Special and chosen sermons of D. Martin Luther collected out of his writings and…

forasmuch as God especially commendeth that, and that in deed is acceptable unto him, which is gotten with the sweat of the brows, as he commanded Adam. Gen. 3. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. And the deeper thou art occupied in this law, in so much better case thy things are, wherefore follow thy work, labour, and trust in God, all carefulness being cast of.

forasmuch as God especially commendeth that, and that in deed is acceptable vnto him, which is gotten with the sweat of the browes, as he commaunded Adam. Gen. 3. In the svveat of thy face shalt thou eate breade. And the deeper thou art occupied in this lawe, in so much better case thy thinges are, wherefore follow thy worke, labour, and trust in God, all carefulnes being cast of.

Now some murmur, and say, if faith be preached, that we must trust in God, and leave the care unto him, I might long enough, say they, believe or trust, before I should have wherewithal to be fed and sustained, if I should not labour. Yea it is plain enough that thou must labour,¹ forasmuch as labour is commanded thee: Howbeit suffer God to care for thee, believe thou, and labour, then shalt thou assuredly have those things that be necessary for the sustentation of thy life. And this is an other thing, that we must hope notwithstanding, though God differreth for a time. Therefore he suffereth them to labour all the night, and to take nothing, and showeth himself to be such a one, as will suffer them to perish with hunger. Which might have ⟨p. 368⟩come into the mind of Peter, when he had fished so long and taken nothing, so that he might have said: now God will suffer my belly to perish with pining and famine. Howbeit he doth not so, but goeth on still in his labour, he plieth his work, & hopeth that God at the last will give him fishes, albeit he differreth a time. God therefore is present, and giveth him so many fishes in one day, as he could scarce take in the space of eight days. Wherefore these things are to be learned well of thee, that thou labour and hope, although God differreth his blessing a little. For albeit he differreth a while, and suffereth thee to labour sore, so that thou now think thy labour to be lost, yet must thou not therefore despair, but repose thy hope in him, trusting assuredly that he will at the last give thee prosperous success. For he will certainly come & give more then thou didst need, as he did here unto S. Peter. Wherefore if God delayeth with thee a little, think with thy self, he delayed also with S. Peter, & yet afterward gave unto him abundantly. Commit thy matter therefore to his good will and pleasure, and leave not of thy work, but hope still, and then shall not thy hope be frustrate. Thus much concerning the former part of the text, now let us here the latter. After therefore that they had taken fishes, and tasted the fruit of faith, their faith is increased and augmented. We therefore must go so far, that we may commit our belly to God: for he that can not commit so much as his belly to him, will never commit his soul unto him. Howbeit that is only a childish faith: