So if you wish to rejoice in Christ, for His sake you must bear sorrow, confusion, inward and outward vexations. The reason is that you cannot hold to Christ without offending the prince of the world. You cannot hold fast to the God of life without rousing against yourself the author of death.

He who sleeps does not sin.

So also in the terrors of sin and death, I do not exchange death with life, and Christ with the devil, although in the midst of temptation it seems like this.

And the way Christ treats the works of Satan, so Satan attempts to destroy the works of Christ, such as life, righteousness, joy, and the like.

We have to learn that a Christian should walk in the midst of death, in the remorse and trembling of his conscience, in the midst of the devil's teeth and of hell, and yet should keep the Word of grace, so that in such trembling we say, "Thou, O Lord, dost look on me with favor.

Do not argue at all with the devil and his temptations or accusations and arguments, nor, by the example of Christ, refute them. Just keep silent altogether; turn away and hold him in contempt. For no one conquers the devil by arguing with him, since he is incomparably more clever than all of us. But if you should not fight with the devil, much less should you do it with man. Rather you should put up with him, because he does not do the work himself, but the devil uses man as his tool.

The devil is our mortal enemy, the world attacks us horribly, and it is evident everywhere that there is no more miserable and contemptible person on earth than a Christian. That is why we must have a greater, stronger, and more reliable comfort, to offset all their defiance and might.

We should give heed to what has been said by the heathen poet: "Do not yield to evils but proceed more boldly against them."15

Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved.

Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!

Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to.

Before they quit skidding, three sets of hands were dragging Seth off of her. Julia was yelling threats and orders. Rafe had Seth in a