"Counterfeit Spiritualities"

Idolatry is all manner of seeming holiness and worshipping, let these counterfeit spiritualities shine outwardly as glorious and fair as they may; in a word, all manner of devotion in those that we would serve God without Christ the Mediator, his Word and command.

In popedom it was held a work of the greatest sanctity for the monks to sit in their cells and meditate of God, [solitude] and of his wonderful works; to be kindled with zeal, kneeling on their knees, praying, and having their imaginary contemplations of celestial objects [meditation], with such supposed devotion, that they wept for joy.

In these their conceits, they banished all desires and thoughts of women, and what else is temporal and evanescent. They seemed to meditate only of God, and of his wonderful works.

Yet all these seeming holy actions of devotion, which the wit and wisdom of man holds to be angelical sanctity, are nothing else but works of the flesh. All manner of religion, where people serve God without his Word and command, is simply idolatry, and the more holy and spiritual such a religion seems, the more hurtful and venomous it is; for it leads people away from the faith of Christ, and makes them rely and depend upon their own strength, works, and righteousness.

Martin Luther from his Table Talk

Luther and the Word

An outstanding address from Dr. Timothy George (a Southern Baptist) on Martin Luther's life and legacy. Excellent...


HT: Justin Taylor

Carl Trueman on Luther's 95 Theses

October 31 is Reformation Day. I know some folks think it is Halloween but really it's Reformation Day. So I will be shaving a bald spot on my sons heads and clothing them in the plain brown robes of the Augustinian monks. They will also be equipped with a mallet and a heavily embossed piece of parchment. After that we'll just need to agree on a Catholic church with a particularly prominent front door. I suppose I could try to dress them up like Zwingli or better yet Jan Huss but then people might think we're weird.

On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther, then a monk, nailed on the door of the church at Wittenburg his now famous 95 Theses. It was one of the moments credited with igniting the Protestant Reformation.

Thanks to Justin Taylor for posting the following interview with Carl Trueman:

How did that act of nailing these theses to the door ignite the Reformation?

On one level, I am inclined to say “Goodness only knows.” As a pamphlet of popular revolution, it is, with the exception of the occasional rhetorical flourish, a remarkably dull piece of work which requires a reasonably sound knowledge of late medieval Catholic theology and practice even to understand many of its statements. Nevertheless, it seems to have struck a popular chord, being rapidly translated into German and becoming a bestseller within weeks. The easy answer is, therefore, “By the providence of God”; but, as a historian, I always like to try to tie things down to some set of secondary or more materialcauses.

Certainly, it was used in a way that appealed to popular anti-clericalism, resentment of the Roman curia, and a desire to stop money flowing out of German speaking territories to Rome. Yet, even so, the revolutionary power of such a technical composition is, in retrospect, still quite surprising.

For those today who want to read the 95 Theses, what would you recommend?

The place to start is probably Stephen Nichols’s edition (with an introduction and notes).

Nevertheless, if you really want to understand Luther’s theology, and why it is important, you will need to look beyond the Ninety-Five Theses. Probably the best place to start would be Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand, The Genius of Luther’s Theology.

Read the entire interview HERE.

Where the battle rages...

"If I profess, with the loudest voice and clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battle field besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."

- Martin Luther

The Word Did Everything

"I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything."

- Martin Luther

Trueman on Luther

Take time to listen to this excellent lecture and Q/A session from Dr. Carl Trueman on Martin Luther. You will be enriched.

"If I must have some failing..."

"I was born to fight devils and factions. It is my business to remove obstructions, to cut down thorns, to fill up quagmires, and to open and make straight paths. But if I must have some failing I would rather preach the truth with too great a severity than to ever once act the hypocrite and conceal the truth!"

-Martin Luther (cf, 2 Timothy 1:6-18)

"A Theologian of the Cross..."

From Luther's Heidelberg Disputation wherein he begins to give shape to his Theology of the Cross:

19. That person does not deserve to be called a theologian who looks upon the invisible things of God as though they were clearly perceptible in those things which have actually happened [Rom. 1:20].

20. He deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.

21. A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is.

22. That wisdom which sees the invisible things of God in works as perceived by man is completely puffed up, blinded, and hardened.

Happy Reformation Day!

The Luther Rose

“There is first to be a cross, black [and placed] in a heart, which should be of its natural color, so that I myself would be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves us.… Even though it is a black cross, [which] mortifies and [which] also should hurt us, yet it leaves the heart in its [natural] color [and] does not ruin nature; that is, [the cross] does not kill but keeps [man] alive.… Such a heart is to be in the midst of a white rose, to symbolize that faith gives joy, comfort, and peace; in a word it places the believer into a white joyful rose; for [this faith] does not give peace and joy as the world gives and, therefore, the rose is to be white and not red, for white is the color of the spirits and of all the angels. Such a rose is to be in a sky-blue field, [symbolizing] that such joy in the Spirit and in faith is a beginning of the future heavenly joy; it is already a part [of faith], and is grasped through hope, even though not yet manifest. And around this field is a golden ring, [symbolizing] that in heaven such blessedness lasts forever and has no end, and in addition is precious beyond all joy and goods, just as gold is the most valuable and precious metal.”

- Martin Luther

A Brief Biography of Martin Luther

In July of 1505, a young law student named Martin Luther found himself in a horrific thunderstorm. Having closely avoided being struck by lightening and fearing he was going to die, he made an impulsive vow, “Save me, St. Anna, and I shall become a monk.” St. Anna was, according to church tradition the mother of the Virgin Mary. What no one knew, Martin included, was that God's providential hand was guiding not only the weather on that fateful night but also the seemingly impulsive promise of the young lawyer. On July 17th Luther entered the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt.

This is not to say that the decision to enter the monastery was an easy one. Martin knew he would be disappointing his parents who were dominant figures in his life. But Luther's determination to keep his promise was an indication of the kind of tenacity that would characterize his life as a theologian and churchman. It is probably true that part of what motivated Martin to enter the monastery was the haunting insecurity regarding his salvation. He referred to his lack of assurance with the strong word anfectungen or afflictions. Surely life as an Augustinian monk would give him the assurance for which he longed.

This was not the case however. Luther was a disciplined and fervent monk. His devotion, however, did not help. He would spend hours in confession haunted by his understanding of the pervasive nature of his sin. Exasperated, his mentor told him to focus on Christ and him alone in his quest for assurance. Though he continued to suffer from these anfectugen for years to come, the seeds were sown for his later conversion.

A pivotal moment in the life of the future reformer occurred in 1510 when Luther traveled as part of delegation from his monastery to Rome. He was deeply troubled by the corruption and immorality he observed within the "city of God." Not only that, Luther received no comfort from this supposedly sacred pilgrimage.

In 1511, he transferred from Erfurt to a monastery in Wittenberg where, after receiving his doctor of theology degree, he became a professor of biblical theology at the newly founded University of Wittenberg.

In 1513, Luther's critique of the Roman Church began to take shape as he lectured through the Psalms. This critique became clearer and stronger as he lectured through Paul's Epistle to the Romans (1515/16). Not only that It was during those lectures that Luther finally found the assurance that had evaded him for years. Luther's discovery (or recovery) of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone changed the course of church history and the history of Europe.

In Romans, Paul writes of the "righteousness of God." Luther had hated that phrase because he understood it to mean that God was a righteous judge and would therefore judge His people on the basis of their righteousness. Indeed, the Church of Rome taught that very idea. The problem is that Luther knew that human righteousness could never be satisfactory to a holy God. Through careful study of the Scriptures, something not common among monks, Luther saw clearly what Paul was teaching in Romans. Righteousness is the gift of God's grace through faith in Christ. What God demands, God provides through Christ Jesus. The recovery of the biblical doctrine of justification changed everything for Luther and set him afire. The monk became a reformer.

On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed a list of 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenburg. Martin's Ninety-Five Theses were a devastating critique of the church's practice of selling indulgences. The theses also explained the fundamentals of justification by grace alone. Luther also sent a copy of the theses Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz calling on him to end the sale of indulgences. Albrecht did not appreciate the monk's zeal. Word reached Rome where the cardinals saw Luther's theses as an attack on the authority of the Pope. In 1518 at a meeting of the Augustinian Order in Heidelberg, Luther set out his positions with even more precision. In what was known as the Heidelberg Disputation Luther's thought took on a new clarity and theological maturity. It is in the Disputation where we see emerge the Theology of the Cross.

Following Luther's appearance in Heidelberg, in October 1518, Luther was ordered to recant his positions by the Papal Legate, Thomas Cardinal Cajetan. Luther stated that he could not recant unless from "scripture and right reason" it was proven that he had erred. Short of that he would not, in fact, could not recant. Luther's refusal to recant led to his excommunication.

Throughout 1519, Luther did not lay low. In fact he continued to lecture and write in Wittenberg. What is more, in June and July of that year, he participated in another debate on Indulgences and the papacy in Leipzig. The pope had had enough of this "boar in the vineyard of the Lord." On June 15, 1520 the pope issued a bull (Exsurge Domini – Arise O' Lord) threatening Luther with excommunication. Luther received the bull on October 10th. Luther demonstrated his disdain for the pope's pronouncement by publicly burning the document on December 10th.

Luther's excommunication came in January of 1521. In March, he was summonsed by Emperor Charles V to Worms to defend himself. During the Diet of Worms, Luther once again refused to recant his writings. As a result of this refusal he was placed under Imperial Ban.

Luther was now a condemned and wanted man. It is quite extraordinary that he was not captured and executed. Luther hid out at the Wartburg Castle until May of 1522 when he returned to Wittenberg. He continued teaching. In 1524, Luther left the monastery. In 1525, he married an ex-nun named Katharina von Bora. From his writings it appears that Martin and "Katy" had quite a blissful home life.

From 1533 to his death in 1546 he served as the Dean of the theology faculty at Wittenberg. He died in Eisleben on 18 February 1546.

"An insolent affront to God..."

He [Luther] endorses every honest effort to reconcile problems to the extent possible: "Therefore answers that are given in support of the trustworthiness of Scripture serve a purpose, even though they may not be altogether reliable." His position is the same in connection with Haran's age, if Abraham was the elder brother and married Haran's daughter, Sarah. Luther allows for the possibility that Haran married a widow, and "that the daughter was brought along with the mother." Thus he seeks to squelch what he calls "the foolhardy geniuses who immediately shout that an obvious error has been committed" by averring that finally "it is the Holy Spirit alone who knows and understands all things." With truly wry touch Luther adds: "I wanted to call attention to these facts, . . . in order that no one might get the impression that we either have no knowledge of such matters or have not read about them." Luther likewise dealt with the problem of reconciling Genesis 12:4 with Acts 7:2, the accounts of Moses and Stephen concerning Abram's age at the time of his departure from Haran. He grants that while "each of the two is a trustworthy witness, . . . they do not agree with each other." His suggested solution is to rely on Moses' historical accuracy and to suggest that Stephen is emphasizing not details as much as the fact that God discloses Himself and His mercy through the promised Seed, Christ.

Undoubtedly, this sort of dutiful and childlike surrender when the problem went over his head, appears naive and evasive to much of modern scholarship, which boldly enters in where Luther - and the angels - feared to tread. But Luther resolutely refused to budge one inch from the Holy awe he felt before the Holy Spirit's handiwork in Scripture. This is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that as translator over a period of years Luther had to take that Scripture literally apart to get its meaning into his native German. To imply that it contained error was to him not only contrary to what the Scripture itself testified concerning its truthfulness and inerrancy. but, above all, an insolent affront to God who gave it.

- Eugene F. A. KIug

"Sick in fact but healthy in hope"

"Now notice what I said above, that the saints at the same time as they are righteous are also sinners; righteous because they believe in Christ, whose righteousness covers them and is imputed to them, but sinners because they do not fulfill the Law, are not without concupiscence, and are like sick men under the care of a physician; they are sick in fact but healthy in hope and in the fact that they are beginning to be healthy, that is, they are “being healed.” They are people for whom the worst possible thing is the presumption that they are healthy, because they suffer a worse relapse."

Martin Luther

Luther's Works vol. 25 (Lectures on Romans)

Reformation Reading - Martin Luther

Read about Martin Luther. He was a fascinating man. A good novelist could not have dreamed up a more interesting character.

Here are few books on Martin Luther well worth reading:

The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World by Stephen Nichols

Martin Luther: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought by Stephen Nichols

Here I Stand by Roland Bainton

Luther: Man Between God and the Devil by Heiko Oberman

The Genius of Luther's Theology by Kolb & Arand

Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther Donald McKim ed.

"Luther's Theology of the Cross"

On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg.

Reflecting on Martin Luther's "theology of the cross" Carl Trueman writes:

The "theologians of glory,"...are those who build their theology in the light of what they expect God to be like—and, surprise, surprise, they make God to look something like themselves. The "theologians of the cross," however, are those who build their theology in the light of God's own revelation of himself in Christ hanging on the cross.

The implications of this position are revolutionary. For a start, Luther is demanding that the entire theological vocabulary be revised in light of the cross. Take for example the word power. When theologians of glory read about divine power in the Bible, or use the term in their own theology, they assume that it is analogous to human power. They suppose that they can arrive at an understanding of divine power by magnifying to an infinite degree the most powerful thing of which they can think. In light of the cross, however, this understanding of divine power is the very opposite of what divine power is all about. Divine power is revealed in the weakness of the cross, for it is in his apparent defeat at the hands of evil powers and corrupt earthly authorities that Jesus shows his divine power in the conquest of death and of all the powers of evil. So when a Christian talks about divine power, or even about church or Christian power, it is to be conceived of in terms of the cross—power hidden in the form of weakness.

For Luther, the same procedure must be applied to other theological terms. For example, God's wisdom is demonstrated in the foolishness of the cross. Who would have thought up the foolish idea of God taking human flesh in order to die a horrendous death on behalf of sinners who had deliberately defied him, or God making sinners pure by himself becoming sin for them, or God himself raising up a people to newness of life by himself submitting to death? We could go on, looking at such terms as life, blessing, holiness, and righteousness. Every single one must be reconceived in the light of the cross. All are important theological concepts; all are susceptible to human beings casting them in their own image; and all must be recast in the light of the cross.

This insight is one of the factors in Luther's thinking that gives his theology an inner logic and coherence. Take, for example, his understanding of justification, whereby God declares the believer to be righteous in his sight, not by virtue of any
intrinsic righteousness (anything that the believer has done or acquired), but on the basis of an alien righteousness, the righteousness of Christ that remains external to the believer. Is this not typical of the strange but wonderful logic of the God of the cross? The person who is really unrighteous, really mired in sin, is actually declared by God to be pure and righteous! Such a truth is incomprehensible to human logic, but makes perfect sense in light of the logic of the cross.

Read the entire article HERE.

Martin Luther: Saint and Sinner

Carl Trueman of Westminster Seminary is going to be speaking at what promises to be a terrific event - "Colorado Springs Reformation Day Conference." The theme is "Martin Luther: Saint and Sinner." If you're in the area you will want to check it out.

“I cannot think of a young evangelical writer and theologian whose works I more eagerly read than Carl Trueman.”

Mark Dever - Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington D.C.

"What Mark said."

Todd Pruitt - Church of the Saviour, Wayne, PA

The Deceitfulness of Sin

"Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."

- Hebrews 3:12-13

It is rightly called the deceitfulness of sin because it deceives under the appearance of the good. This phrase "the deceitfulness of sin" ought to be understood in a much wider sense, so that the term includes even one's own righteousness and wisdom. For more than anything else one's own righteousness and wisdom deceive one one and work against faith in Christ, since we love the flesh and the sensations of the flesh and also riches and possessions, but we love nothing more ardently than our own feelings, judgment, purpose, and will, especially when they seem to be good. For the same reason Christ said, when he healed the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda, that it was impossible for such people to be able to believe: "How can you believe who receive glory from one another?" (John 5:44). Why are they not able to believe? Because the "deceitfulness of sin," that is, the love of their own righteousness, blinds them and hardens their heart. Yet at the same time they think it a good thing to glory in their own righteousness and be pleased with it, though that indeed is the very worst of all vices, the extreme antithesis of faith. Faith rejoices and glories in the righteousness of God alone, that is, in Christ himself.
- Martin Luther

I can relate disturbingly well with what Luther writes. As much as I don't like to think of myself in these terms, there is too much of the Pharisee in me. It is often times subtle. But pride in good behavior is an ugly thing. As much as my theology tells me the opposite and as much as I resist it I still see the snake of self-righteousness slither into my heart and mind. It's not that we should be uninterested in works of righteousness. Quite the opposite. Our lives ought to abound in good works. The problem however, at least in my own heart, is that those works can easily become an occasion for boasting. And by boasting I do not mean open braggadocio. The boasting takes the form of a kind of faith; faith that I am okay with God because of my good behavior; faith that so long as I am more well behaved than others then I am doing well.

To the untrained mind that may not sound nearly as bad as certain other sins. But to the God who sent His Son to be my subsitute; to cover my sinfulness with His righteousness, it is a particularly noxious kind of wickedness for it tramples on the very grace by which I am saved.

"Wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

- Romans 7:24-25a

Comfort from God's love

Martin Luther struggled many years to believe that God loved him. As he considered his sin he concluded that a righteous God could not possibly love him. After his discovery of the Gospel of God's grace he would still struggle mightily against the temptations and accusations of Satan. Luther, famous for his battles with the ancient foe once wrote:

Because you say I am a sinner, I will be righteous and saved...I fly to Christ who has given himself for my sins. Therefore, Satan, you will not prevail against me when you try to terrify me by telling me how great my sins are... On the contrary, when you say I am a sinner, you give me armor and a weapon against yourself... for Christ died for sinners... You do not terrify me but comfort me immeasurably.

Luther on Christ's Substitutionary Atonement

‘This is that mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s: and the righteousness of Christ not Christ’s but ours. He has emptied himself of his righteousness that he might clothe us with it, and fill us with it: and he has taken our evils upon himself that he might deliver us from them . . . in the same manner as he grieved and suffered in our sins, and was confounded, in the same manner we rejoice and glory in his righteousness’

‘Learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him and, despairing of yourself, say: “Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin. Thou hast taken upon thyself what is mine and hast given to me what is thine. Thou hast taken upon thyself what thou wast not and hast given to me what I was not”’

‘All the prophets did foresee in spirit, that Christ should become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, blasphemer, etc., that ever was . . . for he being made a sacrifice, for the sins of the whole world, is not now an innocent person and without sins . . . our most merciful Father . . . sent his only Son into the world and laid upon him the sins of all men, saying:

Be thou Peter that denier; Paul that persecutor, blasphemer and cruel oppressor; David that adulterer; that sinner which did eat the apple in Paradise; that thief which hanged upon the cross; and, briefly, be thou the person which hath committed the sins of all men; see therefore that thou pay and satisfy for them. Here now cometh the law and saith: I find him a sinner . . . therefore let him die upon the cross . . .’

- Martin Luther

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

- 2 Corinthians 5:21

"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
- Romans 3:21-26

"It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."
- Romans 4:24-25

Martin Luther's Birthday

Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483.

Young Martin was brought up in a typically faithful Catholic family. Planning to become a lawyer he suddenly changed his vocational goals during a horrific thunderstorm. He became an Augustinian monk in Erfurt. He would later be ordained as a priest.

In 1512 Luther earned his doctor of theology degree at the University of Wittenberg. He was appointed as professor of theology, a position he held for the rest of his life.

Luther would probably had lived out his life as a professor and priest in the Roman Catholic Church had he not truly started to study the Bible.

Luther wrote:

I had been possessed by an unusually ardent desire to understand Paul in his epistle to the Romans. Nevertheless, in spite of the ardour of my heart, I was hindered by the unique word in the first chapter: 'The righteousness of God...' I hated that word 'righteousness of God,' because it accordance with the usage and custom of the doctors I had been taught to understand it philosophically as meaning, as they put it, the formal or active righteousness according to which God is righteous and punishes sinners and the unjust.

As a monk I led an irreproachable life. Nevertheless I felt that I was a sinner before God...Not only did I not love, but I actually hated the righteous God who punishes sinners...

Day and night I tried to meditate upon the significance of these words: 'The righteousness of God is revealed in it, as it is written: The righteous shall live by faith.' Then, finally, God had mercy on me, and I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that gift of God by which a righteous man lives, namely, faith, and that this sentence - 'The righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel' - is passive, indicating that the merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written: 'The righteous shall live by faith.' Now I felt as though I had been reborn altogether and had entered Paradise...

Just as intensely as I had before hated the expression 'the righteousness of God,' I now lovingly praised this most pleasant word. This passage from Paul became for me the very gate to Paradise.

The World has not been the same since.

Luther on Christmas

From heaven above to earth I come
To bear good news to every home;
Glad tidings of great joy I bring,
Whereof I now will say and sing:

To you this night is born a child
Of Mary, chosen virgin mild;
This little child, of lowly birth,
Shall be the joy of all the earth.

This is the Christ, our God and Lord,
Who in all need shall aid afford;
He will Himself your Savior be
From all your sins to set you free.

He will on you the gifts bestow
Prepared by God for all below,
That in His kingdom, bright and fair,
You may with us His glory share.

These are the tokens ye shall mark:
The swaddling-clothes and manger dark;
There ye shall find the Infant laid
By whom the heavens and earth were made.”

Now let us all with gladsome cheer
Go with the shepherds and draw near
To see the precious gift of God,
Who hath His own dear Son bestowed.

Give heed, my heart, lift up thine eyes!
What is it in yon manger lies?
Who is this child, so young and fair?
The blessed Christ-child lieth there.

Welcome to earth, Thou noble Guest,
Through whom the sinful world is blest!
Thou com’st to share my misery;
What thanks shall I return to Thee?

Ah, Lord, who hast created all,
How weak art Thou, how poor and small,
That Thou dost choose Thine infant bed
Where humble cattle lately fed!

Were earth a thousand times as fair,
Beset with gold and jewels rare,
It yet were far too poor to be
A narrow cradle, Lord, for Thee.

For velvets soft and silken stuff
Thou hast but hay and straw so rough,
Whereon Thou, King, so rich and great,
As ’twere Thy heaven, art throned in state.

And thus, dear Lord, it pleaseth Thee
To make this truth quite plain to me,
That all the world’s wealth, honor, might,
Are naught and worthless in Thy sight.

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.

My heart for very joy doth leap,
My lips no more can silence keep;
I, too, must sing with joyful tongue
That sweetest ancient cradle-song:

Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto us His Son hath given!
While angels sing with pious mirth
A glad new year to all the earth.

- Martin Luther