Published in:
Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church.
(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921), pp. 565-773
First.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
2. Thou shalt not take the name of th 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 shlt 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.
1. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth.
2. 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.
1. Hallowed be Thy name.
2. Thy kingdom come.
3. Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven.
4. Give us this day our daily bread.
5. 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
fro 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, espeially 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 Catechis so often is that it may be inculcated on our youth,
not in a high and subtile 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 abovementioned
articles one by one and in the plainest manner possible say about them as much
as is necessary.
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 practising and doing under the Papacy. If any one had toothache,
he fasted and honored St. Apollonia [[acerated 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 entirey. 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 practises 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 practised, 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 subtile,
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.
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, subtile 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 speakfurther.
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 usiig 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, hich, 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
trined 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, andconstantly 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), eiher 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 practise whhtever 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 oo God's ame
in its support. For where they are allowed to do as they please, no good will
result, aa 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 oor 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 practises 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 practise. 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 kinnness 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 practises 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.
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 practised, 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 practises 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
practised 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 of gain, nor to perpetrate any act of
unfaithfulness or malice in any bargain or trade, but faithfully to preserve
his property for him, to secure and promote his advantage, especially when one
accepts money, wages, and one's livelihood for such service.
He now who wantonly despises this may indeed pass
along and escape the hangman, but he shall not escape the wrath and punishment
of God; and when he has long practiced his defiance and arrogance, he shall yet
remain a tramp and beggar, and, in addition, have all plagues and misfortune.
Now you are going your way [wherever your heart's pleasure calls you] while you
ought to preserve the property of your master and mistress, for which service
you fill your crop and maw, take your wages like a thief, have people treat you
as a nobleman; for there are many that are even insolent towards their masters
and mistresses, and are unwilling to do them a favor or service by which to
protect them from loss.
But reflect what you will gain when, having come
into your own property and being set up in your home (to which God will help
with all misfortunes), it [your perfidy] will bob up again and come home to
you, and you will find that where you have cheated or done injury to the value
of one mite, you will have to pay thirty again.
Such shall be the lot also of mechanics and
day-laborers of whom we are now obliged to hear and suffer such intolerable
maliciousness, as though they were noblemen in another's possessions, and every
one were obliged to give them what they demand. Just let them continue
practicing their exactions as long as they can; but God will not forget His
commandment, and will reward them according as they have served, and will hang
them, not upon a green gallows, but upon a dry one so that all their life they
shall neither prosper nor accumulate anything. And indeed, if there were a
well-ordered government in the land, such wantonness might soon be checked and
prevented, as was the custom in ancient times among the Romans, where such
characters were promptly seized by the pate in a way that others took
warning.
No more shall all the rest prosper who change the
open free market into a carrion-pit of extortion and a den of robbery, where
the poor are daily overcharged, new burdens and high prices are imposed, and
every one uses the market according to his caprice, and is even defiant and
brags as though it were his fair privilege and right to sell his goods for as
high a price as he please, and no one had a right to say a word against it. We
will indeed look on and let these people skin, pinch, and hoard, but we will
trust in God -- who will, however, do this of His own accord, -- that, after
you have been skinning and scraping for a long time, He will pronounce such a
blessing on your gains that your grain in the garner, your beer in the cellar,
your cattle in the stalls shall perish; yea, where you have cheated and
overcharged any one to the amount of a florin, your entire pile shall be
consumed with rust, so that you shall never enjoy it.
And indeed, we see and experience this being
fulfilled daily before our eyes, that no stolen or dishonestly acquired
possession thrives. How many there are who rake and scrape day and night, and
yet grow not a farthing richer! And though they gather much, they must suffer
so many plagues and misfortunes that they cannot relish it with cheerfulness
nor transmit it to their children. But as no one minds it, and we go on as
though it did not concern us, God must visit us in a different way and teach us
manners by imposing one taxation after another, or billeting a troop of
soldiers upon us, who in one hour empty our coffers and purses, and do not quit
as long as we have a farthing left, and in addition, by way of thanks, burn and
devastate house and home, and outrage and kill wife and children.
And, in short, if you steal much, depend upon it
that again as much will be stolen from you; and he who robs and acquires with
violence and wrong will submit to one who shall deal after the same fashion
with him. For God is master of this art, that since every one robs and steals
from the other, He punishes one thief by means of another. Else where should we
find enough gallows and ropes?
Now, whoever is willing to be instructed let him
know that this is the commandment of God, and that it must not be treated as a
jest. For although you despise us, defraud, steal, and rob, we will indeed
manage to endure your haughtiness, suffer, and, according to the Lord's Prayer,
forgive and show pity; for we know that the godly shall nevertheless have
enough, and you injure yourself more than another.
But beware of this: When the poor man comes to
you (of whom there are so many now) who must buy with the penny of his daily
wages and live upon it, and you are harsh to him, as though every one lived by
your favor, and you skin and scrape to the bone, and, besides, with pride and
haughtiness turn him off to whom you ought to give for nothing, he will go away
wretched and sorrowful, and since he can complain to no one he will cry and
call to heaven, -- then beware (I say again) as of the devil himself. For such
groaning and calling will be no jest, but will have a weight that will prove
too heavy for you and all the world. For it will reach Him who takes care of
the poor sorrowful hearts, and will not allow them to go unavenged. But if you
despise this and become defiant, see whom you have brought upon you: if you
succeed and prosper, you may before all the world call God and me a liar.
We have exhorted, warned, and protested enough;
he who will not heed or believe it may go on until he learns this by experience
Yet it must be impressed upon the young that they may be careful not to follow
the old lawless crowd, but keep their eyes fixed upon God's commandment, lest
His wrath and punishment come upon them too. It behooves us to do no more than
to instruct and reprove with God's Word; but to check such open wantonness
there is need of the princes and government, who themselves would have eyes and
the courage to establish and maintain order in all manner of trade and
commerce, lest the poor be burdened and oppressed nor they themselves be loaded
with other men's sins.
Let this suffice as an explanation of what
stealing is, that it be not taken too narrowly but made to extend as far as we
have to do with our neighbors. And briefly, in a summary, as in the former
commandments, it is herewith forbidden, in the first place, to do our neighbor
any injury or wrong (in whatever manner supposable, by curtailing,
forestalling, and withholding his possessions and property), or even to consent
or allow such a thing, but to interpose and prevent it. And, on the other hand,
it is commanded that we advance and improve his possessions, and in case he
suffers want, that we help, communicate, and lend both to friends and foes.
Whoever now seeks and desires good works will
find here more than enough such as are heartily acceptable and pleasing to God,
and in addition are favored and crowned with excellent blessings, that we are
to be richly compensated for all that we do for our neighbor's good and from
friendship; as King Solomon also teaches Prov. 19, 17: He that hath pity upon
the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him
again. Here, then you have a rich Lord, who is certainly sufficient for you,
and who will not suffer you to come short in anything or to want; thus you can
with a joyful conscience enjoy a hundred times more than you could scrape
together with unfaithfulness and wrong. Now, whoever does not desire the
blessing will find wrath and misfortune enough.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbor.
Over and above our own body, spouse, and temporal
possessions, we have yet another treasure, namely, honor and good report [the
illustrious testimony of an upright and unsullied name and reputation], with
which we cannot dispense. For it is intolerable to live among men in open shame
and general contempt. Therefore God wishes the reputation, good name, and
upright character of our neighbor to be taken away or diminished as little as
his money and possessions, that every one may stand in his integrity before
wife, children, servants, and neighbors. And in the first place, we take the
plainest meaning of this commandment according to the words (Thou shalt not
bear false witness), as pertaining to the public courts of justice, where a
poor innocent man is accused and oppressed by false witnesses in order to be
punished in his body, property, or honor.
Now, this appears as if it were of little concern
to us at present; but with the Jews it was quite a common and ordinary matter.
For the people were organized under an excellent and regular government; and
where there is still such a government, instances of this sin will not be
wanting. The cause of it is that where judges, burgomasters, princes, or others
in authority sit in judgment, things never fail to go according to the course
of the world; namely, men do not like to offend anybody, flatter, and speak to
gain favor, money, prospects, or friendship; and in consequence a poor man and
his cause must be oppressed, denounced as wrong, and suffer punishment. And it
is a common calamity in the world that in courts of justice there seldom
preside godly men.
For to be a judge requires above all things a
godly man, and not only a godly, but also a wise, modest, yea, a brave and bold
man; likewise, to be a witness requires a fearless and especially a godly man.
For a person who is to judge all matters rightly and carry them through with
his decision will often offend good friends, relatives, neighbors, and the rich
and powerful, who can greatly serve or injure him. Therefore he must be quite
blind, have his eyes and ears closed, neither see nor hear, but go straight
forward in everything that comes before him, and decide accordingly.
Therefore this commandment is given first of all
that every one shall help his neighbor to secure his rights, and not allow them
to be hindered or twisted, but shall promote and strictly maintain them, no
matter whether he be judge or witness, and let it pertain to whatsoever it
will. And especially is a goal set up here for our jurists that they be careful
to deal truly and uprightly with every case, allowing right to remain right,
and, on the other hand, not perverting anything [by their tricks and technical
points turning black into white and making wrong out to be right], nor glossing
it over or keeping silent concerning it, irrespective of a person's money,
possession, honor, or power. This is one part and the plainest sense of this
commandment concerning all that takes place in court.
Next, it extends very much further, if we are to
apply it to spiritual jurisdiction or administration; here it is a common
occurrence that every one bears false witness against his neighbor. For
wherever there are godly preachers and Christians, they must bear the sentence
before the world that they are called heretics, apostates, yea, seditious and
desperately wicked miscreants. Besides the Word of God must suffer in the most
shameful and malicious manner, being persecuted blasphemed, contradicted,
perverted and falsely cited and interpreted. But let this pass; for it is the
way of the blind world that she condemns and persecutes the truth and the
children of God, and yet esteems it no sin.
In the third place, what concerns us all, this
commandment forbids all sins of the tongue whereby we may injure or approach
too closely to our neighbor. For to bear false witness is nothing else than a
work of the tongue. Now, whatever is done with the tongue against a fellow-man
God would have prohibited, whether it be false preachers with their doctrine
and blasphemy, false judges and witnesses with their verdict, or outside of
court by lying and evil-speaking. Here belongs particularly the detestable,
shameful vice of speaking behind a person's back and slandering, to which the
devil spurs us on and of which there would be much to be said. For it is a
common evil plague that every one prefers hearing evil to hearing good of his
neighbor; and although we ourselves are so bad that we cannot suffer that any
one should say anything bad about us, but every one would much rather that all
the world should speak of him in terms of gold, yet we cannot bear that the
best is spoken about others.
Therefore, to avoid this vice we should note that
no one is allowed publicly to judge and reprove his neighbor, although he may
see him sin, unless he have a command to judge and to reprove. For there is a
great difference between these two things, judging sin and knowing sin. You may
indeed know it, but you are not to judge it. I can indeed see and hear that my
neighbor sins, but I have no command to report it to others. Now, if I rush in,
judging and passing sentence, I fall into a sin which is greater than his. But
if you know it, do nothing else than turn your ears into a grave and cover it,
until you are appointed to be judge and to punish by virtue of your office.
Those, then, are called slanderers who are not
content with knowing a thing, but proceed to assume jurisdiction, and when they
know a slight offense of another, carry it into every corner, and are delighted
and tickled that they can stir up another's displeasure [baseness], as swine
roll themselves in the dirt and root in it with the snout. This is nothing else
than meddling with the judgment and office of God, and pronouncing sentence and
punishment with the most severe verdict. For no judge can punish to a higher
degree nor go farther than to say: "He is a thief, a murderer, a traitor," etc.
Therefore, whoever presumes to say the same of his neighbor goes just as far as
the emperor and all governments. For although you do not wield the sword, you
employ your poisonous tongue to the shame and hurt of your neighbor.
&n