God is my witness that my heart is filled with concern and anxiety that unless Judgment Day intervenes God will withdraw his word and visit the German nation with such blindness and hardening of the heart that the thought of it makes me shudder.
Lord, heavenly Father, if we must fall into sin, let us fall into any other sin, but deliver us from a hardening of the heart, and keep us in and with him whom you appointed Lord over sin and innocence. If we do not deny him or lose sight of him, all sin, death, and hell will not harm us. Yes, what is there that might harm us?  (Luther’s Works, v.43, p.67)

Art. X  Das mit Brot und wein im H. Abendmahl der ware leib und Blut emfangë werde.
With bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper, the body and blood are received.
Matt. 26, v. 26 ; “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’”
1st Cor. 11, v. 23 ; “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;

[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.]

Thus we see that the Jews, who willfully condemned God’s Son, were consigned to such hardness of heart that they blaspheme him with the greatest complacency and impudence. They cannot cease, and thus they fulfill the Scripture, Psalm 109 [:17], “He did not like blessing; therefore it shall be far from him.” The same thing has happened to our papists. At Worms they also made bold to hate and to revile Christ. And now it is their fate that they cannot stop hating and reviling. Neither plea nor admonition avails with them, they only grow worse. Righteous are your judgments, heavenly Father! It seems to me that this is what it means to be afflicted with the real St. Vitus’ dance {Note: a possible reference to epilepsy}.  (Luther’s Works, v.43, p.67)

Art. IX  Das auch die kinder Tauff nötig seÿ durch welche sie Gott uberantwortet und gefälleg werden.
“That child baptism is necessary, through which they are handed over to God and supported.”
Job. 3, v. 5 ; May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it.
Tit. 3, v. 5 ; “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,.”

[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.]

Unfortunately, my dear Hartmut, this is what the German nation has deserved for serving the pope at that fatal diet. They who today rant and are hardened are to blame for this, because at the time they were spinning the wheel and held the dice in their hand and imagined that Christ did not see them playing. O terrible and stern Judge, how mysterious, how dreadful are your judgments! How secure and safe Pharaoh always feels before he is drowned in the Red Sea!  He does not see that his own sense of security is evidence of the real and earnest wrath of God over him. O how unbearable it is for God to see his precious word reviled! [It is so unbearable] that he expended the blood of his dearest Child [for his word’s sake]. Meanwhile men will sit and jest and smile as they condemn and persecute it.  (Luther’s Works, v.43, p.66-67)

Picture: Art. VIII  Das in d’ sichtbarlichen kirchen frome und heuchler gefundë werden.  
“That it is well known in the visible church are found pious and hypocritical men.”
Matt. 7, v. 21 ; “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”
2nd Tim. 2, v. 20 ; “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.”

[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.]