This, to me, is a concise summary of doctrine and practical church life.
Tim

From Volume 40, "Church and Ministry".


INSTRUCTIONS
FOR THE VISITORS OF
PARISH PASTORS
IN ELECTORAL SAXONY

Preface

Both the Old and the New Testaments give sufficient evidence of what a divinely wholesome thing it would be if pastors and Christian congregations might be visited by understanding and competent persons. For we read in Acts 9 [:32] that St. Peter travelled about in the land of the Jews. And in Acts 15 [:2] we are told that St. Paul together with Barnabas revisited all those places where they had preached. All his epistles reveal his concern for all the congregations and pastors. He writes letters, he sends his disciples, he goes himself. So the apostles, according to Acts 8 [:14], when they heard how the Word had been received in Samaria, sent Peter and John there. Also we read in the Old Testament how Samuel travelled around, now to Ramah [I Sam. 7:17], now to Nob [I Sam. 21:11, now to Gilgal [I Sam. 10:8; 11:14; 13:8; 15:121 and other places, not out of delight for taking a walk but out of love and a sense of duty in his ministry and because of the want and need of the people. Elijah [I Kings 17 21) and Elisha [II Kings 2 13] did the same, as we read in the books of Kings. More than any, Christ has done this kind of work on behalf of all, and on this account possessed no place on earth where he could lay his head or which he could call his own. This began even while he was in the womb, for he went with his mother over the hills to visit St. John [Luke 1:391.

Formerly, in the days of the ancient Fathers, the holy bishops diligently followed these examples and even yet much of this is

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found in the papal laws. For it was in this kind of activity that the bishops and archbishops had their origin each one was obligated to a greater or lesser extent to visit and examine. For, actually, bishop means supervisor or visitor, and archbishop a supervisor or visitor of bishops, to see to it that each parish pastor visits and watches over and supervises his people in regard to teaching and life. And the archbishop was to visit, watch over, and supervise the bishops as to their teaching. But in time this office became such a show of secular pomp when the bishops made themselves princes and lords, that the duty of supervision was turned over to a provost or vicar or dean. Then the provosts and deans and chapter heads became servile courtiers and left supervision to deputies who with their notices of summons plagued the people with their extortions and visited no one.

Finally, when things reached their lowest, the deputies themselves remained at home in a warm house and sent perchance some rascal or ne'er do well who wandered around the countryside and in towns, and what he heard from mean mouths or gossip among men and women in the taverns he reported to his superior who then exercised his fleecing office, scraping and skinning innocent people of their goods and leaving murder and misery where there had been honor and good name. The holy synods were forgotten. in brief this is what befell so worthy an office and nothing remained of it except the burdening and banning of people because of money, debts, and temporal goods and the making of a divine order out of the bellowing of antiphons and versicles in churches. No attention is paid to how one teaches, believes, loves, how one lives a Christian life, how to care for the poor, how one comforts the weak. or punishes the unruly, and whatever else belongs to such an office. They are altogether officious and gluttonous fellows who destroy what belongs to the people and do worse than nothing for them. This office has fared like all holy and ancient Christian doctrine and order it has become the farce and contempt of the devil and Antichrist with awful and terrible destruction of souls.

Who can describe how useful and necessary this office is in the Christian church? One can sense it in the abuses which have come through a period of deterioration and perversion. But no doctrine or vocation has remained sound or pure. On the contrary, a host of

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frightful sects and mobs, like the chapters and monasteries, have cropped up, whereby the Christian church has been altogether suppressed, faith has died out, love turned into wrangling and war, the gospel put in the shadow, and purely human inventions, teachings, and dreams have ruled in place of the gospel. Surely the devil enjoyed success when he tore down this office and brought it under his own power, setting up instead these spiritual scarecrows and monk calves,1 so that no one resisted him. Even when the office is rightly and diligently administered it takes a lot of effort to exercise it properly, as Paul complained to the Thessalonians, Corinthians, and Galatians, for the apostles themselves had their hands full to keep things in order. What good purpose then can these lazy, sluggish bullies accomplish?

Now that the gospel through the unspeakable grace and mercy of God has again come to us or in fact has appeared for the first time, and we have come to see how grievously the Christian church has been confused, scattered, and torn, we would like to have seen the true episcopal office and practice of visitation re established because of the pressing need. However, since none of us felt a call or definite command to do this, and St. Peter has not countenanced the creation of anything in the church unless we have the conviction that it is willed of God, no one has dared to undertake it. Preferring to follow what is certain and to be guided by love's office (which is a common obligation of Christians), we have respectfully appealed to the illustrious and noble prince and lord, John, Duke of Saxony, First Marshall and Elector of the Roman Empire, Landgrave of Thuringia, Margrave of Meissen, our most gracious lord and prince,2 constituted of God as our certain temporal sovereign, that out of Christian love (since he is not obligated to do so as a temporal sovereign) and by God's will for the benefit of the gospel and the welfare of the wretched Christians in his territory, His Electoral grace might call and ordain to this office several competent persons. To this His Electoral grace through the goodness of God has

1Cf. Deutung der zwo greulichen Figuren, Babstesels zu Rom und Monchkalbs zu Frieberg in Meissen funden (1523), WA 11, 357ff., in which Luther interpreted the appearance of a freak calf as a sign betokening judgment on monasticism.
2John the Steadfast (1468-1532), who succeeded his brother, Frederick the Wise, as elector.

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graciously consented, and he has commissioned and commanded for this purpose these four persons, namely, the gracious and honorable Herr Hans of Planitz, Knight,3 etc., the worthy and learned Jerome Schurff, Doctor of Laws,4 etc., the honorable and constant Asmus of Haubitz,5 etc., and the worthy Philip Melanchthon, Master,6 etc. May God grant that it may be and become a happy example which all other German princes may fruitfully imitate and which Christ on the last day will richly reward. Amen.

But the devil through his poisonous, worthless gossips can leave no godly work unstained and uncaricatured. Already he has used our enemies to criticize and condemn us so that some boast that we have regretted our teaching and are retreating and recanting.7 (Would to God that their boast were true, and that our recanting were accepted by them! Surely they would more approach us than we them and would have to confirm our teaching and recant their stand.) Therefore I have been led to publish everything which the visitors have prepared and shown to our gracious lord after I have carefully reviewed it in collected form, making it known in published form, so that everyone may see that we are not trying to cover up or hide anything, but would gladly and sincerely seek light and permit it. While we cannot issue any strict commands as if we were publishing a new form of papal decrees, but are rather giving an account or report winch may serve as a witness and confession Of our faith, we yet hope that all devout and peaceable pastors who find their sincere joy in the gospel and delight to be of one mind with us will act as St. Paul teaches in Phil. 2 [:2], and will head our prince and gracious lord. We hope they will not ungratefully and proudly despise our love and good intention, but will willingly, without any compulsion, subject themselves in a spirit of love to

3Hans von der Planitz (d. 1535). lawyer and diplomatic representative who was in the service of the electors of Saxony, present at the Leipzig Debate (1519) and at the Diet of Augsburg (1530).
4Jerome Schurff (1481 1554). professor of jurisprudence at Wittenberg who was present on the occasion of Luther's trial at die Diet of Worms (1521) and remained faithful to the Reformation cause throughout his life.
5It has not been possible to further Identify Asmus of Haubitz.
6Philip Melanchthon (1497 1560), who served as professor at Wittenberg and became one of Luther's closest co workers.
7Because of the advice, not only to confess to God but also to the pastor (Cf. p. 296) some, notably Erasmus, held that evangelical Christians were edging back toward Rome Cf. WA 26, 183

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such visitation and with us peacefully accept these visitors until God the Holy Spirit brings to pass something that is better, through them or through us.

If some obstinately want to set themselves against us and without good reason demand something else, as there always are undisciplined heads who out of utter perversity are able to do nothing in common or in agreement, but are different and selfcentered in heart and life, we must separate these from ourselves as chaff on the threshing floor and refuse to accommodate ourselves to them. In this matter, too, we shall not neglect to solicit the help and counsel of our gracious lord. While His Electoral grace is not obligated to teach and to rule in spiritual affairs, he is obligated as temporal sovereign to so order things that strife, rioting, and rebellion do not arise among his subjects; even as the Emperor Constantine summoned the bishops to Nicaea since he did not want to tolerate the dissension which Arius had stirred up among the Christians in the empire, and constrained them to preserve unity in teaching and faith.8 May God, the Father of all mercy, grant us through Jesus Christ, his dear Son, the spirit of unity and the power to do his will. Even though the finest spirit of unity prevails among us we still have our hands full to do good and to be established by the power of God. What would happen if there were to be disunity and disagreement among us? The devil has become neither pious nor devout this year, nor will he ever be so. So let us be on guard and anxious to keep (as Paul teaches) the spiritual unity in the bond of love and of peace [Eph. 4:3]. Amen.

Contents of the Instructions

The Doctrine
The Ten Commandments

8Constantine the Great, Roman Emperor (306 337) summoned the bishops of the eastern and western branches of the church to Nicaea In A.D. 325 to establish unity and peace between two opposing parties, one of which rallied about the point of view held by Arius (d. 336), Presbyter in Alexandria, the other about the one a espoused by Athanasius (d. 373), deacon and later bishop of Alexandria. Arius held that there was a time when Christ was not, while Athanasius stoutly defended the eternal divinity of Christ. Temporary peace and unity were established by the emperor through the banishment of Arius and adherents of his point of view while declaring the signatories to the position maintained by Athanasius as correct.

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True Christian Prayer
Tribulation
The Sacrament of Baptism
The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord
True Christian Penance
True Christian Confession
True Christian Satisfaction for Sin
The Human Order of the Church
Marriage
Free Will
Christian Freedom
The Turks
Daily Worship in the Church
The True Christian Ban
The Office of Superintendents
Schools—the First, Second, and Third Divisions9

The Doctrine

In regard to doctrine we observe especially this defect that, while some preach about the faith by which we are to be justified, It is still not clearly enough explained how one shall attain to this faith, and almost all omit one aspect of the Christian faith without which no one can understand what faith is or means. For Christ says in the last chapter of Luke [24:47] that we are to preach in his name repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Many now talk only about the forgiveness of sins and say little or nothing about repentance. There neither is forgiveness of sins without repentance nor can forgiveness of sins be understood without repentance. It follows that If we preach the forgiveness of sins without repentance that the people Imagine that they have already obtained the forgiveness of sins, becoming thereby secure and without compunction of conscience. This would be a greater error and sin than all the errors hitherto prevailing. Surely we need to be concerned lest, as Christ says In Matt. 12 [:45] the last state becomes worse than the first.

9Omitted in the first edition of the Instructions (1528), this classification was included in the Table of Contents of the second edition (1538-1539).

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Therefore we have instructed and admonished pastors that it is theft duty to preach the whole gospel and not one portion without the other. For God says in Deut. 4 [:2]: "You shall not add to the word… nor take from it? There are preachers who now attack the pope because of what he has added to the Scriptures, which unfortunately is all too true. But when these do not preach repentance, they tear out a great part of Scripture. They have very little good to say about the eating of meat and the like, though they should not keep silent when they have an opportunity to defend Christian liberty against tyranny. What else is this than what Christ says in Mall. 23 [:24]: "Straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel?

So we have admonished them to exhort the people diligently and frequently to repent and grieve over their sins and to fear the judgment of God. Nor are they to neglect the greatest and most important element of repentance, for both John and Christ condemned the Pharisees more severely for their hypocritical holiness than for ordinary sins. The preachers are to condemn the gross sins of the common man, but more rigorously demand repentance where there is false holiness.

But some10 hold that nothing should be taught to precede faith and that repentance follows from and after faith, in order that our opponents might not be able to say that we have recanted our former teaching. One ought to remember that repentance and law belong to the common faith. For one must of course first believe that God is the one who threatens, commands, and frightens, etc. So it is best for the unschooled, common people that such phases of the faith retain the name of repentance, commandment, law, fear, etc., so that they may the better distinguish and understand the faith in Christ which the apostles call justifying faith, i.e., which makes righteous and takes away sin. This the faith which stems from commandment and repentance does not do, yet it causes the common man to have doubts concerning the meaning of faith and to raise pointless questions in his mind.

10John Agricola of Eisleben maintained that repentance follows faith; Melanchthon that it precedes faith. Their opposing points of view were reconciled temporarily in the formula above after a meeting with Luther and Bugenhagen at Torgau, August 28-29, 1527. Cf. Melanchthon's letter to Justus Jonas. C.R. 1, 914ff.

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The Ten Commandments

The preachers are to proclaim and explain the Ten Commandments often and earnestly, yet not only the commandments but also how God will punish those who do not keep them and how he often has inflicted temporal punishment. For such examples are written In order to forewarn people, for instance, bow the angels spoke to Abraham in Gen. 19 [:12f.], and told how God would punish Sodom and destroy it with the fire of hell. For they knew that he would tell it to his descendants so that they would learn to fear God.

So too they are to point out and condemn various specific vices. as adultery, drunkenness, envy, and hate, and how God has punished these, indicating that without doubt after this life he will punish still more severely if there is not improvement here.

The people are thus to be urged and exhorted to fear God, to repent and show contrition, lest their ease and life of false security be punished. Therefore Paul says In Rom. 3 [:20]: "Through the law comes (only) knowledge of sin." True repentance is nothing but an acknowledgment of sin.

Then it is important that faith be preached. Whoever experiences grief and contrition over his sins should believe that his sins are forgiven, not on account of his merits, but on account of Christ.

When the contrite and fearful conscience experiences peace, comfort, and joy on hearing that his sins are forgiven because of Christ, then faith Is present-the faith that makes him righteous before God. We are to teach the people diligently that this faith cannot exist without earnest and true contrition and fear of God, as It is written in Psalm 110 [Ps. 111:10] and Prov. 1 [:7], "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." And Isaiah says in the last chapter: "On whom does God look except on the trembling and contrite heart?"11

This shall be proclaimed repeatedly, so that the people do not entertain false notions and think they have faith when they are far from having it. It shall be made clear that only If they have faith can they truly repent and grieve over their sins. Without repentance theirs is an imagined faith. True faith brings comfort and joy in

11Isa. 66:2: "But this is the man to whom I will look, be that is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word." Cf. also Ecclus. (Sirach) 1:16.

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God, and we do not feel such comfort and joy where there is no repentance or fearfulness, as Christ says in Matt. 11 [:5]: "The poor have good news preached to them."

These two are the first elements of Christian life: Repentance or contrition and grief, and faith through which we receive the forgiveness of sins and are righteous before God. Both should grow and increase in us. The third element of Christian life is the doing of good works: To be chaste, to love and help the neighbor, to refrain from lying, from deceit, from stealing, from murder, from vengefulness, and avenging oneself, etc.

Therefore again and again the Ten Commandments are to be assiduously taught, for all good works are therein comprehended.

They are called good works not only because they are done for the welfare of our neighbors, but because God has commanded them, and so they also are well pleasing to God. God has no delight in those who do not obey the commandments, as is stated in Mic. 6 [:8]: "0 man, I will show you what is good and what God requires of you, namely, to do justice. Yea, do justice, delight to do good to your neighbor, and walk humbly before God."

The first commandment teaches us to fear God. For God threatens those who do not reverence him. It teaches us also to believe in and trust God, for God promises to do good to those who love him, that is, look to him for blessings, as we read in Isa. 64 [:4] and I Cor. 2 [:9]: "What no eye has seen, nor ear beard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him."

The second commandment teaches us not to misuse the name of God. We rightly use his name when we call on him in every need, bodily or spiritual, as he has commanded in Ps. 49 [Ps. 50:15]:

"Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." And in the same psalm, God tells what is the right kind of service by which we may serve him: to call upon him and pray, that he may help, and to give him thanks because of his goodness. For God says in this place: "And you shall glorify me." Also, "He who offers thanks, praises me, and in this way, I shall show him the salvation of God" [Ps. 50:23].

The pastors and preachers are to exhort the people to pray. For we fulfil this commandment by praying, that is, asking God

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for his help in all our trials and troubles. They are to instruct the people what prayer is, and how one is to pray.

True Christian Prayer

First, they should teach that God has commanded us to pray. Just as it is a great sin to commit murder so also it is sinful not to pray or to ask God for something. Indeed this commandment is meant to urge us on to pray. So great is the goodness of God that not only does he help those who ask for help but also bids us pray, as we read in Luke 18 [:1] and many other passages, which pastors should teach their people. If we knew of a prince who not only gave what was asked of him, but commanded everyone to ask for what he needed, we would look on such a one as a gracious master and ask much of him. Our Lord gives the more freely as we pray the more of him, as he said of Mary Magdalene in Luke 7 [:47]:

"Therefore is much given her, because she has looked for so much from me."

Secondly, they should make clear that God also has promised to hear us (Matt. 7 [:7]; Luke 11 [:9]): "Ask and it will be given you." We should depend on such a promise and not doubt that God will hear our prayer. So Christ speaks in Mark 11 [:24]: "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will."

The fact that we are sinners should not frighten us away. For He does not hear us because of our merits, but on account of his promise. Thus, in the last verse of Micah [7:20]: "Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old."

But no answer is promised the prayer of the sinner and the hypocrite who knows no repentance for his sin and hypocrisy. For of him Ps. 18 [:42] says: "They cried for help, but there was none to save, they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them."

But those who are penitent, and believe that on Christ's account God has forgiven them, should not hold back because of the sins they have committed and their hypocrisy. For God does not want any doubting, but wants us to believe that he hears and will help us. Therefore the pastors should also Instruct theft people that

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prayer includes faith that God will hear us, as James writes In Jas. 1 [:6f.]: "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord."

But it cannot be called prayer when one repeats heedlessly a great number of Pater Nosters or psalms, pays little regard to or places no reliance on God's promise to hear, or does not wait for God's help. Indeed such a one has no God, and it happens to him what Ps. 114 [115:6] says, "Their idols have ears but do not hear," that is, such a one imagines a god who does not hear.

Thirdly, the people are to be instructed to pray God both for temporal and spiritual things. Indeed each one is to be encouraged to bring his wants to God. One suffers from poverty, another from sickness, a third from sin, a fourth from lack of faith and another from shortcomings. Many therefore seek help of St. Anthony,12 or St. Sebastian,13 etc. But whatever it may be, help should be sought from God.

And if God delays in helping us we should not therefore cease to pray, as we are taught in Luke 18 [:1]. For in this manner God gives us practice in faith. Even if God does not give what we pray for, still we should not doubt that he has heard our prayer. We should realize that instead of what we have asked he will give something better. Committing such requests to him, we ought not set time or measure for his answer. How long did not Abraham and the other patriarchs have to wait before the promised land was given them? Such examples are plentiful in the Scriptures.

The third commandment teaches us to keep the Sabbath holy. Even though God now has not given us a command to observe the Sabbath in an external way as in the case of the Jews so that no manual labor could then be done, yet certain external aspects of the Sabbath are to be observed, such as the hearing and learning of the Word of God and for the people to have stated times on which to assemble, etc.

12St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) who was canonized within a year after his death by Gregory IX.
13St. Sebastian who died a martyr's death probably toward the close of the third century is considered a protector against the plague.

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The fourth commandment teaches us to honor our parents and to obey them. Here the young people shall frequently be confronted with the promise of God in Exodus 20 [:12]: "Whoever honors his parents shall long live." That is, he shall prosper all his life. Whoever dishonors parents and disobeys them will have adversity. Thus Ham was cursed by his father Noah (Gen. 9 [:25]). For his father said, "Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers." Thus Absalom came to an evil end because he had pursued his father, and was finally caught in a tree and hanged as we read in II Sam. 18 [:9]. Thus Jacob cursed Reuben because he violated his wife, for his father said (Gen. 49 [:4]): "You shall not have pre-eminence because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it—you went up to my couch." For it Is needful to instruct the people that all success and adversity come from God, success to those who fear God and keep his commandments, adversity to those who despise him. And even if God lets ill befall the righteous, yet he will afford help and comfort not only through spiritual but also temporal gifts, as Psalm 33 (Ps. 34 [:19]) says:

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all." And the entire Thirty-seventh Psalm proclaims, "Fret not yourself because of the wicked." It is a great mistake not to urge the people to hope and ask for temporal goods from God, for in the use of these faith is practiced.

Nor is it necessary to engage in subtle debate as to whether or not God gives these things on account of our works. It is enough to teach that God demands such works and rewards them because he has promised to do so without our merit

It is necessary to teach that God forgives our sins without reference to any of our works, on account of Christ So hostile is God to sin that the work of no creature can make satisfaction for it- only the sacrifice of God's own Son could do this.

But then many clamor: good works are not meritorious. It would be much better to teach people to do good works and drop the sharp disputes. For the truth is that God gives blessings because of his promise, not because of our works, yet the good works which God has commanded must be done.

Therefore undisciplined people need forcefully to be reminded how severely God punishes those who are disobedient toward

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parents with all kinds of misfortune. For God permits them to suffer shame, poverty, sickness, and other evils.

Also we need to teach parents their responsibility to instill in their children the fear of God, to teach and let them learn the Word of God. Thus we read in the Proverbs of Solomon 12 [Prov. 22:15]:

"Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him." So Paul in Eph. 6 [:4] says: "Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Such is the example of Eli who according to I Sam. 2 [:30] was punished by God and deprived of his priestly office because he had not taken seriously the rearing of his children. Never has youth been more insolent than today- we see how little they obey, how little they respect their parents. On this account, undoubtedly, the world is full of plagues, war, rebellion, and other evils.

To this commandment, too, belongs the reverence for old age.

Also that we honor the office of the priesthood, which ministers to us with the Word of God. For the ministry is a servant of God's Word and through it we have the Word of God, as St. Paul writes in I Tim. 5 [:17]: "Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching."

Also that we obey government. In Romans 13 Paul enumerates three points concerning government.

First, the payment of taxes, namely that each shall give the authorities such money and labor as is required of him [Rom. 13:6f].

Second, respect, that is, that we have sincere respect for government. Even if government cannot in every instance puns our still we should know that God will punish, for he has established and maintains government Also we can be assured that all the rebellious will be punished, as Paul says in Rom. 13 [:27]:

"Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." So also Solomon declares in Prov. 24 [21-22]: "My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not disobey either of them; for disaster from them will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?"

It is well to remind the people of examples of God's punish

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ment of the rebellious, as we read of Datham and Abiram who set themselves against Moses, in Num. 16 [:3 1ff.]: "The ground under them split asunder; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men that belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belong to them went down alive into Sheol; and the earth closed over them… And fire came forth…. and consumed the two hundred and fifty men offering the incense."

Abimelech, who set himself against the sixty-nine sons of Gideon, met his end, according to Judg. 9 [:53] and II Sam. 11 [:21] when a woman on a tower in Thebez threw a part of a millstone on his head and crushed his skull.

Sheba, who drew Israel away from David, as we read in II Sam. 20 [:22], was for this reason beheaded.

Absalom, who rose up against his father David, was hanged at last in an oak tree, as also related in II Sam. 18 [:9].

Zambri or Zimri, who conspired against his lord Elah, king of Israel, and killed him, was king only seven days. For Omri, king of Israel besieged him at Tirzah, and when Zimri saw that the city would he won, he went into the palace and burned the king's house over him. So we read in I Kings 16 [8ff.].

Clearly, God lets no wickedness go unpunished. Murder never goes unavenged, as Christ says in Matt. 26 [:52]: "For all who take the sword will perish by the sword." That is, whoever takes the sword on his own initiative without the authority of government will be punished. Scripture abounds in such passages, which the people should be taught diligently. For instance Solomon says in Prov. 18 [:14]: "A king's wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it." Or, in Prov. 20 [:2]: "The dread wrath of a king is like the growling of a young lion; he who provokes him to anger, sins against his soul."

The third duty we owe government is honor. For how can we imagine that we have paid the government something when we have given it tax or tithe or served it with physical labor? God requires of us a much higher service toward the government, namely, honor. This means, first, that we recognize that government is from God and that through it he gives us much greater benefits. For if God did not maintain government and justice in the

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world, the devil, who is a murderer, would everywhere bring about murder, so that none of us could be sure of life, wife, or children.

But God sustains government and through it gives peace and punishes and guards against the wicked, so that we may support wife and children, bring up children in the discipline and knowledge of God, have security in our homes and on the streets, that each may help the other, and communicate and live with another. Such gifts are altogether of heaven, and God desires that we consider and recognize them as gifts of God. He desires us to honor government as a servant of his and to show gratitude to it because through it God gives us such great benefits.

Whoever, thus, might see God in would have sincere love towards government. Whoever could estimate the blessings, which we receive through government, would be heartily thankful toward government. If you knew that someone had saved your child from death, you would thank him warmly. Why then are you not grateful to the government, which saves you, your children, your wife, daily from murder? If the government did not restrain the wicked, when could we be secure? Therefore when you look on wife and children, bear in mind that these are gifts of God which you may possess through the government. And as you love your children, you should also love the government. Because the common man does not acknowledge such blessings as peace, justice, and punishment of the wicked, we need often to remind him of them and diligently to explain them to him.

Secondly, we give greatest honor to the government when we pray for it, that God may give those in authority grace and understanding to rule peacefully and wisely, as St. Paul has taught in I Tim. 2 [:lff.]: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior." And Bar. 1 [:llf.]: "Pray for the life of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and for the life of Balthasar his son, that their days may be upon earth as the days of heaven." For since peace is a divine gift we need to ask and pray for it from God.

Some ask, how can government be from God, since so many

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have come to power by evil use of force? Julian14 is an example. And Scriptures call Nimrod a hunter, because he had grasped for so much (Gen. 10 [:9]).

This is the answer. When in Rom. 13 [:1] Paul says that the government is of God, this is not to be understood in the sense that government is an affliction in the way that murder or any other crime is inflicted by God, but In the sense that government is a special ordinance and function of God, just as the sun is a creature of God or marriage is established by God. An evil man who takes a wife with evil intent can abuse the ordinance of marriage. So also a tyrant can abuse the ordinance of God, as Julian or Nero15 did. The ordinance, by which peace and justice is maintained, remains a divine creation even if the person who abuses the ordinance does wrong.

The preachers, accordingly, should faithfully remind the authorities to maintain peace, justice, and security for their subjects, to defend the poor, the widow, and the orphan, and not to look on them as chattel, as God commanded Jeremiah, in Jer. 7 [:2ff.], to preach to all the people of Judah and proclaim his promise to dwell with them. So also Paul writes in Col. [4:1]: "Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven." The same Lord will in his own lime take care of evil authorities. Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon, was a mighty king who grievously oppressed his people by following the counsel of his young companions. So when the people asked that their burden be lightened, King Rehoboam gave this answer: "My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions" [I Kings 12:10-11]. Then all Israel deserted King Rehoboam, so that he ruled only over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah, as we read in I Kings 12 (:17], and retained only one tribe. King Jeroboam had ten tribes, as is recorded in I Kings 11 [:31].

14Julian, Roman emperor from 361-363 A.D., also known as the Apostate," defected from the Christian religion and sought to re-introduce hellenistic paganism as the religion in his empire.
15Nero, Roman emperor from 54-68 A.D., whose name Is associated with the first great persecution of Christians known to history.

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Yet citizens are to be diligently instructed not to be less obedient and subject toward harsh government. So St. Peter teaches in I Pet 2 [:18]: "Servants be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to the kind and gentle but also to the overbearing." For God yet lives whose word is in Deut. 32 [:35]: "Vengeance is mine, and recompense." He will not let the untoward authority escape.

Some are in doubt if in matters of taking possession of property or punishment of the wicked we should follow laws made by the emperors or heathen. Should we, for instance, hang thieves when the law of Moses taught otherwise? (Exod. 22 [:1ff.]).

We can be assured that we should follow these laws and that it is right to observe the law of emperors.

For as St. Peter writes in I Pet. 2 [:13]: "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right."

As circumcision is not enjoined on us, so we are not commanded to follow the administration of the laws of Moses. Thus we read in Acts 15 [:10] that the yoke of the law is not to be laid on the heathen. The gentiles do not need to become Jews, but may remain gentiles. That is, in matters of temporal government they may follow gentile ordinances. Property may be apportioned and punishment administered, not according to the law of Moses but according to their own laws.

According to Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, Moses ordered tithes to be given only to the priests. But we should give tithes to whomever the government orders.

Moses declares that the eldest or first-born son should inherit a double portion [Deut. 21:17]. We should follow our own laws of inheritance.

Moses teaches in Exod. 22 [:1ff.] that thieves shall be punished by being made to repay [that which has been stolen] partly twofold, partly fourfold.

In such cases our own nation's laws shall govern. It were well, however, that we punished thievery with discrimination and not too severely. For it is a common and frequent experience that very minor thefts are just as severely punished as grave offenses.

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But ancient laws are not to be discarded for the sake of peace just because they are severe.

The ancients who instituted these laws were convinced that hard punishments were necessary for those among our people who are disorderly.

Thus each shall follow his own national law. This is a form of Christian liberty, as St. Paul says in CoL 3 [:11]: A Christian is not "Greek, Jew, circumcision, uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all." So also Paul confirms Gentile justice in Rom. 13 [:1], where he teaches that all authority is of God, whether Jewish or Gentile.

So, we are to be subject to all authority, not only Christian but Gentile.

Yet all law is to be judged by this standard, that it teaches what Paul says in Born. 13 [:3], the praise of good conduct and the punishment of evil. If a law punishes more severely than the Mosaic law, it is not on that account unjust.

We mention these things because of those who clamor against the law of the land in regard to tithes, hanging, and the like. Partly on this account the rebellion of two years ago was instigated. Those who raise this clamor should be punished as rebellious. For we are to fear all temporal laws and ordinances as the will and law of God. For Solomon says in Prov. 16 [:10]: "Inspired decisions are on the lips of a king," that is, the order or commandment of the authorities is to be respected as an ordinance of God. Much is said about this in Born. 13 f:1ff.J. The other commandments Christ himself explains in Matthew 5.

The people are also to be exhorted to pay honestly and willingly the tax imposed on each. Even if some obligations are heavy each one is bound to pay on account of his duty and his obedience to government so that peace may rule throughout the land. For what else is unwillingness to pay tax or render service than giving rise to thievery and murder?

So they especially who bear the name of Christian should do this in love which willingly bears all burdens, and gives beyond what is due, which pays, even when burdened unjustly, and seeks no revenge through its own powers, as Christ teaches in Matt. 5 [:39]. We ought to bring honor to the holy gospel by paying honestly, as

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a matter of course, so that the holy gospel is not slandered and disgraced as happens in the case of those who claim in the name of the holy gospel to be free from tithes and other temporal burdens.

Tribulation

To the third part of Christian life, that is, the doing of good works, belongs also the knowledge of how one shall meet tribulation.

First, we are to teach the people that all tribulation, not only of the spirit, but also of the body, is sent from God, whether it is poverty or illness, danger to children, peril of possessions, or hunger. God would thereby admonish us and awaken us to penitence. As we read in I Cor. 11 [:32]: "But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world."

Now it is not enough to know that God sends such experiences. We must also teach that in the midst of these tribulations we are to call upon him and confidently believe that he will help, as we have explained above in regard to prayer. So God says in Psalm 49 [Ps. 50:15]: "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

Besides all this we should teach the people how weak man is, and how the devil always knows in what way he can entice us into evil, bringing temporal and eternal shame and misery on us. For Christ says in John 8 [:44] that the devil is a murderer. And Peter in I Pet. 5 [:8] says: "The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour." We need therefore to stand constantly in the fear of the Lord, watching and praying that God will direct and protect us. We rightly practice our faith when we fight such peril with prayer. So Christ says in Luke 21 [:36]:

"Watch at all times. and pray."

We have given these instructions to the pastors and explained to them that they should clearly and correctly present to the people these most important matters of the Christian life which we have here described, namely, repentance, faith, and good works, while passing by many other things of which the poor masses understand little.

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The Sacrament of Baptism

Baptism shall be retained as hitherto, and children are to be baptized. For baptism has the same import as circumcision, and as children were circumcised so also children shall be baptized. And as God said, he wills to take into his care and protection the children who were circumcised. For such is the Word of God In Get 17 [:7]: "I will be God to you and to your descendants after you." Also, "And I will be their God? So also the children who are baptized are in God's care. Therefore we should earnestly pray to God because of this his promise.

The common people are to be taught what great benefits baptism brings, namely that God will care for and protect the child and receive it as his own.

It is well that we use the German language in baptism so that they who witness the act may understand the prayer and the word in baptism.

Occasionally also It should be explained to the people in preaching on the sacrament that baptism does not only mean that God wills to receive children when they are small, but throughout life. Therefore, baptism is not a sign only to children, but also to the older people it is an incitement and exhortation to repentance. For the water in baptism signifies penitence, contrition, and sorrow. So baptism should awaken the faith that those who repent of their sins are cleansed and forgiven. This kind of faith is a complete baptism.

One need not quarrel over the use of chrism.16 The true chrism with which all Christians are anointed by God himself is the Holy Spirit. So we read in Isa. 81 [:1] and in Eph. 1 [:17].

The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord

These three articles concerning the sacrament of the true body and blood of our dear Lord Jesus Christ shall be explained to the people.

16 Chrism is a specially consecrated oil employed in the administration of baptism, confirmation, and holy orders In Roman and Eastern Orthodox churches. The 1538-39 edition of the Instructions inserted the additional qualification that "chrism is an unnecessary, free matter." WA 26, 213.

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First, they are to believe that the true body of Christ is in the bread and the true blood of Christ is in the wine. For thus reads the word of Christ in the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke:

"This is my body" [Matt. 26:26]; "Drink of it all of you" [Mark 14:22]; "This is my blood of the New Testament, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" [Luke 22:19]. So also Paul declares in I Cor. 11 [10:16]: "The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" Were this now taken to mean not the true body, but only the Word of God, as some interpret it, then it would be a participation not in the body of Christ but only in the Word and Spirit. In this same epistle Paul also declares that this meal is not to be regarded as ordinary food, but as the body of Christ, and he judges those guilty who carelessly receive it as ordinary food [I Cor. 11:27].

Pastors also are to read what the Fathers have written, so that they may the better instruct themselves and others. So Hilary in Book 817 on the Holy Trinity says that we should not doubt that this is the true body and blood of Christ, since Christ has so declared.

It is to be remembered that so great a miracle happens through no merit of the priest but because Christ has ordained that when we commune his body is present, just as the sun rises daily without any merit of ours but solely since God has so ordained.

Secondly, the people are to be taught that it is right to receive both bread and wine. For now the holy gospel (God be praised) has been restored and we have clear witness that both elements are to be offered and received. For Christ has so ordained, as the three evangelists point out, and St. Paul has so done in the early church, as we see in l Cor. 11 [:24f.]. No human being may alter such a divine ordinance. We dare not annul a man's last will, as St Paul writes in Galatians [Gal. 3:15]. Much less is God's own last testament to be changed.

Accordingly we have instructed pastors and preachers to proclaim this teaching of the gospel concerning both kinds to everyone, be he strong, weak, or obstinate. They are in no way

17Cf. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church (New York: 1902), IX, 141.

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to favor celebration in one kind, but condemn this as wrong and contrary to the institution and last testament of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Thus the doctrine itself will be spread in a free, pure, public manner.18 In as much, however, as no one is to be forced to believe, or driven by command or force from his unbelief, since God likes no forced service and wants only those who are his servants by their own free will, and in view of the fact that the people are confused and uncertain, it has been and still is impossible to establish a rule concerning persons to whom both kinds are to be offered or from whom they are to be withheld according to the teaching of Christ.

So while we can easily say that the doctrine is to be preached purely and freely as Christ himself has given it, we have not been able to bring it about that in all cases, and in every way and by every person, the use and practice conform to this teaching. We must remember that the people are strongly accustomed to receive only one kind and that there are not a few who on account of this custom are in serious doubt. So one has to let the day have its twelve hours and leave the matter in God's hands.

But as this article arises daily and troubles the conscience we have not wanted to leave the pastors without any guidance at all. We have therefore recommended that the following method and Instruction, based on God's counsel, be tried until the Holy Spirit leads us to a better understanding.

First, as indicated above, in every way and manner the doctrine itself shall be firmly held and positively preached and made known that according to the institution of Christ both kinds are to be used in the sacrament. This teaching shall be presented without com-promise to everyone, including the weak and the obstinate.

Secondly, where there are weak Christians, who as yet have not heard, or been sufficiently instructed and strengthened by the word of the gospel, and so out of weakness and tenor of conscience rather than obstinacy cannot receive both kinds, one may allow these to take communion in one kind for the time being and where they ask for it the pastor or preacher may so administer it. The reason is this: In this way the doctrine of both kinds will not be

18The following section to "Thirdly…," p. 291, written by Luther for this edition was stricken by him In the second edition, 1538.

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weakened or compromised, but only the application or use of the doctrine will be temporarily postponed through Christian patience and love. So Christ was patient with his apostles in many things which were not right, as when they wanted to destroy the Samaritans with fire (Luke 9 [.54ff.]). Or, when they quarreled about superiority (Matt. 20 [:24ff.]). This and similar things he overlooked, since at that time they were unable to do or know better. They had not yet received the Holy Spirit, they were afraid of death, and for fear of the Jews did not confess Christ when he died. Even nowadays God tolerates much in us and in others, which are wrong or insufficient, as a weak faith and other defects, according to Romans 14 and 15.

If despite all this the doctrine nevertheless is maintained and in no wise contradicted, love forgives and endures its inadequate application.

Further, it is uncharitable, even un-Christian, to force these weak ones to receive the sacrament in both lands or to withhold it in one kind. For thus they feel they are made to sin. We have often experienced that they make confession and do penance fur gross heresy when they have taken both kinds against theft conscience Also they think themselves guilty of heresy when they do not receive the one kind as has been their inclination. In both cases the weak faith burdens itself with grievous sin such as heresy, though falsely. This is much worse than for a while not practicing full obedience to the doctrine of both kinds. St. Paul in Rom. 14 [:23] says, "He who judges himself in that he eats is condemned."

So also Paul tolerated circumcision and Jewish food, all the while freely proclaiming freedom in regard to food. To teach and practice this freedom was also God's command and ordinance, and yet the attitude toward the weak was observed as long as nothing contradictory to the doctrine was taught.

Thirdly, as for the obstinate who will neither learn nor practice this doctrine, one should simply offer them neither kind, but let them go. So St. Paul, according to Gal. 2 [:3f.], refused to circumcise Titus when the Jews wanted to insist on it and to condemn liberty For such obstinate ones are not only imperfect in the practice of the doctrine, but want also to pervert and condemn the doctrine. This we should not suffer nor tolerate. For the doctrine

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must run straight and clear, even if the deed and practice creep or crawl, run or leap, after it.

The pastor, who knows his people and daily associates with them, must distinguish between the weak and the obstinate. He can easily observe those folk who have a good disposition, who gladly listen to the preaching and gladly want to learn and be rightly guided thereby.

But the rough and the perverse who pay no attention to preaching are under no circumstances to be considered weak, however loudly they claim to be so.

The third article, and the most fundamental, is that one teach the reason for the use of the sacrament and how one shall be properly prepared.

First, the pastor needs to instruct the people how great a sin it is to dishonor the sacrament and to misuse it. For Paul says in I Cor. 11 [:27f.]: "You are guilty of profaning the body and blood of Christ," and "You receive it to judgment upon yourself." Also, "Many of you are ill and many among the Christians have died? For God declared in the second commandment (Exod. 20 [:7]). Whoever dishonors his name, he will not hold guiltless. Undoubtedly also this dishonor to the body and blood of Christ will not go unpunished. This shall be taught the people carefully, so that they may avoid this sin and be urged to reverence, penitence, and improvement Nor shall such be admitted to the sacrament as are caught in the web of open sin, adultery, gluttony, and the like, and show no contrition.

Secondly, no one shall be admitted to the sacrament unless he has previously been to the pastor who shall inquire if he rightly understands the sacrament, or is in need of further counsel, etc.

Also, it shall be taught that they alone are worthy to receive the sacrament who show true repentance and sorrow for their sins and are terror-stricken in their consciences. Rough, fearless persons will not be admitted. For it is written in I Cor 11 [25]: "Do this, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me."

Now to remember Christ's death is not only to hear a preacher relate its happening but to feel terrified that God has shown such anger over sin that on its account he has brought death to his only Son, and that no angel or any saint could make satisfaction for sin.

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Only Christ, himself God, has had to sacrifice himself, etc. O what severe punishment will fall upon those who regard sin so lightly when they hear how seriously God regards it.

He who rightly remembers the death of Christ shall receive the sacrament and seek comfort. Not that the outward reception will comfort the heart, but it is a sign of the comfort and of the forgiveness of sins. This sign encourages the heart to believe that God forgives a penitent his sins.

Not only by the reception of the sacrament but by the words associated with the sacrament the heart will be encouraged to believe and be quickened. For it is in the words that God promises the forgiveness of sins: "This is my body, given for you." "This is the cup of the new covenant," is the new promise, the promised righteousness, eternal life, "in my blood which is shed for many for the remission of sin."

Thus they obtain the forgiveness of sins not through any outward act but through the faith which is awakened by the word and the sign.

Also the people are to be taught that this sign has been instituted not only to awaken faith but also to instruct us in love, as St Paul says in I Cor. 10 [:17]: "It is one loaf and it is one body. for we all partake of the same loaf." We are not to harbor envy and hatred, but each is to care for the other, to help the other with alms and every kind of service, which God has commanded us.

This teaching shall be repeated often. For what else is it than dishonor of the body of Christ when we harbor envy and hate and want to show no love and yet want to be considered a part of the body of Christ?

True Christian Penance

Penance also is to be reckoned as a sacrament—all sacraments are a kind of penance. There are other reasons, too, for calling it a sacrament, but they need not be recounted here.

Now we have already shown that it is necessary to preach penance, and to p punish fearless behavior which is now in the world and has its origin, at least in part, in a wrong understanding of the Faith. For many who hear that they should believe, so that all their

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sins will be forgiven, fashion their own faith and think they are pure. Thus they become secure and arrogant. Such carnal security is worse than all the errors hitherto prevailing Therefore in preaching the gospel it is necessary in every way to instruct the people where faith may be found and how one attains it. For true faith cannot exist where there is not true contrition and true fear and terror before God.

This is most important in teaching the people. For where there is not contrition and sorrow for sin, there also is no true faith. Thus we read in Ps. 147 1.111. "The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love." God himself also says in Ezek. 3 [ 18] that if the preacher does not condemn the error and sin of those whom he teaches, God will lay the loss of their souls to his account. Such a verdict God pronounced upon that kind of preacher who comforts the people and says much about faith and the forgiveness of sins but nothing about penitence or the fear and judgment of God. Jeremiah, too, condemns such preachers in the seventh chapter [Jer. 6.14]: One should not believe those who cry, Peace, Peace, when God is angry and there is no peace.

We need to fear that God will severely punish these preachers and pupils because of such security. For that is the sin which Is decried in Jer. 6 [.15], "They did not know how to blush." And St. Paul in Eph. 5 [ .5], condemning those who live securely in their perverse ways without sting of conscience, says, "Be sure of tins, that no immoral or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolator) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not associate with them?

Now penance in reality is sincere contrition and sorrow over one's sins and sincere fear of the wrath and judgment of God. This is contrition and the acknowledgment of sin. "Mortification of the flesh" is also, properly, penance. So in the Scriptures contrition has many names.

Some, in speaking of mortification, mean only holding the carnal nature in check, though this is rather a work of a new life,

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and is a work that depends on the putting to death of the flesh. So this is nothing else than true contrition.

Some talk tins way. We must admit to ourselves that our whole nature is evil, etc. When the people think they thereby acknowledge their sin, they only show their wantonness.

It is one thing "to know oneself," and another, "through the law comes the knowledge of sin." For to know one's sin is to have contrition and sorrow over it and sincere fear of the wrath and judgment of God, So David confessed his sin, when the prophet Nathan came to him and condemned him in II Sam. 12 (.131. For David knew well enough before that he had sinned, but he still knew no contrition. So he did not have the right knowledge of his sin.

That there is nothing in us without sin is too lofty a truth for laymen to grasp who are just beginning to understand. For we do not easily reach the point where a person fears for all his good works and understands that he sins even in good works. So Solomon says in Eccles. 7 (201: "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins."

Children need to be taught gradually. Similarly, we are to teach penance and contrition on e as the gross sins we all know. We are to condemn drunkenness, unchastity, envy and hatred, greed, falsehood, and the like. We are to awaken the people to contrition, and hold before them the judgment of God, his condemnation, and the scriptural examples of God's punishment for sin.

As for hypocrites, when it is necessary let us not forget the wrath and judgment of God upon the false servants of God or hypocrites who slander his name by their seeming holiness.

Some hold that since God creates true contrition in our hearts one ought not to exhort the people to it. It is true that God works true contrition, but he works it through the Word and preaching. We exhort the people to faith and through such preaching God works faith. So we are to exhort and urge to contrition and leave to God in whom he will work contrition. For he works through preaching, as Moses says in Deut. 4 [.24], "God is a devouring fire? The preaching of God's judgment and wrath works contrition in us.

So the first part of penance is contrition and sorrow. The

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second part as faith that the sins will be forgiven on Christ's account. This faith effects good resolution. So with faith we receive the forgiveness of sins, as Paul has said in Rom. 3 (:35]. But, as we have often said, this faith cannot be until there has been contrition and sorrow. For contrition without faith is the contrition of Judas and of Saul, it Is despair. So faith without contrition, as we shall show, is presumption and carnal security.

Formerly it has been taught that penance consists of three parts: contrition, confession, and satisfaction. We have said of the first part that contrition and sorrow shall always be preached and that contrition and sorrow imply the acknowledgment of sin and mortification of the flesh. It is well we use these words, contrition and sorrow, for they are clear and easily understood.

True Christian Confession

The papal kind of confession is not commanded, namely, the recounting of all sins. This, furthermore, is Impossible, as we read in Ps. 19 (13], "But who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults," Yet there are many reasons why we should exhort the people to confession, especially in those cases where they need counsel and wherein they are most troubled.

No one should be allowed to go to communion who has not been individually examined by his pastor to see if he is prepared to go to the holy sacrament. For Paul says in I Cor. 11 [:27], that they are guilty of profaning the body and blood of Christ who receive it unworthily.

Not only do they who receive it unworthily dishonor the sacrament, but also those who carelessly give it to the unworthy. For the common people run by custom to the sacrament and do not know why they should use the sacrament.

Whoever, thus, does not know why he should receive the sacrament is not to be admitted to it. In examination before the sacrament the people are to be exhorted to make confession, so that they may be instructed where cases of doubt arise in conscience, and may be comforted, when true contrition is in their hearts, as they hear the words of absolution.

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True Christian Satisfaction for Sin

It is not in us to make satisfaction for our sins, for Christ alone has made satisfaction for our sins. This part of penance belongs to the forgiveness of sins and faith-we know and believe that our sins are forgiven us on account of Christ. This is the way we ought to teach this article. For it is not enough to know that God will punish sin, and to be contrite for sin, but also we must know that God on account of Christ will forgive sin and that we attain to this forgiveness through faith, if we believe that God will forgive sin on Christ's account. For contrition and faith go together. For contrition without faith produces despair as in Judas [Matt. 27:5] and Saul [I Sam 31.4]. One cannot have true faith without contrition.

Thus we should instruct the people: First, we should awaken the people to fear, Surely it must be a &eat wrath that God feels over sin, since no one except Christ the Son of God can make satisfaction for sin. This ought certainly to frighten us, that God has such anger over sin. We should consider well the word of Christ in Luke 23 [:31]. "For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" If Christ has had to suffer so much on account of our sins, how much shall we have to suffer if we will have no part of contrition, but rather despise God?

Secondly, we should awaken the people to faith, even if we have deserved nothing else than condemnation. For God forgives us on Christ's account without our having deserved it. That is satisfaction. For by faith we attain to the forgiveness of sins, if we believe that Christ has made satisfaction for us, as John says in I John 2 [.2]: "He is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

The Human Order of the Church

It is obvious that much confusion has resulted from an unrestrained preaching about church order. Therefore the pastors have been admonished to give greater attention to important subjects, such as Christian repentance, as treated above, faith, good works, the fear of God, prayer, the honoring of God, regard for parents, the education of children, respect for government, not to envy, not to bear hate, not to injure or kill any one, chastity, living virtuously

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in marriage, not to be greedy, not to steal, not to drink intemperately, not to lie, to slander no one. These subjects are of greater importance than the eating of meat on Friday and the like, however correct such may be before God and conscience

But the people are to be taught to speak with restraint about such matters as church order. For some church ordinances have been instituted for the sake of good order and harmony, as St. Paul says in I Cor. 14 [:40]: All things shall be done in order in the churches."19

Holy days such as Sunday shall be observed and as many others as the respective pastors have been accustomed to observe. For the people must have certain set times to come together to hear the Word of God.

Pastors should not make an issue of the fact that one observes a holy day and another does not let each one peacefully keep to his custom. Only do not do away with all holy days. It would be well if there were some uniformity. The days of Annunciation, Purification, Visitation of the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, St. Michael's, Apostles' Day, Magdalene these have already been discarded and could not conveniently be restored. We should keep especially Christmas, Circumcision, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, though leaving out the un-Christian legends and songs associated with them. These days have been instituted because it is not possible to teach all parts of the gospel at one time. So the teaching of it is divided into various parts of the year, just as in school one arranges to read Virgil one day and Homer on another. Also we should retain the usual holy days in the week before Easter when we preach on the Passion. It is not necessary to change so old a custom and order, just as it is not necessary to emphasize the suffering of Christ only at this one particular time.

Yet the people are to be taught that the only reason for keeping these festivals is to learn the Word of God. If wishes to do manual labor, he may do so in his own way. For God requires observance of these church ordinances by us only on account of the teaching, as Paul says in Col 2 [:16]: "Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or sabbath.

19"All things should be done decently and in order."

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Beyond such regulations, which were made for the sake of good order, are others, such as regular fasts and abstaining from meat on Fridays, which were instituted in the thought that they would be a special service to God, to appease God and secure his grace. Now Christ teaches in Matt. 15 [: 9] that it is futile to appease God by the observance of such regulations, for he says "In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." In I Tim. 4 [: 1] Paul teaches that ordinances made with the intention of appeasing God are "doctrines of demons."

Paul also says in Col. 2 [: 20] that no one shall submit to such regulations. We should not make such regulations and should not teach that it is sin to break them. Nor should one teach that it is a service to God [Gottesdienst] to keep these rules.

Even the apostles broke rules of this kind (Matt 15 [1ff.]). Yet we should teach the people not to break these regulations among persons not yet instructed, lest these be offended. For one should not employ faith to the injury of love but for its increase. For Paul lays in I Cor. 13 [: 2]: "And if I have (all) faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing"

The people should be taught the difference between church order and secular government. Every secular authority is to be obeyed not because it sets up a new service to God but because it makes for orderly life in peace and love. Therefore it is to be obeyed in everything except when it commands what is contrary to the law of God, for example, if the government ordered us to disregard the gospel or some of its parts. In such cases we are to follow the rule of Acts 5 [: 29]: "We must obey God rather than men."

Memorial masses and other paid masses shall no longer be held. For if there were any value in memorial masses, vigils, and the like, it would be possible to atone for sin through works But as St John the Baptist testified (John 1 [: 29]), Christ alone is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Furthermore, the mass in which we receive the body and blood of Christ and remember his death, is for the living, not the dead. Only the living can make remembrance of the death of Christ.

What the priests are to use of the canon [of the mass] is clearly explained in other writings. It is not necessary to preach much about this to the laity.

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Some sing the mass in German, some in Latin, either of which is permissible. It would be reasonable and useful if we used German where most of the people do not understand Latin. Then the people would better understand what is sung or read. St Paul speaks thus in I Cor. 14 [:16f.]. "If you bless with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of a layman20 say the 'Amen' to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? For you may give thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified." And Paul says in the same place [I Cor. 14:26]: "Let all things be done for edification."

On high festivals such as Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, or the like, it would be well to use some Latin hymns in the mass, if they are in accordance with Scripture. For it is in poor taste to sing only one thing. If anyone wishes to compose German hymns let no one presume to do this unless he is endowed with grace for it.

But though we have said that a number of holy days may and should be kept (in order that the people might hear and learn the Word of God), this is not to be interpreted to mean that we establish or approve of prayer to the saints, for their intercession. For Christ Jesus alone is our mediator who represents us, as John in I John 2 [: 1] and Paul in Rom. 8 [:34] show.

We rightly honor the saints when we recognize that they are held up before us as a mirror of the grace and mercy of God. For just as Peter, Paul, and other saints like us in body, blood, and infirmity, were made blessed by the grace of God through faith, so we are comforted by their example that God will look in mercy and grace on our infirmity, if we, as they did, put our trust in him, believe in, and call upon him in our infirmity.

Honoring the saints, also, consists in exercising ourselves and increasing in faith and good works in a manner similar to what we see and hear they have done.

Thus the people are to be aroused to faith and good works by the example of the saints, as it is written in Heb 13 [:7]:

Remember those who have gone before you who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their life, and follow their faith."

So St. Peter exhorts the women in I Pet. 3 [:5f.] to imitate their

20"…in the position of an outsider…."

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mother Sarah in adorning the heart by a kind and gentle spirit. He writes, "So once the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves and were submissive to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you."

Marriage

The pastors are to teach the people diligently that marriage as instituted by God. Therefore we should go to God with prayer and hopefulness in all the difficulties of marriage. For since God has ordained and blessed marriage (Gen. 2 [:18ff.]) married persons may look to God and be confident that he will give grace and help in all their needs. Thus Solomon says in Prov 18 [:22]. "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord." Discipline is to be maintained in marriage, and patience and love are to be shown and practiced by the one to the other, as enjoined in Eph. 5 [:22ff.]. And they should be taught that they may not be divorced or desert each other, as Christ himself commands in Matt. 19 1.6, 9].

Since it happens that in many cases Christian liberty is carelessly and perversely abused, needlessly giving rise to offense and unhappiness, the pastors should teach and act sympathetically and reasonably in such matters as forbidden degrees of relationship in marriage.21 So St. Paul teaches in Gal. [5:13]: Christian liberty is not given in order that each one might seek or satisfy his own feelings or notions, but that with clear conscience he might live and act as a servant to his neighbor. "For you were called to freedom, brethren, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh." In cases where the pastors are confused or uncertain, they should ask counsel of other learned men, or, if so ordered, they should let the case go to the officers or chancellery of the prince.

Free Will

Many talk improperly about the freedom of the will, wherefore we have composed here this brief statement.

Man has in his own power a freedom of the will to do or not to do external works, regulated by law and punishment. There are

21Cf. What Persons Are Forbidden to Marry (1522), WA 10II, 263-266.

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good works he can do and there is a secular goodness he can achieve through a power of his own which he has and receives from God for this purpose. Paul speaks of it as a righteousness of the flesh, that is, a righteousness which the flesh or man of himself can effect. If man thus of himself effects a righteousness he must have a certain freedom and choice to refuse evil and do good. God also requires such external or secular righteousness, as we read in Gal. 3 [:24]: The law is given to guard against trespasses in outward things. And in I Tim. 1 [:9]: "The law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners," as if St. Paul wanted to say: We cannot change the heart by our own power, but we can prevent outward transgression. We should teach that God has no pleasure in an immoral, heathen life. God requires of every man this righteousness, and punishes such immorality with all kinds of severe temporal consequences and an eternal suffering.

But this freedom is hindered by the devil. For if man is not protected and ruled by God, the devil drives him to sin so that he has not even this external goodness. It is important that the people be taught and learn how weak and miserable man is when he does not seek help from God This we should acknowledge, and pray God for help that he might guard and keep us from the devil and give us true godly gifts:

On the other hand man cannot by his own power purify his heart and bring forth godly gifts, such as true repentance of sins, a true, as over against an artificial, fear of God, true faith, sincere love, chastity, a spirit without vengefulness, true long-suffering, longing prayer, not to be miserly, etc.

In Rom. 8 [:7] Paul writes: The natural mind cannot do anything godly. It does not perceive the wrath of God, therefore cannot rightly fear him. It does not see the goodness of God, therefore cannot trust or believe in him either. Therefore we should constantly pray that God will bring forth his gifts in us This we call Christian goodness.

Christian Freedom

Others talk equally improperly about Christian freedom Consequently some people think they are free in the sense that they need no government and even that they need pay no taxes. Others

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interpret Christian freedom to mean that they can eat meat, refrain from confession and fasting, and the like.

Such wild illusions of the people the preachers should condemn their teaching should lead to improvement and not to wickedness.

In the first place Christian freedom is the forgiveness of sins through Christ by the Holy Spirit without our merit or aid.

If this freedom is properly explained it can be of great comfort to sincere souls and inspire them to the love of God and Christian works. Therefore this subject should be treated often. The devil has those in his power who are not preserved by the Holy Spirit, prodding them into vice and crime. Of one he makes an adulterer, of another a thief, of a third a murderer. We see how many who have fallen into such disgrace do not know how it happened. It is the devil who has driven them to it. This we call the bondage of humanity. For the devil does not relax. He is a murderer who lies in wait to destroy body and soul and has his delight and joy In our destruction.

Christian freedom, on the other hand, means that Christ has promised us the Holy Spirit, to rule over us and protects us against such power of the devil.

This is the word of Christ himself in John 8 [:36]: "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."

The people are to be admonished to fear so they may realize in what great peril they are if God does not keep them, since no one is secure from sin an disgrace. They are also to be comforted an exhorted to faith and prayer, so that they may be protected from the devil by the Holy Spirit. So Christ has bidden us to pray, in Luke 22 [:40]: "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." For the devil is no mean and weak foe, but the prince of the world, as Christ himself terms him in John 12 [:31], 14 [:30], and 16 [:11], and a god of this world, as Paul calls him in II Cor. 4 [:4] Therefore we have to contend, as Paul writes in Eph. 6 [:12], not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers, against the world rulers of darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Yet St. John says in his epistle [I John 4:4] that he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.

This subject of Christian freedom should be treated often so

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that the people may be constrained to fear and faith. For there is no point of Christian doctrine which can make or bring greater joy to sincere souls than this by which we know that God wishes to rule over and protect us, as Christ has promised in Matt. 16 [:18]: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

The second part of Christian freedom is that Christ does not impose on us the ceremonies and judicial ordinances of the law of Moses, but Christians may follow the laws of all lands-Saxons the Saxon law, others the Roman law. God approves of and confirms all such laws, if they be not against his law or against reason, as we have already explained. It is written in Born. 13 [.1]: "For there is no authority except from God," This applies not only to Jewish law, but the law of all lands, as St. Peter says in I Pet. 2 [:13]: "Be subject to every human institution."

The third part of Christian freedom concerns human church regulations such as fasts, holy days, and the like. Here it is necessary to know that the observance of such regulations is of no help in attaining goodness before God, as Christ says in Matt. 15 [:9]: "In vain do they worship me… with precepts of men." On this point we have already indicated that church regulations are of three kinds.22

Some ordinances may not be kept without sinning, namely, such a one as the forbidding of marriage. Such we should not obey, for, "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 15 [:29]). St. Paul calls this prohibition in I Tim. 4 [:1-3], "a doctrine of the devil" In addition Christ himself describes these ordinances as commandments to sin (Matt. 15 [:3ff.]).

Other ordinances have been made, not In order to earn grace or to make satisfaction for sin, or even because it is necessary to observe them, but because they serve a useful purpose. Such is the observance of Sunday. Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, which have been fixed in time so that the people may know when to come together and learn the Word of God. Not that it is necessary even to keep these days or that it is sinful to do manual labor on them, but it is well to keep them so that every man may know the time at which to assemble and to learn.

22Cf. Pp. 299-300.

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A third kind of regulations has been made with the intention of earning grace for our sins, such as fixed seasons of fasting, abstinence from meat on Fridays, observing the seven hours of prayer, and the like. Such the contrary to the will of God and may well be abandoned. Paul gives the name of "doctrine of the devil" to regulations, which give or encourage the idea that thereby one earns grace or that they are necessary to secure God's grace.

The Turks23

Some preachers clamor recklessly about the Turks, saying we should not oppose the Turks since Christians may not avenge themselves This is seditious talk which should not be permitted or tolerated. For the government is given the power of the sword and commanded to punish all murder and pillage. Therefore it is obligated to wage war against those who start an unjust war and are responsible for pillage and murder. This vengeance is not forbidden. For Paul says in Rom. 13 [:4] that government executes the vengeance of God, which means that it is instituted and commanded of God and given help by God in time of need.

But the Christian is forbidden to avenge what is not undertaken by the government or authorized by it. Scripture forbids Christians to exercise personal and individual vengeance, but commands government to execute it and calls it a service of God when done by the government. Indeed the best way of giving alms is to employ the sword against murder. So God has commanded, as we read in Gen. 9 [:6]: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed."

Some say that we should not defend the faith with the sword, but should suffer like Christ, or the apostles, etc. Undoubtedly it is true that they who do not bear rule should each in his place be willing to suffer and not defend himself, as Christ did not defend himself. For he had no worldly authority or rule, and did not wish any, as in John 6 [:15] he would not allow the Jews to make him a king.

23The Lutherans had been charged with lack of loyalty to their country and of obedience to the Emperor. To meet this criticism Luther felt compelled to issue special treatises against the Turks in which he developed the ideas here mentioned. Cf. Luther's On War Against the Turks (1529), PE 5, p. 79ff.; WA 301, 81ff.

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The government, however, must protect its subjects against unjust powers whether such unjust power be exercised on account of faith or for some other reason.

Since the authorities are to honor good and punish evil works according to Rom. 13 [:4] and I Pet. 2 [:14], it is their duty to make defense against those who would destroy the worship of God, the peaceful order of the country, law, and justice. On this account we are to defend ourselves against the Turks, who not only seek to destroy countries, to violate and murder women and children, but also to obliterate justice and divine worship and all forms of good order, so that the survivors afterward may have no security and the children may not be brought up in discipline and virtue.

For this reason a government may wage war, so that justice and honor may be established in the land and the coming generation may not lead a life without virtue. For a devout man would much rather see his children dead than have to adopt Turkish customs. For honor is unknown to and not respected by the Turks. Those who have power rob others of possessions, wife, and children as they please. The common man observes no marriage vows, takes and rejects wives as he wills, sells the children. Are such customs anything but plain murder? This the Hungarians have surely experienced and they bear witness to it as they encourage the people in fighting against the Turks, saying, Brothers, even if there were no Christian faith we would yet need to war against the Turks for the sake of our wives and children. For we would rather choose death than to see and tolerate such shame and vice among our own. For the Turks drive the people to market, buy and sell and use them as animals, be they man or woman, young or old, married or unmarried—so evil is the Turkish nature.

Therefore the preachers should exhort the people to pray God that he would protect us from this destructive nation, and explain to them what a rightful service it is before God to fight against the Turks when the authorities so command.

Daily Worship in the Church

Since the old ceremonies have been discarded altogether in many places of the land and little is read or sung in the churches.

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we have made the following arrangements as to what the procedure in churches and schools should henceforth be, especially in cities and places where there are many people.

First, in the daily matins in the churches three Latin or German psalms may be sung. On days when there is no sermon a lesson may be read by the preacher, for instance from Matthew, Luke, the first epistle of St. John, the two epistles of Peter, St. James, some of the epistles of St. Paul, as well as both the epistles to Timothy, the epistle to Titus, to the Ephesians and Colossians. When these have been read through, one should start again from the beginning. He who reads the lesson shall then exhort the people to pray the Lord's Prayer for some common need appropriate at the time, such as peace, the needful fruits of the earth, and especially for the grace of God, that he may protect and rule over us. Then the whole congregation may sing a German hymn and the preacher read a collect.

At vespers it would be excellent to sing three evening hymns in Latin, not German, on account of the school youth, to accustom them to the Latin. Then follow the simple antiphons, hymn, and responses, and a lesson in German from Genesis, Judges, or Kings. After the lesson the Lord's Prayer should be said. Then one might sing the Magnificat or Te Deum Laudamus or Benedictus or Quicumque vult salus esse or simple preces24 so that the youth remain close to the Scriptures. Thereupon the whole congregation may sing a German hymn and the priest conclude with a collect.

In small communities where there are no students it is not necessary to sing the daily offices. But it would be well to sing something when there is preaching.

During the week there should be preaching on Wednesdays and Fridays.

A pastor shall give serious attention to the choice of books [of the Bible] on which to preach, that they be useful and not too difficult, and that faith be preached, so that true Christian repentance, the judgment of God, the fear of God, and good works (in the sense we have already indicated and explained) be not forgotten. For one cannot have or understand faith without repentance

24Prayers in the form of versicles and responses.

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On festival days there should be preaching at matins and vespers, on the gospel at matins. Since the servants and young people come to church in the afternoon we recommend that on Sunday afternoons there be constant repetition, through preaching and exposition, of the Ten Commandments, the articles of the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.

The Ten Commandments are to be used so that the people be exhorted to fear God.

The Lord's Prayer Is to be used so that the people know what to pray.

The articles of the Creed are to be proclaimed and the people taught carefully these three most important articles comprehended in the Creed: creation, redemption, and sanctification. For we consider it useful for the people to learn that God still creates, daily renews us, gives growth, etc. Thus the people are to be exhorted to faith and to prayer for food, life, health, and similar temporal needs.

Then the people are to be instructed concerning redemption, how our sins are forgiven through Christ. This should include all the articles on Christ, his birth, his death, his resurrection

The third article, sanctification, deals with the work of the Holy Spirit. The people are to be taught to pray that God rule and protect us by his Holy Spirit, and are to be shown how weak we are and how miserably we fail if God does not draw us to himself and keep us through the Holy Spirit

If on Sundays we preach on the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed, one after the other, we should also diligently preach about marriage and the sacraments of baptism and of the altar.

In such preaching we should spell out, word for word, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer and the articles of the Creed, for the sake of the children and other simple unschooled folk.

The preachers are to refrain from all libelous utterance and, without becoming personal, condemn the vices of which they are personally aware, and not preach about those of which they are not personally aware, e.g., those of the pope, bishops, or the like, except where it is necessary to warn the people by example. For

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those have not yet triumphed over the pope who imagine that they have done so.

On festival days such as Christmas, Circumcision, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, or others, the pastor may preach at vespers on the festival, if that has been the custom in the parish

As mentioned, these festivals are to be observed: Christmas, Circumcision, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost.

As mentioned also, we should observe Maundy Thursday and Good Friday in Holy Week when portions of the Passion are subjects of preaching.

The people are, however, to be instructed not to go to the sacrament merely on account of custom, but should go to communion at any time of the year when God exhorts them to attend.

Some there are who out of crude ignorance clamor against all holy days, but they are not to be heeded. For such holy days have been instituted because it is not possible to instruct the people in all of the Scriptures in one day. So the different portions of the teaching are distributed over certain seasons, just as the schools might arrange to read Virgil on one day, Cicero on another.

But a competent preacher ought to be able to show how to celebrate the festivals without superstition.

The festivals are to be observed peacefully so that one should not raise a quarrel over improper practices which may have been discarded.

Since it is not fitting that singing should be uniform at all festivals, it would be well on high festivals to sing the Latin Introits, the Gloria in Excelsis, the Hallelujah, the simple sequences, the Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

Otherwise, on Sundays, we allow whatever practice each individual pastor follows in Christian ceremonies. It were well to exhort the people to partake of the sacrament.

No one is to be permitted to receive the holy sacrament who has not, as indicated already, been examined and questioned, so that the body of Christ be not dishonored.

The many different forms of the mass should not greatly agitate or disturb us, until we can (as far as possible) achieve uniformity. Even under the papacy there were many differences and variations in all the institutions. Furthermore, at times three or four masses

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might be going on at one time, so that a great hubbub resulted. Yet no one either then or since has been disturbed.

At time of death the corpse is to be fittingly treated. A chaplain and a sexton should accompany it [to the place of burial]. The people should be urged from the pulpit to follow and at the burial sing in German the hymn, Mitten in dent Leben.25

We have heard reports of unseemly preaching about the six weeks which the women observe following childbirth, so that women have been forced to go to work, without consideration of their weakness, with the result that some have become ill and are supposed to have died.

Therefore we have deemed it necessary to advise the pastors to speak cautiously about these and similar customs, for the six weeks are ordained in the law of Moses Lev. 12 [:4ff:]. Though that law is superseded, still those things that not only the law but nature itself teaches are not superseded, namely, the natural and ethical truths that belong to the realm of nature and ethics. So Paul in I Cor. [11: 14ff.], as indeed nature itself, teaches and shows that we are obligated to keep the law which nature teaches. Consequently the women are to be spared for so long a time as needed for the return of their normal strength, which is not apt to happen in a shorter time than the six-week period. It is not sinful to go out before this period expires, but it is sin to cause injury to the body. So it is not sin to drink wine, though one should not give wine to someone sick of a fever, because of his sick condition. In this case, too, one should consider the need of the body and maintain self-discipline, not using Christian liberty for the injury of the body or looseness of life. For when Christian liberty is abused it is like a herd of swine being invited to the table of a prince. They understand not such an honor, but only ravage what is set before them, even soiling the prince. So when the masses hear of freedom they do not understand the meaning of it. Imagining that they need observe no discipline or proper behavior they even blaspheme God.

25The Latin hymn Media vita in morte sumus, erroneously attributed to Balbulus Notker (d. 912), librarian and guest master at St Gall, was freely rendered in German by Luther in 1524: Mitten wir im Leben sind. Cf. PE 6, 30if.

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The True Christian Ban

It were well, too, if we did not entirely do away with the penalty of the ban in the true Christian sense described in Matt. 18 [:17f. ]. It consists in not admitting to the Lords Table those who, unwilling to mend their ways, live in open sin, such as adultery, habitual drunkenness, and the like. However, before taking such action, they are to be warned several times to mend their ways. Then, if they refuse, the ban may proclaimed. This punishment is not to be despised. Since it is a curse commanded by God to be pronounced upon the sinner, it is not to be minimized, for such a curse is not without effect. Thus Paul in I Cor. 5 [:5] delivered the man who was living in sin with his stepmother to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.

The banned person is to be allowed to attend the preaching service, for even Jews and heathen are permitted to attend.

Many pastors26 quarrel with their people over unnecessary and childish things, as pealing of bells (Pacem ringing) and the like. In such matters the pastors may well show themselves as sensible and for the sake of peace yield to the people, instructing them wherein the bells have been improperly used and how they may henceforth be rightly used. Although in some places the custom of ringing the bells against bad weather is retained, undoubtedly the custom had its origin in a good intention, probably of arousing the people thereby to pray God that he would protect the fruits of the earth, and us against other harm.

Since, however, the people afterwards became superstitious and it was believed that bad weather was driven away by the bells and especially by the consecration of the bells, which had become a custom of long standing, it would not be amiss if in summertime the preacher explained to the people when storms threatened and the bells were rung, that the reason for the custom was not that the sound of the bells or the consecration of the bells drove away the storm or the frost, as had been taught and believed hitherto, but that thereby each one should be reminded to pray to God for

26The remaining part of this section was omitted from the second edition of the Instructions in 1538.

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his protection of the fruits of the earth. Also that our life and nourishment are truly gifts of God, which without the help of God would not be preserved. Unfavorable weather is a punishment from God, as is indicated in many places in the books of Moses, and favorable weather is a good gift of God, as Moses told the people. If they obeyed God and heeded his word, God would give them rain in due season (Lev.26 [:4] and Deut.28 [:12]); [Deut. 11:44].

If now the ringing is done away with the people will probably be less often reminded that God determines the weather, and will that much less call on God.

Also the people will become the more barbarous if they are not exhorted to pray to God for life and food.

But the preacher must accomplish this much better than the bells else the result will be a devil's farce, as mentioned above.

Ringing the Pacem is in many places meant to let the people know the time of morning, or of evening when it is time to leave the fields for home.

Because some erroneously think it is a service rendered the Virgin Mary the people are to be taught that the purpose is rather to call them to prayer against the devil and threatening death and all the perils that might befall, day or night, as is seen in the ancient hymns and songs of compline and prime.27 But especially that we might pray God for peace. Peace is a gift of God, as Ps. 127 [:1] shows: "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain." And Ps. 68 [:30], "God has scattered the peoples, those who delight in war."

Also we should instruct the people what a good and precious thing peace is. For in war time the poor cannot seek food, children cannot be reared, virgins and married women are violated, all kinds of wanton acts are committed both by friend and foe, law and justice and every virtue and service of God are overthrown in war. Therefore we should daily and sincerely pray that God would not punish us with such sharp lashes. It is necessary to preach often

27The day's office in the breviary begins with prime (normally at 8 A.M.) and concludes with vespers (normally at 6 P.M.) of which compline is usually considered a part.

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on these themes, for they are really good works to which Scripture everywhere directs us.

But this is written so that the pastors will not quarrel about these things. It is not necessary to observe such ringing of bells; where the custom has fallen into disuse, it is not necessary to revive it again.

The Office of Superintendent

This pastor (Pfarrherr) shall be superintendent of all the other priests who have their parish or benefice in the region, whether they live in monasteries or foundations of nobles or of others. He shall make sure that in these parishes there is correct Christian teaching, that the Word of God and the holy gospel are truly and purely proclaimed, and that the holy sacraments according to the institution of Christ are provided to the blessing of the people. The preachers are to exemplify a good life so that the people take no offense but better their own lives. They are not to teach or preach anything that is contrary to the Word of God or that contributes to rebellion against the government.

If one or more of the pastors or preachers is guilty of error in this or that respect, the superintendent shall call to himself those concerned and have them abstain from it, but also carefully instruct them wherein they are guilty and have erred either in commission or omission, either in doctrine or in life.

But if such a one will not then leave off or desist, especially if it leads to false teaching and sedition, then the superintendent shall report this immediately to the proper official who will then bring it to the knowledge of our gracious lord, the Elector. His Electoral grace will then be able in good time to give this proper attention.

We have also considered it wise to ordain that in the future when a pastor or preacher either by death or otherwise leaves his benefice and some one is accepted in his place by the patron, such a one shall be presented to the superintendent before he is given the benefice or received as a preacher. The superintendent shall question and examine him as to his life and teaching and whether he will satisfactorily serve the people, so that by God's help we

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may carefully prevent any ignorant or incompetent person from being accepted and unlearned folk being misled. For time and again and especially in recent years experience has shown how much good or evil may be expected from competent or incompetent preachers. So there is good reason to keep this point under sharp surveillance in order by God's grace to guard against and prevent further irregularity and trouble, so that the name of God and his Word be not blasphemed among us. Of this St. Paul has faithfully warned us in many passages.

Schools

The preachers are to exhort the people to send their children to school so that persons are educated for competent service both in church and state.28 For some suppose it is sufficient if the preacher can read German, but this is a dangerous delusion. For whoever would teach another must have long practice and special ability which are achieved only after long study from youth on. As St. Paul says in I Tim. 3 [:2]: A bishop must be capable to instruct and to teach others. Thereby he shows that preachers must be better qualified than laymen. He praises Timothy in I Tim. 4 [:6] because he has been instructed from his youth, nourished on the words of the faith and of good doctrine. For it is not an insignificant art to teach others clearly and correctly, and it is not within the power of such folk as have no learning.

Able people of this kind are needed not only in the churches but God also desires them in secular government.

Because it is God's will, then, parents should send their children to school, and prepare them for the Lord God so that he may use them for the service of others.

Hitherto one has run off to school for the stomach's sake, and for the most part learned how to secure a prebend where he has concerned himself with income from holding sinful masses. Why do we not do God the honor of learning on account of his commandment? For undoubtedly he would also provide food for the stomach.

28Cf. To the Councilmen of AU Cities in Germany That They Establish and Maintain Christian Schools (1524), PE 4, 103ff.; WA 15, 9-53. A Sermon on Keeping Children In School (1530), PE 4, 135ff.; WA 30, 508-588.

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For he speaks in Matt. 6 [:33] thus: "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be yours as well."29

In the law of Moses God provided the Levites with the tithe. The gospel does not command us to give tithes to the priests, but does command us to provide for their needs. So Christ himself commanded in Matt. 10 [:10] and in Luke 10 [:7]: Every day laborer is worthy of his hire and of his food.

Therefore even if the world despises the commandment of God and does not give the priests their due, God will still not forget those priests who teach the truth, and will provide for them as he has promised.

How richly other professions are rewarded by God's will can be seen daily. In Ecclus. 38 [:2] we read: "From the most High cometh healing, and he shall receive honor of the king."

At present many faults exist in the schools. We have set up the following syllabus of study so that the youth may be rightly instructed.

In the first place the schoolmasters are to be concerned about teaching the children Latin only, not German or Greek or Hebrew as some have done hitherto and troubled the poor children with so many languages. This is not only useless but even injurious. It is evident that these teachers undertake so many languages not because they are thinking of their value to the children but of their own reputation.

Secondly, they are also not to burden the children with a great many books, but avoid multiplicity in every way possible.

Thirdly, it is necessary to divide the children into groups.

The First Division
The first division consists of children who are beginning to read. Here this order should be followed.

They shall first learn to read the primer in which are found the alphabet, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and other prayers.

When they have learned this they shall be given Donatus30 and

29Matt. 6:33: "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…"
30Aelius Donatus, a Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric about 350 B.C. His Ars grammatica was a popular textbook of medieval schools.

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Cato,31 to read Donatus and to expound Cato. The schoolmaster is to expound one or two verses at a time, and the children are to repeat these at a later time, so that they thereby build up a vocabulary of Latin words and get a supply of words for speaking.

They shall practice this until they can read well. We would consider it not unfruitful if the weaker children who do not have especially quick minds, went through Cato and Donatus not only once but also a second time.

The children are to be taught to write and be obliged to show their lessons daily to the schoolmaster.

In order that they may learn a greater number of Latin words, the children may be assigned a few words for memorization each evening, as wise teachers formerly have done in the schools.

These children shall also be taught music and shall sing with the others, as we hope by God's help to show later.

The Second Division
The second division consists of those children who can read and should now learn grammar. With these we should proceed in the Following manner.

All the children, large and small, should practice music daily, the first hour in the afternoon.

Then the schoolmaster shall first expound the fables of Aesop32 to the second division.

After vespers the Paedagogia of Mosselanusas33 should be explained and, these books learned, selections should be made from

31Publius Valerius Cato (b. ca. 100 B.C.) was a Roman poet but known in the Middle Ages especially as a teacher of grammar. Medieval education inherited the seven liberal arts from Roman teaching. The seven were divided into the trivium: grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, and the quaJrivium: geometry, arithmetic, music, astronomy. Grammar was largely the study of parts of speech, and was intended to enable the student to read Latin.
32Aesop is supposed to have lived about 600 B.C. To him has been attributed a collection of stories of animals which has been translated into many languages. The stories have a moral, and in the Middle Ages were often used as texts in the schools.
33Peter Mosselanus (1493-1524), a humanist scholar, who became professor at Leipzig. His grammar, Paedagogia, was widely acclaimed.

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the Colloquies of Erasmus,34 such as are useful and edifying for the children.

This may be repeated on the following evening.

When the children go home in the evening a sentence from a poet or other writer may be prescribed which is to be repeated the next morning, such as Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur: A friend in need is a friend in deed. Or, Fortuna quem nimium fovet, stultum facit: Of him on whom fortune smiles too much it makes a fool. Also Ovid:35 Vulgus amicitias utilitate probat: The crowd praises friendship for its usefulness.

In the morning the children shall again explain Aesop.

The preceptor shall decline a number of nouns and [conjugatel verbs, many or few, easy or bard, according to the ability of the pupils, and have them give the rule or explanation of these forms.

When the children have learned the rules of syntax they should be required in this period to identify parts of speech or to construe, as it is called, which is a very useful practice, though employed by few.

When now the children have learned Aesop in this way, they are to be given Terence36 to be learned by heart. For they have now matured and can carry more work. But the schoolmaster shall exercise care so that the children are not overtaxed.

After Terence the children shall be given some of the fables of Plautus,37 such as are not objectionable: Aulularia, Trinummus, Pseudoha, and the like.

The hours before noon shall always and everywhere be so ordered that only grammar be taught. First, etymology. Then, syntax. Next, prosody.38 When this is finished, the teacher should

34Erasmus (1466-1563) was the leader in the great revival of learning, known as the Renaissance, in northern Europe. His Colloquies were a collection of dialogues in which he caricatured superstitious practices of his day.
35Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 17), last of the great Roman poets, is known especially for his Ars amatoria, the art of love, and the Metamorphoses, a narrative poem recounting legendary transformations.
36Terence (ca. 190—ca. 159 B.C.), a Roman comic poet, whose plays were printed in Strassburg about 1470.
37Plautus (d, 184 B.C.), a popular Roman comic dramatist who adapted Creek plays to the Roman stage, with original additions. He has had much influence on modern European drama.
38Allen and Creenough's Latin Grammar in our own century is divided into these sections: Words and Forms, Syntax, Prosody.

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start over again from the beginning, giving the children a good training in grammar. For if this is not done all learning is lost labor and fruitless.

The children are to recite these grammatical rules from memory, so that they are compelled and driven to learn grammar well.

There the schoolmaster shuns this kind of work, as is often the case, he should be dismissed and another teacher found for the children, who will take on this work of holding the children to grammar. For no can be done to all the arts than where the children are not well trained in grammar.

This is to be done all through the week, and the children are not to be assigned a new book every day.

But one day, for instance Saturday or Wednesday, shall be appointed on which the children are given Christian instruction.

For some are taught nothing out of holy Scripture. Some teach their children nothing but holy Scripture. We should yield to neither of these practices.

It is essential that the children learn the beginning of a Christian and blessed life. But there are many reasons why also other books beside Scripture should be given the children from which they may learn to speak.

This order should be followed: The schoolmaster shall have the whole division come up for recitation, asking each pupil in turn to repeat the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments.

If the group is too large one part may come up for recitation one week, another the following.

In one period the schoolmaster should explain simply and correctly the meaning of the Lord's Prayer, at another time, the Creed, at another, the Ten Commandments. He should emphasize what is necessary for living a good life, namely, the fear of God, faith, good works. He should not touch on points of dissension. He also should not accustom the children to lampoon monks or others, as many incompetent teachers do.

Furthermore the teachers should ask the pupils to memorize a number of easy Psalms that contain in themselves a summary of the Christian life and speak about the fear of God, faith and good works, e.g.:

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Psalm 112 (:11; Blessed is the man who fears the Lord."

Psalm 34 [:1]: "I will bless the Lord at all times."

Psalm 128 [:1]: "Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!"

Psalm 125 [:1]: "Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides for ever."

Psalm 127 [:1]: "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain."

Psalm 133 [:1]: "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" And other similar Psalms which are easy and clear. They are to be explained briefly and correctly so that the children understand what they are to learn and seek in these Psalms.

On these days, too, St. Matthew is to be expounded grammatically. When one has completed it, one should begin again from the beginning.

Or, if the boys are a little older, one may expound the two epistles of Paul to Timothy, or the first epistle of John, or the Book of Proverbs.

The schoolmaster should not undertake to read other books than these. For it is fruitless to burden the youth with hard and deep books. It is for their own reputation that some have assayed to read Isaiah, the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, the Gospel of St. John, and the like.

The Third Division
When now the children have been well drilled in grammar the more excellent ones may be chosen for a third group.

Along with the others these shall rehearse music the hour after noon.

Then one should expound Virgil39 to them, and when this is finished one may read Ovid's Metamorphoses with them.

In the evening: Cicero's40 Officia or Familiar Letters.

39Virgil (70-19 B.C.), best known of Roman poets, author of Eclogues, Georgics, and the Aeneid. He was the most popular of all poets in the Middle Ages.
40The writings of Cicero (106-43 B.C.). Roman orator, politician, and philosopher, were admired in the Middle Ages as a model of Latin rhetoric.

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In the morning: Virgil is to be repeated, and in grammar the pupils are to be required to explain, decline, and indicate the various forms of discourse.

One should keep to grammar the hours before noon, so that the pupils may be well drilled in this.

When they have mastered etymology and syntax the pupils shall go on to prosody, wherein they become accustomed to composing verses. For this practice is very useful in learning to understand other writings. Also it gives the pupils a rich vocabulary and makes them apt in many ways.

When they have sufficiently studied grammar they may use these hours for dialectic and rhetoric.

Of the second and third divisions should be required each week a written exercise such as a letter or a poem.

The pupils shall also be required to speak Latin. The schoolmaster himself, as far as possible, should speak only Latin with the pupils so that they become accustomed to and are encouraged in this practice.





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