Preserve us from the suggestions of the devil, that we may not consent to pride, become self-satisfied, and despise others for the sake of riches, rank, power, knowledge, beauty or other good gifts of Thine. Preserve us, that we all not into hatred or envy or any cause. Preserve us, that we yield not to despair, that great temptation of our faith, neither now nor at our last hour. Have in Thy keeping, heavenly Father, all who strive and labor against these great and manifold temptations. Strengthen those who are yet standing; raise up all those who have fallen and are overcome; and to all of us grant Thy grace, that in this miserable and uncertain life, incessantly surrounded by so many enemies, we may fight with constancy, and with a firm and knightly faith, and win the everlasting crown. The Seventh Petition: _Deliver us from evil._ [Sidenote: The Seventh Petition] _This means--_ This petition is a prayer against all that is evil in pain and punishment; as the holy Church prays in the litanies: Deliver us, O Father, from Thine eternal wrath and from the pains of hell. Deliver us from Thy strict judgment, in death and at the last day. Deliver us from sudden death. Preserve us from water and fire, from lightning and hail. Preserve us from famine and scarcity. Preserve us from war and bloodshed. Preserve us from Thy great plagues, pestilence, the French sickness, and other grievous diseases. Preserve us from all evils and necessities of body, yet in such wise that in all these things Thy Name may be honored, Thy Kingdom increased and Thy divine Will be done. Amen. AMEN [Sidenote: The Amen] The God help us, without doubting, to obtain all these petitions, and suffer us not to doubt that Thou hast heard us and wilt hear us in them all; that it is "Yea," not "Nay," and not "Perhaps." Therefore we say with joy, "Amen--it is true and certain." Amen. FOOTNOTES [1] For this translation see Vol. I, p. 222, note 1. [2] The law that we have outside of divine revelation. C.f. Rom. 2:15. [3] The possessor of these letters (_Himmels-und Teuelsbriefe_) was thought to be under the special protection of the spirits. [4] Magical formulas. [5] Practices popularly ascribed to the witches. [6] See below, p. 364, note 1. [7] Luther believed, with the mediæval Church, that the lending of money at interest was a sin. See above pp. 159 ff., and _Weimar Ed._, XXV, 293 ff. [8] i. e., In the confession made to the priest. See Vol. I, p. 285, and Introduction, above, p. 351. [9] C. Vol. I, pp. 58, 285. [10] In the manuals for confession with which Luther was familiar sins were divided into the various classes mentioned here. C. Vol. I, pp. 90 ff.; Gecken, _Der Bilderkatechismus des XV Jhs._, and especially v. Zezschwitz, II, 197 ff. [11] _Serm._, 96, 2; _Migne_, XXVIII, 585. [12] Cf. Vol. I, p. 187. [13] See above, p. 355. [14] Luther has here departed from the customary Roman division of the Creed into twelve articles. [15] _Gemein._