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Reason Must Be Deluded, Blinded, And Destroyed. Faith Must Trample Underfoot All Reason, Sense, And Understanding, And Whatever It Sees Must Be Put Out Of Sight And ... Know Nothing But The Word Of God.

-Martin Luther

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Reason Must Be Deluded,

Martin Luther

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Reason Must Be Deluded, Blinded, And Destroyed. Faith Must Trample Underfoot All Reason, Sense, And Understanding, And Whatever It Sees Must Be Put Out Of Sight And ... Know Nothing But The Word Of God.

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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.

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, A Bulwark Never Failing; Our Helper He, Amid The Flood Of Mortal Ills Prevailing: For Still Our Ancient Foe Doth Seek To Work Us Woe; His Craft And Power Are Great, And, Armed With Cruel Hate, On Earth Is Not His Equal.

It Is The Nature Of All Hypocrites And False Prophets To Create A Conscience Where There Is None, And To Cause Conscience To Disappear Where It Does Exist.

The Secret Of Contentment Is The Realization That Life Is A Gift, Not A Right. Next To Faith This Is The Highest Art - To Be Content With The Calling In Which God Has Placed You.

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.

God's Entire Divine Nature Is Wholly And Entirely In All Creatures, More Deeply, More Inwardly, More Present Than The Creature Is To Itself.

I Would Not Have Preachers Torment Their Hearers, And Detain Them With Long And Tedious Preaching.

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

I Cannot And Will Not Recant Anything, For To Go Against Conscience Is Neither Right Nor Safe. Here I Stand, I Can Do No Other, So Help Me God. Amen.

Our Most Merciful Father, Seeing Us To Be Oppressed And Overwhelmed With The Curse Of The Law . . . Sent His Only Son Into The World And Laid Upon Him All The Sins Of All Men, Saying, 'you Be Peter That Denier, Paul That Persecutor, Blasphemer And Cruel Oppressor, David That Adulterer, That Sinner Who Ate The Apple In Paradise, That Thief Who Hung Upon The Cross, And Briefly, You Be The Person Who Has Committed The Sins Of All Men. See Therefore That You Pay And Satisfy For Them.'

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

From You, My Dear Erasmus, Let Me Obtain This Request, That Just As I Bear With Your Ignorance In These Matters, So You In Turn Will Bear With My Lack Of Eloquence.

Reason Is The Greatest Enemy That Faith Has: It Never Comes To The Aid Of Spiritual Things.

This Doctrine (justification) Is The Head And The Cornerstone. It Alone Begets, Nourishes, Builds, Preserves, And Defends The Church Of God And Without It The Church Of God Cannot Exist For One Hour.

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

Pray Like It All Depends On God, Then When You Are Done, Go Work Like It All Depends On You.

In Human Affairs We Accomplish Everything Through Prayer. What Has Been Properly Arranged We Keep In Order, What Has Gone Amiss We Change And Improve, What Cannot Be Changed And Improved We Bear, Overcoming All The Trouble And Sustaining All The Good By Prayer. Against Force There Is No Help But Prayer Alone.

Riches, Understanding, Beauty, Are Fair Gifts Of God.

Grant That I May Not Pray Alone With The Mouth; Help Me That I May Pray From The Depths Of My Heart.

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.

The Word And Works Of God Is Quite Clear, That Women Were Made Either To Be Wives Or Prostitutes.

Christian Women

May A Merciful God Preserve Me From A Christian Church In Which Everyone Is A Saint! I Want To Be And Remain In The Church And Little Flock Of The Fainthearted, The Feeble And The Ailing, Who Feel And Recognize The Wretchedness Of Their Sins, Who Sigh And Cry To God Incessantly For Comfort And Help, Who Believe In The Forgiveness Of Sins.

The God Whom We Worship Is Not A Weak And Incompetent God. He Is Able To Beat Back Gigantic Waves Of Opposition And To Bring Low Prodigious Mountains Of Evil. The Ringing Testimony Of The Christian Faith Is That God Is Able.

Pure Christian Love Is Not Derived From The Merit Of The Object.

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

Pray, And Let God Worry.

We May Search Long To Find Where God Is, But We Shall Find Him In Those Who Keep The Words Of Christ. For The Lord Christ Saith, " If Any Man Love Me, He Will Keep My Words; And We Will Make Our Abode With Him.

While We Contemplate In All Creatures, As In A Mirror, Those Immense Riches Of His Wisdom, Justice, Goodness And Power, We Should Not Meerly Run Them Over Cursorily, And, So To Speak, With A Fleeting Glance, But We Should Ponder Them At Length, Turn Them Over In Our Mind Seriously And Faithfully And Recollect Them Repeatedly.

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

I More Fear What Is Within Me Than What Comes From Without.

Christians Are Rare People On Earth.

When We Hear That Christ Was Made A Curse For Us, Let Us Believe It With Joy And Assurance. By Faith Christ Changes Places With Us. He Gets Our Sins, We Get His Holiness.

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

If I Am Not Allowed To Laugh In Heaven, I Don't Want To Go There.

World, Death, Devil, Hell, Away And Leave Me In Peace! You Have No Hold On Me. If You Will Not Let Me Live, Then I Will Die. But You Won't Succeed In That. Chop My Head Off, And It Won't Harm Me. I Have A God Who Will Give Me A New One.

A Christian Is Free And Independent In Every Respect, A Bond Servant To None. A Christian Is A Dutiful Servant In Every Respect, Owing A Duty To Everyone.

Therefore The Blind Jews Are Truly Stupid Fools.

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

If It Were Art To Overcome Heresy With Fire, The Executioners Would Be The Most Learned Doctors On Earth.

Snakes And Monkeys Are Subjected To The Demon More Than Other Animals. Satan Lives In Them And Possesses Them. He Uses Them To Deceive Men And To Injure Them.

Antichrist Is The Pope And The Turk [muslim] Together. A Beast Full Of Life Must Have A Body And Soul. The Spirit Or Soul Of Antichrist Is The Pope, His Flesh Or Body The Turk.

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

The Article Of Justification Is Fragile. Not In Itself, Of Course, But In Us. I Know How Quickly A Person Can Forfeit The Joy Of The Gospel.

And I'll Tell You, I've Seen The Lightning Flash. I've Heard The Thunder Roll. I Felt Sin-breakers Dashing, Trying To Conquer My Soul. But I Heard The Voice Of Jesus Saying Still To Fight On. He Promised Never To Leave Me, Never To Leave Me Alone. No, Never Alone. He Promised Never To Leave Me, Never To Leave Me Alone.

The Gospel Cannot Be Preached And Heard Enough, For It Cannot Be Grasped Well Enough.

I Did Nothing. The Word Did It All.

There Is No Wisdom Save In Truth.

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.

The Gospel Cannot Be Preached And Heard Enough, For It Cannot Be Grasped Well Enough ... Moreover, Our Greatest Task Is To Keep You Faithful To This Article And To Bequeath This Treasure To You When We Die.

When I Am Angry I Can Pray Well And Preach Well.

He Who Loves Not Women, Wine, And Song Remains A Fool His Whole Life Long.

Temptations, Of Course, Cannot Be Avoided, But Because We Cannot Prevent The Birds From Flying Over Our Heads, There Is No Need That We Should Let Them Nest In Our Hair.

Blessed Is The Man That Hath Not Walked In The Way Of The Sacramentarians, Nor Sat In The Seat Of The Zwinglians, Nor Followed The Council Of The Zurichers.

A Theologian Should Be Thoroughly In Possession Of The Basis And Source Of Faith--that Is To Say, The Holy Scriptures. Armed With This Knowledge It Was That I Confounded And Silenced All My Adversaries; For They Seek Not To Fathom And Understand The Scriptures; They Run Them Over Negligently And Drowsily; They Speak, They Write, They Teach, According To The Suggestion Of Their Heedless Imaginations.

But The Power Of God Cannot Be So Determined And Measured, For It Is Uncircumscribed And Immeasurable, Beyond And Above All That Is Or May Be. On The Other Hand, It Must Be Essentially Present At All Places, Even In The Tiniest Tree Leaf.

Grace Was Not Given To Heal The Spiritually Sick But To Decorate Spiritual Heroes!

I Know That A Christian Should Be Humble, But Against The Pope I Am Going To Be Proud And Say To Him: "you, Pope, I Will Not Have You For My Boss, For I Am Sure That My Doctrine Is Divine.

Idiots, The Lame, The Blind, The Dumb, Are Men In Whom The Devils Have Established Themselves: And All The Physicians Who Heal These Infirmities, As Though They Proceeded From Natural Causes, Are Ignorant Blockheads.

Next To The Word Of God, The Noble Art Of Music Is The Greatest Treasure In The World.

Greatest Treasure

Even Like As St. Paul Was Converted, Just So Are All Others Converted; For We All Resist God, But The Holy Ghost Draws The Will Of Mankind, When He Pleases, Through Preaching.

We Refuse To Believe That There Are Insufficient Funds In The Great Vaults Of Opportunity Of This Nation.

I Was Born To Fight Devils And Factions. It Is My Business To Remove Obstacles, To Cut Down Thorns, To Fill Up Quagmires And To Open And Make Straight Paths. If I Must Have Some Failing Let Me Rather Speak The Truth With Too Great Sincerity Than Once To Act The Hypocrite And Conceal The Truth.

We Are Beginning To Regain A Knowledge Of Creation, A Knowledge Forfeited By The Fall Of Adam. By God's Mercy We Can Begin To Recognize His Wonderful Works And Wonders Also In Flowers When We Ponder His Might And Goodness. Therefore We Laud, Magnify And Thank Him.

Faith Does Not Inquire Whether There Are Good Works To Be Done, But Even Before Asking Questions, Faith Has Done The Works Already.

Asking Questions

Why Do You Rant And Brag With Such A Spate Of Words, As If You Wanted To Overwhelm Me With A Sort Of Tempest And Deluge Of Oratory-which Nevertheless Falls With The Greater Force On Your Own Head, While My Ark Rides Aloft In Safety?

[our] Plan Is To Follow The Example Of The Prophets And The Ancient Fathers Of The Church, And To Compose Psalms...so That The Word Of God May Be Among The People Also In The Form Of Music.

I Should Have No Compassion On These Witches; I Should Burn Them All.

Your Work Is A Very Sacred Matter. God Delights In It, And Through It, He Wants To Best His Blessings On You. This Praise Of Work Should Be Inscribed On All Tools, On The Forehead And The Faces That Sweat From Toiling.

Faith Is Permitting Ourselves To Be Seized By The Things That We Do Not See.

The Bible Is A Remarkable Fountain: The More One Draws And Drinks Of It, The More It Stimulates Thirst.

I Have To Hurry All Day To Get Time To Pray.

There Is No Gown Or Garment That Worse Becomes A Woman Than When She Will Be Wise.

He Who Loses Sight Of The Word Of God, Falls Into Despair; The Voice Of Heaven No Longer Sustains Him; He Follows Only The Disorderly Tendency Of His Heart.

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

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.

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?

I Am More Afraid Of My Own Heart Than Of The Pope And All His Cardinals. I Have Within Me The Great Pope, Self.

First I Shake The Whole Apple Tree, That The Ripest Might Fall. Then I Climb The Tree And Shake Each Limb, And Then Each Branch And Then Each Twig, And Then I Look Under Each Leaf.

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.

There Is On Earth Among All Dangers No More Dangerous Thing Than A Richly Endowed And Adroit Reason...reason Must Be Deluded, Blinded, And Destroyed.

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

Medicine Makes People Ill, Mathematics Make Them Sad And Theology Makes Them Sinful.

And I Myself, In Rome, Heard It Said Openly In The Streets, "if There Is A Hell, Then Rome Is Built On It.

Unthankfulness Is Theft.

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

In Short, I Will Preach It [the Word], Teach It, Write It, But I Will Constrain No Man By Force, For Faith Must Come Freely Without Compulsion. Take Myself As An Example. I Opposed Indulgences And All The Papists, But Never With Force. I Simply Taught, Preached, And Wrote God's Word; Otherwise I Did Nothing. And While I Slept, Or Drank Wittenberg Beer With My Friends Philip And Amsdorf, The Word So Greatly Weakened The Papacy That No Prince Or Emperor Ever Inflicted Such Losses Upon It. I Did Nothing; The Word Did Everything.

God Is Not Hostile To Sinners, But Only To Unbelievers.

A Great Variety Of Reading Confuses And Does Not Teach. It Makes The Student Like A Man Who Dwells Everywhere And, Therefore, Nowhere In Particular.

Christianity Can Be Summed Up In The Two Terms Faith And Love...receiving From Above [faith] And Giving Out Below [love].

After The Devil Himself, There Is No Worse Folk Than The Pope And His Followers.

Out Of The Mountain Of Despair, A Stone Of Hope.

Music Is A Fair And Glorious Gift Of God. I Am Strongly Persuaded That After Theology, There Is No Art Which Can Be Placed On The Level With Music.

Christ Wants To Slay Reason And Subdue The Arrogance Of The Jews.

The Hair Is The Finest Ornament Women Have. Of Old, Virgins Used To Wear It Loose, Except When They Were In Mourning.

As Long As We Live There Is Never Enough Singing.

Is It Not A Thing Most Abominable, That God Who Feeds So Many Mouths, Should Be Held In Such Low Esteem By Me, That I Will Not Trust Him To Feed Me? Yea, That A Guilder, Thirty-eight Cents, Should Be Valued More Highly Than God, Who Pours Out His Treasures Everywhere In Rich Profusion. For The World Is Full Of God And His Works. He Is Everywhere Present With His Gifts, And Yet We Will Not Trust In Him, Nor Accept His Visitation.

Stubbornness Should Have Been My Middle Name.

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.

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

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.

If We Christians Would Join The Wise Men, We Must Close Our Eyes To All That Glitters Before The World And Look Rather On The Despised And Foolish Things, Help The Poor, Comfort The Despised, And Aid The Neighbor In His Need.

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

A Good Servant Is A Real Godsend, But Truly This Is A Rare Bird In The Land.

Merit Is A Work For The Sake Of Which Christ Gives Rewards. But No Such Work Is To Be Found, For Christ Gives By Promise. Just As If A Prince Should Say To Me, "come To Me In My Castle, And I Will Give You A Hundred Florins." I Do A Work, Certainly, In Going To The Castle, But The Gift Is Not Given Me As The Reward Of My Work In Going, But Because The Prince Promised It To Me.

To Be A Christian, You Must Pluck Out The Eye Of Reason.

When God's Righteousness Is Mentioned In The Gospel, It Is God's Action Of Declaring Righteous The Unrighteous Sinner Who Has Faith In Jesus Christ. The Righteousness By Which A Person Is Justified (declared Righteous) Is Not His Own But That Of Another, Christ.

[the Papists] Ought To Have Sympathy With Us Weak, Poor Christians, And Not Condemn Us Or Make Fun Of Us Because We Are Learning So Childishly To Toddle Along The Benches, Nay, To Creep In The Mire, And Cannot Skip And Dance, On Such Light Feet And Legs, Over And Outside Of God's Commandments, As They Do, The Strong Heroes And Giants ... God Forbid That We Should!

I Am So Busy Now That If I Did Not Spend Three Hours Each Day In Prayer, I Could Not Get Through The Day.

I Compare It With A Lie, Which Like To A Snowball, The Longer It Is Rolled The Greater It Becomes.

We Ought First To Know That There Are No Good Works Except Those Which God Has Commanded, Even As There Is No Sin Except That Which God Has Forbidden.

Christ Sayeth Not, Abstain From The Flesh, From Marrying, From Housekeeping, Etc., As The Papists Teach, For That Were Even To Invite The Devil And All His Fellows To A Feast.

If I Fail To Spend Two Hours In Prayer Each Morning, The Devil Gets The Victory Through The Day. I Have So Much Business I Cannot Get On Without Spending Three Hours Daily In Prayer.

No Man Ought To Lay A Cross Upon Himself, Or To Adopt Tribulation, As Is Done In Popedom; But If A Cross Or Tribulation Come Upon Him, Then Let Him Suffer It Patiently, And Know That It Is Good And Profitable For Him.

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.

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.

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.

Lord God, I Thank Thee That Thou Hast Been Pleased To Make Me A Poor And Indigent Man Upon Earth. I Have Neither House Nor Land Nor Money, To Leave Behind Me. Thou Hast Given Me Wife And Children, Whom I Now Restore To Thee. Lord, Nourish, Teach, And Preserve Them As Thou Hast Me.

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

True Humility Does Not Know That It Is Humble. If It Did, It Would Be Proud From The Contemplation Of So Fine A Virtue.

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

Those Speak Foolishly Who Ascribe Their Anger Or Their Impatience To Such As Offend Them Or To Tribulation. Tribulation Does Not Make People Impatient, But Proves That They Are Impatient. So Everyone May Learn From Tribulation How His Heart Is Constituted.

The Curses Of The Ungodly Are More Pleasing To God's Ears Than The Hallelujahs Of The Pious

True Faith Will No More Fail To Produce [good Works] Than The Sun Can Cease To Give Light.

If I Should Neglect Prayer But A Single Day, I Should Lose A Great Deal Of The Fire Of Faith.

Be A Sinner, And Let Your Sins Be Strong, But Let Your Trust In Christ Be Stronger, And Rejoice In Christ Who Is The Victor Over Sin, Death, And The World.

A Wicked Tyrant Is Better Than A Wicked War.

You Should Not Believe Your Conscience And Your Feelings More Than The Word Which The Lord Who Receives Sinners Preaches To You.

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.

Where The Battle Rages, There The Loyalty Of The Soldier Is Proved; And To Be Steady On All The Battlefield Besides, Is Mere Flight And Disgrace If He Flinches At That Point.

I Am Afraid That The Schools Will Prove The Very Gates Of Hell, Unless They Diligently Labor In Explaining The Holy Scriptures And Engraving Them In The Heart Of The Youth.

Faith Is The Yes Of The Heart.

However, They Have Not Acquired A Perfect Mastery Of The Art Of Lying; They Lie So Clumsily And Ineptly That Anyone Who Is Just A Little Observant Can Easily Detect It. But For Us Christians They Stand As A Terrifying Example Of God's Wrath.

Prayer Is A Powerful Thing; For God Has Bound And Tied Himself Thereunto.

What Harm Would It Do, If A Man Told A Good Strong Lie For The Sake Of The Good And For The Christian Church ... A Lie Out Of Necessity, A Useful Lie, A Helpful Lie, Such Lies Would Not Be Against God, He Would Accept Them.

At Sussen, The Devil Carried Off, Last Good Friday, Three Grooms Who Had Devoted Themselves To Him.

The Kingdom Is To Be In The Midst Of Your Enemies. And He Who Will Not Suffer This Does Not Want To Be Of The Kingdom Of Christ; He Wants To Be Among Friends, To Sit Among Roses And Lilies, Not With The Bad People But The Devout People. O You Blasphemers And Betrayers Of Christ! If Christ Had Done What You Are Doing, Who Would Ever Have Been Spared?

Good News From Heaven The Angels Bring, Glad Tidings To The Earth They Sing: To Us This Day A Child Is Given, To Crown Us With The Joy Of Heaven.

God May Delay, But He Always Comes.

If Obedience Is Not Rendered In The Homes, We Shall Never Have A Whole City, Country, Principality, Or Kingdom Well Governed. For This Order In The Homes Is The First Rule; It Is The Source Of All Other Rule And Government.

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.

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

It Is Better To Think Of Church In The Ale-house Than To Think Of The Ale-house In Church.

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

It Is Not Necessary For A Preacher To Express All His Thoughts In One Sermon. A Preacher Should Have Three Principles: First, To Make A Good Beginning, And Not Spend Time With Many Words Before Coming To The Point; Secondly, To Say That Which Belongs To The Subject In Chief, And Avoid Strange And Foreign Thoughts; Thirdly, To Stop At The Proper Time.

Even If All The World Were To Combine Forces, They Could Not Bring About The Conception Of A Single Child In Any Woman's Womb Nor Cause It To Be Born; That Is Wholly The Work Of God.

God Does Not Need Your Good Works, But Your Neighbor Does.

Let The Man Who Would Hear God Speak, Read Holy Scriptures.

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.

It Is Impossible For A Man To Be A Christian Without Having Christ; And If He Has Christ He Has At The Same Time All That Is In Christ.

From The Beginning Of My Reformation I Have Asked God To Send Me Neither Dreams, Nor Visions, Nor Angels, But To Give Me The Right Understanding Of His Word, The Holy Scriptures; For As Long As I Have God's Word, I Know That I Am Walking In His Way And That I Shall Not Fall Into Any Error Or Delusion.

Even Though They (women) Grow Weary And Wear Themselves Out With Child-bearing, It Does Not Matter; Let Them Go On Bearing Children Till They Die, That Is What They Are There For.

Those Who Lapse From The Gospel To The Law Are No Better Off Than Those Who Lapse From Grace To Idolatry.

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.

Blood Alone Moves The Wheels Of History.

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

If You Want To Interpret Well And Confidently, Set Christ Before You, For He Is The Man To Whom It All Applies, Every Bit Of It.

For That Purpose Christ Instituted Holy Baptism, Thereby To Clothe You With His Righteousness. It Is Tantamount To His Saying, My Righteousness Shall Be Your Righteousness; My Innocence, Your Innocence. Your Sins Indeed Are Great, But By Baptism I Bestow On You My Righteousness; I Strip Death From You And Clothe You With My Life.

Justice Is A Temporary Thing That Must At Last Come To An End; But The Conscience Is Eternal And Will Never Die.

There Is No More Lovely, Friendly And Charming Relationship, Communion Or Company Than A Good Marriage.

We Ought Not To Criticize, Explain, Or Judge The Scriptures By Our Mere Reason, But Diligently, With Prayer, Meditate Thereon, And Seek Their Meaning.

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.

Let Us Not Flutter Too High, But Remain By The Manger And The Swaddling Clothes Of Christ, 'in Whom Dwelleth All The Fullness Of The Godhead Bodily.'

Reason Is The Enemy Of Faith.

They [rulers] Must Act Like A Good Physician Who, When Gangrene Has Set In Proceeds Without Mercy To Cut, Saw, And Burn Flesh, Veins, Bone, And Marrow. Such A Procedure Must Also Be Followed In This Instance. Burn Down Their Synagogues, Forbid All That I Enumerated Earlier, Force Them To Work, And Deal Harshly With Them, As Moses Did... If This Does Not Help We Must Drive Them Out Like Mad Dogs.

Whoever Drinks Beer, He Is Quick To Sleep; Whoever Sleeps Long, Does Not Sin; Whoever Does Not Sin, Enters Heaven! Thus, Let Us Drink Beer!

Those With Prodigious Skill In Music Are Better Suited For All Things.

Divinity Consists In Use And Practice, Not In Speculation.

God's Love Gives In Such A Way That It Flows From A Father's Heart, The Well-spring Of All Good. The Heart Of The Giver Makes The Gift Dear And Precious; As Among Ourselves We Say Of Even A Trifling Gift, "it Comes From A Hand We Love," And Look Not So Much At The Gift As At The Heart.

I Pray That God Would Open The Mouth In Me And The Heart In You And That He Would Be The Teacher In The Midst Of Us Who May In Us Speak And Hear.

It Is Pleasing To The Dear God Whenever Thou Rejoicest Or Laughest From The Bottom Of Thy Heart.

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.

I Cannot Neglect Prayer For A Single Day.

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.

To Preach Christ Is To Feed The Soul, To Justify It, To Set It Free, And To Save It, If It Believes The Preaching.

What Do We Older Folks Live For If Not For The Care Of The Young, To Teach And Train Them?

Whoso Hearkens Not To God's Voice, Is An Idolator, Though He Perform The Highest And Most Heavy Service Of God.

You May As Well Quit Reading And Hearing The Word Of God, And Give It To The Devil, If You Do Not Desire To Live According To It.

Christians Fight Best On Their Knees. Whatever Good May Be Done Is Done And Brought About By Prayer.

So Tenaciously Should We Cling To The World Revealed By The Gospel, That Were I To See All The Angels Of Heaven Coming Down To Me To Tell Me Something Different, Not Only Would I Not Be Tempted To Doubt A Single Syllable, But I Would Shut My Eyes And Stop My Ears, For They Would Not Deserve To Be Either Seen Or Heard.

For They Who Think They Make An End Of Temptation By Yeilding To It, Only Set Themselves On Fire The More.

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.

It Is Necessary To Understand That Black Power Is A Cry Of Disappointment. The Black Power Slogan Did Not Spring Full Grown From The Head Of Some Philosophical Zeus. It Was Born From The Wounds Of Despair And Disappointment. It Is A Cry Of Daily Hurt And Persistent Pain.

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.

Nothing Is Easier Than Sinning.

The First Thing I Ask Is That People Should Not Make Use Of My Name, And Should Not Call Themselves Lutherans But Christians. What Is Luther? The Teaching Is Not Mine. Nor Was I Crucified For Anyone...how Did I, Poor Stinking Bag Of Maggots That I Am, Come To The Point Where People Call The Children Of Christ By My Evil Name?

Cannons And Fire-arms Are Cruel And Damnable Machines; I Believe Them To Have Been The Direct Suggestion Of The Devil. If Adam Had Seen In A Vision The Horrible Instruments His Children Were To Invent, He Would Have Died Of Grief.

God Is Ready To Give More Quickly, And To Give More Than You Ask; Yea, He Offers His Treasures If We Only Take Them. It Is Truly A Great Shame And A Severe Chastisement For Us Christians That God Should Still Upbraid Us For Our Slothfulness In Prayer, And That We Fail To Let Such A Rich And Excellent Promise Incite Us To Pray.

A Religion That Gives Nothing, Costs Nothing, And Suffers Nothing, Is Worth Nothing.

People Go Through Three Conversions: The Conversion Of Their Head, Their Heart, And Their Pocketbook. Unfortunately, Not All At The Same Time.

Therefore Be On Your Guard Against The Jews, Knowing That Wherever They Have Their Synagogues, Nothing Is Found But A Den Of Devils In Which Sheer Self-glory, Conceit, Lies, Blasphemy, And Defaming Of God And Men Are Practiced Most Maliciously And Veheming His Eyes On Them.

Whenever I Have Prayed Earnestly, I Have Always Received More Than I Asked For. God May Delay, But He Always Comes.

The Heart Overflows With Gladness, And Leaps And Dances For The Joy It Has Found In God. In This Experience The Holy Spirit Is Active, And Has Taught Us In The Flash Of A Moment The Deep Secret Of Joy. You Will Have As Much Joy And Laughter In Life As You Have Faith In God.

The Quest For Glory Can Never Be Satisfied, It Must Be Extinguished.

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

What Is Sought By Means Of Free Choice Is To Make Room For Merits.

If You See Yourself As A "little Sinner" You Will Inevitably See Jesus As A "little Savior".

Let All Your Preaching Be In The Most Simple And Plainest Manner; Look Not To The Prince, But To The Plain, Simple, Gross, Unlearned People, Of Which Cloth The Prince Also Himself Is Made. If I, In My Preaching, Should Have Regard To Philip Melancthon And Other Learned Doctors, Then Should I Do But Little Good. I Preach In The Simplest Manner To The Unskillful, And That Giveth Content To All. Hebrew, Greek And Latin I Spare Until We Learned Ones Come Together.

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.

The Reproduction Of Mankind Is A Great Marvel And Mystery. Had God Consulted Me In The Matter, I Should Have Advised Him To Continue The Generation Of The Species By Fashioning Them Out Of Clay.

A Person Whodoes Not Regard Music As A Marvelous Creation Of God, Must Be A Clodhopper Indeed And Does Not Deserve To Be Called A Human Being; He Should Be Permitted To Hear Nothing But The Braying Of Asses And The Grunting Of Hogs.

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