A06521:442
Special and chosen sermons of D. Martin Luther collected out of his writings and…
Special and chosen sermons of D. Martin Luther collected out of his writings and preachings for the necessary instruction and edification of such, as hunger and seek after the perfect knowledge and inestimable glory which is in Christ Jesus, to the comfort and salvation of their souls. Englished by VV.G.Special and chosen sermons of D. Martin Luther collected out of his writings and preachings for the necessary instruction and edification of such, as hunger and seeke after the perfect knowledge and inestimable glorie which is in Christ Iesu, to the comfort and saluation of their soules. Englished by VV.G.
London: printed by Thomas Vautroullier, 1578
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
By sleep he signifieth evil works which are void of faith:1 for sleep is a work properly meet for the night, and that he meaneth thus, he sufficiently declareth, when he by and by after addeth: Let us cast away the works of darkness. So contrariwise, to wake and to rise signify good works which come of faith. For as sleep pertaineth properly to the night, so to rise is properly agreeable to the morning and day. Whereupon it is said 1. Thess. 5: Beloved brethren, ye are not in darkness, but ye are all the children of light and of the day: we are not of the night, neither of darkness, wherefore let us not sleep as do other, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night. But let us which are of the day, be sober, putting on the breast plate of faith and love, and the hope of salvation for an helmet. ⟨p. 236⟩For God hath not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by the means of our Lord Jesus Christ, which died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. It is sufficiently manifest, that the Apostle doth not in these words forbid us the sleep of nature, nevertheless he draweth a similitude from natural sleep and waking, to spiritual, that is, to a good and evil life. And to be brief, to rise out of sleep is here the very same thing that the Apostle writeth, Tit. 2: That grace of God, that bringeth salvation unto all men, hath appeared, & teacheth us that we should deny ungodliness & worldly lusts, and that we should live soberly and righteously, and godly in this present world: looking for that blessed hope and appearing of the glory of that mighty God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ. For that which he calleth in these words, to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, he calleth in the text which we have in hand, to arise from sleep, and that which he termeth to live soberly, and righteously, and godly, that he calleth in our present text, to watch, and to put on the armour of light, and whereas he saith: the grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared, that he calleth here the day and light, of which we will hereafter speak more at large.
By sleepe he signifieth euel workes which are voide of faith: