ep out of my hand." This expression has often raised me up out of the
deepest sorrow, and drawn me, as it were, out of hell.

The wisest men in all times have bewailed the great amount of human
misery which we see with our eyes before we pass into eternity--diseases,
death, want, our own errors, by which we bring harm and punishment on
ourselves, hostile men, unfaithfulness on the part of those with whom we
are closely connected, banishment, abuse, desertion, miserable children,
public and domestic strife, wars, murder, and devastation. And since
such things appear to befall good and bad without distinction, many wise
men have inquired whether there were any Providence, or whether accident
brings everything to pass independent of a divine purpose? But we in the
Church know that the first and principal cause of human woe is this,
that on account of sin man is made subject to death and other calamity,
which is so much more vehement in the Church, because the devil, from
the hatred toward God, makes fearful assaults on the Church and strives
to destroy it utterly.

Therefore it is written: "I will put enmity between the serpent and the
seed of the woman." And Peter says: "Your adversary, the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about and seeketh whom he may devour."

Not in vain, however, has God made known to us the causes of our misery.
We should not only consider the greatness of our necessity, but also
discern the causes of it, and recognize His righteous anger against sin,
to the end that we may, on the other hand, perceive the Redeemer and the
greatness of His compassion; and as witnesses to these, His
declarations, He adds the raising of dead men to life, and other
miracles.

Let us banish from our hearts, therefore, the unbelieving opinions which
imagine that evils befall us by mere chance, or from physical causes.

But when thou considerest the wounds in thy own circle of relations, or
dost cast a glance at the public disorders in the State, which again
afflict the individual also (as Solon says: "The general corruption
penetrates even to thy quiet habitation"), then think, first, of thy own
and others' sins, and of the righteous wrath of God; and, secondly,
weigh the rage of the devil, who lets loose his hate chiefly in the
Church.

In all men, even the better class, great darkness reigns. We see not how
great an evil sin is, and regard not ourselves as so shamefully defiled.
We flatter ourselves, in particula