sake. Second: Christ did not suffer for his own sake, nor of
necessity; he suffered for your sake, and all from good will toward
you. Third: He was wholly innocent--free from sin; internally--in
heart--and externally--in word and deed. For where evil dwells in the
heart, it cannot long remain concealed. It must manifest itself in
words, at least. Christ says (Mt 12, 34), "Out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh."

21. Why, then, should you complain of your suffering or refuse to
suffer what your sins really deserve? Indeed, you deserve much more
than you receive--even eternal suffering. But God forgives you and
remits the eternal punishment for the sake of Christ the Lord,
desiring that you patiently endure the lesser suffering for the utter
mortification of the sins inherent in your flesh and blood. To make
such lot the less grievous to you, Christ has gone before and left you
an example of perfect patience under the most intense suffering, an
example equaled nowhere in the world. The Supreme Majesty, God's own
Son, suffered in the most ignominious manner the extremity of torture,
pain and anguish in body and soul, something intolerable to mere human
nature; and that innocently, and for us condemned sinners--suffering
for the sins of strangers.

"Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered
threatened not."

22. To further emphasize and make effectual in us the example of
Christ's patience, Peter proceeds to analyze it, to show it in its
true colors, to mention the details and make plain how it differs from
any other example of suffering. He has told us before that Christ did
no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Why, then, did the Jews
persecute and crucify him--put him to death? Inquire into his entire
life history and you will find that no one could justly impeach, nor
could convict, him for any sin. He himself appealed to his enemies to
prove aught of sin in him. No one could show an injury he had ever
done to anyone, or a wrong he had ever taught or practiced. On the
contrary, he had gone about to bring to the Jewish nation the grace
and salvation of God. He had revealed God's Word, opened the eyes of
the blind, healed the sick, cast out devils, fed great multitudes when
hungry and lacking food. In short, in all his life, there was nothing
in word or act but truth, goodness, beneficence and a disposition to
aid. In return for the good he wrought, he was compelled to receive
the ungrateful reward of man's hatred and condemnation. His enemies
were moved solely by obdurate, diabolical hatred, and could not cease
their persecutions until they brought him to the cross, where he was
disgracefully hung up nude between two murderers, being lifted up as
unworthy to touch the earth and to live among men.

23. Christ was under no obligation to endure disgrace and
ill-treatment. He might have refrained from his benevolent
ministrations when he saw the futility of his efforts with the Jews.
But he did not so; even in his sufferings upon the cross he charitably
prayed for his enemies. He had authority, he had power enough, and he
would have been justified in the action, had he revenged himself on
his furious enemies, invoked evil upon them, and execrated them as
they deserved to be execrated; for they had treated him with gross
injustice before all the world, as even the testimony of his betrayer
and his judge and all creatures admitted, and had bitterly reviled him
when he hung upon the cross. But he did none of these things. He bore
with ineffable meekness and patience all the ill-treatment his enemies
could heap upon him. Even in his extremity of anguish, he benevolently
interceded for them to his Heavenly Father, to which act the prophet
Isaiah (ch. 53) offers a tribute of high praise.

24. Notice, we have here in all respects a perfect and inimitable
example of patience--patience of the most exalted kind. In this
example we may behold as in a glass what we have yet to learn of calm
endurance, and thus be impelled to imitate that example in some small
measure at least.

25. Not without reason does Peter applaud the fact that when Christ
was reviled he reviled not again, and when he suffered he threatened
not. Though to endure undeserved violence and injustice is hard
enough, that which more than aught else naturally renders suffering
grievous and makes men impatient is to experience the monstrous
unfairness of receiving the mean and vexatious reward of ingratitude
from individuals who have enjoyed one's favors and greatest
benefactions. Base ingratitude is extremely painful for human nature
to endure. It makes the heart flutter and the blood boil with a spirit
of revenge. When no alternative presents, an outburst of reviling,
execration and threatening follows. Flesh and blood has not the power
of restraint to enable it to remain calm when evil is returned for
favors and benevolence, and to say, "God be thanked."

26. Mark the example of Christ, however, and there learn to censure
yourself. Beloved, how can you complain when you see how infinitely
greater was the grief and how much more painful the anxiety endured by
your beloved Lord and faithful Saviour, the Son of God himself, who
yet bore all patiently and submissively and, more than that, prayed
for those instrumental in causing that agony? Who with a single drop
of Christian blood in his heart would not blush with shame to be
guilty of murmuring at his sufferings when, before God, he is so
sinful and is deserving of much more affliction? Wicked, unprofitable
and condemned servant must he be who does not follow his Lord's
example of endurance but presumes to think himself better and nobler
than Christ; who with inimical spirit murmurs, complaining of great
injustice, when he really deserves affliction, and when he suffers
infinitely less than did his dear, righteous, innocent Lord. Beloved,
if Christ so suffered in return for the great blessing he conferred,
be not too indolent to imitate him in some degree by suffering without
anger and reproaches. Less reason have you to be angry and reproachful
from the fact that you, too, were one whose sins brought Christ to the
cross.

27. But you may say: "What? Did not Christ revile when (Mt 23) he
called the scribes and pharisees hypocrites, murderers, serpents, a
generation of vipers, and even more severely rebuked them?" I reply:
Oh yes, we would gladly follow Christ's example here; we could
cheerfully revile and accuse. It is much easier than being patient. We
would need no Master to help us in this. But note what Peter says:
When Christ was about to suffer death, having fulfilled the obligation
of his ministry--having proclaimed the truth, rebuked falsehood and
been brought to the cross therefor--and being about to conclude his
mission by suffering, he reviled not; as a sheep for the slaughter, he
permitted himself to be executed and opened not his mouth against his
calumniators and murderers. See Isaiah 53, 7.

28. It is necessary, then, to make a distinction here. Reviling--or
pronouncing execrations and threats--is of two kinds. In one case it
is official and pronounced of God; in the other, without authority and
comes from man. It was one of the duties of Christ's office on earth,
and one now incumbent upon those called to bear that office after him,
to assert the truth and censure the evil. Such a course is essential
to the honor of God and the salvation of souls; for if the truth were
to be ignored, who would come to God? Official chastisement is a work
of divine, Christian love. It is a parental duty imposed of God. God
has implanted in the parent nature intense love for the child; at the
same time, if parents are godly and have proper affection for their
children they will not connive at, or let pass unpunished, the
disobedience of the latter. They must chastise, both with reproof and
with keen rods. These are official strokes--love stripes--enjoined of
God, and their infliction is our duty. They are not injurious, but
beneficial. Solomon says (Prov 13, 24): "He that spareth his rod
hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." And
Jesus the son of Sirach says in Ecclesiasticus: "He that loveth his
son causeth him oft to feel the rod, that he may have joy of him in
the end."

29. So everyone may, and should, reprove when official duty or his
neighbor's case requires; it serves to reform the subject. To quote
Solomon again (Prov 27, 6): "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but
the kisses of an enemy are profuse [deceitful]." Reproofs and stripes
prompted by love and a faithful heart are beneficial. On the other
hand, an enemy may use fair and flattering words when he has enmity
and deceit at heart, preferring to let you go on to ruin rather than
by gentle reproof to warn of danger and rescue you from destruction.
The faithful, conscientious physician must often, of necessity and
with great pain to the patient, amputate a limb in order to save the
body.

Paul, too, commands pious bishops to be urgent in season, out of
season; to reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering. 2 Tim 4,
2; Tit 2, 15. By our silence to commend or to encourage to evil the
wrong-doer would not be to manifest one's love to the offender, but
rather to give him over wholly to death and the devil.

30. It was this love and sincerity of heart which prompted Christ in
his office to censure and rebuke, for which he merited only wrath and
hatred; as we say, he sought his stripes. But the duty of his office
required such action on his part. His motive was to turn the
transgressors from their blindness and malice, and to rescue them from
perdition; and he could not be deterred by the consequent persecution,
cross and death which awaited. But having fulfilled his official
duties, and the hour of his suffering having arrived, he suffered
patiently, permitting his enemies to heap upon him all possible evil
in return for his manifested love and blessings. Instead of angrily
reviling and execrating while, suspended from the cross, he endured
the most shameful calumnies, he, with strong cries and with tears,
prayed, "Father, forgive them." It was, indeed, a heart of
unfathomable love that, in the midst of extreme suffering, had
compassion on its persecutors and blessed them in greater measure than
parent can bless child or one individual bless another.

31. Observe, then, the distinction between official and unofficial
censure and rebuke; the former is prompted by love, and the latter by
wrath and hatred. The world, however, is artful and cunning enough
when it hears this distinction, to pervert and confuse the two,
exercising its own revenge under the name of official zeal and
reproof. For instance, if a preacher is disposed to act the knave, he
can easily give vent to his personal anger and vengeance in his pulpit
utterances, censuring and rebuking as he pleases, and then claim it is
all in obedience to the demand of office and for the good of the
people.

Again, a judge, a mayor, or other prominent official, desiring
revengefully to satisfy a personal grudge, can more successfully
accomplish his object under the title of the office he bears and the
obligations imposed upon him for the punishment of the wicked than in
any other way. This practice now frequently obtains since the world
has learned to use the Gospel to conceal its malice and knavery, to
adorn it with the name of a divinely appointed office. It ever uses
the name and Word of God to cloak its infamy. But who is vigilant
enough to elude such knavery and to make the children of the devil
honest? Let him who would be a Christian, then, take heed how he shall
answer such accusation. Assuredly God will not allow himself to be
deceived. He will, in due time, relieve the innocent victim of
injustice, and his punishment will seek out the wicked. Peter says,
further:

"But committed himself to him that judgeth righteously."

32. Who revealed to Peter the nature of Christ's thoughts upon the
cross? The apostle has just been saying that Christ reviled not nor
thought of revenge, but rather manifested love and good-will toward
his virulent enemies. How could Christ approve such malice? Truly he
could not endorse it. Nor could he commend his enemies for crucifying
him and putting him to death upon the cross without cause. No such
conclusion may be drawn. The devil and his adherents must not construe
the passage to mean license to heap all manner of torture and distress
upon Christ and his saints as upon those who must not only patiently
bear these things, unmoved by revengeful desires, but must render
gratitude to their persecutors as if their acts were praiseworthy. No;
this can by no means be permitted.

Could I be said to suffer innocently if I am obliged to confess I am
well treated? Several times in this epistle Peter admonishes
Christians not to suffer as evil-doers, thieves, murderers. But if I
suffer innocently and am unjustly treated, I am not to justify the
ill-treatment and strengthen the enemy in his sins; for, so doing, I
would approve his conduct and assume the guilt attributed. That
principle would be pleasing to the Pope and the devil and to tyrants;
they would willingly have it obtain. They are not wholly satisfied
even to murder the innocent; they would prefer to be justified in
their action--to have us confess to wrong-doing. But that is something
no Christian heart will do; it may be left to the devil.

33. But the Papists will say: "However, it is written, You must suffer
and not revile; you must thank God for persecution and pray for your
enemies." That is true; but it is one thing to suffer patiently, the
while wishing your enemies well and praying for them, and quite a
different thing to justify them in their conduct. I must cease not to
confess the truth and maintain my innocence, both in heart and with my
lips. But if men will not accept my word, my heart must tell me I have
suffered injustice. Rather should I endure ten deaths, could my
enemies inflict them, than to condemn myself in violation of
conscience. So, when Peter made this little statement about Christ not
reviling nor threatening, which was true, he did not mean that Christ
justified his persecutors in their treatment of him. But what are we
to do? If we do not justify our enemies when they make us suffer, they
will do even worse things to us; for they desire the name and the
credit, in the eyes of the world, of having done right by us. Yes, as
Christ has somewhere said, they would have it thought they do God
great service by murdering us. Now, who is to judge and decide the
question?

34. Peter declares that Christ committed the matter to him who judges
righteously. How should he do otherwise, knowing that his persecutors
treated him unjustly and yet maintained the contrary? There was for
him no judge on earth. He was compelled to commit the matter to that
righteous judge, his Heavenly Father. Well he knew that such sins and
blasphemies could not go unpunished. No, the sentence was already
passed, the sword sharpened, the angels given orders, for the
overthrow of Jerusalem. Previous to his sufferings, on his way to
Jerusalem, as Christ beheld the city, he announced its coming doom and
wept over it. Therefore, he prays for his enemies, saying: "Dear
Father, I must commit the matter to thee, since they refuse to hear or
to see the wrong they do. Well I know they are rushing into thy wrath
and thy terrible punishment, but I pray thee to forgive them what they
do to me." And so they would have been forgiven had they afterward
repented at the apostles' preaching, and had they not further sinned
in persecuting God's Word and thus brought upon their unrepentant
selves ultimate punishment.

CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE IN SUFFERING.

35. Observe, as Christ did, so should we conduct ourselves in our
sufferings; not approving or assenting to whatever may be heaped upon
us, but yet not seeking revenge. We are to commit the matter to God,
who will judge aright. We cannot maintain our rights before the world;
therefore we must commit our cause to God, who judges righteously and
who will not allow calumniation of his Word and persecution of
believers to pass unpunished. We must, however, pray for our
persecutors, that they may be converted and escape future wrath and
punishment; and so we do. If it is possible for some of the bishops
and other Gospel-persecuting tyrants to be converted, we will heartily
pray and desire that their conversion may come to pass. But if it be
impossible, as now, alas, is to be feared, since, after having been
much admonished and often prayed for and having enjoyed the best
advantages, they wittingly rage against the known truth--if so, then
we must commit them to God's judgment. What more can we do?

I am persuaded that the intolerable persecution and calumniating of
the Gospel prevalent today cannot be permitted to pass with impunity.
It must ultimately meet the coming judgment upon the Papacy and
Germany. Of this there can be no doubt. But it is ours to continue
preaching, praying, admonishing and beseeching, in the hope of
effecting repentance. Then, if our enemies still refuse to turn from
their evil ways, if they perish in their impenitence, what can we do
but say: "Dear God, we commit the matter to thee. Thou wilt punish
them; thou canst, indeed, most terribly."

36. Such, mark you, is the example of Christ, presented to the entire
Christian Church--set up as a pattern for her. Hence it is the duty of
the Church, as Peter elsewhere tells us, to arm herself with the same
mind which was Christ's, to suffer as Christ did and to think: If
Christ, my Lord and Leader, has suffered for me with so great meekness
and patience, how much more reason have I to submit to suffering! And
what can it harm me to suffer when I know it is God's will? Not
because the suffering in itself is so perfecting and precious, but for
the sake of the dear Saviour who suffered for me. I know, too, that my
persecutors thus commit most abominable sins against God and incur his
wrath and punishment. Why, then, should I be impatient or desire
revenge? I am already too highly honored of God in the fact that my
sufferings meet his approbation and that he will perfectly avenge me
of mine enemies. What can it advantage me for them to burn eternally
in hell? I will rather pray and use my utmost efforts for their
conversion. If I fail and they are determined to persist in their
course, I must bring the matter home to God--must commit it to him.

"Who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we,
having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness."

37. Peter's is the true preaching concerning the passion of Christ. He
teaches not only the merit in Christ's sufferings, but introduces both
themes--its efficacy and example. Such is Paul's custom, also. In this
verse Peter presents Christ's sufferings in the light of a sacrifice
for sin. They constitute a work acceptable to God as satisfaction for
the sins of the whole world and effective to reconcile him to men. So
great is God's wrath toward sin that none but that eternal one, the
Son of God, could avert it. He had himself to be the sacrifice, to
allow his body to be nailed to the cross. The cross was the altar
whereupon the sacrifice was consumed--wholly burned--in the fire of
his unfathomable love. He had to be his own high priest in this
sacrifice: for no earthly mortal, all being sinners and unclean, could
offer to God the sacrifice of his beloved and wholly sinless Son; the
boasting of the priests of Antichrist in regard to their masses, to
the contrary notwithstanding. Now, by the single sacrifice of God's
Son, our sins are remitted and we obtain grace and forgiveness; and
this fact can be grasped in no other way than through faith.

38. Peter mentions the ultimate object of the divine sacrifice made
for us, what it accomplished in us, the fruit Christ's passion shall
yield; for he would not have the Christian Church overlook that point,
or neglect to preach it. Christ, he tells us, took upon himself our
sins, suffering the penalty. Therefore, Christ alone is entitled to be
called a sacrifice for all our sins. It was not designed, however,
that after the sacrifice we should remain as before; on the contrary,
the purpose was ultimately to work in us freedom from sins, to have us
live no longer unto sin but unto righteousness. Now, if in Christ our
sins are sacrificed, they are put to death, blotted out; for to
sacrifice means to slay, to kill. Under the Old Testament
dispensation, all sacrifices had to be presented to God slain. Now, if
our sins are put to death, it is not meant that we are to live in
them.

39. Therefore, the saving doctrine of remission of sins and of
Christ's grace cannot be so construed as to admit of our continuing in
the old life and following our own desires. According to Paul (Rom 6,
1-8), enjoying grace and remission of sins does not give license to
live in sin. How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?
The very fact that we may be reckoned dead unto sins means they may no
longer live and reign in us. In Christ's holy body were they throttled
and slain expressly that they might also be slain in us.

40. Be careful, then, what you believe and how you live, that the
efficacy of Christ's sufferings may be manifestly fulfilled in you.
If, through faith, you have rightly apprehended his sacrifice, its
virtue will be indicated in the subduing and mortifying of your sins,
even as they are already slain and dead through his death on the
cross. But if you continue to live in sins, you cannot say they are
dead in you. You but deceive yourself, and your own evidence is false
when you boast of Christ in whom all sins are put to death, if sin
remains vigorous in you. We naturally conclude it is inconsistent for
sin to be dead in us and yet alive; for us to be free from sin and yet
captive or fast therein. This fact has already been sufficiently
pointed out.

41. It is ours, Peter says, not only to believe that Christ has,
through the sacrifice of his own body, put to death sin and liberated
us therefrom--a thing the combined sacrifices of all mortal bodies
could never have effected--but, sin being put to death by him, to
endeavor to become ever more and more free from sin's sway in our
bodies, and to live henceforth unto righteousness, until we shall be
completely and finally released from sin through death. Therefore, if
before you believed on Christ you were an adulterer, a miser, a
coveter, a maligner, you ought now to regard all these sins as dead,
throttled through Christ; the benefit is yours through faith in his
sacrifice, and your sins should henceforth cease to reign in you. If
you have not so received the sacrifice, you cannot boast of Christ and
faith. Though Christ has died for you, though your sins have been put
upon him and reckoned dead, still you are not rid of those sins if you
do not desire to be, if you do not, through faith, apprehend Christ
and his blessing, nor in your life and conduct follow his example.

42. Now you will say: "But you teach that we are all sinners, that
there is not even a saint on earth without sin. And surely we must
confess the article, 'I believe in the remission of sins,' and must
pray, 'Forgive us our debts.'" I reply, most assuredly you never will
attain sinless perfection here on earth; if such were the case you
would have no further need for faith and Christ. At the same time, it
is not designed that you should continue as you were before obtaining
remission of sins through faith. I speak of known sins wittingly
persisted in, in spite of the rebuke and condemnation of conscience.
These should be dead in you; in other words, they are not to rule you,
but you are to rule them, to resist them, to undertake their
mortification. And if occasionally you fail, if you stumble, you
should immediately rise again, embrace forgiveness and renew your
endeavor to mortify your sins.

"By whose stripes ye were healed."

43. It seems as if Peter could not sufficiently exalt and make
impressive Christ's sufferings. He brings in nearly the entire
Fifty-third chapter of Isaiah in the attempt. Note how, in regard to
the efficacy of works, he always significantly introduces the two
themes at the same time--how he carefully distinguishes between
performing human works in obedience to Christ's example, and receiving
by faith the merit of Christ's work. First, we have, "Who his own self
bare our sins in his body upon the tree ... by whose stripes ye were
healed." This is the vital part in our salvation. Christ alone could
fully accomplish the work. This doctrine must be taught in its purity
and simplicity, and must so be believed, in opposition to the devil
and his factions. Only so can we maintain the honor and the office of
Christ wherein is anchored our salvation. But the second part of the
doctrine must not be overlooked. There are false Christians who accept
only the first part and make no effort to reform themselves; but,
being liberated from our sins and in a state of salvation, we may not
again defile ourselves therewith. Where these two principals of the
Christian doctrine are not maintained in their proper relation, injury
must result to the truth in two respects: they who are occupied solely
with their own works corrupt the true doctrine of faith; they who
neglect to follow the example of Christ retard the efficacy and fruit
of that faith.

"For ye were going astray like sheep."

44. Here Peter bluntly and clearly points out the fact I have stated,
that liberation from sin and death was effected not by our works and
merits, but by Christ's wounds and death alone. Forgiveness cost you
nothing, Peter teaches; no blood, no wounds. You were powerless in
this direction. You were but miserable, erring, lost sheep, separated
from God, condemned to hell and unable to council or help yourselves.
In just such condition are all they who are out of Christ. As Isaiah
the prophet says more plainly in the chapter from which these words
are taken (verse 6): "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way." That is, whatever our lives,
whatever our intent, we but turned farther away from God. As it is
written (Ps 14, 3): "They are all gone aside; they are together become
filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

45. That men are prone to go astray like sheep is clearly exhibited in
their conduct; history proves it. It has ever been the case that when
mankind was divided into various idolatries or false services of God,
into superstitions numerous and varied, even when God's people thought
to have attained the perfection of holiness--then one ran here and
another there, ever seeking and seeking to come upon the road to
heaven but getting farther and farther from it. It was exactly the
case of the sheep straying from the flock and lost to the shepherd:
the farther it runs and the more it follows the voice of strangers,
the farther astray it goes. It continues to wander and to flee until
it finally perishes, unless it hears again the voice of the shepherd.
Let no one, then, dare boast of having himself found the right way to
heaven, of having merited God's grace and the remission of sins by his
own manner of life. All men must confess the truth of Scripture
testimony that we were but erring sheep, fleeing ever farther from our
Shepherd and Saviour, until he turned us back to himself.

"But are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."

46. You have now heard the voice of your Shepherd, who has brought you
back to himself, from your erring and idolatrous ways. It was not your
own effort that effected your return; it was accomplished at the cost
of your Shepherd's wounds and shed blood. Be careful, then, Peter
would say, to live not like erring and lost sheep; but, being
converted--turned back--follow your beloved Saviour. In him you have a
godly Shepherd who faithfully pastures and cares for you; and also a
loyal Bishop who ever watches over and guards you, not permitting you
to stray.

47. Immeasurably gracious and comforting are these words. But the
meaning of the word "bishop" has been miserably obscured and perverted
by our idolatrous priests and episcopal frauds. Likewise have they
perverted and corrupted the terms "ecclesiasts," "Church," "divine
service," "priest," etc., by their antichristian rule. Only those have
right to the name "ecclesiast" who have been redeemed from their sins
through Christ's wounds, and who live holy lives. But the Papists have
taken the name away from true Christians and applied it to the Pope's
besmeared, and shaven-headed ones. Again, when we hear the word
"bishop" we think only of great, pointed caps and of silver staves. As
if it were sufficient to place in the Church such masks, such carved
and hewn idols! For they are nothing better; in fact, they do more
harm.

According to the Scriptures, a true bishop is an overseer, a guardian,
a watchman. He is like unto the householder, the warder of the city,
or any judicial officer or regent who exercises constant oversight of
state or municipal affairs. Formerly there were bishops in each
parish, deriving their name from the fact that their office required
oversight of the Church and the guarding against the devil, against
false doctrines and all manner of offenses. Paul, too (Acts 20, 28),
reminds the bishops of their office, saying: "Take heed unto
yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made
you bishops [overseers]." And overseers should bishops still be, as in
fact all godly preachers and carers for souls are. But in all Popedom
the office now is but a mere name, to the sin and shame of the entire
Christian Church.

48. Now, Christ our Lord is that faithful Guardian, that true Bishop,
who above all others is entitled to the name (with him office and name
are identical), and who bears it with due honor, to our eternal
happiness. For, standing at the right hand of God and showing his
wounds, he unceasingly intercedes for us before the Father; and
moreover, on earth he rules, sustains, nourishes and protects, through
his Word, his sacraments and the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, the
little flock that believe in him. Were he not present with and
watching over us here, the devil would long ago have overthrown and
destroyed us, and also the Word of God and the name of Christ. And
such is the case when God in wrath turns away his eyes from the world
to punish its ingratitude. Then immediately everything falls into the
devil's power. Therefore, pure doctrine, faith, confession and the use
of the sacraments are dependent for their perpetuity solely upon the
vigilant guardianship of our beloved Shepherd and Bishop.

49. Comforting, indeed, is it to have in Christ a priest so faithful
and righteous; though, alas, the worthy name of "priest" also has been
subjected to shame and contempt because of the Pope's disgraceful,
shaven, shallow-headed occupants of the office. Comforting, indeed, it
is to be the happy lambs who have a welcome refuge in the Shepherd and
find in him joy and comfort in every time of need, assured that his
perfect faithfulness cares for and protects us from the devil and the
gates of hell. Relative to this subject, the entire Twenty-third Psalm
is a beautiful and joyous song, of which the refrain is, "The Lord is
my Shepherd."

_Third Sunday After Easter_

Text: First Peter 2, 11-20.

11 Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from
fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 having your behavior
seemly among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as
evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify
God in the day of visitation.

13 Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether
to the king, as supreme; 14 or unto governors, as sent by him for
vengeance on evil-doers and for praise to them that do well. 15 For so
is the will of God, that by well-doing ye should put to silence the
ignorance of foolish men: 16 as free, and not using your freedom for a
cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all men.
Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

18 Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear; not only
to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. 19 For this is
acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs,
suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and
are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do
well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is
acceptable with God.

OUR CHRISTIAN DUTIES.

1. This epistle selection, too, is an admonition to good works, or the
fruits of faith. It touches upon nearly every condition of life,
teaching how each individual should live and conduct himself. But
first, Peter admonishes Christians in general that in their
intercourse with gentiles, or the unbelieving world, they give no real
occasion for censure or reproach concerning their conduct. The
admonition seems to hinge upon the fact that Christians, as the
apostle reminds them in the first and second chapters, have been
called to a lively, a never-dying, hope of an imperishable inheritance
in heaven, and of eternal joy and salvation; that they are now
redeemed, having obtained remission of sins through the precious blood
of Christ; and again, that they are become a holy nation and royal
priesthood, to show forth and magnify the grace of God, they who in
time past were not God's people and had not obtained grace. "But now,"
Peter would say, "you have obtained grace through the divine calling
of Christ, through the suffering of your Lord. Live, then, as a holy
people of God and citizens of heaven."

2. We have already heard that in the Christian life are two essential
principles, two principles upon which Christian teachers may lay
emphasis. First, faith in the fact that through Christ's blood we are
released from sin and have forgiveness; second, being forgiven, our
natures are to be changed and we are to walk in newness of life. In
baptism, when we first believe, we obtain not only remission of sins
whereby we are of grace made children of God, but also the power to
purge out, to mortify, the remaining sins. Our transgressions are not
forgiven, Paul says (Rom 1, 6), with the privilege of continuing in
them, as the insolent rejecters of grace imagine. It is this way: Our
sins being blotted out through the blood of Christ, we need not to
make remuneration or render satisfaction for them; we are children of
grace and enjoy forgiveness. Nevertheless, inherent sin is not
entirely purged out, or mortified.

REMISSION AND MORTIFICATION DEFINED.

3. There is difference between remission of sins and mortification of
them. The distinction should be made clear for the sake of combating
those who confound and pervert the two principles by their false
doctrines. In regard to remission, the Pope and many others have
taught that forgiveness of sins is obtained through the foolishness of
men's own self-elected works, the satisfactions of their own devising.
This error has ever prevailed in the world. Cain was the first to make
it, and it will continue to the end. And where this error is refuted,
false teachers are found who, on the other hand, accept and boast of
the doctrine of grace without enjoying its happy results. They proceed
as if mere forgiveness were enough, and without further effect than
averting punishment; as if it leaves us where we were before, not
ameliorating in any wise our moral condition; and as if no more is to
be known about Christ and the Gospel.

Therefore, they who claim to be Christians must learn that, having
obtained forgiveness without merit on their part, they should
henceforth give no place to sins, but rather resist their former evil
lusts and avoid and flee from the fruits and works thereof. Such is
the substance of this lesson.

4. But note from the apostle's words how his view has changed since
the time when, as a fisherman of Bethsaida, he went about with the
Lord previous to the Lord's death and resurrection. At that time Peter
and the other apostles, in fact the entire Jewish nation, had no other
conception of Christ's kingdom--or the kingdom of God--than as an
earthly one wherein they should know only happiness, figuring as
wealthy farmers, citizens, noblemen, counts and lords. The sum of the
world's goods should be theirs, and all the gentiles their vassals.
They were to be thenceforth undisturbed by enemies, wars, famine or
misfortune, and to enjoy the extremity of peace, leisure and happiness
under their supreme King, the Messiah. Such were their hopes, even
their expectations. With these pleasing fancies were their minds
filled. And just so today are the Jews full and drunken with their
visionary dreams.

THE NATURE OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM.

5. Observe here, however, Peter teaches that the lot of the sharer in
Christ's kingdom is quite the reverse of what he once imagined. "O
beloved Christians," he would say, "who are called and baptized into
the royal and priestly kingdom of Christ, I have now to tell you
things quite different from the ideas and dreams you and I used to
entertain. We are, it is true, citizens, counts and lords in the
kingdom where Christ reigns supreme over all earthly kings and lords,
and where is only eternal riches, peace and happiness in every form;
but the life of that kingdom is unlike that of earthly kings and
dominions. You are not, be it known, lords and noblemen in a worldly
sense; neither is Christ a king as the world regards kingliness, and
the kingdom of the world is not in harmony with his. Know, then, you
must regard yourselves strangers and pilgrims in the kingdom of the
world.

"Therefore, I admonish you that, having now become
Christians--brothers in the eternal heavenly kingdom--your manner of
life should be such as becomes them who are no longer of a worldly
kingdom. Regard this earthly life only as the traveler or pilgrim
regards the country wherein he journeys, the inn where he procures a
night's lodging. He does not expect to remain in the city, to be mayor
or even a citizen. He finds there his food, but his thoughts are cast
beyond its gates, to the place where home is. So," Peter says, "must
you look upon your earthly course. You did not become Christians with
the prospect of reigning here on earth, as the Jews fancy they shall
reign and be established. The dwelling-place, the citizenship and the
authority of Christians are to be found in another direction, not in
this world. Therefore, think of yourselves as pilgrims on earth,
directing your attention toward other possessions and another country,
wherein you shall be lords forever, and where no discord nor
misfortune such as you must endure in this earthly harbor shall ever
enter."

CHRISTIAN USE OF THIS LIFE.

6. But how is indifference to this life to be accomplished? Peter goes
on to say: "Be subject to every ordinance of man ... whether to the
king ... or unto governors"; again, "Servants, be in subjection to
your masters ... also to the froward." How is it consistent with royal
citizenship in a celestial country to be a pilgrim on earth? How can
we live here with wives and children, houses and lands, and being
citizens under a temporal government, and yet not be at home? There is
a distinction here which, as before said, was at first difficult for
the beloved apostles themselves to understand. But to Christians,
especially those of today, it should be clear. Christ and the apostles
do not, in this teaching, design the rejection of external government
and human authority--what Peter here terms ordinances of men. No, they
permit these to remain as they are; moreover, they enjoin us to submit
to and make use of them.

7. This is the difference to be kept in mind: We are to conduct
ourselves in our earthly stations and occupations as not regarding
this life our true kingdom and best good. And we are not to think the
life beyond holds nothing more nor better than what we possess here,
as do the Jews and the Turks. Although they believe in the
resurrection of the dead, they carnally imagine the future life will
be like the present except for its perfect peace and happiness, its
freedom from misfortune, persecution and all ills. It is the
prerogative of the Pope and his holy epicures to believe nothing in
any respect.

Every Christian, be he lord or servant, prince or subject, should
conduct himself as befits his station, using in trust whatever God has
given him--dominion and subjects, house and home, wife and children,
money and property, meat and drink. He is to regard himself solely as
a guest of earth, as one eating his morsel of bread or taking his
lunch in an inn; he must conduct himself in this earthly harbor as a
pious guest. Thus may he actually be a king reigning with fidelity, or
a lord faithful to his office, and at the same time declare: "I count
nothing on this life. I do not expect to remain here. This is but a
strange country to me. True, I am seated in the uppermost place at
table in this inn; but the occupant of the lowest seat has just as
much as I, here or yonder. For we are alike guests. But he who
assigned my duty, whose command I execute, gave me orders to conduct
myself piously and honorably in this inn, as becomes a guest."

8. So should Christians in all stations of life--lords and ladies,
servants and maids--conduct themselves as guests of earth. Let them,
in that capacity, eat and drink, make use of clothing and shoes,
houses and lands, as long as God wills, yet be prepared to take up
their journey when these things pass, and to move on out of life as
the guest moves on out of the house or the city which is not his home.
Let them conduct themselves as does the guest, with civility toward
those with whom they come in contact, not infringing on the rights of
any. For a visitor may not unrestrainedly follow his own pleasure and
inclinations in the house of a stranger. The saying is: "If you would
be a guest, you must behave civilly; otherwise you may promptly be
shown the door or the dungeon."

9. Christians should be aware of their citizenship in a better
country, that they may rightly adapt themselves to this world. Let
them not occupy the present life as if intending to remain in it; nor
as do the monks, who flee responsibility, avoiding civil office and
trying to run out of the world. For Peter says rather that we are not
to escape our fellows and live each for himself, but to remain in our
several conditions in life, united with other mortals as God has bound
us, and serving one another. At the same time, we are to regard this
life as a journey through a country where we have no citizenship--where
we are not at home; to think of ourselves as travelers or pilgrims
occupying for a night the same inn, eating and drinking there and then
leaving the place.

10. Let not the occupants of the humbler stations--servants and
subjects--grumble: "Why should I vex myself with unpleasant household
tasks, with farm work or heavy labor? This life is not my home anyway,
and I may as well have it better. Therefore, I will abandon my station
and enjoy myself; the monks and priests have, in their stations,
withdrawn themselves from the world and yet drunk deeply, satisfying
fleshly lusts." No, this is not the right way. If you are unwilling to
put up with your lot, as the guest in a tavern and among strangers
must do, you also may not eat and drink.

Similarly, they who are favored with loftier positions in life may
not, upon this authority, abandon themselves to the idea of living in
the sheer idleness and lustful pleasure their more favored station
permits, as if they were to be here always. Let them reason thus:
"This life, it is true, is transitory--a voyage, a pilgrimage, leading
to our actual fatherland. But since it is God's will that everyone
should serve his fellows here in his respective station, in the office
committed to him, we will do whatever is enjoined upon us. We will
serve our subjects, our neighbors, our wives and children so long as
we can; we would not relax our service even if we knew we had to
depart this very hour and leave all earthly things. For, God be
praised, had we to die now we would know where we belong, where our
home is. While we are here, however, on the way, it is ours to fulfill
the obligations of our earthly citizenship. Therefore, we will live
with our fellows in obedience to the law of our abiding-place, even
unto the hour wherein we must cross the threshold outward, that we may
depart in honor, leaving no occasion for complaint."

11. Thus, mark you, should every Christian conduct himself here on
earth, according to Peter. In the first place, he should know where is
his real home, his fatherland. We learn this through faith in Christ,
whereby we become children of God, heirs of eternal life, citizens of
heaven. Accordingly, we sing: "Now we pray thee, Holy Spirit, for true
faith," etc., when we depart home from this wretchedness. This
sentiment accords beautifully with the text here where Peter calls us
"sojourners and pilgrims"--wayfarers in earthly wretchedness, desiring
home and casting our thoughts beyond the gates of our sojourning-place.
Second, though we must suffer this wretched condition in a foreign
land, we are under obligation to render every honor to the host and to
respect the inn, making the best of whatever may befall us.

12. The prophet Jeremiah found it necessary to give admonition of this
sort to his wretched Jewish countrymen in Babylon who longed
unspeakably to be home again and almost despaired because of having so
long to suffer misery among strangers when many of their brethren were
at home. Other prophets had encouraged them with the promise of soon
being returned. Consequently many of them ceased to till the land and
neglected to provide for a livelihood. To these Jeremiah writes (ch.
29, 10): "Ye must have patience, for ye are not so soon to return--not
till seventy years be accomplished." Meanwhile, though in wretchedness
and captivity, they were to do as he bids in verses 5-7: "Build ye
houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of
them. Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for
your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear
sons and daughters: and multiply ye there, and be not diminished. And
seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried
away captive, and pray unto Jehovah for it; for in the peace thereof
shall ye have peace."

That there in their misery they should build houses and make
themselves citizens of Babylon, should marry and rear children--yes,
give their children in marriage--as if they were to remain there
permanently--this injunction of the prophet was altogether
disagreeable and annoying to them. And still more offensive was the
command to pray for the city and kingdom wherein they were captives.
Much rather would they have prayed for liberation; for, influenced by
the other prophets, they hoped to return home the following year.

13. Now, how was it with them? The godly, faithful ones had reason to
hope and trust in release and a return to their own kingdom. Surely
there was no pleasure, no joy, for them in their present miserable
condition, as in Psalm 137 they testify and complain by the rivers of
Babylon. There they cried and wept and had not an hour of enjoyment
when they thought of home. The long seventy years their hearts
continually stood at the gate ready to depart, so that they had no
inclination whatever to build houses, to cultivate farms, to make
gardens, to take wives and rear children. Nevertheless, the prophet
bids them meet all the requirements of citizens of that country; and
more than that, to pray for their hosts in the same spirit in which
they would pray for their neighbors and fellow-citizens, asking God
for peace and prosperity upon the city.

CHRISTIANS SUBJECTS OF TWO KINGDOMS.

14. So, too, Christians are subjects of two kingdoms--they have
experience of two kinds of life. Here on earth where the world has its
home and its heavenly kingdom, we surely are not citizens. According
to Paul (Phil 3, 20), "our conversation"--our citizenship--"is with
Christ in heaven"; that is, in yonder life, the life we await. As the
Jews hoped to be released from Babylon, we hope to be released from
this present life and to go where we shall be lordly citizens forever.
But being obliged to continue in this wretched state--our Babylon--so
long as God wills, we should do as the Jews were commanded to
do--mingle with other mortals, eat and drink, make homes, till the
soil, fill civil offices and show good will toward our fellows, even
praying for them, until the hour arrives for us to depart unto our
home.

15. He who is guided by these facts, who comprehends the distinction
between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of the world, will know
how to resist successfully all classes of fanatics. For these latter
paint this life in a terrible aspect. They want to run out of the
world entirely, and are unwilling to associate with anyone; or they
proceed to disturb civil regulations and to overthrow all order; or
again, as with the Pope, they interfere in secular rule, desiring
temporal authority, wholly under the name and color of Christianity.

Having as Christians forgiveness of sins, and being now people of God,
children of his kingdom, citizens no longer of Babylon but of heaven,
let us know that during the period of our sojourn here among
strangers, it is ours to live righteously, honorably and chastely, to
further civil and domestic peace and to lend counsel and aid to
benefit even the wicked and ungrateful, meanwhile constantly striving
after our inheritance and keeping in mind the kingdom whither we are
bound.

16. In short, a Christian must be one who, as Paul says (1 Cor 7,
29-31), uses this world as not abusing it, who buys and possesses as
though he possessed not, who has wife and children as though he had
them not and who builds as though not building. How is it possible to
reconcile these seeming inconsistencies? By making the Christian faith
distinct from the faith of the Jews and Turks--yes, of the Papists
even: by accepting the fact that the Christian's attitude toward this
earthly life is the attitude of the guest; that in such capacity is he
to build, to buy, to have dealings and hold intercourse with his
fellows, to join them in all temporal affairs--a guest who respects
his host's wishes, the laws of the realm and of the city and the
customs of the inn, but at the same time the Christian refrains from
attesting his satisfaction with this life as if he intended to remain
here and hoped for nothing better. Thus will the Christian pass
through every temporal event in the right way--having every possession
as though not having it, using and yet not cleaving to it; not so
occupied with the temporal as to lose the eternal, but leaving
behind--forgetting--the former while striving after the latter as the
goal set before him.

17. Therefore, they who presume to run out of the world by going into
the desert or the wilderness; who, unwilling to occupy the inn but
finding it indispensable nevertheless, must become their own
hosts--these are great and unreasonable fools. Surely they must eat
and drink and have clothing and shelter. With these things they cannot
dispense, even if they can withdraw from all society. Nor is their
action forsaking and fleeing the world, as they imagine it to be.
Whatever your station and condition, whatever your occupation in life,
of necessity you must be somewhere on earth while mortal life is
yours. Nor has God separated you from men; he has placed you in
society. Each individual is created and born for the sake of other
individuals. But observe, wherever you are and whatever your station,
you are, I say, to flee the world.

HOW TO ESCAPE THE WORLD.

18. But how are we to flee the world? Not by donning caps and creeping
into a corner or going into the wilderness. You cannot so escape the
devil and sin. Satan will as easily find you in the wilderness in a
gray cap as he will in the market in a red coat. It is the heart which
must flee, and that by keeping itself "unspotted from the world," as
James 1, 27 says. In other words, you must not cling to temporal
things, but be guided by the doctrine of faith in Christ, and await
the eternal, heavenly inheritance; and in that faith and that hope are
you to execute the trust and work committed to you here, declaring the
while: "That which I do here is not the chief good, the thing of real
value, for which I live; though such is the case with the world, the
Jews, the Turks and the Papists. I hold this temporal life as a
tavern, valuing it no more than the guest values the inn where he
enjoys food and lodging, while heart and mind turn ever to his own
home."

What tolerance would there be for one foolish enough to declare: "I
will not eat nor drink here. I will behave peculiarly, smashing
windows and turning things upside down, for this is not my
abiding-place"? For the very purpose of advancing himself on his
journey, the traveler should make use of the inn, accepting whatever
is offered.

19. Likewise should Christians use the world, constantly casting their
thoughts beyond this life, notwithstanding they have here house and
home, wife and children. These are for the present life only, yet the
Christian owes them due consideration, the while he asserts: "Today we
are here, tomorrow elsewhere. Now we avail ourselves of this inn, the
next day of another. We do not expect to remain here."

Relative to this subject, Peter in his beautiful Pentecostal sermon
says concerning David, who nevertheless was a holy king, that he did
not ascend into the heavens, but, having fulfilled the will of God,
fell asleep. Peter, so far from being willing to disparage David's
office and rule, to criticise him therein for wrong-doing, rather
magnifies it in glowing terms. David was a king, and cast not aside
his crown; no, he retained his royal glory. He held his office as a
God-intrusted one, in the execution whereof he served God. Similarly
should the righteous ruler do--in fact, all men in their respective
offices and stations. Let them remember they are not placed where they
are to choose their own pleasure, but solely for the service of God.
Such is their duty so long as they are here--transients, like the
stranger at the inn with other guests, who conducts himself with
respect to the needs and the pleasure of his fellows, doing as they
do, and in case of danger and necessity uniting with them in the
effort to help and protect.

20. King David did not regard his kingdom and his God-bestowed
blessings as his real glory, but as his office, his opportunities for
service in this earthly pilgrimage. In it all he remains a guest,
expecting to leave this tarrying-place for a certain abode. Hence he
says (Ps 39, 12): "I am a stranger with thee, a sojourner, as all my
fathers were." How is that? Has a king of David's glorious rank
occasion to speak thus? Is he a guest who occupies a royal throne, who
is lord of landed estate and of more than twelve hundred thousand
people according to his own calculation? This is David's meaning: In
his kingdom he serves God as a transient here on earth, and set apart
by God for that purpose; but at the same time as a citizen of God's
kingdom in another life, another existence, which he regards more
glorious than earthly glory, and as affording something better than a
temporal crown.

REASONS TO ABSTAIN FROM CARNAL LUST.

21. Such is Peter's teaching. He admonishes Christians to Christlike
lives and works in view of the fact that they are called to great
glory, having become through Christ a royal priesthood, a people of
God and citizens of heaven. He would have them occupy this temporal
world as guests, striving after another and eternal kingdom; that is,
to abstain from all carnal lusts and maintain a blameless walk, a life
of good works. The apostle assigns two reasons for such self-denial:
First, that we may not, through carnal, lustful habits, lose the
spiritual and eternal; second, that God's name and the glory we have
in Christ may not be slandered among our heathen adversaries, but
rather, because of our good works, honored. These are the chief
reasons for doing good works. They ought most forcibly to urge us to
the performance of our duties.

22. Peter admonishes, first, to "abstain from fleshly lusts, which war
against the soul." He implies that if we do not resist carnal
inclinations, but rather follow them, we shall lose our priceless
eternal inheritance. To be a stranger on earth, striving after another
and better life, is inconsistent with living in fleshly lusts as if
one's sole intent was to remain in the world forever. If you would
have the things of one life, Peter says, you must forsake the things
of the other. If you forget your fatherland and lie drunken with this
carnal life, as does the heathen world in living in unbelief and
without hope of eternal life, you will never reach yonder existence;
for so you reject it.

It is necessary to strive if we are to withstand the lusts of the
flesh; for these, Peter says, war against the soul--against faith and
the good conscience in man. If lust triumphs, our hold on the Spirit
and on faith is lost. Now, if you would not be defeated, you must
valiantly contend against carnal inclinations, being careful to
overcome them and to maintain your spiritual, eternal good. In this
instance, our own welfare demands the conquest.

23. In the second place, God's honor calls for it. God's honor here on
earth is affected by our manner of life. We are to avoid giving
occasion for our enemies to open their mouths in calumniation of God's
name and his Word. Rather must we magnify the name of God by our
confession and general conduct, and thus win others, who shall with us
confess and honor him. Christ commands (Mt 5, 16): "Even so let your
light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father who is in heaven."

24. Peter proceeds to enumerate certain good works appropriate to
Christians in all stations of life, particularly those Christians
under authority, or in a state of servitude--men-servants and
maid-servants. In the apostle's day, Christians had to submit to
heathen authority--to serve unbelieving masters. Peter admonishes
Christians to glorify God by their conduct, patiently bearing the
violence and injustice offered, and forbearing to return evil; as we
heard in the epistle lesson for the preceding Sunday which follows
today's text. But to take up all the good works Peter enumerates here
would require too much time at present.

_Third Sunday After Easter_
Second Sermon.

Text: First Corinthians 15, 20-28.

20 But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of
them that are asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in
Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ
the firstfruits; then they that are Christ's, at his coming. 24 Then
cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the
Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and
power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under
his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. 27 For,
He put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he saith, All
things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is excepted who
did subject all things unto him. 28 And when all things have been
subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to
him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all.

We have no desire to reject the Sunday epistle readings in common use
up to this time, particularly as some of them are excellent and
profitable; nevertheless, a different order and selection might well
have been made. For portions have been taken from James for the two
Sundays following, the intent of the compilers having been to choose
something from each of the apostles, among whom they regarded James
one of the chief. These selections, however, seem not to have been
written by an apostle; they do not at all compare with the selections
from the other apostles. It were better for the instruction and
comfort of the people, and as befitting this season, to handle the
article of the resurrection--concerning the resurrection of both
Christ and ourselves, or of all the dead--between Easter and
Pentecost. It seems appropriate so to do, making selections from the
preaching of the apostles; for instance, the entire fifteenth chapter
of Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, which treats throughout of
the resurrection of the dead. Therefore, we shall arrange this chapter
to the present and following Sundays. It is our intent to so use it
hereafter, and they who feel disposed may adopt it likewise. But it is
not our purpose in so doing to restrict those who prefer the old
arrangement. The entire fifteenth chapter, however, being amply
explained in special sermons, we would advise everyone to read those
expositions.

_Fourth Sunday After Easter_

Text: First Corinthians 15, 35-50.

35 But some one will say, How are the dead raised? and with what
manner of body do they come? 36 Thou foolish one, that which thou
thyself sowest is not quickened except it die: 37 and that which thou
sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be, but a bare grain, it
may chance of wheat, or of some other kind; 38 but God giveth it a
body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own. 39
All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one flesh of men, and
another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of
fishes. 40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial;
but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the
terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another
glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star
differeth from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection
of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in
weakness; it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body; it is
raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a
spiritual body. 45 So also it is written, The first man Adam became a
living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 Howbeit
that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; then
that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the
second man is of heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they also that
are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are
heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy we shall
also bear the image of the heavenly.

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

This selection follows immediately after the one we have arranged for
the preceding Sunday, concerning the resurrection of the dead. In the
text Paul deals with the question, How are the dead raised, and with
what body do they come? This passage likewise is treated fully enough
in the sermons on the fifteenth chapter, and they who desire may read
those discourses; they are too lengthy to insert here.

The selection from the first chapter of James, however, having
commonly been read for this Sunday, and as it contains good
instruction and admonition, we will, for the sake of some who may
desire to retain it, allow it to remain; and we will make some
explanation of it lest we be thought to desire its rejection
altogether. It was not, however, written by an apostle. It does not
bear the apostolic stamp in all particulars, and is not in every
respect compatible with the true doctrine.

_Fourth Sunday After Easter_
Second Sermon.[1]

Text: James 1, 16-21.

16 Be not deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.
18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we
should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

19 Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to
hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 for the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. 21 Wherefore putting away all filthiness
and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted
word, which is able to save your souls.

[Footnote 1: This sermon was printed first in the "Two Sermons on
Anger," by Luther, Wittenberg, 1536.]

1. This lesson was addressed to all Christians. Particularly was it
meant for the time when they had to endure from the unbelieving world
persecutions severe and oft; as James indicates at the outset, where
he says (verses 2-4): "Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall
into manifold temptations; knowing that the proving of your faith
worketh patience. And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may
be perfect and entire." Again (verse 12): "Blessed is the man that
endureth temptation."

WHY MEN REJECT THE GOSPEL.

2. Two things there are which part men from the Gospel: one is angry
impatience, and the other evil lust. Of these James speaks in this
epistle. The former sin, he says, arises under persecution--when for
the sake of Christ the Lord you must give up property and honor, and
risk body and life; must be regarded as fools, as the drudges, yes,
the footstool, of the world. Painful and intolerable to the point of
discouragement and weariness is such a lot, particularly when it is
apparent that your persecutors enjoy good fortune, having honor, power
and wealth, while you suffer constantly. Peter, too, admonishes (1 Pet
3, 10), upon authority of Psalm 34, 12-14: He who would be a Christian
must be prepared to avoid evil and do good, to seek peace, to refrain
his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile, and must commit
himself to God.

In the case of a great many people otherwise favorably disposed toward
the Gospel, it is nothing but persecution which deters and repels them
from it. They cannot endure the injuries and reproaches they must
suffer for its sake. But for the precious holy cross which is laid
upon Christians, and their inability to overcome indignation and
impatience, the world would long ago have been crowded with
Christians. But on account of trials men recoil, saying: "Rather than
endure these, I will remain with the majority; as it is with them, so
be it with me."

3. The second thing to which James refers is worldly
lust--"filthiness," as James terms it. This, too, is a prevailing
evil, particularly with the common people. When they once hear the
Gospel they are prone to think right away that they know all about it.
They cease to heed it and drown in lust, pride and covetousness of the
world, being concerned entirely with accumulating wealth and seeking
pleasure.

4. That these two evils prevail is apparent to the eyes of all men
today. We fear that we shall fare no better than the prophets and the
apostles; these things are likely to continue. Nevertheless, we must
unceasingly exert ourselves in behalf of ourselves and others to guard
diligently against both these evils. Particularly must we not
impatiently murmur and rage against God; we must also show meekness
toward our fellowmen, to the end that wrath everywhere may be quelled
and subdued, and only patience and meekness reign among Christians.

5. As I said before, such seems to be the trend of the whole text. The
apostle gives a reason why we should be patient to the extent of not
allowing ourselves to be vexed with them who injure us, especially
ungrateful rejecters of the Word of God or persecutors of Christians.
The reason he assigns is the debt of gratitude we owe: we are to
remember the great good we receive from God in heaven--"Every good
gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father
of lights."

OUR BLESSINGS OUTWEIGH OUR ILLS.

6. If you carefully balance our gifts and trials against each other
and weigh them carefully, you will find the blessings conferred upon
you so numerous and rich as far to outweigh the injuries and
reproaches you must incur. Therefore, if you are assailed by the
world, and are provoked to impatience by ingratitude, contempt and
persecution, compare with your trials the blessings and consolations
you have in Christ and his Gospel. You will soon find you have more
reason to pity your enemies than you have to murmur and to rage
against them.

7. Again, concerning them who live in worldly lusts--in "filthiness,"
as the apostle terms it: let not their conduct induce you to forsake
the Gospel to be like them; for their portion is altogether paltry in
comparison with your glorious blessings and divine riches. Take
thought, then, and do not allow yourselves to be misled either by the
wanton wickedness of the world, through the injury and pain it may
inflict, or by the prosperity of the world's wealthy, who live
riotously in all manner of voluptuousness. Look upon what you have
from the Father in comparison--his divine blessings, his perfect
gifts.

8. For the sake of distinction, we shall designate by "good gifts" the
blessings we enjoy here in this life; by "perfect gifts" those
awaiting us in the life to come. James implies this distinction when
he says: "Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth,
that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures." In the
terms "good gifts" and "perfect gifts," the apostle comprehends all
our blessings, those we have already received in the present life and
those to be ours in the life to come.

9. I will not now speak particularly of earthly, transient and
changeable blessings, such as temporal goods, honor, a healthy body
and others, but could we only compare our blessings with these and
weigh our treasures and surpassing blessings, we should presently
conclude that ours transcend in value a hundred thousand times
anything the world possesses and boasts. Many individuals there are
who would give thousands of dollars to have the sight of both eyes. So
much do they prize the blessing of sight, they would willingly suffer
a year's illness or endure other great inconveniences to obtain it.
Less sensible would they be to such discomforts than to the
deprivation of the thing they desire.

Of physical blessings particularly, we shall not now speak, however,
save to mention that they are never equaled by physical ills. Who can
purchase or merit, even by enduring tenfold his present physical ills,
the very least of God's gifts; as, for instance, the beholding of the
light of the beautiful sun for a single day? And so long as mortal
life itself remains, you have the greatest of blessings, one
outweighing far all gold and silver and all the misfortunes you may
endure.

OUR BLESSINGS IN CHRIST'S RESURRECTION.

But we shall speak now particularly of the blessings we have in
Christ's resurrection, a subject appropriate to this Paschal season.
The text says, Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from
the Father of lights. For God has begun the work of edifying us, of
building us up, and will constitute us his own children, his heirs.
This work, James says, is wrought through the Gospel, or "the word of
truth," as he terms it.

10. But what does the resurrection advantage us? It has already
brought us this gain: our hearts are enlightened and filled with joy,
and we have passed from the darkness of sin, error and fear into the
clear light; the Christian is able to judge all sects, all doctrines
of devils, that may arise on earth. Is it not a thing of unspeakable
value, a precious gift, to be enlightened and taught of God to the
extent of being able to judge correctly every doctrine and every kind
of conduct exhibited in this world, and to show all men how to
live--what to do and what to avoid? Well may we boast, then, of having
here on earth also a Father--"the Father of lights"--from whom we
receive blessings of such magnitude that man should willingly yield
body and life for their attainment.

What would I in my darkness not have given to be liberated from the
very dread which prompted the celebration of masses and other
abominations, yes, from the torture and anguish of conscience which
left me no rest? or to have instruction enabling me rightly to
interpret a single psalm? I would, for such enlightenment, readily
have crawled on the ground to the ends of the earth. Thank God, we now
have the blessed treasure abundantly, the great and precious light,
the gracious Word. What is the sum of all suffering and misfortune
compared to this light?

11. Secondly, through Christ's resurrection we have a good, joyous
conscience, one able to withstand every form of sin and temptation and
to maintain a sure hope of eternal life. The great, glorious gifts and
blessings of the resurrection are these: the Gospel, Holy Baptism, the
power of the Holy Spirit, and comfort in all adversity. What is a
slight injury or the loss of some temporal blessing in comparison with
these? What reason has any man to murmur and to rage when such divine
blessings are his, even here in this life, blessings which none can
take away or abridge?

If, then, you are called to renounce money, possessions, honor and
men's favor, remember you have a treasure more precious than all the
honors and all the possessions of the world. Again, when you see one
living in great splendor, in pleasure and presumption, following his
own inclinations, think thus: "What has he? A wretched portion, a
beggarly morsel. In contrast, I have divine grace enabling me to know
God's will and the work he would have me do, and all in heaven and on
earth is mine." Look, says James, upon the treasure already obtained
from the Father of lights--his great and glorious gifts.

12. But these do not represent the consummation of resurrection
blessings. We must yet await the real, the perfect, gifts. Our earthly
condition does not admit of perfection; hence we cannot truly
perceive, cannot comprehend, our treasure. We are but "a kind of
first-fruits of his creatures." God has only commenced to work in us,
but he will not leave us in that state. If we continue in faith, not
allowing ourselves to be turned away through wrath and impatience, God
will bring us to the real, eternal blessings, called "perfect gifts,"
the possession of which excludes error, stumbling, anger, and any sin
whatever.

THE FUTURE LIFE OF BLESSEDNESS.

13. That future existence, James goes on to say, will be one wherein
is "no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning"--no
alternating of light and darkness. In other words, there will not be
the variation and instability characteristic of this world, even of
the Christian life--today joyous, tomorrow sad; now standing but soon
tottering. It is in the Christian life just as in the physical world:
we find variableness and continual change--light is succeeded by
darkness, day by night, cold by heat; here are mountains, there
valleys; today we are well, tomorrow ill; and so it goes. But all this
change shall be abolished. The present life shall be succeeded by one
wherein is no variation, but a permanence and eternity of blessing. We
shall unceasingly behold God in his majesty where dwells no darkness,
no death, plague nor infirmity, but pure light, joy and happiness.
Look to this future life! call it to mind, when assailed by the world
and enticed to anger or evil lust. Remember the great blessings of
heaven assuredly promised you, and whereof Christ your Head has
already taken possession, that he may make sure your entrance into the
same blessings. These should be to you far more precious and desirable
than the things of earth, which all men must leave behind.

14. To these things the Christian should direct his thoughts and
efforts, that he may learn to prize his blessings, to recognize his
treasures as great and glorious, and to thank God for the beginnings
of his grace and blessing bestowed here below. Let us ever look and
turn toward true knowledge and understanding, toward righteousness and
life; so shall we attain that perfection wherein we are freed from the
present imperfect, unstable existence, the yoke we now bear upon our
necks and which continually weighs upon us and renders us liable to
fall from the Gospel.

Impulse and aid for such pursuit we are to receive from the holy cross
and persecution, as well as from the example of the world. With what
ease the poor, wretched people are wrested from the Word and from
faith, wherein they might enjoy unspeakable grace and blessings, by
the sordid, beggarly pleasures to be sought for here!

15. Therefore, James says: "Why trouble yourselves about earthly
blessings, which though God-given are transitory? Why not much rather
rejoice in the comforting prospect of the great heavenly blessings
already abundantly yours and which cannot be taken from you?" And by
way of explanation he says further: "Of his own will he brought us
forth by the word of truth."

GOD'S CHILDREN BEGOTTEN BY THE WORD.

16. The first, and in fact the best, thing Christ has sent us from on
high is sonship. He brought us forth, made us his children, or heirs.
We are truly called children born of God. But how are we born? Through
"the Word of truth," or the true Word. By this statement James makes a
wide thrust at all factions and sects. For they also have a word and
boast much of their doctrine, but theirs is not the Word of truth
whereby men are made children of God. They teach naught, and know
naught, about how we are to be born God's children through faith. They
prate much about the works done by us in the state derived from Adam.

But we have a Word whereby, as we are assured, God makes us his
beloved children and justifies us--if we believe in that Word. He
justifies us not through works or laws. The Christian must derive his
sonship from his birth. All whittling and patching is to no purpose.
The disciples of Moses, and all work-mongers, would effect it by
commandments, extorting a work here and a work there, effecting
nothing. New beings are needed, children of God by birth, as John 1,
12 says.

17. The children of God, John tells us, are they who believe on the
name of Christ; that is, who sincerely cling to the Word. John extols
the Word as the great, the mighty, gift. They are children who cleave
to the message that through Christ God forgives their sins and
receives them into his favor; who adhere to this promise in all
temptations, afflictions and troubles. The Word here on earth is the
jewel which secures sonship. Now, since God has so greatly blessed you
as to make you his own begotten children, shall he not also give you
every other good?

18. Whence, then, do you derive sonship? Not from your own will, not
from your own powers or efforts. Were it so, I and other monks surely
should have obtained it, independently of the Word; it would have been
ours through the numerous works we performed in our monastic life. It
is secured, James says, "of his will." For it never entered into the
thought of any man that so should we be made children of God. The idea
did not grow in our gardens; it did not spring up in our wells. But it
came down from above, "from the Father of lights," by Word and Spirit
revealed to us and given into our hearts through the agency of his
apostles and their successors, by whom the Word has been transmitted
to us. Hence we did not secure it through our efforts or merits. Of
his Fatherly will and good pleasure was it conferred upon us; of pure
grace and mercy he gave it.

CHRISTIANS THE FIRST-FRUITS.

19. James says, "That we should be a kind of first-fruits of his
creatures"; that is, the newly-begun creature, or work, of God. By
this phrase the apostle distinguishes the creatures of God from the
creatures of the world, or creatures of men. Likewise does Peter when
he says (1 Pet 2, 13), "Be subject to every ordinance [or creature] of
man"; that is, to everything commanded, ordained, instituted, made, by
men. For instance, a prince constitutes men tax-gatherers, squires,
secretaries, or anything he desires, within the limits of his power.

But new creatures are found with God. They are styled "creatures of
God" because he has created them as his own work, independently of
human effort or human power. And so the Christian is called a "new
creature of God," a creature God himself has made, aside from all
other creatures and higher than they. At the same time, such creation
of God is only in its initial stage. He still daily operates upon it
until it becomes perfect, a wholly divine creature, as the very sun in
clearness and purity, without sin and imperfection, all aglow with
love divine.

20. Take into careful consideration these facts. Keep before you the
great blessing, honor and glory God has conferred upon you in making
you heirs of the life to come, the life wherein shall be no
imperfection nor variation, the life which shall be an existence in
divine purity and protection like God's own. Do not, then, by any
means allow yourselves to be provoked to anger by the wretched,
sordid, beggar's wallet which the world craves. Rather, much rather,
rejoice in the divine blessings, and thank God for having made you
worthy of them. Whether sweet or bitter--in comparison with these let
everything else be spurned. "For I reckon that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall
be revealed to us-ward"--to us the children of God--says Paul in
Romans 8, 18.

IMPATIENT ANGER FORBIDDEN.

21. So James draws the conclusion: "Let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath." In other words, in receiving counsel or
comfort be swift; but do not permit yourselves readily to criticise,
curse, or upbraid God or men. James does not mean to prohibit reproof,
censure, indignation and correction where the command of God or
necessity requires; but he forbids rashness or hastiness on our part,
despite our provocation in the premises. When we are provoked we
should first hear what the Word of God says and be advised thereby. It
is the right and true counsel, and we should ever permit ourselves to
be led by it; according to its teaching should all our decisions,
reproofs and censures be regulated. In immediate connection, James
bids us receive the Word with meekness; we are not to be incensed when
censured by its authority, or to become impatient and murmur when we
have to suffer something because of it.

The reason James assigns for restraining our anger is: "For the wrath
of man worketh not the righteousness of God." This is a truth admitted
even by the heathen--"Ira furor brevis est," etc.--and verified by
experience. Therefore, upon authority of Psalm 4, 4, when you feel
your wrath rising, sin not, but go to your chamber and commune with
yourself. Let not wrath take you by surprise and cause you to yield to
it. When slander and reproach is heaped upon you, or curses given, do
not rashly allow yourself to be immediately inflamed with anger.
Rather, take heed to overcome the provocation and not to respond to
it.

22. The apostle's first point, then, is: Christians should guard
against yielding to wrath and impatience, and should remember the
great blessings they enjoy--gifts wherewith all the advantages and
favors of the world are unworthy of comparison.

23. Similarly, James says regarding the other point: "Wherefore
putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness," etc. By
"filthiness" he means the impure life of the world--indulgence,
voluptuousness and knavery of every sort. These things, he would say,
should be far from you Christians who enjoy blessings so great and
glorious. Could you rightly recognize and appreciate these blessings,
you would regard all worldly pursuits and pleasures mere filth in
comparison. Nor is this overdrawn; they are such when contrasted with
the good and perfect heavenly gifts and treasures.

24. "Receive with meekness the implanted word." You have the Word,
James says, a Word which is yours not by your own fancy or effort, but
which God, by grace, gave to you--implanted in you. It has free
course--is preached, read and sung among you. (By the grace of God, it
is free among us, too.) In this respect, God be praised, there is no
lack. It is of the utmost importance, however, to receive it, to make
profitable use of it; to handle it with meekness that we may hold it
fast and not allow it to be effaced by anger under persecution or by
the allurements of worldly lusts. Christ says (Lk 21, 19), "In your
patience possess ye your souls [ye shall win your souls]."

MEEKNESS AND PATIENCE ENJOINED.

Meekness and patience are necessary to enable us to triumph over the
devil and the world. Without them we shall not be able to hold fast
the Word in our strife against those evil forces. We must fight and
contend against sin, but if we essay to cool our wrath by grasping the
devil and his followers by the hair and wreaking vengeance upon them,
we will accomplish nothing and may thereby lose our treasure, the
beloved Word. Therefore, lay hold of the Word planted or engrafted
within you, that you may be able to retain it and have it bring forth
its fruit in yourself.

THE POWER OF THE WORD.

25. It is a Word, says James in conclusion, "which is able to save
your souls." What more could be desired? You have the Word, the
promise of all divine blessings and gifts. It is able to save you if
you but steadfastly cleave to it. Why, then, need you take any account
of the world, and anything it may do, whether good or evil? What
injury can the world render, what help can it offer, so long as you
hold the treasure of the Word? Observe that the apostle ascribes to
the spoken Word, the preached Gospel, the power to save souls.
Similarly, Paul commends it to the Romans (ch. 1, 16), in almost the
same words, as "the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth."

26. Now, the Word is implanted within you in a way to give you the
certain comfort and sure hope of your salvation. Be careful, then, not
to permit yourselves to be wrested from it by the wrath or the filth
of the world. Take heed to accept in purity and to maintain with
patience the Word so graciously and richly given you by God without
effort or merit on your part. Those who are without the Word, and yet
endeavor to attain heaven, what efforts have they made in the past!
what efforts are they making today! They might torment themselves to
death; they might institute and celebrate every possible service--they
would accomplish nothing. Is it not better to cling to the Word and
maintain this treasure whereby you attain salvation and divine sonship
than to permit the world to wrest you from it through persecution,
passion or moral filth the source of its own ruin and perdition?

_Fifth Sunday After Easter_

Text: First Corinthians 15, 51-58.

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall
all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must
put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But
when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that
is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy
victory? O death, where is thy sting? 56 The sting of death is sin;
and the power of sin is the law: 57 but thanks be to God, who giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Wherefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the
Lord.

You will find this lesson explained in the special sermons on the same
chapter.

_Ascension Day_

Text: Acts 1, 1-11.

1 The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus
began both to do and to teach, 2 until the day in which he was
received up, after that he had given commandment through the Holy
Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 to whom he also showed
himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by
the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the
kingdom of God: 4 and being assembled together with them, he charged
them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the
Father, which, said he, ye heard from me: 5 for John indeed baptized
with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days
hence.

6 They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying,
Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he
said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the
Father hath set within his own authority. 8 But ye shall receive
power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my
witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had said these things,
as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of
their sight. 10 And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as
he went, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 who also
said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus,
who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner
as ye beheld him going into heaven.

This epistle text is simply a narrative concerning the visible
ascension of Christ into heaven. It is in itself clear. Whatever it
may be necessary to say relative to the article of Christ's ascension,
we shall leave for the sermons on the Festivals of Christ as they
occur at intervals during the year, at which times it is fitting to
speak particularly of each article concerning Christ.

_Sunday After Ascension Day_

Text: First Peter 4, 7-11.[1]

7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound mind,
and be sober unto prayer: 8 above all things being fervent in your
love among yourselves: for love covereth a multitude of sins: 9 using
hospitality one to another without murmuring: 10 according as each
hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good
stewards of the manifold grace of God; 11 if any man speaketh,
speaking as it were oracles of God; if any man ministereth,
ministering as of the strength which God supplieth: that in all things
God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the
dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

[Footnote 1: This sermon appeared as early as 1525 in pamphlet form.]

EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN LIVING.

1. This text, too, is an admonition to Christian living, a discourse
concerning the fruits of a good tree, a figure applied to the
Christian; in other words, concerning the fruits of the one who,
through faith, has obtained redemption from sin and death and has a
place in the kingdom of grace and of eternal life. Such a one is
exhorted to live henceforth in a manner indicative of the fact that he
has apprehended the treasure of salvation and is become a new man.

EXHORTATION TO SOBERNESS.

2. Certain good works are also introduced, and in the first part of
our text Peter makes an especially emphatic continuation of the
admonition in the foregoing part of the chapter, warning Christians to
abstain from gross vices--carnal lusts--which in the world lead to
obscenity, and from the wild, disorderly, swinish lives of the heathen
world, lives of gormandizing, guzzling and drunkenness. Peter
admonishes Christians to endeavor to be "sober unto prayer." The
epistle was written chiefly to the Greeks, the masses of which people
were very social, and inclined to carouse and gormandize. And we
Germans are accused of the same excess; not without some reason
either.

3. With intent to turn Christians from these vices unto temperance and
sobriety, Peter reminds them, as all the apostles are wont to do, of
the obligations particularly incident to the Christian calling, to the
only true, divine service, the things for the sake of which they have
become Christians and which distinguish them from the remainder of the
world. His meaning is: It is not for Christians to lead lives
heathenish, profligate and riotous; to indulge in gormandizing,
guzzling, carousing and demoralizing of themselves. They have
something nobler to do. First, in that they are to become different
beings, and be occupied with the Word of God wherefrom they derive
their new birth and whereby they preserve it. Second, being born anew,
they have enemies to fight; so long as they live on earth, they must
combat the devil, also their own flesh, which is corrupted by the
devil until it is full of evil lusts. Having, then, to assume the
obligations of this calling and contest, they must not give way to
drowsy indolence; much less may they become foolish, drunken sots,
indifferent to all issues and heedless of their obligations. Rather,
they have need to be watchful and sober, ever ready with the Word of
God and with prayer.

4. These are the two kinds of armor, two weapons of defense, whereby
the devil is vanquished and of which he is afraid: First, diligence in
hearing, learning and practicing the Word of God, that instruction,
comfort and strength may be received; second, sincere petitioning upon
the authority of that Word, a crying and calling to God for help when
temptations and conflicts arise. One or the other of these weapons of
defense must continually be in active exercise, effecting perpetual
intercourse between God and man--either God speaking to us while we
quietly listen, or God hearing our utterances to him and our petitions
concerning our needs.

Whichever the weapon we wield, it is unendurable to the devil; he
cannot abide it. Christians need both equipments, that their hearts
may ever turn to God, cleave to his Word, and continually, with
ceaseless longing, pray a perpetual Lord's Prayer. Truly, the
Christian should learn from the temptations and straits wherewith the
devil, the world and the flesh constantly oppress him, to be ever on
his guard, watching for the enemy's point of attack; for the enemy
sleeps not nor rests a single moment.

5. Here is applicable Peter's injunction for the Christian to keep
within the bounds of physical temperance and sobriety; not to overload
the body and injure it by excessive eating and drinking: so as to be
watchful, intelligent, and in a mood, to pray. He who is not careful
to discharge the obligations of his office or station with temperance
and sobriety, but is daily in a sottish condition, is incapable of
praying or performing any other Christian duty; he is unfit for any
service.

6. Right here a special admonitory sermon might well be preached to us
dissolute Germans, in warning for our excesses and drunkenness. But
where would be forthcoming a sermon forcible enough to restrain the
shameful sottishness and the drink devil among us? The evil of
overindulgence has, alas, swept in upon us like a torrent,
overwhelming as a flood all classes. It daily spreads further and
further throughout the nation, embracing every station from the lowest
to the highest. All preaching, all admonition, seem far too weak--not
vain and impotent, but despised and scorned--to meet the emergency.
But the apostles, and even Christ himself, declared that in the end of
the world such a state of affairs should obtain. For that very reason
did Christ (Lk 21, 34) admonish Christians to take heed to themselves
lest at any time their hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and
drunkenness and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon them
unawares.

7. Now, God having in his infinite goodness so richly shed upon us
Germans in these latter times the Gospel light, we ought, in honor and
gratitude to him, to try to reform ourselves in the matter of
intemperance. We should fear lest through this evil besides committing
other sins we draw upon us the wrath and punishment of God. For naught
else can result from the pernicious life of intemperance but false
security, and contempt of God. Individuals continually dead in
drunkenness, buried in excesses, living like swine, cannot fear God,
cannot be occupied with divine things.

8. Had we no other incentive to abandon our intemperate living, the
scandalous reputation we have among the nations ought to move us to
reform. Other countries, particularly those bordering on Germany,
regard us with extreme contempt, calling us drunken Germans. For they
have virtue enough to abstain from excessive drinking. The Turks are
real monks and saints in this respect; so far are they from the evil
of intemperance that in obedience to the teaching of their Mohammed
they prohibit the drinking of wine or any other intoxicant, and punish
the offense as the greatest evil in their midst. For this very reason
are they better soldiers than our drunken masses. They are always
awake and vigilant, alert concerning their own interests, planning
attacks upon us and continually extending their dominion, while we lie
sleeping in our excesses as if we could withstand the Turks by
drunkenness and carousing.

9. But what is the use of multiplying words on the subject when the
evil prevails to such extent as to be common custom in the land? No
longer confined to the rude, illiterate rabble, to country villages
and public taverns, it has penetrated all cities and entered nearly
every house, being particularly prevalent among the nobility--in the
courts of princes. I recall that when I was young drunkenness was
regarded an inexpressibly shameful thing among the peerage, and that
the dear lords and princes restrained it with serious prohibitions and
punishments. But now it is more alarmingly prevalent among them than
among farmers. It is generally the case that when the great and good
begin to go down, they sink to a lower level than others. Yes,
intemperance has attained such prevalence that even princes and lords
have learned the habit from their young noblemen and are no longer
ashamed of it. Rather, they call it honorable, making it a civil
virtue befitting princes and noblemen. Whosoever will not consent to
be a drunken sot with them, must be discountenanced; while the knights
who stand for beer and wine obtain high honors, and great favors and
privileges, on account of their drinking. They desire fame in this
respect, as if they had secured their nobility, their shield and
helmet, by the very fact that they exceed others in the shamelessness
of their tippling.

10. Yes, and have we not further reason for checking the evil when
even the young practice it without fear or shame? They learn it from
the aged, and unrestrained they disgracefully and wantonly injure
themselves in the very bloom of life, destroying themselves as corn is
cut down by hail and tempest. The majority of the finest, most
promising young people, particularly the nobility, they of court
circles, ruin their health, body and life, before arriving at
maturity. How can it be otherwise when they who should restrain and
punish commit the same sins themselves?

11. Hence Germany has always been a wretched country, chastised and
plagued by the drink devil, and completely immersed in this vice,
until the bodies and lives of her people, as well as their property
and honor, are shamefully consumed and only a sordid existence
remains. He who would paint the conditions must portray something
swinish. Indeed, but a small proportion of the inhabitants of Germany
are undebased by this evil. These are children, girls and women. Some
sense of propriety in the matter remains to them, though occasionally
we find even under the veil some intemperance; however, it is with
restraint. Enough modesty remains to inspire the universal sentiment
that so disgraceful a thing is it for a woman to be drunk, such a one
deserves to be trampled upon in the streets.

12. In the light of their example, let us men learn to see our own
shame and to blush for it. While noting how disgraceful is drunkenness
for women, let us remember it is much more so for ourselves. We ought
to be saner and more virtuous; for, according to Peter, the woman is
the weaker vessel. Because of the weakness of women, we ought to have
more patience with them. Man being endowed with a broader mind,
stronger faculties and firmer nature, he should be the saner being,
the farther removed from the brute. It stands to reason that it is a
much greater disgrace for him to indulge in the vice of drunkenness.
In proportion to the nobility of his creation and the exalted nature
wherewith God has endowed him, should be the disgrace of such
unreasoning, brutish conduct on his part.

13. What can be said for us? So complete is the perversion of all
manly virtue and honor in our conduct in this respect that it cannot
be surpassed by any other possible degradation of manhood. There
remains to us but an atom of good reputation, and that is to be found
among the women. The occasional instance of drunkenness among them but
emphasizes our own disgrace. All countries look upon us with scorn and
contempt, regarding us as shameful and sordid creatures, day and night
bent upon making ourselves surfeited and stupid, possessing neither
reason nor intelligence.

The evil would be more tolerable, more excusable, if drinking and
carousing had any limit, if intoxication were but an occasional
thing--the case of a person inadvertently taking one drink too much,
or of taking a stimulant when tired from excessive labor and worry. We
excuse it in women who may chance to drink a little more at wedding
parties than they are accustomed to at home. But this excessive
guzzling kept up unceasingly day and night, emitting only to be filled
again, is wholly inconsistent with the character of a prince, a
nobleman, a citizen, yes, of a human being, not to mention the life of
a Christian; it is really more in keeping with the nature and work of
swine.

14. Now, when God and all mankind permit you to eat and to drink, to
enjoy good things, not merely what is necessary for actual
subsistence, but in a measure calculated to afford gratification and
pleasure, and you are yet not satisfied with that privilege--when such
is the case, your sordid and gluttonous tendencies are worthy one born
solely to consume beer and wine. But such are the excesses now to be
seen in the courts of princes--the banqueting and the drinking--that
one would think they meant to devour the resources of the country in a
single hour. Lords, princes, noblemen--the entire country, in
fact--are ruined, reduced to beggary, for the particular reason that
God's gifts are so inhumanly wasted and destroyed.

15. As I said before, the evil of drunkenness has, alas, gained such
ascendency as to be past restraint unless the Word of God may exert
some controlling influence among the few, the individuals who are
still human and who would be Christians. The masses will remain as
they are, particularly as the civil government makes no effort to
restrain the evil. It is my opinion that if God does not sometime
check the vice by a special judgment--and until he does it will never
be punished and restrained--even women and children will become
inebriate, and when the last day arrives no Christian will be found
but all souls will descend drunken into the abyss of hell.

16. Let all who desire to be Christians know that it is incumbent upon
them to manifest the virtue of temperance; that drunken sots have no
place among Christians, and cannot be saved until they amend their
ways, until they reform from their evil habits. Concerning them Paul
says plainly (Gal 5, 19-21): "Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions,
parties, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I
forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practice such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

Here you see that he who lies day and night in drunkenness has no more
inheritance in the kingdom of God than the whoremonger, adulterer, and
such like. Know then, just as idolatry, adultery and so on, are sins
excluding you from heaven, so too, drunkenness is a sin which bars you
from the blessings of baptism, and from remission of sins, faith in
Christ and your personal salvation. Hence, if you would be a Christian
and saved, you must be careful to lead a sober and temperate life. But
if you disregard this admonition and yet hope to be saved--well, then
continue to be an infidel and a brute so long as God permits.

17. Were you a Christian, even if you could permit yourself to be
unmoved by the physical injury wherein, by drunkenness, you plunge
yourself, not only wasting your money and property, but injuring your
health and shortening your life; and if you could permit yourself to
be unmoved by the stigma justly recognized by men and angels as
attaching to you, a filthy sot--even then you ought to be moved by
God's command, by the peril of incurring eternal damnation--of losing
God's grace and eternal salvation--to refrain from such unchristian
conduct. O God, how shameless and ungrateful we are, we so highly
blessed of God in having his Word and in being liberated from the
tyranny of the Pope, who desired our sweat and blood and tortured our
consciences with his laws--how ungrateful we are in the face of these
things not to amend our lives in some measure in honor to the Gospel,
and in praise and gratitude to God!

18. Where peradventure there are still pious parents or godfearing
Christian rulers, they ought, for the sake of lessening the evil of
intemperance, to restrain their children and domestics with serious
chastisements. Pastors and preachers are under obligation to admonish
the people frequently and faithfully, holding up to them God's
displeasure and wrath and the injuries to soul, body and property
resultant from this evil, to the intent that at least some might be
moved and profited. And they who wantonly and openly persist in the
vice, being not disposed to amend their conduct but at the same time
boast of the Gospel, should not be allowed to participate in the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper nor to act as sponsors at baptism.
Preachers and pastors should hold such as openly antichristian, and
should make a distinction against them the same as with manifest
adulterers, extortioners and idolaters. Such is Paul's command (1 Cor
5, 11): "I wrote unto you not to keep company, if any man that is
named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a
reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no, not to
eat."

NECESSITY FOR PRAYER.

19. But we will not now remark further upon this subject. To return to
Peter: He admonishes us to be sober so that we may give ourselves to
prayer, as becometh those who are Christians and have turned from the
vile, heathenish conduct of the world. Just preceding our text, in
verse 3, he says: "For the time past may suffice to have wrought the
desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts,
winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries." He
admonishes us as being now called and ordained to contend against the
devil by faith and prayer. Later on (ch. 5, 8) he brings in the same
warning in clearer phrase, exhorting Christians to be sober and
watchful. Do you ask, What is the great necessity therefor? he says:
"Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion [in the midst of a flock
of sheep], walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

Peter's meaning is this: Since you are a people called to contend with
this powerful spirit which is more intent on seizing your souls than
is the wolf on seizing the sheep, it is essential you should take
thought how to withstand him. Resistance is effected only through
faith and prayer. But soberness and vigilance are necessary to enable
one to pray. With gormandizers and drunkards, reason is dethroned and
they are rendered incapable of respecting anything, or of performing
any good work. Therefore, the ability to pray and call upon God has
been taken from them and the devil overcomes and devours them at his
will.

20. The diligence in prayer which characterized Christians of the
primitive Church, even while undergoing great persecution, is apparent
to us. They were more than willing to assemble daily for prayer
together, not only morning and evening, but also at certain other
appointed hours; and frequently they watched and prayed entire nights.
Some of them, according to St. Augustine, carried their vigils to such
extent as at times to abstain from food for four days. True, this was
going to somewhat of an extreme, particularly when later the practice
came to be an example and a commandment. Yet their habit of perfect
sobriety morning, evening and at all times is commendable. With the
cessation of this practice in the congregations, there succeeded the
wretched order of monks, who pretend to do the praying for others.
They, it is true, observed the same appointed hours, the same seasons
of prayer, in their matins, vespers, and so on, but they did not
really pray; they merely kept up an incessant sound, muttering and
howling.

We still retain from the ancient custom the observance of morning and
evening prayers in schools for children. But the same practice should
obtain in every Christian family. Every father is under obligation to
train up his children to pray at least at the beginning and the close
of day, commending to God every exigency of this earthly life, that
God's wrath may be averted, and deserved punishment withheld.

21. Under such conditions, we would be properly instructed and not
have to be subjected to intolerable oppression and to prohibitions
relative to eating, drinking and dressing, being guided by nature's
demands and our own honor and pleasure. Yet we would not be inordinate
and brutish in these things nor shamefully dethrone reason.
Drunkenness is a sin and a shame to any man, and would be even were
there neither God nor commandment; much less can it be tolerated among
Christians. There is more virtue in this respect among the very
heathen and Turks. They put us to shame, while it is our place to set
an example shaming them. Our characters ought to be so noble as to
give no chance for offense at our conduct, that the name of God be not
defamed but glorified, as Peter admonishes in the conclusion of this
epistle lesson.

TEMPERANCE IN ALL THINGS.

22. What we have said in regard to sobriety, we must also say relative
to that other virtue--temperance,[2] to which Peter gives first place.
They are mutually related, but temperance respects not only eating and
drinking, but is opposed to all immoderation in outward life--in
clothing, ornament, and so on; to whatever is superfluous, or
excessive; to any extravagant attempt to be greater and better than
others. To such extent has immoderation gained the upper hand in the
world, there is nowhere any limit to expense in the way of household
demands, dress, wedding parties and banquets, in the way of
architecture, and so on, whereby citizens, rulers and the country
itself are impoverished, because no individual longer keeps within
proper bounds. Almost invariably the farmer aspires to equal the
nobleman, while the nobleman would excel the prince. As with sobriety,
so with the virtue of temperance--there is scarce to be found an
example of it in our midst, so completely has self-control, sincerity
and discipline given way.

[Footnote 2: The German text uses the two words "maszig" and
"nichtern," which may be rendered "temperate" and "sober."]

23. At the same time the apostle does not forbid appropriate and
respectable recognition of the things of physical well-being, in
keeping with each individual's station in life, even including things
ministering pleasure and joy. For Peter would not have filthy, rusty,
greasy monks nor sour-faced saints, with the hypocrisy and show of
their simulated austere and peculiar lives, wherein they honor not
their bodies, as Paul says (Col 2, 23), but are ever ready to judge
and condemn other people--the maiden, for instance, who chances to
join in a dance or wears a red dress. If you are a Christian in other
respects, God will easily allow you to dress and to adorn yourself,
and to live with comfort, even to enjoy honor and considerable
pleasure, so long as you keep within proper bounds; you should,
however, not go beyond the limits of temperance and moderation. In
other words, do not overreach propriety and self-restraint, regardless
of real pleasure, in the endeavor to show off in excessive and
unprofitable squandering. Such conduct results in confusion and
trouble--chastisement sent of God; in taxes, extortion, robbing and
stealing, until finally lords and subjects are ruined together.

"Above all things being fervent in your love [have fervent charity]
among yourselves; for love [charity] covereth a multitude of sins."

24. In the foregoing part of the text, Peter admonishes Christians
concerning their obligations to themselves; here he tells what is to
be their conduct toward others. He embraces all the good works named
in the second table of the commandments as obligations we owe to our
neighbor, in the little but forcible and comprehensive
phrase--"fervent in your love." This virtue, too, is incumbent on the
Christian who must contend against the devil and pray. For prayer is
hindered where love and harmony are displaced by wrath and ill-will.
The Lord's Prayer teaches: "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors."

How can they pray one for another who feel no interest in a neighbor's
wants, who rather are enemies, entertaining no good will toward one
another? Where hearts are inflamed with hatred toward men, prayer has
ceased; it is extinguished. Hence, antichristians and all popedom,
however holy their appearance, cannot pray while enemies to the Word
of God and persecutors of Christians. He who repeats the Lord's Prayer
while indulging wrath, envy and hatred, censures his own lips; he
condemns his own prayer when he seeks forgiveness from God but does
not think of forgiving his neighbor.

25. With Christians there must be, not merely natural human affection
such as exists even among heathen, but ardent, fervent love; not the
mere appearance of love, the smoke--false, hypocritical love, as Paul
calls it (Rom 12, 9)--but real fervor and fire, which consent not to
be easily extinguished, but which endure like the love between husband
and wife, or the love of parents for children. True conjugal and
parental love is not easily quenched, even though the object of its
affection be weak, diseased or dangerously ill. Rather the greater the
need and the danger of one individual, the more is the heart of the
other moved and the brighter does love burn.

26. Such sincere love, as the apostle elsewhere styles it, must exist
among Christians who are all children of one Father in heaven and
brothers and sisters. Indeed, they are under obligation to love even
their enemies--who are human beings of the same flesh and blood--and
to wish no one evil but rather to serve all wherever possible. This
love is the beautiful red robe for the adornment of Christians,
supplementing the pure white garment of faith received in baptism. It
is to be worn in obedience to the example of Christ, who for us, even
while we were enemies, wore the same red garment of love when he was
sprinkled with his own blood. It was then he burned with the intense
fire of ineffable and most exalted love.

27. The apostles were moved to admonitions of this character because
they clearly perceived the great weakness and imperfection bound to
exist among Christians even in their outward lives. They knew that no
one could, in his everyday life among men, live so discreetly as not
at some time or other, by word, gesture or act, to give offense to
someone, moving him to anger. Such perfection of life is found in no
family, not even with husband and wife. The case is the same as in the
human body: one member frequently comes in conflict with another; a
man may inadvertently bite his tongue or scratch his face. He who
would be a saint so stern and selfish as to endure no evil words or
acts, and to excuse no imperfections, is unfit to dwell among men. He
knows nothing of Christian love, and can neither believe nor put into
practice the article of the Creed concerning the forgiveness of sins.

28. So the Christian's fire of love must be characterized, not by a
dull, cold red, but by a warm scarlet--according to the Scriptures (Ex
26, 1), "Coccum bis tinctam" (rose-red). This love retains its fire
and is really true, having which the Christian is not easily
disheartened and overcome by wrath, impatience and revenge, but to a
certain extent is able to endure and tolerate attacks upon himself
calculated to distress. It manifests itself more strongly in suffering
and enduring than in action.

29. Therefore, Peter extols such love, declaring it to be a virtue
potent not only to bear but to cover "a multitude of sins." This
statement he introduces from the Proverbs of Solomon (ch. 10, 12). The
Papists, however, pervert its meaning, explaining it in a way at
variance with the doctrine of faith; they make of love to one's
neighbor a work or virtue having merit with God. It is their desire to
draw the conclusion that for the sake of our love our sins are
covered; that is, forgiven and exterminated. But we shall not notice
the dolts. It is clear enough from the text that reference is to
hatred and love received from men; our own sins are not intended here,
but the transgressions of others. To cover our sins in the sight of
God, yet other love is requisite--the love of the Son of God, who
alone is the bearer of sins in God's sight, and who, as John the
Baptist says, takes away, bearing them upon his own shoulders, the
sins of the whole world, including our own. And the example of his
love teaches that we, too, should in love cheerfully bear and freely
forgive the sins of others against us.

30. Solomon contrasts the two opposing principles of envious hatred
and love, and shows the effect of each. "Hatred," he says, "stirreth
up strifes; but love covereth all transgressions." Where hatred and
enmity dwell in the heart, they must inevitably stir up strife and
bring misfortune. Animosity cannot restrain itself. It either bursts
out in pernicious language clandestinely uttered against the object of
enmity, or it openly demeans itself in a manner indicating its ill
will. Hence follow reveling, cursing, quarreling and fighting, and,
when wholly unrestrained, cruelty and murder.

These things are due to the fact that the eyes of Younker Hate are so
blinded by scorn and venom that he can see only evil in every man with
whom he comes in contact; and when he actually finds it he will not
let it alone, but stirs it, roots and frets in it, as the hog roots
with defiled snout in offensive filth. "You must have viewed your
neighbor from behind," we say when one can speak and think only the
worst of a neighbor though he may have many good traits. Hate really
desires only that everyone be an enemy to his neighbor and speak the
worst about him, and if he hears aught in his neighbor's favor, he
puts upon it the very worst construction, with the result that the
other party is embittered and in turn comes to hate, curse and revile.
Thus the fire burns until only discord and mischief can obtain.

31. But on the other hand, as Solomon tells us, Love is a virtue pure
and precious. It neither utters nor thinks any evil of its neighbor.
Rather, it covers sin; not one sin, nor two, but "a multitude of
sins"--great masses of them, forests and seas of sin, as it were. That
is, love has no desire to reflect itself in a neighbor's sins and
maliciously rejoice in them. It conducts itself as having neither seen
nor heard them. Or, if they cannot be overlooked, it readily forgives,
and so far as possible mends matters. Where nothing else can be done,
it endures the sins of a neighbor without stirring up strife and
making a bad matter worse.

32. The apostle, upon authority of observation and experience,
acknowledges that where people dwell together there must be mutual
transgressions; it cannot be otherwise. No one will always do what is
pleasing to others, and each is liable to commit open wrong. Peter
would teach that since men must live together in their respective
stations in life--for the Scriptures make no recognition of singular
and intolerant saints who would promptly run out of the world when
some little thing takes place at variance with their opinions--he who
would live peaceably must so control himself as to be able to bear
with others, to overlook their imperfections, and to cover their
transgressions and thus avert further resulting evil.

Where no toleration is exercised, where no wrong is forgiven and
forgotten, hate and envy must find place. The sole office of these is
to stir up strife and contention. No peace and rest is to be had where
they exist; wrangling and fighting, oppression and bitterness, must
obtain. The unbounded ill-will, the innumerable strifes and wars,
having place on earth, all result from the abominable evil of the lack
of love among us and from the prevalence of pernicious hate, which
leads to anger and revenge when opposition offers. Thus we become
enemies to one another instead of to evil, when it is our duty to love
our fellow-men.

33. Now, if you would live as a Christian and enjoy peace in the
world, you must make every effort to restrain your anger and not to
give way to revenge as do others. Rather you must suppress these
passions, subduing your hatred by love, and be able to overlook and
bear, even though you have to suffer great pain and injustice. So
doing you will develop a noble character fitted to accomplish much
good through patience and humility, to allay and abolish enmity, and
strife, and thereby to reform and convert others. If you are unwilling
to be patient under injustice, then go on hating and envying,
impatiently blustering about and seeking revenge. But from such a
proceeding only strife and disquietude can be your portion, though
your complaints be long and your lamentations loud. You may run hither
and thither, and still you will not find the truth otherwise than as I
have stated. This text would have to be done away with first, and the
Scriptures falsified.

34. Paul, having in mind Solomon's saying about love, in extolling the
same virtue amplifies the latter's statement with various expressions,
in the thirteenth of First Corinthians. Among other things he says
there (verses 5-8): "Love seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh
not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth
with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all
things, endureth all things. Love never faileth," etc. This, mark you,
is "being fervent in love," as Peter calls it. Here is the heat, the
fire, effective to consume all evil and to replace it with only good.
This fire will not permit itself to be quenched; it surmounts all
checking. Whatever of evil is heaped upon it, it remains in itself
good, and works only good.

35. The essential property, the "differentia essentialis," of genuine
love, as its nature requires fervency, is the fact that it cannot be
embittered. He who has it, will not cease to love, to do good and to
endure evil. In a word love cannot hate; it cannot be at enmity with
anyone. No evil can be wrought too great for love to endure. No one
can commit against it more sins than it can cover. It cannot be
enraged to the point of refusing to forgive. Its attitude is not
unlike that of the mother toward her child. The child may be imperfect
and impure, even filthy, but the mother notes it not, even if she sees
it. Her love blinds her. The eyes wherewith she looks upon her child
as the beautiful and God-given fruit of her own body are so pure that
she overlooks all imperfections, regarding them as nothing. Indeed,
she excuses, even glorifies, them. Although the child squints, it must
not be called squint-eyed, but love-eyed, and even a wart must be
thought to become it.

36. Behold, this is covering sins with love--a virtue peculiar to
Christians. The world does not possess that virtue. Such love is
impossible to it, whatever its pretensions and ostentations in that
respect. However precious the world's love may be, it is subject to
delusion, vanity and hypocrisy; for the world is false in appearance
and pretension. No worldling likes to be regarded hateful and envious
toward his neighbor, but succeeds in conducting himself, so far as
word and gesture are concerned, in an affable manner to all. This
attitude he maintains so long as we show him favors and obey his
pleasure. But when our love for him becomes a little disaffected and
we happen to offer a word he regards insulting, he promptly withdraws
his affections and begins to complain and to rage as if he had been
done a great wrong. He makes out he is under no obligation to endure
the injustice; and he boastingly plumes himself on having shown great
faithfulness and love to the offender, such fidelity as would have led
him readily to share with that one the very heart in his body, and now
he is so ill repaid that henceforth he will leave such people to be
served by the devil.

Such is the world's love. The world loves not "in deed," but "in
word," as John expresses it. 1 Jn 3, 18. It has no sincerity of heart.
Its love is a mere ignis-fatuus, shining but having no fire; a love
which endures not, but is blown out by a breath--extinguished with a
word. The reason of it all is, the world seeks only its own. It would
be served, would receive from others, and not make any return,
particularly if response must entail any suffering and forbearance on
its part.

37. "But," you may say, "shall evil go unpunished? What would be the
result were all evil to be tolerated and covered up? Would not that be
giving the wicked opportunity to carry out their evil designs? Would
it not encourage them in their wickedness until life would not be safe
to anyone?" I reply: We have often stated what individuals properly
merit our anger, and the extent and manner of punishment to be awarded
them. It is truly the office of civil government and also of the
father of every family to visit anger upon evil, and to punish and
restrain it. Again, every pastor and preacher is commissioned--yes,
every godly Christian--to admonish and censure when he sees a neighbor
committing sin, just as one brother in a family admonishes another.
But to be angry with evil and to inflict official
punishment--punishment by virtue of office--is a different thing from
being filled with hatred and revenge, or holding ill-will and being
unforgiving.

38. It is not inconsistent with the character of love to be angry and
to reprove when a neighbor is observed to sin. But true love feels no
inclination to behold the sin and disgrace of a neighbor; rather, much
rather, it desires his improvement. Just as parents correct with a rod
a disobedient and obstinate child but do not cast it out and become
enemies to it because of that disobedience, their object being only to
reform the child, while the rod is cast away after chastisement; so,