Meditation on the Twenty-fifth Psalm

“Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you,” Matthew 5, verses 11 and 12.

“In my distress I cried to the Lord, and he heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue,” Psalm 120, verses 1 and 2.

“For no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” First Corinthians 3, verse 11.

It is evident, dear reader, that I am secretly slandered and lied about by the envious. Therefore I have briefly and prayerfully sought to express the feelings of my heart, my grounds, spirit, faith, doctrine, aim, and so on, following the tenor of the twenty-fourth psalm according to the Latin, and the twenty-fifth according to the Hebrew; not in words of human wisdom, nor with great logic and rhetoric, but in a plain account as my heart dictated it, to show the different dispositions of a true and of a false Christian, together with all the grounds and hope of my faith: what I hold concerning Christ Jesus, his doctrine, baptism, Holy Supper, ordinances, commands and prohibitions; my disposition toward lords, princes and all who are still in the darkness of unbelief and do not know the light of truth; to show that I seek, and by the grace of God shall seek, nothing on earth but the unadulterated word of our Lord Jesus Christ; and this according to Scripture.

If I err in some things, which I hope, by the grace of God, is not the case, I ask everyone, for the Lord’s sake, that I may not be put to shame. If anyone has more powerful writings and more convincing truth, let him help me through brotherly exhortation and instruction; I desire with my heart to accept it, if he is right. Deal with me as the Spirit and word of Christ teach. If anyone can convince me of an error by the Scriptures, and I will not renounce it but remain obstinate against the word of God and brotherly admonition, then practice on me the tyranny of Nero, Diocletian or Maxentius, as on an obstinate and ungodly heretic; for this I stand prepared, although this would be contrary to the practice and doctrine of the first church. For it is evident that they did not persecute on account of faith, much less did they kill anyone; but they faithfully admonished the erring and heretical, and those who would not return were then excommunicated.

Afterward, in the time of Arius, they banished them. In the end the bloody tyranny of antichrist prevailed everywhere. All who did not agree with the Pope in his abominations had to suffer. It is still so, as, alas, may be plainly seen in many places.

Many who have neither seen nor heard me call me a deceiving heretic. All this must be endured. I am no better than the pious fathers, who had to hear and suffer. Nevertheless, I am willing to give my life, if it would lead the world to understand rightly my seeking, faith and doctrine; for I know assuredly that I have the word of God. My reader, do not twist what I write. Before God, who created me, I desire nothing else than to deal plainly, with a living voice, before everyone, as one willing to be overcome by the Spirit of Christ, or to overcome; for my desire is that I, and many with me, may be saved. Hence there is no need to use the sword against me. If I do not have the truth, I desire with all my heart to be instructed in it; but if I have it, then you are not persecuting me, but him who is the truth, Christ Jesus.

Again I say, with the Spirit and word of Christ I desire to overcome or to be overcome; in this I appeal to all the world. But it is in vain: they will reject the truth, and maintain and defend lies with the sword; for it is the true disposition and manner of antichrist to defame, slander, arrest, torture, burn and murder, contrary to the Spirit and word of God. But the Lord will see it and judge it.

I would therefore faithfully admonish the reader to strive zealously and earnestly after the kingdom of God, and to examine this Psalm diligently, every word of it, with a submissive, humble heart. I hope he will find, through the grace of God, that it is full of consolation in persecution, and that it clearly points out the difference between a believer and an unbeliever.

May God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, grant the reader a zealous, ardent heart, a sincere, active faith, unfeigned Christian love, and obedience to his holy word, through Christ Jesus, his beloved Son, our Lord. To him be everlasting praise. Amen.

Verse 1. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in you; let me not be ashamed. O Lord, you who bear rule, Lord of heaven and earth, I call you Lord, though I am not worthy to be called your servant; for from my youth I did not serve you, but your enemy, the devil. Him I served diligently. Nevertheless, I do not doubt your grace; for I find in the word of your truth that you are a bountiful, rich Lord to all who call on you. Therefore I call to you: O Lord, hear me, hear me, O Lord! With full confidence and assurance I lift up, not my head or my hands, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, but my soul. I lifted up my heart, not to Abraham, for he never knew us, nor to Israel, for he never had knowledge of us, but to you alone; for you are our Lord and Father, you are our Redeemer; this has been your name from days of old. That is why, dear Lord, I trust in you, for I truly know that you are a faithful God over all who trust in you. If I am in darkness, you are my light; if I am in prison, you are with me; if I am forsaken, you are my comfort; if I am in death, you are my life; if they curse me, you bless; if they grieve me, you comfort; if they would slay me, you will raise me up; and if I walk in the dark valley, you will always be with me. It is right, O Lord, that I lift up my grieved and miserable soul to you, trust in your promise, and am not ashamed.

2. Let not my enemies triumph over me; indeed, let none who wait on you be ashamed. O Lord of hosts, Lord of lords, my flesh is weak; my misery and needs are great. Nevertheless, I do not fear the sensual scoffing of my enemies; but I greatly fear that I might deny your adorable and revered name and depart from your truth, and that they might rejoice over my weakness and my transgression of your will, and mock me and say, Where is your God now? Where is your Christ? and that your divine honor might thus be reproached through me. O Lord, preserve me; keep me, O Lord! for my enemies are strong and many, indeed more numerous than the hairs of my head and the blades of grass in the fields. My unclean flesh is never at rest; Satan surrounds me as a roaring lion, that he may devour me; the bloodthirsty, revengeful world is set upon my life; they also hate, persecute, burn and murder those who seek your praise. Wretched man that I am, I do not know where to go; misery, tribulation, fear and dread are on every side; strife within, and persecution without. I say with King Jehoshaphat, When I do not know where to go, I lift my eyes to you and depend only on your grace and mercy, as did Abraham in Gerar, Jacob in Mesopotamia, Joseph in Egypt, Moses in Media, Israel in the wilderness, David in the mountains, Hezekiah in Jerusalem, the young men in the fiery furnace, and Daniel in the lions’ den; indeed, all the pious fathers trusted in you and were not put to shame.

3. Let them be ashamed who transgress without cause. O Lord, you who bear rule, even as your merciful grace is over all who fear you, so also your fierce wrath is over all who despise you, who walk after their lusts and dare to say with all fools, “There is no God”; we have made a covenant with death, and with hell an agreement; God does not know what we do; thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he does not see the works of men; we will eat and drink, for tomorrow we die; for our life is short and full of trouble, and there is no consolation once we have gone from here; we will live in plenty while we still can, and use the creatures as we please; we will oppress the poor and defraud the righteous; we will condemn him to the most disgraceful death. O dear Lord, so the world goes astray and lives everywhere in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; it is nothing but deceit, unrighteousness and tyranny wherever we turn. Few are those who fear your name. Paul says, “To be carnally minded is death.” The sentence is already passed: if we live according to the flesh we must die; so the Scriptures teach. If we do not repent, nothing is more certain than fierce anger. Therefore, dear Lord, threaten, reprove, admonish and teach; perhaps they may yet repent, know the truth and be saved. They are the works of your hands, created in your image, and dearly bought; let them not be confounded like Cain, Sodom, Pharaoh and Antiochus, with all those who have transgressed without a cause.

4. Show me your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. O Lord of hosts, I know through the word of your grace that there is only one way which leads to life. It is strait and narrow for the flesh, beset with thorns and dangers all around; it is found by few, and still fewer walk in it; it is like a treasure hidden in a field, which no one can find except the one to whom the Spirit shows it. Dear Lord, there is no way but you alone; all who walk through you will find the gates of life. There is another way which seems very pleasant to the flesh, which looks soft, smooth and broad, strewn with roses, pleasant and agreeable to the eye; but its end leads to death. On this way the whole world walks, unconcerned and without fear, and prefers things perishable to imperishable, evil to good, and darkness to the light of the world. They all walk on the perverse, broad and crooked way; they grow faint in the way of unrighteousness and do not know the way of the Lord. It is true that the way of error seems right in the eyes of fools, but I know through your Spirit and word that it is the certain road to the abyss of hell. Therefore I entreat you, dear Lord, be merciful to me, a poor sinner; show me your path and teach me your way; for your way is the right way, godly, pleasant, humble, chaste, full of peace and of all good, and it will lead my soul to eternal life.

5. Lead me in your truth and teach me; for you are the God of my salvation; on you I wait all the day. O Lord! Lord! “My tears,” says David, “have been my meat day and night.” My heart quakes within me, my strength forsakes me, and the light of my eyes is dim, and this on account of the countless dangers and snares that beset my soul. I am in constant fear that I may be led from the way of truth by misunderstanding or by the deceit of Satan. O Lord, the subtlety of the learned is great; Satan uses his wiles cunningly; some teach only the doctrine and commandments of men, which are fruitless and corrupt trees. Some cry only grace, spirit and Christ, and daily trample on your grace, grieve your Holy Spirit, and crucify your Son with their vain, carnal life, as is evident. Some who had once escaped Babylon, Egypt and Sodom, and taken on themselves the yoke and cross of Christ, are again devoured by Satan, and so deceived by the false prophets that it is as if they had never known your word and will. Indeed, seven spirits worse than the first have, alas, entered them, although they cloak themselves under your word and ordinances and claim that it was your pleasure, word and will, though you never thought of it, much less desired it. On this account I am much grieved and full of sorrow of heart, knowing well that your true word is no deceiving lie, as they teach, but is the truth which your infallible mouth taught here on earth and in this grievous world. All who are of the truth hear your voice as the voice of their only Shepherd and true Bridegroom; but from the voice of a stranger they flee, always fearing that they might be deceived. O Lord, remember your afflicted and poor servant; you are the Searcher of all hearts; you know me, that I seek nothing but your will. Therefore, dear Lord, direct me to your truth and teach me; for you are the God of my salvation; besides you I acknowledge no other; you alone are my hope, my comfort, shield, defense and fortress, on which I depend with confidence, and on which I wait in fear, misery, tribulation and need.

6. Remember, O Lord, your tender mercies and your loving kindnesses, for they have been ever of old. O Lord of hosts, when I am borne up on the waters of your grace, I find that I cannot fathom or measure them, for your mercies are greater than all your works. Who is it, dear Lord, that ever came to you with a pious heart, whom you rejected? Who ever sought you and did not find you? Who ever desired help from you and did not obtain it? Who ever prayed for your grace and did not receive it? And who ever called on you whom you did not hear? Indeed, dear Lord, how many you accepted in grace who, according to your strict justice, deserved otherwise! Adam departed from you and believed the counsel of the serpent; he broke your covenant and was found a child of death before you. Your fatherly kindness did not reject him, but you sought him graciously; you called and reproved him, covered his nakedness with coats of skin, and so graciously comforted him with the promised seed. Paul, your chosen vessel, raged like a roaring lion and a devouring wolf on your holy mountain; nevertheless, your grace shone around him in his blindness and enlightened him; you called him from heaven and chose him as a holy apostle and a servant of your house. I too, dear Lord, the greatest of all sinners and the least among all the saints, am called your child or servant, for I have sinned against heaven and before you; although before this I resisted your precious word and your holy will with all my powers, with open eyes; and with full understanding I disputed, taught and lived after the ease of the flesh, and sought my own praise more than your righteousness, honor, word and truth. Nevertheless, your fatherly grace did not forsake me, a wretched sinner, but received me in love, turned me to another mind, led me with your right hand and taught me by your Holy Spirit, until I voluntarily fought against the world, the flesh and the devil, renounced all my pleasure, peace, glory, lust and the ease of the flesh, and willingly submitted to the pressing cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, that I may inherit the promised kingdom with all the valiant of God and the disciples of Christ. Again I say, Your mercies are greater than all your works. Therefore, dear Lord, help me, stand by me, comfort me, a poor sinner; my soul is in great distress, and the dangers of hell surround me. Help, Lord, and preserve me, and do not be angry; remember, O Lord, your great mercies, of which all have been made partakers who have graciously waited on your holy name; and remember, O Lord, your tender mercies and your loving kindness, for they have been of old.

7. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to your mercy remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord. O Lord, you who bear rule, “I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” I am of sinful flesh; Adam’s corrupt seed has been sown in my heart, and from it so much misery has grown up. I, a miserable sinner, did not know my infirmities as long as they were not shown to me by the Spirit. I thought I was a Christian; but when I saw rightly, I found myself, without your word, altogether earthly and carnal: my light was darkness, my truth was lies, my righteousness sin, my worship open idolatry, and my life certain death. O dear Lord, I did not know myself until I viewed myself in your word; then I learned to know, with Paul, my blindness, nakedness, uncleanness and depraved nature, and that nothing good dwelt in my flesh. I was full of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, from the sole of the foot even to the head. Ah, alas! my gold was dross, my wheat chaff; all my services were deceit and lies. I walked before you in the flesh; my thoughts were carnal, my words and works without the fear of God; my waking and sleeping were unclean; my prayer was hypocrisy. In short, I did nothing without sin. O Lord, do not remember the sins of my youth, so often committed knowingly and unknowingly, nor my daily transgressions, of which I am guilty in my great weakness; but remember me according to your great goodness. I am blind, enlighten me; I am naked, clothe me; I am wounded, heal me; I am dead, raise me up. I know of no light, medicine or life except you; accept me graciously; grant me your mercy, favor and faith, fullness, and your good will, O Lord.

8. Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he will teach sinners in the way. O Lord of hosts, although I have walked so unrighteously before you from my youth that I am ashamed to lift my eyes to you in heaven, nevertheless I appear at your throne of grace; for I know that you are merciful and kind, and do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he repent and live. You sent your faithful servant Moses, who gave Israel the law by the disposition of angels, and also your servants and prophets, who preached the way of repentance and broke the bread of life for the people. They reproved sin earnestly, proclaimed your grace far and wide, and taught the truth; your sharp, piercing word was in their mouth; their light shone like the golden lights; they were like flowering olive trees, like a sweet smell of costly perfume, indeed like the fair mountain strewn with roses and lilies. Nevertheless, they did not want them, but thrust them out furiously, derided and persecuted them, and delivered them to death. Still the wells of your mercy flowed: you sent your beloved Son, the dear pledge of your grace, who preached your word, fulfilled your righteousness, accomplished your will, bore our sins, blotted them out with his blood, and brought about reconciliation; who conquered the devil, hell, sin and death, and obtained grace, mercy, favor and peace for all who truly believe on him. His command is eternal life. He sent out his messengers, ministers and apostles of peace, who spread this grace abroad through the whole world, and who shone as bright, burning torches before all, that they might lead me and all erring sinners into the true way. O Lord, not to me but to you be praise and honor. Their words I love, their practices I observe; your Son, Christ Jesus, whom they preached to me, I believe; I seek his will and way. Your abundant, great love I acknowledge, not through me but through you; for you are good and I am evil; you are true and I am deceitful; you are righteous and I am unrighteous. Instruct me, dear Lord, teach me in the right way; foster me, for I am of your pasture; take me into your care, under the shadow of your wings; protect me, for I am greatly tormented; I am poor, wretched, and grieved to death.

9. The meek he will guide in judgment, and the meek he will teach his way. O Lord, you who bear rule, your divine grace has shone around me, your word has taught me, your Holy Spirit has influenced me, until I forsook the course of the ungodly, the way of sinners, the seat of scorners. I was ungodly and carried the banner of unrighteousness for many years; I was a leader in every kind of folly; idle words, vanity, gambling, drinking and eating to excess were my daily pastime; the fear of God was not before my eyes. Besides this, I was a lord and a prince in Babel; everyone sought me; the world loved me and had my affections. I had the first place at feasts and in synagogues; I was preferred above all men; I was respected by the aged, and everyone revered me. When I spoke, they were silent; when I nodded, they came; when I told them to go, they went; what I desired, they did; my words prevailed in all things; the desire of my heart was granted. But as soon as I, with Solomon, saw that all was vanity, and with Paul counted all as nothing, I renounced the ungodliness of this world and sought you and your kingdom, which will abide in eternity. Everywhere I have found the counterpart and reverse: before, I was honored, now I am dishonored; before, all was love, now hatred; before, I had friends, now they are my enemies; before, I was considered wise, now a fool; before, pious, now wicked; before, a Christian, now a heretic; indeed, I have become an abomination and an evildoer to all. O Lord, comfort me, preserve your troubled servant; for I am exceedingly poor and wretched; my sins rise up against me; the whole world hates and mocks me; lords and princes persecute me; the learned curse and slander me; my dearest friends forsake me, and those who were near me stand aloof. Who will have mercy on me and receive me? Miserable am I, dear Lord; have mercy on me and receive me with honor; for there is no one who can preserve me but you. Therefore I entreat you, Lord, grant your ear to supplication; lead me by the right hand, lead me in the right way, lest I stumble on the dark mountains. I see that the children of men neither teach nor do what is right; deceit and hypocrisy are in all flesh; the deceiving sects are great and many; each one claims that his is built on a rock, yet they do not have your truth. Therefore, dear Lord, teach me your truth and do not cast me off from your presence, for I am miserable; I am in the midst of lions and bears, which seek to destroy my soul and thrust me from the way of truth. O Lord, strengthen me, keep me in your way; for I know assuredly that it is the infallible truth and the sure way of peace.

10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. O Lord of hosts, they all boast of your grace and favor, although in all their works they prove themselves children of wrath. They lie, cheat, eat, drink, commit adultery and fornication; they covet and hoard, curse and swear without limit; and all this they cloak with your grace and the blood of Christ. Everyone sings lustily: The mercy of the Lord is great; Christ died for our sins; our doings are unjust, sinful and fruitless. It is true, dear Lord, in the true sense of the word, that they have no share in you; their hope is vain, their labor is without fruit, and their works useless; indeed, their hope is like thistledown before the winds. They will have no part in your kingdom, for they are still impenitent and do not believe your truth. Alas, they do not know that your mercy is forever over those who fear you and keep your covenant. Your goodness, says David, extends to the saints; your eyes are on the righteous, and your ears are open to their cries; but your face is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. I am your friend if I do what you have commanded. It is true, dear Lord, that Christ was given to us and died for us, yet not so that we should live according to our wicked lusts and sinful will, but according to your good will, word and command. Lord, I know that you are no less righteous than good, that you hate the evil and love the good; to the good you are kind, but to the wicked you will in due time appear as a righteous Judge. What did the pure blood of the eternal covenant demand of Cain and Judas, because they despised your grace and shut themselves out from the merits of your Son? What does it profit Pilate, Herod, Annas and Caiaphas to have seen your fountain of grace, Jesus Christ, indeed to have touched him, and yet to have condemned the immaculate Lamb, the King of glory, to the accursed death of the cross! But those who keep your covenant and preserve your testimony, as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did, to them your ways are peace and joy; indeed, altogether mercy, kindness and truth.

11. For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity; for it is great. O Lord, Lord! I pray to you with holy David, Do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your hot displeasure; for my loins are filled with a loathsome disease, and there is no soundness in my flesh; my sins have borne me down; there is no peace in my bones. From the bottom of my heart I humble myself with beloved Daniel. O dear Lord! O great and terrible God! I have sinned and done unjustly; before you I have been ungodly; I wandered from you and did not walk in your commands and statutes; your offered grace I rejected; your holy word I thrust from me; your beloved Son I crucified; I grieved your Holy Spirit; I acted unjustly in all my doings. O Lord, the multitude of my sins frightens me; there is no evil of which I am not guilty. I was as envious as Cain; proud and unchaste as Sodom; unmerciful as Pharaoh; rebellious as Korah; lascivious as Simri; disobedient as Saul; idolatrous as Jeroboam; hypocritical as Joab; haughty as Nebuchadnezzar; covetous as Balaam; drunken as Nabal; insolent as Sennacherib; blasphemous as Rabsaces; bloodthirsty as Herod; lying as Ananias. Indeed, I say with King Manasseh that my sins are more numerous than the sands of the seashore and the stars in the heavens; they trouble me by day and by night; nothing good dwells in my flesh. All that I seek is unrighteousness and sin; what I would not, that I seek and do. I, miserable man, do not know where to go. If I go into myself, I find great faults, impure desires, a vessel of sins; if I go to my neighbor, he has nothing to give me; so that here nothing else avails but your word. The wages of sin, says Paul, is death; but your grace is eternal life. This grace I seek and desire, for it is the only ointment that can heal my soul. The sinful woman made use of it, Luke, chapter 7, as soon as she was aware of her need; David made use of it when he had disgraced Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and slain him. Great was his distress; he saw his wickedness and said, “I have sinned against the Lord.” He longed for balm. “O God!” he said, “according to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my transgressions; wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin,” Psalm 51, verses 1 and 2. In the same hour he heard the gracious word of the prophet, “The Lord also has put away your sin.” His troubled heart was quieted; he praised his name, proclaimed his mercy, and exalted his grace above all his works. O Lord! O dear Lord! I, a grieved sinner, have the same disease; I desire the same balm, and I desire help from you; I seek comfort only with you, O Lord, for your holy name’s sake. Help me, that I may praise you eternally. Wash me from all my sins, and be merciful to me in all my transgressions, for they are great.

12. What man is he that fears the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. O Lord, you who bear rule, your path is the path of peace; blessed is he who walks in it; for we find mercy, love, righteousness, humility, obedience and patience in her ways. She clothes the naked, feeds the hungry, gives drink to the thirsty, takes in the needy, reproves, threatens, comforts and admonishes; she is sober, honest, chaste and upright in all her ways; no one takes offense at her; her goings forth are to eternal life, but few there are who find her. Indeed, I fear, dear Lord, that scarcely ten in a thousand find her, and scarcely five cherish her. It continues as it was from the beginning, when there were only four on earth, of whom the Scriptures testify that two were disobedient, and a third killed his brother. There were eight righteous when the world was drowned, and one of them mocked his father. In Sodom and Gomorrah, with the surrounding country, there were four righteous persons; one looked back and was changed into a pillar of salt. About six hundred thousand valiant men left Egypt, of whom only two entered the promised land; not, dear Lord, that all who died on the way were damned, but on account of their unbelief they did not inherit the promised Canaan. So also, dear Lord, the eternal land is promised to us, if we walk the way which you have chosen for us. But now they walk the crooked way of death; and even as those did not inherit the temporal, so these also will not inherit the eternal Canaan. O Lord, well may I sigh and say, Where is he who fears the Lord? Where is he who has understanding? Where is he who seeks God? “They are all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes,” Romans 3, verses 12 to 18. All that is among them is unbelief and lies; they despise and blaspheme your righteousness, yet they sing and speak much of your truth and glory in your great name, although there is not one ripe grape on their vine, nor any good fruit to be found with them. But those who fear you, O Lord, depart from all iniquity; for your fear, says Sirach, drives out sin and is the beginning of wisdom. Your eyes are on those who fear you; your Holy Spirit leads them; your gracious hand preserves them; they will neither fear nor tremble, for you are their protector and shelter against fierce heat. You pardoned their sins; you rescue them; you enlighten them, gladden their souls, and give them grace, blessing and peace. He who fears you walks uprightly in all his ways, for you teach him in the way that you have chosen.

13. His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth. O Lord, you Lord of hosts! those who acknowledge you shall be blessed in the paradise of their God, on Mount Zion, in the heavenly Jerusalem, in the church of the living God, in the assembly of the righteous whose names are written in heaven. They are set free from hell, sin, the devil and death, and they serve before you in peace and joy of heart all their life. They lie at rest without fear, for you are their strength and shield. They rest under the shadow of your wings, for they are yours. They do not fear, for you warm them with the beams of your love; they do not hunger, for you feed them with the bread of life; they do not thirst, for you give them to drink of the waters of your Holy Spirit; they do not want, for you are their treasure and their kingdom. They dwell in the house of your peace, in the tabernacles of righteousness, and in sure peace. They delight in your law and speak of your word day and night among all the people. They wash their souls in the clear waters of your truth. They view their consciences in the clear mirror of your wisdom; their thoughts are upright; their words are words of grace, seasoned with salt. Their works are faithful and true. The light of their piety shines around them; what they seek they find; what they desire they obtain; their souls dwell in the fullness of your goodness; the dew of your grace has sprinkled them; the soil of their consciences bears wine and oil without measure. And although in their flesh they must endure much misery, suffering and trouble for a time, yet they know well that the way of the cross is the way of life. They are not ashamed of the way of the cross and the weapons of the Lord. They go patiently with Christ to the conflict and contend valiantly, until they have reached the boundary of life and have received the crown. Nothing can hinder them, since they have become partakers of your Spirit and have tasted your sweetness. They neither waver nor turn aside; their house stands firmly on a rock; they are like the pillars of the holy temple; they have eaten of your hidden manna. O Lord, to you be praise! Your fear abides continually before their eyes. They walk in your way; therefore their souls shall be blessed, and their seed, if born of the Holy Spirit and word, will enjoy the land of everlasting life, where you and your chosen shall reign in endless glory.