Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/108

 may have something besides sorrow when He shows me that His Word does not go forth from Him in vain, as He says by Isaiah/ and that the whole world opposes it, as He says again in Matthew:' "Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake/* Thus it lies in the very nature of the Word that there are very few who receive it heartily and the many persecute it terribly. Wolves and bears and lions do not per- secute it, but men, and Christ says "all men." . ..

But this precious Word brings with it a great hunger and an insatiable thirst, so that we should not be satisfied even though many thousands of men believed on it, but wish that no man shall be without it. . . . Lo, you have now received this thirst for the salvation of your brethren, which is a sign of true faith. What is left for you, then, but to expect the gall and the vinegar, i.e., slander, shame and persecution, be- cause of your thirsty speech ? There is no other way. Where Christ is there must be Judas, Pilate, Herod, Caiaphas, Annas, and also His cross ; or else it is not really Christ. Therefore we do not trouble ourselves about our tribulations, but about our persecutors' miserable state, for we have all we need and are sure they can take nothing away from us, but the more they rave the more they must hurt themselves and help us. . . . They threaten us with death; if they were as wise as they are foolish they would rather threaten us with life. It is a laughable threat when they try to frighten Christ and His Christians with death, for they are victors over death. It is like tr3ring to frighten a man by saddling his horse and putting him up for a ride. But they do not believe that Christ is risen from the dead and is Lord of life and death ; He is with them even in the grave, nay, even in hell. But we know and boast and are glad that He is risen and that death is nothing but die end of sin and of itself; for the life in the flesh still cleaves to sin, and cannot be without sin, because of the flesh. Therefore the Spirit, who has made a beginning in us, cries out: "Come, death and judgment-day, and make an end of sin and death.'' . ..

Of this joy in Christ our wretched enemies know nothing and are angry when we tell them of it and offer it to them ;


 * Isaiah It, ii. * Matthew jodr, 9.

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