And even if I were to live another hundred years and should succeed by the grace of God not only in allaying the past and present storms and rabbles but also all future ones, I realize that this would still not procure peace for our descendants so long as the devil lives and rules. Therefore I am also praying for a gracious hour of death; I care no more for this life. I exhort you, our posterity, to pray and to pursue the word of God with diligence. Keep God’s poor candle burning. Be warned and be on the alert, watching lest at any hour the devil try to break a pane or window or fling open a door or tear the roof off in order to extinguish the light; for he will not die before the Last Day. You and I have to die, but after our death he still remains the same as he always has been, unable to desist from his raging. (Luther’s Works, v.47, p.117)
Picture: Fifth Trumpet from Das Newe Testament Deuotzsch.
The image is from Martin Luther’s (1483-1546) September Testament. The image is based on Revelation chapter 9. The angel blows a trumpet causing a star to fall from heaving, opening the pit and allowing locusts with crowns to prey upon the earth. Woodcut designed by Lucas Cranach, the Elder (1472-1553), a close friend of Martin Luther. http://pitts.emory.edu/