Part 44 (1/2)

Dear Friends: We have heard the things which are necessary, as for instance, that the arded as a sacrifice[16] Then we considered the things which are left to our liberty, such as es We have treated these four subjects, and have said that in all these es, in particular,that they ought to be abolished if they are going to be worshi+ped, otherwise not, although I wish they were abolished everywhere because they are abused,--it is useless to deny it For whoever places an iines he has perforht idolatry And this, the greatest, forees, you have neglected, and taken up the very lowest For I suppose there is scarcely any man who does not understand that yonder crucifix is not my God, for n But the world is full of the other abuse, for ould place an ie of silver or of wood in a church, if he did not think that in so doing he was doing God a service? Think you that Duke Frederick, the bishop of Halle, and the others would have placed so ht it counted nothing before God? Nay, they would not do it

But this is not sufficient reason to abolish, destroy and burn all the ies; and why? Because weopinion of theh they are few, yet we cannot and should not conde which is still useful to the devotions of any , God cares nothing for thee for Hiold-piece than to give God a golden ie, or God has forbidden the latter, but not the fores count or nothing, they would have ceased of their own accord, and the ies would have fallen without any uproar or tu to pass

[Sidenote: The Devil's Gauard, for the devil is after us, through his apostles, with all his craft and cunning Now, although it is true, and no one can deny that the ies are evil because they are abused, nevertheless webecause it is abused That would result in utter confusion God has commanded us not to lift up our eyes unto the sun, etc [Deut 4:19], that we may not worshi+p them, for they are created to serve all nations But there are many people orshi+p the sun and the stars Shall we, therefore, essay to pull the sun and stars froain, wine and wo many a man to misery and make a fool of him Shall we, therefore, kill all the woold and silver cause much evil, shall we, therefore, condemn them? Nay, if ould drive away our one worst enemy, who does us the reater enemy than our own heart, even as Jeremiah says, ”The heart of , ”always twisting to one side or the other” And what good would that do us?

He ould blacken the devil oes to the fair But I can catch hies in the churches because you think it a special service of God? and when he says Yes, as he must, you may conclude that as meant as a service of God he has turned into idolatry by abusing the ilected God's positive coht hiive to es in churches? That is not true,--for ould not rather give his neighbor a gold-piece, than God a golden ies in churches if he believed that God was not served thereby Therefore I freely adood, we may have them or not, as we please This trouble has been caused by you; the devil would not have accomplished it with me, for I cannot deny that it is possible to find soes are useful And if I were asked about it, I would confess that none of these things give offence to me, and if just one ht, the devil would soon draw the conclusion against me: Why condemnest thou that which is still useful in worshi+p? This challenge I could not answer; he would have successfully defied ot nearly so far if I had been here He played a bold gah it does no harm to the Word of God You wanted to paint the devil black, but forgot the charcoal and used chalk If you would fight the devil, you must be well versed in the Scriptures, and, besides, use theht time

[Sidenote: Of Meats]

Let us proceed and speak of the eating of meats It is true that we are free to eat any s or butter This no one can deny God has given us this liberty That is true; nevertheless we must kno to use our liberty, and treat the weak brother differently from the stubborn Observe, then, how you ive up meat without harm to yourself, or if you are sick, you may eat whatever you like, and if any one takes offence, let him be offended And if the whole world took offence, yet you are not co a sin, for God can excuse you in view of the liberty He has so graciously bestowed upon you, and of the necessities of your health, which would be endangered by your abstinence

[Sidenote: Liberty and Law]

Secondly, If you should be pressed to eat fish instead of s and butter during Lent, etc, as the pope has done with his fools' laws, then you must in no wise allow yourself to be draay from the liberty in which God has placed you, but do just the contrary to spite him, and say: Because you forbid me to eat meat, and presume to turn my liberty into laill eat s which are ive you an example: If the pope, or any one else would force me to wear a cowl, just as he prescribes it, I would take of the cowl just to spite him But since it is left toto my pleasure

[Sidenote: Peter and the Gentiles]

Thirdly, There are soht to be instructed, and ould gladly believe as we do But their ignorance prevents them, and if this were faithfully preached to them, as it was to us, they would be one with us Toward such well- people we must assume an entirely different attitude from that which we assume toward the stubborn We must bear patiently with thes no peril or har our brothers and sisters a great service besides But if we use our liberty without need, and deliberately cause offence to our neighbor, we drive away the very one who in time would come to our faith Thus St Paul circumcised Timothy because siht, What harnorance?

But when, in Antioch, they would insist that he ought and must circumcise titus, Paul withstood them all and to spite them would not have titus circuround He did the same when St Peter by the exercise of his liberty caused a wrong conception in the minds of the unlearned [Gal 2:11 ff] It was on this wise: When Peter ith the Gentiles, he ate pork and sausage with them, but when the Jews came in, he would not touch this food and ate no more with theht: Alas! we, too,to the law of Moses But when Paul found that it would injure the liberty of the Gospel, he reproved Peter publicly and read hi a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?” [Gal 2:14] Thus we, too, should order our lives and use our liberty at the proper time, so that Christian liberty iven to our weak brothers and sisters who are still without the knowledge of this liberty

THE FIFTH SERMON: A SERMON ON THE SACRAMENT THURSDAY AFTER INVOCAVIT

We have heard of the things that are necessary, such as the arded as a sacrifice[17], and of the unnecessary things, such as the leaving of es We have seen hoe must treat these matters, that no compulsion or law ed from them by the hair, but that we must let the Word of God alone do the work Let us now consider hoe must observe the blessed sacrament

[Sidenote: Foolish Law of the Pope]

You have heard how I preached against the foolish law the Pope of the pope and opposed his precept[18], that no woman shall wash the altar-linen on which the body of Christ has lain, even if it be a pure nun, except it first be washed by a pure priest Likewise, when any one touches the body of Christ with the hand, the priests coers, and much more of the same sort But when a priest is incontinent, the pope winks at it If the woman bears a child, he lets that pass, too The altar-linen and the sacra the Sacraainst such fools' lae have preached, and set forth that no sin is involved in these foolish prescriptions of the pope, and that a layman does not commit sin if he touch the cup or the body of Christ with his hands You should give thanks to God that you have coreat men have lacked But now you have become just as foolish as the pope, with your notion that you ood Christians by touching the sacrament with your hands You have dealt with the sacrahest treasure, in such a way that it is a wonder you were not struck down by thunder and lightning The other things God would have suffered you to do, but to make this a matter of compulsion He can in no wise tolerate And if you do not recede from this, neither the eo without urging; yea, I dare say, none of h they have caused me much sorrow, have wounded me as you have wounded ood Christians by handling the sacrament, and boast of it before everybody, then indeed Herod and Pilate are the chief and best Christians Methinks they handled the body of Christ when they had him nailed to the cross and put to death

[Sidenote: What does ”Take” dos, which can be touched or perceived, but in faith [Luke 17:20]

But you may say: We live and should live in accordance with the Scriptures, and God has instituted the sacrament in such a manner that we should take it with our hands, for He said: ”Take and eat, this is h I am convinced beyond a doubt that the disciples of the Lord took it with their hands, and though I ad sin, nevertheless I can neither make it compulsory nor prove that it is the only way Andafter us, argues, Where have you read in the Scriptures that ”take”with the hands”?--how shall I prove or defend it? Nay, hoill I answer him when he cites, from the Scriptures, the very opposite, and proves that ”take” does not mean to receive with the hands only, but also to convey to ourselves in other ways? ”See, ood fellow,” so he says, ”how the word 'take' is used by three Evangelists in describing the taking of gall and vinegar by the Lord [Matt 27:34, Mark 15:23, Luke 23:26] You must admit that the Lord did not touch or handle it with His hands, for His hands were nailed to the cross” This verse is a strong argue: _Et accepit omnes tiain we must admit that fear has no hands

Thus I aainst my will, that ”take” means not only to receive with the hands, but to convey to myself in any other way in which it can be done So you see, dear friends, we round, if we are to withstand the devil's attack Although I e that you committed no sin when you touched the sacrament with your hands, nevertheless I ood work, because it caused offence everywhere

For the universal custom is, to receive the blessed sacrament directly from the hands of the priest Why will you not herein also serve those who are weak in the faith and abstain from your liberty? It does not help you if you do it, nor harm you if you do it not

Therefore no new practices should be introduced, unless the Gospel has first been thoroughly preached and understood, even as it has been with you On this account, dear friends, let us deal soberly and wisely in the things that pertain to God, or God will not be mocked

You may mock the saints, but with God it is vastly different