Our wretched foes do not know such happiness and joy in Christ. And they are angry with us because we want to communicate this joy to them and offer it to them. They would give us death in exchange for life. O God, the almighty resurrection of Christ is surely too strong a bulwark for them to intimidate and frighten Him with the momentary power of their straw and paper tyranny! One of the principal foes is that bladder {Duke George of Saxony).  He challenges heaven with his big paunch. He has renounced the gospel. He also plans to devour Christ just as a wolf eats a gnat. He even imagines that he has already bitten more than just a little wound into His left spur, and he rants more than all the others. Certainly I have prayed for him with all my heart, and I felt very sorry for him because of his dreadful attacks. I hear however that his long-deserved judgment is making itself felt.  (Luther’s Works, v.43, p.63-64)

Picture: Art. II  Das nach Adams Fall alle menschen in Sünden gebohren. 
“That after Adam’s fall all people are born sinners.”
Ps. 51, v. 7 ; “Purge me with Hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
Rom. 5, v. 12 ; “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin : and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

[All of the pictures for this year’s posts are from an etching entitled “Augsburg Confession” by Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) and found in the Royal Collection Trust.]

They threaten us with death.  If they were as smart as they are stupid, they would threaten us with life. It is a shame and disgrace to try to threaten and terrify Christ and his Christians with death for, after all, they are lords and victors over death. It is just like trying to frighten a man by bridling and saddling his horse and bidding him to ride on it.

However, they do not believe that Christ rose from the dead and is a Lord over life and death. For them he is still in the grave, yes, in hell. But we are happy and confident because we know that Christ rose and that death is no more than the end of sin and the end of itself. For the life in this flesh still cleaves to us and is still lived in sin; this life cannot be without sin by reason of the flesh. And that prompts the incipient spirit in us to cry: Come, death and Judgment Day, and put an end both to sin and death. Amen. [That is the meaning of] St. Paul’s words in Romans 7 [:18–19] and 8 [:22–23].  (Luther’s Works, v.43, p.63)

 Picture:  The First Article (Der Erst Artickel) 
Wir Glauben Das Gott einig im wesen dreÿfach in der Persö seÿ.
“We believe that God is united in the essence of three persons.”
Deut. 6, v. 4 ; “Hear, O Israel : The Lord our God is one Lord.”
I John 5, v. 7 :  “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost : and these three are one.”

[All of the pictures for this year’s posts are from an etching entitled “Augsburg Confession” by Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) and found in the Royal Collection Trust.]