Good works (Theology); Lutheran Church -- Doctrines
IV. Now where parents are foolish and train their children after the
fashion of the world, the children are in no way to obey them; for God,
according to the first three Commandments, is to be more highly
regarded than the parents. But training after the fashion of the world
I call it, when they teach them to seek no more than pleasure, honor
and possessions of this world or its power.
To wear decent clothes and to seek an honest living is a necessity, and
not sin. Yet the heart of a child must be taught to be sorry that this
miserable earthly life cannot well be lived, or even begun, without the
striving after more adornment and more possessions than are necessary
for the protection of the body against cold and for nourishment. Thus
the child must be taught to grieve that, without its own will, it must
do the world's will and play the fool with the rest of men, and endure
such evil for the sake of something better and to avoid something
worse. So Queen Esther wore her royal crown, and yet said to God,
Esther xiv, "Thou knowest, that the sign of my high estate, which is
upon my head, has never yet delighted me, and I abhor it as a
menstruous rag, and never wear it when I am by myself, but when I must
do it and go before the people." The heart that is so minded wears
adornment without peril; for it wears and does not wear, dances and
does not dance, lives well and does not live well. And these are the
secret souls, hidden brides of Christ, but they are rare; for it is
hard not to delight in great adornment and parade. Thus St. Cecilia
wore golden clothes at the command of her parents, but within against
her body she wore a garment of hair.
Here some men say: "How then could I bring my children into society,
and marry them honorably? I must make some display." Tell me, are not
these the words of a heart which despairs of God, and trusts more on
its own providing than on God's care? Whereas St. Peter teaches and
says, I. Peter v, "Cast all your care upon Him, and be certain that He
cares for you." It is a sign that they have never yet thanked God for
their children, have never yet rightly prayed for them, have never yet
commended them to Him; otherwise they would know and have experienced
that they ought to ask God also for the marriage dower of their
children, and await it from Him. Therefore also He permits them to go
their way, with cares and worries, and yet succeed poorly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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