as God has bound
us, and serving one another. At the same time, we are to regard this
life as a journey through a country where we have no citizenship--where
we are not at home; to think of ourselves as travelers or pilgrims
occupying for a night the same inn, eating and drinking there and then
leaving the place.

10. Let not the occupants of the humbler stations--servants and
subjects--grumble: "Why should I vex myself with unpleasant household
tasks, with farm work or heavy labor? This life is not my home anyway,
and I may as well have it better. Therefore, I will abandon my station
and enjoy myself; the monks and priests have, in their stations,
withdrawn themselves from the world and yet drunk deeply, satisfying
fleshly lusts." No, this is not the right way. If you are unwilling to
put up with your lot, as the guest in a tavern and among strangers
must do, you also may not eat and drink.

Similarly, they who are favored with loftier positions in life may
not, upon this authority, abandon themselves to the idea of living in
the sheer idleness and lustful pleasure their more favored station
permits, as if they were to be here always. Let them reason thus:
"This life, it is true, is transitory--a voyage, a pilgrimage, leading
to our actual fatherland. But since it is God's will that everyone
should serve his fellows here in his respective station, in the office
committed to him, we will do whatever is enjoined upon us. We will
serve our subjects, our neighbors, our wives and children so long as
we can; we would not relax our service even if we knew we had to
depart this very hour and leave all earthly things. For, God be
praised, had we to die now we would know where we belong, where our
home is. While we are here, however, on the way, it is ours to fulfill
the obligations of our earthly citizenship. Therefore, we will live
with our fellows in obedience to the law of our abiding-place, even
unto the hour wherein we must cross the threshold outward, that we may
depart in honor, leaving no occasion for complaint."

11. Thus, mark you, should every Christian conduct himself here on
earth, according to Peter. In the first place, he should know where is
his real home, his fatherland. We learn this through faith in Christ,
whereby we become children of God, heirs of eternal life, citizens of
heaven. Accordingly, we sing: "Now we pray thee, Holy Spirit, for true
faith," etc., when we depart home from this wretchedness. Th