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← Geistliche Erquickstunden (Spiritual Hours of Refreshment)/Book 1 · Geistliche Erquickstunden oder dreihundert Haus- und Tischandachten
Chapter 24Erquickstunden.1.24

Von Wiedererlangung der Gnade Gottes

The Bitter Sweetness of Sin

The author contrasts the initial pleasure of sin with the inevitable bitterness and sorrow that follows.

Born with joy, viewed with pain. Kate, what is that?1 Sin. Sin is sweet at the start, but bitter at the end. Sinned with pleasure, paid with pain.2 To Peter, the apple of sin tasted so sweet that he took one bite after another.✦ But what follows after that? Bitter weeping. Matthew. 26:75.

The Path of True Repentance

True repentance is described as a painful but necessary journey back to the grace of God.

The prodigal son left his father's house with pleasure; with pain he came back. Luke✦ 15:18. Keep the end in mind. The greater the pleasure at the start, the greater the pain at the end. Born in pain, viewed with joy.3 So what is that? The grace of God. Through true repentance, you return to grace. But how bitter the path of repentance is. Look at Hezekiah—how he coos and whimpers!✦4 Isa. 38:14. Look at David—how pitifully he carries on in his penitential psalms. Look at Mary, the great sinner—aren't her eyes fountains of tears?5 Luke. 7:38. Look at the tax collector—how full of dread his heart is!✦ He can barely knock out those five little words: God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Luke6 Luke 18:13. In laughter you lose a gracious God; in tears you find him again. No one gets to taste the sugar of divine grace unless he has first bitten into the myrrh of repentance.7 Then grace delights most of all when it has been sought with many tears and is only found after burning anguish. When first it goes in a low tone, as Hezekiah whimpers: See, I was very anxious for comfort. Isa.✦8 Isaiah 38:17.

From Tears to Divine Comfort

The author concludes that the tears of repentance are the seed for a harvest of divine joy and grace.

Or: Bitter, bitter was my lot when I thought of peace—so one may sing the answer in a higher key: But you have taken my soul tenderly to heart, so that it wouldn't perish.✦ Struck up in mourning: I am so weary from sighing; all night long I flood my bed and soak my couch with my tears; my appearance is wasted with grief and has grown old, for I am distressed on every side. Ps. 6.9 Carried through with joy: The Lord hears my weeping; the Lord hears my pleading; the Lord accepts my prayer.10 If it has to be one or the other, I'd rather sow in wet weather and harvest in dry than sow in dry and harvest in wet.11

Read the original Latin

Geboren mit Freuden, angeschaut mit Schmerzen.

Kathe was ist das? die Sünde. Sünde ist süß im Anfang, am Ende bitter. Mit Lust gesündigt, mit Bein gebüßt. Petro schmeckte der Sünden - Apfel so süß, daß er einen Biß nach dem andern hinein that. Aber was folgt drauf? bitteres Weinen Math. 26, 75.

Mit Lust ging der ungerathene Sohn aus seines Vaters Haus, mit Schmerzen kam er wieder Luc. 15, 18. Bedenk das Ende. Ie größere Lust im Anfang, je größer Schmerz am Ende. Geboren mit Schmerzen, angeschaut mit Freuden. Was ist denn das? die Gnade Gottes. Durch wahre Buße kommt man wieder zu Gnaden.

Wie saur aber gehts in der Buß daher! Schau Hiskias, wie girrt und winselt er! Esa. 38, 14. Schaue David, wie kläglich thut er in seinen Bußpsalmen! Schau die große Sünderin Maria, sind nicht ihre Augen Thränenquellen? Luc. 7, 38.

Schau den Zöllner, wie voll Angst ist sein Herz! kann er doch kaum die fünf Wörtlein heraus klopfen: Gott sei mir Sünder gnädig Luc. 18, 13. Im Lachen verliert man einen gnädigen Gott, in den Thränen findet man ihn wieder. Keiner bekommt den Zucker göttlicher Gnade zu schmecken, er habe denn zuvor in die Myrrhen der Buße gebissen. Dann erfreut die Gnad am höchsten, wann sie mit vielen Thränen gesucht und nach heißer Angst erst gefunden ist. Wann's vorher im niedrigen Ton geht, was Hiskias winselt: Siehe, um Trost war mir sehr bange Esa. 38, 17.

oder: Bitter bitter gings mit mir daher, wann ich an Frieden gedachte - so mag man im höhern Ton nachsingen: Du aber hast dich meiner Seele herzlich angenommen, daß sie nicht verdürbe. Mit Trauern angestimmt: Ich bin so müd vom Seufzen, ich schwemme mein Bette die ganze Nacht und neze mit meinen Thränen mein Lager: meine Gestalt ist verfallen vor Trauren und ist alt worden, denn ich allenthalben geängstigt werde Ps. 6. Mit Freuden ausgehalten: Der HErr hört mein weinen, der HErr hört mein flehen, mein Gebet nimmt der HErr an. Soll eins sein, will ich ieber im nassen Wetter säen, und im trocknen ernten, als m trocknen säen und im nassen ernten.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Matt.26.75 — And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.
  2. ↩Luke.15.18 — I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.'
  3. ↩Isa.38.14 — Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered; I moaned like a dove. My eyes grew weak looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.
  4. ↩Luke.18.9-Luke.18.14 — He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: Luke.18.10 — Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. Luke.18.11 — The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed these things toward himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.' Luke.18.12 — I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all that I get. Luke.18.13 — But the tax collector, standing far off, was not even willing to lift his eyes to heaven, but kept beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner.' Luke.18.14 — I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than that one; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
  5. ↩Isa.38.17 — Behold, it was for my peace that I had great bitterness; but you have held fast to my soul, rescuing it from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
  6. ↩Isa.38.17 — Behold, it was for my peace that I had great bitterness; but you have held fast to my soul, rescuing it from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Surface 'Kathe' read as a household vocative (Kate), fitting Haus- und Tischandachten dialogue form; if it is a print/OCR corruption of another prompt word, sense of the following Q&A still holds.
  2. 2 ↩Source has 'Bein'; sense and proverbial parallel strongly favor 'Pein' (pain/torment), likely Fraktur B/P confusion. Rendered as 'pain'.
  3. 3 ↩Aphoristic couplet: in context it answers to the recovery of grace (pain of repentance, joy of restoration), not only literal childbirth.
  4. 4 ↩girrt evokes the dove-like cooing of Isa 38:14; winselt is a low, pitiful moaning.
  5. 5 ↩Maria here is the traditional identification of the sinful woman of Luke 7 (often Mary Magdalene in older piety), not the Virgin Mary.
  6. 6 ↩heraus klopfen is vivid: force/knock the words out with difficulty; kept the physical image rather than flattening to 'say'.
  7. 7 ↩Buße rendered as repentance (not sacramental penance), fitting this Protestant Hausandacht; the sugar/myrrh contrast is kept intact.
  8. 8 ↩niedriger Ton continues the musical metaphor of this chapter (low key of lament before the higher key of consolation in the next section).
  9. 9 ↩Standalone chapter/verse numeral completing the 'Ps.' citation from the previous sentence (Psalm 6).
  10. 10 ↩'Mit Freuden ausgehalten' parallels 'Mit Trauern angestimmt' (s2). 'Ausgehalten' can mean held out/sustained (as a musical hold) or endured through; rendered as the joyful resolution of the mourning opening.
  11. 11 ↩Normalized reading takes 'ieber' as 'lieber' (rather) and 'm trocknen' as 'im trocknen' (in the dry); both look like print/OCR defects in the supplied witness.

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