← Luther's Little Prayer Book (Ein Betbüchlein)/Book 1 · Betbüchlein (Ein Betbüchlein)

Chapter 11Betbuechlein.1.11

Sermon von der Bereitung zum Sterben

Preparation for the Journey

The dying person is called to settle earthly affairs, forgive others, and turn their heart toward God as they prepare for the narrow passage of death.

First of all: Since death is a departure from this world and all its affairs, a person needs to put his earthly goods in proper order—as they ought to be arranged, or as he intends to arrange them—so that after his death no cause for quarreling, strife, or any other confusion is left among the friends he leaves behind. And this is a bodily or outward farewell from this world, and leave and a final goodbye are given to one's goods.¹ Second, we should also make a spiritual departure: that is, we should kindly and purely, for God's sake, forgive everyone for however they have wronged us. Likewise, seek forgiveness purely for God's sake from all people—many of whom we have undoubtedly wronged, at the very least by setting a bad example or by failing to do enough good, as we were bound to do by the commandment of brotherly Christian love.² This is so that the soul may not remain entangled in any business on earth. Third: once you’ve taken leave of everyone on earth, you should turn yourself to God alone, for that is where the way of dying also turns and leads us. And here begins the narrow gate, the narrow path to life, which everyone must gladly resolve to take. For it is indeed very narrow, but it is not long. And here it goes just as when a child is born out of the small dwelling of its mother's womb, with danger and anguish, into this wide heaven and^✦³ earth—that is, into this world.⁴ In the same way, a person passes through the narrow gate of death, from this life into eternal life. And although the sky and the world we live in now are considered vast and wide, compared to the heaven to come, everything here is much narrower and smaller than a mother’s womb is compared to this sky.⁵ That's why the dear saints' dying is called a new birth, and their feast is named in Latin Natale—a day of their birth. But the narrow passage of death makes this life seem wide to us and the next one seem narrow. That's why you have to believe this and learn it from a child's bodily birth, as Christ says: When a woman is giving birth, she suffers anguish; but when she has recovered, she no longer remembers the anguish, because a human being has been born from her into the world.^✦⁶ So, when you are dying, you must steel yourself for the anguish and know that afterward there will be great room and joy.⁷

The Sacraments as Comfort

The believer is encouraged to seek the Sacraments as a source of strength against the terrors of death, sin, and hell.

Fourth: This kind of readiness and preparation for this journey consists of the following. First: that you provide yourself with a pure confession—especially of the greatest matters, and of whatever can at the time be found in your memory with all possible diligence—and with the holy Christian Sacrament of the holy true Body of Christ; that you devoutly desire it and receive it with great confidence, if you can have it.⁸ But where that is not possible, the longing and desire for it should still be no less a comfort, and you should not be too terrified on that account. Christ says, "All things are possible for the one who believes"—for the Sacraments are nothing other than signs that serve and spur us toward faith, as we will see; without that faith they are of no use.^✦⁹ Fifth: You should take every care, with all seriousness and diligence, to hold the holy Sacraments in high regard, keep them in honor, freely and joyfully put your trust in them, and set them against sin, death, and¹⁰ hell as well, to the point that they far outweigh them. Also, focus much more on the Sacraments and their power than on your sins.¹¹ But you need to understand how that honor is rightly given, and what those powers are. The honor is this: that I believe it is true, and that what the Sacraments mean happens to me—and everything God says and shows in them—so that with Mary, the Mother of God, one may say in firm faith: Let it be done to me according to your words and signs. For since God himself speaks and makes his signs there through the priest, you could do God no greater dishonor in his Word and work than to doubt whether it is true. And you could show him no greater honor than to believe it's true and freely rely on it. Sixth: to recognize the virtue of the Sacraments, you first have to know the vice they fight against and for which they have been given to us. There are three of them. The first is the terrifying image of death. The second is the horrible, manifold image of sins. The third is the unbearable, inescapable image of hell and eternal damnation. Now each of these three grows and becomes great and strong based on what is added to it.¹²

Overcoming the Three Terrors

The author warns against dwelling on the images of death, sin, and hell, which the devil uses to tempt the soul toward despair.

Death becomes great and terrifying when weak, despondent nature impresses that same image too deeply within itself and keeps it too much before its eyes. To this the devil now also drives, so that the person will dwell deeply on death's horrible look and image, and so grow distressed, soft, and fainthearted. For then he is sure to hold up all the terrible, sudden, evil deaths that anyone has ever seen, heard of, or read about.¹³ Along with that he wraps in the wrath of God—how long ago, here and there, he plagued and destroyed sinners.¹⁴ so as to drive weak nature toward fear of death and toward love and care for this life.¹⁵ In this way the person, overloaded with such thoughts, forgets God, flees and hates death, and so at the final end is found—and remains—disobedient to God. For the more deeply death is contemplated, examined, and understood, the harder and more dangerous the act of dying becomes. While you're living, you should practice thinking about death, calling it to mind while it's still far off and not yet pressing in on you. But in dying, when death is already far too strongly present of itself, that is dangerous and of no use. At that point, you have to push the image of death away and refuse to look at it, as we will hear.¹⁶ So death gains its power and strength from the frailty of our nature, and from staring at it and dwelling on it too much at the wrong time.¹⁷ Seventh: Sin also grows and becomes great through looking at it too much and dwelling on it too deeply. There the frailty of our conscience adds to this—the conscience that is ashamed of itself before God and punishes itself terribly.¹⁸ The devil finds exactly the opening he's looking for there; he gets to work, and he makes the sins so many and so great. There he is to hold up before the person everyone who has ever sinned, and how many have been damned with fewer sins. So that the person has to despair or grow unwilling to die, and so forget God, and be found disobedient and remain so until death. Especially because a person thinks he must then examine his sins, and that he does well — rightly and usefully — by occupying himself with them. As a result, they find themselves unprepared and unfit—to such an extent that even all their good works have become sins. From this, there must follow an unwilling death, disobedience to God's will, and eternal damnation. For examining sins deeply has no place or time then; that should be done during the time of life.¹⁹ So the evil spirit twists everything for us in this life, when we should constantly keep the images of death, of sin, and of hell before our eyes, as Psalm 50.²⁰ My sins are always before my eyes. So he shuts our eyes and hides those same images. At death, when we should keep only life, grace, and blessedness before our eyes, he only then opens our eyes and terrifies us with those untimely images, so that we will not see the right ones. Eighth. Hell becomes great, and it also grows through looking at it too much and hard brooding over it at the wrong time. What contributes to this immeasurably is that we don't know God's judgment. The evil spirit drives the soul toward this, so that it burdens itself with superfluous, useless curiosity—even the most dangerous presumption of all—trying to grasp the secret of God's counsel: whether it is elect or not.²¹ Here the devil plies his last, greatest, and craftiest skill and power. For with it he leads a person—if he can manage it—beyond God, so that the person seeks signs of the divine will and grows impatient at not being allowed to know whether he is elect; he makes his God look suspect to him, so that he very nearly longs for another god. In short, his goal here is to snuff out love for God with a storm wind and kindle hatred of God. The more a person follows the devil and entertains these thoughts, the more dangerous their footing becomes, until eventually they can't hold themselves up; they fall into hatred of God and blasphemy. For what else is it, that I want to know whether I am elect, except that I want to know everything God knows and be equal to him, so that he knows nothing more than I do—and thus God would not be God, if he is to know nothing at all beyond me?^✦ Then he sets before him how many heathens, Jews, Christians, and children are lost, and he presses so hard with such dangerous and futile thoughts that the person, even if he would otherwise gladly die, still becomes unwilling on this point. This is what it means to be assaulted by hell: when a person is attacked with thoughts about their election—something the Psalter is full of lament over.²² Whoever wins here has overcome sin, hell, and death all at once.

Fixing the Gaze on Christ

The remedy for spiritual terror is to turn away from one's own frailty and look fixedly at Christ's victory over death, sin, and hell.

Ninth: Now in this matter you must apply every diligence so that you invite none of these three images into the house, and don't paint the devil over the door—they'll force their way in all too strongly on their own, and with their stare, arguing, and pointing they'll want to take complete possession of the heart.²³ When that happens, the person is lost and has completely forgotten God. For these images have no place at all in this hour except to fight them and drive them out. Indeed, where they stand alone, without being looked through into other images, they belong nowhere but in hell among the devils.²⁴ Anyone who now really wants to fight them and drive them out will find it isn't enough to tear at them, strike them, or wrestle with them, for they will be too strong for him, and things will get worse and worse. The whole art is simply this: let them drop, and have nothing to do with them.²⁵ But how does that work? It works like this. You must look at death in life, at sin in grace, and at hell in heaven, and not let yourself be driven away from that looking or gaze, even if every angel and every creature — yes, even if it seems to you that God himself — were setting something else before you. They do no such thing; the evil spirit only makes it look that way.²⁶ So what should you do, then? Tenth: Don't look at death or fix your mind on it in itself, nor on your own nature, nor on those who have been put to death through God's wrath and overcome by it—otherwise you are lost, and you will be overcome along with them. Instead, turn your eyes, the thoughts of your heart, and all your senses forcefully away from that image, and look fixedly and diligently at death only in those who have died in God's grace and have overcome death—above all in Christ, and then in all his saints. Look: with these images, death won't be terrifying or horrible to you; instead, it will be despised, put to death, strangled, and overcome in life.^✦ For Christ is nothing but pure life—and so are his saints.^✦²⁷ The deeper and more firmly you impress this image on yourself and look at it, the more the image of death falls away and vanishes on its own, without any struggle or fighting. And so the heart finds peace and can die gently with Christ and in Christ, as the Apocalypse²⁸ says: Blessed are those who die in the Lord Christ.^✦ This is shown in Numbers.²⁹ 21. When the children of Israel had been bitten by the fiery serpents, they were not to thrash about with those same serpents, but had to look at the dead bronze serpent—then the living ones fell away from them of themselves and perished. So you must focus only on the death of Christ; then you'll find life. And if you look at death anywhere else, it will kill you with great unrest and pain. That is why Christ says: In the world (which means, also within yourselves) you will have unrest; but in me, peace. Eleventh. So you must not look at sins in the sinners, nor in those who finally remained in their sins and are damned—you'll certainly follow after them and be overcome. Instead, turn your thoughts away and look at sins only through the lens of grace. With all your strength, shape that same image within yourself and keep it constantly before your eyes.³⁰ The image of grace is nothing other than Christ on the cross and all his dear saints. How are we to understand that? That is grace and mercy: that Christ on the cross takes your sin from you, bears it for you, and strangles it—and that you firmly believe this, keep it before your eyes, and don't doubt it. That is what it means to look at the image of grace and form it within yourself.³¹ In the same way, all the saints, in their suffering and dying, also lay that same pain on Him, and suffer and labor with you. As it is written: Bear one another's burdens, and so you fulfill Christ's command. He says it Himself in Matthew, chapter 11: Come to Me, all you who are burdened and who labor; I will help you.³² Look: this way you can safely view your sin outside your conscience. Look: there, sin is no longer sin; there, it is overcome and swallowed up in Christ.³³ For just as he takes your death upon himself and strangles it so that it cannot harm you—provided you believe that he does this for you, and you look at your death in him, not in yourself. In the same way, he takes your sins upon himself and, in his righteousness, overcomes them for you out of pure grace. If you believe that, they will never harm you. So Christ is the image of life and grace, against the image of death and sin—our comfort.³⁴ That is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians. 15. Praise and thanks be to God, that he has given us the victory over sin and death in Christ.^✦ Twelfth: You must not dwell on hell or the eternity of torment in relation to predestination—not in yourself, not in hell itself, and not in those who are damned—and you shouldn't trouble yourself at all about the many people in the world who are not among the elect.³⁵ If you don't watch yourself, that image will suddenly throw you down and dash you to the ground.³⁶ So here you must force yourself and keep your eyes shut tight against that kind of glance, for it is of no use at all—even if you wrestled with it for a thousand years—and it ruins you completely. So look to the heavenly image, Christ, who for your sake ascended to heaven and was forsaken by God as one eternally damned when he said on the cross: Eli, Eli, lama asabthani? O my God, why have you forsaken me?^✦ Look: in that image your hell is overcome, and your uncertain predestination is made certain.³⁷ If you focus your mind on this alone and believe that it was done for you, you'll be kept forever in that same faith. Therefore, don't let this out of your sight; seek yourself only in Christ and not in yourself—then you'll find yourself forever in him. So then, when you look at Christ and all his saints, and God's grace delights you—he who has chosen them this way—and you simply hold firm in that same delight, you are already chosen as well. As he says in Genesis 12: All who bless you shall be blessed.^✦³⁸ But if you do not cling to this alone and fall back into yourself, a distaste will grow in you toward God and his saints, and so you will find nothing good in yourself.³⁹ Guard yourself against that, for that is where the evil spirit will drive you, using many tricks.

The Victory of Faith

Using the biblical figure of Gideon, the author illustrates how faith in Christ's Word drives away the enemies of the soul without the need for human struggle.

Thirteenth: These three images, or this battle, are illustrated in Judges 7.⁴⁰ When Gideon attacked the Midianites with three hundred men at three places in the night, he did nothing more than have trumpets blown and the jars of light smashed together, so that the enemies fled and killed one another.⁴¹ So death, sin, and hell flee with all their powers if only we practice within ourselves the shining images of Christ and his saints (in the night—that is, in faith, which neither sees the evil images nor can see them)—and with that, spur and strengthen ourselves by God's Word as by trumpets. So Isaiah 9 presents this same figure. You have overcome the weight of his burdens, the rod on his back, and the scepter of his taskmaster—just as in the days of the Midianites, whom Gideon overcame.^✦⁴² It’s as if he were saying: You have overcome them all—the sin of your people (which is the heavy weight of his burdens on his conscience), death (which is the rod or punishment pressing on his back), and hell (which is the scepter and power of the taskmaster, by which eternal payment is demanded for sin).⁴³ It happened just as in the days of Midian—that is, through faith, by which Gideon drove the enemies away without a single stroke of the sword. When did he do that? On the cross. For there he prepared himself for us as a threefold image for our faith to hold up against the three images by which the evil spirit and our⁴⁴ nature assail us so as to tear us out of the faith.⁴⁵ He is the living and immortal image against death—the death he suffered—and yet by his resurrection from the dead, he has testified that it has been overcome in his life.⁴⁶ He is the image of God's grace against sin—the sin he took upon himself—and yet he has overcome it through his invincible obedience. He is the heavenly image: the one forsaken by God as if he were damned, and yet through his almighty love he has overcome hell, testified that he is the beloved Son, and given that same gift to us all as our own, if we believe in this way.⁴⁷ Fourteenth: Furthermore, he didn't just overcome sin, death, and hell in himself and hold that up for us to believe; for our even greater comfort, he also suffered and overcame the trials we face in these images. He was just as much assaulted by the images of death, sin, and hell as we are. They held the image of death before him when the Jews said, "Let him come down from the cross now. He has healed others—let him help himself now." As if they were saying: There—there you see death. You must die. Nothing can help against it. Just as the devil thrusts death's image before a dying person and, with that terrifying image, intimidates frail nature. They held the image of sin before him when they said, "He has healed others; if he is God's Son, let him come down," and so on. It was as if they were saying: His works have been false and pure deception; he is the devil's son and not God's Son; he belongs to the devil body and soul; he has never done any good, but only pure wickedness.⁴⁸ Just as the Jews pressed these three images on Christ all at once, in a chaotic mix, a person is similarly besieged by those same things simultaneously and without order, leaving them confused and quickly ready to despair. As the Lord describes the destruction of Jerusalem in Luke, 19, her enemies surround her with a rampart so that she cannot escape—that is death.^✦⁴⁹ Second, that they hem them in on every side and drive them so they can find nowhere to remain—that is sin. Third, that they strike them down to the ground and leave not one stone upon another—that is, hell and despair. They pressed the images of hell upon him when they said, "He trusts in God—let's see whether He will deliver him. He says he is God's Son." As if to say: he belongs in hell; God has made no provision for him; he is eternally cast away; here neither trust nor help does any good—it is all in vain.⁵⁰ So we see now that Christ stays silent before all those words and horrible images: he doesn't fight with them, acts as if he neither hears nor sees them, and answers none of them.^✦ And even if he had answered, he would only have given them cause to howl and drive at him more, and more horribly still.⁵¹ Instead he minds only the dearest will of his Father — so completely that he forgets his death, and the sin and hell driven upon him, and prays for them, for their death, sin, and hell.^✦^✦⁵² So we too should let those same images fall on us and fall away again, however they will or can, and only keep this in mind: that we cling to God's will—that is, that we hold fast to Christ and firmly believe that our death, sin, and hell have been overcome for us in him and cannot harm us—so that Christ's image alone is in us, and we reason and deal with him.^✦

The Power of the Sacraments

The Sacraments serve as visible signs and seals of God's promise, assuring the believer of their inclusion in the communion of saints.

The use and power of the Sacraments. Fifteenth. Now we come back to the holy Sacraments and their powers, so that we may learn what they are good for and make use of them.⁵³ Anyone who is now granted the grace and the time to confess, be absolved, and be instructed has every reason to love, praise, and thank God, and to die with joy.⁵⁴ Provided he comfortingly entrusts himself to the Sacraments and believes in them, as was said above. For in the Sacraments your God, Christ himself, acts, speaks, and works with you through the priest; what happens there is not a human work or word. There God himself speaks to you everything that has just been said about Christ, and he wants the Sacraments to be a true sign and seal that Christ's life has taken your death upon itself and overcome it, his obedience your sin, and his love your hell. What's more, through those same Sacraments you are incorporated and united with all the saints, and you enter the true communion of the saints.⁵⁵ This is so that they die with you in Christ, bear sin, and overcome hell.^✦⁵⁶ From this it follows that the Sacraments—that is, the outward Word of God spoken through a priest—are a very great comfort, and like a visible sign of God's intention, to which you should hold with firm faith, as to a good staff with which Jacob the patriarch crossed the Jordan. Or as a lantern by which you should take your bearings and keep a careful eye, with all diligence, through the dark path of death, sin, and hell—as the prophet says: Your word, Lord, is a light to my feet. And St. Peter says: We have a sure word of God, and you do well to pay attention to it. Nothing else can help in the distress of death. For by this sign all who are saved are saved. It points to Christ and his image, so that against the image of death, sin, and hell you can say: God has promised me, and given me a sure sign of his grace in the Sacraments, that Christ's life has overcome my death in his death; his obedience has wiped out my sin in his suffering; his love has destroyed my hell in his being forsaken.⁵⁷ Such a sign, such a promise of my salvation, won't lie to me or deceive me. God has said it. God cannot lie—neither with words nor with works.^✦ And whoever thus stakes his claim and leans on the Sacraments—his election and providence will readily find themselves without his worry and effort.⁵⁸ Sixteenth. Here now is where the greatest power of all lies: that we highly regard the holy Sacraments—in which pure God's Word, promises, and signs take place—hold them in honor, and put our trust in them. That means we must not doubt either the Sacraments or the things of which they are sure signs. For wherever they are doubted, everything is lost. For as we believe, so it will be done for us. As Christ says: What good is it if you imagine and believe that death, sin, and hell have been overcome for others in Christ, if you don't also believe that your own death, your sin, and your hell have been overcome and wiped out for you there, and that you are personally redeemed? In that case, the Sacrament would be completely in vain, since you don't believe the things that are shown, given, and promised to you there. But this is the most terrible sin that can be committed: through it, God himself is treated as a liar in his word, signs, and works—as one who says, shows, and promises something he neither meant nor intended to keep.^✦ Therefore, you must not trifle with the Sacrament. Faith has to be there—a faith that stakes itself on it and joyfully ventures on such signs and promises of God.⁵⁹ What kind of Savior or God would that be who could not or would not save us from death, sin, and hell? What the true God promises and works must be great. Then the devil comes and whispers to you: "Yes—but what if I received the Sacraments unworthily and, through my unworthiness, robbed myself of such grace?" Here make the sign of the cross for yourself; don't let worthiness or unworthiness trouble you at all. Just see to it that you believe it is a sign of the true Word of God—then you are and remain truly worthy. Faith makes you worthy; doubt makes you unworthy.⁶⁰ That's why the evil spirit wants to put before you other claims about worthiness and unworthiness, so that he can plant a doubt in you, and through that nullify the Sacraments with their works and make God a liar in his words.^✦ God doesn’t give you anything because of your worthiness. He doesn’t build his Word and Sacrament on your merit; instead, out of pure grace, he builds you—the unworthy one—on his Word and sign. Just hold firmly to this and say: The One who gives me His sign and word, and has given them so that Christ's life, grace, and heaven have made my death, sin, and hell powerless to harm me—He is God; He will surely keep these things for me. If the priest has absolved me, I rely on that as on God's own Word. And if it is God's Word, then it will be true. On that I stand; on that I die. You should trust just as firmly in the priest's absolution as if⁶¹ God were sending a special angel or apostle — yes, as if Christ himself were absolving you.⁶² Seventeenth. See: the person who receives the Sacraments has this kind of advantage—that he receives a sign and promise from God by which he can exercise and strengthen his faith that he is called to the image and the goods of Christ.⁶³ Without those signs, the others labor by faith alone, and they obtain them with the longing of the heart.⁶⁴ Even so, they too will be kept safe if they stand firm in that same faith.⁶⁵ So you should also say over the Sacrament of the Altar: The priest has given me the holy Body of Christ, which is a sign or pledge of fellowship with Christ and with all the angels and saints—that they love me, care for me, pray for me and suffer with me, strengthen me, bear my sins, and overcome hell. So it will be, and so it must be.^✦⁶⁶⁶⁷ The divine sign doesn't deceive me, and don't let it be taken from me. I would rather deny the whole world and myself than doubt this: that my God is sure and true to me in these signs and promises of his.^✦ Whether I am unworthy of it or not, I am still a member of Christendom, according to what this Sacrament declares and shows.⁶⁸ It's better that I be unworthy than that God not be held true. Get away, devil, if you tell me otherwise.^✦ Look: you'll find people who would gladly be sure, or have a sign from heaven, of how they stand with God in this, and know what God has appointed for them.⁶⁹ And even if they did receive such a sign and still didn't believe, what good would it do them? What good would all the signs be without faith? What good did the signs of Christ and the apostles do the Jews?^✦ What good do the most holy signs of the Sacraments and God's Word still do today? Why don't they cling to the Sacraments, which are sure and instituted signs, tested and tried by all the saints, found certain for all who have believed—and they receive everything the signs point to?⁷⁰ We should learn to recognize the Sacraments—what they are, what they serve, and how we ought to use them. Then we find that there is nothing greater on earth that can more sweetly comfort troubled hearts and a bad conscience. For in the Sacraments is God's Word, which serves to sign Christ to us and promise him to us with all his good—which he himself is—against death, sin, and hell.⁷¹ Now, nothing is sweeter or more desirable to hear than that death, sin, and hell are wiped out. That happens through Christ in us when we use the Sacrament rightly. Using them is simply believing that things are exactly as the Sacraments, through God's Word, promise and bind. So it's necessary that we not only look to the three images in Christ and with them drive out the opposing images and let them fall,⁷² but also that we have a sure sign to guarantee that this is truly given to us; those signs are the Sacraments. Eighteenth: No Christian should doubt at his end that he is not alone in his dying, but should be certain that, as the Sacrament shows, a great many eyes are looking on him. First of all, God's own eyes and Christ's, because he believes God's Word and clings to his Sacrament.⁷³ After that, the dear angels, the saints, and all Christians. For there is no doubt—as the Sacrament of the Altar shows—that they all together, as one whole body, rush to their member, help him overcome death, sin, and hell, and all bear it with him. There, the work of love and the communion of saints goes into action in earnest and with real power. And a Christian should also set this before himself and have no doubt about it—then he'll grow bold enough to die. Anyone who doubts this doesn't truly believe in the most holy Sacrament of the Body of Christ, in which fellowship, help, love, comfort, and support in every need are shown, promised, and pledged.⁷⁴ For if you believe in God's signs and Word, then God has His eye on you, as He says in Psalm 31.⁷⁵ Firmabo, etc.⁷⁶ I will keep My eyes always on you, so that you will not perish. But if God is looking at you, then all the angels, all the saints, and all creatures look the same way He does. If you remain in the faith, they all hold their hands under you. And when your soul departs, they are there to receive it—you cannot perish.⁷⁷ This is attested in the story of Elisha, 4⁷⁸ Kings 6. He told his servant, "Don't be afraid; there are more with us than with them." even though the enemies had surrounded them, and they saw no one else.⁷⁹ But God opened the servant's eyes, and he saw a great host of fiery horses and chariots all around them. It's just as certain for everyone who believes in God. From this, then, come the sayings in Psalm 33.⁸⁰ The angel of God will encamp all around those who fear God, and will deliver them. And Psalm 124. Those who trust in God will be unmovable, like Mount Zion—it will stand forever. High mountains (that is, angels) stand round about him, and God himself surrounds his people from now on into eternity.⁸¹ Psalm 90. He has given his angels charge over you; they will carry you in their hands wherever you go, so that you don't strike your foot against any stone. You shall walk on snakes and basilisisks, and you shall tread on the lion and the dragon (that is, all the snares and cunning of the devil will do you no harm). For he has trusted in me: I will deliver him; I will be with him in all his trials; I will help him through and set him in honor; I will fill him with eternity; I will reveal to him my everlasting grace.⁸²⁸³ The Apostle also says that the angels—who are countless in number—are all servants, sent out for the sake of those who are to be saved. That is why the holy patriarch Jacob, Genesis 49,⁸⁴ as he was about to die: "See, I am being gathered to my people"—and he died and was gathered to his people. God also said to Moses and Aaron: "You shall go to your people and to your fathers." This shows that death is a transition to far more people waiting for us than those we leave behind. These are all great things; who can believe them? So you should know that these are God's works, greater than anyone can think, and yet he works them in such small signs of the Sacraments, so that he may teach us how great a thing a true faith in God is.

Prayer and Final Assurance

The believer is urged to pray for faith and to trust in God's promise, knowing that the angels and saints are present to receive the soul.

Nineteenth: But no one should presume to practice such things by their own powers. Instead, one should humbly ask God to create and keep in us such faith and understanding of his holy Sacraments. This is so that we may proceed with fear and humility, and so that we don't take credit for these works ourselves, but instead give the honor to God. For this, one should call upon Christ. And when praying, one should not doubt that the prayer will be heard—and there are two reasons for that.⁸⁵ The first point is that he has now heard from Scripture how God has commanded the angels to love and help all who believe.^✦ This should be held up before him and pressed upon him—not because he doesn't know it or wouldn't otherwise act on it, but so that his faith and trust in Him, and through Him in God, may grow stronger and more joyful as he faces death head-on.⁸⁶ The second: that God has commanded that when we want to ask, we must firmly believe that what we ask for will happen, and that it be a true Amen.^✦ That same command must also be pressed on God, saying: My God, you have commanded us to ask and to believe that the petition will be heard.^✦⁸⁷ On that I pray and put my trust: You will not forsake me, and You will give a true faith.^✦ To that end, you should ask God all your life long for your last hour and for a true faith. As is so beautifully sung on Pentecost: "Now we ask the Holy Spirit for true faith above all else, when we depart from this misery," and so on.⁸⁸ When the hour of death arrives, you should remind God of that same prayer, along with His command and promise, never doubting that it has been heard. Since He has commanded us to pray and to trust in prayer, and has also given grace to pray, why should you doubt that He has done so for this reason: that He will hear and fulfill it? Twentieth. Now look: what more should your God do for you so that you'll accept death willingly, not fear it, and overcome it? In Christ, He shows and gives you the image of life, of grace, and of blessedness, so that you won't be terrified by the image of death, of sin, and of hell. Furthermore, he places your death, your sin, and your hell upon his dearest Son, conquers them for you, and renders them harmless to you.^✦^✦ He also lets the trials of death, sin, and hell pass over His Son as well, teaches you to hold firm in the midst of them, and makes them harmless and even bearable for you. He gives you a sure sign of all this, so that you'll never doubt it—namely, the holy Sacraments. He commands his angels, all the saints, and all creatures to look upon you with him, to watch over your soul, and to receive it. He commands that you ask this of him, and be sure of being heard. What more can he do—or what more should he do? So you see that he is a true God and works truly great divine works with you. Why shouldn't he lay something great on you (as dying is), when he gives such great advantage, help, and strength for it? He does this to demonstrate what his grace can accomplish, just as it is written in the Psalm:⁸⁹ 110.⁹⁰ The works of God are great and choice, according to all his good pleasure.⁹¹ Therefore, we must always take care to thank His divine will with great joy of heart—that He shows such wonderful, rich, and immeasurable grace and mercy to us against death, sin, and hell—and we should not fear death so much as we should praise and love His grace.⁹² For love and praise make dying much easier, as He says through Isaiah: "I will fill your mouth with my praise, so that you do not perish."⁹³ May God help us in this. Amen.

The Prayer of Manasseh

The chapter concludes with a model prayer of repentance, demonstrating how a sinner may appeal to God's mercy.

A beautiful, devout prayer of King Manasseh of Jerusalem, from when he was held captive in Babylon.⁹⁴ O Lord, almighty God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous offspring—you who made heaven and earth with all that is in them; you who sealed the sea with a word of your command, and shut in and sealed the deep to the honor of your fearsome and praiseworthy name, which all things fear, and tremble before the face of your power; whose wrath and threats against sinners are unbearable, but the mercy of your promise is immeasurable and beyond all understanding. For you are God the Lord, the Most High over every land, patient and of great goodness, and merciful toward the wickedness of people. For you, Lord, have in your goodness promised repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But because you are a God of the righteous, you have not appointed such repentance for the righteous—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who have not sinned against you. But I have sinned more than there is sand by the sea, and my misdeeds are many. Therefore I sit bent under heavy iron chains, so that I have no breath left, for I have stirred up your wrath and done evil before you—I have committed such abominations and done so much to grieve you.⁹⁵ But now I bend the knees of my heart and ask for grace before you, Lord. Ah, Lord, I have sinned; I have sinned. I acknowledge my wrongdoing. So now I ask and plead with you: Forgive me, Lord; forgive me, and do not leave me in my⁹⁶ sins and let me perish, and do not hold eternal suffering over me. Rather, help me, unworthy as I am, according to your great mercy; then I will praise you always, all my life long. For all the powers of heaven praise you, and to you be honor forever.⁹⁷ Amen.

Read the original Latin

ZVm Ersten / Dieweil der Todt ein Abscheid ist von dieser Welt vnnd allen jhren hendeln / ist noth / daß der Mensche sein zeitlich Gut ordentlich verschaffe / wie es sol oder er gedencket zu ordnen / daß nicht bleibe nach seinem Tode vrsach zancks / haders / oder sonst eines Irrthumbs / vnter seinen nachgelassenen Freunden. Vnnd diß ist ein Leiblicher oder eusserlicher Abschied von dieser Welt / vnd wird vrlaub vnd letzte gegeben dem Gut.

Zum Andern / Daß man auch Geistlich einen Abscheid nehme / das ist / man vergebe freundlich / lauterlich vmb Gottes willen allen Menschen / wie sie vns beleidiget haben. Wiederumb auch begere vergebung lauterlich vmb Gottes willen / von allen Menschen / deren wir viel ohn zweyffel beleidiget haben / zum wenigsten mit bösen Exempeln / oder zu wenig wolthaten / wie wir schüldig gewesen sind / nach dem Gebot Brüderlicher Christlicher liebe. Auff daß die Seele nicht bleibe behafftet mit irgent einem handel auff Erden.

Zum Dritten / wenn so jederman vrlaub auff Erden gegeben ist / sol man sich denn alleine zu Gott richten / da der Weg des Sterbens sich auch hinkeret vnnd vns führet. Vnnd hie hebt sich an die enge Pforte / der schmale Steig zum Leben / des muß sich ein jglicher frölich erwegen / Denn er ist wol fast enge / er ist aber nicht lang.

Vnnd gehet hie zu / gleich wie ein Kind aus der kleinen Wonung seiner Mutter Leib / mit gefahr vnnd engsten geboren wird / in diesen weiten Himmel vnd

Erden / das ist / auff diese Welt. Also gehet der Mensch durch die enge Pforten des Todes / aus diesem Leben in das ewige Leben. Vnd wiewol der Himmel vnd die Welt da wir jtzt inne leben / gros vnd weit angesehen wird / so ist es doch alles gegen dem zukünfftigen Himmel viel enger vnd kleiner / denn der Mutter Leib gegen diesem Himmel ist.

Darumb heisset der lieben Heiligen sterben eine newe Geburt / vnnd jhre Fest nennet man zu Latein / Natale, ein Tag jhrer Geburt. Aber der enge Gang des Todes macht / daß vns diß Leben weit / vnd jenes enge dünckt / Darumb muß man das gleuben / vnd an der Leiblichen Geburt eines Kindes lernen / als Christus sagt: ein Weib weñ es gebiert / so leidet es angst / wenn sie aber genesen ist / so gedenckt sie der angst nimmer / dieweil ein Mensch geboren ist von jhr in die Welt. Also im sterben auch / muß man sich der angst erwegen vnd wissen / daß darnach ein grosser raum vnd frewde seyn wird.

Zum Vierden / Solch zurichten vnd bereitung auff diese fart / stehet darinne. Zum ersten / Daß man sich mit lauterer Beicht (sonderlich der grössesten Stück / vnd die zur zeit im Gedechtnis / müglichs fleis erfunden werden) vnnd des heiligen Christlichen Sacraments des heiligen waren Leichnams Christi / versorge / desselben andechtig begere / vñ mit grosser zuuersicht empfahe / so man es haben mag. Wo aber nicht / sol nicht desto weniger das verlangen vnnd begierd desselben tröstlich seyn / vnnd nicht darob zu sehr erschrecken. Christus spricht / Alle ding sind müglich dem / der da gleubet / denn die Sacrament anders nicht sind / denn Zeichen / die zum Glauben dienen / vnd reitzen / wie wir sehen werden / ohn welchen Glauben sie nichts nütz sind.

Zum Fünfften / Sol man je zusehen mit allem ernst vnd fleis / daß man die heiligen Sacrament groß achte / sie in ehren habe / sich frey vnd frölich darauff verlasse / Vnnd sie gegen die Sünde / Todt vnnd

Helle also wege / daß sie weit vberaus schlahen / Auch viel mehr mit den Sacramenten vnnd jhren Tugenden sich bekümmern / denn mit den Sünden. Wie aber die Ehre recht geschehe / vnd was die Tugend sind mus man wissen.

Die Ehre ist / daß ich gleube / es sey war vnnd geschehe mir / was die Sacrament bedeuten / vnd alles was Gott darinnen saget vnd anzeiget / daß man mit Marien der Mutter Gottes in festem Glauben spreche / Mir geschehe nach deinen Worten vnd Zeichen. Denn dieweil daselbst Gott durch den Priester redet vnnd zeichnet / möcht man Gott keine grössere vnehre in seinem Wort vnd Werck thun / denn zweyffelen / ob es war sey. Vnnd keine grössere Ehre thun / denn gleuben / es sey war / vnd sich frey darauff verlassen.

Zum Sechsten / Die Tugend der Sacrament zu erkennen / muß man vor wissen die Vntugend / dawieder sie fechten vnd vns gegeben sind. Der sind drey.

Die Erste / das erschreckliche Bild des Todes. Die Ander / Das grewliche mannigfeltige Bilde der Sünden. Die Dritte / Das vntregliche vnuermeidliche Bilde der Hellen vnd ewigen Verdamniß. Nu wechst ein jgliches dieser dreyen / vnd wird groß vnd starck / aus seinen zusatzen.

Der Todt wird gros vnd erschrecklich / daß die blöde / verzagte Natur / dasselbe Bilde zu tieff in sich bildet / zu sehr für Augen hat.

Dazu steuret nu der Teuffel / auff daß der Mensche das greßlich Geberde vnnd Bilde des Todes tieff betrachte / dadurch bekümmert / weich vnd zaghafftig werde. Denn da sol er wol alle die schrecklichen / gehnlinge / böse Töde fürhalten / die ein Mensch je gesehen / gehöret oder gelesen hat. Daneben mit einwickeln den Zorn Gottes / wie er vor zeiten hie vnnd da die Sünder geplaget vnd verderbet hat. Damit die blöde Natur zur furcht des Todes / vnd zur Liebe vnd Sorge des Lebens treiben. Dadurch der Mensch zu viel beladen mit solchen Gedancken / Gottes vergesse / den Todt fliehe vnnd hasse / vnd also Gott am letzten Ende vngehorsam erfunden werde vnnd bleibe. Denn je tieffer der Todt betracht / angesehen vnd erkant wird / je schwerer vnd fehrlicher das sterben ist.

Im Leben solt man sich mit des Todes gedancken vben / vnd zu vns foddern / wenn er noch ferne ist / vnd nicht treibt. Aber im sterben / wenn er von jhm selbst schon alzu starck da ist / ist es fehrlich / vnd nichts nütz. Da muß man sein Bilde außschlahen / vnd nicht sehen wollen / wie wir hören werden. Also hat der Todt seine Krafft vnd Stercke in der blödigkeit vnser Natur / vnnd in seinem vnzeitigen zu viel ansehen vnnd betrachten.

Zum Siebenden / Die Sünde wechst vnd wird groß auch durch jhr zu viel ansehen vnd tieff bedencken. Da hilfft zu die blödigkeit vnsers Gewissen / das sich selbst für Gott schemet / vnnd grewlich strafft.

Da hat der Teuffel denn ein Bad funden / das er suchet / da treibt er / da machet er die Sünde so viel vnnd gros. Da sol er alle die für halten / die je gesündiget haben / vnd wie viel mit wenigern Sünden verdampt sind. Daß der Mensch aber muß verzagen oder vnwillig werden zu sterben / vnnd also Gottes vergessen / vnd vngehorsam erfunden vnd bleiben biß in den Todt.

Sonderlich / dieweil der Mensch meynet / er müsse die Sünde als denn betrachten / vnd thu wol / recht vnd nützlich daran / daß er damit vmbgehe. Also findet er sich denn vnbereit vnd vngeschickt / so sehr / daß auch alle seine gute Werck zu Sünden worden sind. Aus dem denn muß folgen ein vnwillig sterben / vngehorsam Gottes willen / vnd ewiges Verdamnis. Denn die Sünden tieff betrachten / hat da keinen fug noch zeit / das sol man in der zeit des Lebens thun.

Also verkehret vns der böse Geist alle ding / am Leben / da wir solten des Todes / der Sünde / der Hellen Bilde stetig für Augen haben / als Psalm. 50. stehet / Meine Sünde sind mir alle zeit für Augen. So thut er vns die Augen zu vnd verbirget dieselben Bilde: Am Todt / da wir sollen nur das Leben / Gnad vnnd Seligkeit für Augen haben / thut er vns denn allererst die Augen auff / vnnd engstet vns mit den vnzeitigen Bilden / daß wir der rechten Bilden nicht sehen sollen.

Zum Achten / Die Helle wird gros / vnd wechst auch durch jhr zu viel ansehen vnnd hartes bedencken zu vnzeit. Dazu hilfft vber die mas sehr / daß man Gottes Vrtheil nicht weis / Dahin der böse Geist die Seele treibet / daß sie sich mit vbrigen / vnnützen vorwitz / ja aller fehrlichsten fürnehmen beladet / vnnd verstehen sol Göttliches Raths heimligkeit / ob sie versehen sey oder nicht.

Hie vbet der Teuffel seine letzte / gröste / listigeste Kunst vnd vermügen / Denn damit führet er den Menschen (so er es versihet) vber Gott / daß er sucht Zeichen Göttliches willens / vnd vngedultig werde / daß er nicht wissen sol / ob er versehen sey / macht jhm seinen Gott verdechtig / daß er viel nahe nach einem andern Gott sich sehnet. Kürtzlich / hie gedenckt er die Gottes Liebe mit einem Sturmwind außzuleschen / vnd Gottes Haß erwecken.

Je mehr der Mensch dem Teuffel folget / vnd die Gedancken leydet / je fehrlicher er stehet / vnnd zu letzt sich nicht mag erhalten / er felt in Gottes Haß vnd Lesierung. Denn was ist es anders / daß ich wissen wil / ob ich versehen sey / denn ich wil alles wissen / was Gott weis / vnnd jhm gleich seyn / daß er nichts mehr wisse denn ich / vnnd also Gott nicht Gott sey / so er gar nichts vber mich wissen sol? Da helt er für / wie viel Heyden / Jüden / Christen Kinder verloren werden / vnnd treibet mit solchen fehrlichen vnd vergebenen Gedancken so viel / daß der Mensch / ob er sonst gerne stürbe / doch in diesem stück vnwillig wird.

Das heisset mit der Helle angefochten / wenn der Mensche mit Gedancken seiner Versehung wird angefochten / darüber im Psalter gar viel klagens ist. Wer hie gewinnet / der hat die Sünde / Helle / Todt auff einen hauffen vberwunden.

Zum Neunden / Nu muß man in diesem handel allen fleiß ankeren / daß man dieser dreyer Bilde / keines zu Haus lade / noch den Teuffel vber der Thür male / sie werden selbst alzu starck herein fallen / vnd das Hertz mit jhrem ansehen / disputieren vnd zeigen / gantz vnd gar inhaben wollen. Vnnd wo das geschicht / so ist der Mensch verloren / vnnd Gottes gantz vergessen. Denn diese Bilde gehören gar nicht in diese zeit anders / denn mit jhn zu fechten / vnd sie außzutreiben / Ja / wo sie alleine sind / ohn durch sehen in ander Bilde / gehören sie nirgend hin / denn in die Helle vnter die Teuffel.

Wer nu wol mit jhn fechten wil / vnd sie außtreiben / dem wird nicht gnug seyn / daß er sich mit jhn zerre vnd schlage / oder ringe / denn sie werden jhm zu starck seyn / vnd wird erger vnd erger. Die Kunst ists gantz vnd gar / sie fallen lassen / vnd nichts mit jhn handeln.

Wie gehet aber das zu? Es gehet also zu. Du must den Todt in dem Leben / die Sünde in der Gnaden / die Helle im Himmel ansehen / vnnd dich von dem ansehen oder blick nicht lassen treiben / wenn dir es gleich alle Engel / alle Creatur / Ja / wenn es auch dich dünckt Gott selbst anders fürlegen / daß sie doch nicht thun / aber der böse Geist machet einen solchen schein. Wie sol man denn thun?

Zum Zehenden / Du must den Todt nicht in jhm selbst / noch in deiner Natur / noch in denen / die durch Gottes Zorn getödtet sind / die der Todt vberwunden hat / ansehen oder betrachten / du bist anders verloren / vnnd wirst mit jhn vberwunden. Sondern deine Augen / deines Hertzen gedancken / vnd alle deine Sinnen gewaltiglich kehren von demselben Bilde / vnd den Todt starrig vnnd emsig ansehen / nur in denen / die in Gottes Gnaden gestorben vnnd den Todt vberwunden haben / fürnemlich in Christo / darnach in allen seinen Heiligen.

Sihe / in diesen Bilden wird dir der Todt nicht erschrecklich noch grewlich / ja verachtet vnnd getödtet / vnd im Leben erwürget vnnd vberwunden seyn. Denn Christus ist nichts / denn eytel Leben / seine Heiligen auch. Je tieffer vnd fester du dir das Bilde einbildest vnnd ansihest / je mehr des Todes Bilde abfellet / vnnd von jhm selbst verschwindet / ohn alles zerren vnnd streiten / Vnnd hat also das Hertz friede / vnd mag mit Christo vnnd in Christo gerüglich sterben / wie Apo. stehet / Selig sind die in dem HERRN Christo sterben.

Das ist bedeut Num. 21. Da die Kinder von Israel von den Fewrigen Schlangen gebissen waren / nicht sich mit denselben Schlangen zerren / sondern die todte Ehrne Schlangen musten ansehen / da fielen die Lebendigen von jhn selbst ab / vnd vergiengen. Also mustu dich mit dem Tode Christi alleine bekümmern / so wirstu das Leben finden. Vnd wo du den Todt anders wo ansihest / so tödtet er dich mit grosser vnruge vnd pein. Darumb saget Christus / In der Welt (das ist / auch in vns selbst) werdet jhr vnruge haben / in mir aber den Friede.

Zum Eylfften / Also mustu die Sünden nicht ansehen in den Sündern / noch in denen / die in Sünden endlich blieben vnnd verdampt sind / du fehrest gewißlich hinnach / vnd wirst vberwunden. Sondern must abkeren deine Gedancken / vnnd die Sünden nicht / denn in der gnaden Bilde ansehen / Vnnd dasselbe Bilde mit aller Krafft in dich bilden / vnnd für Augen haben.

Der gnaden Bilde ist nichts anders / denn Christus am Creutz / vnnd alle seine lieben Heiligen. Wie verstehet man das?

Das ist Gnade vnd Barmhertzigkeit / daß Christus am Creutze dein Sünde von dir nimpt / vnd tregt sie für dich / vnd erwürget sie / vnd dasselbe festiglich gleuben / vnd für Augen haben / nicht daran zweyffeln / Das heisset das Gnaden Bilde ansehen / vnd in sich bilden.

Desselbigen gleichen / alle Heiligen in jhrem Leyden vnd Sterben auch auff jhn tragen gleiche Pein / vnnd mit dir leyden vnnd arbeiten. Wie geschrieben stehet / Einer trage des andern Bürde / so erfüllet jhr Christus Gebot. Also spricht er selber Matth. am 11. Kommet zu mir alle / die jhr beladen seyd vnd arbeitet / ich wil euch helffen. Sihe / so magstu deine Sünde sicher ansehen / ausser deinem Gewissen / Sihe / da sind Sünde nimmer Sünde / da sind sie vberwunden / vnnd in Christo verschlungen.

Denn gleich wie er deinen Todt auff sich nimpt vnnd jhn erwürget / daß er dir nicht schaden mag / so du anders gleubest / daß er dir das thut / vnnd deinen Todt in jhm / nicht in dir ansihest. Also nimpt er auch deine Sünde auff sich / vnnd in seiner Gerechtigkeit / aus lauter Gnaden dir vberwindet / So du das gleubest / so thun sie dir nimmer schaden. Also ist Christus des Lebens vnnd Gnaden Bilde / wieder des Todes vnnd Sünden Bilde vnser Trost. Das sagt Paulus 1. Corinth. 15. Gott sey Lob vnnd Danck / daß er vns in Christo gegeben hat vberwindung der Sünden vnd des Todes.

Zum Zwölfften / Mustu die Helle vnd Ewigkeit der Pein / mit der Versehung / nicht in dir / nicht in jhr selbst / nicht in denen die verdampt sind / ansehen / auch nichts bekümmern / mit so viel Menschen in der gantzen Welt / die nicht versehen sind. Denn sihestu dich nicht für / so wird dich das Bilde schwinde stürtzen / vnnd zu Boden stossen. Darumb mustu hie gewalt vben / die Augen fest zu halten für solchem Blick / denn er gar nichts nütz ist / ob du tausent Jahr damit vmbgehest / vnnd verderbet dich zu mal.

Darumb sihe das Himlische Bilde Christum an / der vmb deinen willen gen Himmel gefahren / vnd von Gott ist verlassen gewesen / als einer der verdampt sey ewiglich / da er sprach am Creutz / Eli, Eli lama asabthani, O mein Gott / warumb hastu mich verlassen?

Sihe / in dem Bilde ist vberwunden deine Helle / vnnd deine vngewisse Versehung gewiß gemacht. Denn so du dich damit alleine bekümmerst / vnnd gleubest / daß für dich geschehen sey / so wirstu in demselben Glauben behalten ewiglich. Darumb las dirs nur nicht aus den Augen nehmen / Vnnd suche dich nur in Christo / vnd nicht in dir / so wirstu dich ewiglich in jhm finden.

Also / wenn du Christum vnd alle seine Heiligen ansihest / vnd dir wol gefellet die Gnade Gottes / der sie also erwehlet hat / vnd bleibest nur fest in demselben wolgefallen / so bistu schon auch erwehlet. Wie er saget Genesis 12. Alle die dich segenen / sollen gesegenet seyn. Hafftestu aber nicht hierauff allein / vnnd fellest in dich / so wird dir eine vnlust erwachsen gegen Gott vnnd seine Heiligen / vnd also in dir nichts guts finden. Da hüte dich für / Denn da wird der böse Geist dich hin treiben / mit viel listen.

Zum Dreyzehenden / Diese drey Bilde oder streit / ist bedeut Judicum am 7. Da Gedeon die Midianiten mit drey hundert Man / an drey orten in der Nacht angreiff / doch nicht mehr thet / denn lies Drometen blasen / vnd Liecht scherben zusammen schlahen / daß die Feinde flohen / vnd sich selbst erwürgeten.

Also fleucht Todt / Sünde vnd Helle mit allen jhren krefften / so wir nur Christi vnnd seiner Heiligen leuchtende Bilde in vns vben (in der Nacht / das ist / im Glauben / der die bösen Bilde nicht sihet noch sehen mag) dazu mit GOttes Wort / als mit Drometen dazu reitzen vnnd stercken.

Also führet dieselbe Figur Isaias 9. Die Last seiner Bürden / die Rute seines Rücken / das Scepter seines treibers / hastu vberwunden / gleich wie zu den zeiten der Midianiter / die Gedeon vberwand. Als spreche er / deines Volcks Sünde (das ist eine schwere Last seiner Bürden in seinem Gewissen) vnd den Todt (der da ist eine Rute oder Straffe / der da drücket seinen Rücken) vnnd die Helle (die ein Scepter vnd gewalt ist des Treibers / damit gefoddert wird ewiges bezalen für die Sünde) hastu alle vberwunden. Wie es denn geschehen ist zu den zeiten Midian / das ist / durch den Glauben / dadurch Gedeon ohn alle Schwerdschlege die Feinde verjaget. Wenn hat er das gethan?

Am Creutze / Denn daselbst hat er vns sich selbst bereitet ein dreyfaltig Bilde / vnserm Glauben für zu halten / wieder die drey Bilde / da der böse Geist vnnd vnser

Natur vns mit anfechten aus dem Glauben zu reissen. Er ist das lebendige vnnd vnsterbliche Bilde / wieder den Todt / den er erlitten / vnnd doch mit seiner Aufferstehung von Todten bezeuget / daß er vberwunden sey in seinem Leben. Er ist das Bild der gnaden Gottes / wieder die Sünde / die er auff sich genommen / vnnd doch durch seinen vnüberwindlichen gehorsam vberwunden hat. Er ist das Himlische Bilde / der verlassen von Gott / als ein verdampter / vnnd doch durch seine allmechtige Liebe die Helle vberwunden / bezeuget / daß er der liebste Sohn sey / vnd vns allen dasselbe zu eigen gegeben / so wir also gleuben.

Zum Vierzehenden / Zum vberflus hat er nicht alleine in jhm selbst / die Sünde / Todt / Helle vberwunden / vnd vns fürgehalten zu gleuben / sondern zu mehrem trost auch selbst die Anfechtung erlitten vnd vberwunden / die wir in diesen Bilden haben. Er ist eben so wol angefochten mit des Todes / der Sünde / der Hellen Bilde / als wir.

Des Todes Bilde hielten sie jhm für / da die Jüden sagten / Er steige nu herab vom Creutze / Er hat ander gesund gemacht / er helffe jhm nu selbst. Als sprechen sie / Da / da sihestu den Todt / du must sterben / da hilfft nichts für. Gleich wie der Teuffel einem sterbenden Menschen des Todes Bilde herfür rückt / vnnd mit schrecklichem Bilde die blöde Natur schüchtert.

Der Sünde Bilde hielten sie jhm für / da sie sagten / Er hat ander gesund gemacht / ist er Gottes Sohn / so steige er herab etc. Als sprechen sie / Seine Werck sind falsch vnd lauter triegerey gewesen / er ist des Teuffels Sohn vnd nicht Gottes Sohn / er ist sein mit Leib vnd Seele / er hat nie kein gut gethan / sondern eytel bößheit.

Vnnd gleich wie die Jüden Christo diese drey Bilde zutrieben auff ein mal / vnordentlich vntereinander / Also wird der Mensche von denselben zu gleich auff einmal vnordentlich bestürmet / daß er irre werde / vnd nur bald verzweyffele. Wie der HERR die Verstörung Jerusalem beschreibet Luc. 19. daß jhr Feinde sie vmbgeben mit einem Schut / daß sie nicht aus künten kommen / das ist der Tod.

Zum Andern / daß sie sie an allen enden engsten vnnd treiben / daß sie nirgend bleiben künnen / das sind die Sünde.

Zum dritten / daß sie sie nieder schlahen zur Erden / vnd lassen keinen Stein auff dem andern / das ist die Helle vnd verzweyffelung.

Der Hellen Bilde trieben sie zu jhm / da sie sagten / Er vertrawet Gott / las sehen / ob er jhn löse / Er sagt / er sey Gottes Sohn. Als sprechen sie / er gehöret in die Helle / Gott hat jhn nicht versehen / er ist ewig verworffen / es hilfft hie kein vertrawen noch hülffe / ist alles vmb sonst.

Wie wir nu sehen / daß Christus zu allen den Worten vnd grewlichen Bilden still schweiget / nicht mit jhn ficht / thut als höre vnnd sehe er sie nicht / verantwortet keins. Vnnd wenn er schon geantwortet hette / so hette er vrsach gegeben / daß sie mehr vnd grewlicher hetten geplerret vnd getrieben. Sondern allein auff den liebsten willen seines Vaters acht hat / so gantz vnd gar / daß er seines Todes / seiner Sünde / seiner Helle auff jhn getrieben / vergisset vnd für sie bittet / für jhren Todt / Sünde vnd Hell.

Also sollen wir dieselbigen Bilde auch lassen herfallen vnd abfallen / wie sie wollen oder mügen / vnnd nur gedencken / daß wir an dem willen Gottes hangen / das ist / daß wir in Christo hafften vnnd festiglich gleuben / vnser Todt / Sünde vnnd Helle / sey vns in jhm vberwunden / vnnd müge vns nicht schaden / Auff daß also Christus Bilde in vns alleine sey / vnd mit jhm Disputieren vnd handeln.

Nutz vnnd Krafft der Sacrament.

ZVm Funffzehenden / Nu kommen wir wieder zu den heiligen Sacramenten / vnnd jhren Tugenden / daß wir lernen / wo zu sie gut sind / vnd sie brauchen.

Welchem nu die Gnade vnd Zeit verliehen ist / daß er beicht / Absoluiert / bericht wird / der hat wol grosse vrsache / Gott zu Lieben / Loben vnd Dancken / vnd frölich zu sterben. So er anders sich tröstlich verlesset / vnnd gleubet auff die Sacrament / wie droben gesagt ist. Denn in den Sacramenten handelt / redet / wircket / durch den Priester dein Gott Christus selbst mit dir / vnnd geschehen da nicht Menschen Werck oder Wort.

Da geredt dir Gott selbst alle die ding / die jtzt von Christo gesagt sind / vnd wil daß die Sacrament ein Warzeichen vnd Vrkund seyn / Christus Leben solle deinen Todt / sein Gehorsam solle deine Sünde / seine Liebe solle deine Helle auff sich genommen vnd vberwunden haben / Dazu wirstu durch dieselben Sacrament eingeleibet / vnd vereiniget mit allen Heiligen / vnd kömpst in die rechte gemeinschafft der Heiligen. Also / daß sie mit dir in Christo sterben / Sünde tragen / Helle vberwinden.

Daraus folget / daß die Sacrament / das ist / die eusserliche Wort Gottes / durch einen Priester gesprochen / gar ein grosser Trost sind / vnd gleich ein sichtlich Zeichen Göttlicher meynung / daran man sich halten sol / mit einem festen Glauben / als an einen guten Stabe / damit Jacob der Patriarch durch den Jordan gieng. Oder als eine Latern / darnach man sich richten vnnd ein Auge auff haben sol mit allem fleis / durch den Finstern Weg des Todes / Sünde vnd Helle / wie der Prophet saget / Dein Wort HERR ist ein Liecht meiner Füsse. Vnnd S. Peter / Wir haben ein gewisses Wort Gottes / vnnd jhr thut wol daran / daß jhr sein wahrnemet. Es mag sonst nichts helffen in Todes nöthen.

Denn mit dem Zeichen werden alle erhalten / die erhalten werden / Es weiset auff Christum vnnd sein Bilde / daß du magst wider des Todes / Sünde / Helle / Bilde sagen / Gott hat mir zugesagt / vnnd ein gewis Zeichen seiner Gnaden in den Sacramenten gegeben / daß Christus Leben meinen Todt in seinem Tode vberwunden habe / Sein Gehorsam meine Sünde in seinem Leyden vertilget / Seine Liebe meine Helle / in seinem verlassen / zustöret habe. Solch Zeichen / solch zusagen meiner Seligkeit / wird mir nicht liegen noch triegen / Gott hat es gesagt / GOtt mag nicht liegen / noch mit Worten noch mit Wercken. Vnd wer also pocht / vnd sich auff die Sacrament stönet / des Erwehlung vnd Versehung wird sich selbst / ohn seine sorge vnnd mühe / wol finden.

Zum Sechzehenden / Hie ligt nu die aller grösseste macht an / Daß man die heiligen Sacrament / in welchen eytel Gottes Wort / zusagen / zeichen geschehen / hoch achte / in ehren halte / sich darauff verlasse. Das ist / daß man weder an den Sacramenten / noch an den Dingen / der sie gewisse Zeichen sind / nicht zweyffel / Denn wo daran gezweyffelt wird / so ist es alles verloren / Denn wie wir gleuben / so wird vns geschehen. Als Christus sagt: Was hülffs / daß du dir fürbildest vnnd gleubest / der Todt / die Sünde / die Helle der andern / sey in Christo vberwunden / wenn du nicht auch gleubest / daß dein Tod / deine Sünde / deine Helle dir da vberwunden vnd vertilget sey / vnnd also erlöset seyest? So wer das Sacrament gar vmb sonst / dieweil du nicht gleubest die ding / die dir daselbst angezeigt / gegeben vnnd versprochen werden.

Das ist aber die grawsamste Sünde / die geschehen mag / durch welche Gott selber in seinem Wort / Zeichen vnnd Werck als ein Lügener geachtet wird / als der etwas rede / zeige / zusage / das er nicht meyne noch halten wolte. Derhalben ist nicht zu schimpffen mit dem Sacrament / Es muß der Glaube da seyn / der sich darauff verlasse vnnd frölich wage / in solche Gottes zeichen vnnd zusagen. Was wer das für ein Seligmacher oder Gott / der vns nicht möchte oder wolt vom Tode / Sünde / Helle selig machen? Es muß groß seyn / was der rechte Gott zusagt vnd wirckt.

So kömpt denn der Teuffel / vnnd bleset dir ein / Ja wenn ich denn die Sacrament hette vnwirdig empfangen / mich durch meine Vnwirdigkeit solcher Gnaden beraubet? Hie mache das Creutz für dich / las dich Wirdigkeit oder Vnwirdigkeit nichts anfechten / schaw nur zu / daß du gleubest / es sey ein Zeichen der wahren Wort Gottes / so bistu vnnd bleibest wol wirdig / Glaube macht wirdig / Zweyffel macht vnwirdig.

Darumb wil der böse Geist dir ander Wirdigkeit vnnd Vnwirdigkeit fürwenden / daß er dir einen zweyffel / vnd dadurch die Sacrament mit jhren Wercken zu nichte / vnnd Gott in seinen Worten ein Lügener mache. Gott gibt dir vmb deiner Wirdigkeit willen nichts / Er bawet auch sein Wort vnd Sacrament auff deine Wirdigkeit nicht / sondern aus lauter Gnaden bawet er dich Vnwirdigen auff sein Wort vnd Zeichen.

Daran halt nur fest vnd sprich / Der mir sein Zeichen vnd Wort gibt / vnnd gegeben hat / daß Christus Leben / Gnade vnd Himmel meinen Todt / Sünde / Helle / mir vnschedlich gemacht habe / der ist Gott / wird mir die ding wol halten. Hat mich der Priester Absoluiert / so verlasse ich mich darauff / als auff GOttes Wort selber / Sind es denn Gottes Wort / so wird es war seyn / Da bleibe ich auff / da sterbe ich auff. Denn du solt eben so fest trawen auff des Priesters Absolution / als wenn dir

Gott einen besondern Engel oder Apostel sendet / ja / als ob dich Christus selbst Absoluiert.

Zum Siebenzehenden / Sihe / einen solchen Vortheil hat der / der die Sacrament erlanget / daß er ein Zeichen vnd zusage GOttes erlanget / daran er seinen Glauben vben vnd stercken mag / er sey in Christo Bilde vnd Güter beruffen. Ohn welche Zeichen die andern allein im Glauben arbeiten / vnd sie mit der begierde des Hertzen erlangen. Wiewol sie auch erhalten werden / so sie in demselben bestehen.

Also soltu auch sagen vber dem Sacrament des Altars / Hat mir der Priester gegeben den heiligen Leichnam Christi / das ein Zeichen oder zusagen ist / der gemeinschafft Christi vnd aller Engel vnnd Heiligen daß sie mich lieb haben / für mich sorgen / bitten vnnd mit mir leyden / mich stercken / meine Sünde tragen / vnnd Helle vberwinden / so wird es vnd muß also seyn.

Das Göttlich Zeichen treugt mich nicht / vnd las mirs nicht nehmen. Ich wolt ehe alle Welt vnd mich selbst verleugnen / ehe ich daran zweyffelt / mein Gott der sey mir gewis vnd warhafftig in diesen seinen Zeichen vnd zusagen. Ich sey sein vnwirdig oder nicht / so bin ich ein Gelied der Christenheit / nach laut vnnd anzeigung dieses Sacraments. Es ist besser / ich sey vnwirdig / denn das Gott nicht warhafftig gehalten werde / Hebe dich Teuffel / so du mir anders sagest.

Nu sihe / man find Leut / die gerne wolten gewis seyn / oder ein Zeichen vom Himmel haben / wie sie mit Gott daran weren / vnd jhre Versehung wissen. Vnd wenn sie gleich ein solch Zeichen vberkemen / vnnd sie doch nicht gleubten / was hülff sie es? Was hülffen alle Zeichen ohn Glauben? Was halffen die Jüden Christus vnd der Apostel Zeichen? Was helffen noch heut die Hochwirdigen Zeichen der Sacrament vnnd Wort Gottes? Warumb halten sie sich nicht an die Sacrament / welche gewisse vnnd eingesetzte Zeichen sind / durch alle Heiligen probiert vnd versucht / gewis erfunden / allen denen / die gegleubt haben / vnd vberkommen alles was sie zeichen.

Also solten wir die Sacrament lernen erkennen / was sie sind / wozu sie dienen / wie man sie brauchen sol. So finden wir / daß nicht grösser ding auff Erden sey / das betrübte Hertzen vnnd böse Gewissen lieblicher trösten mag. Denn in Sacramenten sind Gottes Wort / die dienen dazu / daß sie vns Christum zeichen vnd zusagen mit allem seinem Gute / das er selbst ist / wieder den Todt / Sünde / Helle. Nu ist nichts lieblicher / begierlicher zu hören / denn Todt / Sünde / Helle zuuertilgen. Das geschicht durch Christum in vns / so wir des Sacraments recht brauchen.

Der brauch ist nichts anders / denn gleuben / es sey also / wie die Sacrament durch Gottes wort zusagen vnd verpflichten. Darumb ist noth / daß man nicht allein die drey Bilde in Christo ansehe / vnnd die gegen bilde damit außtreibe / vnd fallen lasse. Sondern daß man ein gewis Zeichen habe / das vns versichere / es sey also vns gegeben / Das sind die Sacrament.

Zum Achtzehenden / Sol kein Christen Mensche an seinem Ende zweyffelen / er sey nicht allein in seinem Sterben / sondern gewis seyn / daß nach anzeigung des Sacraments / auff jhn gar viel Augen sehen. Zum Ersten / Gottes selber vnnd Christi / darumb daß er seinem Wort gleubet / vnnd seinem Sacrament anhanget. Darnach die lieben Engel / die Heiligen vnd alle Christen. Denn da ist kein zweyffel / wie das Sacrament des Altars weiset / daß die alle sampt / als ein gantz Cörper zu seinem Gliedmas zulauffen / helffen jhm den Todt / Sünde / Helle vberwinden / vnnd tragen alle mit jhm. Da gehet das Werck der Liebe vnnd Gemeinschafft der Heiligen im ernst vnd gewaltiglich.

Vnnd ein Christen Mensch sol jhm auch solchs fürbilden vnnd keinen zweyffel drob haben / draus er denn keck wird zu sterben. Denn wer dran zweyffelt / der gleubet aber nicht recht an das Hochwirdige Sacrament des Leichnams Christi / in welchem gezeiget / zugesagt / verpflicht wird Gemeinschafft / Hülffe / Liebe / Trost vnd Beystand in allen nöthen. Denn so du gleubest an die Zeichen vnd Wort Gottes / so hat Gott ein Auge auff dich / wie er sagt Psal. 31. Firmabo &c. Ich wil meine Augen stets auff dich haben / daß du nicht vntergehest. So aber Gott dich sihet / so sehen jhm nach alle Engel / alle Heiligen / alle Creaturen / Vnnd so du in dem Glauben bleibest / halten sie alle die Hende vnter / Vnd gehet deine Seele aus / so sind sie da / vnd empfangen sie / du magst nicht vntergehen.

Das ist bezeuget im Eliseo 4. Regum 6. der zu seinem Knechte sprach / Fürchte dich nicht / jhr ist mehr mit vns denn mit jhnen. So doch die Feinde sie vmbringet hatten / vnd niemand anders sahen. Aber Gott thet dem Knechte die Augen auff / da war vmb sie ein grosser hauffe Fewriger Pferde vnd Wagen. Also ists auch gewis vmb einen jglichen der Gott gleubet. Da gehen denn die Sprüche her / Psalm 33. Der Engel GOttes wird sich einlassen rings vmb die da Gott fürchten / vnd wird sie erlösen.

Vnnd Psalm 124. Welche Gott vertrawen / die werden vnbeweglich seyn / wie der Berg Zion / er wird ewiglich bleiben / Hohe Berge (das sind Engel) sind in seinem vmbringe / vnd Gott selber vmbringet sein Volck / von hin bis in Ewigkeit. Psalm 90. Er hat seinen Engelen dich befohlen / auff den Henden sollen sie dich tragen / wo du hin gehest / daß du nicht stössest deinen Fus an jrgent einen Stein. Auff den Schlangen vnd Basilisken soltu gehen / vnnd auff den Lewen vnnd Drachen soltu treten (das ist / alle Stricke vnnd List des Teuffels werden dir nichts thun) Denn er hat in mich vertrawet / Ich wil jhn erlösen / Ich wil bey jhm seyn in allen seinen Anfechtungen / Ich wil jhm außhelffen / vnd zu Ehren setzen / ich wil jhn vol machen mit Ewigkeit / Ich wil jhm offenbahren meine ewige Gnade.

Also spricht auch der Apostel / Daß die Engel / der vnzehlig viel sind / allzumal dienstbar sind / vnnd außgeschickt vmb der willen / die da Selig werden. Daher kömpts / daß der heilige Patriarch Jacob Genesis 49. sagt / da er sterben solt / Nempt war / ich werde zu meinem Volcke gesamlet / vnd ist gestorben vnnd gesamlet zu seinem Volck. Also auch zu Mosen vnnd Aaron hat Gott gesprochen / du solt gehen zu deinem Volck vnd deinen Vätern. Damit außgetrückt wird / daß der Todt ein gang ist zu viel mehr Volcks / die auff vns warten / denn wir verlassen.

Dis sind alles grosse ding / Wer mags gleuben? Darumb sol man wissen / daß Gottes Werck sind / die grösser sind / denn jemand dencken mag / vnnd sie doch wircket in solchen kleinen Zeichen der Sacrament / Daß er vns lehre / wie groß ding sey ein rechter Glaube zu Gott.

Zum Neunzehenden / Sol aber niemand sich vermessen / solche ding aus seinen krefften zu vben / sondern Gott demütiglich bitten / daß er solchen Glauben vnd Verstand seiner heiligen Sacrament in vns schaffe vnd erhalte. Auff daß also mit Furcht vnd Demut zugehe / vnd wir nicht vns solche Werck zuschreiben / sondern Gott die Ehre lassen. Dazu sol er Christum anruffen / Sol aber bitten / daß er nicht zweyffel / das Gebet werde erhöret / da hat er zwo Vrsache zu.

Die Erste / daß er jtzt gehöret hat aus der Schrifft / wie Gott den Engeln befohlen hat / daß sie lieben vnd helffen müssen / allen die da gleuben. Das sol man jhm fürhalten vnd auffrücken / nicht / daß er es nicht wisse oder sonst nicht thete / sondern daß der Glaube vnd Zuuersicht zu jhm vnd durch jhn zu Gott dester stercker vnnd frölicher werde / dem Tode vnter Augen zu gehen.

Die Ander / Daß Gott geboten hat / wenn wir bitten wollen / daß wir je feste gleuben / es geschehe was wir bitten / vnnd sey ein warhafftig Amen. Dasselbige Gebot muß man GOtt auch auffrücken vnnd sagen / Mein Gott / du hast geboten zu bitten / vnd zu gleuben / die Bitte werde erhöret. Darauff bitte ich vnnd verlasse mich / du wirst mich nicht lassen / vnd einen rechten Glauben geben.

Dazu solt man das gantz Lebenlang Gott bitten / vmb die letzten Stunde / vmb einen rechten Glauben. Wie denn gar fein gesungen wird am Pfingstag / Nu bitten wir den heiligen Geist / vmb den rechten Glauben allermeist / wenn wir heim fahren aus diesem Elende etc.

Vnd wenn die Stunde kommen ist zu sterben / sol man Gott desselben Gebets ermanen / neben seinem Gebot vnnd zusagen / ohn allen zweyffel / es sey erhöret. Denn so er geboten hat zu bitten / vnnd zu trawen im Gebet / dazu Gnade geben zu bitten / was solt man zweyffeln / er habe es darumb gethan / daß er es erhören vnd erfüllen wil?

Zum Zwantzigsten / Nu sihe / was sol dir dein Gott mehr thun / daß du den Todt willig annemest / nicht fürchtest vnd vberwindest?

Er weiset vnd gibt dir in Christo des Lebens / der Gnade / der Seligkeit Bilde / daß du für des Todes / der Sünde / der Hellen Bilde / nicht dich entsetzest.

Er legt dazu deinen Todt / deine Sünde / deine Helle / auff seinen liebsten Sohn vnnd vberwind sie dir / macht sie dir vnschedlich.

Er lest dazu deine Anfechtung des Todes / der Sünde / Helle / auch vber seinen Sohn gehen / vnd dich darin zu halten lehret / vnnd sie vnschedlich / dazu treglich macht.

Er gibt dir des alles ein gewis Warzeichen / daß du jhe nicht daran zweyffelest / nemlich die heiligen Sacrament.

Er befihlt seinen Engeln / allen Heiligen / allen Creaturen / daß sie mit jhm auff dich sehen / deiner Seelen warnemen / vnd sie empfahen.

Er gebeut / du solt solches von jhm bitten / vnd der erhörung gewis seyn. Was kan oder sol er mehr thun?

Darumb sihestu / daß er ein wahrer Gott ist / vnd rechte grosse Göttliche werck mit dir wircket / Warumb solt er dir nicht etwas grosses aufflegen (als das Sterben ist) wenn er so grosse vortheil / hülffe vnnd stercke dazu thut? Auff daß er versuche / was seine Gnade vermag / wie geschrieben stehet Psalm. 110. Die werck Gottes sind groß / vnd außerwehlet / nach allen seinem wolgefallen.

Derhalben muß man zusehen / daß man je mit grossen frewden des Hertzen dancke seinem Göttlichen willen / daß er mit vns wieder den Todt / Sünde vnnd Helle / so wunderliche / reichliche vnnd vnmeßliche Gnade vnd Barmhertzigkeit vbet / vnd nicht so sehr für dem Todt fürchten / als seine Gnade preisen vnnd lieben. Denn die Liebe vnd das Lob das Sterben gar sehr leichtert / wie er saget durch Esaiam / Ich wil zehmen deinen Mund mit meinem Lobe / daß du nicht vntergehest. Das helffe vns GOtt / AMEN.

Ein schon andechtig Gebet des Königes Manasse von Jerusalem / da er gefangen lag zu Babylon.

OHERR Allmechtiger Gott / vnser Väter / Abraham / Isaac vnnd Jacob / vnnd jhres gerechten Samens / der du Himmel vnd Erden / mit allem das drinnen ist / gemacht hast / Der du das Meer mit einem Wort deines Gebots versiegelt hast / vnd die tieffe verfasset vnd versiegelt zu Ehren deinem schrecklichen vnnd löblichen Namen / welchen alle ding fürchten / vnd zittern für dem Angesicht deiner Macht / Des Zorn vnnd drewen vber die Sünder vntreglich ist / aber vnmeßlich vnnd vnbegreifflich die Barmhertzigkeit deiner Verheissunge / Denn du bist Gott der HERR / der aller höhest vber allen Landen / langmütig vnd von grosser Güte / vnd gnedig vber die bößheit der Menschen / Denn du HERR hast nach deiner Güte verheissen Busse zur vergebung der Sünden / Aber weil du bist ein GOtt der Gerechten / hastu solche Busse nicht gesetzt den Gerechten / Abraham / Isaac vnd Jacob / die dir nicht gesündiget haben / Ich aber habe gesündiget mehr denn Sand am Meer ist / vnnd meiner Missethat ist viel. Darumb sitze ich krum in grossen Eisen Banden / daß ich auch kein Odem habe / denn ich habe deinen Zorn erweckt / vnd vbel für dir gethan / daß ich solche Grewel angericht / vnd so viel dir zu leide gethan habe. Nu aber beuge ich die Knie meines Hertzen / vnnd bitte vmb Gnade für dir HERR / Ach HERR ich habe gesündiget / gesündiget habe ich / Ich erkenne meine Missethat. So bitte ich nu vnd flehe dir / Vergib mirs HERR / vergib mirs / vnd laß mich nicht in meinen

Sünden verderben / vnd behalte nicht vber mich das ewige Leiden / Sondern wollest mir Vnwirdigen helffen / nach deiner grossen Barmhertzigkeit / so wil ich dich allzeit loben mein Lebenlang / Denn dich lobet alle Krafft der Himel / vnd dir sey Ehre in Ewigkeit /

AMEN.

Scripture echoes

↩John.16.21;Matt.7.13-Matt.7.14 — A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of the joy that a human being has been born into the world. Matt.7.13 — Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. Matt.7.14 — Because the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
↩John.16.21 — A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of the joy that a human being has been born into the world.
↩Mark.9.23;Matt.19.26 — And Jesus said to him, 'If you can? All things are possible for the one who believes.'" This better captures Jesus' echo of the father's words. Matt.19.26 — Jesus looked at them and said, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
↩Gen.3.5 — for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
↩1Cor.15.54-1Cor.15.57;2Tim.1.10 — But when this perishable puts on imperishability, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 1Cor.15.55 — Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? 1Cor.15.56 — The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 1Cor.15.57 — But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Tim.1.10 — but now it has been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
↩John.11.25;Col.3.4 — Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live." Col.3.4 — When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
↩Rev.14.13 — And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'so that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them.'
↩1Cor.15.57 — But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
↩Matt.27.46;Mark.15.34;Ps.22.1 — And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Mark.15.34 — And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Ps.22.1 — For the Director. Upon the Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
↩Gen.12.3 — And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
↩Isa.9.4 — For every boot that tramped in the tumult, and every cloak rolled in blood, shall be for burning, fuel for fire.
↩Luke.19.43 — For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build a barricade against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.
↩Isa.53.7;Matt.26.63 — He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb led to slaughter, and like a sheep silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. Matt.26.63 — But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."
↩John.4.34;Matt.26.39 — Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Matt.26.39 — And going forward a little, he fell on his face, praying and saying, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.'
↩Luke.23.34 — Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided his garments by casting lots.
↩1Cor.15.54-1Cor.15.57;Col.2.15;Rom.8.1-Rom.8.3 — But when this perishable puts on imperishability, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 1Cor.15.55 — Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? 1Cor.15.56 — The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 1Cor.15.57 — But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Col.2.15 — He disarmed the rulers and the authorities, made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Rom.8.1 — Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Rom.8.2 — For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. Rom.8.3 — For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
↩Rom.6.3-Rom.6.8;Gal.2.20;2Tim.2.11 — Or are you unaware that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Rom.6.4 — Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. Rom.6.5 — For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection. Rom.6.6 — We know this: our old self was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we might no longer be enslaved to sin. Rom.6.7 — For the one who has died has been justified from sin. Rom.6.8 — Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. Gal.2.20 — I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 2Tim.2.11 — This saying is trustworthy: For if we died with him, we will also live with him;
↩Num.23.19;Titus.1.2;Heb.6.18 — God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He spoken, and will He not do it? Has He said, and will He not make it happen? Titus.1.2 — in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the ages began, Heb.6.18 — so that through two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us
↩1John.5.10;Num.23.19;Titus.1.2;Heb.6.18 — The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. Num.23.19 — God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He spoken, and will He not do it? Has He said, and will He not make it happen? Titus.1.2 — in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the ages began, Heb.6.18 — so that through two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us
↩1John.1.10 — If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
↩Heb.12.22-Heb.12.24 — But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, Heb.12.23 — to the assembly and festival gathering of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, Heb.12.24 — and to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than Abel's
↩Matt.16.24;Mark.8.34 — Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Mark.8.34 — And calling the crowd with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
↩Matt.4.10;Matt.16.23 — Then Jesus said to him, 'Go away, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve."' Matt.16.23 — But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not thinking the things of God, but the things of men."
↩John.12.37 — Even though he had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him.
↩Ps.91.11;Heb.1.14 — For he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. Heb.1.14 — Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to serve for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation?
↩Mark.11.24;Matt.21.22 — Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Matt.21.22 — And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
↩Mark.11.24;Matt.7.7;Matt.21.22 — Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Matt.7.7 — Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matt.21.22 — And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
↩Deut.31.6;Heb.13.5 — Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be dismayed before them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Heb.13.5 — Let your way of life be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
↩Isa.53.6 — All of us, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
↩1Cor.15.54-1Cor.15.57;Col.2.15 — But when this perishable puts on imperishability, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 1Cor.15.55 — Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? 1Cor.15.56 — The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 1Cor.15.57 — But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Col.2.15 — He disarmed the rulers and the authorities, made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Notes

1 ↩Early modern 'vrlaub vnd letzte geben' is leave-taking idiom: granting leave and a last farewell (here to one's property), not modern 'vacation'.
2 ↩Early New High German 'wolthaten' is rendered 'good deeds' (acts of kindness/beneficence), not merely 'charity' as almsgiving; the parallel with 'bösen Exempeln' points to omitted positive neighbor-love more broadly.
3 ↩The German sentence ends mid-phrase on 'vnd' ('and'); the following section completes the pair as 'Erden' (earth), i.e. into this wide heaven and earth.
4 ↩Continues the previous section’s incomplete clause (birth out of the mother’s womb ‘into this wide sky and…’). Standalone rendering preserves the appositive gloss ‘das ist’.
5 ↩‘Himmel’ shifts sense within the sentence: first with ‘Welt’ as the present sky/cosmos we inhabit, then ‘zukünfftigen Himmel’ as the future heaven; the closing ‘diesem Himmel’ points back to the present sky of the birth comparison.
6 ↩Early modern German 'jenes' is elliptical after 'diß Leben'; rendered as 'the next one' (the life to come), matching the preceding birth/womb–world–heaven spatial comparison.
7 ↩'sich der angst erwegen' rendered as 'steel yourself for the anguish' (resolve to face / take upon yourself the dread of dying), not as mere mental weighing.
8 ↩lauterer Beicht: pure/honest confession, not merely private sorrow; Stück here means chief items of sin to be confessed.
9 ↩Luther's Zeichen (signs) language is retained; it is pedagogical toward faith, not a denial of sacramental reality elsewhere in the work.
10 ↩Source sentence ends mid-clause at 'Todt vnnd' ('death and'); the following section begins with 'Helle', almost certainly completing the triad sin/death/hell. Translation stops at the supplied text and does not invent the missing object.
11 ↩German Tugend of the Sacraments here means their saving power/efficacy (sacramental virtue), not moral character traits.
12 ↩Early New High German «zusatzen» (Zusätze): the aggravating circumstances or further considerations that enlarge each image; the next section begins with those additions for death.
13 ↩Early NHG gehnlinge is read as jählinge/jählige: sudden (deaths). The triad schrecklichen / gehnlinge / böse modifies Töde.
14 ↩mit einwickeln: bundle/wrap in together with; the devil folds God's wrath into the same terror-imagery.
15 ↩blöde Natur continues the chapter's sense of frail/timid natural self, not moral stupidity.
16 ↩"sein Bilde außschlahen" means to cast out or strike away death's mental image, not a physical picture; the point is to refuse fixating on the terrifying figure of death at the hour of dying.
17 ↩"Blödigkeit" here is frailty/timidity of nature (ENHG blöde = weak, faint-hearted), not modern "stupidity."
18 ↩Early NHG blödigkeit = frailty/weakness/timidity of conscience (not modern 'foolishness'); matches the prior section's blödigkeit of our nature.
19 ↩Early New High German 'fug' means fitness, occasion, or proper place; rendered here as 'place' with 'zeit' as 'time'.
20 ↩Standalone print fragment completing the citation 'as Psalm 50.' In Luther/Vulgate numbering this is the Miserere (Hebrew Psalm 51).
21 ↩German 'versehen' here means divine provision for salvation (election/predestination). The next section presses the same anxiety: seeking signs of God's will about whether one is 'versehen.'
22 ↩Early New High German Versehung here means election/predestination (whether one is among the elect), not general providence; previous section asks whether one is versehen.
23 ↩"den Teuffel vber der Thür male" echoes the proverb of painting the devil on the wall/door—inviting him by dwelling on and entertaining the deadly images rather than merely noting them.
24 ↩"ohn durch sehen in ander Bilde" is rendered as "without being looked through into other images"—i.e., when the deadly images are entertained in isolation rather than seen through toward saving images (Christ, grace, etc.).
25 ↩Kunst here is the practical skill of handling the three images (death, sin, hell), not fine art; fallen lassen means refuse engagement so they lose hold, not a passive collapse into despair.
26 ↩Luther’s ars moriendi counsel: the terrifying images (death, sin, hell) must be viewed through their counters (life, grace, heaven), not in isolation. 'Helle' is Early New High German for hell (Hölle).
27 ↩Early NHG eytel here means pure/sheer (lauter), not vanity; rendering as pure life.
28 ↩Sentence ends mid-citation (wie Apo.); the finite stehet and the beatitude continue in s4.
29 ↩Early German citation formula 'Das ist bedeut Num.' is truncated/compressed; sense taken as a pointer to Numbers (completed by the following '21.').
30 ↩„gnaden Bilde“ (image of grace): the next section identifies this as Christ on the cross and his beloved saints; retained here as “image of grace” to match the source wording.
31 ↩German erwürget is violently concrete ('strangle/throttle'); rendered as 'strangles' to keep Luther's force rather than a milder 'destroys'.
32 ↩Luther's wording here is 'ich wil euch helffen' (I will help you), not the more familiar rest/refresh wording of Matthew 11:28; translation follows the supplied German.
33 ↩'ausser deinem Gewissen' rendered as 'outside your conscience': sins are viewed as transferred away from the accusing conscience onto Christ, not as contemplated within guilt.
34 ↩wieder = wider (against/over against). Bilde is Luther’s imagistic contrast: Christ as the picture of life and grace set against the picture of death and sin.
35 ↩Versehung / versehen sind: Luther’s election language (predestination/the elect), not generic ‘provision’ or vague providence.
36 ↩schwinde stürtzen: early modern schwinde/geschwinde = swiftly/suddenly; Bilde continues the hell/predestination image just forbidden.
37 ↩Early NHG Versehung (modern Vorsehung) here is the anxious uncertainty about divine predestination/election at death, not mere everyday providence; the next section continues with election language (erwehlet).
38 ↩Presented as Genesis 12 speech; wording is a compressed paraphrase of the blessing formula in Gen 12:3 rather than a full verse quotation.
39 ↩vnlust = interior aversion/disaffection (not mere boredom); fellest in dich = turning from Christ into self-reliance/self-inspection.
40 ↩Early NHG 'bedeut' = bedeutet ('is signified/figured'); 'streit' may mean either the struggle itself or the combat narrative that the three images represent.
41 ↩'Liecht scherben' are the earthen jars holding torches (Judges 7); rendered as 'jars of light' to keep the image concrete without modernizing away the vessel.
42 ↩Early modern German 'Treiber' echoes Isaiah's oppressor/taskmaster; rendered as 'taskmaster' rather than the more modern 'driver'.
43 ↩'gefoddert wird ewiges bezalen' = eternal payment is demanded/required; kept as 'eternal payment' rather than modernized into 'eternal debt' alone, to preserve the demand-for-payment force.
44 ↩The printed section ends mid-clause at "vnser"; the relative clause continues in the next section with "Natur…" (nature). Sense is clear from neighboring context, but the sentence as supplied is incomplete.
45 ↩Printed unit continues the previous sentence: ‘…against the three images with which the evil spirit and our nature assail us so as to tear us out of the faith.’ Early New High German ‘mit anfechten’ carries the relative force of ‘assail [us] with [them].’
46 ↩‘daß er vberwunden sey’: passive; ‘er’ refers to death (masculine Todt), not Christ—death has been overcome in Christ’s life.
47 ↩‘dasselbe zu eigen gegeben’ most naturally means he has made the same beloved-sonship our own possession; rendered as ‘that same gift…as our own.’
48 ↩"er ist sein mit Leib vnd Seele": "sein" is taken as possessive of the devil named just before ("des Teuffels Sohn"), i.e. he is the devil's, body and soul—not a reflexive or existential reading.
49 ↩Schut is older German for a siege mound or earthwork rampart (Schuttwall), matching the Lucan siege imagery rather than rubble in the modern sense.
50 ↩Early New High German versehen can mean provide for, look after, or appoint/ordain. Rendered as 'made no provision for him' in light of the surrounding hell-and-rejection taunt; 'forsaken him' is a close pastoral alternative.
51 ↩geplerret (from plärren) = to bawl, blare, or make a din; rendered 'howl' to keep the coarse force of the mockery without archaic diction.
52 ↩seines Todes / seiner Sünde / seiner Helle auff jhn getrieben names the terrors thrust on Christ as images/accusations (and, in Lutheran Passion reading, the sin laid on him), not sins he committed. für sie ... für jhren Todt / Sünde vnd Hell is intercession for the mockers under the same three terrors.
53 ↩Early New High German Tugenden of the Sacraments means their efficacious powers/benefits, not moral virtues; rendered as 'powers' to match the neighboring 'Nutz und Kraft' framing.
54 ↩Early New High German 'bericht wird' is taken as pastoral instruction/preparation of the dying person (standard triad with confession and absolution), not as a mere report or notice.
55 ↩Warzeichen und Urkund: not a bare symbol, but a true outward mark and legal-style certificate of what Christ has done for the dying person.
56 ↩sie most naturally picks up allen Heiligen from the previous sentence: the saints share death, sin-bearing, and the overcoming of hell with the dying person in Christ.
57 ↩Early NHG 'in seinem verlassen' is rendered as 'in his being forsaken' (Christ's abandonment on the cross), not merely 'in his leaving' or 'departure'.
58 ↩'stönet' is read as a form of stützen ('lean/rest on'); 'pocht' as pochen auf ('bank on / insist upon'). 'Versehung' is rendered providence (Vorsehung), paired with election.
59 ↩schimpffen mit dem Sacrament: Early New High German sense is to treat lightly / make light of / trifle with, not merely to insult with words.
60 ↩Luther's point is not that moral fitness is irrelevant, but that faith in the Sacrament as God's true Word is what makes one 'worthy,' while doubt itself is the unworthiness that empties the gift.
61 ↩Printed sentence ends mid-clause at "als wenn dir"; the comparison continues in Betbuechlein.1.11.64 (as if God sent a special angel or apostle, yes, as if Christ Himself absolved you).
62 ↩Continuation of the previous section's comparative: 'as firmly in the priest's absolution as if…'. The German finite 'sendet' is rendered with English subjunctive 'were sending' to keep the unreal comparison after 'als wenn/als ob'.
63 ↩Early modern zusage is God's pledged promise attached to the Sacrament as sign; rendered as "promise" rather than a weaker "assurance."
64 ↩"sie" most naturally points back to the signs/promises (and their goods), not to the Sacraments as outward rites; those without the outward sign still reach the same thing by faith and heart's desire.
65 ↩"demselben" is pronominal; context points to the same faith (and heart's longing) just named, not to a new referent.
66 ↩Early New High German 'Leichnam Christi' is the traditional sacramental term for the Body of Christ (Corpus Christi), not a corpse in the modern sense; rendered as 'holy Body of Christ'.
67 ↩'zusagen' here is God's sacramental promise/pledge (paired with 'Zeichen', sign), continuing the chapter's language of divine Zeichen und Zusage.
68 ↩Gelied der Christenheit rendered as 'member of Christendom' (ecclesial membership in the body of Christians), not mere social belonging; laut und anzeigung = the Sacrament's declared tenor and signification.
69 ↩Versehung can mean divine providence, appointment, or election; rendered as what God has appointed for them to keep the deathbed-certainty sense without forcing a technical predestination term.
70 ↩was sie zeichen: zeichen read as a verb, 'what they signify/point to'; the sense is that believers obtain all the promised reality the sacramental signs mark.
71 ↩Early New High German zeichen und zusagen: the Sacraments both signify and pledge Christ. wieder = wider (against).
72 ↩Luther's Bilde / Gegenbilde pair in this death-preparation sermon: the three images in Christ (typically death, sin, and hell overcome in him) set against the opposing images of those same terrors as they confront the dying person.
73 ↩Elliptical continuation of 'Augen' from s1: 'Gottes selber vnnd Christi' names the first who look on the dying believer.
74 ↩Gemeinschafft here continues the previous section's communion-of-saints sense (not merely Eucharistic reception as a shared meal). Hochwirdige Sacrament des Leichnams Christi is kept as the most holy Sacrament of the Body of Christ.
75 ↩Source cites Psal. 31.; Vulgate Psalm 31 corresponds to Hebrew/Protestant Psalm 32 (verse of God's guiding eye).
76 ↩Latin incipit left as cited; likely Firmabo super te oculos meos (Vulg. Ps 31:8). German sense follows in s6.
77 ↩sehen jhm nach rendered as following God's gaze/look; halten die Hende vnter is the image of hands held underneath to catch and support the departing soul.
78 ↩Eliseo 4. Regum 6 is the Vulgate-style citation for 4 Kings 6 (modern 2 Kings 6), the narrative of Elisha and his servant.
79 ↩Early New High German vmbringet here is umringet, 'surrounded,' not umgebracht, 'killed'; context (2 Kings 6 and the following fiery-host vision) requires the siege sense.
80 ↩Luther cites Psalm 33; the following verse is the angel-encampment text that in modern Protestant numbering is Psalm 34:7 (Vulgate often Psalm 33).
81 ↩Parenthetical 'das sind Engel' is the sermon's gloss on the psalm's mountains, not part of the bare biblical wording.
82 ↩Parenthetical 'das ist / alle Stricke vnnd List des Teuffels...' is the sermon's gloss on snakes, basilisisks, lion, and dragon as the devil's snares and cunning.
83 ↩Anfechtungen rendered as 'trials'; in this death-preparation sermon it covers temptation, assault, and spiritual distress. 'vol machen mit Ewigkeit' follows Luther's 'fill/satisfy with eternity' rather than the bare 'long life' of some English Psalm 91:16 renderings; 'ewige Gnade' is 'everlasting grace' (cf. the psalm's 'salvation/help').
84 ↩Early modern print syntax continues into the next sentence; rendered as a lead-in without combining refs.
85 ↩Early New High German 'Sol aber bitten / daß er nicht zweyffel / das Gebet werde erhöret' is rendered as confident petition without doubt that the prayer will be heard; the following section names the two reasons.
86 ↩fürhalten und auffrücken: present/hold before someone and press or urge a claim upon them—here the dying person urges Christ's own promised angel-help in prayer, not as information Christ lacks.
87 ↩auffrücken here continues the previous section's sense of holding something up and pressing it home; applied to God it means reminding Him of / pleading His own command, not accusing.
88 ↩Elende retains the older sense of this world's exile/misery (not mere emotional wretchedness); rendered as 'misery' for plain English while keeping the pilgrim-home cadence of the hymn.
89 ↩Citation continues in the following sentence ref as the bare psalm number '110.'; keep s2 and s3 separate as in the source.
90 ↩Bare psalm number continuing s2. Source numbering is Psalm 110; the following German wording tracks Vulgate Ps 110:2 (= Hebrew/Protestant Ps 111:2).
91 ↩außerwehlet renders Vulgate 'exquisita' (sought out / choice / exquisite); 'choice' keeps the sense of carefully selected excellence without modernizing into 'awesome'.
92 ↩Early German 'wieder den Todt' is read as 'wider' (against) death, sin, and hell, not as 'again'.
93 ↩Source 'zehmen' is uncertain; rendered from the biblical mouth-and-praise idiom as 'fill'. A less likely reading is 'zähmen' (tame/train the mouth with praise).
94 ↩Early modern German 'schon' is taken as 'schön' (beautiful/fine), not temporal 'already'.
95 ↩"sitze ich krum" rendered as "sit bent"; Early New High German "krum" means bent/crooked (not merely "humbled").
96 ↩Source sentence ends mid-phrase at the section break ("in meinen"); the next section continues "Sünden verderben…" ("do not let me perish in my sins").
97 ↩This section continues the petition begun in Betbuechlein.1.11.92.s4 ('laß mich nicht in meinen…'); 'Sünden verderben' completes 'do not let me perish in my sins'.

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