nt it to your Lordship, to whom,
he said, it would be most acceptable. Being unwilling to reject
this friendly counsel, I have put together the following fourteen
chapters, after the fashion of an altar tablet, and have called
them, "The Fourteen." [7] They are to take the place of the
fourteen saints whom our superstition has invented and called,
"The Defenders against all evil." [8] But this is a tablet not of
silver, but of a spiritual sort; nor is it intended to adorn the
walls of a church, but to uplift and strengthen a pious heart. I
trust it will stand your Lordship in good stead in your present
condition. It consists of two divisions; the former containing
the images of seven evils, in the contemplation of which your
present troubles will grow light; the latter presenting the
images of seven blessings, brought together for the same purpose.

May it please your Lordship graciously to accept this little work
of mine, and to make such use of it that the diligent reading and
contemplation of these "images" may minister some small comfort.

Your Lordship's humble servant,

Martin Luther, Doctor.

PREFACE

The Apostle Paul, treating in Romans xv. of the consolations of
Christians, writes, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime
were written for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope." [Rom. 15:4] In these
words he plainly teaches that our consolations are to be drawn
from the Holy Scriptures. Now the Holy Scriptures administer
comfort after a twofold fashion, by presenting to our view
blessings and evils, most wholesomely intermingled; as the wise
Preacher saith, "In the day of evil be mindful of the good, and
in the day of good be mindful of the evil." [Ecclus. 11:26] For
the Holy Spirit knows that a thing has only such meaning and
value for a man as he assigns to it in his thoughts; for what he
holds common and of no value will move him but little, either to
pleasure when he obtains it, or to grief when he loses it.
Therefore He endeavors with all His might to draw us away from
thinking about things and from being moved by them; and when He
has effected this, then all things whatsoever are alike to us.
Now this drawing away is best accomplished by means of the Word,
Whereby our thoughts are turned from the thing that moves us at
the present moment to that which either is absent or does not at
the moment move us. Therefore it is true that we shall attain to