e with force and led away captive the inhabitants
and laid everything desolate. That was their reward for not heeding
God's Word; for not believing that he cared for them, and desired to
protect and defend them if they would but trust and obey him.

The wisest and most eminent, even among the heathen, have lamented,
in the light of their own experience, that they have been shamefully
deluded by their counsels, even though founded on the most careful
deliberations. Nor can it be said that the world has grown wiser in
consequence of its own or others' sufferings.

37. This exhortation is preached to no one except the few who are
Christians. They have regard for God's Word, and, now humbled, have
learned that they should not rely on their own wisdom and reason, or
upon human help and comfort. They have come to the belief that God
cares for them. So they do what they know is right and are in duty
bound to do, and suffer themselves not to be hindered by such fears
as possess the world concerning dangers, injuries, and adversities.
They commend all such things to God, and at his word go right through
with courage.

38. Let me illustrate from my own experience. What should I have done
when I began to denounce the lies of the indulgence system, and later
the errors of the papacy, if I had listened and given heed to the
terrible things all the world wrote and said would happen to me? How
often I heard it said that if I wrote against such and such eminent
people I would provoke their displeasure, which would prove too
severe for me and the whole German nation. But, since I had not begun
this work of myself, being driven and led thereto by reason of my
office (otherwise I should have preferred to keep silence), I must
continue. I commended the cause to God and let him bear the burden of
care, both as to the result of the work and also as to my own fate.
Thus I advanced the cause farther, despite tumultuous opposition,
than I had ever before dared to think or hope.

39. Oh, how much good would God accomplish through us if people could
be persuaded, especially the eminent lords and kings, that what Peter
here says is true: "He careth for you!" How much he could do if they
believed that truth instead of seeking, through their own wisdom and
reason, to equip, strengthen, and compose themselves by aid of human
might and assistance, friendship and alliance, for the accomplishment
and maintenance of their cause! It is apparent that m