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Look To It That You Do Not Try To Do All Of It, Do Not Try To Do Too Much, Lest Your Spirit Grow Weary. Besides, A Good Prayer Mustn't Be Too Long. Do Not Draw It Out. Prayer Ought To Be Frequent And Fervent.

-Martin Luther

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Look To It That

Martin Luther

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Look To It That You Do Not Try To Do All Of It, Do Not Try To Do Too Much, Lest Your Spirit Grow Weary. Besides, A Good Prayer Mustn't Be Too Long. Do Not Draw It Out. Prayer Ought To Be Frequent And Fervent.

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Unless I Am Convicted By Scripture And Plain Reason-i Do Not Accept The Authority Of Popes And Councils, For They Have Contradicted Each Other-my Conscience Is Captive To The Word Of God. I Cannot And Will Not Recant Anything, For To Go Against Conscience Is Neither Right Nor Safe. Here I Stand, I Cannot Do Otherwise. God Help Me. Amen.

When We Are Inclined To Boast Of Our Position [as Christians] We Should Remember That We Are But Gentiles, While The Jews Are Of The Lineage Of Christ. We Are Aliens And In-laws; They Are Blood Relatives, Cousins, And Brothers Of Our Lord. Therefore, If One Is To Boast Of Flesh And Blood The Jews Are Actually Nearer To Christ Than We Are.

Married Love Burns As Fire, And Seeks Nothing More Than The Mate. It Says, "i Want Only You"

Faith Is The Yes Of The Heart.

When I Am Angry I Can Write, Pray, And Preach Well, For Then My Whole Temperament Is Quickened, My Understanding Sharpened, And All Mundane Vexations And Temptations Depart.

They Are Trying To Make Me Into A Fixed Star. I Am An Irregular Planet.

If God Were Willing To Sell His Grace, We Would Accept It More Quickly And Gladly Than When He Offers It For Nothing.

Maternity Is A Glorious Thing, Since All Mankind Has Been Conceived, Born, And Nourished Of Women. All Human Laws Should Encourage The Multiplication Of Families.

It Seems To Me That The Most Delightful Walk Of Life Is To Be Found In A Household Of Moderate Means, To Live There With An Obliging Spouse And To Be Satisfied With Little.

When Eve Was Brought Unto Adam, He Became Filled With The Holy Spirit, And Gave Her The Most Sanctified, The Most Glorious Of Appellations. He Called, Her Eva--that Is To Say, The Mother Of All. He Did Not Style Her Wife, But Simply Mother--mother Of All Living Creatures. In This Consists The Glory And The Most Precious Ornament Of Woman.

Every Book Is A Great Action And Every Great Action Is A Book!

Indeed, To Spur Your Baal To Action, I Will Taunt And Challenge You ... To Create As Much As A Single Frog In The Name And By The Power Of Free Choice, Though The Heathen And Ungodly Magicians In Egypt Were Able To Create Many.... I Will Not Set You The Heavy Task Of Creating Lice, Which They Could Not Produce Either

The Confidence And Faith Of The Heart Alone Make Both God And An Idol. If Your Faith And Trust Be Right, Then Is Your God Also True; And, On The Other Hand, If Your Trust Be False And Wrong, Then You Have Not The True God; For These Two Belong Together Faith And God. That Now, I Say, Upon Which You Set Your Heart And Put Your Trust Is Properly Your God.

Christ Will Remain A Priest And King; Though He Was Never Consecrated By Any Papist Bishop Or Greased By Any Of Those Shavelings; But He Was Ordained And Consecrated By God Himself, And By Him Anointed.

They Gave Our Master A Crown Of Thorns, Why Do We Hope For A Crown Of Roses?

I've Got So Much Work To Do Today, I'd Better Spend Two Hours In Prayer Instead Of One.

How Great, Therefore, The Wickedness Of Human Nature Is! How Many Girls There Are Who Prevent Conception And Kill And Expel Tender Fetuses, Although Procreation Is The Work Of God.

Nothing In The World Causes So Much Misery As Uncertainty.

When The Gospel Flourishes In The Church, Everything Flourishes With It.

[christ's] Mission And Work It Is To Help Against Sin And Death, To Justify And Bring Life. He Has Placed His Help In Baptism And The Sacrament [i.e., Communion/eucharist/lord's Supper], And Incorporated It In The Word And Preaching. To Our Eyes Baptism [capitalized In Original] Appears To Be Nothing More Than Ordinary Water, And The Sacrament Of Christ's Body And Blood Simple Bread And Wine, Like Other Bread And Wine, And The Sermon, Hot Air From A Man's Mouth. But We Must Not Trust What Our Eyes See.

All These Things He Must Be In Me, Abiding, Living, Speaking In Me; That I May Be The Righteousness Of God In Him (2 Cor. V. 21); Not In Love, Nor In Gifts And Graces Which Follow; But In Him.

We Find No Rest For Our Weary Bones Unless We Cling To The Word Of Grace.

It Is A Tremendously Hard Thing To Pray Aright, Yea, It Is Verily The Science Of All Sciences.

Feelings Come And Feelings Go, And Feelings Are Deceiving; My Warrant Is The Word Of God-- Naught Else Is Worth Believing. Though All My Heart Should Feel Condemned For Want Of Some Sweet Token, There Is One Greater Than My Heart Whose Word Cannot Be Broken. I'll Trust In God's Unchanging Word Till Soul And Body Sever, For, Though All Things Shall Pass Away, His Word Shall Stand Forever!

Also When It Is A Case Of Only Upholding Some Spiritual Tenet, Such As Infant Baptism, Original Sin, And Unnecessary Separation, Then . . . We Conclude That . . . The Stubborn Sectaries Must Be Put To Death.

Whatever Man Loves, That Is His God. For He Carries It In His Heart; He Goes About With It Night And Day; He Sleeps And Wakes With It, Be It What It May - Wealth Or Self, Pleasure Or Renown.

True Christian Love Is Not Derived From Things Without, But Floweth From The Heart, As From A Spring.

A Just Law Is A Man-made Code That Squares With The Moral Law Or The Law Of God. An Unjust Law Is A Code That Is Out Of Harmony With The Moral Law. To Put It In The Terms Of Saint Thomas Aquinas, An Unjust Law Is A Human Law That Is Not Rooted In Eternal And Natural Law.

You Should Be Certain That Angels Are Protecting You When You Go To Sleep. Yea, That They Are Protecting You Also In All Your Business, Whether You Enter Or Leave Your Home.

Night And Day I Pondered Until I Saw The Connection Between The Justice Of God And The Statement That 'the Just Shall Live By His Faith.' Then I Grasped That The Justice Of God Is That Righteousness By Which Through Grace And Sheer Mercy God Justifies Us Through Faith. Thereupon I Felt Myself To Be Reborn And To Have Gone Through Open Doors Into Paradise.

Mankind Has A Free Will; But It Is Free To Milk Cows And To Build Houses, Nothing More.

This Is The Mystery Of The Riches Of Divine Grace For Sinners; For By A Wonderful Exchange Our Sins Are Now Not Ours But Christ's, And Christ's Righteousness Is Not Christ's But Ours.

Many Of The Ugly Pages Of American History Have Been Obscured And Forgotten

The Best Way To Get Rid Of The Devil, If You Cannot Kill It With The Words Of Holy Scripture, Is To Rail At And Mock Him. Music, Too, Is Very Good; Music Is Hateful To Him, And Drives Him Far Away.

Over Against The Devil And His Missionaries, The Authors Of False Doctrines And Sects, We Ought To Be Like The Apostle, Impatient, And Rigorously Condemnatory, As Parents Are With The Dog That Bites Their Little One, But The Weeping Child Itself They Soothe.

To Pray Diligently Is More Than Half The Task.

A Lie Is Like A Snowball: The Further You Roll It The Bigger It Becomes.

All Laws And Philosophy Merely Tell Us What Should Be Done, But They Do Not Provide The Strength To Do It.

Through Faith We Are Restored To Paradise And Created Anew. We Have No Need Of Works In Order To Be Righteous; However, In Order To Avoid Idleness And So That The Body Might Be Cared For An Disciplined, Works Are Done Freely To Please God.

Therefore The Blind Jews Are Truly Stupid Fools.

No One Can Believe How Powerful Prayer Is And What It Can Effect, Except Those Who Have Learned It By Experience. Whenever I Have Prayed Earnestly, I Have Been Heard And Have Obtained More Than I Prayed For. God Sometimes Delays, But He Always Comes.

Blood Alone Moves The Wheels Of History.

Earth Has Nothing More Tender Than A Woman's Heart When It Is The Abode Of Piety.

Heretics Are Not To Be Disputed With, But To Be Condemned Unheard, And Whilst They Perish By Fire, The Faithful Ought To Pursue The Evil To Its Source, And Bathe Their Heads In The Blood Of The Catholic Bishops, And Of The Pope, Who Is The Devil In Disguise.

Christians Are Rare People On Earth.

Unto Him Who Is Able To Keep Us From Falling, And Lift Us From The Dark To The Bright Mountain Of Hope, From The Midnight Of Desperation To The Daybreak Of Joy, To Him Be Power And Authority For Ever And Ever.

The Kingdom Of God Does Not Consist In Talk, But In Power, That Is, In Works And Practice. God Loves The 'doers Of The Word' In Faith And Love, And Not The 'mere Hearers,' Who, Like Parrots, Have Learned To Utter Certain Expressions With Readiness.

We Conclude, Therefore, That A Christian Lives Not In Himself, But In Christ And In His Neighbor. Otherwise He Is Not A Christian. He Lives In Christ Through Faith, In His Neighbor Through Love. By Faith He Is Caught Up Beyond Himself Into God. By Love He Descends Beneath Himself Into His Neighbor.

But Satan, The God Of All Dissension, Stirreth Up Daily New Sects, And Last Of All (which Of All Other I Should Never Have Foreseen Or Once Suspected) He Hath Raised Up A Sect Of Such As Teach That The Ten Commandments Ought To Be Taken Out Of The Church, And That Men Should Not Be Terrified With The Law, But Gently Exerted By The Preaching Of The Grace Of Christ.

It Is Impossible To Separate Works From Faith- Yea, Just As Impossible As To Separate Burning And Shining From Fire.

The Best Way To Drive Out The Devil, If He Will Not Yield To Texts Of Scripture, Is To Jeer And Flout Him, For He Cannot Bear Scorn.

The Gospel Cannot Be Truly Preached Without Offense And Tumult.

Faith Is The 'yes' Of The Heart, A Conviction On Which One Stakes One's Life.

Truly, If Faith Is There, The Believer Cannot Hold Back... He Breaks Out Into Good Works.

The Holy Spirit Has A Way Of His Own To Say Much In Few Words.

I Cannot Neglect Prayer For A Single Day.

Every Man Must Do Two Things Alone; He Must Do His Own Believing And His Own Dying.

The Will Is A Beast Of Burden. If God Mounts It, It Wishes And Goes As God Wills; If Satan Mounts It, It Wishes And Goes As Satan Wills; Nor Can It Choose Its Rider... The Riders Contend For Its Possession.

Yes, I See The Church As The Body Of Christ. But, Oh! How We Have Blemished And Scarred That Body Through Social Neglect And Through Fear Of Being Nonconformists.

There Can Be No Be No Better Instruction... Than That Every Man Who Is To Deal With His Neighbor To Follow These Commandments. 'whatsoever Ye Would That Others Should Do Unto You, Do Ye Also Unto Them,' And 'love Thy Neighbor As Thyself.' If These Were Always Followed, Then Everything Would Instruct And Arrange Itself; Then No Law Books Nor Courts Nor Judicial Actions Would Be Required. All Things Would Quietly And Simply Be Set To Rights, For Everyone's Heart And Conscience Would Guide Them.

The Devil, It Is True, Is Not Exactly A Doctor Who Has Taken Degrees, But He Is Very Learned, Very Expert For All That. He Has Not Been Carrying On His Business During Thousands Of Years For Nothing.

To Have Peace And Love In Marriage Is A Gift Which Is Next To The Knowledge Of The Gospel.

There Are Some Of Us Who Think To Ourselves, 'if I Had Only Been There! How Quick I Would Have Been To Help The Baby. I Would Have Washed His Linen. How Happy I Would Have Been To Go With The Shepherds To See The Lord Lying In The Manger!' Why Don't We Do It Now? We Have Christ In Our Neighbor.

In Many Countries There Are Particular Places To Which Devils More Especially Resort. In Prussia There Is An Infinite Number Of Evil Spirits.

The Cross Alone Is Our Theology.

If The Earth Is Fit For Laughter Then Surely Heaven Is Filled With It. Heaven Is The Birthplace Of Laughter.

Many Demons Are In Woods, In Waters, In Wildernesses, And In Dark Poolly Places Ready To Hurt And Prejudice People; Some Are Also In The Thick Black Clouds, Which Cause Hail, Lightning And Thunder, And Poison The Air, The Pastures And Grounds.

The Devil, Too, Sometimes Steals Human Children; It Is Not Infrequent For Him To Carry Away Infants Within The First Six Weeks After Birth, And To Substitute In Their Place Imps.

No Gown Worse Becomes A Woman Than The Desire To Be Wise.

The Devil Can So Completely Assume The Human Form, When He Wants To Deceive Us, That We May Well Lie With What Seems To Be A Woman, Of Real Flesh And Blood, And Yet All The While 'tis Only The Devil In The Shape Of A Woman. 'tis The Same With Women, Who May Think That A Man Is In Bed With Them, Yet 'tis Only The Devil; And...the Result Of This Connection Is Oftentimes An Imp Of Darkness, Half Mortal, Half Devil.

The Authority Of Scripture Is Greater Than The Comprehension Of The Whole Of Man's Reason.

The True Despisers Of The World Are The People Who Accept What God Sends Them, Gratefully Use All Things When They Have Them, And Gladly Do Without Them If God Takes Them Away

Whoever Would Like To Cherish Such Adders And Puny Devils - Who Are The Worst Enemies Of Christ And Us All - To Befriend Them And To Do Them Honour Simply In Order To Be Cheated, Plundered, Robbed, Disgraced, And Forced To Howl And Curse And Suffer Every Kind Of Evil, To Him I Would Commend The Jews. And If This Is Not Enough, Let Him Tell The Jews To Use His Mouth As A Privy, Or Else Crawl Into The Jew's Hind Parts, And There Worship The Holy Thing, So As Afterwards To Be Able To Boast Of Having Been Merciful, And Of Having Helped The Devil And His Progeny To Blaspheme Our Dear Lord.

It Is Not The Imitation That Makes Sons; It Is Sonship That Makes Imitators.

Oh, What Thoughts Man Might Have Had About The Fact That God Is In All Creatures, And So Might Have Reflected On The Power And The Wisdom Of God In Even The Smallest Flowers!

Marriage Is A Civic Matter. It Is Really Not, Together With All Its Circumstances, The Business Of The Church.

Despair Makes Priests And Friars.

The More A Person Loves, The Closer He Approaches The Image Of God.

[it Is] Essentially Wholesome And Necessary, For A Christian To Know, Whether Or Not The Will Does Any Thing In Those Things Which Pertain Unto Salvation. Nay, Let Me Tell You, This Is The Very Hinge Upon Which Our Discussion Turns. It Is The Very Heart Of The Subject

Hereby We May Understand That God, Of His Special Grace, Maketh The Teachers Of The Gospel Subject To The Cross, And To All Kinds Of Afflicitons, For The Salvation Of Themselves And Of The People; For Otherwise They Could By No Means Beat Down This Beast Which Is Called Vain-glory.

That Which The Sober Man Keeps In His Breast, The Drunken Man Lets Out At The Lips. Astute People, When They Want To Ascertain A Man's True Character, Make Him Drunk.

Our Preaching Does Not Stop With The Law. That Would Lead To Wounding Without Binding Up, Striking Down And Not Healing, Killing And Not Making Alive, Driving Down To Hell And Not Bringing Back Up, Humbling And Not Exalting. Therefore, We Must Also Preach Grace And The Promise Of Forgiveness - This Is The Means By Which Faith Is Awakened And Properly Taught. Without This Word Of Grace, The Law, Contrition, Penitence, And Everything Else Are Done And Taught In Vain.

Come, Let Us Sing A Psalm, And Drive Away The Devil.

What Shall We Do With...the Jews?...i Advise That Safe-conduct On The Highways Be Abolished Completely For The Jews.

It Is A Good Thing To Let Prayer Be The First Business Of The Morning And The Last Of The Evening.

Sin Is Essentially A Departure From God.

Now If I Believe In God's Son And Remember That He Became Man, All Creatures Will Appear A Hundred Times More Beautiful To Me Than Before. Then I Will Properly Appreciate The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, Trees, Apples, As I Reflect That He Is Lord Over All Things. ...god Writes The Gospel, Not In The Bible Alone, But Also On Trees, And In The Flowers And Clouds And Stars.

Great People And Champions Are Special Gifts Of God, Whom He Gives And Preserves; They Do Their Work, And Achieve Great Actions, Not With Vain Imaginations, Or Cold And Sleepy Cogitations, But By Motion Of God.

Whenever The True Message Of The Cross Is Abolished, The Anger Of Hypocrites And Heretics Eases And All Things Seem To Be At Peace.

It Is A Good Thing To Let Prayer Be The First Business In The Morning And The Last In The Evening. Guard Yourself Against Such False And Deceitful Thoughts That Keep Whispering, "wait A While. In An Hour Or So I Will Pray. I Must First Finish This Or That." Thinking Such Thoughts We Get Away From Prayer Into Other Things That Will Hold Us And Involve Us Till The Prayer Of The Day Comes To Naught.

It Is The Duty Of A Prudent Minister Of God To Hold His Ministry In Honor And To See To It That It Is Respected By Those Who Are In His Charge. Moreoever, It Is The Duty Of A Faithful Minister Not To Exceed His Powers And Not To Abuse His Office In Pride, But, Rather, To Administer It For The Benefit Of His Subjects.

Everything That Is Done In This World Is Done By Hope.

For Where God Built A Church, There The Devil Would Also Build A Chapel.

So Preach That Those Who Do Not Fall Out With Their Sins May Fall Out With Thee.

My Temptations Have Been My Masters Of Divinity.

Our Office...subjects Us To Great Burdens And Labors, Dangers And Temptations, With Little Reward Or Gratitude From The World. But Christ Himself Will Be Our Reward If We Labor Faithfully.

There Are Three Conversions Necessary (for The Christian Life): The Conversion Of The Heart, The Mind, And The Purse.

Grace Remits Sin, And Peace Quiets The Conscience. Sin And Conscience Torment Us, But Christ Has Overcome These Fiends Now And Forever.

Some Will Object That The Law Is Divine And Holy. Let It Be Divine And Holy. The Law Has No Right To Tell Me That I Must Be Justified By It.

As Long As There Is Poverty In This World, No Man Can Be Totally Rich Even If He Has A Billion Dollars.

If He Have Faith, The Believer Cannot Be Restrained. He Betrays Himself. He Breaks Out. He Confesses And Teaches This Gospel To The People At The Risk Of Life Itself.

The Gospel Is Nothing Less Than Laughter And Joy.

Laughter And Joy

Music Is To Be Praised As Second Only To The Word Of God Because By Her All The Emotions Are Swayed. That Is Why There Are So Many Songs And Psalms. This Precious Gift Has Been Bestowed On Men Alone To Remind Them That They Are Created To Praise And Magnify The Lord.

The Recognition Of Sin Is The Beginning Of Salvation

The Holy Ghost Has Called Me By The Gospel And Illuminated Me With His Gifts And Sanctified And Preserved Me In The True Faith.

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, A Bulwark Never Failing: Our Helper He Amid The Flood Of Mortal Ills Prevailing.

God's Mark Is On Everything That Obeys Him.

It Is God Who Creates, Effects, And Preserves All Things Through His Almighty.

Thoughts Are Not Subject To Duty.

Riches Are The Pettiest And Least Worthy Gifts Which God Can Give A Man. What Are They To God's Word, To Bodily Gifts, Such As Beauty And Health; Or To The Gifts Of The Mind, Such As Understanding, Skill, Wisdom! Yet Men Toil For Them Day And Night, And Take No Rest. Therefore God Commonly Gives Riches To Foolish People To Whom He Gives Nothing Else.

An Angel Is A Spiritual Creature Created By God Without A Body, For The Service Of Christendom And Of The Church.

If You Preach The Gospel In All Aspects With The Exception Of The Issues Which Deal Specifically With Your Time, You Are Not Preaching The Gospel At All.

Preaching The Gospel

Bewilderment Is The True Comprehension. Not To Know Where You Are Going Is The True Knowledge.

Where You Are Going

I Think That We've Got To See That A Riot Is The Language Of The Unheard. And, What Is It That America Has Failed To Hear? It Has Failed To Hear That The Economic Plight Of The Negro Poor Has Worsened Over The Last Few Years.

The Fruit Does Not Make The Tree Good Or Bad But The Tree Itself Is What Determines The Nature Of The Fruit. In The Same Way, A Person First Must Be Good Or Bad Before Doing A Good Or Bad Work.

The Mass Is The Greatest Blasphemy Of God, And The Highest Idolatry Upon Earth, An Abomination The Like Of Which Has Never Been In Christendom Since The Time Of The Apostles.

Let A Man Be Endowed With Ten Virtues And Have But One Fault And The One Fault Will Eclipse And Darken All The Virtues.

This Is The Reason Why Our Theology Is Certain: Because It Seizes Us From Ourselves And Places Us Outside Ourselves.

All The Passages In The Holy Scriptures That Mention Assistance Are They That Do Away With "free-will", And These Are Countless...for Grace Is Needed, And The Help Of Grace Is Given, Because "free-will" Can Do Nothing.

You Parents Can Provide No Better Gift For Your Children Than An Education In The Liberal Arts. House And Home Burn Down, But An Education Is Easy To Carry Along.

Music Is The 5th Gospel.

I Refuse To Accept The Idea That Man Is Mere Flotsam And Jetsam In The River Of Life, Unable To Influence The Unfolding Events Which Surround Him. I Refuse To Accept The View That Mankind Is So Tragically Bound To The Starless Midnight Of Racism And War That The Bright Daybreak Of Peace And Brotherhood Can Never Become A Reality.

We Must Beat The Gospel Into Peoples' Heads Incessantly Because It's The One Thing We're Prone To Forget.

Jews And Papists Are Ungodly Wretches; They Are Two Stockings Made Of One Piece Of Cloth.

Accordingly If The Devil Should Say, 'do Not Drink,' You Should Reply To Him, 'on This Very Account, Because You Forbid It, I Shall Drink, And What Is More, I Shall Drink A Generous Amount. Thus One Must Always Do The Opposite Of That Which Satan Prohibits. What Do You Think Is My Reason For Drinking Wine Undiluted, Talking Freely, And Eating More Often, If It Is Not To Torment And Vex The Devil Who Made Up His Mind To Torment And Vex Me.

I Have So Much To Do Today, I'll Need To Spend Another Hour On My Knees.

Thus, Dear Friends, I Have Said It Clearly Enough, And I Believe You Ought To Understand It And Not Make Liberty A Law.

I Have Such Hatred Of Divorce That I Prefer Bigamy To Divorce. Anyway, I Think We Should See Other People.

If You Want To Change The World, Pick Up Your Pen And Write.

Christ Is No Moses, No Exactor, No Giver Of Laws, But A Giver Of Grace, A Savior; He Is Infinite Mercy And Goodness, Freely And Bountifully Given To Us.

What Will You Do In The Mundane Days Of Faithfulness?

What Shall We Do With...the Jews?...set Fire To Their Synagogues Or Schools And Bury And Cover With Dirt Whatever Will Not Burn, So That No Man Will Ever Again See A Stone Or Cinder Of Them.

What Would It Matter If, For The Sake Of The Christian Church, One Were To Tell A Big Lie?

Even If I Knew That Tomorrow The World Would Go To Pieces, I Would Still Plant My Apple Tree.

Take Away The Mass, Destroy The Church.

The First Care Of Every Christian Ought To Be To Lay Aside All Reliance On Works, And Strengthen His Faith Alone More And More, And By It Grow In The Knowledge, Not Of Works, But Of Christ Jesus, Who Has Suffered And Risen Again For Him.

When Asked What He Would Do If He Knew The World Would End Tomorrow, Martin Luther Said, "i Would Plant A Tree."

The Holy Ghost Must Here Be Our Only Master And Tutor.

Faith Cannot Be Inherited Or Gained By Being Baptized Into A Church. Faith Is A Matter Between The Individual And God.

One Thing, And Only One Thing, Is Necessary For Christian Life, Righteousness, And Freedom. That One Thing Is The Most Holy Word Of God, The Gospel Of Christ.

God Creates Out Of Nothing. Therefore, Until A Man Is Nothing, God Can Make Nothing Out Of Him.

Let All The 'free-will' In The World Do All It Can With All Its Strength; It Will Never Give Rise To A Single Instance Of Ability To Avoid Being Hardened If God Does Not Give The Spirit, Or Of Meriting Mercy If It Is Left To Its Own Strength.

If You Could Understand A Single Grain Of Wheat You Would Die Of Wonder.

Rough, Boisterous, Stormy And Altogether Warlike, I Am Born To Fight Against Innumerable Monsters And Devils.

Jesus Christ Never Died For Our Good Works. They Were Not Worth Dying For. But He Gave Himself For Our Sins, According To The Scriptures.

Nothing On Earth Is So Well-suited To Make The Sad Merry, The Merry Sad, To Give Courage To The Despairing, To Make The Proud Humble, To Lessen Envy And Hate, As Music.

I Am Much Afraid That The Schools Will Prove The Very Gates Of Hell, Unless They Diligently Labour In Explaining The Holy Scriptures, And Engraving Them In The Hearts Of Youth. I Advise No One To Place His Child Where The Scriptures Do Not Reign Paramount. Every Institution In Which Means Are Not Unceasingly Occupied With The Word Of God Must Be Corrupt.

We Come To The New Testament, Where Again A Host Of Imperative Verbs Is Mustered In Support Of That Miserable Bondage Of Free-choice, And The Aid Of Carnal Reason With Her Inferences And Similes Is Called In, Just As In A Picture Or A Dream You Might See The King Of The Flies With His Lances Of Straw And Shields Of Hay Arrayed Against A Real And Regular Army Of Seasoned Human Troops. That Is How The Human Dreams Of Diatribe Go To War With The Battalions Of Divine Words.

The Most Damnable And Pernicious Heresy That Has Ever Plagued The Mind Of Man Was The Idea That Somehow He Could Make Himself Good Enough To Deserve To Live With An All-holy God.

The Forces Of Good And Evil Are Working Within And Around Me, I Must Choose, And In A Free Will Universe I Do Have A Choice.

Our Works Do Not Generate Righteousness, Rather Our Righteousness In Christ Generates Works.

God Foreknows Nothing By Contingency, But That He Foresees, Purposes, And Does All Things According To His Immutable, Eternal, And Infallible Will. By This Thunderbolt, "free-will" Is Thrown Prostrate, And Utterly Dashed To Pieces.

Either Sin Is With You, Lying On Your Shoulders, Or It Is Lying On Christ, The Lamb Of God. Now If It Is Lying On Your Back, You Are Lost; But If It Is Resting On Christ, You Are Free, And You Will Be Saved. Now Choose What You Want.

Look To It That You Do Not Try To Do All Of It, Do Not Try To Do Too Much, Lest Your Spirit Grow Weary. Besides, A Good Prayer Mustn't Be Too Long. Do Not Draw It Out. Prayer Ought To Be Frequent And Fervent.

There Are Only Two Days On My Calendar... Today And The Day Of Judgment

The Law Is For The Proud And The Gospel For The Brokenhearted.

Sleep Is A Most Useful And Most Salutary Operation Of Nature. Scarcely Any Minor Annoyance Angers Me More Than The Being Suddenly Awakened Out Of A Pleasant Slumber. I Understand That In Italy They Torture Poor People By Depriving Them Of Sleep. `tis A Torture That Cannot Long Be Endured.

Therefore We Christians, In Turn, Are Obliged Not To Tolerate Their Wanton And Conscious Blasphemy.

He That Has But One Word Of God Before Him, And Out Of That Word Cannot Make A Sermon, Can Never Be A Preacher.

Against The Flying Ball No Valor Avails.

Without Armaments Peace Cannot Be Kept; Wars Are Waged Not Only To Repel Injustice But Also To Establish A Firm Peace.

If The Devil Were Wise Enough And Would Stand By In Silence And Let The Gospel Be Preached, He Would Suffer Less Harm. For When There Is No Battle For The Gospel It Rusts And It Finds No Cause And No Occasion To Show Its Vigor And Power. Therefore, Nothing Better Can Befall The Gospel Than That The World Should Fight It With Force And Cunning.

It Is Impossible For One Man Both To Labor Day And Night To Get A Living, And At The Same Time Give Himself To The Study Of Sacred Learning As The Preaching Office Requires.

Christ Desires Nothing More Of Us Than That We Speak Of Him.

In Our Sad Condition Our Only Consolation Is The Expectancy Of Another Life. Here Below All Is Incomprehensible.

Who Waits Until Circumstances Completely Favor His Undertaking, Will Never Accomplish Anything.

Procrastination

One Is Not Righteous Who Does Much, But The One Who, Without Work, Believes Much In Christ. The Law Says, 'do This,' And It Is Never Done. Grace Says, 'believe In This,' And Everything Is Already Done.

The Mad Mob Does Not Ask How It Could Be Better, Only That It Be Different. And When It Then Becomes Worse, It Must Change Again. Thus They Get Bees For Flies, And At Last Hornets For Bees.

Faith Is Under The Left Nipple.

I Cannot Forbid A Person To Marry Several Wives, For It Does Not Contradict Scripture.

I Have Held Many Things In My Hands, And I Have Lost Them All; But Whatever I Have Placed In God's Hands, That I Still Possess.

No Greater Mischief Can Happen To A Christian People, Than To Have God's Word Taken From Them, Or Falsified, So That They No Longer Have It Pure And Clear. God Grant We And Our Descendants Be Not Witness To Such A Calamity.

The Fatuous Idea That A Person Can Be Holy By Himself Denies God The Pleasure Of Saving Sinners. God Must Therefore First Take The Sledge-hammer Of The Law In His Fists And Smash The Beast Of Self-righteousness And Its Brood Of Self-confidence, Self Wisdom, And Self-help. When The Conscience Has Been Thoroughly Frightened By The Law It Welcomes The Gospel Of Grace With Its Message Of A Savior Who Came-not To Break The Bruised Reed Nor To Quench The Smoking Flax-but To Preach Glad Tidings To The Poor, To Heal The Broken-hearted, And To Grant Forgiveness Of Sins To All The Captives.

Self Confidence

But What Will Happen Even If We Do Burn Down The Jews Synagogues And Forbid Them Publicly To Praise God, To Pray, To Teach, To Utter God's Name? They Will Still Keep Doing It In Secret. If We Know That They Are Doing This In Secret, It Is The Same As If They Were Doing It Publicly. For Our Knowledge Of Their Secret Doings And Our Toleration Of Them Implies That They Are Not Secret After All And Thus Our Conscience Is Encumbered With It Before God.

He That Will Maintain That Man's Free Will Is Able To Do Or Work Anything In Spiritual Cases, Be They Never So Small, Denies Christ.

Do Not Suppose That Abuses Are Eliminated By Destroying The Object Which Is Abused. Men Can Go Wrong With Wine And Women. Shall We Then Prohibit And Abolish Women? The Sun, The Moon, And The Stars Have Been Worshiped. Shall We Then Pluck Them Out Of The Sky? ...see How Much He [god] Has Been Able To Accomplish Through Me, Though I Did No More Than Pray And Preach. The Word Did It All. Had I Wished I Might Have Started A Conflagration At Worms. But While I Sat Still And Drank Beer With Philip And Amsdorf, God Dealt The Papacy A Mighty Blow.

The Winds Are Nothing Else But Good Or Bad Spirits. Hark! How The Devil Is Puffing And Blowing.

When I Am Assailed With Heavy Tribulations, I Rush Out Among My Pigs Rather Than Remain Alone By Myself. The Human Heart Is Like A Millstone In A Mill: When You Put Wheat Under It, It Turns And Grinds And Bruises The Wheat To Flour; If You Put No Wheat, It Still Grinds On, But Then 'tis Itself It Grinds And Wears Away. So The Human Heart, Unless It Be Occupied With Some Employment, Leaves Space For The Devil, Who Wriggles Himself In And Brings With Him A Whole Host Of Evil Thoughts, Temptations, And Tribulations, Which Grind Out The Heart.

God Has Surely Promised His Grace To The Humbled: That Is, To Those Who Mourn Over And Despair Of Themselves. But A Man Cannot Be Thoroughly Humbled Till He Realizes That His Salvation Is Utterly Beyond His Own Powers, Counsels, Efforts, Will And Works, And Depends Absolutely On The Will, Counsel, Pleasure And Work Of Another -- God Alone.

Christ Took Our Sins And The Sins Of The Whole World As Well As The Father's Wrath On His Shoulders, And He Has Drowned Them Both In Himself So That We Are Thereby Reconciled To God And Become Completely Righteous.

The Irony Is I Stopped Going To Church A Few Weeks Later.

Going To Church

When God Works In Us, The Will, Being Changed And Sweetly Breathed Upon By The Spirit Of God, Desires And Acts, Not From Compulsion, But Responsively.

God Created Adam Lord Of All Living Creatures, But Eve Spoiled It All.

I Have No Use For Cranks Who Despise Music, Because It Is A Gift Of God. Music Drives Away The Devil And Makes People Joyful; They Forget Thereby All Wrath, Unchastity, Arrogance, And The Like. Next After Theology, I Give To Music The Highest Place And The Greatest Honor.

You See Then, That Diatribe Truly Possesses A Free Choice In Her Handling Of Scriptures, So That Words Of One And The Same Type Are For Her Obliged To Prove Endeavor In One Place And Freedom In Another, Exactly As She Pleases.

We Know That Death Never Skips Or Spares Anybody And That No One Ever Returns. And Yet We Go On Like The Blind, Who See As Little At Midday As In The Pitch-dark Night. We Do Not Take These Examples To Heart; We Do Not Realize That Today Or Tomorrow Our Turn Will Come.

This Grace Of God Is A Very Great, Strong, Mighty And Active Thing. It Does Not Lie Asleep In The Soul. Grace Hears, Leads, Drives, Draws, Changes, Works All In Man, And Lets Itself Be Distinctly Felt And Experienced. It Is Hidden, But Its Works Are Evident.

As Long As A Man Is Persuaded That He Can Make Even The Smallest Contribution To His Salvation, He Remains Self-confident And Does Not Utterly Despair Of Himself, And So Is Not Humbled Before God. Such A Man Plans Out For Himself A Position, An Occasion, A Work, Which Shall Bring Him Final Salvation, But Which Will Not.

Nothing Is More Sweet Than Harmony In Marriage, And Nothing More Distressing Than Dissension.

But Know That To Serve God Is Nothing Else Than To Serve Your Neighbor And Do Good To Him In Love, Be It A Child, Wife, Servant, Enemy, Friend....if You Do Not Find Yourself Among The Needy And The Poor, Where The Gospel Shows Us Christ, Then You May Know That Your Faith Is Not Right, And That You Have Not Yet Tasted Of Christ's Benevolence And Work For You.

He Who Believes In God Is Not Careful For The Morrow, But Labors Joyfully And With A Great Heart. "for He Giveth His Beloved, As In Sleep." They Must Work And Watch, Yet Never Be Careful Or Anxious, But Commit All To Him, And Live In Serene Tranquility; With A Quiet Heart, As One Who Sleeps Safely And Quietly.

The God Of This World Is Riches, Pleasure And Pride.

If A Man Serves Not God Only, Then Surely He Serves The Devil.

Now Just Behold These Miserable, Blind, And Senseless People.

A Large Number Of Deaf, Crippled And Blind People Are Afflicted Solely Through The Malice Of The Demon. And One Must In No Wise Doubt That Plagues, Fevers And Every Sort Of Evil Come From Him.

When God Contemplates Some Great Work, He Begins It By The Hand Of Some Poor, Weak, Human Creature, To Whom He Afterwards Gives Aid.

The State Of Matrimony Is The Chief In The World After Religion; But People Shun It Because Of Its Inconveniences, Like One Who, Running Out Of The Rain, Falls Into The River.

This Letter [to The Romans] Is Truly The Most Important Piece In The New Testament. It Is Purest Gospel. It Is Well Worth A Christian's While Not Only To Memorize It Word For Word But Also To Occupy Himself With It Daily, As Though It Were The Daily Bread Of The Soul. It Is Impossible To Read Or To Meditate On This Letter Too Much Or Too Well. The More One Deals With It, The More Precious It Becomes, And The Better It Tastes.

Although The Christian Is Thus Free From All Works, He Ought In This Liberty To Empty Himself, Take Upon Himself The Form Of A Servant, Be Made In The Likeness Of Men, Be Found In Human Form, And To Serve, Help And In Every Way Deal With His Neighbor As He Sees That God Through Christ Has Dealt And Still Deals With Him.

When My Heart Is Cold And I Cannot Pray As I Should I Scourge Myself With The Thought Of The Impiety And Ingratitude Of My Enemies, The Pope And His Accomplices And Vermin, And Zwingli, So That My Heart Swells With The Righteous Indignation And Hatred And I Can Say With Warmth And Vehemence: 'holy Be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done!' And The Hotter I Grow The More Ardent Do My Prayers Become.

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