spirit, keeps
faith with all those who ally themselves with him, how much more
will not the most gracious, all-truthful God keep faith, if a man
trusts Him? Nay, is it not rather He alone Who will keep faith? A
rich man trusts and relies upon his money and possessions, and
they help him; and we are not willing to trust and rely upon the
living God, that He is willing and able to help us? We say: Gold
makes bold; and it is true, as Baruch iii. says, "Gold is a thing
wherein men trust." [Bar. 3:17] But far greater is the courage
which the highest eternal Good gives, wherein trust, not men, but
only God's children.

[Sidenote: Motives for Calling on God's Name]

XXVII. Even if none of these adversities constrain us to call
upon God's Name and to trust Him, yet were an alone more than
sufficient to train and to urge us on in this work. For sin has
hemmed us in with three strong, mighty armies. The first is our
own flesh, the second the world, the third the evil spirit, by
which three we are without ceasing oppressed and troubled;
whereby God gives us occasion to do good works without ceasing,
namely, to fight with these enemies and sins. The flesh seeks
pleasure and peace, the world seeks riches, favor, power and
honor, the evil spirit seeks pride, glory, that a man be well
thought of, and other men be despised.

And these three are all so powerful that each one of them is
alone sufficient to fight a man, and yet there is no way we can
overcome them, except only by calling upon the holy Name of God
in a firm faith, as Solomon says, Proverbs xviii: "The Name of
the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is
set aloft." [Prov. 18:10] And David, Psalm cxvi: "I will drink
the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord." [Ps.
116:13] Again, Psalm xviii: "I will call upon the Lord with
praise: so shall I be saved from all mine enemies." [Ps. 18:3]
These works and the power of God's Name have become unknown to
us, because we are not accustomed to it, and have never seriously
fought with sins, and have not needed His Name, because we are
trained only in our self-devised works, which we were able to do
with our own powers.

[Sidenote: Other Works of the Second Commandment]

XXVIII. Further works of this Commandment are: that we shall not
swear, curse, lie, deceive and conjure with the holy Name of God,
and otherwise misuse it; which are very simple matters and well
known to every one, being the