The Roman people longed for the death of Nero, supposing that then the state would be better, but afterwards the state was no better off. Solomon governed his realm in such a way that he hoped it would last forever, but it was divided right after his death. For Rehoboam, who succeeded Solomon, was not content with his father’s wise administration of the state; he ruined everything, and his kingdom was cut into two parts. But this does not happen only in external and political affairs, where such foolishness is more tolerable, since it does damage only to physical matters, but also in religion and in the Word of God. The descendants always neglect the purity of the doctrine handed down to them by the fathers and look for something new. This is what is now being done by those who, after the Gospel has once more become known, are not content with the purity of faith and the doctrine of the Gospel but are stirring up new controversies about the sacraments; and when these controversies have run their course, an infinite number of new sects will arise. For the flesh cannot remain content with the one simple and true doctrine. (Luther’s Works, v.15 p.43)

Eccl. 2:16.  For of the wise man as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten.

What the wise man has decided and established by his own counsels as well as what the fool has done by his temerity, whether it turned out well or badly, will be consigned to oblivion. For neither they themselves nor others become better, so that they commit everything to God; but their descendants follow their own counsels and are not content with the ordinances of their ancestors but look for new ones. They are tired of what they have, and they look for what they do not have. This is what they imagine: “If it succeeded before, it will succeed again. If it did not succeed, it will succeed now. We will act more wisely than they did.” Look at the Roman republic, how the consuls and emperors who followed always revoked what had been done by those who had preceded them; they were bored with the present and the past, and they looked to the future. Why then do you afflict yourself with many cares, as though your descendants were going to approve of what you are doing or even were going to feel the same way? They will not, for whatever one has one despises as useless. Therefore it is impossible for things or constitutions to remain in the same esteem among the descendants that they had among the ancestors. Lycurgus thought that he had given laws to the Lacedemonians that they would keep until he returned, that is, forever. With this in mind he departed never to return, hoping for the future and supposing that in this way his laws would be perpetuated. But he accomplished nothing. Augustus used to say that he had laid such foundations for the state that he hoped it would stand forever, but those who followed soon overthrew it all. (Luther’s Works, v.15 p.42-43)