able anguish of
heart, as well as the sacrifice of his body, the shedding of his
blood, when he bore for you the wrath and curse of God, which would
have rested upon you forever. Yet he did it cheerfully and with
fervent love. Should you not, then, be ashamed in your own heart, and
humiliated before all creatures, to be so slow and dull, so
stock-and-stone-hardened, about enduring and forgiving an occasional
unkind word--something to be suffered in token of honor and gratitude
to him? What more noble than, for the sake of Christ, to incur
danger, to suffer injury, to aid the poor and needy? in particular to
further the Word of God and to support the ministry, the pulpit and
the schools?

16. It would be no marvel had Germany long ago sunk to ruin, or had
it been razed to its very foundations by Turks and Tartars, because
of its diabolical forgetfulness, its damnable rejection, of God's
unspeakable grace. Indeed, it is a wonder the earth continues to
support us and the sun still gives us light. Because of our
ingratitude, well might the heavens become dark and the earth be
perverted--as the Scriptures teach (Ps 106)--and suffer the fate of
Sodom and Gomorrah, no longer yielding a leaf nor a blade of grass,
but completely turned from its course--well might it be so did not
God, for the sake of the few godly Christians known and acknowledged
of him, forbear and still delay.

EXAMPLES OF INGRATITUDE FOR THE GOSPEL.

17. Wherever we turn our eyes we see, in all conditions of life, a
deluge of terrible examples of ingratitude for the precious Gospel.
We see how kings, princes and lords scratch and bite; how they envy
and hate one another, oppressing their own people and destroying
their own countries; how they tax themselves with not so much as a
single Christian thought about ameliorating the wretchedness of
Germany and securing for the oppressed Church somewhere a shelter of
defense against the murderous attacks of devil, Pope and Turks. The
noblemen rake and rend, robbing whomever they can, prince or
otherwise, and especially the poor Church; like actual devils, they
trample under foot pastors and preachers. Townsmen and farmers, too,
are extremely avaricious, extortionate and treacherous; they
fearlessly perpetrate every sort of insolence and wickedness, and
without shame and unpunished. The earth cries to heaven, unable
longer to tolerate its oppression.

18. But why multiply words? It is in vain so far as the wo