own saint, worshiped him,
and called for help to him in distress. Here belong those also, as,
e.g., sorcerers and magicians, whose idolatry is most gross, and who
make a covenant with the devil, in order that he may give them plenty
of money or help them in love-affairs, preserve their cattle, restore
to them lost possessions, etc. For all these place their heart and
trust elsewhere than in the true God, look for nothing good to Him nor
seek it from Him.
Thus you can easily understand what and how much this commandment
requires, namely, that man's entire heart and all his confidence be
placed in God alone, and in no one else. For to have God, you can
easily perceive, is not to lay hold of Him with our hands or to put Him
in a bag [as money], or to lock Him in a chest [as silver vessels]. But
to apprehend Him means when the heart lays hold of Him and clings to
Him. But to cling to Him with the heart is nothing else than to trust
in Him entirely. For this reason He wishes to turn us away from
everything else that exists outside of Him, and to draw us to Himself,
namely, because He is the only eternal good. As though He would say:
Whatever you have heretofore sought of the saints, or for whatever
[things] you have trusted in Mammon or anything else, expect it all of
Me, and regard Me as the one who will help you and pour out upon you
richly all good things.
Lo, here you have the meaning of the true honor and worship of God,
which pleases God, and which He commands under penalty of eternal
wrath, namely, that the heart know no other comfort or confidence than
in Him, and do not suffer itself to be torn from Him, but, for Him,
risk and disregard everything upon earth. On the other hand, you can
easily see and judge how the world practices only false worship and
idolatry. For no people has ever been so reprobate as not to institute
and observe some divine worship; every one has set up as his special
god whatever he looked to for blessings, help, and comfort.
Thus, for example, the heathen who put their trust in power and
dominion elevated Jupiter as the supreme god; the others, who were bent
upon riches, happiness, or pleasure, and a life of ease, Hercules,
Mercury, Venus or others; women with child, Diana or Lucina, and so on;
thus every one made that his god to which his heart was inclined, so
that even in the mind of the heathen to have a god means to trust and
believe. But their error is this that their trust is false and wrong
for it is not placed in the only God, besides whom there is truly no
God in heaven or upon earth. Therefore the heathen really make their
self-invented notions and dreams of God an idol, and put their trust in
that which is altogether nothing. Thus it is with all idolatry; for it
consists not merely in erecting an image and worshiping it, but rather
in the heart, which stands gaping at something else, and seeks help and
consolation from creatures saints, or devils, and neither cares for
God, nor looks to Him for so much good as to believe that He is willing
to help, neither believes that whatever good it experiences comes from
God.
Besides, there is also a false worship and extreme idolatry, which we
have hitherto practiced, and is still prevalent in the world, upon
which also all ecclesiastical orders are founded, and which concerns
the conscience alone that seeks in its own works help, consolation, and
salvation, presumes to wrest heaven from God, and reckons how many
bequests it has made, how often it has fasted, celebrated Mass, etc.
Upon such things it depends, and of them boasts, as though unwilling to
receive anything from God as a gift, but desires itself to earn or
merit it superabundantly, just as though He must serve us and were our
debtor, and we His liege lords. What is this but reducing God to an
idol, yea, [a fig image or] an apple-god, and elevating and regarding
ourselves as God ? But this is slightly too subtle, and is not for
young pupils.
But let this be said to the simple, that they may well note and
remember the meaning of this commandment, namely, that we are to trust
in God alone, and look to Him and expect from Him naught but good, as
from one who gives us body, life, food, drink, nourishment, health,
protection, peace, and all necessaries of both temporal and eternal
things. He also preserves us from misfortune, and if any evil befall
us, delivers and rescues us, so that it is God alone (as has been
sufficiently said) from whom we receive all good, and by whom we are
delivered from all evil. Hence also, I think, we Germans from ancient
times call God (more elegantly and appropriately than any other
language) by that name from the word good as being an eternal fountain
which gushes forth abundantly nothing but what is good, and from which
flows forth all that is and is called good.
For even though otherwise we experience much good from men, still
whatever we receive by His command or arrangement is all received from
God. For our parents, and all rulers, and every one besides with
respect to his neighbor, have received from God the command that they
should do us all manner of good, so that we receive these blessings not
from them, but, through them, from God. For creatures are only the
hands, channels, and means whereby God gives all things, as He gives to
the mother breasts and milk to offer to her child, and corn and all
manner of produce from the earth for nourishment, none of which
blessings could be produced by any creature of itself.
Therefore no man should presume to take or give anything except as God
has commanded, in order that it may be acknowledged as God's gift, and
thanks may be rendered Him for it, as this commandment requires. On
this account also these means of receiving good gifts through creatures
are not to be rejected, neither should we in presumption seek other
ways and means than God has commanded. For that would not be receiving
from God, hut seeking of ourselves.
Let every one, then, see to it that he esteem this commandment great
and high above all things, and do not regard it as a joke. Ask and
examine your heart diligently, and you will find whether it cleaves to
God alone or not. If you have a heart that can expect of Him nothing
but what is good, especially in want and distress, and that, moreover
renounces and forsakes everything that is not God, then you have the
only true God. If on the contrary, it cleaves to anything else, of
which it expects more good and help than of God, and does not take
refuge in Him, but in adversity flees from Him, then you have an idol,
another god.
In order that it may be seen that God will not have this commandment
thrown to the winds, but will most strictly enforce it, He has attached
to it first a terrible threat, and then a beautiful, comforting promise
which is also to be urged and impressed upon young people, that they
may take it to heart and retain it:
[Exposition of the Appendix to the First Commandment.]
For I am the Lord, thy God, strong and jealous, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that
love Me and keep My commandments.
Although these words relate to all the commandments (as we shall
hereafter learn), yet they are joined to this chief commandment
because it is of first importance that men have a right head; for
where the head is right, the whole life must be right, and vice versa.
Learn, therefore, from these words how angry God is with those who
trust in anything but Him, and again, how good and gracious He is to
those who trust and believe in Him alone with the whole heart; so that
His anger does not cease until the fourth generation, while, on the
other hand, His blessing and goodness extend to many thousands lest you
live in such security and commit yourself to chance, as men of brutal
heart, who think that it makes no great difference [how they live]. He
is a God who will not leave it unavenged if men turn from Him, and will
not cease to be angry until the fourth generation, even until they are
utterly exterminated. Therefore He is to be feared, and not to be
desisted.
He has also demonstrated this in all history, as the Scriptures
abundantly show and daily experience still teaches. For from the
beginning He has utterly extirpated all idolatry, and, on account of
it, both heathen and Jews; even as at the present day He overthrows all
false worship, so that all who remain therein must finally perish.
Therefore, although proud, powerful, and rich worldlings
[Sardanapaluses and Phalarides, who surpass even the Persians in
wealth] are now to be found, who boast defiantly of their Mammon, with
utter disregard whether God is angry at or smiles on them, and dare to
withstand His wrath, yet they shall not succeed, but before they are
aware, they shall be wrecked, with all in which they trusted; as all
others have perished who have thought themselves more secure or
powerful. And just because of such hardened heads who imagine because
God connives and allows them to rest in security, that He either is
entirely ignorant or cares nothing about such matters, He must deal a
smashing blow and punish them, so that He cannot forget it unto
children's children; so that every one may take note and see that this
is no joke to Him. For they are those whom He means when He says: Who
hate Me, i.e., those who persist in their defiance and pride; whatever
is preached or said to them, they will not listen; when they are
reproved, in order that they may learn to know themselves and amend
before the punishment begins, they become mad and foolish so as to
fairly merit wrath, as now we see daily in bishops and princes.
But terrible as are these threatenings, so much the more powerful is
the consolation in the promise, that those who cling to God alone
should be sure that He will show them mercy that is, show them pure
goodness and blessing not only for themselves, but also to their
children and children's children, even to the thousandth generation and
beyond that. This ought certainly to move and impel us to risk our
hearts in all confidence with God, if we wish all temporal and eternal
good, since the Supreme Majesty makes such sublime offers and presents
such cordial inducements and such rich promises.
Therefore let everyone seriously take this to heart, lest it be
regarded as though a man had spoken it. For to you it is a question
either of eternal blessing, happiness, and salvation, or of eternal
wrath, misery, and woe. What more would you have or desire than that He
so kindly promises to be yours with every blessing, and to protect and
help you in all need?
But, alas! here is the failure, that the world believes nothing of
this, nor regards it as God's Word, because it sees that those who
trust in God and not in Mammon suffer care and want, and the devil
opposes and resists them, that they have neither money, favor, nor
honor, and, besides, can scarcely support life; while, on the other
hand, those who serve Mammon have power, favor, honor, possessions, and
every comfort in the eyes of the world. For this reason, these words
must be grasped as being directed against such appearances; and we must
consider that they do not lie or deceive, but must come true.
Reflect for yourself or make inquiry and tell me: Those who have
employed all their care and diligence to accumulate great possessions
and wealth, what have they finally attained? You will find that they
have wasted their toil and labor, or even though they have amassed
great treasures, they have been dispersed and scattered, so that the
themselves have never found happiness in their wealth, and afterwards
never reached the third generation. Instances of this you will find a
plenty in all histories, also in the memory of aged and experienced
people. Only observe and ponder them.
Saul was a great king, chosen of God and a godly man; but when he was
established on his throne, and let his heart decline from God, and put
his trust in his crown and power, he had to perish with all that he
had, so that none even of his children remained. David, on the other
hand, was a poor, despised man, hunted down and chased, so that he
nowhere felt secure of his life; yet he had to remain in spite of Saul,
and become king. For these words had to abide and come true, since God
cannot lie or deceive. Only let not the devil and the world deceive you
with their show, which indeed remains for a time, but finally is
nothing.
Let us, then, learn well the First Commandment, that we may see how God
will tolerate no presumption nor any trust in any other object, and how
He requires nothing higher of us than confidence from the heart for
everything good, so that we may proceed right and straightforward and
use all the blessings which God gives no farther than as a shoemaker
uses his needle, awl, and thread for work, and then lays them aside, or
as a traveler uses an inn, and food, and his bed only for temporal
necessity, each one in his station, according to God's order, and
without allowing any of these things to be our food or idol. Let this
suffice with respect to the First Commandment, which we have had to
explain at length, since it is of chief importance, because, as before
said, where the heart is rightly disposed toward God and this
commandment is observed, all the others follow.
The Second Commandment.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain.
As the First Commandment has instructed the heart and taught [the
basis of] faith, so this commandment leads us forth and directs the
mouth and tongue to God. For the first objects that spring from the
heart and manifest themselves are words. Now, as I have taught above
how to answer the question, what it is to have a god, so you must learn
to comprehend simply the meaning of this and all the commandments, and
to apply it to yourself. If, then, it be asked: How do you understand
the Second Commandment, or what is meant by taking in vain, or misusing
God's name? answer briefly thus: It is misusing God's name when we call
upon the Lord God no matter in what way, for purposes of falsehood or
wrong of any kind. Therefore this commandment enjoins this much, that
God's name must not be appealed to falsely, or taken upon the lips
while the heart knows well enough, or should know, differently; as
among those who take oaths in court, where one side lies against the
other. For God's name cannot be misused worse than for the support of
falsehood and deceit. Let4this remain the exact German and simplest
meaning of this commandment.
From this every one can readily infer when and in how many ways God's
name is misused, although it is impossible to enumerate all its
misuses. Yet, to tell it in a few words, all misuse of the divine name
occurs, first, in worldly business and in matters which concern money,
possessions, honor, whether it be publicly in court, in the market, or
wherever else men make false oaths in God's name, or pledge their souls
in any matter. And this is especially prevalent in marriage affairs
where two go and secretly betroth themselves to one another, and
afterward abjure [their plighted troth].
But. the greatest abuse occurs in spiritual matters, which pertain to
the conscience, when false preachers rise up and offer their Lying
vanities as God's Word. Behold, all this is decking one's self out with
God's name, or making a pretty show, or claiming to be right, whether
it occur in gross, worldly business or in sublime, subtle matters of
faith and doctrine. And among liars belong also blasphemers, not alone
the very gross, well known to every one, who disgrace God's name
without fear (these are not for us, but for the hangman to discipline);
but also those who publicly traduce the truth and God's Word and
consign it to the devil. Of this there is no need now to speak further.
Here, then, let us learn and take to heart the great importance of this
commandment, that with all diligence we may guard against and dread
every misuse of the holy name, as the greatest sin that can be
outwardly committed. For to lie and deceive is in itself a great sin,
but is greatly aggravated when we attempt to justify it, and seek to
confirm it by invoking the name of God and using it as a cloak for
shame, so that from a single lie a double lie, nay, manifold lies,
result.
For this reason, too, God has added a solemn threat to this
commandment, to wit: For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that
taketh His name in van. That is: It shall not be condoned to any one
nor pass unpunished. For as little as He will leave it unavenged if any
one turn his heart from Him, as little will He suffer His name to be
employed for dressing up a lie. Now alas! it is a common calamity in
all the word that there are as few who are not using the name of God
for purposes of Lying and all wickedness as there are those who with
their heart trust alone in God. For by nature we all have within us
this beautiful virtue, to wit, that whoever has committed a wrong would
like to cover up and adorn his disgrace, so that no one may see it or
know it; and no one is so bold as to boast to all the world of the
wickedness he has perpetrated, all wish to act by stealth and without
any one being aware of what thy do. Then, if any one be arraigned, the
name of God is dragged into the affair and must make the villainy look
like godliness, and the shame like honor. This is the common course of
the world, which, like a great deluge, has flooded all lands. Hence we
have also as our reward what we seek and deserve: pestilences wars,
famines, conflagrations, floods, wayward wives, children, servants, and
all sorts of defilement. Whence else should so much misery come? It is
still a great mercy that the earth bears and supports us.
Therefore, above all things, our young people should have this
commandment earnestly enforced upon them, and they should be trained to
hold this and the First Commandment in high regard; and whenever they
transgress, we must at once be after them with the rod and hold the
commandment before them, and constantly inculcate it, so as to bring
them up not only with punishment, but also in the reverence and fear of
God.
Thus you now understand what. it is to take God's name in vain, that is
(to recapitulate briefly), either simply for purposes of falsehood, and
to allege God's name for something that is not so, or to curse, swear,
conjure, and, in short, to practice whatever wickedness one may.
Besides this you must also know how to use the name [of God] aright.
For when saying: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God, in
vain, He gives us to understand at the same time that it is to be used
properly. For it has been revealed and given to us for the very purpose
that it may be of constant use and profit. Hence it is a natural
inference, since using the holy name for falsehood or wickedness is
here forbidden, that we are, on the other hand, commanded to employ it
for truth and for all good, as when one swears truly where there is
need and it is demanded. So also when there is right teaching, and when
the name is invoked in trouble or praised and thanked in prosperity
etc.; all of which is comprehended summarily and commanded in the
passage Ps. 50, 15: Call upon Me in the days of trouble; I will deliver
thee, and thou shalt glorify Me. For all this is bringing 't into the
service of truth, and using it in a blessed way, and thus His name is
hallowed, as we pray in the Lord's Prayer.
Thus you have the sum of the entire commandment explained. And with
this understanding the question with which many teachers have troubled
themselves has been easily solved, to wit, why swearing is prohibited
in the Gospel, and yet Christ, St. Paul, and other saints often swore.
The explanation is briefly this: We are not to swear in support of
evil, that is, of falsehood, and where there is no need or use; but for
the support of good and the advantage of our neighbor we should swear.
For it is a truly good work, by which God is praised, truth and right
are established, falsehood is refuted, peace is made among men,
obedience is rendered, and quarrels are settled. For in this way God
Himself interposes and separates between right and wrong, good and
evil. If one part swears falsely, he has his sentence that he shall not
escape punishment, ad though it be deferred a long time, he shall not
succeed; that all that he may gain thereby will slip out of his hands,
and he will never enjoy it; as I have seen in the case of many who
perjured themselves in their marriage-vows, that they have never had a
happy hour or a healthful day, and thus perished miserably in body,
soul, and possessions.
Therefore I advise and exhort as before that by means of warning and
threatening, restraint and punishment, the children be trained betimes
to shun falsehood, and especially to avoid the use of God's name in its
support. For where they are allowed to do as they please, no good will
result, as is even now evident that the world is worse than it has ever
been and that there is no government, no obedience, no fidelity, no
faith, but only daring, unbridled men, whom no teaching or reproof
helps; all of which is God's wrath and punishment for such wanton
contempt of this commandment.
On the other hand, they should be constantly urged and incited to
honor God's name, and to have it always upon their lips in everything
that may happen to them or come to their notice: For that is the true
honor of His Name, to look to it and implore it for all consolation, so
that (as we have heard above) first the heart by faith gives God the
honor due Him, and afterwards the lips by confession.
This is also a blessed and useful habit and very effectual against the
devil, who is ever about us, and lies in wait to bring us into sin and
shame, calamity and trouble, but who is very loath to hear God's name,
and cannot remain long where it is uttered and called upon from the
heart. And, indeed, many a terrible and shocking calamity would befall
us if, by our calling upon His name, God did not preserve us. I have
myself tried it, and learned by experience that often sudden great
calamity was immediately averted and removed during such invocation. To
vex the devil, I say, we should always have this holy name in our
mouth, so that he may not be able to injure us as he wishes.
For this end it is also of service that we form the habit of daily
commending ourselves to God, with soul and body, wife, children,
servants, and all that we have, against every need that may occur;
whence also the blessing and thanksgiving at meals, and other prayers,
morning and evening, have originated and remain in use. Likewise the
practices of children to cross themselves when anything monstrous or
terrible is seen or heard, and to exclaim: "Lord God, protect us!"
"Help, dear Lord Jesus!" etc. Thus, too, if any one meets with
unexpected good fortune, however trivial, that he say: "God be praised
and thanked; this God has bestowed on me!" etc., as formerly the
children were accustomed to fast and pray to St. Nicholas and other
saints. This would be more pleasing and acceptable to God than all
monasticism and Carthusian sanctity.
Behold, thus we might train our youth in a childlike way and playfully
in the fear and honor of God, so that the First and Second Commandments
might be well observed and in constant practice. Then some good might
take root, spring up and bear fruit, and men grow up whom an entire
land might relish and enjoy. Moreover, this would be the true way to
bring Up children well as long as they can become trained with kindness
and delight. For what must be enforced with rods and blows only will
not develop into a good breed and at best they will remain godly under
such treatment no longer than while the rod is upon their back.
But this [manner of training] so spreads its roots in the heart that
they fear God more than rods and clubs. This I say with such
simplicity for the sake of the young, that it may penetrate their
minds. For since we are preaching to children, we must also prattle
with them. Thus we have prevented the abuse and have taught the right
use of the divine name, which should consist not only in words, but
also in practices and life, so that we may know that God is well
pleased with this and will as richly reward it as He will terribly
punish the abuse.
The Third Commandment.
Thou shalt sanctify the holy day.
[Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.]
The word holy day (Feiertag) is rendered from the Hebrew word Sabbath
which properly signifies to rest, that is, to abstain from labor. Hence
we are accustomed to say, Feierbend machen [that is, to cease working],
or heiligen Abend geben [sanctify the Sabbath]. Now, in the Old
Testament, God separated the seventh day, and appointed it for rest,
and commanded that it should be regarded as holy above all others. As
regards this external observance, this commandment was given to the
Jews alone, that they should abstain from toilsome work, and rest, so
that both man and beast might recuperate, and not be weakened by
unremitting labor. Although they afterwards restricted this too
closely, and grossly abused it, so that they traduced and could not
endure in Christ those works which they themselves were accustomed to
do on that day, as we read in the Gospel just as though the commandment
were fulfilled by doing no external [manual] work whatever, which,
however, was not the meaning, but, as we shall hear, that they sanctify
the holy day or day of rest.
This commandment, therefore, according to its gross sense, does not
concern us Christians; for it is altogether an external matter, like
other ordinances of the Old Testament, which were attached to
particular customs, persons, times, and places, and now have been made
free through Christ. But to grasp a Christian meaning for the simple as
to what God requires in this commandment, note that we keep holy days
not for the sake of intelligent and learned Christians (for they have
no need of it [holy days]), but first of all for bodily causes and
necessities, which nature teaches and requires; for the common people,
man-servants and maid-servants, who have been attending to their work
and trade the whole week, that for a day they may retire in order to
rest and be refreshed.
Secondly, and most especially, that on such day of rest (since we can
get no other opportunity) freedom and time be taken to attend divine
service, so that we come together to hear and treat of God's and then
to praise God, to sing and pray.
However, this, I say, is not so restricted to any time, as with the
Jews, that it must be just on this or that day; for in itself no one
day is better than another; but this should indeed be done daily;
however, since the masses cannot give such attendance, there must be at
least one day in the week set apart. But since from of old Sunday [the
Lord's Day] has been appointed for this purpose, we also should
continue the same, in order that everything be done in harmonious
order, and no one create disorder by unnecessary innovation.
Therefore this is the simple meaning of the commandment: since
holidays are observed anyhow, such observance should be devoted to
hearing God's Word, so that the special function of this day should be
the ministry of the Word for the young and the mass of poor people, yet
that the resting be not so strictly interpreted as to forbid any other
incidental work that cannot be avoided.
Accordingly, when asked, What is meant by the commandment: Thou shalt
sanctify the holy day? answer: To sanctify the holy day is the same as
to keep it holy. But what is meant by keeping it holy? Nothing else
than to be occupied in holy words, works, and life. For the day needs
no sanctification for itself; for in itself it has been created holy
[from the beginning of the creation it was sanctified by its Creator].
But God desires it to be holy to you. Therefore it becomes holy or
unholy on your account, according as you are occupied on the same with
things that are holy or unholy.
How, then, does such sanctification take place? Not in this manner,
that [with folded hands] we sit behind the stove and do no rough
[external] work, or deck ourselves with a wreath and put on our best
clothes, but (as has been said) that we occupy ourselves with God's
Word, and exercise ourselves therein.
And, indeed, we Christians ought always to keep such a holy day, and be
occupied with nothing but holy things, i.e., daily be engaged upon
God's Word, and carry it in our hearts and upon our lips. But (as has
been said) since we do not at all times have leisure, we must devote
several hours a week for the sake of the young, or at least a day for
the sake of the entire multitude, to being concerned about this alone,
and especially urge the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's
Prayer, and thus direct our whole life and being according to God's
Word. At whatever time, then, this is being observed and practiced,
there a true holy day is being kept; otherwise it shall not be called a
Christians' holy day. For, indeed, non-Christians can also cease from
work and be idle, just as the entire swarm of our ecclesiastics, who
stand daily in the churches, singing, and ringing bells but keeping no
holy day holy, because they neither preach nor practices God's Word,
but teach and live contrary to it.
For the Word of God is the sanctuary above all sanctuaries, yea, the
only one which we Christians know and have. For though we had the bones
of all the saints or all holy and consecrated garments upon a heap,
still that would help us nothing; for all that is a dead thing which
can sanctify nobody. But God's Word is the treasure which sanctifies
everything, and by which even all the saints themselves were
sanctified. At whatever hour then, God's Word is taught, preached,
heard, read or meditated upon, there the person, day, and work are
sanctified thereby, not because of the external work, but because of
the Word which makes saints of us all. Therefore I constantly say that
all our life and work must be ordered according to God's Word, if it is
to be God-pleasing or holy. Where this is done, this commandment is in
force and being fulfilled.
On the contrary, any observance or work that is practiced without
God's Word is unholy before God, no matter how brilliantly it may
shine! even though it be covered with relics, such as the fictitious
spiritual orders which know nothing of God's Word and seek holiness in
their own works. Note, therefore, that the force and power of this
commandment lies not in the resting but in the sanctifying so that to
this day belongs a special holy exercise. For other works and
occupations are not properly called holy exercises, unless the man
himself be first holy. But here a work is to be done by which man is
himself made holy, which is done (as we have heard ) alone through
God's Word. For this, then, fixed places, times, persons, and the
entire external order of worship have been created and appointed, so
that it may be publicly in operation.
Since, therefore, so much depends upon God's Word that without it no
holy day can be sanctified, we must know that God insists upon a strict
observance of this commandment, and will punish all who despise His
Word and are not willing to hear and learn it, especially at the time
appointed for the purpose.
Therefore not only those sin against this commandment who grossly
misuse and desecrate the holy day, as those who on account of their
greed or frivolity neglect to hear God's Word or lie in taverns and are
dead drunk like swine; but also that other crowd, who listen to God's
Word as to any other trifle, and only from custom come to preaching,
and go away again, and at the end of the year know as little of it as
at the beginning. For hitherto the opinion prevailed that you had
properly hallowed Sunday when you had heard a mass or the Gospel read;
but no one cared for God's Word, as also no one taught it. Now, while
we have God's Word we nevertheless do not correct the abuse; we suffer
ourselves to be preached to and admonished, but we listen without
seriousness and care.
Know, therefore, that you must be concerned not only about hearing, but
also about learning and retaining it in memory, and do not think that
it is optional with you or of no great importance, but that it is God's
commandment, who will require of you how you have heard, learned, and
honored His Word.
Likewise those fastidious spirits are to be reproved who, when they
have heard a sermon or two, find it tedious and dull, thinking that
they know all that well enough, and need no more instruction. For just
that is the sin which has been hitherto reckoned among mortal sins, and
is called _achedia_, i.e., torpor or satiety, a malignant, dangerous
plague with which the devil bewitches and deceives the hearts of many,
that he may surprise us and secretly withdraw God's Word from us.
For let me tell you this, even though you know it perfectly and be
already master in all things, still you are daily in the dominion of
the devil, who ceases neither day nor night to steal unawares upon you,
to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts against the
foregoing and all the commandments. Therefore you must always have
God's Word in your heart, upon your lips, and in your ears. But where
the heart is idle, and the Word does not sound, he breaks in and has
done the damage before we are aware. On the other hand, such is the
efficacy of the Word, whenever it is seriously contemplated heard, and
used, that it is bound never to be without fruit, but always awakens
new understanding, pleasure, and devoutness, and produces a pure heart
and pure thoughts. For these words are not inoperative or dead, but
creative, living words. And even though no other interest or necessity
impel us, yet this ought to urge every one thereunto, because thereby
the devil is put to flight and driven away, and, besides, this
commandment is fulfilled, and [this exercise in the Word] is more
pleasing to God than any work of hypocrisy, however brilliant.
The Fourth Commandment.
Thus far we have learned the first three commandments, which relate to
God. First that with our whole heart we trust in Him, and fear and love
Him throughout all our life. Secondly, that we do not misuse His holy
name in the support of falsehood or any bad work, but employ it to the
praise of God and the profit and salvation of our neighbor and
ourselves. Thirdly, that on holidays and when at rest we diligently
treat and urge God's Word, so that all our actions and our entire life
be ordered according to it. Now follow the other seven, which relate to
our neighbor among which the first and greatest is:
Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother.
To this estate of fatherhood and motherhood God has given the special
distinction above all estates that are beneath it that He not simply
commands us to love our parents, but to honor them. For with respect to
brothers, sisters, and our neighbors in general He commands nothing
higher than that we love them, so that He separates and distinguishes
father and mother above all other persons upon earth, and places them
at His side. For it is a far higher thing to honor than to love one,
inasmuch as it comprehends not only love, but also modesty, humility,
and deference as to a majesty there hidden, and requires not only that
they be addressed kindly and with reverence, but, most of all that both
in heart and with the body we so act as to show that we esteem them
very highly, and that, next to God, we regard them as the very highest.
For one whom we are to honor from the heart we must truly regard as
high and great.
We must, therefore impress it upon the young that they should regard
their parents as in God's stead, and remember that however lowly, poor,
frail, and queer they may be, nevertheless they are father and mother
given them by God. They are not to be deprived of their honor because
of their conduct or their failings. Therefore we are not to regard
their persons, how they may be, but the will of God who has thus
created and ordained. In other respects we are, indeed, all alike in
the eyes of God; but among us there must necessarily be such inequality
and ordered difference, and therefore God commands it to be observed,
that you obey me as your father, and that I have the supremacy.
Learn, therefore, first, what is the honor towards parents required by
this commandment to wit, that they be held in distinction and esteem
above all things, as the most precious treasure on earth. Furthermore,
that also in our words we observe modesty toward them, do not accost
them roughly, haughtily, and defiantly, but yield to them and be silent
even though they go too far. Thirdly, that we show them such honor also
by works, that is, with our body and possessions, that we serve them,
help them, and provide for them when they are old, sick, infirm, or
poor, and all that not only gladly, but with humility and reverence, as
doing it before God. For he who knows how to regard them in his heart
will not allow them to suffer want or hunger, but will place them above
him and at his side, and will share with them whatever he has and
possesses.
Secondly, notice how great, good, and holy a work is here assigned
children, which is alas! utterly neglected and disregarded, and no one
perceives that God has commanded it or that it is a holy, divine Word
and doctrine. For if it had been regarded as such, every one could have
inferred that they must be holy men who live according to these words.
Thus there would have been no need of inventing monasticism nor
spiritual orders, but every child would have abided by this
commandment, and could have directed his conscience to God and said:
"If I am to do good and holy works, I know of none better than to
render all honor and obedience to my parents, because God has Himself
commanded it. For what God commands must be much and far nobler than
everything that we may devise ourselves, and since there is no higher
or better teacher to be found than God, there can be no better
doctrine, indeed, than He gives forth. Now, He teaches fully what we
should do if we wish to perform truly good works, and by commanding
them, He shows that they please Him. If, then, it is God who commands
this, and who knows not how to appoint anything better, I will never
improve upon it."
Behold, in this manner we would have had a godly child properly
taught, reared in true blessedness, and kept at home in obedience to
his parents and in their service, so that men should have had blessing
and joy from the spectacle. However, God's commandment was not
permitted to be thus [with such care and diligence] commended, but had
to be neglected and trampled under foot, so that a child could not lay
it to heart, and meanwhile gaped [like a panting wolf] at the devices
which we set up, without once [consulting or] giving reverence to God.
Let us, therefore, learn at last, for God's sake, that, placing all
other things out of sight, our youths look first to this commandment,
if they wish to serve God with truly good works, that they do what is
pleasing to their fathers and mothers, or to those to whom they may be
subject in their stead. For every child that knows and does this has,
in the first place, this great consolation in his heart that he can
joyfully say and boast (in spite of and against all who are occupied
with works of their own choice): "Behold, this work is well pleasing to
my God in heaven that I know for certain." Let them all come together
with their many great, distressing, and difficult works and make their
boast, we will see whether they can show one that is greater and
nobler than obedience to father and mother, to whom God has appointed
and commanded obedience next to His own majesty; so that if God's Word
and will are in force and being accomplished nothing shall be esteemed
higher than the will and word of parents; yet so that it, too, is
subordinated to obedience toward God and is not opposed to the
preceding commandments.
Therefore you should be heartily glad and thank God that He has chosen
you and made you worthy to do a work so precious and pleasing to Him.
Only see that, although it be regarded as the most humble and despised
you esteem it great and precious, not on account of our worthiness, but
because it is comprehended in, and controlled by, the jewel and
sanctuary, namely, the Word and commandment of God. Oh, what a high
price would all; Carthusians, monks, and nuns pay, if in all their
religious doings they could bring into God's presence a single work
done by virtue of His commandment, and be able before His face to say
with joyful heart: "Now I know that this work is well pleasing to
Thee." Where will these poor wretched persons hide when in the sight of
God and all the world they shall blush with shame before a young child
who has lived according to this commandment, and shall have to confess
that with their whole life they are not worthy to give it a drink of
water? And it serves them right for their devilish perversion in
treading God's commandment under foot that they must vainly torment
themselves with works of their own device, and, in addition, have scorn
and loss for their reward.
Should not the heart, then, leap and melt for joy when going to work
and doing what is commanded, saying: Lo, this is better than all
holiness of the Carthusians, even though they kill themselves fasting
and praying upon their knees without ceasing? For here you have a sure
text and a divine testimony that He has enjoined this, but concerning
the other He did not command a word. But this is the plight and
miserable blindness of the world that no one believes these things; to
such an extent the devil has deceived us with false holiness and the
glamour of our own works.
Therefore I would be very glad (I say it again) if men would open
their eyes and ears and take this to heart, lest some time we may
again be led astray from the pure Word of God to the lying vanities of
the devil. Then, too, all would be well; for parents would have more
joy, love, friendship, and concord in their houses; thus the children
could captivate their parents' hearts. On the other hand, when they are
obstinate, and will not do what they ought until a rod is laid upon
their back, they anger both God and their parents, whereby they deprive
themselves of this treasure and joy of conscience and lay up for
themselves only misfortune. Therefore, as every one complains, the
course of the world now is such that both young and old are altogether
dissolute and beyond control, have no reverence nor sense of honor, do
nothing except as they are driven to it by blows, and perpetrate what
wrong and detraction they can behind each other's back; therefore God
also punishes them, that they sink into all kinds of filth and misery.
As a rule, the parents, too, are themselves stupid and ignorant; one
fool trains [teaches] another, and as they have lived, so live their
children after them.
This, now, I say should be the first and most important consideration
to urge us to the observance of this commandment; on which account,
even if we had no father and mother we ought to wish that God would set
up wood and stone before Us, whom we might call father and mother. How
much more, since He has given us living parents, should we rejoice to
show them honor and obedience, because we know it is so highly pleasing
to the Divine Majesty and to all angels, and vexes all devils, and is,
besides, the highest work which we can do, after the sublime divine
worship comprehended in the previous commandments, so that giving of
alms and every other good work toward our neighbor are not equal to
this. For God has assigned this estate the highest place, yea, has set
it up in His own stead, upon earth. This will and pleasure of God ought
to be a sufficient reason and incentive to us to do what we can with
good will and pleasure.
Besides this, it is our duty before the world to be grateful for
benefits and every good which we have of our parents. But here again
the devil rules in the world, so that the children forget their
parents, as we all forget God, and no one considers how God nourishes,
protects, and defends us, and bestows so much good on body and soul;
especially when an evil hour comes we are angry and grumble with
impatience and all the good which we have received throughout our life
is wiped out [from our memory]. Just so we do also with our parents,
and there is no child that understands and considers this [what the
parents have endured while nourishing and fostering him], except the
Holy Ghost grant him this grace.
God knows very well this perverseness of the world; therefore He
admonishes and urges by commandments that every one consider what his
parents have done for him and he will find that he has from them body
and life, moreover, that he has been fed and reared when otherwise he
would have perished a hundred times in his own filth. Therefore it is a
true and good saying of old and wise men: Deo, parentibus et magistris
non potest satis gratiae rependi, that is, To God, to parents, and to
teachers we can never render sufficient gratitude and compensation. He
that regards and considers this will indeed without compulsion do all
honor to his parents, and bear them up on his hands as those through
whom God has done him all good.
Over and above all this, another great reason that should incite us the
more [to obedience to this commandment] is that God attaches to this
commandment a temporal promise and says: That thou mayest live long
upon the land which the Lord, thy God, giveth thee.
Here you can see yourself how much God is in earnest in respect to this
commandment, inasmuch as He not only declares that it is well pleasing
to Him, and that He has joy and delight therein; but also that it shall
be for our prosperity and promote our highest good; so that we may have
a pleasant and agreeable life, furnished with every good thing.
Therefore also St. Paul greatly emphasizes the same and rejoices in it
when he says, Eph. 6, 2. 3: This is the first commandment with promise:
That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
For although the rest also have their promises contained in them, yet
in none is it so plainly and explicitly stated.
Here, then, you have the fruit and the reward, that whoever observes
this commandment shall have happy days, fortune, and prosperity; and on
the other hand, the punishment, that whoever is disobedient shall the
sooner perish, and never enjoy life. For to have long life in the sense
of the Scriptures is not only to become old, but to have everything
which belongs to long life, such as health, wife, and children,
livelihood, peace, good government, etc., without which this life can
neither be enjoyed in cheerfulness nor long endure. If, therefore, you
will not obey father and mother and submit to their discipline, then
obey the hangman; if you will not obey him, then submit to the
skeleton-man, i.e., death [death the all-subduer, the teacher of
wicked children]. For on this God insists peremptorily: Either if you
obey Him rendering love and service, He will reward you abundantly with
all good, or if you offend Him, He will send upon you both death and
the hangman.
Whence come so many knaves that must daily be hanged, beheaded, broken
upon the wheel, but from disobedience [to parents], because they will
not submit to discipline in kindness, so that, by the punishment of
God, they bring it about that we behold their misfortune and grief? For
it seldom happens that such perverse people die a natural or timely
death.
But the godly and obedient have this blessing, that they live long in
pleasant quietness and see their children's children (as said above) to
the third and fourth generation. Thus experience also teaches, that
where there are honorable, old families who fare well and have many
children, they owe their origin to the fact, to be sure, that some of
them were brought up well and were regardful of their parents. On the
other hand, it is written of the wicked, Ps. 109,13: Let his posterity
be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted
out. Therefore heed well how great a thing in God's sight obedience is
since He so highly esteems it, is so highly pleased with it, and
rewards it so richly, and besides enforces punishment so rigorously on
those who act contrariwise.
All this I say that it may be well impressed upon the young. For no one
believes how necessary this commandment is, although it has not been
esteemed and taught hitherto under the papacy. These are simple and
easy words, and everybody thinks he knew them a fore; therefore men
pass them lightly by, are gaping after other matters, and do not see
and believe that God is so greatly offended if they be disregarded, nor
that one does a work so well pleasing and precious if he follows them.
In this commandment belongs a further statement regarding all kinds of
obedience to persons in authority who have to command and to govern.
For all authority flows and is propagated from the authority of
parents. For where a father is unable alone to educate his [rebellious
and irritable] child, he employs a schoolmaster to instruct him; if he
be too weak, he enlists the aid of his friends and neighbors; if he
departs this life, he delegates and confers his authority and
government upon others who are appointed for the purpose. Likewise, he
must have domestics, man-servants and maid-servants, under himself for
the management of the household, so that all whom we call masters are
in the place of parents and must derive their power and authority to
govern from them. Hence also they are all called fathers in the
Scriptures, as those who in their government perform the functions of a
father, and should have a paternal heart toward their subordinates. As
also from antiquity the Romans and other nations called the masters and
mistresses of the household patres- et matresfamiliae that is,
housefathers and housemothers. So also they called their national
rulers and overlords patres patriae, that is fathers of the entire
country, for a great shame to us who would be Christians that we do not
likewise call them so, or, at least do not esteem and honor them as
such.
Now, what a child owes to father and mother, the same owe all who are
embraced in the household. Therefore man-servants and maid-servants
should be careful not only to be obedient to their masters and
mistresses but also to honor them as their own fathers and mothers, and
to do everything which they know is expected of them, not from
compulsion and with reluctance, but with pleasure and joy for the cause
just mentioned, namely that it is God's command and is pleasing to Him
above all other works. Therefore they ought rather to pay wages in
addition and be glad that they may obtain masters and mistresses to
have such joyful consciences and to know how they may do truly golden
works; a matter which has hitherto been neglected and despised, when,
instead, everybody ran in the devil's name, into convents or to
pilgrimages and indulgences, with loss [of time and money] and with an
evil conscience.
If this truth, then, could be impressed upon the poor people, a
servant-girl would leap and praise and thank God; and with her tidy
work for which she receives support and wages she would acquire such a
treasure as all that are esteemed the greatest saints have not
obtained. Is it not an excellent boast to know and say that, if you
perform your daily domestic task, this is better than all the sanctity
and ascetic life of monks? And you have the promise, in addition, that
you shall prosper in all good and fare well. How can you lead a more
blessed or holier life as far as your works are concerned? For in the
sight of God faith is what really renders a person holy, and alone
serves Him, but the works are for the service of man. There you have
everything good, protection and defense in the Lord, a joyful
conscience and a gracious God besides, who will reward you a
hundredfold, so that you are even a nobleman if you be only pious and
obedient. But if not, you have, in the first place, nothing but the
wrath and displeasure of God, no peace of heart, and afterwards all
manner of plagues and misfortunes.
Whoever will not be influenced by this and inclined to godliness we
hand over to the hangman and to the skeleton-man. Therefore let every
one who allows himself to be advised remember that God is not making
sport, and know that it is God who speaks with you and demands
obedience. If you obey Him, you are His dear child; but if you despise
to do it, then take shame, misery, and grief for your reward.
The same also is to be said of obedience to civil government, which (as
we have said) is all embraced in the estate of fatherhood and extends
farthest of all relations. For here the father is not one of a single
family, but of as many people as he has tenants, citizens, or subjects.
For through them, as through our parents, God gives to us food, house
and home, protection and security. Therefore since they bear such name
and title with all honor as their highest dignity, it is our duty to
honor them and to esteem them great as the dearest treasure and the
most precious jewel upon earth.
He, now, who is obedient here, is willing and ready to serve, and
cheerfully does all that pertains to honor, knows that he is pleasing
God and that he will receive joy and happiness for his reward. If he
will not do it in love, but despises and resists [authority] or rebels,
let him also know, on the other hand, that he shall have no favor nor
blessing, and where he thinks to gain a florin thereby, he will
elsewhere lose ten times as much, or become a victim to the hangman,
perish by war, pestilence, and famine, or experience no good in his
children, and be obliged to suffer injury, injustice, and violence at
the hands of his servants, neighbors, or strangers and tyrants; so that
what we seek and deserve is paid back and comes home to us.
If we would ever suffer ourselves to be persuaded that such works are
pleasing to God and have so rich a reward, we would be established in
altogether abundant possessions and have what our heart desires. But
because the word and command of God are so lightly esteemed, as though
some babbler had spoken it, let us see whether you are the man to
oppose Him. How difficult, do you think, it will be for Him to
recompense you! Therefore you would certainly live much better with the
divine favor, peace, and happiness than with His displeasure and
misfortune. Why, think you, is the world now so full of unfaithfulness,
disgrace, calamity, and murder, but because every one desires to be his
own master and free from the emperor, to care nothing for any one, and
do what pleases him? Therefore God punishes one knave by another, so
that, when you defraud and despise your master, another comes and deals
in like manner with you, yea, in your household you must suffer ten
times more from wife, children, or servants.
Indeed, we feel our misfortune, we murmur and complain of
unfaithfulness, violence, and injustice, but will not see that we
ourselves are knaves who have fully deserved this punishment, and yet
are not thereby reformed. We will have no favor and happiness,
therefore it is but fair that we have nothing but misfortune without
mercy. There must still be somewhere upon earth some godly people
because God continues to grant us so much good! On our own account we
should not have a farthing in the house nor a straw in the field. All
this I have been obliged to urge with so many words, in hope that some
one may take it to heart, that we may be relieved of the blindness and
misery in which we are steeped so deeply, and may truly understand the
Word and will of God, and earnestly accept it. For thence we would
learn how we could have joy, happiness, and salvation enough, both
temporal and eternal.
Thus we have two kinds of fathers presented in this commandment,
fathers in blood and fathers in office, or those to whom belongs the
care of the family, and those to whom belongs the care of the country.
Besides these there are yet spiritual fathers; not like those in the
Papacy, who have indeed had themselves called thus, but have performed
no function of the paternal office. For those only are called spiritual
fathers who govern and guide us by the Word of God; as St. Paul boasts
his fatherhood 1 Cor. 4, 15, where he says: In Christ Jesus I hove
begotten you through the Gospel. Now, since they are fathers they are
entitled to their honor, even above all others. But here it is bestowed
least; for the way which the world knows for honoring them is to drive
them out of the country and to grudge them a piece of bread and, in
short, they must be (as says St. Paul 1 Cor. 4, 13) as the filth of the
world and everybody's refuse and footrag.
Yet there is need that this also be urged upon the populace, that
those who would be Christians are under obligation in the sight of God
to esteem them worthy of double honor who minister to their souls, that
they deal well with them and provide for them. For that, God is willing
to add to you sufficient blessing and will not let you come to want.
But in this matter every one refuses and resists, and all are afraid
that they will perish from bodily want, and cannot now support one
respectable preacher, where formerly they filled ten fat paunches. In
this we also deserve that God deprive us of His Word and blessing, and
again allow preachers of lies to arise to lead us to the devil, and, in
addition, to drain our sweat and blood.
But those who keep in sight God's will and commandment have the
promise that everything which they bestow upon temporal and spiritual
fathers, and whatever they do to honor them, shall be richly
recompensed to them, so that they shall have, not bread, clothing, and
money for a year or two, but long life, support, and peace, and shall
be eternally rich and blessed. Therefore only do what is your duty, and
let God take care how He is to support you and provide for you
sufficiently. Since He has promised it, and has never yet lied, He will
not be found lying to you.
This ought indeed to encourage us, and give us hearts that would melt
in pleasure and love toward those to whom we owe honor, so that we
would raise our hands and joyfully thank God who has given us such
promises, for which we ought to run to the ends of the world [to the
remotest parts of India]. For although the whole world should combine,
it could not add an hour to our life or give us a single grain from the
earth. But God wishes to give you all exceeding abundantly according to
your heart's desire. He who despises and casts this to the winds is not
worthy ever to hear a word of God. This has now been stated more than
enough for all who belong under this commandment.
In addition, it would be well to preach to the parents also, and such
as bear their office, as to how they should deport themselves toward
those who are committed to them for their government. For although this
is not expressed in the Ten Commandments, it is nevertheless abundantly
enjoined in many places in the Scriptures. And God desires to have it
embraced in this commandment when He speaks of father and mother. For
He does not wish to have in this office and government knaves and
tyrants; nor does He assign to them this honor, that is, power and
authority to govern, that they should have themselves worshiped; but
they should consider that they are under obligations of obedience to
God; and that, first of all, they should earnestly and faithfully
discharge their office, not only to support and provide for the bodily
necessities of their children, servants, subjects, etc., but, most of
all, to train them to the honor and praise of God. Therefore do not
think that this is left to your pleasure and arbitrary will, but that
it is a strict command and injunction of God, to whom also you must
give account for it.
But here again the sad plight arises that no one perceives or heeds
this, and all live on as though God gave us children for our pleasure
or amusement, and servants that we should employ them like a cow or
ass, only for work, or as though we were only to gratify our wantonness
with our subjects, ignoring them, as though it were no concern of ours
what they learn or how they live; and no one is willing to see that
this is the command of the Supreme Majesty, who will most strictly call
us to account and punish us for it; nor that there is so great need to
be so seriously concerned about the young. For if we wish to have
excellent and apt persons both for civil and ecclesiastical government
we must spare no diligence, time, or cost in teaching and educating our
children, that they may serve God and the world, and we must not think
only how we may amass money and possessions for them. For God can
indeed without us support and make them rich, as He daily does. But for
this purpose He has given us children, and issued this command that we
should train and govern them according to His will, else He would have
no need of father and mother. Let every one know therefore, that it is
his duty, on peril of losing the divine favor, to bring up his
children above all things in the fear and knowledge of God, and if they
are talented, have them learn and study something, that they may be
employed for whatever need there is [to have them instructed and
trained in a liberal education, that men may be able to have their aid
in government and in whatever is necessary].
If that were done, God would also richly bless us and give us grace to
train men by whom land and people might be improved and likewise well
educated citizens, chaste and domestic wives, who afterwards would rear
godly children and servants. Here consider now what deadly injury you
are doing if you be negligent and fail on your part to bring up your
child to usefulness and piety, and how you bring upon yourself all sin
and wrath, thus earning hell by your own children, even though you be
otherwise pious and holy. And because this is disregarded, God so
fearfully punishes the world that there is no discipline, government,
or peace, of which we all complain, but do not see that it is our
fault; for as we train them, we have spoiled and disobedient children
and subjects. Let this be sufficient exhortation; for to draw this out
at length belongs to another time.
The Fifth Commandment.
Thou shalt not kill.
We have now completed both the spiritual and the temporal government,
that is, the divine and the paternal authority and obedience. But here
now we go forth from our house among our neighbors to learn how we
should live with one another, every one himself toward his neighbor.
Therefore God and government are not included in this commandment nor
is the power to kill, which they have taken away. For God has delegated
His authority to punish evil-doers to the government instead of
parents, who aforetime (as we read in Moses) were required to bring
their own children to judgment and sentence them to death. Therefore,
what is here forbidden is forbidden to the individual in his relation
to any one else, and not to the government.
Now this commandment is easy enough and has been often treated,
because we hear it annually in the Gospel of St. Matthew, 5, 21 ff.,
where Christ Himself explains and sums it up, namely, that we must not
kill neither with hand, heart, mouth, signs, gestures, help, nor
counsel. Therefore it is here forbidden to every one to be angry,
except those (as we said) who are in the place of God, that is, parents
and the government. For it is proper for God and for every one who is
in a divine estate to be angry, to reprove and punish, namely, on
account of those very persons who transgress this and the other
commandments.
But the cause and need of this commandment is that God well knows that
the world is evil, and that this life has much unhappiness; therefore
He has placed this and the other commandments between the good and the
evil. Now, as there are many assaults upon all commandments, so it
happens also in this commandment that we must live among many people
who do us harm, so that we have cause to be hostile to them.
As when your neighbor sees that you have a better house and home [a
larger family and more fertile fields], greater possessions and fortune
from God than he, he is sulky, envies you, and speaks no good of you.
Thus by the devil's incitement you will get many enemies who cannot
bear to see you have any good, either bodily or spiritual. When we see
such people, our hearts, in turn, would rage and bleed and take
vengeance. Then there arise cursing and blows, from which follow
finally misery and murder. Here, now, God like a kind father steps in
ahead of Us, interposes and wishes to have the quarrel settled, that no
misfortune come of it, nor one destroy another. And briefly He would
hereby protect, set free, and keep in peace every one against the crime
and violence of every one else; and would have this commandment placed
as a wall, fortress, and refuge about our neighbor, that we do him no
hurt nor harm in his body.
Thus this commandment aims at this, that no one offend his neighbor on
account of any evil deed, even though he have fully deserved it. For
where murder is forbidden, all cause also is forbidden whence murder
may originate. For many a one, although he does not kill, yet curses
and utters a wish, which would stop a person from running far if it
were to strike him in the neck [makes imprecations, which if fulfilled
with respect to any one, he would not live long]. Now since this
inheres in every one by nature and it is a common practice that no one
is willing to suffer at the hands of another, God wishes to remove the
root and source by which the heart is embittered against our neighbor,
and to accustom us ever to keep in view this commandment, always to
contemplate ourselves in it as in a mirror, to regard the will of God,
and with hearty confidence and invocation of His name to commit to Him
the wrong which we suffer. Thus we shall suffer our enemies to rage and
be angry, doing what they can, and we learn to calm our wrath, and to
have a patient, gentle heart, especially toward those who give us cause
to be angry, that is, our enemies.
Therefore the entire sum of what it means not to kill is to be
impressed most explicitly upon the simple-minded. In the first place
that we harm no one, first, with our hand or by deed. Then, that we do
not employ our tongue to instigate or counsel thereto. Further, that we
neither use nor assent to any kind of means or methods whereby any one
may be injured. And finally, that the heart be not ill disposed toward
any one, nor from anger and hatred wish him ill, so that body and soul
may be innocent in regard to every one, but especially those who wish
you evil or inflict such upon you. For to do evil to one who wishes and
does you good is not human, but diabolical.
Secondly, under this commandment not only he is guilty who does evil to
his neighbor, but he also who can do him good, prevent, resist evil,
defend and save him, so that no bodily harm or hurt happen to him and
yet does not do it. If, therefore, you send away one that is naked when
you could clothe him, you have caused him to freeze to death; you see
one suffer hunger and do not give him food, you have caused him to
starve. So also, if you see any one innocently sentenced to death or in
like distress, and do not save him, although you know ways and means to
do so, you have killed him. And it will not avail you to make the
pretext that you did not afford any help, counsel, or aid thereto for
you have withheld your love from him and deprived him of the benefit
whereby his life would have been saved.
Therefore God also rightly calls all those murderers who do not afford
counsel and help in distress and danger of body and life, and will pass
a most terrible sentence upon them in the last day, as Christ Himself
has announced when He shall say, Matt.25, 42f.: I was an hungered, and
ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; I was a
stranger, and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick and
in prison and ye visited Me not. That is: You would have suffered Me
and Mine to die of hunger thirst, and cold, would have suffered the
wild beasts to tear us to pieces, or left us to rot in prison or perish
in distress. What else is that but to reproach them as murderers and
bloodhounds? For although you have not actually done all this, you have
nevertheless, so far as you were concerned, suffered him to pine and
perish in misfortune.
It is just as if I saw some one navigating and laboring in deep water
[and struggling against adverse winds] or one fallen into fire, and
could extend to him the hand to pull him out and save him, and yet
refused to do it. What else would I appear, even in the eyes of the
world, than as a murderer and a criminal?
Therefore it is God's ultimate purpose that we suffer harm to befall no
man, but show him all good and love; and, as we have said it is
specially directed toward those who are our enemies. For to do good to
our friends is but an ordinary heathen virtue as Christ says Matt. 5,
46.
Here we have again the Word of God whereby He would encourage and urge
us to true noble and sublime works, as gentleness patience, and, in
short, love and kindness to our enemies, and would ever remind us to
reflect upon the First Commandment, that He is our God, that is, that
He will help, assist, and protect us, in order that He may thus quench
the desire of revenge in us.
This we ought to practice and inculcate and we would have our hands
full doing good works. But this would not be preaching for monks; it
would greatly detract from the religious estate, and infringe upon the
sanctity of Carthusians, and would even be regarded as forbidding good
works and clearing the convents. For in this wise the ordinary state of
Christians would be considered just as worthy, and even worthier, and
everybody would see how they mock and delude the world with a false,
hypocritical show of holiness, because they have given this and other
commandments to the winds, and have esteemed them unnecessary, as
though they were not commandments but mere counsels, and have at the
same time shamelessly proclaimed and boasted their hypocritical estate
and works as the most perfect life, in order that they might lead a
pleasant, easy life, without the cross and without patience, for which
reason, too, they have resorted to the cloisters, so that they might
not be obliged to suffer any wrong from any one or to do him any good.
But know now that these are the true, holy, and godly works, in which,
with all the angels He rejoices, in comparison with which all human
holiness is but stench and filth, and besides, deserves nothing but
wrath and damnation.
The Sixth Commandment.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
These commandments now [that follow] are easily understood from [the
explanation of] the preceding; for they are all to the effect that we
[be careful to] avoid doing any kind of injury to our neighbor. But
they are arranged in fine [elegant] order. In the first place, they
treat of his own person. Then they proceed to the person nearest him,
or the closest possession next after his body namely, his wife, who is
one flesh and blood with him, so that we cannot inflict a higher injury
upon him in any good that is his. Therefore it is explicitly forbidden
here to bring any disgrace upon him in respect to his wife. And it
really aims at adultery, because among the Jews it was ordained and
commanded that every one must be married. Therefore also the young were
early provided for [married], so that the virgin state was held in
small esteem, neither were public prostitution and lewdness tolerated
(as now). Therefore adultery was the most common form of unchastity
among them.
But because among us there is such a shameful mess and the very dregs
of all vice and lewdness, this commandment is directed also against all
manner of unchastity, whatever it may be called; and not only is the
external act forbidden, but also every kind of cause, incitement, and
means, so that the heart, the lips, and the whole body may be chaste
and afford no opportunity, help, or persuasion to unchastity. And not
only this, but that we also make resistance, afford protection and
rescue wherever there is danger and need; and again, that we give help
and counsel, so as to maintain our neighbor's honor. For whenever you
omit this when you could make resistance, or connive at it as if it did
not concern you, you are as truly guilty as the one perpetrating the
deed. Thus, to state it in the briefest manner, there is required this
much, that every one both live chastely himself and help his neighbor
do the same, so that God by this commandment wishes to hedge round
about and protect [as with a rampart] every spouse that no one trespass
against them.
But since this commandment is aimed directly at the state of matrimony
and gives occasion to speak of the same, you must well understand and
mark, first, how gloriously God honors and extols this estate, inasmuch
as by His commandment He both sanctions and guards it. He has
sanctioned it above in the Fourth Commandment: Honor thy father and thy
mother; but here He has (as we said ) hedged it about and protected it.
Therefore He also wishes us to honor it, and to maintain and conduct it
as a divine and blessed estate; because, in the first place, He has
instituted it before all others, and therefore created man and woman
separately (as is evident), not for lewdness, but that they should
[legitimately] live together, be fruitful, beget children, and nourish
and train them to the honor of God.
Therefore God has also most richly blessed this estate above all
others, and, in addition, has bestowed on it and wrapped up in it
everything in the world, to the end that this estate might be well and
richly provided for. Married life is therefore no jest or presumption;
but it is an excellent thing and a matter of divine seriousness. For it
is of the highest importance to Him that persons be raised who may
serve the world and promote the knowledge of God, godly living, and all
virtues, to fight against wickedness and the devil.
Therefore I have always taught that this estate should not be despised
nor held in disrepute, as is done by the blind world and our false
ecclesiastics, but that it be regarded according to God's Word, by
which it is adorned and sanctified, so that it is not only placed on an
equality with other estates, but that it precedes and surpasses them
all, whether they be that of emperor, princes, bishops, or whoever they
please. For both ecclesiastical and civil estates must humble
themselves and all be found in this estate as we shall hear. Therefore
it is not a peculiar estate, but the most common and noblest estate,
which pervades all Christendom, yea which extends through all the
world.
In the second place, you must know also that it is not only an
honorable, but also a necessary state, and it is solemnly commanded by
God that, in general, in all conditions, men and women, who were
created for it, shall be found in this estate; yet with some exceptions
(although few) whom God has especially excepted, so that they are not
fit for the married estate, or whom He has released by a high,
supernatural gift that they can maintain chastity without this estate.
For where nature has its course, as it is implanted by God, it is not
possible to remain chaste without marriage. For flesh and blood remain
flesh and blood, and the natural inclination and excitement have their
course without let or hindrance, as everybody sees and feels. In
order, therefore, that it may be the more easy in some degree to avoid
unchastity, God has commanded the estate of matrimony, that every one
may have his proper portion and be satisfied therewith; although God's
grace besides is required in order that the heart also may be pure.
From this you see how this popish rabble, priests, monks, and nuns,
resist God's order and commandment, inasmuch as they despise and forbid
matrimony, and presume and vow to maintain perpetual chastity, and,
besides, deceive the simple-minded with lying words and appearances
[impostures]. For no one has so little love and inclination to chastity
as just those who because of great sanctity avoid marriage, and either
indulge in open and shameless prostitution, or secretly do even worse,
so that one dare not speak of it, as has, alas! been learned too fully.
And, in short, even though they abstain from the act, their hearts are
so full of unchaste thoughts and evil lusts that there is a continual
burning and secret suffering, which can be avoided in the married life.
Therefore all vows of chastity out of the married state are condemned
by this commandment, and free permission is granted, yea, even the
command is given, to all poor ensnared consciences which have been
deceived by their monastic vows to abandon the unchaste state and enter
the married life, considering that even if the monastic life were
godly, it would nevertheless not be in their power to maintain
chastity, and if they remain in it, they must only sin more and more
against this commandment.
Now, I speak of this in order that the young may be so guided that they
conceive a liking for the married estate, and know that it is a blessed
estate and pleasing to God. For in this way we might in the course of
time bring it about that married life be restored to honor, and that
there might be less of the filthy, dissolute, disorderly doings which
now run riot the world over in open prostitution and other shameful
vices arising from disregard of married life. Therefore it is the duty
of parents and the government to see to it that our youth be brought up
to discipline and respectability, and when they have come to years of
maturity, to provide for them [to have them married] in the fear of God
and honorably; He would not fail to add His blessing and grace, so that
men would have joy and happiness from the same.
Let me now say in conclusion that this commandment demands not only
that every one live chastely in thought, word, and deed in his
condition, that is, especially in the estate of matrimony, but also
that every one love and esteem the spouse given him by God. For where
conjugal chastity is to be maintained, man and wife must by all means
live together in love and harmony, that one may cherish the other from
the heart and with entire fidelity. For that is one of the principal
points which enkindle love and desire of chastity, so that, where this
is found, chastity will follow as a matter of course without any
command. Therefore also St. Paul so diligently exhorts husband and wife
to love and honor one another. Here you have again a precious, yea,
many and great good works, of which you can joyfully boast, against all
ecclesiastical estates, chosen without God's Word and commandment.
The Seventh Commandment.
Thou shalt not steal.
After your person and spouse temporal property comes next. That also
God wishes to have protected, and He has commanded that no one shall
subtract from, or curtail, his neighbor's possessions. For to steal is
nothing else than to get possession of another's property wrongfully,
which briefly comprehends all kinds of advantage in all sorts of trade
to the disadvantage of our neighbor. Now, this is indeed quite a
wide-spread and common vice, but so little regarded and observed that
it exceeds all measure, so that if all who are thieves, and yet do not
wish to be called such, were to be hanged on gallows the world would
soon be devastated and there would be a lack both of executioners and
gallows. For, as we have just said, to steal is to signify not only to
empty our neighbor's coffer and pockets, but to be grasping in the
market, in all stores, booths, wine- and beer-cellars, workshops, and,
in short, wherever there is trading or taking and giving of money for
merchandise or labor.
As, for instance, to explain this somewhat grossly for the common
people, that it may be seen how godly we are: When a manservant or
maid-servant does not serve faithfully in the house, and does damage,
or allows it to be done when it could be prevented, or otherwise ruins
and neglects the goods entrusted to him, from indolence idleness, or
malice, to the spite and vexation of master and mistress, and in
whatever way this can be done purposely (for I do not speak of what
happens from oversight and against one's will), you can in a year
abscond thirty, forty florins, which if another had taken secretly or
carried away, he would be hanged with the rope. But here you [while
conscious of such a great theft] may even bid defiance and become
insolent, and no one dare call you a thief.
The same I say also of mechanics, workmen, and day-laborers, who all
follow their wanton notions, and never know enough ways to overcharge
people, while they are lazy and unfaithful in their work. All these are
far worse than sneak-thieves, against whom we can guard with locks and
bolts, or who, if apprehended, are treated in such a manner that they
will not do the same again. But against these no one can guard, no one
dare even look awry at them or accuse them of theft, so that one would
ten times rather lose from his purse. For here are my neighbors, good
friends, my own servants, from whom I expect good [every faithful and
diligent service], who defraud me first of all.
Furthermore, in the market and in common trade likewise, this practice
is in full swing and force to the greatest extent, where one openly
defrauds another with bad merchandise, false measures, weights, coins,
and by nimbleness and queer finances or dexterous tricks takes
advantage of him; likewise, when one overcharges a person in a trade
and wantonly drives a hard bargain, skins and distresses him. And who
can recount or think of all these things? To sum up, this is the
commonest craft and the largest guild on earth, and if we regard the
world throughout all conditions of life, it is nothing else than a
vast, wide stall, full of great thieves.
Therefore they are also called swivel-chair robbers, land- and
highway-robbers, not pick-locks and sneak-thieves who snatch away the
ready cash, but who sit on the chair [at home] and are styled great
noblemen, and honorable, pious citizens, and yet rob and steal under a
good pretext.
Yes, here we might be silent about the trifling individual thieves if
we were to attack the great, powerful arch-thieves with whom lords and
princes keep company, who daily plunder not only a city or two, but all
Germany. Yea, where should we place the head and supreme protector of
all thieves, the Holy Chair at Rome with all its retinue, which has
grabbed by theft the wealth of all the world, and holds it to this day?
This is, in short, the course of the world: whoever can steal and rob
openly goes free and secure, unmolested by any one, and even demands
that he be honored. Meanwhile the little sneak-thieves, who have once
trespassed, must bear the shame and punishment to render the former
godly and honorable. But let them know that in the sight of God they
are the greatest thieves, and that He will punish them as they are
worthy and deserve.
Now, since this commandment is so far-reaching [and comprehensive], as
just indicated, it is necessary to urge it well and to explain it to
the common people, not to let them go on in their wantonness and
security, but always to place before their eyes the wrath of God, and
inculcate the same. For we have to preach this not to Christians, but
chiefly to knaves and scoundrels, to whom it would be more fitting for
judges, jailers, or Master Hannes [the executioner] to preach.
Therefore let every one know that it is his duty, at the risk of God's
displeasure, not only to do no injury to his neighbor, nor to deprive
him o