Alas! said Luther, what is our wit and wisdom? for before we understand anything as we ought, we lie down and die; therefore the devil hath good striving with us. When one is thirty years old, so hath he as yet _Stultitias carnales_; yea, also _Stultitias spirituales_; yet it is much to be admired that, in such our imbecility and weakness, we achieve and accomplish so much and such great matters; but it is God that giveth it. God gave to Alexander the Great, _Sapientiam et fortunam_, Wisdom and good success; yet, notwithstanding, he calleth him, in the Prophet Jeremiah, _Juvenem_, a youth, where he saith, “_Quis excitabit juvenem_” (A young raw milksop boy shall perform it: he shall come and turn the city Tyrus upside-down). But yet Alexander could not leave off his foolishness, for oftentimes he swilled himself drunk, and in his drunkenness he stabbed his best and worthiest friends; yea, afterwards he drank himself to death at Babel. Neither was Solomon above twenty years old when he was made King, but he was well instructed by Nathan, and desired wisdom, which was pleasing to God, as the text saith. But now chests full of money are desired. “Oh!” say we now, “if I had but money, then I would do so-and-so.” OF SINS AND OF FREE-WILL. _Of the Fall of the Ungodly_, _and how they are surprised in their Ungodliness and False Doctrine_. Our Lord God, said Luther, suffereth the ungodly to be surprised and taken captive in very slight and small things, when they think not of it, when they are most secure, and live in delight and pleasure, in springing and leaping for joy. In such a manner was the Pope surprised by me, in and about his indulgences and pardons, which was altogether a slight thing. The Venetians, likewise, were taken napping by Emperor Maximilian. That which falleth in Heaven is devilish, but that which stumbleth on earth is human. _Of the Acknowledgment of Sins_. It can be hurtful to none, said Luther, to acknowledge and confess their sins. Have we done this or that sin, what then? Let us freely in God’s name acknowledge the same, and not deny it; let us not be ashamed to confess, but let us from our hearts say, “O Lord God! I am such-and-such a sinner,” etc.