In conclusion, since we have now the true
understanding and doctrine of the Sacrament, there is indeed need of some
admonition and exhortation, that men may not let so great a treasure which is
daily administered and distributed among Christians pass by unheeded, that is,
that those who would be Christians make ready to receive this venerable
Sacrament often. For we see that men seem weary and lazy with respect to it;
and there is a great multitude of such as hear the Gospel, and, because the
nonsense of the Pope has been abolished, and we are freed from his laws and
coercion, go one, two, three years, or even longer without the Sacrament, as
though they were such strong Christians that they have no need of it; and some
allow themselves to be prevented and deterred by the pretense that we have
taught that no one should approach it except those who feel hunger and thirst,
which urge them to it. Some pretend that it is a matter of liberty and not
necessary, and that it is sufficient to believe without it; and thus for the
most part they go so far that they become quite brutish, and finally despise
both the Sacrament and the Word of God.
Now, it is true, as we have said, that no one
should by any means be coerced or compelled, lest we institute a new murdering
of souls. Nevertheless, it must be known that such people as deprive themselves
of, and withdraw from, the Sacrament so long a time are not to be considered
Christians. For Christ has not instituted it to be treated as a show, but has
commanded His Christians to eat and drink it, and thereby remember Him.
And, indeed, those who are true Christians and
esteem the Sacrament precious and holy will urge and impel themselves unto it.
Yet that the simple-minded and the weak who also would like to be Christians be
the more incited to consider the cause and need which ought to impel them, we
will treat somewhat of this point. For as in other matters pertaining to faith,
love, and patience, it is not enough to teach and instruct only, but there is
need also of daily exhortation, so here also there is need of continuing to
preach that men may not become weary and disgusted, since we know and feel how
the devil always opposes this and every Christian exercise, and drives and
deters therefrom as much as he can.
And we have, in the first place, the clear text
in the very words of Christ: Do this in remembrance of Me. These are bidding
and commanding words by which all who would be Christians are enjoined to
partake of this Sacrament. Therefore, whoever would be a disciple of Christ,
with whom He here speaks, must also consider and observe this, not from
compulsion, as being forced by men, but in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ,
and to please Him. However, if you say: But the words are added, As oft as ye
do it; there He compels no one, but leaves it to our free choice, answer: That
is true, yet it is not written that we should never do so. Yea, just because He
speaks the words, As oft as ye do it, it is nevertheless implied that we should
do it often; and it is added for the reason that He wishes to have the
Sacrament free, not limited to special times, like the Passover of the Jews,
which they were obliged to eat only once a year, and that just upon the
fourteenth day of the first full moon in the evening, and which they must not
vary a day. As if He would say by these words: I institute a Passover or Supper
for you which you shall enjoy not only once a year, just upon this evening, but
often, when and where you will, according to every one's opportunity and
necessity, bound to no place or appointed time; although the Pope afterwards
perverted it, and again made a Jewish feast of it.
Thus, you perceive, it is not left free in the
sense that we may despise it. For that I call despising it if one allow so long
a time to elapse and with nothing to hinder him yet never feels a desire for
it. If you wish such liberty, you may just as well have the liberty to be no
Christian, and neither have to believe nor pray; for the one is just as much
the command of Christ as the other. But if you wish to be a Christian, you must
from time to time render satisfaction and obedience to this commandment. For
this commandment ought ever to move you to examine yourself and to think: See,
what sort of a Christian I am! If I were one, I would certainly have some
little longing for that which my Lord has commanded [me] to do.
And, indeed, since we act such strangers to it,
it is easily seen what sort of Christians we were under the Papacy, namely,
that we went from mere compulsion and fear of human commandments, without
inclination and love, and never regarded the commandment of Christ. But we
neither force nor compel any one; nor need any one do it to serve or please us.
But this should induce and constrain you by itself, that He desires it and that
it is pleasing to Him. You must not suffer men to coerce you unto faith or any
good work. We are doing no more than to say and exhort you as to what you ought
to do, not for our sake, but for your own sake. He invites and allures you; if
you despise it, you must answer for it yourself.
Now, this is to be the first point, especially
for those who are cold and indifferent, that they may reflect upon and rouse
themselves. For this is certainly true, as I have found in my own experience,
and as every one will find in his own case, that if a person thus withdraw from
this Sacrament, he will daily become more and more callous and cold, and will
at last disregard it altogether. To avoid this, we must, indeed, examine heart
and conscience, and act like a person who desires to be right with God. Now,
the more this is done, the more will the heart be warmed and enkindled, that it
may not become entirely cold.
But if you say: How if I feel that I am not
prepared? Answer: That is also my scruple, especially from the old way under
the Pope, in which a person tortured himself to be so perfectly pure that God
could not find the least blemish in us. On this account we became so timid that
every one was instantly thrown into consternation and said to himself: Alas!
you are unworthy! For then nature and reason begin to reckon our unworthiness
in comparison with the great and precious good; and then it appears like a dark
lantern in contrast with the bright sun, or as filth in comparison with
precious stones. Because nature and reason see this, they refuse to approach
and tarry until they are prepared so long that one week trails another, and one
half year the other. But if you are to regard how good and pure you are, and
labor to have no compunctions, you must never approach.
We must, therefore, make a distinction here among
men. For those who are wanton and dissolute must be told to stay away; for they
are not prepared to receive forgiveness of sin since they do not desire it and
do not wish to be godly. But the others, who are not such callous and wicked
people, and desire to be godly, must not absent themselves, even though
otherwise they be feeble and full of infirmities, as St. Hilary also has said:
If any one have not committed sin for which he can rightly be put out of the
congregation and esteemed as no Christian, he ought not stay away from the
Sacrament, lest he may deprive himself of life. For no one will make such
progress that he will not retain many daily infirmities in flesh and blood.
Therefore such people must learn that it is the
highest art to know that our Sacrament does not depend upon our worthiness. For
we are not baptized because we are worthy and holy, nor do we go to confession
because we are pure and without sin, but the contrary because we are poor
miserable men and just because we are unworthy; unless it be some one who
desires no grace and absolution nor intends to reform.
But whoever would gladly obtain grace and
consolation should impel himself, and allow no one to frighten him away, but
say: I, indeed, would like to be worthy, but I come, not upon any worthiness,
but upon Thy Word, because Thou hast commanded it, as one who would gladly be
Thy disciple, no matter what becomes of my worthiness. But this is difficult;
for we always have this obstacle and hindrance to encounter, that we look more
upon ourselves than upon the Word and lips of Christ. For nature desires so to
act that it can stand and rest firmly on itself, otherwise it refuses to make
the approach. Let this suffice concerning the first point.
In the second place, there is besides this
command also a promise, as we heard above, which ought most strongly to incite
and encourage us. For here stand the kind and precious words: This is My body,
given for you. This is My blood, shed for you, for the remission of sins. These
words, I have said, are not preached to wood and stone, but to me and you; else
He might just as well be silent and not institute a Sacrament. Therefore
consider, and put yourself into this YOU, that He may not speak to you in
vain.
For here He offers to us the entire treasure
which He has brought for us from heaven, and to which He invites us also in
other places with the greatest kindness, as when He says in St. Matthew 11, 28:
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Now it is surely a sin and a shame that He so cordially and faithfully summons
and exhorts us to our highest and greatest good, and we act so distantly with
regard to it, and permit so long a time to pass [without partaking of the
Sacrament] that we grow quite cold and hardened, so that we have no inclination
or love for it. We must never regard the Sacrament as something injurious from
which we had better flee but as a pure wholesome, comforting remedy imparting
salvation and comfort, which will cure you and give you life both in soul and
body. For where the soul has recovered, the body also is relieved. Why, then,
is it that we act as if it were a poison, the eating of which would bring
death?
To be sure, it is true that those who despise it
and live in an unchristian manner receive it to their hurt and damnation; for
nothing shall be good or wholesome to them, just as with a sick person who from
caprice eats and drinks what is forbidden him by the physician. But those who
are sensible of their weakness, desire to be rid of it and long for help,
should regard and use it only as a precious antidote against the poison which
they have in them. For here in the Sacrament you are to receive from the lips
of Christ forgiveness of sin which contains and brings with it the grace of God
and the Spirit with all His gifts, protection, shelter, and power against death
and the devil and all misfortune.
Thus you have, on the part of God, both the
command and the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ. Besides this, on your part,
your own distress which is about your neck, and because of which this command,
invitation and promise are given, ought to impel you. For He Himself says: They
that be whole need not a physician, but they that be sick; that is, those who
are weary and heavy-laden with their sins, with the fear of death temptations
of the flesh and of the devil. If therefore, you are heavy-laden and feel your
weakness, then go joyfully to this Sacrament and obtain refreshment,
consolation, and strength. For if you would wait until you are rid of such
burdens, that you might come to the Sacrament pure and worthy, you must forever
stay away. For in that case He pronounces sentence and says: If you are pure
and godly, you have no need of Me, and I, in turn, none of thee. Therefore
those alone are called unworthy who neither feel their infirmities nor wish to
be considered sinners.
But if you say: What, then, shall I do if I
cannot feel such distress or experience hunger and thirst for the Sacrament?
Answer: For those who are so minded that they do not realize their condition I
know no better counsel than that they put their hand into their bosom to
ascertain whether they also have flesh and blood. And if you find that to be
the case, then go, for your good, to St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, and
hear what sort of a fruit your flesh is: Now the works of the flesh (he says
[chap. 5, 19ff.]) are manifest, which are these: Adultery fornication
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like.
Therefore, if you cannot feel it, at least
believe the Scriptures, they will not lie to you and they know your flesh
better than you yourself. Yea, St. Paul further concludes in Rom. 7, 18: l know
that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. If St. Paul may speak
thus of his flesh, we do not propose to be better nor more holy. But that we do
not feel it is so much the worse; for it is a sign that there is a leprous
flesh which feels nothing, and yet [the leprosy] rages and keeps spreading. Yet
as we have said, if you are quite dead to all sensibility, still believe the
Scriptures, which pronounce sentence upon you. And, in short, the less you feel
your sins and infirmities, the more reason have you to go to the Sacrament to
seek help and a remedy.
In the second place, look about you and see
whether you are also in the world, or if you do not know it, ask your neighbors
about it. If you are in the world, do not think that there will be lack of sins
and misery. For only begin to act as though you would be godly and adhere to
the Gospel, and see whether no one will become your enemy, and, moreover, do
you harm, wrong, and violence, and likewise give you cause for sin and vice. If
you have not experienced it, then let the Scriptures tell you, which everywhere
give this praise and testimony to the world.
Besides this, you will also have the devil about
you, whom you will not entirely tread under foot, because our Lord Christ
Himself could not entirely avoid him. Now, what is the devil? Nothing else than
what the Scriptures call him, a liar and murderer. A liar, to lead the heart
astray from the Word of God, and to blind it, that you cannot feel your
distress or come to Christ. A murderer, who cannot bear to see you live one
single hour. If you could see how many knives, darts, and arrows are every
moment aimed at you, you would be glad to come to the Sacrament as often as
possible. But there is no reason why we walk so securely and heedlessly, except
that we neither think nor believe that we are in the flesh, and in this wicked
world or in the kingdom of the devil.
Therefore, try this and practise it well, and do
but examine yourself, or look about you a little, and only keep to the
Scriptures. If even then you still feel nothing, you have so much the more
misery to lament both to God and to your brother. Then take advice and have
others pray for you, and do not desist until the stone be removed from your
heart. Then, indeed, the distress will not fail to become manifest, and you
will find that you have sunk twice as deep as any other poor sinner, and are
much more in need of the Sacrament against the misery which unfortunately you
do not see, so that, with the grace of God, you may feel it more and become the
more hungry for the Sacrament, especially since the devil plies his force
against you, and lies in wait for you without ceasing, to seize and destroy
you, soul and body, so that you are not safe from him one hour. How soon can he
have brought you suddenly into misery and distress when you least expect it!
Let this, then, be said for exhortation, not only
for those of us who are old and grown, but also for the young people, who ought
to be brought up in the Christian doctrine and understanding. For thereby the
Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer might be the more easily
inculcated to our youth, so that they would receive them with pleasure and
earnestness, and thus would practise them from their youth and accustom
themselves to them. For the old are now well-nigh done for, so that these and
other things cannot be attained, unless we train the people who are to come
after us and succeed us in our office and work, in order that they also may
bring up their children successfully that the Word of God and the Christian
Church may be preserved. Therefore let every father of a family know that it is
his duty by the injunction and command of God, to teach these things to his
children, or have them learn what they ought to know. For since they are
baptized and received into the Christian Church, they should also enjoy this
communion of the Sacrament, in order that they may serve us and be useful to
us; for they must all indeed help us to believe, love, pray, and fight against
the devil.