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Advent
IV
"Melanchthon, the Hamlet of the Reformation, shrinking from action into contemplation, with a dangerous yearning for a peace which must have been hollow and transient, had become more and more entangled in the complications of a specious but miserable policy which he felt made him justly suspected by those whose confidence in him had once been unlimited."
Charles P. Krauth, The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology, Philadelphia: 1913 (1871), p. 85.
"If we would be Christians, therefore, we must surely expect
and reckon upon having the devil with all his angels and the world as our
enemies, who will bring every possible misfortune and grief upon us. For where
the Word of God is preached, accepted, or believed, and produces fruit, there
the holy cross cannot be wanting. And let no one think that he shall have
peace; but he must risk whatever he has upon earth--possessions, honor, house
and estate, wife and children, body and life. Now, this hurts our flesh and the
old Adam; for the test is to be steadfast and to suffer with patience in
whatever way we are assailed, and to let go whatever is taken from us."
Large Catechism,
The Lord's Prayer, Third Petition, #65, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 715.
"That forbearance which is a fruit of the Spirit retains its
characteristic kindness whether directed toward friend or enemy, toward rich or
poor."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker
Book House, 1983, VI, p. 103.
"Prayer is made vigorous by petitioning; urgent, by
supplication; by thanksgiving, pleasing and acceptable. Strength and
acceptability combine to prevail and secure the petition."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, VI, p. 107.
"The Lord's Prayer opens with praise and thanksgiving and the acknowledgement of God as a Father; it earnestly presses toward Him through filial love and a recognition of fatherly tenderness. For supplication, this prayer is unequaled. Hence it is the sublimest and the noblest prayer ever uttered."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, VI, p. 107.
"This, mark you, is the peace of the cross, the peace of God,
peace of conscience, Christian peace, which gives us even external calm, which
makes us satisfied with all men and unwilling to disturb any. Reason cannot
understand how there can be pleasure in crosses, and peace in disquietude; it
cannot find these. Such peace is the work of God, and none can understand it
until it has been experienced."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, VI, p. 111.
"The reference [the Votum] is simply to a disposition to
trust and love God sincerely, and a willingness of heart and mind to serve God
and man to the utmost. The devil seeks to prevent this state by terror, by
revealing death and by every sort of misfortune; and by setting up human
devices to induce the heart to seek comfort and help in its own counsels and in
man. Thus led astray, the heart falls from trust in God to a dependence upon
itself."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, VI, p. 111.
"Thus we have two parts, preaching and believing. His coming
to us is preaching; His standing in our hearts is faith. For it is not
sufficient that He stand before our eyes and ears; He must stand in the midst
of us in our hearts, and offer and impart to us peace."
Martin Luther,
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., xd., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 355. John 20:19-31.
"For the devil will not allow a Christian to have peace;
therefore Christ must bestow it in a manner different from that in which the
world has and gives, in that he quiets the heart and removes from within fear
and terror, although without there remain contention and misfortune."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, II, p. 380.
"Joy is the natural fruit of faith. The apostle says
elsewhere (Galatians 5:22-23): 'The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.' Until
the heart believes in God, it is impossible for it to rejoice in Him. When
faith is lacking, man is filled with fear and gloom and is disposed to flee at
the very mention, the mere thought, of God. Indeed, the unbelieving heart is
filled with enmity and hatred against God. Conscious of its own guilt, it has
no confidence in His gracious mercy; it knows God is an enemy to sin and will
terribly punish the same."
Sermons of
Martin LutherVI, p. 93.
"To rejoice in the Lord--to trust, confide, glory and have
pride in the Lord as in a gracious Father--this is a joy which rejects all else
but the Lord, including that self-righteousness whereof Jeremiah speaks
(9:23-24): 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty
man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him
that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth Me.'"
Sermons of
Martin Luther, VI, p. 95.
"Now, suppose some blind, capricious individual intrudes,
demanding as necessary the omission of this thing and the observance of that,
as did certain Jews, and insisting that all men follow him and he none--this
would be to destroy equality; indeed, even to exterminate Christian liberty and
faith. Like Paul, in the effort to maintain liberty and truth, everyone should
refuse to yield to any such demand."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, VI, p. 98.
"Christ's kingdom grows through tribulations and declines in
times of peace, ease and luxury, as St. Paul says in 2 Cor. 12:9 'My power is
made perfect in weakness, etc.' To this end help us God! Amen."
Sermons of
Martin Luther, II, p. 99.
"The ultimate purpose of afflictions is the mortification of
the flesh, the expulsion of sins, and the checking of that original evil which
is embedded in our nature. And the more you are cleansed, the more you are
blessed in the future life. For without a doubt glory will follow upon the
calamities and vexations which we endure in this life. But the prime purpose of
all these afflictions is the purification, which is extremely necessary and
useful, lest we snore and become torpid and lazy because of the lethargy of our
flesh. For when we enjoy peace and rest, we do not pray, we do not meditate on
the Word but deal coldly with the Scriptures and everything that pertains to
God or finally lapse into a shameful and ruinous security."
What Luther Says,
An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House, 1959, I, p. 18.
"The church is recognized, not by external peace but by the
Word and the Sacraments. For wherever you see a small group that has the true
Word and the Sacraments, there the church is if only the pulpit and the
baptismal font are pure. The church does not stand on the holiness of any one
person but solely on the holiness and righteousness of the Lord Christ, for He
has sanctified her by Word and Sacrament."
Martin Luther,
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1959, I, p. 263. Matthew 24:4-7.
"When you preach or confess the Word, you will experience
both without, among enemies, and also within, in yourself (where the devil
himself will speak to you and prove how hostile he is to you), that he brings
you into sadness, impatience, and depression, and that he torments you in all
sorts of ways. Who does all this? Certainly not Christ or any good spirit, but
the miserable, loathsome enemy...The devil will not bear to have you called a
Christian and to cling to Christ or to speak or think a good word about Him.
Rather he would gladly poison and permeate your heart with venom and gall, so
that you would blaspheme: Why did He make me a Christian? Why do I not let Him
go? Then I would at last have peace."
Martin Luther,
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 928.
"We have no intention of yielding aught of the eternal,
immutable truth of God for the sake of temporal peace, tranquility, and unity
(which, moreover, is not in our power to do). Nor would such peace and unity,
since it is devised against the truth and for its suppression, have any
permanency. Still less are we inclined to adorn and conceal a corruption of the
pure doctrine and manifest, condemned errors. But we entertain heartfelt
pleasure and love for, and are on our part sincerely inclined and anxious to
advance, that unity according to our utmost power, by which His glory remains
to God uninjured, nothing of the divine truth of the Holy Gospel is
surrendered, no room is given to the least error, poor sinners are brought to
true, genuine repentance, raised up by faith, confirmed in new obedience, and
thus justified and eternally saved alone through the sole merit of
Christ." (Closing of Formula of Concord, Triglotta. p. 1095)
Francis Pieper,
The Difference Between Orthodox And Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos
Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 65.
"When a theologian is asked to yield and make concessions in
order that peace may at last be established in the Church, but refuses to do so
even in a single point of doctrine, such an action looks to human reason like
intolerable stubbornness, yea, like downright malice. That is the reason why
such theologians are loved and praised by few men during their lifetime. Most
men rather revile them as disturbers of the peace, yea, as destroyers of the kingdom
of God. They are regarded as men worthy of contempt. But in the end it becomes
manifest that this very determined, inexorable tenacity in clinging to the pure
teaching of the divine Word by no means tears down the Church; on the contrary,
it is just this which, in the midst of greatest dissension, builds up the
Church and ultimately brings about genuine peace. Therefore, woe to the Church
which has no men of this stripe, men who stand as watchmen on the walls of
Zion, sound the alarm whenever a foe threatens to rush the walls, and rally to
the banner of Jesus Christ for a holy war.”
C. F. W. Walther,
The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 28.