“But the princes, who are nevertheless powerful, threatening, terrible, and more to be feared than others, not only resorted to threats to scare me, but they persecuted in deed and showed all their terror. And behold, I still did not fear them, but rather stood in awe of Your words, so that I might conquer fear of them.” Therefore this is not the word of teenage girls, but of the bride herself. But when do we so despise ourselves (not to speak of princes) or the lowest men, that we do not stand in awe of them? Yes, we even quake before those who are not yet persecuting but only threatening a little bit, and we tremble at their word, but we are insensitive to the Word of God! But the church is not afraid of all the persecuting princes of the world, because she stands in awe of the words of God. This she would not do, unless, despising all things by faith, she savored eternal things alone. We would surely do the same, unless we were afraid that temporal things would be taken away, threatened, or not given. (Luther’s Works, v. 11, p.518)