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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.

-Martin Luther

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We Come To The

Martin Luther

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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.

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A Dairymaid Can Milk Cows To The Glory Of God

Nothing Good Ever Comes Of Violence.

That Little Bird Has Chosen His Shelter. Above It Are The Stars And The Deep Heaven Of Worlds. Yet He Is Rocking Himself To Sleep Without Caring For Tomorrow's Lodging, Calmly Clinging To His Little Twig, And Leaving God To Think For Him.

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.

I Have So Much To Do Today That I Must Set Apart More Time Than Usual To Pray.

Men Are So Delving Into The Mysteries Of Things That Today A Boy Of Twenty Knows More Than Twenty Doctors Formerly Knew.

Twas A Special Gift Of God That Speech Was Given To Mankind; For Through The Word, And Not By Force, Wisdom Governs.

Every Doer Of The Law And Every Moral Worker Is Accursed, For He Walketh In The Presumption Of His Own Righteousness.

Blessed Is He Who Submits To The Will Of God; He Can Never Be Unhappy.

What Shall We Do With...the Jews?...their Homes Also Should Be Razed And Destroyed.

It Would Be A Good Thing If Young People Were Wise And Old People Were Strong, But God Has Arranged Things Better.

Lord God...use Me As Your Instrument -- But Do Not Forsake Me, For If Ever I Should Be On My Own, I Would Easily Wreck It All.

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.

Faith Is A Living, Daring, Confidence In God's Grace.

I Know Not The Way God Leads Me, But Well Do I Know My Guide.

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

Greatest Treasure

Whilst A Man Is Persuaded That He Has It In His Power To Contribute Anything, Be It Ever So Little, To His Salvation, He Remains In Carnal Self-confidence; He Is Not A Self-despairer, And Therefore Is Not Duly Humbled Before God, He Believes He May Lend A Helping Hand In His Salvation, But On The Contrary, Whoever Is Truly Convinced That The Whole Work Depends Singly On The Will Of God, Such A Person Renounces His Own Will And Strength; He Waits And Prays For The Operation Of God, Nor Waits And Prays In Vain

Self Confidence

For In The True Nature Of Things, If We Rightly Consider, Every Green Tree Is Far More Glorious Than If It Were Made Of Gold And Silver.

We Do Not Become Righteous By Doing Righteous Deed But, Having Been Made Righteous, We Do Righteous Deeds.

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.

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

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

Here I Stand; I Can Do No Other.

He Who Knoweth And Understandeth Christ's Life, Knoweth And Understandeth Christ Himself; And In Like Manner, He Who Understandeth Not His Life, Doth Not Understand Christ Himself. And He Who Believeth On Christ, Believeth That His Life Is The Best And Noblest Life That Can Be, And If A Man Believe Not This, Neither Doth He Believe On Christ Himself.

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.

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.

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

People Must Have Righteous Principals In The First, And Then They Will Not Fail To Perform Virtuous Actions.

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.

Father And Mother Are Apostles, Bishops And Priests To Their Children, For It Is They Who Make Them Acquainted With The Gospel.

If I Could Today Become King Or Emperor, I Would Not Give Up My Office As Preacher.

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.

‎what You Do In Your House Is Worth As Much As If You Did It Up In Heaven For Our Lord God. We Should Accustom Ourselves To Think Of Our Position And Work As Sacred And Well-pleasing To God, Not On Account Of The Position And Work, But On Account Of The Word And Faith From Which The Obedience And Work Flow.

In The Church, Great Wonders Daily Occur, Such As The Forgiveness Of Sins, Triumph Over Death . . . The Gift Of Righteousness And Eternal Life.

Farewell Unhappy, Hopeless, Blasphemous Rome! The Wrath Of God Has Come Upon You, As You Deserve. We Cared For Babylon, And She Is Not Healed; Let Us Then Leave Her, That She May Become The Habitation Of Dragons, Spectres, And Witches.

Everything That Is Done In The World Is Done By Hope. No Merchant Or Tradesman Would Set Himself To Work If He Did Not Hope To Reap Benefit Thereby.

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.

Men Are Not Made Religious By Performing Certain Actions Which Are Externally Good, But They Must First Have Righteous Principles, And Then They Will Not Fail To Perform Virtuous Actions.

Despair Makes Priests And Friars.

The Devil And Temptations Also Do Give Occasion Unto Us Somewhat To Learn And Understand The Scriptures, By Experience And Practice. Without Trials And Temptations We Should Never Understand Anything Thereof; No, Not Although We Diligently Read And Heard The Same.

Sheep, Cattle, Men-servants Were All Possessions To Be Sold As It Pleased Their Masters. It Were A Good Thing Were It Still So. For Else No Man May Compel Nor Tame The Servile Folk.

Adam Was Created, As It Were, Intoxicated With Rejoicing Toward God And Was Delighted Also With All The Other Creatures.

A Man Would Have To Be An Idiot To Write A Book Of Laws For An Apple Tree Telling It To Bear Apples And Not Thorns, Seeing That The Apple-tree Will Do It Naturally And Far Better Than Any Laws Or Teaching Can Prescribe.

A Unjust Law, Is No Law At All.

There Is No Wisdom Save In Truth. Truth Is Everlasting, But Our Ideas About Truth Are Changeable. Only A Little Of The First Fruits Of Wisdom, Only A Few Fragments Of The Boundless Heights, Breadths And Depths Of Truth, Have I Been Able To Gather.

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.

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

It Is The Duty Of Every Christian To Be Christ To His Neighbor.

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

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.

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.

We Can Mention Only One Point (which Experience Confirms), Namely, That Next To The Word Of God, Music Deserves The Highest Praise. No Greater Commendation Than This Can Be Found — At Least Not By Us. After All, The Gift Of Language Combined With The Gift Of Song Was Only Given To Man To Let Him Know That He Should Praise God With Both Word And Music, Namely, By Proclaiming [the Word Of God] Through Music.

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.

Be Thou Comforted, Little Dog, Thou Too In Resurrection Shall Have A Little Golden Tail.

Resurrection Of Jesus Christ

When The Devil Wants To Cause Offense Against The True Doctrine And Faith, He Does Not Do So Through Insignificant People, Who Do Not Rate Highly With The World, But Through Those Who Are The Very Best, The Wisest, The Holiest, And The Most Learned.

I Am Bound By The Texts Of The Bible, My Conscience Is Captive To The Word Of God, I Neither Can Nor Will Recant Anything, Since It Is Neither Right Nor Safe To Act Against My Conscience.

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.

A Man Cannot Do Good Before He Is Made Good.

Brief Let Me Be. The Fewer Words The Better Prayer.

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.

Many Have Been Deceived By Outward Appearances And Have Proceeded To Write And Teach About Good Works And How They Justify Without Even Mentioning Faith.... Wearying Themselves With Many Works, They Never Come To Righteousness.

It Is Not I That Smite, Stab, And Slay, But God And My Prince, For My Hand And My Body Are Now Their Servants.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Once Sure That The Doctrine We Teach Is God's Word, Once Certain Of This, We May Build Thereupon, And Know That This Cause Shall And Must Remain; The Devil Shall Not Be Able To Overthrow It, Much Less The World Be Able To Uproot It, How Fiercely Soever It Rage.

Whenever The Word Is Rightly Preached, And Attentively Heard, It Never Fails To Bring Forth Fruit.

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.

Dear Rulers ... I Maintain That The Civil Authorities Are Under Obligation To Compel The People To Send Their Children To School. ... If The Government Can Compel Such Citizens As Are Fit For Military Service To Bear Spear And Rifle, To Mount Ramparts, And Perform Other Martial Duties In Time Of War, How Much More Has It A Right To Compel The People To Send Their Children To School, Because In This Case We Are Warring With The Devil, Whose Object It Is Secretly To Exhaust Our Cities And Principalities Of Their Strong Men.

A Theologian Is Born By Living, Nay Dying And Being Damned, Not By Thinking, Reading, Or Speculating.

There Is On Earth Among All Dangers, No More Dangerous Thing Than A Richly Endowed And Adroid Reason, Especially If She Enters Into Spiritual Matters Which Concern The Soul And God. For It Is More Possible To Teach An Ass To Read Than To Blind Such A Reason And Lead It Right; For Reason Must Be Deluded, Blinded, And Destroyed.

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

In The Midst Of The Affliction He Counsels, Strengthens Confirms, Nourishes, And Favors Us.... More Over, When We Have Repented, He Instantly Remits The Sins As Well As The Punishments. In The Same Manner Parents Ought To Handle Their Children.

God Can Be Found Only In Suffering And The Cross.

I Have So Much To Do That I Shall Spend The First Three Hours In Prayer.

When God Wants To Speak And Deal With Us, He Does Not Avail Himself Of An Angel But Of Parents, Or The Pastor, Or Of Our Neighbor.

The Gospel Cannot Be Truly Preached Without Offense And Tumult.

To Turn One's Eyes Away From Jesus Means To Turn Them To The Law.

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.

Anyone Who Is To Find Christ Must First Find The Church. How Could Anyone Know Where Christ Is And What Faith Is In Him Unless He Knew Where His Believers Are?

For From The Error Of Not Knowing, Or Understanding, What Sin Is, There Necessarily Arises Another Error, That People Cannot Know Or Understand What Grace Is.

I Shall Never Be A Heretic; I May Err In Dispute, But I Do Not Wish To Decide Anything Finally; On The Other Hand, I Am Not Bound By The Opinions Of Men.

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

The Devil Should Not Be Allowed To Keep All The Best Tunes For Himself.

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.

Those Who Turn Proud When Their Praise Is Sounded, Who Seek Their Own Glory, Not Christ's, Or Those Who Are Moved By Slanders And By Infamy, Had Better Leave The Ministry Of The Word.

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

For It Is A Horrible Blasphemy To Imagine That There Is Any Work By Which You Should Presume To Pacify God, Since You See That There Is Nothing Which Is Able To Pacify Him But This Inestimable Price, Even The Death And The Blood Of The Son Of God, One Drop Of Which Is More Precious Than The Whole World.

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.

I Did Not Learn My Theology All At Once, But Had To Search Constantly Deeper And Deeper For It. My Temptations Did That For Me, For No One Can Understand Holy Scripture Without Practice And Temptations...i T Is Not By Reading, Writing, Or Speculation That One Becomes A Theologian. Nay, Rather, It Is Living, Dying, And Being Damned That Makes One A Theologian.

The Soul Can Do Without Everything Except The Word Of God, Without Which None At All Of Its Wants Are Provided For.

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.

It Is An Unsufferable Blasphemy To Reject The Public Ministry Or To Say That People Can Become Holy Without Sermons And Church. This Involves A Destruction Of The Church And Rebellion Against Ecclesiastical Order; Such Upheavals Must Be Warded Off And Punished Like All Other Revolts.

Whatever You Love Most, That Is Your God.

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 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.

Is It Not Wonderful News To Believe That Salvation Lies Outside Ourselves?

What The Situation Will Be Like In The World Before The Lord Returns, Namely, Christ Will Be Despised, And The Preachers Of The Gospel Will Be Regarded As Fools.

Good Works Are The Seals And Proofs Of Faith; For Even As A Letter Must Have A Seal To Strengthen The Same, Even So Faith Must Have Good Works.

Christ Designed That The Day Of His Coming Should Be Hid From Us, That Being In Suspense, We Might Be As It Were Upon The Watch.

In Truth You Cannot Read Too Much In Scripture; And What You Read You Cannot Read Too Carefully, And What You Read Carefully You Cannot Understand Too Well, And What You Understand Well You Cannot Teach Too Well, And What You Teach Well You Cannot Live Too Well.

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.

Science Gives Man Knowledge Which Is Power; Religion Gives Man Wisdom Which Is Control.

Remove Christ From The Scriptures And There Is Nothing Left.

Our Faith Is An Astounding Thing-astounding That I Should Believe Him To Be The Son Of God Who Is Suspended On The Cross, Whom I Have Never Seen, With Whom I Have Never Become Acquainted.

Stubbornness Should Have Been My Middle Name.

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.

A Christian Is A Perfectly Free Lord Of All, Subject To None. A Christian Is A Perfectly Dutiful Servant Of All, Subject Of All, Subject To All.

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.

For God Is Wholly Present In All Creation, In Every Corner, He Is Behind You And Before You. Do You Think He Is Sleeping On A Pillow In Heaven? He Is Watching Over You And Protecting You.

Men Have Broad And Large Chests, And Small Narrow Hips, And More Understanding Than Women, Who Have But Small And Narrow Breasts, And Broad Hips, To The End They Should Remain At Home, Sit Still, Keep House, And Bear And Bring Up Children.

Put Thou Thy Trust In God; In Duty's Path Go On; Fix On His Word Thy Steadfast Eye; So Shall Thy Work Be Done.

There Is No Justification Without Sanctification, No Forgiveness Without Renewal Of Life, No Real Faith From Which The Fruits Of New Obedience Do Not Grow.

Faith Is A Living, Daring Confidence In God's Grace, So Sure And Certain That A Man Would Stake His Life On It One Thousand Times. This Confidence In God's Grace And Knowledge Of It Makes Men Glad And Bold And Happy In Dealing With God And With All Creatures; And This Is The Work Of The Holy Ghost In Faith.

Lord, Grant That Anger Or Other Bitterness Does Not Reign Over Us, But That Your Grace, Genuine Kindness, Loyalty, And Every Kind Of Friendliness, Generosity, And Gentleness May Reign In Us. Amen

I Only Ask In All Kindness That The Man Who Wishes At This Time To Have My Books Will By No Means Let Them Be A Hindrance To His Own Study Of The Scriptures, But Read Them As I Read The Orders And The Ordures Of The Pope And The Books Of The Sophists.

It Is Certainly True That Reason Is The Most Important And The Highest Rank Among All Things And, In Comparison With Other Things Of This Life, The Best And Something Divine. It Is The Inventor And Mentor Of All The Arts, Medicines, Laws, And Of Whatever Wisdom, Power, Virtue, And Glory Men Possess In This Life.

In The Bonds Of Death He Lay Who For Our Offence Was Slain; But The Lord Is Risen To-day, Christ Hath Brought Us Life Again, Wherefore Let Us All Rejoice, Singing Loud, With Cheerful Voice, Hallelujah!

The Son Of God Did Not Want To Be Seen And Found In Heaven. Therefore He Descended From Heaven Into This Humility And Came To Us In Our Flesh, Laid Himself Into The Womb Of His Mother And Into The Manger And Went On To The Cross. This Was The Ladder That He Placed On Earth So That We Might Ascend To God On It. This Is The Way You Must Take.

Not Only The Words (vocabula) Which The Holy Spirit And Scripture Use Are Divine, But Also The Phrasing

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

What Is It To Serve God And To Do His Will? Nothing Else Than To Show Mercy To Our Neighbor. For It Is Our Own Neighbor Who Needs Our Service; God In Heaven Needs It Not.

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!

Faith Is A Living, Bold Trust In God's Grace, So Certain Of God's Favour That It Would Risk Death A Thousand Times Trusting In It. Such Confidence And Knowledge Of God's Grace Makes You Happy, Joyful And Bold In Your Relationship To God And All Creatures. The Holy Spirit Makes This Happen Through Faith. Because Of It, You Freely, Willingly And Joyfully Do Good To Everyone, Serve Everyone, Suffer All Kinds Of Things, Love And Praise The God Who Has Shown You Such Grace.

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.

This Life Therefore Is Not Righteousness, But Growth In Righteousness, Not Health, But Healing, Not Being But Becoming, Not Rest But Exercise. We Are Not Yet What We Shall Be, But We Are Growing Toward It, The Process Is Not Yet Finished, But It Is Going On, This Is Not The End, But It Is The Road. All Does Not Yet Gleam In Glory, But All Is Being Purified.

Thought Provoking

God Writes The Gospel Not In The Bible Alone, But Also On Trees, And In The Flowers And Clouds And Stars.

We Must Not Regard What Or How The World Esteems Us, So We Have The Word Pure, And Are Certain Of Our Doctrine.

One Drop Of Christ's Blood Is Worth More Than Heaven And Earth.

Every Evening Brings Us Nearer God.

I Greatly Fear That The Universities, Unless They Teach The Holy Scriptures Diligently And Impress Them On The Young Students, Are Wide Gates To Hell.

Spare The Rod And Spoil The Child - That Is True. But, Beside The Rod, Keep An Apple To Give Him When He Has Done Well.

I Am Not Of The Opinion That All The Arts Shall Be Crushed To Earth And Perish Through The Gospel, As Some Bigoted Persons Pretend, But Would Willingly See Them All, And Especially Music, Servants Of Him Who Gave And Created Them.

Faith Is Under The Left Nipple.

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

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

The Fact That The Biblical Book Hebrews Is Not An Epistle Of St Paul, Or Of Any Other Apostle, Is Proved By What It Says In Chapter Two.

The Mystery Of The Humanity Of Christ, That He Sunk Himself Into Our Flesh, Is Beyond All Human Understanding.

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.

Man Is Man Because He Is Free To Operate Within A Framework Of His Destiny. He Is Free To Deliberate, To Make Decisions, And To Choose Between Alternatives. He Is Distinguished From Animals By His Freedom To Do Evil Or To Do Good And To Walk The High Road Of Beauty Or Tread The Low Road Of Ugly Degeneracy.

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

One Learns More Of Christ In Being Married And Rearing Children Than In Several Lifetimes Spent In Study In A Monastery.

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 Then, Moses So Distinctly Announces That There Is In Us Not Only A Faculty, But Also A Facility For Keeping All Commandments, Why Are We Sweating So Much? ... What Need Is There Now Of Christ Or Of Spirit? We Have Found A Passage That Asserts Freedom Of Choice, But Also Distinctly Teaches That The Keeping Of The Commandments Is Easy.

A Lie Is Like A Snow-ball; The Longer It Is Rolled, The Larger It Is.

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.

When Questioned Whether The Blessed Will Not Be Saddened By Seeing Their Nearest And Dearest Tortured Answers, "not In The Least."

Sin Is Essentially A Departure From God.

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.

Not Only The Adoration Of Images Is Idolatry, But Also Trust In One's Own Righteousness, Works And Merits, And Putting Confidence In Riches And Power. As The Latter Is The Commonest, So It Also Is The Most Noxious.

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.

If The Gospel Was Of A Nature To Be Propagated Or Maintained By The Power Of The World, God Would Not Have Intrusted It To Fishermen. To Defend The Gospel Appertains Not To The Princes And Pontiffs Of This World.

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.

People Gave Ear To An Upstart Astrologer Who Strove To Show That The Earth Revolves, Not The Heavens Or The Firmament, The Sun And The Moon....this Fool Wishes To Reverse The Entire Science Of Astronomy; But Sacred Scripture Tells Us [joshua 10:13]that Joshua Commanded The Sun To Stand Still, And Not The Earth.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

The First Duty Of The Gospel Preacher Is To Declare God's Law And To Show The Nature Of Sin.

Preaching The Gospel

In A Word, The Holy Scripture Is The Highest And Best Of Books, Abounding In Comfort Under All Afflictions And Trials. It Teaches Us To See, To Feel, To Grasp, And To Comprehend Faith, Hope, And Charity, Far Otherwise Than Mere Human Reason Can; And While Evil Oppresses Us, It Teaches How These Virtues Throw Light Upon The Darkness, And How, After This Poor, Miserable Existence Of Ours On Earth, There Is Another And An Eternal Life.

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

Going To Church

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

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

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

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.

Take A Look At Your Own Heart, And You Will Soon Find Out What Has Stuck To It And Where Your Treasure Is. It Is Easy To Determine Whether Hearing The Word Of God, Living According To It, And Achieving Such A Life Gives You As Much Enjoyment And Calls Forth As Much Diligence From You As Does Accumulating And Saving Money And Property.

I Would Rather Obey Than Work Miracles.

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.

Christians Are Rare People On Earth.

No Other God Have I But Thee, Born In A Manger, Died On A Tree.

Faith Is A Free Surrenderand A Joyous Wager On The Unseen, Unknown, Untested Goodness Of God.

God's Mark Is On Everything That Obeys Him.

I Believe That The Devil Has Destroyed Many Good Books Of The Church, As, Aforetime, He Killed And Crushed Many Holy Persons, The Memory Of Whom Has Now Passed Away; But The Bible He Was Fain To Leave Subsisting.

Next To Theology I Give To Music The Highest Place And Honor. And We See How David And All The Saints Have Wrought Their Godly Thoughts Into Verse, Rhyme, And Song.

The Priest Is Not Made. He Must Be Born A Priest; Must Inherit His Office. I Refer To The New Birth-the Birth Of Water And The Spirit. Thus All Christians Must Became Priests, Children Of God And Co-heirs With Christ The Most High Priest.

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

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

Forgive Us Our Trespasses As We Forgive Them That Trespass Against Us.

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

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.

Anything That One Imagines Of God Apart From Christ Is Only Useless Thinking And Vain Idolatry.

Wealth Is The Smallest Thing On Earth, The Least Gift That God Has Bestowed On Mankind.

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.

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.

To Gather With God's People In United Adoration Of The Father Is As Necessary To The Christian Life As Prayer.

A Gospel That Doesn't Deal With The Issues Of The Day Is Not The Gospel At All.

What Are The Things We Should Pray For? First, Our Personal Troubles...the Greatest Trouble We Can Ever Know Is Thinking That We Have No Trouble For We Can Become Hard-hearted And Insensible To What Is Inside Of Us.

Let Us Keep To Christ, And Cling To Him, And Hang On Him, So That No Power Can Remove Us.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Christ Is The Master; The Scriptures Are Only The Servant. The True Way To Test All The Books Is To See Whether They Work The Will Of Christ Or Not. No Book Which Does Not Preach Christ Can Be Apostolic, Though Peter Or Paul Were Its Author. And No Book Which Does Preach Christ Can Fail To Be Apostolic, Although Judas, Ananias, Pilate, Or Herod Were Its Author.

Therefore, Is Thy Brother A Sinner? Then Cover His Sin And Pray For Him. Dost Thou Publish His Sins, Then Truly Thou Art Not A Child Of Your Merciful Father; For Otherwise Thou Wouldst Be Also As He, Merciful. It Is Certainly True That We Cannot Show As Great Mercy To Our Neighbor, As God Has To Us; But It Is The True Work Of The Devil That We Do The Very Opposite Of Mercy, Which Is A Sure Sign That There Is Not A Grain Of Mercy In Us.

For God Is Not Gracious And Merciful To Sinners To The End That They Might Not Keep His Law, Nor That They Should Remain As They Were Before They Received Grace And Mercy; But He Condones And Forgives Both Sin And Death For The Sake Of Christ, Who Has Fulfilled The Whole Law In Order Thereby To Make The Heart Sweet And Through The Holy Spirit To Kindle And Move The Heart To Begin To Love From Day To Day More And More.

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