ely, 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." And David,
Psalm cxvi: "I will drink the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name
of the Lord." Again, Psalm xviii: "I will call upon the Lord with
praise: so shall I be saved from all mine enemies." 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.

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 sins which have been almost exclusively preached
and proclaimed under this Commandment. These also include, that we
shall prevent others from making sinful use of God's Name by lying,
swearing, deceiving, cursing, conjuring, and otherwise. Herein again
much occasion is given for doing good and warding off evil.

But the greatest and most difficult work of this Commandment is to
protect the holy Name of God against all who misuse it in a spiritual
manner, and to proclaim it to all men. For it is not enough that I, for
myself and in myself, praise and call upon God's Name in prosperity and
adversity. I must step forth and for the sake of God's honor and Name
bring upon myself the enmity of all men, as Christ said to His
disciples: "Ye shall be hated of all men for My Name's sake." Here we
must provoke to anger father, mother, and the best of friends. Here we
must strive against spiritual and temporal powers, and be accused of
disobedience. Here we must stir up against us the rich, learned, holy,
and all that is of repute in the world. And although this is especially
the duty of those who are commanded to preach God's Word, yet every
Christian is also obligated to do so when time and place