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THE KING’S BUSINESS
false. Christ commanded His disciples to preach the Gospel to all the world,-and your wise men call a man a little world, a microcosm. So then preach to your self, O man, woman, and child. Three parts the world has in you also. Preach first of all to your knowledge, and say to it: If you draw near this truth, you will have much faith; wherefore do yott hesitate to use it? To your will, say: Thou seest that everything passes away; therefore love not the world, love Christ. Thereupon turn, to the second'part of your world, and say to i t : Be thankful, O my memory, for the mercies God has shown thee, that thou thinkest not of the things of I this world, but of the mercy of thy creation, and thy redemption through the blood of. the Son of God. Then go to the third part, to thy imagina tion, and proclaim to i t : Set nothing before my eyes but my death, bring noth ing before me but the Crucified, embrace Him, fly to Him. Then go through all the cities of thy world and preach to them. First say to' thine eyes: Look not on vanity. To thy ears say : Listen not to the words of the lazy, .but only to the words of Jesus. : ’ GUARD THE TONGUE To thy tongue say: Speak no more evil. For thy tongue is as a great rock that rolls from the summit of a moun tain, and at first falls slowly, then ever faster and more furiously. . It begins with gentle murmuring, then it utters small sins, and then greater, until it finally breaks forth in open blasphemy. To thy palate say: It is necessary that we do a little penance. In all thy senses be clean, and turn to the Lord, for He it is who will give you correction and purity. To thy hands say: Do good and give alms; and let thy feet go in the good way. Our reformation has begun in the Spirit of God, if you take it to heart that each one has to preach to himself. Then will we in. the name of .Jesus drive out the devils of temptation. Yes, call upon Jesus
have to cry woe on their unbelief if they should be measured by deeds. If you are ashamed of the cross, the Lord was not ashamed to bear that cross for you, and to die on that cross for you. Be not ashamed of His service and of the defense of the truth. Look at the servants of the devil, who are not ashamed in the open places, in the palaces, and everywhere to speak evil and to revile us. Bear then a little shame only for your Lord; for whoever follows Him will, according to our, gospel, in His name drive out the devil ; that is, he will drive out l^is sins, and lead a virtuous life; he will drive out serpents; he will throw out the lazy who come into the houses and say evil things under the pretense of righteousness, and so are like poisonous serpents. You will see how children can withstand them with the truth of God and drive them away. If a believer drinks anything deadly it will not hurt him : this deadly drink is the false, doctrines of the lazy, from whom, as you contend with them, a little comes also to you. But he who stands unharmed in thè faith, cries to you: See that you do good ; Seek God’s glory, not your own. He that does that is of the truth, and remains unharmed. The Lord says further of the faithful : They shall lay their hands On the sick and shall heal them. The hands are the works, and the good lay such hands on the weak that they may support them when they totter. Do I not teach you according to the Gospel ? Why do you hesitate and go not into the ser vice of the Lord? Do you ask me still what .you ought fb do? I will, in con clusion, tell you. ASK THE APOSTLE Look to Christ and you will find that all He says concerns faith. Ask the apos tle; he speaks of nothing else than of faith. If you have the ground at all, if you have faith, you will always do what is good. Without faith man always falls into sin. You must seek faith in order to be good, or else your faith will become7
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