We have now heard enough what toil and labor
is required to retain all that for which we pray, and to persevere therein,
which, however, is not achieved without infirmities and stumbling. Besides,
although we have received forgiveness and a good conscience and are entirely
acquitted, yet is our life of such a nature that one stands to-day and
to-morrow falls. Therefore, even though we be godly now and stand before God
with a good conscience, we must pray again that He would not suffer us to
relapse and yield to trials and temptations.
Temptation, however, or (as our Saxons in olden
times used to call it) Bekoerunge, is of three kinds, namely, of the flesh, of
the world and of the devil. For in the flesh we dwell and carry the old Adam
about our neck, who exerts himself and incites us daily to inchastity,
laziness, gluttony and drunkenness, avarice and deception, to defraud our
neighbor and to overcharge him, and, in short, to all manner of evil lusts
which cleave to us by nature, and to which we are incited by the society,
example and what we hear and see of other people, which often wound and inflame
even an innocent heart.
Next comes the world, which offends us in word
and deed, and impels us to anger and impatience. In short, there is nothing but
hatred and envy, enmity, violence and wrong, unfaithfulness, vengeance,
cursing, raillery slander, pride and haughtiness, with superfluous finery,
honor, fame, and power, where no one is willing to be the least, but every one
desires to sit at the head and to be seen before all.
Then comes the devil, inciting and provoking in
all directions, but especially agitating matters that concern the conscience
and spiritual affairs, namely, to induce us to despise and disregard both the
Word and works of God to tear us away from faith, hope, and love and bring us
into misbelief, false security, and obduracy, or, on the other hand, to
despair, denial of God, blasphemy, and innumerable other shocking things. These
are indeed snares and nets, yea, real fiery darts which are shot most
venomously into the heart, not by flesh and blood, but by the devil.
Great and grievous, indeed, are these dangers and
temptations which every Christian must bear, even though each one were alone by
himself, so that every hour that we are in this vile life where we are attacked
on all sides, chased and hunted down, we are moved to cry out and to pray that
God would not suffer us to become weary and faint and to relapse into sin,
shame, and unbelief. For otherwise it is impossible to overcome even the least
temptation.
This, then, is leading us not into temptation, to
wit, when He gives us power and strength to resist, the temptation, however,
not being taken away or removed. For while we live in the flesh and have the
devil about us, no one can escape temptation and allurements; and it cannot be
otherwise than that we must endure trials, yea, be engulfed in them; but we
pray for this, that we may not fall and be drowned in them.
To feel temptation is therefore a far different
thing from consenting or yielding to it. We must all feel it, although not all
in the same manner, but some in a greater degree and more severely than others;
as, the young suffer especially from the flesh, afterwards, they that attain to
middle life and old age, from the world, but others who are occupied with
spiritual matters, that is, strong Christians, from the devil. But such
feeling, as long as it is against our will and we would rather be rid of it,
can harm no one. For if we did not feel it, it could not be called a
temptation. But to consent thereto is when we give it the reins and do not
resist or pray against it.
Therefore we Christians must be armed and daily
expect to be incessantly attacked, in order that no one may go on in security
and heedlessly, as though the devil were far from us, but at all times expect
and parry his blows. For though I am now chaste, patient, kind, and in firm
faith, the devil will this very hour send such an arrow into my heart that I
can scarcely stand. For he is an enemy that never desists nor becomes tired, so
that when one temptation ceases, there always arise others and fresh ones.
Accordingly, there is no help or comfort except
to run hither and to take hold of the Lord's Prayer, and thus speak to God from
the heart: Dear Father, Thou hast bidden me pray; let me not relapse because of
temptations. Then you will see that they must desist, and finally acknowledge
themselves conquered. Else if you venture to help yourself by your own thoughts
and counsel, you will only make the matter worse and give the devil more space.
For he has a serpent's head, which if it gain an opening into which he can
slip, the whole body will follow without check. But prayer can prevent him and
drive him back.