A Di a log Be tween the Soul and God.
[1.] The Soul. O our Fa ther, who art in heaven, we, thy chil dren upon earth, are sep a rated from thee in ex ile. What a great gulf is be tween thee and us! How shall we ever get home to thee in our fa ther land?
[2.] God. A son hon oreth his fa ther, and a ser vant his mas ter. If, then, I am your fa ther, where is mine honor? And if I am your mas ter, where is my fear and rev er ence (Mal 1:6)? For my holy name is blas phemed and dis hon- ored in and through you (Is 52:5).
[3.] The First Pe ti tion. The Soul. O Fa ther, it is, alas! true. We rec og nize our guilt. Be thou a gra cious Fa ther and en ter not into judg ment with us, but grant thy grace that we may so live that thy holy name may be sanc ti fied in us. Let us think, speak, do, pos sess or un der take noth ing un less it re dound to thy honor and praise; that be fore all things thy honor and name, and not our own vain honor and name, may be sought in us. Grant that we may love, fear and honor thee as chil dren do a fa ther.
[4.] God. How can my honor and name be sanc ti fied in you (Is 52:5), see ing that all your heart and thoughts are in clined to evil and are cap tive in sin (Gen 8:21), and that no body can sing my praise in a for eign land (Ps 137:4)?
[5.] The Sec ond Pe ti tion. The Soul. O Fa ther, it is true. We feel that our mem bers are in clined to sin, and that the world, the flesh and the devil would reign in us, and so ban ish thy honor and name. There fore we pray, de liver us from our ex ile. Let thy king dom come, that sin may be cast out and we may be come right eous and ac cept able to thee; that thou alone mayest rule in us, and in the sub mis sion of all our pow ers, both of soul and body, we may be come thy king dom.
[6.] God. Whom I will help, him I de stroy; and whom I will make alive, blessed, rich and right eous, him I kill, re ject, make poor and de stroy (Deut 32:39). But this my coun sel and do ing ye will not en dure (Ps 78:10). How can I help you and what more shall I do (Is 5:4)?
[7.] The Third Pe ti tion. The Soul. We are sorry that we can not bear thy heal ing hand and un der stand its pur pose. O Fa ther, grant us grace, and help us that we may suf fer thy di vine will to be done in us. Even if it be painful to us, do thou con tinue to chas tise, pierce, strike and burn; do what ever thou wilt, only that thy will and not ours may be done. Re strain, dear Fa ther, and suf fer us to un der take and ac com plish noth ing un der the guid ance of our own opin ion, de sire and pur pose. For our will is ad verse to thine. Thy will alone is good, al though it does not ap pear so, while ours is evil, al though it may seem good.
[8.] God. It is true that men have of ten loved me with the lips while the heart has been far from me (Is 29:13), and when I have laid my hands upon them for their good, they have turned back and fallen from me in the midst of my work, as you read (Ps 78:9): “Turned back in the day of bat tle.” Those who be gan well and moved me to deal with them, have turned from me and have again fallen into sin, to dis honor me.
[9.] The Fourth Pe ti tion. The Soul. O Fa ther, it is in deed true: “By strength shall no man pre vail” (1 Sam 2:9). And who can abide be fore thy hand un less thou, thy self, dost strengthen and com fort him? There fore, dear Fa ther, lay hold of us; work thy will, that we may be come thy king dom, to thy praise and honor. But, dear Fa ther, in deal ing thus with us, strengthen us with thy holy Word; give us our daily bread. Give into our hearts thy dear Son Je sus Christ, the true bread from heaven, that, strength ened by him, we may joy fully bear and suf fer that thy will be done, while our will is de feated and mor ti fied. Ay, give grace also to the w^hole king dom of Christ; send us well-taught pas tors and preach ers who will not seek to com fort us by sow- ing worth less fan cies, but who will teach us thy holy Gospel and Je sus Christ.
[10.] God. It is not good to cast that which is holy (Mt 7:6) and the chil- dren’s bread (Mt 15:26) to the dogs. Ye sin daily, and, though I cause much preach ing among you day and night (Jer 5:1), ye obey and hear not, and my Word is de spised (Is 42:20).
[11.] The Fifth Pe ti tion. The Soul. O Fa ther, have mercy and deny us not the pre cious bread on that ac count. But it grieves us that we do not do as thou hast com manded, and we pray that thou wouldst have pa tience with us poor chil dren, re mit us this our guilt and not en ter into judg ment with us; for in thy sight no one is jus ti fied. Be hold thy prom ise to for give those who have for given their debtors. Not that by such for give ness we be come wor-
thy of thy for give ness, but thou art true and hast gra ciously promised for- give ness to all who for give their neigh bors. In thy prom ise we put our trust.
[12.] God. I have for given and de liv ered you of ten, and ye do not re main stead fast and faith ful (Ps 78:8). Ye are of lit tle faith (Mt 8:26). Ye are not able to watch and wait with me even a lit tle while; quickly ye fall into temp ta tion again (Mt 26:40).
[13.] The Sixth Pe ti tion. The Soul. We are weak and sick, O Fa ther, and the temp ta tions of the flesh and the world are great and man i fold. O dear Fa ther, hold us and let us not fall into temp ta tion and sin again; but grant us grace, that we may re main stead fast and fight bravely un til our end, for with out thy grace and help we can do noth ing.
[14.] God. I am right eous and my judg ment is right (Ps 11:7). There fore, sin can not go un pun ished. Ac cord ingly, ye must bear the evil. It is for your sin that you are tempted, which I am com pelled to pun ish and hin der.
[15.] The Sev enth Pe ti tion. The Soul. Inas much as evil means tri als for us and temp ta tions, de liver us from evil, dear Fa ther; so that, de liv ered from all sin and evil in ac cor dance with thy will, we may be thy king dom, to praise, honor and hal low thee for all eter nity. Amen. And since thou hast taught and com manded us so to pray and promised to hear us, we trust and are as sured, dear est Fa ther, that thou wilt, to the honor of thy truth, gra- ciously and mer ci fully grant us all this.
[16.] Fi nally, some one may say: What, then, if I am not able to be lieve that I am heard? An swer: Then do as the fa ther of the pos sessed child did (Mk 9:24) when Christ said to him: Canst thou be lieve? All things are pos- si ble to him that be lieveth. With weep ing eyes that same fa ther cried: O Lord, I be lieve; help thou my faith where it is too weak!
To God Alone Be the Honor and the Glory.
1. Re mem ber this was writ ten at the very be gin ning of Luther’s re for ma- tory work.↩
4. Ser mon on Holy Bap tism
In this ser mon Luther dis tin guishes be tween the sign and the sig nif i cance of Bap tism and faith in it. The sign con sists in be ing placed un der the wa ter in the name of the Fa ther, and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Its sig nif i cance is the dy ing or de struc tion of sin as typ i fied by Noah’s flood, and the res ur rec tion of the new man in right eous ness be fore God. But bap tism in it self nei ther forces a man from sin nor makes him right eous be fore God, if he does not be lieve in its power and ac knowl edge in it a covenant with God, which ob li gates him to bat tle against sin through his whole life. In spite of this strug gle he can hope that God is gra cious to him, and his sins, from which he can never be free here, God does not judge ac cord ing to the de mands of jus tice, but be cause of his bap tism and faith he for gives them.
Ten edi tions ap peared dur ing 1519 and 1520, seven at Wit ten berg and three at Leipzig.
Ger man Text: Wit ten berg edi tion, 6, 131; Jena, 1, 186; Al tenburg, 1, 310; Leipzig, 22, 139; Er lan gen, 21, 229; Walch, 10, 2593; St. Louis Walch, 10, 2112.