The Magnificat — Luther's Works, Vol. 21 — The Sermon on the Mount and the Magnificat

this, to let them know that He will not leave unrewarded what they suffer here for Christ's sake, but that if they suffer much and labor much, He will adorn them specially on the Last Day, more and more gloriously than the others, as special stars that are greater than others. So St. Paul will be more brilliant, more bright and clear than others. This does not refer to the forgiveness of sins nor to meriting heaven, but to a recompense of greater glory for greater suffering. We refuse to tolerate the way they treat this issue; for it is a slander and a blasphemy to Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit, and to everything that God has given us through Him. We would rather be denounced as heretics and scoundrels and be burned at the stake than surrender or deny this treasure. We will also hold to this consolation, though we may have to suffer trouble, shame, and persecution on account of it, since this is inevitable. The devil will not make any concessions to us here, nor come to any agreement with us. He intends to uphold the pope's teaching and to make us believe the way he believes. Because he sees that we refuse, he attacks us with all his might. He knows very well that once this doctrine is granted—that Christ and the forgiveness of sins are purely a gift—then anyone can count on his fingers and come to the conclusion that the papacy with its

Masses, monkery, purgatory, and worship of saints must amount to nothing; and it will all collapse by itself.

Learn to give this answer regarding the passages that refer to merit and reward: "Of course I hear Christ saying (Matt. 5:3): 'Blessed are the poor, for they shall have the kingdom of heaven'; and (Matt.

5:11, 12): 'Blessed are you when you suffer persecution for My sake, for your reward is great in heaven.'

But by these statements He is not teaching me where to build the foundation of my salvation, but giving me a promise that is to console me in my sufferings and in my Christian life. You must not confuse this and throw the two into the same pot, nor make my merit out of what God gives me in Christ through Baptism and the Gospel. It does not say that I can merit this and that I do not need Christ and Baptism for it. Rather, those who are Christ's pupils, those to whom He has been preaching here and who have to suffer many things for His sake, should know how to console themselves. Because people refuse to tolerate them on earth, they will have everything that much more abundantly in heaven; and he who does the most work and endures the most suffering will also get the most glorious recompense."

In Christ, as I have said, they are all alike. Grace is granted equally to all and brings full salvation to each individual, as the highest and most common possession; thus whoever has Christ has everything. And yet there will be a distinction in the glory with which we shall be adorned, and in the brightness with which we shall shine. In this life there is a distinction among gifts, and one labors and suffers more than another. But in that life it will all be revealed, for the whole world to see what each one has done from the degree of glory he has; and the whole heavenly host will rejoice. Let this be sufficient on the matter.

A. T. W. STEINHAEUSER Translated and Expounded by Dr. Martin Luther, Augustinian To his Serene Highness, Prince John Frederick, Duke of Saxony, Landgrave of Thuringia, Margrave of Meissen, my

Gracious Lord and Patron.

SERENE and high-born prince, gracious lord! May your Grace accept my humble prayer and service.

Your Grace's kind letter has lately come into my hands, and its cheering contents brought me much joy. By way of reply I send you this little exposition of the Magnificat. I promised it to you long ago, but the troublesome quarrels of many adversaries have repeatedly interrupted it. If I put it off any longer, I shall have to blush for shame. It is not proper for me to make any more excuses; otherwise I may retard your Grace's youthful spirit, which inclines to the love of Sacred Scripture and which might be stirred up and strengthened still further by more exercise in it. To this end I wish your Grace God's grace and help.

And this is really necessary. For the welfare of many people lies in the power of so mighty a prince, once he is taken out of himself and graciously governed by God; on the other hand, the destruction of many people lies in his power if he is left to himself and ruled by God's displeasure. Although the hearts of all men are in God's almighty hand, it is not without reason that only about kings and princes is it said

(Prov. 21:1): "The king's heart is in the hand of God; He turns it wherever He will." Thus God would - 143 instill His fear in the mighty lords, to teach them that they can think nothing without His special inspiration. The actions of other men bring gain or loss upon themselves alone, or upon just a few others.

But rulers are appointed for the special purpose of being either harmful or helpful to other people; and the more people, the wider their domain. Therefore Scripture calls pious and God-fearing princes "angels of God" (1 Sam. 29:9) and even "gods" (Ps. 82:6). But harmful princes it calls "lions" (Zeph. 3:3), "dragons"

(Jer. 51:34), and "raging beasts" (Ezek. 14:21). These God includes among His four plagues—pestilence, famine, war, and raging beasts (Ezek. 14:13–19 and Rev. 6:8).

Since the heart of man by nature is flesh and blood, it is of itself prone to presumption. And when, in addition, power, riches, and honor come to him, these form so strong an incentive to presumption and smugness that he forgets God and does not care about his subjects. Being able to do wrong with impunity, he lets himself go and becomes a beast, does whatever he pleases, and is a ruler in name, but a monster in deed. Therefore the sage Bias1 has well said: "The office of ruler reveals what sort of man a ruler is." As for the subjects, they do not dare to let themselves go for fear of the government. Since they need not fear men, therefore, all rulers should fear God more than others do, learning to know Him and His works and walking diligently, as St. Paul says in Romans 12:8: "He who rules, let him rule with diligence."

Now, in all of Scripture I do not know anything that serves such a purpose so well as this sacred hymn of the most blessed Mother of God, which ought indeed to be learned and kept in mind by all who would rule well and be helpful lords. In it she really sings sweetly about the fear of God, what sort of Lord He is, and especially what His dealings are with those of low and high degree. Let someone else listen to his love singing a worldly ditty; this pure virgin well deserves to be heard by a prince and lord, as she sings him her sacred, chaste, and salutary song. It is a fine custom, too, that this canticle is sung in all the churches daily at vespers, and in a special and appropriate setting that sets it apart from the other chants.

May the tender Mother of God herself procure for me the spirit of wisdom profitably and thoroughly to expound this song of hers, so that your Grace as well as we all may draw from it wholesome knowledge and a praiseworthy life, and thus come to chant and sing this Magnificat eternally in heaven. To this may

Herewith I commend myself to your Grace, humbly beseeching your Grace in all kindness to receive my poor effort.

Wittenberg, March 10, 1521 IN order properly to understand this sacred hymn of praise, we need to bear in mind that the Blessed

Virgin Mary is speaking on the basis of her own experience, in which she was enlightened and instructed by the Holy Spirit. No one can correctly understand God or His Word unless he has received such understanding immediately from the Holy Spirit. But no one can receive it from the Holy Spirit without experiencing, proving, and feeling it. In such experience the Holy Spirit instructs us as in His own school, outside of which nothing is learned but empty words and prattle. When the holy virgin experienced what great things God was working in her despite her insignificance, lowliness, poverty, and inferiority, the Holy Spirit taught her this deep insight and wisdom, that God is the kind of Lord who does nothing but exalt those of low degree and put down the mighty from their thrones, in short, break what is whole and make whole what is broken.

Just as God in the beginning of creation made the world out of nothing, whence He is called the Creator and the Almighty, so His manner of working continues unchanged. Even now and to the end of the world, all His works are such that out of that which is nothing, worthless, despised, wretched, and dead, He makes that which is something, precious, honorable, blessed, and living. On the other hand, whatever is something, precious, honorable, blessed, and living, He makes to be nothing, worthless, despised, wretched, and dying. In this manner no creature can work; no creature can produce anything out of nothing.1 Therefore His eyes look only into the depths, not to the heights; as it is said in Daniel 3:55

(Vulgate): "Thou sittest upon the cherubim and beholdest the depths"; in Psalm 138:6: "Though the Lord is high, He regards the lowly; but the haughty He knows from afar." Psalm 113:5, 6: "Who is like the Lord, our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down upon the heavens and the earth?" For since He is the Most High, and there is nothing above Him, He cannot look above Him; nor yet to either side, for there is none like Him. He must needs, therefore, look within Him and beneath Him; and the farther one is beneath Him, the better does He see him.

- 144 The eyes of the world and of men, on the contrary, look only above them and are lifted up with pride, as it is said in Proverbs 30:13: "There is a people whose eyes are lofty, and their eyelids lifted up on high."

This we experience every day. Everyone strives after that which is above him, after honor, power, wealth, knowledge, a life of ease, and whatever is lofty and great. And where such people are, there are many hangers-on; all the world gathers round them, gladly yields them service, and would be at their side and share in their exaltation. Therefore it is not without reason that the Scriptures describe so few kings and rulers who were godly men. On the other hand, no one is willing to look into the depths with their poverty, disgrace, squalor, misery, and anguish. From these all turn away their eyes. Where there are such people, everyone takes to his heels, forsakes and shuns and leaves them to themselves; no one dreams of helping them or of making something out of them. And so they must remain in the depths and in their low and despised condition. There is among men no creator who would make something out of nothing, although that is what St. Paul teaches in Romans 12:16 when he says, "Dear brethren, set not your mind on high things, but go along with the lowly."

Therefore to God alone belongs that sort of seeing that looks into the depths with their need and misery, and is near to all that are in the depths; as St. Peter says (1 Peter 5:5): "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." And this is the source of men's love and praise of God. For no one can praise

God without first loving Him. No one can love Him unless He makes Himself known to him in the most lovable and intimate fashion. And He can make Himself known only through those works of His which He reveals in us, and which we feel and experience within ourselves. But where there is this experience, namely, that He is a God who looks into the depths and helps only the poor, despised, afflicted, miserable, forsaken, and those who are nothing, there a hearty love for Him is born. The heart overflows with gladness and goes leaping and dancing for the great pleasure it has found in God. There the Holy Spirit is present and has taught us in a moment such exceeding great knowledge and gladness through this experience.

For this reason God has also imposed death on us all and laid the cross of Christ together with countless sufferings and afflictions on His beloved children and Christians. In fact, sometimes He even lets us fall into sin, in order that He may look into the depths even more, bring help to many, perform manifold works, show Himself a true Creator, and thereby make Himself known and worthy of love and praise. Alas, the world with its proud eyes constantly thwarts Him in this, hinders His seeing, working, and helping, and our knowledge, love, and praise of Him, depriving Him of all His glory and itself of its pleasure, joy, and salvation. He also cast His only and well-beloved Son Christ into the depths of all woe and showed in Him most plainly to what end His seeing, work, help, method, counsel, and will are directed. Therefore, having most fully experienced all these things, Christ abounds through all eternity in the knowledge, love, and praise of God; as it is said in Psalm 21:6: "Thou dost make Him glad with the joy of Thy presence," namely, in that He_sees Thee and knows Thee. Here, too, belongs Psalm 44:7, 8, where it is said that all the saints will do nothing in heaven but praise God, because He looked upon them when they were in the depths and there made Himself known to them and loved and praised by them.

The tender mother of Christ does the same here and teaches us, with her words and by the example of her experience, how to know, love, and praise God. For since she boasts, with heart leaping for joy and praising God, that He regarded her despite her low estate and nothingness, we must believe that she came of poor, despised, and lowly parents. Let us make it very plain for the sake of the simple. Doubtless there were in Jerusalem daughters of the chief priests and counselors who were rich, comely, youthful, cultured, and held in high renown by all the people; even as it is today with the daughters of kings, princes, and men of wealth. The same was also true of many another city. Even in her own town of Nazareth she was not the daughter of one of the chief rulers, but a poor and plain citizen's daughter, whom none looked up to or esteemed. To her neighbors and their daughters she was but a simple maiden, tending the cattle and doing the housework, and doubtless esteemed no more than any poor maidservant today, who does as she is told around the house.

For thus Isaiah announced (Is. 11:1, 2): "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root, and the Holy Spirit shall rest upon Him." The stem and root is the generation of Jesse or David, in particular the Virgin Mary; the rod and flower is Christ. Now, as unlikely, indeed incredible, a thing it is that a fair branch and flower should spring from a dry and withered stem and root, just so unlikely was it that Mary the Virgin should become the mother of such a child. For I take

- 145 it that she is called a stem and root not only because she became a mother in a miraculous manner without violation of her virginity—just as it is miraculous to make a branch grow out of a dead tree stump—but also for the following reason. In the days of David and Solomon the royal stem and line of David had been green and flourishing, fortunate in its great glory, might, and riches, and famous in the eyes of the world.

But in the latter days, when Christ was to come, the priests had usurped this honor and were the sole rulers, while the royal line of David had become so impoverished and despised that it was like a dead stump, so that there was no hope or likelihood that a king descended from it would ever attain to any great glory. But when all seemed most unlikely—comes Christ, and is born of the despised stump, of the poor and lowly maiden! The rod and flower springs from her whom Sir Annas' or Caiaphas' daughter would not have deigned to have for her humblest lady's maid. Thus God's work and His eyes are in the depths, but man's only in the height.

So much for the occasion of Mary's canticle, which we shall now consider in detail.

46. My soul magnifies God, the Lord.

These words express the strong ardor and exuberant joy with which all her mind and life are inwardly exalted in the Spirit. Therefore she does not say, "I exalt the Lord," but, "My soul doth exalt Him." It is as if she said: "My life and all my senses float in the love and praise of God and in lofty pleasures, so that I am no longer mistress of myself; I am exalted, more than I exalt myself, to praise the Lord." This is the experience of all those who are saturated with the divine sweetness and Spirit: they cannot find words to utter what they feel. For to praise the Lord with gladness is not a work of man; it is rather a joyful suffering and the work of God alone. It cannot be taught in words but must be learned in one's own experience. Even as David says in Psalm 34:8: "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is sweet; blessed is the man that trusts in Him." He puts tasting before seeing, because this sweetness cannot be known unless one has experienced and felt it for himself; and no one can attain to such experience unless he trusts in God with his whole heart when he is in the depths and in sore straits. Therefore David makes haste to add,

"Blessed is the man that trusteth in God." Such a person will experience the work of God within himself and will thus attain to His sensible sweetness and through it to all knowledge and understanding.

Let us take up the words in their order. The first is "my soul." Scripture divides man into three parts,2 as St. Paul says in I Thessalonians 5:23: "May the God of peace Himself sanctifiy you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." There is yet another division of each of these three, and the whole of man, into two parts, which are called

"spirit" and "flesh." This is a division, not of the nature of man but of his qualities. The nature of man consists of the three parts—spirit, soul and body; and all of these may be good or evil, that is, they may be spirit or flesh. But we are not now dealing with this division. The first part, the spirit, is the highest, deepest, and noblest part of man. By it he is enabled to lay hold on things incomprehensible, invisible, and eternal. It is, in brief, the dwelling place of faith and the Word of God. Of it David speaks in Psalm 51:10:

"Lord, create in my inward parts a right spirit," that is, a straight and upright faith. But of the unbelieving he says in Psalm 78:37: "Their heart was not right with God, nor was their spirit faithful to Him."

The second part, the soul, is this same spirit, so far as its nature is concerned, but viewed as performing a different function, namely, giving life to the body and working through the body. In the Scriptures it is frequently put for the life; for the spirit may live without the body, but the body has no life apart from the spirit. Even in sleep the soul lives and works without ceasing. It is its nature to comprehend not incomprehensible things but such things as the reason can know and understand. Indeed, reason is the light in this dwelling; and unless the spirit, which is lighted with the brighter light of faith, controls this light of reason, it cannot but be in error. For it is too feeble to deal with things divine. To these two parts of man the Scriptures ascribe many things, such as wisdom and knowledge—wisdom to the spirit, knowledge to the soul; likewise hatred, love, delight, horror, and the like.

The third part is the body with its members. Its work is only to carry out and apply that which the soul knows and the spirit believes. Let us take an illustration of this from Scripture.3 In the tabernacle fashioned by Moses there were three separate compartments. The first was called the holy of holies: here was God's dwelling place, and in it there was no light. The second was called the holy place; here stood a candlestick with seven arms and seven lamps. The third was called the outer court; this lay under the open sky and in the full light of the sun. In this tabernacle we have a figure of the Christian man. His spirit is the holy of holies, where God dwells in the darkness of faith, where no light is; for he believes that which he neither

- 146 sees nor feels nor comprehends. His soul is the holy place, with its seven lamps, that is, all manner of reason, discrimination, knowledge, and understanding of visible and bodily things. His body is the forecourt, open to all, so that men may see his works and manner of life.

Now Paul prays God, who is a God of peace, to sanctify us not in one part only, but wholly, through and through, so that spirit, soul, body, and all may be holy. We might mention many reasons why he prays in this manner, but let the following suffice. When the spirit is no longer holy, then nothing is holy. This holiness of the spirit is the scene of the sorest conflict and the source of the greatest danger. It consists in nothing else than in faith pure and simple, since the spirit has nothing to do with things comprehensible, as we have seen. But now there come false teachers and lure the spirit out of doors; one puts forth this work, another that mode of attaining to godliness. And unless the spirit is preserved and is wise, it will come forth and follow these men. It will fall upon the external works and rules and imagine it can attain to godliness by means of them. And before we know it, faith is lost, and the spirit is dead in the sight of God.

Then commence the manifold sects and orders. This one becomes a Carthusian, that one a Franciscan; this one seeks salvation by fasting, that one by praying; one by one work, another by another. Yet these are all self-chosen works and orders, never commanded by God, but invented by men. Engrossed in them, they have no eye for faith but only go on teaching men to put their trust in works, until they are so sunk in works that they fall out among themselves. Everyone claims to be the greatest and despises the others, as our bragging and blustering Observantines4 do today. Over against such work-saints and teachers of pious appearance Paul prays, calling God a God of peace and unity. Such a God these divided, unpeaceable saints cannot have or keep unless they give up "their own things," agree together in the same spirit and faith, and learn that works breed nothing but discrimination, sin, and discord, while faith alone makes men pious, united, and peaceable. As it is said in Psalm 68:6: "God makes us dwell in unity in the house"; and in Psalm 133:1: "Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity."

There is no peace except where men teach that we are made pious, righteous, and blessed by no work nor outward thing but solely by faith, that is, a firm confidence in the unseen grace of God that is promised us, as I showed at greater length in the Treatise on Good Works.5 But where there is no faith, there must necessarily be many works; and where these are, peace and unity depart, and God cannot remain. Therefore Paul is not content with saying here simply, "your spirit, your soul," etc.; but he says,

"your whole spirit," for on this all depends. He employs a fine Greek expression, ὁλόκληρον ὑμω̂ν τὸ πνευ̂μα—"your spirit that possesses the whole inheritance." It is as if he said: "Let no doctrine of works lead you astray. The believing spirit alone possesses all things. Everything depends on the faith of the spirit. And this same 'spirit that possesses the whole inheritance' I pray God to preserve in you against the false doctrines which would make works the basis of our trust in God and which are but false tidings,6 because they do not base such trust upon God's grace alone." When this spirit that possesses the whole inheritance is preserved, both soul and body are able to remain without error and evil works. On the other hand, when the spirit is without faith, the soul together with the whole life cannot but fall into wickedness and error, however good an intention and opinion it may profess, and find in that its own devotion and satisfaction. As a consequence of this error and false opinion of the soul, all the works of the body also become evil and damnable, even though a man killed himself with fasting and performed the works of all the saints. In order, therefore, that our works and our life may not be in vain, but that we may become truly holy, it is necessary that God preserve, first, our spirit, and then our soul and body, not only from overt sins but much more from false and apparent good works.

Let this suffice in explanation of these two words, soul and spirit; they occur very frequently in the Scriptures. We come to the "magnifies," which means to make great, to exalt, to esteem one highly, as having the power, the knowledge, and the desire to perform many great and good things, such as those that follow in this canticle. Just as a book title indicates what is the contents of the book, so this word

"magnifies" is used by Mary to indicate what her hymn of praise is to be about, namely, the great works and deeds of God, for the strengthening of our faith, for the comforting of all those of low degree, and for the terrifying of all the mighty ones of earth. We are to let the hymn serve this threefold purpose; for she sang it not for herself alone but for us all, to sing it after her. Now, these great works of God will neither terrify nor comfort anyone unless he believes that God has not only the power and the knowledge but also the willingness and hearty desire to do such great things. In fact, it is not even enough to believe that He is willing to do them for others but not for you. This would be to put yourself beyond the pale of these works

- 147 of God, as is done by those who, because of their strength, do not fear Him, and by those of little faith who, because of their tribulations, fall into despair.

That sort of faith is nothing; it is dead; it is like an idea learned from a fairy tale. You must rather, without any wavering or doubt, realize His will toward you and firmly believe that He will do great things also to you, and is willing to do so. Such a faith has life and being; it pervades and changes the whole man; it constrains you to fear if you are mighty, and to take comfort if you are of low degree. And the mightier you are, the more must you fear; the lowlier you are, the more must you take comfort. This no other kind of faith is able to effect. How will it be with you in the hour of death? There you must believe that He has not only the power and the knowledge but also the desire to help you. For it requires indeed an unspeakably great work to deliver you from eternal death, to save you and make you God's heir. To this faith all things are possible, as Christ says (Mark 9:23); it alone abides; it also comes to experience the works of God and thus attains to the love of God and thence to songs and praise of God, so that man esteems Him highly and truly magnifies Him.

For God is not magnified by us so far as His nature is concerned—He is unchangeable—but He is magnified in our knowledge and experience when we greatly esteem Him and highly regard Him, especially as to His grace and goodness. Therefore the holy mother does not say: "My voice or my mouth, my hand or my thoughts, my reason or my will, magnifies the Lord." For there are many who praise God with a loud voice, preach about Him with high-sounding words, speak much of Him, dispute and write about Him, and paint His image; whose thoughts dwell often upon Him and who reach out after Him and speculate about Him with their reason; there are also many who exalt Him with false devotion and a false will. But Mary says, "My soul magnifies Him"—that is, my whole life and being, mind and strength, esteem Him highly. She is caught up, as it were, into Him and feels herself lifted up into His good and gracious will, as the following verse shows. It is the same when anyone shows us a signal favor; our whole life seems to incline to him, and we say: "Ah, I esteem him highly"; that is to say, "My soul magnifies him." How much more will such a lively inclination be awakened in us when we experience the favor of God, which is exceeding great in His works. All words and thoughts fail us, and our whole life and soul must be set in motion, as though all that lived within us wanted to break forth into praise and singing.

But here we find two kinds of false spirits that cannot sing the Magnificat aright. First, there are those who will not praise Him unless He does well to them; as David says (Ps. 49:18): "He will praise Thee when Thou shalt do well to him." These seem indeed to be greatly praising God; but because they are unwilling to suffer oppression and to be in the depths, they can never experience the proper works of God, and therefore can never truly love or praise Him. The whole world nowadays is filled with praise and service to God, with singing and preaching, with organs and trumpets, and the Magnificat is magnificently sung; but it is regrettable that this precious canticle should be rendered by us so utterly without salt or savor. For we sing only when it fares well with us; as soon as it fares ill, we stop our singing and no longer esteem God highly, but suppose He can or will do nothing for us. Then the Magnificat also must languish.

The other sort are more dangerous still. They err on the opposite side. They magnify themselves by reason of the good gifts of God and do not ascribe them to His goodness alone. They themselves desire to bear a part in them; they want to be honored and set above other men on account of them. When they behold the good things that God has done for them, they fall upon them and appropriate them as their own; they regard themselves as better than others who have no such things. This is really a smooth and slippery position. The good gifts of God will naturally produce proud and self-complacent hearts.

Therefore we must here give heed to Mary's last word, which is "God." She does not say, "My soul magnifies itself" or "exalts me." She does not desire herself to be esteemed; she magnifies God alone and gives all glory to Him. She leaves herself out and ascribes everything to God alone, from whom she received it. For though she experienced such an exceeding great work of God within herself, yet she was ever minded not to exalt herself above the humblest mortal living. Had she done so, she would have fallen, like Lucifer, into the abyss of hell (Is. 14:12).

She had no thought but this: if any other maiden had got such good things from God, she would be just as glad and would not grudge them to her; indeed, she regarded herself alone as unworthy of such honor and all others as worthy of it. She would have been well content had God withdrawn these blessings from her and bestowed them upon another before her very eyes. So little did she lay claim to anything, but left all of God's gifts freely in His hands, being herself no more than a cheerful guest chamber and willing

- 148 hostess to so great a Guest. Therefore she also kept all these things forever. That is to magnify God alone, to count only Him great and lay claim to nothing. We see here how strong an incentive she had to fall into sin, so that it is no less a miracle that she refrained from pride and arrogance than that she received the gifts she did. Tell me, was not hers a wondrous soul? She finds herself the Mother of God, exalted above all mortals, and still remains so simple and so calm that she does not think of any poor serving maid as beneath her. Oh, we poor mortals! If we come into a little wealth or might or honor, or even if we are a little prettier than other men, we cannot abide being made equal to anyone beneath us, but are puffed up beyond all measure. What should we do if we possessed such great and lofty blessings?

Therefore God lets us remain poor and hapless, because we cannot leave His tender gifts undefiled or keep an even mind, but let our spirits rise or fall according to how He gives or takes away His gifts. But Mary's heart remains the same at all times; she lets God have His will with her and draws from it all only a good comfort, joy, and trust in God. Thus we too should do; that would be to sing a right Magnificat.

47. And my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.

We have seen what is meant by "spirit"; it is that which lays hold by faith on things incomprehensible.

Mary, therefore, calls God her Savior, or her Salvation, even though she neither saw nor felt that this was so, but trusted in sure confidence that He was her Savior and her Salvation. This faith came to her through the work God had done within her. And, truly, she sets things in their proper order when she calls God her

Lord before calling Him her Savior, and when she calls Him her Savior before recounting His works.

Thereby she teaches us to love and praise God for Himself alone, and in the right order, and not selfishly to seek anything at His hands. This is done when one praises God because He is good, regards only His bare goodness, and finds his joy and pleasure in that alone. That is a lofty, pure, and tender mode of loving and praising God and well becomes this Virgins high and tender spirit.

But the impure and perverted lovers, who are nothing else than parasites and who seek their own advantage in God, neither love nor praise His bare goodness, but have an eye to themselves and consider only how good God is to them, that is, how deeply He makes them feel His goodness and how many good things He does to them. They esteem Him highly, are filled with joy and sing His praises, so long as this feeling continues. But just as soon as He hides His face and withdraws the rays of His goodness, leaving them bare and in misery, their love and praise are at an end. They are unable to love and praise the bare, unfelt goodness that is hidden in God. By this they prove that their spirit did not rejoice in God, their

Savior, and that they had no true love and praise for His bare goodness. They delighted in their salvation much more than in their Savior, in the gift more than in the Giver, in the creature rather than in the Creator. For they are not able to preserve an even mind in plenty and in want, in wealth and in poverty; as St. Paul says (Phil. 4:12): "I know how to abound and how to suffer want."

Here apply the words in Psalm 49:18: "They will praise Thee when Thou shalt do well with them."

That is to say: "They love not Thee but themselves; if they have but Thy good and pleasant things, they care nothing for Thee." As Christ also said to those who sought Him (John 6:26): "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves."

Such impure and false spirits defile all of God's gifts and prevent His giving them many gifts, especially the gift of salvation. The following is a good illustration of this: Once a certain godly woman saw in a vision three virgins seated near an altar. During the Mass a beautiful boy leaped from the altar, and approaching the first virgin in a most friendly manner, lavished caresses upon her and smiled lovingly in her face. Then he approached the second virgin, but was not so friendly with her; he did not give her a caress, though he did lift her veil and give her a pleasant smile. But for the third virgin he had not a friendly sign, struck her in the face and tore her hair, thrust her from him and dealt most ungallantly with her. Then he ran swiftly back upon the altar and disappeared.

Afterwards the vision was interpreted for the woman as follows: The first of the three virgins was a figure of the impure and self-seeking spirits, on whom God must lavish many good things and whose will

He must do rather than they His; they are unwilling to suffer want but must always find joy and comfort in God and are not content with His goodness. The second virgin was a figure of the spirits that make a beginning of serving God and are willing to do without some things, but not without all or to be free from all self-seeking and enjoyment. God must now and then smile upon them and let them feel His good things, in order that they may learn from this to love and praise His bare goodness. But the third virgin, that poor Cinderella7—for her there is nothing but want and misery; she seeks to enjoy nothing and is

- 149 content to know that God is good, even though she should never once experience it, though that is impossible. She keeps an even mind in both situations and she loves and praises God's goodness just as much when she does not feel it as when she does. She neither falls upon the good things when they are given nor falls away when they are removed. That is the true bride of Christ, who says to Him: "I seek not Thine, but Thee; Thou art to me no dearer when it goes well with me, nor any less dear when it goes ill."

Such spirits fulfill what is written (Is. 30:21): "You shall not stray from the even and right way of God, neither to the left hand nor to the right." That is to say, they are to love and praise God evenly and rightly and not seek their own advantage or enjoyment. Such a spirit was David's; when he was driven from Jerusalem by his son Absalom and was likely to be cast out forever and to lose his kingdom and the favor of God, he said (2 Sam. 15:25, 26): "If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me back; but if He says, 'I have no pleasure in you,' behold, here I am." Oh, how pure a spirit that was, not to stop loving, praising, and following the goodness of God even in the direst distress! Such a spirit is manifested here by Mary, the Mother of God. Standing in the midst of such exceedingly great good things, she does not fall upon them or seek her own enjoyment in them, but keeps her spirit pure in loving and praising the bare goodness of God, ready and willing to have God withdraw them from her and leave her spirit poor and naked and needy.

Now, it is much more difficult to practice moderation in the midst of riches, honor, and power than amid poverty, dishonor, and weakness, since the former are mighty incentives to evildoing. So the wondrous pure spirit of Mary is worthy of even greater praise, because, having such overwhelming honors heaped upon her head, she does not let them tempt her, but acts as though she did not see it, remains "even and right in the way," clings only to God's goodness, which she neither sees nor feels, overlooks the good things she does feel, and neither takes pleasure nor seeks her own enjoyment in it. Thus she can truly sing,

"My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior." It is indeed a spirit that exults only in faith and rejoices not in the good things of God that she felt, but only in God, whom she did not feel and who is her Salvation, known by her in faith alone. Such are the truly lowly, naked, hungry, and God-fearing spirits, as we shall see below.8

From all this we may know and judge how full the world is nowadays of false preachers and false saints, who fill the ears of the people with preaching good works. There are indeed a few who teach them how to do good works, but the greater part preach human doctrines and works that they themselves have devised and set up. Even the best of them, unfortunately, are so far from this "even and straight road" that they constantly drive the people to "the right hand" by teaching good works and a godly life, not for the sake of the bare goodness of God, but for the sake of one's own enjoyment. For if there were no heaven or hell and if they could not enjoy the good gifts of God, they would let His good things go unloved and unpraised. These men are mere parasites and hirelings; slaves, not sons; aliens, not heirs. They turn themselves into idols, whom God is to love and praise and for whom He is to do the very things they ought to do for Him. They have no spirit, nor is God their Savior. His good gifts are their Savior, and with them God must serve them as their lackey. They are the Children of Israel, who were not content in the desert with eating bread from heaven, but wanted meat, onions, and garlic, too (Num. 11:4–6).

Alas, all the world, all the monasteries, and all the churches are now filled with such people. They all walk in their false, perverted, and uneven spirit, and urge and drive others to do the same. They exalt good works to such a height that they imagine they can merit heaven through them. But the bare goodness of God is what ought rather to be preached and known above all else, and we ought to learn that, just as God saves us out of pure goodness, without any merit of works, so we in our turn should do the works without reward or self-seeking, for the sake of the bare goodness of God. We should desire nothing in them but His good pleasure, and not be anxious about a reward. That will come of itself, without our seeking. For though it is impossible that the reward should not follow, if we do well in a pure and right spirit, without thought of reward or enjoyment; nevertheless God will not have such a self-seeking and impure spirit, nor will it ever obtain a reward. A son serves his father willingly and without reward, as his heir, solely for the father's sake. But a son who served his father merely for the sake of the inheritance would indeed be a wicked child and deserve to be cast off by his father.

48. For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

- 150 The word "low estate" has been translated "humility" by some, as though the Virgin Mary referred to her humility and boasted of it; hence certain prelates also call themselves humiles.9 But that is very wide of the mark, for no one can boast of any good thing in the sight of God without sin and perdition. In His sight we ought to boast only of His pure grace and goodness, which He bestows upon us unworthy ones; so that not our love and praise but His alone may dwell in us and may preserve us. Thus Solomon teaches us to do (Prov. 25:6, 7): "Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand (that is, pretend to be something) in the place of the great; for it is better to be told, 'Come up here,' than to be put lower in the presence of the prince." How should such pride and vainglory be attributed to this pure and righteous

Virgin, as though she boasted of her humility in the presence of God? For humility is the highest of all the virtues, and no one could boast of possessing it except the very proudest of mortals. It is God alone who knows humility; He alone judges it and brings it to light; so that no one knows less about humility than he who is truly humble.

In Scriptural usage, "to humble" means "to bring down," or "to bring to naught." Hence, in the Scriptures, Christians are frequently called poor, afflicted, despised.10 Thus, in Psalm 116:10: "I am greatly afflicted"—that is, humbled. Humility, therefore, is nothing else than a disregarded, despised, and lowly estate, such as that of men who are poor, sick, hungry, thirsty, in prison, suffering, and dying. Such was Job in his afflictions, David when he was thrust out of his kingdom, and Christ as well as all

Christians, in their distresses. Those are the depths of which we said above11 that God's eyes look only into them, but men's only to the heights, namely, to that which is splendid and glorious and makes a brave show. Therefore in the Scriptures (Zech. 12:4) Jerusalem is called a city upon which God's eyes are open

—that is to say, Christendom lies in the depths and is despised by the world; therefore God regards her, and His eyes are always fixed upon her, as He says in Psalm 32:8: "I will fix my eyes upon you."

St. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 1:27, 28: "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are." In this way He turns the world with all its wisdom and power into foolishness and gives us another wisdom and power. Since, then, it is His manner to regard things that are in the depths and disregarded, I have rendered the word "humility" with "nothingness" or "low estate." This, therefore, is what Mary means: "God has regarded me, a poor, despised, and lowly maiden, though He might have found a rich, renowned, noble, and mighty queen, the daughter of princes and great lords. He might have found the daughter of Annas or of Caiaphas, who held the highest position in the land. But He let His pure and gracious eyes light on me and used so poor and despised a maiden, in order that no one might glory in His presence, as though he were worthy of this, and that I must acknowledge it all to be pure grace and goodness and not at all my merit or worthiness."

Now, we described above12 at length how lowly was the estate of this tender Virgin and how unexpectedly this honor came to her, that God should regard her in such abundant grace. Hence she does not glory in her worthiness nor yet in her unworthiness, but solely in the divine regard, which is so exceedingly good and gracious that He deigned to look upon such a lowly maiden, and to look upon her in so glorious and honorable a fashion. They, therefore, do her an injustice who hold that she gloried, not indeed in her virginity, but in her humility. She gloried neither in the one nor in the other, but only in the gracious regard of God. Hence the stress lies not on the word "low estate," but on the word "regarded."

For not her humility but God's regard is to be praised. When a prince takes a poor beggar by the hand, it is not the beggar's lowliness but the prince's grace and goodness that is to be commended.

In order to dispel that false opinion and to distinguish true from false humility, we shall have to digress a little and treat the subject of humility, on which many are far astray. Humility we call that which St. Paul calls in Greek ταπεινοφροσύνη,13 and in Latin, affectus vilitatis seu sensus humilium rerum—that is, a love and leaning to lowly and despised things. Now we find many here who carry water to the well; that is to say, they affect humble clothing, faces, gestures, places, and words, but with the intention of being regarded by the mighty and rich, by scholars and saints, even by God Himself, as men who take pleasure in lowly things. If they knew that no one regarded what they did, they would soon give up. That is an artificial humility. For their villainous eye14 is fixed only on the reward and result of their humility and not on lowly things apart from a reward; hence when the reward and result no longer allures, their humility stops. Such people cannot be said to have their heart and will set on things of low degree; for they have only their thoughts, lips, hands, clothes, and outward conduct in them, while their heart looks above to - 151 great and lofty things, to which it hopes to attain by that semblance of humility. Yet these men suppose that they are humble saints.

But the truly humble look not to the result of humility but with a simple heart regard things of low degree, and gladly associate with them, It never once enters their mind that they are humble. Here the water flows from the well; here it follows naturally and as a matter of course, that they will cultivate humble conduct, humble words, places, faces, and clothing, and shun as far as possible great and lofty things. Thus David says in Psalm 131:1: "O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high." And Job 22:29 says: "He who has been humbled shall be in glory; and he who bows down his eyes shall be saved." Hence honors always come unexpectedly upon them, and their exaltation is a surprise to them; for they have been simply content with their lowly station and never aspired to the heights. But the falsely humble wonder why their glory and honor are so long in coming; their secret false pride is not content with their low estate but aspires in secret ever higher and higher.

True humility, therefore, never knows that it is humble, as I have said; for if it knew this, it would turn proud from contemplation of so fine a virtue. But it clings with all its heart and mind and senses to lowly things, sets them continually before its eyes, and ponders them in its thoughts. And because it sets them before its eyes, it cannot see itself nor become aware of itself, much less of lofty things. And therefore, when honor and elevation come, they must take it unawares and find it immersed in thoughts of other things. Thus Luke tells us (Luke 1:29) that Mary was troubled at the angel's saying and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be, since she had never expected anything like it. Had it come to Caiaphas' daughter, she would not have considered in her mind what sort of greeting it was, but would have accepted it immediately, thinking: "Oh, how wonderful! This is just as it should be."

False humility, on the other hand, never knows that it is proud; for if it knew this, it would soon grow humble from contemplation of that ugly vice. But it clings with heart and mind and senses to lofty things, sets them continually before its eyes, and ponders them in its thoughts. And because it does this, it cannot see itself nor become aware of itself. Hence honors come to it not unawares or unexpectedly, but find it immersed in thoughts of them. But dishonor and humiliation take it unawares and when it is thinking of something far different.

It is in vain, therefore, to teach men to be humble by teaching them to set their eyes on lowly things, nor does anyone become proud by setting his eyes on lofty things. Not the things but our eyes must be changed; for we must spend our life here in the midst of things both lowly and lofty. It is our eye that must be plucked out, as Christ says.15 Moses does not tell us (Gen. 3:7) that Adam and Eve saw different things after the Fall, but he says their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked, though they had been naked before and were not aware of it. Queen Esther wore a precious crown upon her head, yet she said it seemed but a filthy rag in her eyes, Esther 14:16 (Apocryphal). The lofty things were not removed out of her sight, but being a mighty queen, she had them before her in great abundance, and not a lowly thing within sight; yet her eyes were humble, her heart and mind did not look at the lofty things, and thus God accomplished wondrous things through her. It is thus not the things but we that must be changed in heart and mind. Then we shall know of ourselves how to despise and shun lofty things and how to esteem and seek after lowly things. Then humility is truly good, and steadfast in every way, and yet is never aware that it is humble. All things are done gladly, and the heart is undisturbed, however things may shift and turn, from high to low, from great to small.

Oh, how much pride lurks behind that humble garb, speech, and conduct, of which the world is so full today. Men despise themselves, yet so as to be despised by no one else; they fly from honors, yet so as to be pursued by honors; they shun lofty things, but in order to be esteemed and praised, and not to have their lowly things accounted all too low. But this holy virgin points to nothing except her low estate. In it she was content to spend the remainder of her days, never seeking to be honored or exalted or ever becoming aware of her own humility. For humility is so tender and precious a thing that it cannot abide beholding its own face; that belongs to God's eyes alone, as it is said in Psalm 113:6: "He looks far down upon the lowly in the heavens and the earth." For if anyone could see his own humility, he could judge himself worthy of salvation and thus anticipate God's judgment; for we know that God certainly saves the humble.

Therefore God must reserve to Himself the right to know and look at humility, and must hide it from us by setting before our eyes things of low degree and exercising us in them so that we may forget to look at - 152 ourselves. That is the purpose of the many sufferings, of death, and all manner of afflictions we have to bear on earth; by means of the trouble and pain they cause us we are to pluck out the evil eye.

Thus the word "low estate" shows us plainly that the Virgin Mary was a poor, despised, and lowly maiden, who served God in her low estate, nor knew it was so highly esteemed by Him. This should comfort us and teach us that though we should willingly be humbled and despised, we ought not to despair as though God were angry at us. Rather we should set our hope on His grace, concerned only lest we be not cheerful and contented enough in our low estate and lest our evil eye be opened too wide and deceive us by secretly lusting after lofty things and satisfaction with self, which is the death of humility. What profit is it to the damned that they are humbled to the lowest degree, since they are not willing and content to be where they are? Again, what harm is it to all angels that they are exalted to the highest degree, so long as they do not cling to their station with false desire? In short, this verse teaches us to know God aright, because it shows us that He regards the lowly and despised. For he knows God aright who knows that He regards the lowly, as we have said above.16 From such knowledge flows love and trust in God, by which we yield ourselves to Him and gladly obey Him.

As Jeremiah says (Jer. 9:23, 24): "Let no one glory in his might, riches, or wisdom; but if anyone wants to glory, let him glory in this,that he understands and knows Me." And St. Paul teaches (2 Cor.

10:17): "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." Now, after lauding her God and Savior with pure and single spirit, and after truly singing the praises of His goodness by not boasting of His gifts, the Mother of God addresses herself in the next place to the praise also of His works and gifts. For, as we have seen, we must not fall upon the good gifts of God or boast of them, but make our way through them and ascend to Him, cling to Him alone, and highly esteem His goodness. Thereupon we should praise Him also in His works, in which He showed forth that goodness of His for our love, trust, and praise. Thus His works are simply that many incentives to love and praise His bare goodness that rules over us.

Mary begins with herself and sings what He has done for her. Thus she teaches us a twofold lesson.

First, every one of us should pay attention to what God does for him rather than to all the works He does for others. For no one will be saved by what God does to another, but only by what He does to you. When

St. Peter asked about John (John 21:21): "What about this man?" Christ answered him by saying (John 21:22): "What is that to you? Follow Me." It is as though He were to say: "John's works will not help you.

You yourself must take hold and await what I will do for you." But now the world is captive to a dreadful abuse—the sale and distribution of good works—by which certain audacious spirits would assist others, especially such as live or die without good works of their own, just as if these spirits had a surplus of good works. But St. Paul plainly says in 1 Corinthians 3:8: "Each man shall receive his wages according to his labor"—certainly not according to that of anyone else.

It would be tolerable if they prayed for others, or brought their works before God by way of intercession. But since they deal with their works as if they were something they had to give away, it becomes a scandalous piece of business. And, worst of all, they give away works of theirs of whose value in God's sight they themselves are ignorant; for God looks not at the works but at the heart and at the faith by which He Himself works with us. To this they pay not the least attention, but trust only in the external works, deceiving themselves and all others besides. They have even gone so far as to persuade men to don the monk's cowl on their deathbeds, pretending that whoever dies in that sacred habit receives indulgence for all his sins and is saved.17 Thus they have begun to save men not only with the works but with the clothes of others. Unless we see to it, I fear the evil spirit will drive them on to bring people to heaven by means of monastic diet, cells, and burial. Great God, what gross darkness is this! A monk's cowl makes a man pious and saves him! Where, then, is the need of faith? Let us all turn monk or all die in cowls. At this rate, all the cloth would go to the making of monks' cowls! Beware, beware of the wolves in such sheep's clothing; they will deceive you and tear you limb from limb.18 Remember that God also has His work in you, and base your salvation on no other works than those God works in you alone, as you see the Virgin Mary do here. To let the intercessions of others assist you in this is right and proper; we ought all to pray and work for one another. But no one should depend on the works of others, without the works of God in himself. Everyone should make an effort to regard himself and God as though God and he were the only persons in heaven and on earth and as though God were dealing with no one else than with him. Only then may he also glance at the works of others.

- 153 In the second place, she teaches us that everyone should strive to be foremost in praising God by showing forth the works He has done to him, and then by praising Him for the works He has done to others. Thus we read (Acts 15:12) that Paul and Barnabas declared to the apostles the works God had done by them, and that the apostles in turn rehearsed those He had done by them. The same was done by the apostles, in Luke 24:34, 35, with respect to the appearances of Christ after His resurrection. Thus there arose a common rejoicing and praising of God, each one praising the grace bestowed on another, yet most of all that bestowed on himself, however much more modest it was than that of the other. So simplehearted were they that all desired to be foremost, not in possessing the gifts but in praising and loving

God; for God Himself and His bare goodness were sufficient for them, however small His gifts. But the hirelings and mercenaries grow green with envy when they observe that they are not first and foremost in possessing the good things of God; instead of praising, they murmur because they are made equal to, or lower than, others, like the laborers in the Gospel (Matt. 20:11, 12) who murmured against the householder, not because he did them any wrong, butbecause he made them equal to the other laborers by giving to all the same pfennig.

Even so we find men today who do not praise the goodness of God, because they cannot see that they have received the same things as St. Peter or any other of the saints, or as this or that man living on earth.

They imagine they also would praise and love God if they possessed as much as these, and they despise the good gifts of God which are showered so abundantly upon them and which they altogether overlook— such as life, body, reason, goods, honor, friends, the ministration of the sun and all created things. And even if they had all the good things of Mary, they still would not recognize God in them or praise Him because of them. For as Christ says in Luke 16:10: "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much." Therefore, because they despise the little and the few things, they are not worthy of the much and the great things. But if they praised God in the little, the much would also be added unto them. They act as they do because they look above them and not beneath them; if they looked beneath them, they would find many that have not half of what they have and yet are content in God and sing His praise. A bird pipes its lay and is happy in the gifts it has; nor does it murmur because it lacks the gift of speech. A dog frisks gayly about and is content, even though he is without the gift of reason. All animals live in contentment and serve God, loving and praising

Him. Only the evil, villainous eye of man19 is never satisfied, nor can it ever be really satisfied because of its ingratitude and pride. It always wants the best place at the feast as the chief guest (Luke 14:8); it is not willing to honor God, but would rather be honored by God.

There is a tale,20 dating back to the days of the Council of Constance, of two cardinals who were riding around when they spied a shepherd standing in a field and weeping. One of the two cardinals, being a good soul and unwilling to pass by without offering the man some comfort, rode up to him and asked him why he wept. The shepherd, who was weeping bitterly, was a long time replyingto the cardinal's question.

At last, pointing his finger at a toad, he said: "I weep because God has made me so well favored a creature, and not hideous like this reptile, and I have never yet acknowledged it or thanked and praised

Him for it." The cardinal beat his breast and trembled so violently that he fell from his mount. He had to be carried to his lodging, and he cried out: "O St. Augustine, how truly you have said: 'The unlearned start up and take heaven by violence, and we with all our learning, look how we wallow in flesh and blood!' "21

Now, I am sure that this shepherd was neither rich nor handsome nor powerful; nevertheless he had so clear an insight into God's good gifts and pondered them so deeply that in them he found more than he could comprehend.

Mary confesses that the foremost work God did for her was that He regarded her, which is indeed the greatest of His works, on which all the rest depend and from which they all derive. For where it comes to pass that God turns His face toward one to regard him, there is nothing but grace and salvation, and all gifts and works must follow. Thus we read in Genesis 4:4, 5 that He had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. Here is the origin of the many prayers in the Psalter—that God would lift up His countenance upon us, that He would not hide His countenance from us, that He would make His face shine upon us, and the like.22 And that Mary herself regards this as the chief thing, she indicates by saying: "Behold, since He has regarded me, all generations will call me blessed."

Note that she does not say men will speak all manner of good of her, praise her virtues, exalt her virginity or her humility, or sing of what she has done. But for this one thing alone, that God regarded her,

- 154 men will call her blessed. That is to give all the glory to God as completely as it can be done. Therefore she points to God's regard and says: "For, behold, henceforth all generations will eau me blessed. That is, beginning with the time when God regarded my low estate, I shall be called blessed." Not she is praised thereby, but God's grace toward her. In fact, she is despised, and she despises herself in that she says her low estate was regarded by God. Therefore she also mentions her blessedness before enumerating the worksthat God did to her, and ascribes it all to the fact that God regarded her low estate.

From this we may learn how to show her the honor and devotion that are her due. How ought one to address her? Keep these words in mind, and they will teach you to say: "O Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, you were nothing and all despised; yet God in His grace regarded you and worked such great things in you. You were worthy of none of them, but the rich and abundant grace of God was upon you, far above any merit of yours. Hail to you! Blessed are you, from thenceforth and forever, in finding such a God." Nor need you fear that she will take it amiss if we call her unworthy of such grace. For, of a truth, she did not lie when she herself acknowledged her unworthiness and nothingness, which God regarded, not because of any merit in her, but solely by reason of His grace.

But she does take it amiss that the vain chatterers preach and write so many things about her merits.

They are set on proving their own skill and fail to see how they spoil the Magnificat, make the Mother of God a liar, and diminish the grace of God. For, in proportion as we ascribe merit and worthiness to her, we lower the grace of God and diminish the truth of the Magnificat. The angel salutes her only as highly favored of God, and because the Lord is with her (Luke 1:28), which is why she is blessed among women.

Hence all those who heap such great praise and honor upon her head are not far from making an idol of her, as though she were concerned that men should honor her and look to her for good things, when in truth she thrusts this from her and would have us honor God in her and come through her to a good confidence in His grace.

Whoever, therefore, would show her the proper honor must not regard her alone and by herself, but set her in the presence of God and far beneath Him, must there strip her of all honor, and regard her low estate, as she says; he should then marvel at the exceedingly abundant grace of God, who regards, embraces, and blesses so poor and despised a mortal. Thus regarding her, you will be moved to love and praise God for His grace, and drawn to look for all good things to Him, who does not reject but graciously regards poor and despised and lowly mortals. Thus your heart will be strengthened in faith and love and hope. What do you suppose would please her more than to have you come through her to God this way, and learn from her to put your hope and trust in Him, notwithstanding your despised and lowly estate, in life as well as in death? She does not want you to come to her, but through her to God.

Again, nothing would please her better than to have you turn in fear from all lofty things on which men set their hearts, seeing that even in His mother God neither found nor desired anything of high degree. But the masters who so depict and portray the blessed Virgin that there is found in her nothing to be despised, but only great and lofty things—what are they doing but contrasting us with her instead of her with God? Thus they make us timid and afraid and hide the Virgin's comfortable picture, as the images are covered over in Lent.23 For they deprive us of her example, from which we might take comfort; they make an exception of her and set her above all examples. But she should be, and herself gladly would be, the foremost example of the grace of God, to incite all the world to trust in this grace and to love and praise it, so that through her the hearts of all men should be filled with such knowledge of God that they might confidently say: "O Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, what great comfort God has shown us in you, by so graciously regarding your unworthiness and low estate. This encourages us to believe that henceforth He will not despise us poor and lowly ones, but graciously regard us also, according to your example."

What do you think? David, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Mary Magdalene, and the like, are examples to strengthen our trust in God and our faith, by reason of the great grace bestowed on them without their worthiness, for the comforting of all men. Will not the blessed Mother of God also gladly be such an example to all the world? But now she cannot be this because of the fulsome eulogists and empty chatterers, who do not show the people from this verse how the exceeding riches of God joined in her with her utter poverty, the divine honor with her low estate, the divine glory with her shame, the divine greatness with her smallness, the divine goodness with her lack of merit, the divine grace with her unworthiness. On this basis our love and affection toward God would grow and increase with all

- 155 confidence, which is why her24 life and works, as well as the lives and works of all the saints, have been recorded. But now we find those who come to her for help and comfort, as though she were a divine being, so that I fear there is now more idolatry in the world than ever before. But enough of this for the present.

The Latin phrase "all generations" I have rendered in German with "children's children," although literally it means "all generations."25 But that is an obscure expression, and many have been hard put to it by this passage to know how it can be that all generations shall bless her, since the Jews, the heathen, and many wicked Christians blaspheme her or scorn to call her blessed. They understand the word

"generations" of the totality of mankind, whereas its meaning here is rather the line of natural descent, as father, son, grandson, and so on, each member being called a generation. The Virgin Mary means to say simply that her praise will be sung from one generation to another so that there will never be a time when she will not be praised. This she indicates by saying, "Behold, henceforth all generations"—that is, it begins now and will continue throughout all generations, to children's children.

The word μακαριου̂σι means more than simply "to call blessed"; its meaning is rather "to bless," or to "make blessed." This consists not merely in saying the words, bending the knee, bowing the head, doffing the hat, making images, or building churches; for this even the wicked can do. But it is done with all one's strength and with downright sincerity, when the heart, moved by her low estate and God's gracious regard of her, as we have seen, rejoices in God and says or thinks with all its heart, "O Blessed Virgin Mary!" So to bless her is to accord her the honor that is her due, as we have seen.

49. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.

Here she sings in one breath of all the works that God has done to her, and observes the proper order.

In the preceding verse she sang of God's regard and gracious good will toward her, which is indeed the greatest and chief work of grace, as we have said. Now she comes to the works and gifts. For God indeed gives to some many good things and richly adorns them, as He did Lucifer in heaven. He scatters His gifts broadcast among the multitude; but He does not therefore regard them. His good things are merely gifts, which last for a season; but His grace and regard are the inheritance, which lasts forever, as St. Paul says in Romans 6:23: "The grace of God is eternal life." In giving us the gifts He gives only what is His,but in His grace and His regard of us He gives His very self. In the gifts we touch His hand; but in His gracious regard we receive His heart, spirit, mind, and will. Hence the Blessed Virgin puts His regard in the first and highest place, and does not begin by saying: "All generations will call me blessed, because He has done great things for me," as this verse says; but she begins: "He has regarded my low estate," as the preceding verse shows. Where God's gracious will is, there are also His gifts; but, on the other hand, where His gifts are, there is not also His gracious will. This verse therefore logically follows the preceding verse. We read in Genesis 25:5, 6 that Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines; but to Isaac, his natural son by his true helpmate Sarah, he gave the whole inheritance. Thus God would not have His true children put their trust in His goods and gifts, spiritual or temporal, however great they be, but in His grace and in Himself, yet without despising the gifts.

Nor does Mary enumerate any good things in. particular, but gathers them all together in one word and says, "He has done great things for me." That is: "Everything He has done for me is great." She teaches us here that the greater devotion there is in the heart, the fewer words are uttered. For she feels that however she may strive and try, she cannot express it in words. Therefore these few words of the Spirit are so great and profound that no one can comprehend them without having, at least in part, the same Spirit. But for the unspiritual, who deal in many words and much loud noise, such words seem utterly inadequate and wholly without salt or savor. Christ also teaches us in Matthew 6:7 not to speak much when we pray, as the unbelievers do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Even so there is today in the churches a great ringing of bells, blowing of trumpets, singing, shouting, and intoning, yet I fear precious lit fie worship of God, who wants to be worshiped in spirit and truth, as He says in John 4:24.

Solomon says in Proverbs 27:14: "He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing." For such a person arouses the suspicion that he is endeavoring to adorn an evil cause; he protests too much and only defeats his own end. On the other hand, he who curses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising up early in the morning (that is, not indifferently, but with great zeal and urgency), is to be regarded as a praiser of him. For men do not believe him, but suppose that he is motivated by hatred and a wicked heart; he hurts his own cause and helps his neighbor's. In the same way,

- 156 to think to worship God with many words and a great noise is to count Him either deaf or ignorant, and to suppose we must waken or instruct Him. Such an opinion of God tends to His shame and dishonor rather than to His worship. But when one ponders well His divine works in the depths of his heart and regards them with wonder and gratitude so that one breaks out from very ardor into sighs and groanings rather than into speech; when the words, not nicely chosen or prescribed, flow forth in such a way that the spirit comes seething with them, and the words live and have hands and feet, in fact, the whole body and life with all its members strives and strains for utterance—that is indeed a worship of God in spirit and truth, and such words are all fire, light, and life. As David says in Psalm 119:140: "Lord, Thy statements are completely fiery"; and again (Ps. 119:171): "My lips will pour forth praise," even as boiling water overflows and seethes, unable to contain itself for the great heat within the pot. Of this sort are the words of the blessed Virgin in this hymn of hers—few, but profound and mighty. Such souls St. Paul calls, in Romans 12:11, "aglow with the Spirit," fervent and seething in spirit, and teaches us to be that way too.

The "great things" are nothing less than that she became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man's understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child. She herself is unable to find a name for this work, it is too exceedingly great; all she can do is break out in the fervent cry: "They are great things," impossible to describe or define. Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God. No one can say anything greater of her or to her, though he had as many tongues as there are leaves on the trees, or grass in the fields, or stars in the sky, or sand by the sea. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.26

Mary also freely ascribes all to God's grace, not to her merit. For though she was without sin, yet that grace was far too great for her to deserve it in any way. How should a creature deserve to become the Mother of God? Though certain scribblers make much ado about her worthiness for such motherhood, I prefer to believe her rather than them. She says her low estate was regarded by God, not thereby rewarding her for anything she had done, but, "He has done great things for me," He has done this of His own accord without any doing of mine. For never in all her life did she think to become the Mother of God, still less did she prepare or make herself meet for it. The tidings took her all unaware, as Luke reports (Luke 1:29). Merit, however, is not unprepared for its reward, but deliberately seeks and awaits it.

It is no valid argument against this to cite the words of the hymn "Regina coeli laetare,"27 "Whom thou didst merit to bear," and again, "Whom thou wast worthy to bear." For the same things are sung about the holy cross, which was a thing of wood and incapable of merit. The words are to be understood in this sense: In order to become the Mother of God, she had to be a woman, a virgin, of the tribe of Judah, and had to believe the angelic message in order to become worthy, as the Scriptures foretold.28 As the wood had no other merit or worthiness than that it was suited to be made into a cross and was appointed by God for that purpose, so her sole worthiness to become the Mother of God lay in her being fit and appointed for it; so that it might be pure grace and not a reward, that we might not take away from God's grace, worship, and honor by ascribing too great things to her. For it is better to take away too much from her than from the grace of God. Indeed, we cannot take away too much from her, since she was created out of nothing, like all other creatures. But we can easily take away too much from God's grace, which is a perilous thing to do and not well pleasing to her. It is necessary also to keep within bounds and not make too much of calling her "Queen of Heaven," which is a true-enough name and yet does not make her a goddess who could grant gifts or render aid, as some suppose when they pray and flee to her ratherthan to God. She gives nothing, God gives all, as we see in the words that follow.

"He who is mighty." Truly, in these words she takes away all might and power from every creature and bestows them on God alone. What great boldness and robbery on the part of so young and tender a maiden! She dares, by this one word, to make all the strong feeble, all the mighty weak, all the wise foolish, all the famous despised, and God alone the Possessor of all strength, wisdom, and glory. For this is the meaning of the phrase: "He who is mighty." There is none that does anything, but as St. Paul says in Ephesians 1: "God accomplishes all in all,"29 and all creatures' works are God's works. Even as we confess in the Creed: "I believe in God the Father, the Almighty." He is almighty because it is His power alone that works in all and through all and over all. Thus St. Anna, the mother of Samuel, sings in 1

Samuel 2:9: "Not by might shall a man prevail." St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:5: "Not that we are - 157 sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our sufficiency is from God." This is a most important article of faith, including many things; it completely puts down all pride, arrogance, blasphemy, fame, and false trust, and exalts God alone. It points out the reason why God alone is to be exalted— because He does all things. That is easily said but hard to believe and to translate into life. For those who carry it out in their lives are most peaceable, composed, and simple-hearted folk, who lay no claim to anything, well knowing it is not theirs but God's.

This, then, is the meaning of these words of the Mother of God: "In all those great and good things there is nothing of mine, but He who alone does all things, and whose power works in all, has done such great things for me." For the word "mighty" does not denote a quiescent power, as one says of a temporal king that he is mighty, even though he may be sitting still and doing nothing. But it denotes an energetic power, a continuous activity, that works and operates without ceasing. For God does not rest, but works without ceasing, as Christ says in John 5:17: "My Father is working still, and I am working." In the same sense St. Paul says in Ephesians 3:20: "He is able to do more than all that we ask"; that is, He always does more than we ask; that is His way, and thus His power works. That is why I said Mary does not desire to be an idol; she does nothing, Goddoes all. We ought to call upon her, that for her sake God may grant and do what we request. Thus also all other saints are to be invoked, so that the work may be every way God's alone.

Therefore she adds, "And holy is His name." That is to say: "As I lay no claim to the work, neither do I to the name and fame. For the name and fame belong to Him alone who does the work. It is not proper that one should do the work and another have the fame and take the glory. I am but the workshop in which He performs His work; I had nothing to do with the work itself. No one should praise me or give me the glory for becoming the Mother of God, but God alone and His work are to be honored and praised in me.

It is enough to congratulate me and call me blessed, because God used me and did His works in me."

Behold, how completely she traces all to God, lays claim to no works, no honor, no fame. She conducts herself as before, when she still had nothing of all this; she demands no higher honors than before. She is not puffed up, does not vaunt herself or proclaim with a loud voice that she is become the Mother of God.

She seeks not any glory, but goes about her usual household duties, milking the cows, cooking the meals, washing pots and kettles, sweeping out the rooms, and performing the work of maidservant or housemother in lowly and despised tasks, as though she cared nothing for such great gifts and graces. She was esteemed among other women and her neighbors no more highly than before, nor desired to be, but remained a poor townswoman, one of the great multitude. Oh, how simple and pure a heart was hers, how strange a soul was this! What great things are hidden here under this lowly exterior! How many came in contact with her, talked, and ate and drank with her, who perhaps despised her and counted her but a common, poor, and simple village maiden, and who, had they known, would have fled from her in terror.

That is the meaning of the clause: "Holy is His name." For "holy" means "separated," "dedicated to God," that none should touch or defile it but all should hold it in honor. And "name" means a good report, fame, praise, and honor. Thus everyone should let God's name alone, not lay hands on it or appropriate it to himself. It is a symbol of this when we read in Exodus 30:25–32 that Moses made an oil of holy ointment, at God's command, and strictly forbade that it be poured on any man's flesh. That is, no man should ascribe to himself the name of God. For we desecrate God's name when we let ourselves be praised or honored, or when we take pleasure in ourselves and boast of our works or our possessions, as is the way of the world, which constantly dishonors and desecrates the name of God. But as the works are

God's alone, so, too, the name should be His. And all that thus hallow His name and deny themselves all honor and glory, rightly honor His name, and therefore are hallowed by it. Thus we read in Exodus 30:29 that the precious ointment was so holy that it hallowed whatever it touched. That is, when God's name is hallowed by us, so that we lay claim to no work, fame, or self-satisfaction in it, it is rightly honored, and in turn touches and hallows us.

Therefore we must be on our guard, because we cannot do without God's good things while we live on earth, and therefore we cannot be without name and honor. When men accord us praise and honor, we ought to profit by the example of the Mother of God and at all times arm ourselves with this verse to make the proper reply and to use such honor and praise correctly. We should openly say, or at least think in our heart: "O Lord God, Thine is this work that is being praised and celebrated. Thine be also the name. Not I have done it but Thou, who art able to do all things, and holy is Thy name." We ought neither to reject this

- 158 praise and honor as though they were wrong, nor to despise them as though they were nothing, but refuse to accept them as too precious or noble, and ascribe them to Him in heaven, to whom they belong. This is one lesson from this precious verse. It also furnishes us an answer to the question that some may ask, whether no man ought to honor another. St. Paul says in Romans 12:10 that we should "outdo one another in showing honor." But no one should accept the honor as accorded to him, nor take it to himself, but should hallow it and ascribe it to God, to whom it belongs, by performing all manner of good works, from which honor comes. For no one should lead a dishonorable life. But if he is to live honorably, honor will have to be shown him. Yet as an honorable life is the gift and work of God, so, too, the name should be

His alone, holy and undefiled by self-complacency. For this we pray in the Lord's Prayer: "Hallowed be 50. "And His mercy is on those who fear Him, from generation to generation."

We must accustom ourselves to the Scriptural usage according to which generations are, as we have said above,30 the succession ofthose born in the course of nature, one human being descending from another. Hence the German word Geschlechter is not an adequate translation, though I do not know a better one. For by Geschlechter we understand families or blood relations. But the word here means the natural succession from father to son and son's son, each several member being called a generation; so that the following would not be a bad translation: "and His mercy endures to children's children of those who fear Him." This is a very common expression in Scripture, with its origin in the words of God under the First Commandment, spoken on Mount Sinai to Moses and all the people (Ex. 20:5, 6): "I am your

God, strong and jealous, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, and showing steadfast love to many thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My Commandments."

Having finished singing about herself and the good things she had from God, and having sung His praises, Mary now rehearses all the works of God that He works in general in all men, and sings His praises also for them, teaching us to understand the work, method, nature, and will of God. Many philosophers and men of great acumen have also engaged in the endeavor to find out the nature of God; they have written much about Him, one in this way, another in that, yet all have gone blind over their task and failed of the proper insight. And, indeed, it is the greatest thing in heaven and on earth, to know God correctly if that may be granted to one. This the Mother of God teaches us here in a masterly fashion, if we would only listen, just as she taught the same above,31 in and by her own experience. How can one know

God better than in the works in which He is most Himself? Whoever understands His works correctly cannot fail to know HIS nature and will, His heart and mind. Hence to understand His works is an art. And in order that we may learn it, Mary enumerates, in the following four verses, six divine works among as many classes of persons. She divides all the world into two parts and assigns to each side three works and three classes of men, so that either side has its exact counterpart in the other. She describes the works of God in each of these two parts, portraying Him so well that it could not be done better.

This division is well conceived and is borne out by other passages of Scripture. For instance, God says in Jeremiah 9:23, 24: "Let notthe wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who practice kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord." This is a noble text and well agrees with this hymn of the Mother of God.

Here we see that He, too, divides all that is in the world into three parts—wisdom, might, and riches—and puts them all down by saying no one should glory in these things, for no one will find Him in them, nor does He delight therein. Over against them He sets three others—kindness, justice, and righteousness. "In these things," says He, "I am to be found; indeed, I practice them, so near am I to them; nor do I practice them in heaven, but in the earth, where men may find Me. And whoever thus understands Me may well glory and trust in that fact. For if he is not wise but poor in spirit, My kindness is with him; if he is not mighty but brought low, My justice is by his side to save him; if he is not rich but poor and needy, the more he has of My righteousness."

Under wisdom He includes all spiritual possessions and gifts, by which a man may gain popularity, fame, and a good report, as the following verse will show. Such gifts are intellect, reason, wit, knowledge, piety, virtue, a godly life, in short, whatever is in the soul that men call divine and spiritual, all great and high gifts, yet none of them God. Under might He includes all authority, nobility, friends, high station, and - 159 honor, whether pertaining to temporal or to spiritual goods or persons, though there is in Scripture no spiritual authority or power, but only servants and subjects—together with all the rights, liberties, and privileges pertaining to them. Under riches are included good health, beauty, pleasure, strength, and every external good that may befall the body. Opposed to these three are the poor in spirit, the oppressed, and those who lack the necessities of life. Let us now consider these six works in order.

THE FIRST WORK OF GOD, MERCY Of this our verse treats: "His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation." She begins with the highest and greatest things, with the spiritual and inward goods, which produce the most vain, proud, and stiff-necked people on earth. No rich or mighty man is so puffed up and bold as one such smart aleck32 who feelsand knows that he is in the right, understands all about a matter, and is wiser than other people. Especially when he finds he ought to give way or confess himself in the wrong, he becomes so insolent and is so utterly devoid of the fear of God that he dares to boast of being infallible, declares

God is on his side and the others on the devil's side, and has the effrontery to appeal to the judgment of God. If such a man possesses the necessary power, he rushes on headlong, persecuting, condemning, slandering, slaying, banishing, and destroying all who differ with him, saying afterward he did it all to the honor and glory of God. He is as certain and sure as hardly an angel in heaven, of earning much thanks and merit before God. Oh, how big a bubble we have here! How much Scripture has to say about such men, and how many grievous things it threatens them with! But they feel them less than the anvil feels the smith's hammer. This is a great and widespread evil.

Christ says of such men in John 16:2: "The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God." And Psalm 10:5, 6 says about the same crowd: "As for all his foes, he puffs at them and says, I shall not meet adversity"; as if he were to say: "I am in the right, I do well, God will richly reward me." Such were the people of Moab, of whom we read in Isaiah 16:6 and Jeremiah 48:29,

30: "We have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud—of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance; his reputation and his wrath are greater than his power." Thus we see that such men would gladly do more in their great arrogance than they are able. Such were the people of the Jews in their dealings with Christ and the apostles. Such were the friends of St. Job, who argued against him with extraordinary wisdom and praised and preached God in the loftiest terms. Such people will not give you a hearing; it is impossible that they should be in the wrong or give way. They must have their way though all the world perish.

Scripture cannot find reproaches enough for such a lost crew. Now it calls them an adder stopping its ears lest it hear; now a wild ox that cannot be tamed; again, a raging lion, a mighty, immovable rock, a dragon, etc.33 But nowhere are they more aptly portrayed than in Job 40:15 and 41:1 where He calls them ְּבְּב ֵהֵה מֹות.

המְּבְּב ֵהֵה ָָ is a single beast, ְּבְּב ֵהֵה מֹות a drove of beasts, that is, a people having a bestial mind and unwilling to be ruled by the Spirit of God. In those chapters God describes it as having eyes "like the eyelids of the dawn" (41:18), for their prudenceis unbounded. "His hide is so hard that he laughs at the arrow and the javelin" (41:26–28); that is, when they are preached to, they laugh it to scorn, for their right must not be questioned. Again, "his scales are joined one to another, that no air can come between them" (41:16, 17); that is, they hold so closely together that no Spirit of God can come into them. "His heart," says the Lord,

"is as firm as a smith's anvil" (41:24); it is the body of the devil. Therefore He also ascribes the same things to the devil, in this passage. Such, above all others, are the pope and his herd today and these many days. They do all of these things, and worse than were ever done; there is no hearing nor giving way, it profits nothing to speak, to counsel, beg, or threaten. It is simply, "We are in the right," and there is an end of it, in spite of everyone else, though it be the whole world.

But someone might say: "How is that? Are we not bound to defend the right? Should we let the truth go? Are we not commanded to die for the sake of the right and the truth? Did not the holy martyrs suffer for the sake of the Gospel? And Christ Himself, did not He desire to be in the right? It happens indeed that such men are now and then in the right publicly (and as they prate, before God) and that they do wisely and well." I reply: Here it is high time and most necessary that we open our eyes, for here lies the crux of the whole matter. Everything depends on our proper understanding of "being in the right." It is true, we are to suffer all things for the sake of the truth and the right, and not to deny it, however unimportant the matter be. It may also be that those men are now and then in the right; but they spoil all by not rightly asserting their right, by not going about it in fear or setting God before their eye. They suppose it is sufficient that it is right, and then they desire to continue and carry it out by their own power. Thus they

- 160 turn their right into a wrong, even if it was in itself right. But it is much more dangerous when they only think they are in the right, yet are not certain, as they do in the important matters that pertain to God and His right. Let us, however, deal first with the more tangible human right and use a simple illustration that all may grasp.

Is it not true that money, property, body, wife, child, friends, and the like are good things created and given by God Himself? Since, then, they are God's gifts and not your own, suppose He were to try you, to learn whether you were willing to let them go for His sake and to cleave to Him rather than to such gifts of His. Suppose He raised up an enemy, who deprived you of them in whole or in part, or you lost them by death or some other mischance. Do you think you would have just cause to rage and storm and to take them again by force or to sulk impatiently until they were restored to you? And if you said that they were good things and God's creatures, made with His own hands, and that, since all the Scriptures called such things good, you were resolved to fulfill God's Word and defend or get back such good at cost of life and limb, not suffering their loss voluntarily or surrendering them patiently—what a farce that would be! To do right in this case, you should not rush in headlong, but fear God and say: "Dear Lord, they are good things and gifts of Thine, as Thine own Word and Scripture; nevertheless I do not know whether Thou wilt permit me to keep them. If I knew that I was not to have them, I would not move a finger to get them back. If I knew that Thou wouldst rather have them remain in my possession than in that of others, I would serve Thy will by taking them back at risk of life and property. But now, since I know neither and see that for the present Thou permittest them to be taken from me, I commit the case to Thee. I will await what I am to do, and be ready to have them or to do without them."

That, mark you, is a right soul, and one that fears God. There is God's mercy, as the Mother of God sings. Hence we can see why in times past Abraham, David, and the people of Israel waged war and slew many. They went into battle by the will of God, they stood in fear, and fought not for the sake of the goods but because God commanded them to fight, as the narratives show, in which this command of God is usually set forth at the beginning. In this way the truth is not denied, for the truth declares they are good things and God's creatures. But the same truth declares also and teaches that you should let such good things go, be ready at all times to do without them, if God so wills it, and cleave to God alone. The truth, by saying they are good, does not compel you to take the good things back again, nor to say they are not good; but it does compel you to regard them with equanimity and to confess that they are good and not evil.

In the same manner we must treat the right and the manifold good things of reason or wisdom. Who can doubt that right is a good thing and a gift of God? God's Word itself says right is good, and no one should admit that his good and righteous cause is unrighteous or evil, but should sooner die for it and let go everything that is not God. To do otherwise would be to deny God and His Word, for He says right is good and not evil. But if such right is snatched from you or suppressed, would you cry out, storm and rage, and slay the whole world? Some do this; they cry to heaven, work all manner of mischief, ruin land and people, and fill the world with war and bloodshed. How do you know whether or not it is God's will that you keep such a gift and right? It belongs to Him, and He can take it from you today or tomorrow, outwardly or inwardly, by friend or foe, just as He wills. He tries you to see whether you will dispense with your right for His will's sake, be in the wrong and suffer wrong, endure shame for Him, and cleave to Him alone. If you fear God and think: "Lord, it is Thine; I will not keep it unless I know Thou wiliest me to have it. Let go what will: only be Thou my God"—then this verse is fulfilled: "His mercy is on those who fear Him," who refuse to do anything apart from His will. Then both sides of God's Word are observed. In the first place, you confess that the right, your reason, knowledge, wisdom, and all your thoughts are right and good, as God's Word teaches. In the second place, you are willing to dispense with such good things for God's sake, to be wrongfully despoiled and put to shame before the world, as God's

Word also teaches. To confess the right and good is one thing, to obtain it is another. It is enough for you to confess that you are in the right; if you cannot obtain it, commit that to God. To you is committed the confession, the obtaining God has reserved to Himself. If He desires you also to obtain, He will perform it

Himself or put it in your way, without any thought of yours, so that you must come into possession of it and win the victory, above all that you asked or thought (Eph. 3:20). If He does not desire you to obtain it, let His mercy be sufficient for you (2 Cor. 12:9). Though they deprive you of the victory of the right, they cannot deprive you of the confession. Thus we must refrain, not from the good things of God but from - 161 wickedly and falsely cleaving to them; so that we may use them or suffer the lack of them with equanimity, and cling, whatever befalls, to God alone. Oh, this is a thing that ought to be known to all princes and rulers who, not content with confessing the right, immediately want to obtain it and win the victory, without the fear of God; they fill the world with bloodshed and misery, and think what they do is right and well done because they have, or think they have, a just cause. What else is that but proud and haughty Moab, which calls and makes itself worthy to possess the right, that fine and noble good and gift of God; while if it regards itself right in the sight of God, it is not worthy to live on earth or eat a crust of bread, because of its sins. Oh, blindness, blindness! Who is worthy of the least creature of God? Yet we desire not only to possess the highest creatures, right, wisdom, and honor, but to keep them or regain possession of them with furious shedding of blood and every disaster. Thereupon we go and pray, fast, hear Mass, and found churches, with such bloody, furious, raving hearts, it is a wonder the stones do not burst asunder in our face.

Here a question arises. If a ruler did not defend his land and subjects against injustice, but followed my advice, made no resistance, and let all be taken from him, what would the world come to? I will briefly set down my view of the matter. Temporal power is in duty bound to defend its subjects, as I have frequently said;34 for it bears the sword in order to keep in fear those who do not heed such divine teaching, and to compel them to leave others in peace. And in this the temporal power seeks not its own but its neighbor's profit and God's honor; it would gladly remain quiet and let its sword rust, if God had not ordained it to be a hindrance to evildoers. Yet this defense of its subjects should not be accompanied by still greater harm; that would be but to leap from the frying pan into the fire.35 It is a poor defense to expose a whole city to danger for the sake of one person, or to risk the entire country for a single village or castle, unless God enjoined this by a special command, as He did in former times. If a robber knight robs a citizen of his property and you, my lord, lead your army against him to punish this injustice, and in so doing lay waste the whole land, who will have wrought the greater harm, the knight or the lord? David overlooked many things when he was unable to punish without bringing harm upon others. All rulers must do the same. On the other hand, a citizen must endure a certain measure of suffering for the sake of the community, and not demand that all other men undergo the greater injury for his sake. Christ did not want the weeds to be gathered up, lest the wheat also be rooted up with them (Matt. 13:29). If men went to war on every provocation and passed by no insult, we should never be at peace and have nothing but destruction.

Therefore, right or wrong is never a sufficient cause indiscriminately to punish or make war. It is a sufficient cause to punish within bounds and without destroying another. The lord or ruler must always look to what will profit the whole mass of his subjects rather than any one portion. That householder will never grow rich who, because someone has plucked a feather from his goose, flings the whole goose after him. There is no time now to go into the subject of war.

We must do the same in things divine, such as faith and the Gospel, which are the highest goods and which no one should let go. But the right, favor, honor, and acceptance of them we must cast in the balance and commit them to God. We should be concerned not to obtain but to confess, and willingly endure being reviled before all the world, being persecuted, banished, burned at the stake, or otherwise slain, as unrighteous, deceivers, heretics, apostates, blasphemers, and what not; for then God's mercy is upon us. They cannot take the faith and the truth from us, even though they take our life. There are not very many, however, who rage and fret to obtain and to win the victory in this matter, as men do in temporal goods and rights. There are also few who confess it aright and on principle. But we should grieve and lament for the others who through the defeat of the Gospel are hindered in their sours salvation. In fact, we should lament and labor (yet as in the sight of God) because of the injury to souls inflicted by the Moabites for the sake of their own temporal goods and rights, as we said above.36 For it is a lamentable thing when God's Word does not win the victory, lamentable not so far as the confessor is concerned, but so far as those are concerned who should have been saved by it. Hence we find in the prophets, in Christ, and in the apostles, such sorrow and lamentation for the suppression of the Word of God, though they were glad to bear any injustice and injury. For far more depends on the obtaining of this good than of any other. Yet no one should employ force or keep or regain such right of the Gospel by rage and unreason; he should rather humble himself before God as one who may not be worthy that such a great and good thing be done through him, and commit all to His mercy with prayer and lamentation.

- 162 This, then, is the first work of God—that He is merciful to all who are ready to do without their own opinion, right, wisdom, and all spiritual goods, and willing to be poor in spirit. These are the ones who truly fear God, who count themselves not worthy of anything, be it ever so small, and are glad to be naked and bare before God and man; who ascribe whatever they have to His pure grace, bestowed on the unworthy; who use it with praise and fear and thanksgiving, as though it belonged to another, and who seek not their own will, desire, or honor, but His alone to whom it belongs. Mary also indicates how much more gladly God shows such mercy, which is His noblest work, than its counterpart, His strength; for she says this work of God endures without ceasing from generation to generation of those that fear Him, while

His strength endures only to the third and fourth generation, though in the verse that follows it has no time or limit set to it.

THE SECOND WORK OF GOD, BREAKING SPIRITUAL PRIDE.

51. He has shown strength with His arm, He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

I trust no one will be confused by my translation. Above I rendered this verse, "He shows strength," and here, "He has shown strength."37 I have done this in order that we may the better understand these words, which are not bound to any one time, but are intended to set forth in general the works of God that He always has done, always does, and always will do. Hence the following would be a fair translation:

"God is a Lord whose works are of such a nature that He mightily scatters the proud and is merciful to those who fear Him." In the Scriptures, the "arm" of God means God's own power, by which He works without the medium of any creature. This work is done quietly and in secret, and no one becomes aware of it until all is accomplished; so that this power, or arm, can be known and understood only by faith.

Therefore Isaiah complains (Is. 53:1) that so few have faith in this arm, saying: "Who has believed what we have heard, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" These things are so because, as he goes on to say (Is. 53:2 ff.), all is done in secret and without the semblance of power. We also read in Habakkuk 3:4 that there are horns coming out of God's hands, to indicate His mighty power; and yet it is said: "There He veiled His power." What is the meaning of this?

It means that when God works by means of His creatures, it is plainly seen where the strength is and where the weakness. Hence the proverb, "God helps those who help themselves."38 For example, whichever prince wins a battle, it is seen that God defeated the other by him. When a man is devoured by a wolf or otherwise injured, it is evident that it took place by means of the creature. Thus God makes or breaks one creature by means of another. Whoever falls, falls; whoever stands, stands. But it is different when God Himself works, with His own arm. Then a thing is destroyed or raised up before one knows it, and no one sees it done. Such works as these He does only among the two divisions of mankind, the godly and the wicked. He lets the godly become powerless and to be brought low, until everyone supposes their end is near, whereas in these very things He is present to them with all His power, yet so hidden and in secret that even those who suffer the oppression do not feel it but only believe. There is the fullness of God's power and His outstretched arm. For where man's strength ends, God's strength begins, provided faith is present and waits on Him. And when the oppression comes to an end, it becomes manifest what great strength was hidden underneath the weakness. Even so, Christ was powerless on the cross; and yet there He performed His mightiest work and conquered sin, death, world, hell, devil, and all evil. Thus all the martyrs were strong and overcame. Thus, too, all who suffer and are oppressed overcome. Therefore it is said in Joel 3:10: "Let the weak say, 'I am strong' "—yet in faith, and without feeling it until it is accomplished.

On the other hand, God lets the other half of mankind become great and mightily to exalt themselves.

He withdraws His power from them and lets them puff themselves up in their own power alone. For where man's strength begins, God's strength ends. When their bubble is fullblown, and everyone supposes them to have won and overcome, and they themselves feel smug in their achievement, then God pricks the bubble, and it is all over. The poor dupes do not know that even while they are puffing themselves up and growing strong they are forsaken by God, and God's arm is not with them. Therefore their prosperity has its day, disappears like a bubble, and is as if it had never been. To this the psalmist refers in Psalm 73:16–

20. It bothered him when he saw the riches, pride, and prosperity of the wicked in the world. At last he said: "When I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I looked into the secrets of God; then I perceived their end. I saw that they were exalted only in their self-deception, and were brought to ruin in their exaltation. How they are destroyed in a moment, how quickly it is all over for - 163 them! It is as though they had never existed, like a dream when one awakes." And Psalm 37:35, 36: "I have seen a wicked man overbearing and towering like a cedar of Lebanon. Again I passed by, and, lo, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found."

It is because of our lack of faith that we cannot wait a little, until the time comes when we, too, shall see how the mercy of God together with all His might is with those who fear Him, and the arm of God with all severity and power against the proud. O faithless! We grope with our hands for the mercy and the arm of God, and, unable to feel them, suppose our cause lost and that of our enemies won, as though

God's grace and mercy had forsaken us and His arm turned against us. This we do because we do not know His proper works and therefore do not know Him, neither His mercy nor His arm. For He must and will be known by faith; hence our sense and our reason must close their eyes. This is the eye that offends us; therefore it must be plucked out and cast from us.39 These, then, are the two contrary works of God, from which we learn that He is minded to be far from the wise and prudent and near to the foolish and those compelled to be in the wrong. This makes God worthy of love and praise and comforts soul and body and all our powers.

We come to the words: "He scatters the proud in the imagination of their hearts." This scattering takes place, as we have said, when their prudence is at its height and when they are filled with their own wisdom; then, truly, God's wisdom is no longer with them. And in what better way could He scatter them than by depriving them of His eternal wisdom and permitting them to be filled with their own temporal, short-lived, and perishing wisdom? For Mary says: "the proud in the imagination of their hearts"; that is, those who delight in their own opinions, thoughts, and reason, which not God but their heart inspires, and who suppose that these are right and good and wise above all others. Therefore they exalt themselves above those who fear God, put down and pour shame upon the opinion and right of others, and persecute them to the utmost, so that their own cause may by all means be right and be maintained. When they have accomplished this, they boast and loudly brag, as the Jews did with Christ. Yet the Jews did not see that by this their cause was destroyed and brought down, while Christ was exalted to glory. We observe, then, that our verse treats of spiritual goods and how one can know God's twofold work in them. It shows us that we ought gladly to be poor in spirit and in the wrong and let our adversaries be in the right. They will not long continue; the promise is too strong for them. They cannot escape God's arm but must succumb and be brought as low as they once were high, if we will only believe it. But where there is no faith, God does not perform such works; He withdraws His arm and works openly by means of the creatures, as we said above.40 But these are not His proper works, by which He may be known; for in them the creatures' strength is mingled with His own. They are not God's own pure works, as they must be when no one works with Him and He alone does the work, which He does when we become powerless and oppressed in our right or our opinion and let God's power work in us. What precious works these are!

With what mastery Mary here hits the perverse hypocrites! She looks not at their hands or in their eyes, but in their hearts when she says: "the proud in the imagination of their hearts." She refers in particular to the enemies of divine truth, such as the Jews in their opposition to Christ, and the men of today. For these scholars and saints are not proud of their dress or conduct; they pray much, fast much, preach and study much; they also say Mass, go meekly with bowed head, and shun costly clothes. They think there are no greater foes to pride, error, and hypocrisy, nor any better friends of truth and of God than they themselves. How else could they bring such great harm upon the truth if they were not such holy, pious, and learned men? Their doings make a brave outward show and impress the common people.

Oh, they have good hearts and mean well, they call upon the good God and pity the poor Jesus, who was so unrighteous and proud, and not so pious as they. He says of them in Matthew 11:19: "Divine wisdom is justified by her children" that is: "They are more righteous and wise than I, who am divine wisdom itself; whatever I do is wrong, and I am mastered by them."

These are the most venomous and pernicious men on earth, their hearts abysses of satanic pride. There is no helping them; they will not heed our counsel. It does not concern them; they leave that to poor sinners, for whom such teaching is necessary, but not for them. John calls them "a brood of vipers" in Luke 3:7, and so does Christ (Matt. 12:34). These are the right guilty ones,41 who do not fear God and are fit only that God should scatter them with their pride, because no one persecutes the right and wisdom more than they—yet for the sake of God and of righteousness, as we have said. Hence they must be first and foremost among the three enemies of God on this side.42 For the rich are the least His enemies; the - 164 mighty are much more hostile; but these smart alecks are the worst of all because of their influence on others. The rich destroy the truth among themselves; the mighty drive it away from others; but these wise ones utterly extinguish the truth itself and replace it with other things, the imagination of their own heart, so that the truth cannot come into its own again. As much as the truth itself is better than the men among whom it dwells, so much worse are the wise than the mighty and the rich. Oh, God is their special enemy, as they well deserve.

THE THIRD WORK, PUTTING DOWN THE MIGHTY 52. He has put down the mighty from their seats.

This work and those that follow are easily understood from the two foregoing works. God scatters the wise and prudent in their own thoughts and imaginations, on which they depend, venting their pride on those who fear God, who must needs be in the wrong and see their right and their opinion rejected; which happens chiefly for the sake of God's Word. Just so He destroys and puts down the mighty, and the great with their strength and authority, on which they depend, venting their pride on their inferiors, the godly and weak, who must suffer injury, pain, death, and all manner of evil at their hands. And just as He comforts those who must suffer wrong and shame for the right, truth, and Word, so He comforts those who must suffer injury and evil. And as much as He comforts the latter, so much He terrifies the former.

But this, too, must all be known and waited for in faith. For He does not destroy the mighty as suddenly as they deserve, but lets them go for a season, until their might has reached its highest point. When it has done this, God does not support it, neither can it support itself; it breaks down of its own weight without any crash or sound, and the oppressed are raised up, also without any sound, for God's strength is in them, and it alone remains when the strength of the mighty has fallen.

Observe, however, that Mary does not say He breaks the seats, but He casts the mighty from their seats. Nor does she say He leaves those of low degree in their low degree, but He exalts them. For while the world stands, authority, rule, power, and seats must remain. But God will not long permit men to abuse them and turn them against Him, inflict injustice and violence on the godly, and enjoy it, boast of them, and fail to use them in the fear of God, to His praise and in defense of righteousness. We see in all histories and in experience that He puts down one kingdom and exalts another, lifts up one principality and casts down another, increases one people and destroys another; as He did with Assyria, Babylon,

Persia, Greece, and Rome, though they thought they would sit in their seats forever. Nor does He destroy reason, wisdom, and right; for if the world is to go on, these things must remain. But He does destroy pride and the proud, who use these things for selfish ends, enjoy them, do not fear God, but persecute the godly and the divine right by means of them, and thus abuse the fair gifts of God and turn them against Now, in things divine, the smart alecks and proud sages usually make common cause with the mighty and persuade them to take sides against the truth; as it is written in Psalm 2:2: "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and His Anointed." For truth and right must always be assailed by the wise, the mighty, and the rich, that is, by the world with its greatest and best ability. Hence the Holy Spirit comforts truth and right by the mouth of this mother and bids them not to be deceived or afraid. Let them be wise, mighty, rich: it will not be for long. For if the saints and scholars, together with the mighty lords and the rich, were not against but for the right and the truth, what would become of the wrong? Who would there be to suffer evil? But this must never come to pass. The learned, saintly, mighty, great and rich, and the best that the world has must fight against God and the right, and be the devil's own. As it is said in Habakkuk 1:16: "His food is rich and choice"; that is to say, the evil spirit has a most delicate palate and is fond of feasting on the very best, daintiest, and choicest morsels, as a bear on honey. Hence the learned and saintly hypocrites, the great lords and the rich, are the devil's own tidbits. On the other hand, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:28, those whom the world rejects, the poor, lowly, simplehearted, and despised, God has chosen, causing the best part of mankind to bring suffering upon the lowest part, in order that men may know that our salvation consists not in man's power and works but in God's alone, as St. Paul also says (1 Cor. 3:7). Hence there is much truth in these sayings, "The more men know, the worse they grow"; "A prince, a rare bird in heaven"; "Rich here, poor yonder."43 For the learned will not surrender the pride of their hearts, nor the mighty their oppression, nor the rich their pleasures. And so it goes.

THE FOURTH WORK, EXALTING THE LOWLY - 165 And exalted those of low degree.

Those of low degree are here not the humble, but all those who are contemptible and altogether nothing in the eyes of the world. It is the same expression that Mary applied to herself above: "He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden." Nevertheless, those who are willing to be nothing and lowly of heart, and do not strive to be great, are truly humble. Now, when He exalts them, it does not mean that He will put them in the seats of those He has cast out any more than that when He shows mercy to those who fear Him, He puts them in the place of the learned, that is, the proud. Rather He lets them be exalted spiritually and in God, and be judges over seats and power and all might, here and hereafter; for they have more knowledge than all the learned and the mighty. How this is done was said above44 under the first work and need not be repeated. All this is said for the comfort of the suffering and for the terror of the tyrants, if we only had faith enough to believe that it is true.

THE FIFTH AND SIXTH WORKS 53. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent empty away.

We said above that by those of low degree are meant not those who are despised and nothing in appearance, but those who are willing to be in such a state, especially if they have been forced into it for the sake of God's Word or the right. Even so, by the hungry are not meant those who have little or nothing to eat, but those who gladly suffer want, especially if they are forcibly compelled by others to do so for the sake of God or the truth. Who is lowlier, more despised, and needier than the devil and the damned, or than men who are tortured, starved, or slain on account of their evil deeds, or all who are lowly and in want against their will? Yet that does not help them but only adds to their misery. Of them the Mother of God does not speak, but of those who are one with God and God with them, and who believe and trust in On the other hand, what hindrance was their riches to the holy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?

What hindrance was his royal throne to David, or his authority in Babylon to Daniel? Or their high station or great riches to those who had them or who have them today, provided they do not set their hearts on them or seek their own advantage in them? Solomon says in Proverbs 16:2: "The Lord weighs the spirit"; that is, He judges not according to the outward appearance, whether one is rich or poor, high or low, but according to the spirit and how it behaves itself within. There must needs be such differences and distinctions of persons and stations in our life here on earth; yet the heart should neither cling to them nor fly from them—neither cling to the high and rich nor fly from the poor and lowly. Thus it is also said in Psalm 7:9, 11: "God tries the hearts and minds, therefore He is a righteous judge." But men judge according to the outward appearance; therefore they often err.

These works are done in secret, like those mentioned above,45 so that no one is aware of them until they have come to an end. A rich man is not aware how really empty and wretched he is until he comes to die or otherwise suffers loss. Then only does he see how all his goods were altogether nothing, as it is said in Psalm 76:5: "They sank into sleep (that is, they died); all the rich men discovered that they had nothing in their hands." On the other hand, the hungry and thirsty know not how filled with good things they are until they come to the end. Then they find the words of Christ true, in Luke 6:21: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, for they shall be filled"; and the comforting promise of the Mother of God here: "He has filled the hungry with good things." It is utterly impossible for God to let anyone who trusts in Him die of starvation; all angels would have to come and feed him. Elijah was fed by ravens and lived for many days on a handful of meal, he and the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:6, 15). God cannot forsake those who trust in Him. Hence David says in Psalm 37:25: "I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his children begging bread." Now, he is righteous that trusts in God. Again, in Psalm 34:10: "The rich suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing." And St.

Hannah, the mother of Samuel, says in 1 Samuel 2:5: "Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry are filled."

But our wretched unbelief always hinders God from working such works in us, and ourselves from experiencing and knowing them. We desire to be filled and have plenty of everything before hunger and want arrive. We lay up provision against future hunger and need, so that we no longer have need of God and His works. What sort of faith is that which trusts in God, when all the while you feel and know that you have goods laid up to help yourself? It is because of our unbelief that we see God's Word, the truth, and the right defeated and wrong triumph and yet remain silent, do not rebuke, speak out, or prevent it, but - 166 let things go as they will. Why? We are afraid that we, too, might be attacked and made poor and might then perish of hunger and be forever laid low. That is to esteem temporal goods more than God and to put them in God's place as an idol. If we do this, we do not deserve to hear or to understand this comfortable promise of God: that He exalts the lowly, puts down the mighty, fills the poor, and empties the rich. We do not deserve ever to come to the knowledge of His works, without which there is no salvation. We must therefore be damned forever, as Psalm 28:5 says: "Because they do not regard the works of the Lord or the work of His hand, He will break them down and build them up no more."

And this is only fair, because they do not believe His promises but count Him a fickle, lying God.

They dare not venture or begin anything on the strength of His words, so little do they esteem His truth. It is indeed necessary that we make a trial, and venture out on His words; for Mary does not say that He has filled the full and exalted those of high degree, but: "He has filled the hungry and exalted those of low degree." You must feel the pinch of poverty in the midst of your hunger and learn by experience what hunger and poverty are, with no provision on hand and no help in yourself or any other man, but in God only; so that the work may be God's alone and impossible to be done by any other. You must not only think and speak of a low estate but actually come to be in a low estate and caught in it, without any human aid, so that God alone may do the work. Or if it should not come to such a pass, you must at least desire it and not shrink from it. We are Christians and have the Gospel, which neither the devil nor men can abide, in order that we may come into poverty and lowliness and God may thereby have His work in us. Think for yourself, and you will see that if God were to fill you before you were hungry or to exalt you before you were brought low, He would have to sink to the level of a wizard or conjurer; He would be unable to do what He promises, and all His works would be a mere jest, whereas it is written in Psalm 111:7: "His works are truth and trustworthiness." And even if He were to perform His works as soon as you felt the first pinch of want or lowliness, or to help you in some slight need, such works would be altogether unworthy of His divine power and majesty; for Psalm 111:2 says of them: "Great are the works of the Lord, sought out according to all His desires."

Let us assume the reverse case. If He were to put down the rich and those of high degree before they became either rich or high, how would He go about it? They must first have risen to so high a place and come into such great riches that they themselves and everyone else supposed—in fact, that it was actually the case—none could put them down, none could stop them, and that they were sure of themselves and said what Isaiah writes of them and of Babylon (Is. 47:8, 9): "Now hear this, you tender one, who sit securely, who say in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children' (that is, of power and help): both these things shall come to you in one day." Then

God can perform His deeds in them. Thus He let Pharaoh exalt himself against the Children of Israel and oppress them, as He Himself says about him in Exodus 9:16: "For this purpose have I raised you up, to show My power through you, so that My name may be declared throughout all the earth." The Bible is full of these examples, teaching nothing but the work and the Word of God and rejecting the work and word of men.

Behold, how strong a comfort this is, that not man but God gives to the hungry, and that He not only gives them this or that but fills and fully satisfies them. Mary says, moreover: "with good things." That is to say, this fullness is to be harmless, wholesome, and saving, benefiting both body, soul, and all their powers. But it also shows that, before being filled, the hungry are lacking in all good things and filled with all want. For, as we said above,46 riches here include all manner of temporal goods for the supply of bodily needs, to make the soul glad. Even so, hunger here signifies the lack not only of food, but of all temporal goods. For a man can do without everything else but food, so that almost all goods exist for the sake of furnishing him with food, without which no man can live, even though he might be able to live without clothing, house, money, property, and fellow men. Scripture, therefore, here designates temporal goods according to that part of them whose need and use are most essential and which we can least of all do without. Thus it also calls misers and men covetous of temporal goods, "servants of their own belly"

(Rom. 16:18), and Paul calls their belly their god (Phil. 3:19). How could one be more strongly and comfortably moved to willing endurance of hunger and poverty than by these fine words of the Mother of God—that God will fill all the hungry with good things? Whoever is not moved by these words and such glory and praise of poverty is certainly without faith and trust, a genuine heathen.

- 167 On the other hand, how could one bring a more damning accusation against riches, or more grievously terrify the rich, than by saying that God sends them empty away? Oh, how great and overflowing are both

God's filling and God's sending away! How utterly vain here is the help or counsel of any creature! A man is frightened when he hears that his father has disowned him or that he has fallen into disfavor with his lord. Yet we rich men and of high degree are not frightened when we hear that God disowns us— indeed, not only disowns us, but threatens to break, humble, and send us empty away! It is a joy, on the other hand, when one's father is good and one's lord gracious, and many a one sets such great store by these things as to give up life and property for them. We have here such a promise of God and such strong comfort—yet we can neither use nor enjoy them, neither thank Him for them nor rejoice in them! Oh, wretched unbelief, hard and firm as stock and stone, not to feel such great things! Let this suffice concerning the six works of God.

54. He has helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy.

After enumerating the works of God in her and in all men, Mary returns to the beginning and to the chief thing. She concludes the Magnificat by mentioning the very greatest of all God's works—the Incarnation of the Son of God. She freely acknowledges herself as the handmaiden and servant of all the world, confessing that this work which was performed in her was not done for her sake alone, but for the sake of all Israel. But she divides Israel into two parts and refers only to that part that is God's servant.

Now, no one is God's servant unless he lets Him be his God and perform His works in him, of which we spoke above.47 Alas, the word "service of God" has nowadays taken on so strange a meaning and usage that whoever hears it thinks not of these works of God, but rather of the ringing of bells, the wood and stone of churches, the incense pot, the flicker of candles, the mumbling in the churches, the gold, silver, and precious stones in the vestments of choirboys and celebrants, of chalices and monstrances, of organs and images, processions and churchgoing, and, most of all, the babbling of lips and the rattling of rosaries.

This, alas, is what the service of God means now. Of such service God knows nothing at all, while we know nothing but this. We chant the Magnificat daily, to a special tone and with gorgeous pomp; and yet the oftener we sing it, the more we silence its true music and meaning. Yet the text stands firm. Unless we learn and experience these works of God, there will be no service of God, no Israel, no grace, no mercy, no God, though we kill ourselves with singing and ringing in the churches and drag into them all the goods in all the world. God has not commanded any of these things; undoubtedly, therefore, He takes no pleasure in them.

Now, the Israel that is God's servant is the one whom the Incarnation of Christ benefits. That is His own beloved people, for whose sake He also became man, to redeem them from the power of the devil, of sin, death, and hell, and to lead them to righteousness, eternal life, and salvation. That is the help of which Mary sings. As Paul says in Titus 2:14: "Christ gave Himself for us, to purify for Himself a people of His own"; and St. Peter in 1 Peter 2:9: "You are a holy nation, a chosen people, a royal priesthood." These are the riches of the boundless mercy of God, which we have received by no merit but by pure grace.

Therefore she sings: "He has remembered His mercy." She does not say: "He has remembered our merit and worthiness." We were in need, to be sure, but completely unworthy. That is the basis of His praise and glory, while our boasting aud presumption must keep quiet. There was nothing for Him to regard that could move Him except His mercy, and this name He desired to make known. But why does she say, "He remembered" rather than "He regarded"? Because He had promised this mercy, as the following verse shows. Now, He had waited a long time before showing it, until it seemed as though He had forgotten— even as all His works seem as though He were forgetting us—but when He came, it was seen that He had not forgotten but had continually had in mind to fulfill His promise.

It is true that the word "Israel" means the Jews alone and not us Gentiles. But because they would not have Him, He chose certain out of their number and thus satisfied the name Israel and made of it henceforth a spiritual Israel. This was shown in Genesis 32:24–28, when the holy patriarch Jacob wrestled with the angel, who strained the hollow of his thigh out of joint, to show that his children should henceforth not boast of their fleshly birth, as the Jews do. Therefore he also received a new name, that he should henceforth be called Israel, as a patriarch who was not only Jacob, the father of fleshly children, but Israel, the father of spiritual children. With this the word "Israel" agrees, for it means "a prince with God." That is a most high and holy name and contains in itself the great miracle that, by the grace of God, a man prevailed, as it were, with God, so that God does what man desires. We see the same thing in the - 168 case of Christendom. Through Christ she is joined to God as a bride to her bridegroom, so that the bride has a right to, and power over, her Bridegroom's body and all His possessions; all of this happens through faith. By faith man does what God wills; God in turn does what man wills. Thus Israel means a godlike,

God-conquering man, who is a lord in God, with God, and through God, able to do all things.

That is the meaning of Israel. For ַׂשַׂש ר means a lord, a prince; ֵאֵא ל means God. Put them together, and they become ֵאֵא לרִי ְׂש ָ according to the Hebrew fashion. Such an Israel God would have. Therefore, when

Jacob had wrestled with the angel and prevailed, He said to him (Gen. 32:28): "Your name shall be called Israel; for since you have power with God, you shall also have power with men." There would be much more to say on this subject, for Israel is a strange and profound mystery.

55. As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.

Here all merit and presumption are brought low, and God's grace and mercy alone are exalted. For God has not helped Israel on account of their merits, but on account of His own promise. In pure grace He made the promise, in pure grace He also fulfilled it. Wherefore St. Paul says in Galatians 3:17 that God gave the promise to Abraham four hundred years before He gave the Law to Moses, that no one might glory, saying he had merited and obtained such grace and promise through the Law or the works of the Law. This same promise the Mother of God here lauds and exalts above all else, ascribing this work of the Incarnation of God solely to the undeserved promise of divine grace, made to Abraham.

The promise of God to Abraham is recorded especially in Genesis 12:3 and Genesis 22:18, and is referred to in many other places besides. It runs thus: "By Myself I have sworn: in your Seed shall all families or nations of the earth be blessed." These words are highly esteemed by St. Paul (Gal. 3:16) and by all the prophets, and well might they be. For in these words Abraham and all his descendants were preserved and saved, and in them we, too, must all be saved; for here Christ is contained and promised as the Savior of the whole world. This is Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22), in which were kept all who were saved before Christ's birth; without these words no one was saved, even though he had performed all good works. Let us examine them more fully.

In the first place, it follows from these words of God that without Christ all the world is in sin and under condemnation, and is accursed with all its doing and knowing. For if He says that not some but all nations shall be blessed in Abraham's Seed, then without Abraham's Seed no nation shall be blessed.

What need was there for God to promise so solemnly and with so mighty an oath, that He would bless them, if they were already blessed and not rather cursed? From this saying the prophets drew many inferences; namely, that all men are evil, liars all, false and blind, in short, without God, so that in the Scriptural usage to be called a man is no great honor, since in God's sight the name "man" is no better than the name "liar" or "faithless" in the eyes of the world. So completely is man corrupted through Adam's fall that the curse48 is innate with him and become, as it were, his nature and being.

It follows, in the second place, that this Seed of Abraham could not be born in the common course of nature, of a man and a woman; for such a birth is cursed and results in nothing but accursed seed, as we have just said. Now, if all the world was to be redeemed from the curse by this Seed of Abraham and thereby blessed, as the word and oath of God declare, the Seed itself had to be blessed first, neither touched nor tainted by that curse, but pure blessing, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Again, if God, who cannot lie, declared with an oath that it should be Abraham's natural seed, that is, a natural and genuine child, born of his flesh and blood, then this Seed had to be a true, natural man, of the flesh and blood of Abraham. Here, then, we have a contradiction—the natural flesh and blood of Abraham, and yet not born in the course of nature, of man and wife. Therefore He uses the word "your seed," not "your child," to make it very clear and certain that it should be his natural flesh and blood, such as seed is. For a child need not be one's natural child, as everyone knows. Now, who will find the means to establish God's word and oath, where such contradictory things lie side by side?

God Himself has done this thing. He is able to keep what He has promised, even though no one may understand it before it come to pass; for His word and work do not demand the proof of reason, but a free and pure faith. Behold, how He combined the two. He raises up seed for Abraham, the natural son of one of his daughters, a pure virgin, Mary, through the Holy Spirit, and without her knowing a man. Here there was no natural conception with its curse, nor could it touch this seed; and yet it is the natural seed of Abraham, as truly as any of the other children of Abraham. That is the blessed Seed of Abraham, in whom all the world is set free from its curse. For whoever believes in this Seed, calls upon Him, confesses Him,

- 169 and abides in Him, to him all his curse is forgiven and all blessing given, as the word and oath of God declare—"In your Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." That is to say: "Whatever is to be blessed must and shall be blessed through this Seed, and in no other way." This is Abraham's Seed, begotten by none of his sons, as the Jews always confidently expected, but born of this one daughter of his, Mary, alone.

That is what the tender mother of this Seed means here by saying: "He has helped His servant Israel, as He promised to Abraham and to all his seed." She found the promise fulfilled in herself; hence she says: "It is now fulfilled; He has brought help and kept His word, solely in remembrance of His mercy."

Here we have the foundation of the Gospel and see why all its teaching and preaching drive men to faith in Christ and into Abraham's bosom. For where there is not this faith, no other way can be devised and no help given to lay hold of this blessed Seed. And indeed, the whole Bible depends on this oath of God, for in the Bible everything has to do with Christ. Furthermore, we see that all the fathers in the Old

Testament, together with all the holy prophets, had the same faith and Gospel as we have, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:1–;4; for they all remained with a strong faith in this oath of God and in Abraham's bosom and were preserved in it. The sole difference is, they believed in the coming and promised Seed; we believe in the Seed that has come and has been given. But it is all the one truth of the promise, and hence also one faith, one Spirit, one Christ, one Lord (Eph. 4:5), now as then, and forever, as Paul says in But the subsequent giving of the Law to the Jews is not on a par with this promise. The Law was given in order that by its light they might the better come to know their cursed state and the more fervently and heartily desire the promised Seed; in this they had an advantage over all the heathen world. But they turned this advantage into a disadvantage; they undertook to keep the Law by their own strength, and failed to learn from it their needy and cursed state. Thus they shut the door upon themselves, so that the Seed was compelled to pass them by. They still continue in this state, but God grant not for long. Amen.

This was the cause of the quarrel all the prophets had with them. For the prophets well understood the purpose of the Law, namely, that men should thereby know their accursed nature and learn to call upon Christ. Hence they condemned all the good works and everything in the life of the Jews that did not agree with this purpose. Therefore the Jews became angry with them and put them to death as men who condemned the service of God, good works, and godly living; even as the hypocrites and graceless saints ever do, of which we might say a great deal.

When Mary says, "His seed forever," we are to understand "forever" to mean that such grace is to continue to Abraham's seed (that is, the Jews) from that time forth, throughout all time, down to the Last

Day. Although the vast majority of them are hardened, yet there are always some, however few, that are converted to Christ and believe in Him. For this promise of God does not lie: the promise was made to Abraham and to his seed, not for one year or for a thousand years, but "for the ages," that is, from one generation to another, without end. We ought, therefore, not to treat the jews in so unkindly a spirit, for there are future Christians among them, and they are turning every day. Moreover, they alone, and not we

Gentiles, have this promise, that there shall always be Christians among Abraham's seed, who acknowledge the blessed Seed, who knows how or when? As for our cause, it rests upon pure grace, without a promise of God. If we lived Christian lives, and led them with kindness to Christ, there would be the proper response. Who would desire to become a Christian when he sees Christians dealing with men in so unchristian a spirit? Not so, my dear Christians. Tell them the truth in all kindness; if they will not receive it, let them go. How many Christians are there who despise Christ, do not hear His Word, and are worse than Jews or heathen! Yet we leave them in peace and even fall down at their feet and wellnigh adore them as gods. Let this suffice for the present. We pray God to give us a right understanding of this

Magnificat, an understanding that consists not merely in brilliant words but in glowing life in body and soul. May Christ grant us this through the intercession and for the sake of His dear Mother Mary! Amen.

In conclusion I come once more to your Grace, craving pardon for my temerity. I know full well that your Grace's youth is amply supplied, each day, with wholesome instruction and admonition. Yet I cannot neglect my duty as a loyal subject, nor keep my conscience from dwelling on and being concerned for your Grace. It is the hope of us all that God may by His salutary grace so direct the future that the rule of - 170 Saxony shall come into your Grace's hands, which will be a great and precious thing if it turns out well, but a perilous and wretched one if it turns out ill. We must in all things hope and pray for the best, but nonetheless fear and be prepared for the worst.

Your Grace should reflect that in all the Scriptures God did not permit any heathen king or prince throughout the length and breadth of the world to be praised, but, contrariwise, to be punished; this is a mighty and terrible example to all rulers. Moreover, even in Israel, His chosen people, He never found a king worthy of praise and not rather of punishment. Above all, in the kingdom of Judah, the chief portion of the whole race of mankind, exalted by God and beloved of Him above all others, there were few, not above six, kings found worthy of praise. And the very best of kings, His own beloved David, who had no peer among temporal rulers before, beside, or after him, filled as he was with the fear and the wisdom of God, and directing his whole rule not after his own reason but according to God's command alone, nevertheless stumbled more than once. Therefore the Scripture, unable to blame his reign and yet finding it necessary to narrate the calamity that befell the people on his account, put the blame not on David but on the people. It says that God's anger was kindled against them so that He let the saintly David be moved by the devil to number the people; on account of this, seventy thousand of them were destroyed by pestilence (2 Samuel 24:1–15).

All these things were foreordained by God in order to terrify those in authority, to keep them in fear, and to admonish them of their peril. For great possessions, glory, power, and favor, as well as the flatterers no lord may be without, surround and lay siege to the heart of a prince, moving it to pride, to forgetfulness of God and neglect of the people and the common weal, to sensuality, blasphemy, arrogance, and idleness, in short, to every sort of vice and evil. Indeed, there is no caste or city that is so heavily besieged and assaulted. Unless, therefore, one fortifies himself by means of such examples, and takes the fear of God for his defense and rampart, how can he endure? For unless a lord and ruler loves his subjects and has for his chief concern not how to live at ease but how to uplift and improve his people, his case is hopeless; he rules only for his sours perdition. Nor will it avail him to make amends by the foundation of great anniversaries, monasteries, altars, and what not. God will require of him an account of his office and station and will not be satisfied with anything else.

Therefore, my gracious Lord and Prince, I commend the Magnificat to your Grace, particularly the fifth and sixth verses, in which its chief content is gathered up. I beseech and exhort your Grace in all your life to fear nothing on earth, not even hell itself, so much as that which the Mother of God there calls "the imagination of their hearts" (Luke 1:51). That is the greatest, closest, mightiest, and most destructive foe of all mankind, and especially of rulers. Its name is reason, good sense, or opinion; and from it all counsels and all rule must be derived. Your grace will never be secure from it unless you continually keep it under suspicion and follow it only in the fear of God. I do not mean your Grace's counsels only, but those of all your counselors as well. None should be despised, none trusted. How is this to be done?

Why, your Grace should not leave prayer to the cowls or to the chalices,49 as it is now the wretched custom to put one's trust in other men's prayers, without praying oneself; but your Grace should pluck up courage and be of good cheer, put away your timidity, and yourself converse with God in your heart or in secret, boldly casting down the keys at His feet, and pleading His own institution with Him. Something like this: "Behold, O God, my Father, it is Thy doing and appointment that I was born and created in this estate, to be a ruler. This none can deny, and Thou Thyself knowest it to be true. Whether worthy or unworthy, I yet am what Thou and everyone sees. Grant, therefore, my Lord and Father, that I may rule over Thy people to Thy praise and their profit. Let me not follow my own reason, but be Thou my reason," and so on.

In this spirit, then, let things go as they will, in God's name. How well such a prayer and such a spirit please God He Himself shows in the case of Solomon, who also prayed such a prayer, which I have translated and appended here. May it serve your Grace as a pattern at the close of this proclamation, and awaken in you a consoling trust in God's grace, so that both the fear and the mercy of God may be together, as the fifth verse sings. Herewith I commend myself to your Grace, and your Grace to God. May

He grant you a blessed reign. Amen.

At the city of Gibeon God appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and said: "Ask what I shall give you." And Solomon said: "My God, Thou hast shown great grace to Thy servant David, my father, who - 171 walked before Thee in truth and righteousness and whose heart was right with Thee; and therefore Thou hast kept for him this great grace, that Thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne this day.

"And now, O Lord, my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king in place of David, my father, although I am but a little child, who does not know when to go out or come in. And Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people whom Thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude.

"Give Thy servant therefore a listening heart (one that hears and obeys) to govern Thy people and discern between good and evil; for who is able to govern Thy people, so great and grave?"

God was pleased with these words and with the fact that Solomon had asked for these things. And God said to him: "Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to hear how you should govern, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.

"I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and glory, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. And if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days."

2Luther, M. (1999, c1956). Vol. 21: Luther's works, vol. 21 : The Sermon on the Mount and the Magnificat (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works. Saint Louis: Concordia