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← Luther's Little Prayer Book (Ein Betbüchlein)/Book 1 · Betbüchlein (Ein Betbüchlein)
Chapter 7Betbuechlein.1.7

Verteutschte Psalmen

Prayers for the Gospel and the Faith

A collection of prayers based on the Psalms for the exaltation of the Gospel and protection against the wicked.

The 12th. A psalm to pray for the exaltation of the holy Gospel.1 Help, Lord! The godly have dwindled, and the faithful have grown few among the children of men. One person talks empty nonsense with another, and they speak hypocrisy with a divided heart.2 May the Lord root out all hypocrisy and the tongue that speaks with pride. Those who say, “Our tongue will prevail; we have the right to speak—who is our master?” "Because the wretched are devastated and the poor sigh, I will arise," says the LORD. "I will bring about a deliverance in which people can act with confidence." The words of the Lord are pure, like silver refined in an earthen crucible, tested seven times.✦ You, LORD, would keep them safe and protect us from this generation forever. The godless are everywhere when worthless people are exalted among the children of men. Psalm 67.

Confession and Mercy

A penitential section focusing on Psalm 51, addressing original sin and the need for a clean heart.

A psalm to pray for the uplifting of the faith.3 May God be gracious to us and bless us; may he make his face shine upon us. Selah.4 So that we may know his way on earth, and his salvation among all the nations. The peoples thank you, O God; all the peoples thank you. The peoples rejoice and shout for joy that you judge the peoples rightly and lead the peoples on the earth. Selah.5 The peoples thank you, God; all the peoples thank you. The land yields its produce. May God, our God, bless us.✦ May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth fear him. Concerning the whole of sin—that is, essential and original sin, together with their fruits.6 Have mercy on me, God, according to your goodness, and blot out my transgression according to your great mercy. Wash me thoroughly from my wrongdoing, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgression, and my sin is always before me.✦ Against you alone have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight. So you'll be proven right in your words and found pure when you are judged. Look, I was formed in iniquity, and my mother conceived me in sins. Look, you delight in truth; you make me know the wisdom that is hidden in secret.✦ Cleanse me of sin with hyssop, so I may become pure; wash me, so I may become white as snow.7 Let me hear joy and gladness, so that the bones you have crushed may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my misdeeds. God, create a pure heart in me and renew a willing spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Let the comfort of your salvation come back to me, and let the free Spirit uphold me. I will teach the godless your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.✦ Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, you who are the God of my salvation, so that my tongue may praise your righteousness. Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may proclaim your praise. You take no pleasure in sacrifice, or I would offer it; burnt offerings don't please you.✦ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and crushed heart, O God, you won't despise. Do good to Zion according to your good will; build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you'll delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in the burnt offerings and whole offerings; then they'll lay bulls on your altar.

Thanksgiving for Divine Goodness

A devotional reflection on Psalm 103, praising God for His mercy and fatherly compassion.

The 103rd. A psalm of thanksgiving to God for every act of kindness.8 Praise the LORD, my soul, and all that is within me, his holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and do not forget what good he has done for me.✦ who is gracious toward all your iniquity and heals all your sickness, who crowns you with goodness and mercy.✦ who fills your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like an eagle's.✦ The Lord acts with righteousness and justice for everyone who suffers wrong.✦ He made his ways known to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel.✦ The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and of great goodness. He won't always contend, nor will He keep His anger forever.✦ He hasn't dealt with us according to our sins, and he hasn't repaid us according to our wrongdoing. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so he lets his goodness reign over those who fear him. As far as the morning is from the evening, that’s how far he puts our transgressions away from us.✦9 Just as a father has compassion on his children, the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.✦ For he knows what we're made of; he remembers that we are dust.10 A person is like grass in their time; they bloom like a flower in the field.✦ When the wind passes over it, it is gone, and its place knows it no more.✦ But the goodness of the LORD lasts from eternity to eternity over those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children.✦ to those who keep his covenant and remember his commandments so that they do them. The LORD has set his throne in heaven, and his kingdom will rule over all.✦ Praise the Lord, you his angels, mighty in strength, who carry out his word so that people may hear the voice of his word.✦ Praise the Lord, all his hosts, you his servants who do what pleases him. Praise the LORD, all his works, in every place of his dominion. Praise the LORD, my soul.

Petitions for Authority and Church

Prayers for civil government and the protection of the Church against its enemies, based on Psalms 20 and 79.

Psalm 20. For good government and civil authority.11 May the Lord hear you in your time of distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May He send you help from the sanctuary and strengthen you from Zion. May he remember all your meal offerings, and may your burnt offering be fat. Selah.✦12 May he grant you what you have in mind and fulfill your plans. We will glory in your salvation and raise our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD fulfill all your petitions. Now I see that the Lord helps his anointed, and answers him from his holy heaven. The saving power of his right hand is mighty.✦ Those people put their trust in chariots and horses, but we will remember the name of our God.✦ They have been cast down, but we are still standing.✦ Help, LORD. May the King answer us at the time when we call.✦ Against the enemies of the Christian Church and the Gospel. Psalm 79. LORD, the nations have fallen into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple and made Jerusalem into heaps of stone. They’ve given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the air to eat, and the flesh of your saints to the wild beasts of the earth.✦ They’ve shed blood around Jerusalem like water, and there was no one to bury them. We have become a disgrace to our neighbors, a mockery and scorn to those around us. LORD, how long will you be so completely angry, and let your zeal burn like fire?✦ Pour out your wrath on the nations that don't know you, and on the kingdoms that don't call on your name.✦ For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste to his homes.✦ Do not remember our former misdeeds; let your mercy soon be greater over us, for we have been brought very low.13 Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; rescue us and forgive our sins for the sake of your name.✦ Why should the nations say, "Where is their God now?" Right here among the nations, let the vengeance for the blood of your servants that has been shed be made known before our eyes.✦ Let the sighing of the prisoners come before you; by your great arm, spare those doomed to die.✦ And Lord, repay our neighbors sevenfold into their own bosoms for the scorn with which they have scorned you.✦ But we, your people and the sheep of your pasture, thank you forever and proclaim your glory from generation to generation.

Commitment to God

A prayer of self-surrender and trust in God's guidance, based on Psalm 25.

A general prayer for committing yourself to God in every kind of matter. Psalm. 25. Lord, I lift up my soul to You. My God, I put my hope in you; don't let me be put to shame, so that my enemies won't rejoice over me. For no one who waits for you will be put to shame; but those who despise without cause must be put to shame. Lord, show me your ways and teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; I wait for you every day.✦ Remember, LORD, your mercy and your goodness, which have been from the beginning of the world.✦ Don't remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; instead, remember me according to your mercy, for the sake of your goodness.✦ The Lord is good and upright; therefore, he will instruct sinners in the way.✦ He guides the afflicted in what is right and teaches them his way.✦ All the Lord's paths are goodness and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimony.✦ For the sake of your name, LORD, be merciful to my wrongdoing, which is so great.✦ Who is the person who fears the LORD?✦ He will teach him the way that he chooses.✦14 His soul will dwell in what is good, and his offspring will possess the land.✦ The secret of the Lord belongs to those who fear him, and he will make his covenant known to them.✦ My eyes always look to the LORD, for he will pull my foot out of the net.✦ Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.✦ My heart is in great anguish; lead me out of my troubles.✦ Look upon my misery and distress, and take away all my sins.✦ See how many enemies I have, and with wicked hatred they hate me. Guard my soul and rescue me; don't let me be put to shame, for I trust in you.15 Let integrity and uprightness protect me, for I wait for you.✦16 God, redeem Israel from all its distress.

Prayer Against the Antichrist

A prayer for deliverance from the oppression of the wicked and the Antichrist, based on Psalm 10.

The tenth. A psalm to pray against the Antichrist and his kingdom. Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of need?✦17 When the godless gain the upper hand, the poor must suffer; they work their wanton will just as they set out to do.✦ For the godless man boasts however he likes, and the greedy man blesses himself and reviles the LORD. Because the godless man's fury goes unchecked, he cares for no one; all his schemes are without God.✦ He always sticks to his ways. Your judgments are far above him; he acts defiantly toward his enemies.✦ He says to himself, "I'll never be overthrown; there won't be any trouble." His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and fraud; under his tongue are trouble and toil. He lies in ambush in the villages; he secretly murders the innocent. His eyes watch the poor.✦ He lies in wait for him in secret, like a lion in its den. He waits to seize the wretched, and he catches him once he draws him into his net. He strikes them down, crushes them, and fells the poor throng with his power. He says in his heart, "God has forgotten; he has hidden his face; he doesn't see it anymore." Rise up, Lord God; lift up your hand; don't forget the afflicted.✦ Why should the godless blaspheme God and say in his heart, "You don't care about it"?✦ Yes, you do see—for you look on misery and distress so that it may be put into your hands; the poor throng will entrust it to you.18 You are the helper of orphans. Break the arm of the godless, and seek out the wicked man, so that his godless ways will never be found. The Lord is King forever and ever; you heathens will perish from his land. LORD, you hear the longing of the afflicted; their heart will prepare itself, so that your ear may take note of it.✦ That you may do justice for the orphan and the poor, so that man may no longer be wanton on the earth.19

Contemplating the Passion of Christ

A theological sermon on the true meaning of meditating on Christ's Passion, emphasizing interior transformation over outward works.

A sermon on contemplating the holy Passion of Christ. First, some people meditate on Christ's suffering in such a way that they grow angry at the Jews, rail and scold against poor Judas, and leave it at that—just as they are used to blaming other people and condemning and cursing their opponents.20 That might well be called meditating not on Christ's suffering, but on Judas and the wickedness of the Jews. Second, some have pointed out all sorts of benefits and fruit that come from meditating on Christ's suffering. A saying attributed to Albertus goes astray here: that it's better to have thought about Christ's suffering once, even casually, than if you fasted for a whole year, prayed a psalter every day, and so on.2122 They follow this blindly and land right against the true fruit of Christ's suffering, because they seek their own advantage in it. That is why they load themselves with little images and little books, letters and crosses; some even go so far that they think they can secure themselves against water, iron, fire, and every kind of danger—and so Christ's suffering is supposed to work in them a freedom from suffering, against its very character and nature.2324 Third, they have compassion for Christ—lamenting and weeping over him as an innocent man—just like the women who followed Christ out from Jerusalem and were rebuked by him: they should weep for themselves and for their children. Of that sort are those who, right in the middle of the Passion, digress far afield and load in a great deal about Christ's farewell at Bethany and about the Virgin Mary's sorrows, and never get any further. That is how it comes about that people drag the Passion out for so many hours—God knows whether it was invented more for sleeping or for staying awake. To this crowd also belong those who have learned what great fruit the holy Mass has, and in their simplicity they count it enough simply that they hear the Mass. We are led to that by certain teachers' sayings: that the Mass, opere operato, non opere operantis, is acceptable of itself, even without our merit and worthiness—exactly as if that were enough. And yet the Mass was not instituted for its own dignity, but to make us worthy—especially so that Christ's suffering might be contemplated. For where that does not happen, people turn the Mass into a bodily, barren work, however good it may be in itself. For what good does it do you that God is God?25 What good is it that food and drink are healthy and good in themselves if they aren't healthy for you? And there is reason to fear that people don't improve their situation with many Masses if they don't seek the true fruit within them. Fourth: those who rightly consider Christ's suffering look on him in such a way that their hearts are terrified at it, and their conscience sinks into despair. That terror should come from this: you see God's stern wrath and unwavering seriousness against sin and sinners—that he wouldn't even let his own dearest Son go free of sin unless he first made such a heavy satisfaction for it, as he says through Isaiah 53.2627 Chapter.28 For the sin of my people I have struck him.✦ What will become of the sinner when the dearest Child is struck like this? There must be an unspeakable, unbearable severity there when such a great, immeasurable Person goes to meet it and suffers and dies for it. And when you think about it truly and deeply—that God's Son, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, Himself suffers—you will surely be terrified, and the more deeply you think, the more so.2930 Fifth: deeply impress upon yourself, and don't doubt for a moment, that you are the one who torments Christ this way—for your sins have certainly done it. That is how Saint Peter struck and terrified them in Acts.31 2.32 The Jews—like a thunderclap—when he said to them all together, "You have crucified him," so that three thousand that same day, terrified and thrashing in distress, said to the apostles, "O dear brothers, what should we do now?"33 Therefore, when you see the nails of Christ piercing through his hands, believe for certain that they are your works; if you see his crown of thorns, believe they are your evil thoughts, and so on. Sixth: look now—where one thorn pierces Christ, a hundred thousand thorns should rightfully pierce you; indeed, they should pierce you like that forever, and far worse.✦ Where a nail drives through Christ's hands or feet and tortures him, you should suffer such nails forever, and even worse ones—and that is exactly what will happen to those who let Christ's suffering be wasted on them.✦34 For this solemn mirror, Christ, will neither lie nor joke; what he shows must be so—superabundantly so.35 Seventh: Saint Bernard took such terror from this that he said, "I thought I was safe; I knew nothing of the eternal judgment that had already been passed over me in heaven, until I saw that the only Son of God had mercy on me, stepped forward, and gave himself up into that same judgment for me. Ah—I can no longer play around and feel secure when such seriousness stands behind it." So he commanded the women: "Do not weep for me, but for yourselves and for your children"—and he gives the reason: "For if they do this to the green wood, what will happen to the dry?"✦✦ It is as if he meant to say: From my torment, learn what you deserve and how things will go for you. For here the saying is true: a little pup is beaten to terrify the big dog.36 The prophet also said that all the tribes on earth shall mourn over themselves because of him—he doesn't say they should mourn for him, but that they should mourn over themselves because of him.✦37 The people in Acts were terrified, too.✦38 2.39 As mentioned above, they said to the apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"✦ The Church also sings: I will carefully call this to mind, and so my soul will languish within me. Eighth: you must train yourself very carefully in this, because nearly the entire benefit of Christ's suffering depends on a person coming to know himself, becoming afraid of himself, and being struck down.40 And where a person doesn't reach that point, Christ's suffering hasn't yet become truly useful to him, for the very natural work of the41 The proper work of Christ's suffering is to make a person like him: just as Christ is pitifully tortured in body and soul for our sins, we too must be tortured after him in the same way in our conscience by our sins.42 This doesn't happen through many words, but through deep reflection and a serious regard for sin. Consider this: imagine a criminal being sentenced for murdering a prince's or king's child, while you feel safe, singing and playing as if you were completely innocent—until they turn on you in terror and prove that you were the one who put the criminal up to it.43 Look—the world would feel too small for you here, especially if your conscience also failed you. It should feel even smaller when you consider Christ's suffering. For those criminals, the Jews—though God has now judged them and driven them out—were still servants of your sin, and you are truly the one who, through your sin, murdered and crucified God's Son, as has been said.✦44 Ninth: whoever finds himself so hard and dry that Christ's Passion does not terrify him in this way and lead him into self-knowledge should be afraid. For there is no other way it turns out: you must become conformed to the image and Passion of Christ, whether that happens in this life or in hell. At the very least, when you die you will have to fall into that terror, and tremble, shake, and feel everything Christ suffers on the cross.✦ It's dreadful to wait for that until you're on your deathbed. So, ask God to soften your heart and allow you to meditate fruitfully on Christ's Passion. It's impossible for us to fully consider Christ's Passion on our own unless God sinks it into our heart. Neither this meditation nor any other teaching is given so that you can boldly throw yourself into it and accomplish it on your own; rather, it is so that you first seek and desire God's grace, and carry it out through his grace, not through yourself. That is why those mentioned above don't handle Christ's Passion rightly: they don't call on God for it, but invent their own methods from their own power, handling it in a way that is entirely human and unfruitful. Tenth: if you meditate on God's suffering for a day, an hour, or even a quarter of an hour, we can freely say that it's better than if you fasted for a whole year, prayed a Psalter every day, or even heard a hundred Masses; for this meditation transforms you in your very being, and, much like baptism, gives birth to you anew. Here Christ's suffering works its true, natural, noble work: it strangles the old Adam, and drives out all pleasure, joy, and confidence one may have from creatures—just as Christ was forsaken by all, even by God. Eleventh: since this work isn't in our hands, it happens that we sometimes ask for it and don't receive it right away; even so, you shouldn't despair or give up. Sometimes it happens that we don't ask for it as God knows and wills—for it wants to be free and unbound—and then a person grows troubled in conscience and is thoroughly displeased with himself in his life.45 It may well be that he doesn't realize Christ's suffering is working such things in him—things he perhaps isn't even thinking about. Just as the others may dwell intently on Christ's suffering and yet never come from it into knowledge of themselves.46 For the former, Christ's suffering is hidden and true; for the latter, it's only outward show and deception. And so God often turns the page: those who don't meditate on Christ's suffering are the ones who do; those who hear the Mass are the ones who don't hear it; and those who don't hear it are the ones who do.47 Twelfth: Until now we have been in Passion Week and have properly observed Good Friday. Now we come to Easter Day and the resurrection of Christ. When a person has thus come to know himself and is thoroughly terrified within himself, one must take care that the sin does not remain that way in the conscience — pure despair would surely come of it.48 Instead, just as they flowed from Christ and were recognized, one must pour them back onto him and free the conscience.49 So take care that you don't do as those twisted people do who gnaw and devour themselves with their sins in their hearts, and who strive to get free of their sins by running this way and that with good works or satisfaction, or even by working themselves free with indulgences—which is impossible—and unfortunately such false confidence in satisfaction and pilgrimages has taken root.50 Thirteenth: for you cast your sin off yourself onto Christ when you firmly believe that his wounds and suffering are your sin, that he bears it and pays for it. As Isaiah 53. says: God has laid the sins of us all on him.✦ And St. Peter: He has borne our sins in his body on the wood of the cross.✦ St. Paul: God made him a sinner for us, so that through him we might be justified.✦51 You must rely on these sayings and others like them with complete confidence—all the more so, the harder your conscience torments you.52 For if you don't do that, but instead presume to quiet yourself through your own repentance and satisfaction, you'll never come to rest, and in the end you'll still have to despair.5354 If we hold onto our sins in our conscience and let them linger, dwelling on them in our heart, they become far too strong for us and live on forever. But when we see that they rest upon Christ, and that he overcomes them through his resurrection, and we boldly believe this, then they are dead and brought to nothing.55 They could not remain upon Christ; through his rising they have been swallowed up, and you now see no wounds or pains on him—that is, no sign of sins.✦✦ St. Paul says that Christ died for our sins and rose for our righteousness—meaning that in his suffering he exposes our sin and strangles it, but through his rising he makes us righteous and free from all sins, if we believe this.56 Fourteenth: if you can't believe now, then you should ask God for it, as I said before—for this point too is freely in God's hand alone, and it will likewise be given, sometimes openly, sometimes secretly, as was said about the point of the suffering. But you can stir yourself up toward it. First of all, don't keep looking only at Christ's suffering (for that has now done its work and frightened you), but press through and look at his kind heart—how full of love it is toward you, the love that forces him to this: that he bears your conscience and your sin so heavily.57 In this way your heart toward him will grow sweet, and the confidence of faith will be strengthened. Then, go further: climb through Christ's heart to God's heart, and see that Christ could not have shown you this love if God hadn't willed it so in eternal love—the God to whom Christ is obedient with his love toward you. There you'll find the good divine Father's heart, and, as Christ says, you'll be drawn through Christ to the Father.✦ Then you'll understand Christ's saying: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, and so on.✦ That is what it means to know God rightly: when you grasp him not by his power or wisdom (which are terrifying), but by his goodness and love. There faith and confidence can stand firm, and the person is truly born anew in God.✦ Fifteenth: when your heart is established in Christ this way, and you’ve become an enemy of sin—out of love, not out of fear of punishment. So from now on the suffering of Christ should also be an example for your whole life, and you should now consider it in another way. For until now we have considered it as a Sacrament that works in us, and we suffer. Now we consider it so that we also work — namely as follows. When pain or sickness weighs you down, think how slight that is compared to Christ's crown of thorns and nails.✦✦ When you have to do or leave undone what goes against you, think how Christ is bound and held captive, led back and forth. If pride assails you, look how your Lord is mocked and despised with the thieves.✦ If unchastity and lust assail you, remember how bitterly Christ's tender flesh is scourged, pierced, and beaten through. If hatred and envy attack you, or you're seeking revenge, remember how Christ prayed with many tears and cries for you and for all his enemies—he who had far more right to avenge himself.✦✦✦ If you are troubled by affliction or any kind of adversity, whether bodily or spiritual, strengthen your heart and say: Ah, why shouldn't I also suffer a little?58 distress to bear, when my Lord in the garden sweats blood from anguish and distress? It would be a lazy and shameful servant who wanted to stay in bed while his Lord had to fight in mortal distress. See, then: against every vice and every fault, you can find strength and refreshment in Christ. And that is truly considering Christ's suffering—those are the fruits of his Passion. And whoever practices this way in it does better than if he heard every Passion narrative or read every Mass.59 Those who draw Christ's suffering and name into their lives in this way are rightly called Christians, just as St. Paul says: Those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with all its desires with Christ. For Christ's suffering must not be handled with words and outward show, but with life, and truly. So St. Paul urges us: Think of the one who endured such opposition from wicked people, so that you'll be strengthened and not grow weary in your minds.✦ And St. Peter: Just as Christ suffered in his body, so you should arm and strengthen yourselves with such thoughts.✦ But this meditation has fallen out of use and become rare, even though the Epistles of St. Paul and Peter are full of it.✦ We've turned the substance into a mere show, painting the contemplation of Christ's suffering only on papers and walls.60

Read the original Latin

Der 12. Psalm zu beten vmb erhebung des heiligen Euangelions.

HIlff HErr / die Heiligen haben abgenommen / vnd der Gleubigen ist wenig worden vnter den Menschen Kindern.

Einer redet mit dem andern vnnütze ding / vnd reden heucheley mit vneinigem Hertzen.

Der HERR rotte aus alle heucheley / vnd die Zunge die da stoltz redet.

Die da sagen / vnser Zunge sol vberhand haben / vns gebürt zu reden / wer ist vnser Herr?

Weil denn die Elenden verstöret sind / vnd die Armen seufftzẽ / wil ich auff / spricht der HERR / Ich wil ein Heil auffrichten / das getrost darin handeln sol.

Die Rede des HERRN sind lauter / wie durchleutert Silber in erdenem Tiegel / bewerth sieben mal.

Du HERR woltest sie bewaren / vnnd vns behüten für diesem Geschlecht ewiglich.

Es sind Gottlosen vmb vnnd vmb / wenn vnter den Menschen Kindern die losen erhöhet werden.

Der 67. Psalm zu beten vmb erhebung des Glaubens.

GOtt sey vns gnedig vnnd segene vns / Er las vns sein Andlitz / leuchten. Sela.

Daß wir auff Erden erkennen seinen Weg / vnter allen Heyden sein Heil.

Es dancken dir Gott die Völcker / Es dancken dir alle Völcker.

Die Völcker frewen sich vnd jauchtzen / daß du die Leute recht richtest / vnd führest die Leute auff Erden. Sela.

Es dancken dir Gott die Völcker / Es dancken dir alle Völcker.

Das Land gibt sein gewechs / Es segene vns Gott / vnser Gott.

Es segene vns Gott / vnd aller Welt ende fürchte jhn.

Von der gantzen / das ist / von der Wesentlichen vnd Erbsünde sampt jhren Früchten.

GOtt sey mir gnedig nach deiner Güte / vnd tilge meine Vbertretung nach deiner grossen Barmhertzigkeit.

Wasche mich wol von meiner Missethat vnd reinige mich von meiner Sündẽ.

Denn ich erkenne meine Vbertretung / vnd meine Sünde ist immer für mir.

An dir alleine habe ich gesündiget / vnd vbel für dir gethan.

Darumb wirstu recht bleiben in deinen Worten / vnd rein erfunden wenn du gerichtet wirst.

Sihe / ich bin in vntugend gemacht / vnd meine Mutter hat mich in Sünden empfangen.

Sihe / du hast lust zur Warheit / Du lessest mich wissen die Weißheit heimlich verborgen.

Entsündige mich mit Isopen daß ich rein werde / wasche mich daß ich Schneeweis werde.

Las mich hören Freude vnd Wonne / daß die Gebeine frölich werden die du zuschlagen hast.

Verbirge dein Andlitz von meinen Sünden / vnd tilge alle meine Missethat.

Schaffe mir Gott ein rein Hertz / vnd ernewe in mir einen willigen Geist.

Verwirff mich nicht von deinem Angesicht / vnnd nim deinen heiligen Geist nicht von mir.

Las mir wider kommen den trost deines Heils / vnnd der freye Geist enthalte mich.

Ich wil die Gottlosen deine Wege leren / Das sich die Sünder zu dir bekeren.

Errette mich von den Blutschulden / Gott der du meines heils Gott bist / daß meine Zunge rhüme deine Gerechtigkeit.

HERR thu meine Lippen auff / Daß mein Mund verkündige dein Rhum.

Denn du hast nicht lust zum Opffer / ich gebe es sonst / vnd Brandopffer gefallen dir nicht.

Die Opffer Gottes sind / ein zubrochen Geist / Ein zubrochen vnd zuschlagen Hertz wirstu Gott nicht verachten.

Thu wol an Zion nach deinem guten willen / bawe die Mauren zu Jerusalem.

So wirstu lust haben zu den Opffern der Gerechtigkeit / zu den Brandopffern vnd gantzen Opffern / So wird man Farren auff deinen Altar legen.

Der 103. Psalm Gott zu dancken / für allerley Wolthat.

LObe den HERRN meine Seele / Vnd alle mein inwendiges seinen heiligen Namen.

Lobe den HERRN meine Seele / Vnd vergis nicht / was er mir wider guts gethan hat.

Der aller deiner Missethat gnedig ist / Vnd heilet alle deine Kranckheit / der dich krönet mit Güte vnd Barmhertzigkeit.

Der deinen Mund settiget mit gutem / daß deine Jugent vernewet wird / wie ein Adeler.

Der HERR schafft Gerechtigkeit vnd Gericht / allen die vnrecht leiden.

Er hat seine wege Mose wissen lassen / den Kindern Israel sein thun.

Barmhertzig vnd gnedig ist der HERR langmütig vnd von grosser güte.

Er wird nicht immer haddern / noch ewiglich zorn halten.

Er hat nicht mit vns gehandelt nach vnsern Sünden / vnd hat vns nicht vergolten nach vnser Missethat.

Denn so hoch der Himmel vber der Erden ist / leßt er seine güte walten vber die so jhn fürchten.

So ferne der Morgen ist vom Abend / leßt er vnser Vbertretunge vber vns seyn.

Wie sich ein Vater vber Kinder erbarmet / so erbarmet sich der HERR vber die so jhn fürchten.

Denn er kennet was für ein Gemecht wir sind / Er gedenckt dran daß wir Staub sind.

Ein Mensch ist in seiner zeit wie Hew / Er blüet wie eine Blume auff dem Felde.

Wenn der Wind darüber gehet / so ist sie nimmer da / Vnd jhre stette kennet sie nicht mehr.

Die Güte aber des HERRN weret von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit / vber die so jhn fürchten / Vnd seine Gerechtigkeit auff Kinds kind.

Bey denen die seinen Bund halten / Vnd gedencken an seine Gebot / daß sie darnach thun.

Der HERR hat seinen Stul im Himmel bereit / vnd sein Reich wird vber alles herrschen.

Lobet den HERRN jhr seine Engel / gewaltig von krefften / die jhr sein Wort außrichtet / daß man höre die Stimme seines Worts.

Lobet den HERRN alle seine Heerscharen / seine Diener die jhr sein wolgefallen thut.

Lobet den HERRN alle seine Werck / an allen orten seiner Herrschafft / Lobe den HERRN meine Seele.

Psalm 20. für gut Regiment vnd weltlich Oberkeit.

DER HERR erhöre dich zur zeit der angst / Der Name des Gottes Jacob schütze dich.

Er sende dir hülffe vom Heiligthumb / vnd stercke dich von Zion.

Er gedencke alle deines Speißopffers / vnnd dein Brandopffer müsse fett seyn / Sela.

Er gebe dir was du im Sinn hast / vnd erfülle deine anschlege.

Wir wollen von deinem Heil rhümen / vnd im Namen vnsers Gottes panir auffwerffen / Der HERR erfülle alle deine Bitte.

Nu mercke ich / daß der HERR seinem Gesalbeten hilfft / vnd erhöret jhn in seinem heiligen Himmel / Das Heil seiner Rechten ist mechtig.

Jene verlassen sich auff Wagen vnd Rosse / wir aber wollen dencken an den Namen vnsers Gottes.

Sie sind nider gestürtzt / wir aber stehen auffgericht.

Hilff HERR / Der König erhöre vns zur zeit wenn wir ruffen.

Wider der Christlichen gemeine vnd des Euangelions Feinde / Psalm 79.

HERR es sind Heyden in dein Erbe gefallen / die haben deinen heiligen Tempel verunreiniget / vnnd aus Jerusalem Steinhauffen gemacht.

Sie haben die Leichnam deiner Knechte den Vogeln vnter dem Himmel zu fressen geben / vnd das Fleisch deiner Heiligen den Thieren im Lande.

Sie haben Blut vergossen vmb Jerusalem her wie Wasser / vnd war niemand der begrub.

Wir sind vnsern Nachbarn ein schmach worden / Ein Spot vnd Hohn / denen die vmb vns sind / HERR wie lange wiltu so gar zürnen / vnnd deinen eyffer wie Fewr brennen lassen?

Schüt deinen grim auff die Heyden / die dich nicht kennen / Vnd auff die Königreiche die deinen Namen nicht anruffen.

Denn sie haben Jacob auff gefressen / vnd seine Heuser verwüstet.

Gedencke nicht an vnser vorige Missethat / laß bald deine Barmhertzigkeit vber vns grösser seyn / denn wir sind fast dünne worden.

Hilff vns Gott vnsers Heils / vmb deines Namens ehre willen / errette vns vnd vergib vns vnser Sünde vmb deines Namens willen.

Warumb sollen die Heyden sagen / wo ist nu jhr Gott? Las vnter den Heyden für vnsern Augen kund werden die rache des Bluts deiner Knechte das vergossen ist.

Las für dich kommen das seufftzen der Gefangenen / nach deinem grossen Arm behalt vbrig die Kinder des Todes.

Vnnd vergilt vnsern Nachbarn siebenfeltig in jhrem Schos / jhr schmach damit sie dich HERR geschmeht haben.

Wir aber dein Volck vnnd Schaf deiner Weyde dancken dir ewiglich / vnd verkündigen deinen Rhum für vnd für.

Ein gemein Gebet sich Gott zu ergeben in allerley sachen / Psalm. 25.

ZV dir HERR erhebe ich meine Seele.

Mein GOtt ich hoffe auff dich / las mich nicht zu schanden werden / daß sich meine Feind nicht frewen vber mich.

Denn keiner wird zu schanden der deiner erharret / Es müssen aber zu schanden werden die ohn vrsachen verschmehen.

HERR zeige mir deine Wege / vnnd lere mich deine Steige.

Leite mich in deiner warheit vnd lehre mich / denn du bist der Gott meines Heils / täglich harre ich dein.

Gedencke HERR an deine Barmhertzigkeit vnd an deine Güte / die von der Welt her gewesen ist.

Gedencke nicht der Sünde meiner jugent vnd meiner Vbertrettung / gedencke aber nach deiner Barmhertzigkeit vmb deiner güte willen.

Der HERR ist gut vnd recht / darumb wird er die Sünder vnterweisen auff dem Wege.

Er leitet die Elenden recht / vnd leret die Elenden seinen Weg.

Alle Steige des HERRN sind güte / vnd trewe / denen die seinen Bund vnnd Zeugnis behüten.

Vmb deines Namens willen HERR sey gnedig meiner Missethat / die da gros ist.

Wer ist der / der den HERRN fürchtet? Er wird jhn vnterweisen den Weg den er erwelet.

Seine Seele wird wonen im guten / vnd sein Same wird das Land besitzen.

Das Geheimnis des HERRN ist vnter denen die jhn fürchten / vnnd seinen Bund wird er sie wissen lassen.

Meine Augen sehen stets auff den HERRN / denn er wird meinen Fuß aus dem Netze ziehen.

Wende dich zu mir vnd sey mir gnedig / Denn ich bin einsam vnd elend.

Die angst meines Hertzen ist gros / füre mich aus meinen nöthen.

Sihe an mein jammer vnnd elend / vnd nim weg alle meine Sünde.

Sihe / daß meiner Feinde so viel ist / vnd mit freuelem Haß hassen sie mich.

Beware meine Seele vnnd errette mich / las mich nicht zu schanden werden / denn ich trawe auff dich.

Schlecht vnd recht behüte mich / denn ich harre dein.

Gott erlöse Israel / aus alle seiner not.

Der 10. Psalm wider den Antichrist vnd sein Reich zu beten.

HERR warumb trittestu so ferne? verbirgest dich zur zeit der not.

Wenn der Gottlose vberhand kriegt / mus sich leiden der Arme / sie treiben jhren mutwillen / wie sie es fürnehmen.

Denn der Gottlose rhümet sich wie es jhm gelüst / vnd der Geitzige segenet sich vnd lestert den HERRN.

Der Gottlose / weil sein zorn fort gehet / fraget er nach niemand / alle seine anschlege sind ohn Gott.

Er treibet sein thun immerdar.

Dein Gerichte sind hoch von jhm / er handelt trotzig mit seinen Feinden.

Er spricht in seinem Hertzen / ich werde nimmermehr vmbgestossen werden / es wird nicht noth haben.

Sein Mund ist voll fluchens / lists vnd trugs / vnter seiner Zungen ist mühe vnd arbeit.

Er sitzt auff der Laur in den Höffen / er erwürget die Vnschüldigen heimlich / Seine Augen haben acht auff den armen hauffen.

Er lauret jm verborgen / wie ein Lew in der Hüle / Er lauret daß er den Elenden erhasche / vnd erhaschet jhn / wenn er jhn in sein Netze zeucht.

Er zuschlegt vnd krümpt vnnd fellet den armen hauffen mit seiner gewalt.

Er spricht in seinem Hertzen / Gott hats vergessen / er hat sein Antlitz verborgen / er sihets nicht mehr.

Stehe auff HERR Gott / erhebe deine Hand / vergis der Elenden nicht.

Warumb sol der Gottlose Gott lestern / vnd sprechen in seinem Hertzen / du fragest nicht darnach?

Du sihest ja / denn du schawest das Elend vnd Jammer / daß dirs in die Hend geben werde / der arme hauffe wirds dir heimstellen. Du bist der Waisen helffer.

Zubrich den Arm des Gottlosen / vnd suche den bösen / so wird man sein Gottlos wesen nimmer finden.

Der HERR ist König immer vnnd ewiglich / jhr Heyden werdet aus seinem Lande vmbkommen.

Das verlangen der Elenden hörestu HERR / jhr Hertz wird sich richten / daß dein Ohre drauff mercke.

Daß du recht schaffest dem Waisen vnd Armen / daß der Mensch nicht mehr freuel sey auff Erden.

Sermon von der Betrachtung des heiligen Leydens Christi.

ZVm Ersten / bedencken etlich das Leyden Christi also / daß sie vber die Jüden zornig werden / singen vnnd schelten vber den armen Judas / vnd lassens also gnug seyn / gleich wie sie gewonet andere Leute zu klagen vnd jhre Widersacher verdammen vnd versprechen. Das möcht wol nicht Christus Leyden / sondern Judas vnd der Jüden bößheit bedacht heissen.

Zum Andern / haben etlich angezeigt mancherley Nutz vnd Frucht / so aus Christus Leyden betrachtung kommen / Dazu gehet jrre ein Spruch Alberto zugeschriebẽ / daß es besser sey Christus Leyden ein mal oben hin vberdacht / denn ob man ein gantz Jar fastet / alle tag einen Psalter betet etc. Dem folgen sie blind dahin / vnd geraten eben wider die rechte Frucht des Leydens Christi / denn sie das jhre darinnen suchen / Darumb tragen sie sich mit Bildelein vnd Büchelein / Brieffen vnd Creutzen / auch etliche so ferne faren / daß sie sich für Wasser / Eysen / Fewr / vnd allerley ferligkeit zu sichern vermeynen / vnd also Christus Leyden ein vnleyden in jhn wircken sol / wider seine Art vnd Natur.

Zum Dritten / haben sie ein mitleiden mit Christo jhn zu klagen vnd zu beweinen / als einen vnschüldigen Menschen / gleich wie die Weiber / die Christo von Jerusalem nachfolgeten / vnnd von jhm gestrafft wurden / sie solten sich selbst beweinen vnd jhre Kinder / der art sind / die mitten in der Passion weit ausreissen / vnd von dem Abscheid Christi zu Bethanien / vnnd von der Jungfrawen Marien schmertzen / viel eintragen / vnnd kommen auch nicht weiter. Da kömpt es / daß man die Passion so viel Stunde verzeucht / weis Gott / ob es mehr zum schlaffen oder zum wachen erdacht ist. In diese Rotte gehören auch die / die gelernet haben / wie grosse Frucht die heilige Messe habe / vnd jhrer einfeltigkeit nach / achten sie es gnug / wie sie die Messe hören / dahin man vns führet / durch etliche Lehrer Sprüche / daß die Messe / opere operati, non opere operantis, von jhr selber / auch ohn vnser verdienst vnd wirde / angenehme sey / gerade / als were das gnug / So doch die Messe nicht vmb jhr selbst wirdigkeit / sondern vns zu wirdigen / ist eingesetzt / Sonderlich vmb des Leydens Christi willen zu bedencken / denn wo das nicht geschicht / so macht man aus der Messe ein leiblich vnfruchtbar Werck / es sey an jm selbst wie gut es mag / Denn was hilfft dichs / daß Gott Gott ist? Was ists nütze / daß essen vnd trincken an jhm selbst gesund vnnd gut ist / wenn es dir nicht gesund ist? Vnd zubesorgen ist / daß man es mit vielen Messen nicht besser macht / wenn man nicht die rechte Frucht darinnen suchet.

Zum Vierden / die bedencken das Leyden Christi recht / die jhn also ansehen / daß sie hertzlich dafür erschrecken / vnd jhr Gewissen gleich sincket in ein verzagen. Das erschrecken sol daher kommen / daß du sihest den gestrengen zorn vnnd vnwanckelbarn ernst Gottes / vber die Sünde vnnd Sündere / daß er auch seinem eigen allerliebsten Sohn hat nicht wollen die Sünde los geben / er thete denn für sie eine solche schwere Busse / als er spricht durch Isaiam 53. Cap. Vmb der Sünde willen meines Volcks / habe ich jhn geschlagen.

Was wil dem Sünder begegen / wenn das liebste Kind also geschlagen wird? Es muß ein vnaußsprechlicher vntreglicher ernst da seyn / dem so ein grosse vnmeßliche Person entgegen gehet / vnd dafür leydet vnd stirbt / Vnd wenn du recht tieff bedenckest / daß Gottes Sohn / die ewige Weißheit des Vaters / selbst leydet / so wirstu wol erschrecken / vnd je mehr je tieffer.

Zum Fünfften / daß du dir tieff einbildest / vnd gar nicht zweiffelst du seyest der Christum also martert / denn deine Sünde habens gewißlich gethan / Also schlug vnd erschreckt S. Peter Actor. 2. die Jüden / gleich wie ein Donnerschlag / da er zu jhn allen in gemein sprach / Ir habt jhn gecreutziget / daß drey tausent denselbigen tag erschreckt vnnd zappelnd / zu den Aposteln sprachen / O lieben Brüder / was sollen wir nu thun? Darumb wenn du die Negel Christi sihest durch seine Hende dringen / gleube sicher / daß deine Werck sind / sihestu seine dorne Kron / gleube / es sind deine böse gedancken / etc.

Zum Sechsten / nu sihe / wo Christus eine Dorne sticht / da solten dich billich mehr denn hundert tausent Dörne stechen / ja ewiglich solten dich also vnd viel erger stechen. Wo Christo ein Nagel seine Hende oder Füsse durch martert / soltestu ewig solche vnd noch erger Negel erleyden / also denn auch geschehen wird / denen / die Christus Leyden an jhn lassen verloren werden. Denn dieser ernste Spiegel Christus wird nicht liegen noch schimpffen / was er anzeigt / muß also sein vberschwencklich.

Zum Siebenden / ein solch erschrecken nam S. Bernhardus daraus / daß er sprach / Ich meynet / ich were sicher / wuste nichts von dem ewigen Vrteil / das im Himmel vber mich gangen war / bis daß ich sahe / daß der einige Gottes Sohn / sich mein erbarmet / erfür trit / vnd in dasselb Vrtheil sich für mich ergibt / Awe / es ist mir nicht mehr zu spielen vnnd sicher zu seyn / wenn ein solcher ernst da hinden ist. Also gebot er den Weibern / Weinet nicht vber mich / sondern vber euch selbst vnnd vber ewre Kinder / vnd sagt vrsach / denn thut man also dem grünen Holtz / was wil mit dem dürren geschehen? Als solt er sagen / aus meiner Marter lernet / was jhr verdienet / vnd wie es euch gehen sol. Denn hie ist es war / daß ein klein Brecklein geschlagen wird / dem grossen Hund zum schrecken. Also hat der Prophet auch gesagt / es sollen sich selb vber jhn klagen alle geschlecht auff Erden / spricht nicht / sie sollen jhn klagen / sondern sich selb vber jhn klagen. Also erschracken auch die Actor. 2. wie oben gesagt / daß sie zu den Aposteln sagten / O Brüder / was sollen wir thun?

Item / also singet die Kirche / ich wil fleissig daran gedencken / vnd so wird in mir verschmachten meine Seele.

Zum Achten / in diesem Punct muß man sich gar wol vben / denn fast der gantze nutz des Leydens Christi gar daran gelegen ist / daß der Mensch zu seins selbst erkentnis komme / vnd für jhm selbst erschrecke vnd zu schlagen werde. Vnd wo der Mensch nicht dahin kömmet / ist jhm das Leyden Christi noch nicht recht nütz worden / denn das eigene natürlich Werck des

Leydens Christi ist / daß es jhm den Menschen gleichförmig mache / daß / wie Christus an Leib vnd Seele jemmerlich in vnsern Sünden gemartert wird / müssen wir auch jhm nach also gemartert werden im Gewissen von vnsern Sünden. Es gehet auch hie nicht zu mit vielen Worten / sondern mit tieffen gedancken / vnd gros achtung der Sünden. Nim ein Gleichnis / Wenn ein Vbeltheter würde gerichtet / darumb / daß er eines Fürsten oder Königes Kind erwürget hette / vnd du sicher werest vnnd singest vnd spiltest / als werestu gantz vnschuldig / bis daß man dich schrecklich angriffe / vnd dich vberwünde / du hettest den Vbeltheter dazu vermöcht.

Sihe / hie würde dir die Welt zu enge werden / sonderlich / wenn das Gewissen dir auch abfiele / also viel engster sol dir werden / wenn du Christus Leyden bedenckest / denn die Vbeltheter die Jüden / wie wol sie nu Gott gerichtet vnd vertrieben hat / sind sie doch deiner Sünde Diener gewest / vnd du bist warhafftig der durch sein Sünde Gott seinen Sohn erwürget vnnd gecreutziget hat / wie gesagt ist.

Zum Neunden / wer sich so hart vnnd dürre empfindet / daß jhn Christus Leyden nicht also erschreckt vnd in sein Erkentnis führet / der sol sich fürchten / denn da wird nicht anders aus / dem Bilde vnd Leyden Christi mustu gleichförmig werden / es geschehe in dem Leben oder in der Hellen / zum wenigsten mustu am sterben in das erschrecken fallen / vnnd zittern / beben vnd alles fühlen / was Christus am Creutz leydet. Nu ist es grawsam am Todbet des zu warten / darumb soltu Gott bitten / daß er dein Hertze erweiche / vnd lasse dich Fruchtbarlich Christus Leyden bedencken / denn es auch nicht müglich ist / daß Christus Leyden von vns selber müge bedacht werden gründlich / Gott sencke es denn in vnser Hertz / auch noch diese Betrachtung noch keine andere Lehre dir darumb geben wird / daß du solt frisch von dir selbst darauff fallen / dasselbe zu volbringen / sondern zuuor Gottes Gnaden suchen vnd begeren / daß du es durch seine Gnade vnd nicht durch dich selbst volnbrengest / Denn daher ist kommen / daß die oben angezeigt sind / Christus Leyden nicht recht handeln / denn sie Gott nicht darumb anruffen / sondern aus jhrem eigen vermügen / eigene weise dazu erfinden / gantz Menschlich vnd vnfruchtbarlich damit vmbgehen.

Zum Zehenden / wer also Gottes Leyden / einen Tag / eine Stunde / ja ein Viertel stund bedenckt / von demselben wollen wir frey sagen / daß es besser sey / denn ob er ein gantz Jahr fastet / alle Tag einen Psalter betet / ja daß er hundert Messen höret / denn dieses bedencken wandelt den Menschen wesentlich / vnnd gar nahe wie die Tauffe widerumb newe gebiert. Hie wircket das Leyden Christi sein rechtes natürlich edles Werck / erwürget den alten Adam / vertreibet allen Lust / Freude vnnd Zuuersicht / die man haben mag von Creaturen / gleich wie Christus von allen / auch von Gott verlassen war.

Zum Eylfften / dieweil denn solch Werck / nicht in vnser Hand ist / so geschicht es / daß wir es zu weilen bitten / vnd erlangen es doch nicht zu der Stunde / dennoch sol man nicht verzagen oder ablassen. Zu weilen kömpt es / daß wir nicht darumb bitten / wie Gott denn weis vnd wil / denn es wil frey seyn vnnd vngefangen / da wird denn der Mensch betrübt in seinem Gewissen / vnnd mißfelt jhm selbst vbel in seinem Leben.

Vnd mag wol seyn / daß er nicht weis / daß Christus Leyden in jhm solchs wircket / daran er villeicht nicht gedenckt. Gleich wie die andern fast an Christus Leyden gedencken / vnnd doch nicht in jhr selbst Erkentnis draus kommen. Bey jenen ist das Leyden Christi heimlich vnnd warhafftig / Bey diesen scheinbarlich vnnd betrieglich. Vnnd der weise nach / GOtt offt das Blat vmbwendet / daß die nicht das Leyden Christi bedencken / die es bedencken / vnnd die Messe hören / die sie nicht hören / vnd die nicht hören / die sie hören.

Zum Zwölfften / bißher sind wir in der Marterwochen gewesen / vnnd haben den Karfreytag recht begangen / Nu kommen wir zu dem Ostertag vnnd Aufferstehung Christi. Wenn der Mensch also seiner gewar worden / vnd gantz erschreckt in jhm selber ist / muß man acht haben / daß die Sünde nicht also im Gewissen bleiben / es würde gewis ein lauter verzweyffeln daraus. Sondern gleich wie sie aus Christo geflossen vnd erkand worden sind / so muß man sie wider auff jhn schütten / vnd das Gewissen ledig machen.

Drumb sihe ja zu / daß du nicht thust / wie die verkerten Menschen / die sich mit jhren Sünden im Hertzen beissen vnnd fressen / vnd streben darnach / daß sie durch gute Werck / oder gnugthuung / hin vnd her lauffen / oder auch mit Ablas sich heraus arbeiten / vnnd der Sünden los werden mügen / das vnmüglich ist / vnd leider eingerissen ist solche falsche zuuersicht der gnugthuung vnd Walfarten.

Zum Dreyzehenden / denn wirffestu aber von dir deine Sünde auff Christum / wenn du festiglich gleubest / daß seine Wunden vnd Leyden / sind deine Sünde / daß er sie trage vnd bezale. Wie Esaias 53. sagt: Gott hat vnser aller Sünde auff jhn gelegt. Vnd S. Petrus / Er hat vnser Sünde an seinem Leibe getragen / auff dem Holtze des Creutzes. Sanct Paulus / Gott hat jhn gemacht zu einem Sünder / für vns / auff daß wir durch jhn rechtfertig würden.

Auff diese vnd der gleichen Sprüchen mustu mit gantzem wag / dich verlassen / so viel mehr / so herter dich dein Gewissen martert. Denn wo du das nicht thust / sondern durch deine rewe vnd gnugthuung / dich vermissest zu stillen / so wirstu nimmer mehr zu ruge kommen / vnd must zu letzt doch verzweyffeln.

Denn vnser Sünde wenn wir sie in vnserm Gewissen handeln / vnnd bey vns lassen bleiben / in vnserm Hertzen ansehen / so sind sie vns viel zustarck / vnd leben ewiglich. Aber wenn wir sehen / daß sie auff Christo ligen / vnd er sie vberwindet durch seine Aufferstehung / vnd wir das kecklich gleuben / so sind sie tod vnd zu nichte worden. Denn auff Christo mochten sie nicht bleiben / sie sind durch sein Aufferstehen / verschlungen / vnd sihest jtzt keine Wunden / keine Schmertzen an jhm / das ist / keiner Sünden anzeigung.

Also spricht S. Paulus / daß Christus gestorben ist vmb vnser Sünden / aufferstanden vmb vnser Gerechtigkeit / das ist / in seinem Leyden macht er vnser Sünde bekand / vnd erwürget sie also / aber durch sein Aufferstehen macht er vns gerecht / vnd los von allen Sünden / so wir anders dasselb gleuben.

Zum Vierzehenden / wenn du nu nicht magst gleuben / so soltu wie vorhin gesagt / Gott darumb bitten / denn dieser Punct ist auch allein in Gottes Hand frey / vnd wird auch gleich geben / zu weilen öffentlich / zu weilen heimlich / wie von dem Punct des Leydens gesagt ist. Magst dich aber dazu reitzen.

Zum Ersten nicht das Leyden Christi mehr an zusehen (denn das hat nu sein Werck gethan vnnd dich erschreckt) sondern durch hindringen / vnd ansehen sein freundlich Hertz / wie voller Lieb das gegen dir ist / die jhn dazu zwingt / daß er dein Gewissen vnd deine Sünde so schwerlich tregt. Also wird dir das Hertz gegen jhm süsse / vnnd die Zuuersicht des Glaubens gestercket.

Darnach weiter / steig durch Christus Hertz zu Gottes Hertz / vnd sihe / daß Christus die Liebe dir nicht hette mocht erzeigen / wenn es Gott nicht hette gewolt in ewiger liebe haben / dem Christus mit seiner Liebe gegen dir / gehorsam ist. Da wirstu finden das Göttlich gut Vater Hertz / vnd wie Christus sagt / also durch Christum zum Vater gezogen. Da wirstu denn verstehen den Spruch Christi / Also hatt Gott die Welt geliebt / daß er seinen einigen Sohn vbergeben hat etc. Das heist denn Gott recht erkennet / wenn man jhn nicht bey der Gewalt oder Weißheit (die erschrecklich sind) sondern bey der Güte vnd Liebe ergreifft. Da kan der Glaube vnnd Zuuersicht denn bestehen / vnnd ist der Mensch also warhafftig new in Gott geborn.

Zum Funffzehenden / wenn also dein Hertz in Christo bestetiget ist / vnnd nu den Sünden feind worden bist / aus Liebe / nicht aus Furcht der Pein. So sol hinfürter das Leyden Christi auch ein Exempel seyn deines gantzen Lebens / vnd nu auff eine andere weise dasselb bedencken. Denn bißher haben wir es bedacht / als ein Sacrament / das in vns wirckt / vnd wir leyden / Nu bedencken wir es / daß wir auch wircken / nemlich also.

So dich ein Weetag oder Kranckheit beschweret / dencke / wie geringe das sey gegen der Dornen Kronen vnnd Negeln Christi.

So du must thun oder lassen was dir wider ist / dencke / wie Christus gebunden vnd gefangen / hin vnd her gefürt wird.

Ficht dich die Hoffart an / sihe wie dein HERR verspottet vnd mit den Schechern verachtet wird.

Stöst dich Vnkeuscheit vnd Lust an / gedencke / wie bitterlich Christus sein zartes Fleisch zugeisselt / durchstochen vnd durch schlagen wird.

Ficht dich Haß vnd Neid an / oder rache suchst / gedencke / wie Christus mit vielen Threnen vnd ruffen / für dich vnnd alle seine Feinde gebeten hat / der sich wol billicher gerochen hette.

So dich Trübsal oder waserley Widerwertigkeit / Leiblich oder Geistlich bekümmert / sterck dein Hertz vnd sprich: Ey warumb solt ich denn nicht auch ein klein

Betrübnis leyden / so mein HERR im Garten Blut für Angst vnnd Betrübnis schwitzt? Ein fauler vnnd schendlicher Knecht were das / der auff dem Bette ligen wolt / wenn sein Herr in todes Nöten streiten muß.

Sihe / also wider alle Laster vnd Vntugend / kan man in Christo Stercke vnd Labsal finden. Vnd das ist recht Christus Leyden bedacht / das sind die Früchte seines Leydens / vnd wer also sich drinnen vbet / der thut besser / denn daß er alle Passion hörete / oder alle Messe lesen. Daß heissen auch rechte Christen / die Christus Leyden vnd Namen also in jhr Leben ziehen / wie S. Paulus sagt / Die da Christo zugehören / die haben jhr Fleisch mit allen seinen Begierden gecreutziget mit Christo. Denn Christus Leyden muß nicht mit Worten vnd Schein / sondern mit dem Leben vnd warhafftig gehandelt werden.

So vermanet vns S. Paulus / Gedenckt an den / der einen solchen Widerstreit von den bösen Menschen erlitten hat / auff daß jhr gestercket vnd nicht Mat werdet in ewrem Gemüte. Vnd S. Petrus / Wie Christus in seinem Cörper gelitten hat / so solt jhr euch mit solchen Gedancken rüsten vnd stercken.

Aber diese Betrachtung ist aus der weise kommen vnd seltzam worden / der doch die Episteln S. Paulus vnd Petrus vol sind. Wir haben das wesen in einen schein verwandelt / vnnd das Leyden Christi bedencken / allein auff die Brieffe vnd an die Wende gemalet.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.12.6;Ps.12.7 — Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, now I will arise, says the Lord; I will set him in safety, and he will not be disappointed. Ps.12.7 — The words of the LORD are pure words, silver refined in a crucible on the earth, purified seven times.
  2. ↩Ps.67.6 — The peoples have praised you, God; the peoples have praised you, all of them.
  3. ↩Ps.51.2 — Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
  4. ↩Ps.51.6;Ps.51.8 — Against you, you alone, I have sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you speak, and blameless when you judge. Ps.51.8 — Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden places You will teach me wisdom.
  5. ↩Ps.51.13 — Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
  6. ↩Ps.51.16;Ps.51.18 — Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, God of my salvation; and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. Ps.51.18 — For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; a burnt offering You do not desire.
  7. ↩Ps.103.1;Ps.103.3;Ps.103.2 — Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Ps.103.3 — who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases Ps.103.2 — Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
  8. ↩Ps.103.2;Ps.103.3-Ps.103.4 — Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Ps.103.3 — who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases Ps.103.4 — who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy
  9. ↩Ps.103.3-Ps.103.4 — who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases Ps.103.4 — who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy
  10. ↩Ps.103.6 — The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
  11. ↩Ps.103.6;Ps.103.7;Ps.103.8 — The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. Ps.103.7 — He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. Ps.103.8 — The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
  12. ↩Ps.103.9 — He will not always contend with us, nor will he keep his anger forever.
  13. ↩Ps.103.12 — As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
  14. ↩Ps.103.12 — As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
  15. ↩Ps.103.15;Ps.103.15 — As for mortals, their days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so they blossom. Ps.103.15 — As for mortals, their days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so they blossom.
  16. ↩Ps.103.15;Ps.103.17 — As for mortals, their days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so they blossom. Ps.103.17 — But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children.
  17. ↩Ps.103.16 — For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
  18. ↩Ps.103.19 — The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.
  19. ↩Ps.103.20 — Bless the LORD, you his angels, mighty in strength, who do his word, listening for the voice of his word.
  20. ↩Ps.20.3 — May he send you help from the sanctuary, and from Zion sustain you.
  21. ↩Ps.20.6 — Now we will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will raise our banners. The LORD will fulfill all your petitions.
  22. ↩Ps.20.6 — Now we will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will raise our banners. The LORD will fulfill all your petitions.
  23. ↩Ps.20.8;Ps.20.9 — These trust in chariots, and these in horses, but we call upon the name of the LORD our God. Ps.20.9 — They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stand upright.
  24. ↩Ps.20.10 — LORD, save! May the King answer us when we call.
  25. ↩Ps.79.2 — They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the sky, the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the earth.
  26. ↩Ps.79.3 — They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury them.
  27. ↩Jer.10.25 — Pour out your wrath upon the nations that do not know you, and upon the families that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob, and consumed him, and laid waste his pasture.
  28. ↩Ps.79.6-Ps.79.8 — Pour out your wrath upon the nations that do not know you, and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon your name. Ps.79.7 — For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place. Ps.79.8 — Do not hold against us the sins of former times; let your compassion come swiftly to meet us, for we are brought very low.
  29. ↩Ps.79.9;Ps.79.9 — Help us, O God of our salvation, for the sake of the glory of your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for your name's sake. Ps.79.9 — Help us, O God of our salvation, for the sake of the glory of your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for your name's sake.
  30. ↩Ps.79.10 — Why should the nations say, \"Where is their God?\" Let the vengeance for the shed blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes.
  31. ↩Ps.79.11 — May the groaning of the prisoner come before you; according to the greatness of your arm, spare those appointed to die.
  32. ↩Ps.79.12;Ps.79.12 — And repay our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom for the reproach with which they have reproached you, O Lord. Ps.79.12 — And repay our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom for the reproach with which they have reproached you, O Lord.
  33. ↩Ps.25.5 — Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.
  34. ↩Ps.25.6 — Remember your compassions, LORD, and your covenant-loves, for they are from eternity.
  35. ↩Ps.25.7;Ps.25.6 — Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O LORD. Ps.25.6 — Remember your compassions, LORD, and your covenant-loves, for they are from eternity.
  36. ↩Ps.25.8 — Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
  37. ↩Ps.25.9 — He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
  38. ↩Ps.25.10 — All the ways of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
  39. ↩Ps.25.11 — For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, for it is great.
  40. ↩Ps.25.12 — Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
  41. ↩Ps.25.12 — Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
  42. ↩Ps.25.12-Ps.25.14 — Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way he should choose. Ps.25.13 — His soul shall dwell in prosperity, and his offspring shall inherit the land. Ps.25.14 — The counsel of the LORD is for those who fear him, and his covenant is to make them know him.
  43. ↩Ps.25.14 — The counsel of the LORD is for those who fear him, and his covenant is to make them know him.
  44. ↩Ps.25.14 — The counsel of the LORD is for those who fear him, and his covenant is to make them know him.
  45. ↩Ps.25.16;Ps.25.16 — Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am alone and afflicted. Ps.25.16 — Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am alone and afflicted.
  46. ↩Ps.25.16;Ps.25.18;Ps.25.17 — Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am alone and afflicted. Ps.25.18 — Look upon my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. Ps.25.17 — The troubles of my heart have grown wide; bring me out of my distresses.
  47. ↩Ps.25.18 — Look upon my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.
  48. ↩Ps.25.21;Ps.25.20 — Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. Ps.25.20 — Guard my soul and deliver me; let me not be put to shame, for I have taken refuge in you.
  49. ↩Ps.10.1 — Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
  50. ↩Ps.10.1;Ps.10.2 — Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Ps.10.2 — In the arrogance of the wicked, the poor are set ablaze; they are caught in the schemes they have devised.
  51. ↩Ps.10.4 — The wicked, in the pride of his face, does not seek him; God is not in all his schemes.
  52. ↩Ps.10.5 — His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are far beyond him; all his adversaries he snorts at.
  53. ↩Ps.10.8 — He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless.
  54. ↩Ps.10.12 — Rise up, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand. Do not forget the afflicted.
  55. ↩Ps.10.13 — Why does the wicked one despise God? He says in his heart, "You will not call to account."
  56. ↩Ps.10.17 — You have heard the longing of the humble, O LORD; you will establish their hearts; you will incline your ear.
  57. ↩Isa.53.8 — By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and who among his generation considered that he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
  58. ↩Matt.27.29;Mark.15.17;John.19.2 — And they twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' Mark.15.17 — And they clothed him in purple, and after twisting together a crown of thorns, they placed it on him. John.19.2 — And the soldiers, having woven a crown of thorns, placed it on his head, and they clothed him in a purple robe.
  59. ↩John.20.25;Ps.22.16 — So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord.' But he said to them, 'Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.' Ps.22.16 — My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; and you lay me down in the dust of death.
  60. ↩Luke.23.28 — But turning toward them Jesus said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; but weep for yourselves and for your children."
  61. ↩Luke.23.31 — For if they do these things in the green wood, what will happen in the dry?
  62. ↩Zech.12.10;Rev.1.7 — And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication; and they will look to me, the one they pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves bitterly for a firstborn. Rev.1.7 — Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Yes, Amen.
  63. ↩Acts.2.37 — Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
  64. ↩Acts.2.37 — Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
  65. ↩Acts.2.23 — This man, handed over by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you, by the hands of lawless men, crucified and killed.
  66. ↩Rom.8.29 — For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
  67. ↩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.
  68. ↩1Pet.2.24 — He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness — by whose wounds you were healed.
  69. ↩2Cor.5.21 — God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
  70. ↩1Cor.15.54 — 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.'
  71. ↩Rom.4.25 — who was handed over because of our trespasses and was raised because of our justification.
  72. ↩John.14.6;John.6.44 — Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.' John.6.44 — No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
  73. ↩John.3.16 — For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.
  74. ↩John.3.3-John.3.7 — Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John.3.4 — Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" John.3.5 — Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John.3.6 — What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. John.3.7 — Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
  75. ↩Matt.27.29;Mark.15.17;John.19.2 — And they twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' Mark.15.17 — And they clothed him in purple, and after twisting together a crown of thorns, they placed it on him. John.19.2 — And the soldiers, having woven a crown of thorns, placed it on his head, and they clothed him in a purple robe.
  76. ↩John.20.25 — So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord.' But he said to them, 'Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.'
  77. ↩Matt.27.38-Matt.27.44;Mark.15.27-Mark.15.32;Luke.23.32-Luke.23.39 — Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. Matt.27.39 — And those who passed by were hurling insults at him, shaking their heads Matt.27.40 — You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross! Matt.27.41 — In the same way, the chief priests, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, Matt.27.42 — He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. Matt.27.43 — He trusts in God; let God rescue him now, if he desires him — for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' Matt.27.44 — At the same time, the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. Mark.15.27 — And with him they crucify two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Mark.15.29 — And those who passed by were hurling insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, 'Aha! You who would tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days—' Mark.15.30 — Save yourself, and come down from the cross! Mark.15.31 — In the same way, the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "He saved others; himself he cannot save." Mark.15.32 — Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe. And those who were crucified with him reviled him. Luke.23.32 — Two others also, criminals, were led away with him to be executed. Luke.23.33 — And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals—one on his right and one on his left. 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. Luke.23.35 — And the people stood watching, and the rulers also were mocking him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." Luke.23.36 — The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him sour wine, Luke.23.37 — and saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!' Luke.23.38 — There was also an inscription over him: 'This is the King of the Jews.' Luke.23.39 — One of the criminals who were hanged there kept heaping insults on him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
  78. ↩Heb.5.7 — In the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
  79. ↩Luke.23.34;Matt.5.44 — Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided his garments by casting lots. Matt.5.44 — But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
  80. ↩1Pet.2.23 — When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.
  81. ↩Heb.12.3 — For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against yourselves, so that you may not grow weary, being exhausted in your souls.
  82. ↩1Pet.4.1 — Since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
  83. ↩Heb.12.3;1Pet.4.1 — For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against yourselves, so that you may not grow weary, being exhausted in your souls. 1Pet.4.1 — Since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Early modern erhebung can mean exaltation, advancement, or lifting up; exaltation keeps the petition for the Gospel’s public rise and honor without adding later confessional color.
  2. 2 ↩Early modern 'vneinigem Hertzen' is the double/divided heart of Ps 12:2; rendered 'divided heart' for plain contemporary sense rather than archaic 'double heart.'
  3. 3 ↩Early modern 'erhebung des Glaubens' can mean elevation/strengthening/increase of faith; 'uplifting' keeps the height metaphor of Erhebung without forcing a later dogmatic gloss.
  4. 4 ↩Liturgical/musical pause mark from the Hebrew psalms; retained in conventional English form rather than paraphrased.
  5. 5 ↩Sela is the traditional psalm marker (Selah); retained as a liturgical/musical pause rather than paraphrased.
  6. 6 ↩Early New High German 'Wesentlichen … Erbsünde' is taken as two related headings of sin: essential (actual/substantial) sin and original sin. 'gantzen' is understood as the whole of sin, supplied by context from the following apposition.
  7. 7 ↩Early modern Isopen is Isop/hyssop (ritual purification plant); rendered as hyssop.
  8. 8 ↩Wolthat (Wohltat) covers benefit, kindness, and good deed; 'kindness' keeps the devotional sense of God's favors without sounding bureaucratic.
  9. 9 ↩Source reads "vber vns seyn"; the standard Luther Psalm 103:12 reading is "von uns sein" (put/remove from us). Rendered in that sense; the surface "vber" may be a witness/orthography issue.
  10. 10 ↩Early modern German 'Gemecht' (Luther's 'Gemächt') means our made frame or creaturely composition, not 'might/power'.
  11. 11 ↩Early modern German 'Regiment' means rule/governance; 'weltlich Oberkeit' is the standard Reformation term for secular/civil magistrates (not 'worldly' in a pejorative sense).
  12. 12 ↩Speißopffer is the meal/grain offering (Speiseopfer); Brandopffer is the burnt offering. Fett seyn renders the wish that the burnt offering be rich/acceptable (the fat portion offered to God), not merely greasy.
  13. 13 ↩ENHG 'fast dünne worden' is Luther's rendering of the psalm's 'brought very low / reduced to thinness'; 'fast' here intensifies (very) rather than meaning 'almost'.
  14. 14 ↩Subject of erwelet ('chooses') is ambiguous between the LORD (the way God chooses for him) and the God-fearing person (the way he chooses). Standard psalm sense takes the LORD as teacher and chooser of the path.
  15. 15 ↩Early Modern German 'Beware' is read as 'Bewahre' (guard/preserve), not English 'beware'; matches the Psalm petition sense and Luther’s usual rendering.
  16. 16 ↩Early modern German 'Schlecht und recht' is a fixed pair meaning integrity/simplicity and uprightness (not modern 'bad and right'); it renders the psalm’s tom/yosher sense.
  17. 17 ↩German continues without a second 'warumb'; the interrogative force is carried from s1. 'Not' rendered as need/distress rather than mere want.
  18. 18 ↩heimstellen (anheimstellen): leave with / commit to someone's care; rendered as 'entrust'. arme hauffe: the poor throng/multitude of the helpless, not a single 'poor man'.
  19. 19 ↩Early modern freuel = frevel: insolent wickedness / wanton outrage. Rendered wanton to keep the moral force of violent arrogance, not mere wrongdoing.
  20. 20 ↩Early NHG 'versprechen' here means to revile/curse/defame, not 'promise'.
  21. 21 ↩"Alberto" is almost certainly Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great); Luther treats the saying as misapplied popular ascription, not as authoritative teaching.
  22. 22 ↩"oben hin vberdacht" (obenhin überdacht) means a cursory, surface-level meditation, not a deep or thorough one; the force of the misused saying is that even a shallow pass at the Passion supposedly outranks long fasting and daily psalters.
  23. 23 ↩"vnleyden" is a pointed coinage: un-suffering / immunity to suffering. Luther's charge is that these people reverse the Passion's proper effect—conformity to the cross—into a charm against hardship.
  24. 24 ↩"Brieffen" may mean written charms, protective letters, or small devotional billets carried as amulets; rendered "letters" to keep the surface sense without over-specifying the exact object.
  25. 25 ↩The scholastic formula is kept in Latin: opere operato (by the work performed), non opere operantis (not by the work of the doer). Source prints 'opere operati'; standard form is 'opere operato'.
  26. 26 ↩Busse rendered as satisfaction (atoning payment/penance), not generic 'repentance'; Early New High German Busse here names the costly reparation Christ bears for sin.
  27. 27 ↩die Sünde los geben: idiomatic 'to let sin go / leave sin unpunished'; rendered 'let … go free of sin' to keep the force that God would not spare even the Son without satisfaction.
  28. 28 ↩Standalone print fragment Cap. completes the citation begun in s2 (Isaiam 53. Cap. = Isaiah chapter 53). Left as 'Chapter.' rather than silently merged into neighboring sentences.
  29. 29 ↩Early modern 'ernst' continues the previous section's 'ernst Gottes' (God's severity/stern seriousness against sin). Rendered as 'severity' rather than mere 'earnestness' to keep the juridical weight.
  30. 30 ↩'dem so ein grosse vnmeßliche Person entgegen gehet' is taken as the severity that Christ, the immeasurable Person, goes to meet (and for which He suffers and dies). The elliptical close 'je mehr je tieffer' is completed as 'the more deeply you think, the more so' from the preceding 'bedenckest… erschrecken'.
  31. 31 ↩Actor. is the early-modern German abbreviation for the Acts of the Apostles (Acta); the citation continues in the next sentence as '2.'
  32. 32 ↩Standalone print numeral completing the biblical reference begun in s1 as Actor. 2. (= Acts 2).
  33. 33 ↩zappelnd is a vivid physical image (thrashing/writhing); rendered as 'thrashing in distress' to keep Luther's bodily force without slang.
  34. 34 ↩ENHG 'an jhn lassen verloren werden' means to let Christ's Passion go to waste for oneself — fail to receive its saving benefit, not that the Passion itself is lost.
  35. 35 ↩ENHG 'schimpffen' here pairs with 'liegen' as jesting/making light, not primarily verbal abuse. 'vberschwencklich' = superabundantly / beyond measure.
  36. 36 ↩Brecklein (Bräcklein): a small hound/pup; proverb that a lesser is struck to warn a greater offender.
  37. 37 ↩Luther presses the reflexives: not merely lamenting Christ, but lamenting oneself in light of him (sich selb über ihn klagen).
  38. 38 ↩Actor = Acts (Acta Apostolorum), not theatrical actors; confirmed by s8's reference to the apostles.
  39. 39 ↩Bare section marker in the source; retained as printed.
  40. 40 ↩Early NHG 'zu schlagen werde' is taken as being struck/crushed in conscience (compunction), not physical beating; alternative would be 'be broken' or 'be cut to the heart.'
  41. 41 ↩Source sentence is truncated mid-phrase; the continuation begins the next section (Betbuechlein.1.7.138) with 'Leydens Christi ist...'. Translation stops at the supplied text without completing the thought.
  42. 42 ↩Continues the previous section's incomplete clause: 'denn das eigene natürlich Werck des…' ('for the proper natural work of…'). Rendered as a complete sense-unit with that carryover made explicit.
  43. 43 ↩'vermöcht' here means induced/moved the criminal to the deed (not merely 'enabled' in a modern technical sense).
  44. 44 ↩Luther continues the court parable from the previous section: the reader is not a bystander but the true culprit whose sin used the historical agents of the Passion. 'Diener deiner Sünde' is rendered 'servants of your sin' (instruments/agents of your sin), not mere personal servants.
  45. 45 ↩"es" in "denn es wil frey seyn vnnd vngefangen" most plausibly resumes the divine work (Werck) of Christ's Passion from the preceding point: the transforming gift will not be forced on demand by human petition. Rendered as "it wants to be free and unbound."
  46. 46 ↩ENHG 'fast' intensifies: not 'almost,' but nearly 'very much / intently' with 'an … gedenken.'
  47. 47 ↩'das Blat vmbwendet' is the idiom of turning a leaf/page—God reverses the outward ranking so that true Passion-meditation and true hearing of the Mass are often the opposite of appearances.
  48. 48 ↩"seiner gewar worden" is self-knowledge through Passion meditation (becoming aware of oneself), not mere factual notice; rendered as "come to know himself."
  49. 49 ↩"sie" continues "die Sünde" from s2: sins recognized through Christ's Passion ("aus Christo geflossen ... erkand") must be cast back on him ("wider auff jhn schütten"), not left to fester in the conscience.
  50. 50 ↩Early New High German gnugthuung is penitential satisfaction (making amends for sin by works), not modern emotional "satisfaction." Ablas is indulgence; Walfarten are pilgrimages.
  51. 51 ↩Source has «zu einem Sünder» (a sinner). The usual Pauline wording of 2 Cor 5:21 is «made him to be sin»; rendered here from the German as written, not from the Greek.
  52. 52 ↩Early NHG 'mit gantzem wag' = with full daring/bold venture of trust (from wagen); rendered as 'with complete boldness,' not mere casual confidence.
  53. 53 ↩'gnugthuung' (Genugtuung) is the technical penance term 'satisfaction' (making satisfaction for sin), not vague emotional contentment; Luther is warning against trusting one's own contrition and works of satisfaction instead of Christ's bearing of sin.
  54. 54 ↩'dich vermissest' = 'dich vermessen' (presume/undertake arrogantly), not modern 'miss/lack'.
  55. 55 ↩kecklich = boldly/confidently/stoutly; rendered 'boldly' for Luther's confident faith register.
  56. 56 ↩Gerechtigkeit here tracks the Pauline sense of justification/righteousness (Rom 4:25). Early NHG so wir anders dasselb gleuben is the stock proviso 'provided we believe it,' not 'if we believe otherwise.'
  57. 57 ↩Early New High German 'schwerlich' here means 'heavily/grievously,' not modern 'scarcely.' 'Freundlich Hertz' is Christ's kindly, gracious heart, not mere friendliness.
  58. 58 ↩Early New High German printed unit ends mid-clause at «ein klein»; the thought continues in Betbuechlein.1.7.160 with «Betrübnis leyden…» (suffer a little distress). Brackets mark the minimally supplied verb for sense; do not treat it as an independent complete sentence.
  59. 59 ↩"Passion" here means the Passion story/readings (and similar devotion), not emotion; "Messe lesen" means saying or attending Mass as a ritual act, set over against living the Passion's fruit.
  60. 60 ↩wesen / schein: essence or lived reality versus mere appearance or outward show. Brieffe: written pages/papers (not necessarily the apostolic epistles). Wende = Wände, walls.

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