Sermon 54: 1 Samuel 15:20-23

20. And Saul said to Samuel: 'Indeed I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and I have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and I have brought Agag the king, and I have destroyed Amalek. 21. But the people took from the spoil sheep and cattle, the firstlings of those things that were slain, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.' 22. And Samuel said: 'Does the Lord desire holocausts and sacrifices, and not rather that the voice of the Lord be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices, and to hearken is more than to offer the fat of rams. 23. Because rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as the crime of idolatry. Because therefore you have rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has rejected you from being king.'

In yesterday's sermon we saw Saul's hypocrisy in covering with pretense the sin he had committed, and his stubbornness against the prophet when he was more severely admonished about his sin. But now another evil is added to the previous ones, in that he shows himself a false usurper of the divine name, as though all the plunder that had been carried off had been dedicated to the Lord and reserved for sacrifices. But the matter was far otherwise. For the people would indeed have offered sheep and cattle to God in some solemn sacrifice to give thanks for the victory, but meanwhile each one would have carried off his share of the plunder. Behold how men are accustomed to mock God. For if they have offered something as an oblation, they think God is somehow indebted to them, and they seem to make him a partner in all their crimes — robberies, I say, and frauds. Let the present-day papacy serve as an example: although this vice has prevailed in all ages, even among the heathen — that those who had heaped up great wealth by frauds, robberies, theft, violence, cruelty, and similar deeds would institute some solemn feast, or erect some altar or shrine, or finally consecrate some idol, believing that in this way full satisfaction had been beautifully made to God for all their offenses. As if God would enter into partnership with robbers and plunderers and divide the spoils with them! Therefore let us observe that Saul sinned not only in that he attempted to cast the blame upon the people to escape condemnation, but especially in that he considered the best part of the plunder to be dedicated to God — for that was not the mind of the people when they took the spoils from the Amalekites. Therefore we must take all the more diligent care not to use God's name as a pretext for our sins, for it is the height of impiety, after some sin, to profane God's most sacred name.

'Because rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as the crime of idolatry.' The Hebrew word 'Teraphim' is used for any kind of idolatry, though sometimes only for a part. Yet most often it is used for idols, which men fashion for themselves and to which they attribute some honor, as unbelieving men are always accustomed to devise some new manner of divine worship.

Here therefore there is set before us the condemnation of all those who, departing from God's word, follow their own inventions, so that they are called sorcerers, diviners, and idolaters, and are rejected by the Lord. But here first of all, so that this sentence may be better understood, in which Samuel says that God does not take pleasure in holocausts and sacrifices but rather that his voice be obeyed, we must observe that he does not simply say that sacrifices and offerings displease God, but he institutes a comparison between sacrifices and spontaneous obedience — as if to say that the sum of divine worship is placed in obedience, from which a beginning must be made, and that sacrifices are merely appendages, as it were, whose force is not as great as that of obedience to the divine precepts. Although Scripture sometimes speaks more harshly about sacrifices, but in the same sense — as when in Jeremiah chapter 7 God thus addresses the people through the prophet: 'I did not speak to your fathers, nor did I command them on the day when I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning holocausts and sacrifices; but this word I commanded them, saying: Obey my voice.' Certainly it is beyond doubt that God had prescribed the manner of holocausts and sacrifices in the law. But Jeremiah, speaking of bare sacrifices as they are by their own nature, which are nothing but something empty and trivial unless they look to some higher end, says that God rather commanded that his voice be obeyed than that sacrifices be offered. To understand this more easily, we must observe that Scripture sometimes speaks of things that God approves and that are good by nature, and sometimes of things that he condemns and whose end is entirely contrary. For example, God commands us to place all our trust in him, which is good and necessary in itself, and therefore beyond question why trust should be placed in God. Since God is the fountain and source of all good things, and we on the contrary are the subject of every misery and calamity, the same should be said of prayers and supplications; the same of charity, of almsgiving, of chastity, of temperance, and similar things — all of which God commands without exception, and whoever does otherwise resists the divine will and law. But there are certain other things of a middle nature, which although they are not commanded, nevertheless contribute nothing to salvation by themselves, but are not evil in themselves — rather they are good. For example, fasting in itself is nothing, as Paul himself says, stating that divine worship is not placed in such things. For whether we eat or drink, we are not better before God; nor are we better if we have abstained from food and drink. Yet fasting is very profitable for humbling us before God, for increasing the sense of our sins in us, and for admonishing us to cultivate sobriety and abstinence. The same reasoning applies to the rest, such as prayer and other such aids to faith. Indeed, if we were to come to the temple and, like stones, perceive nothing of what is said, or sit there without any disposition to pray, it would be far more profitable to stay at home than to frequent God's temple and hold God in mockery and trample and despise his word. What if we pray to God with some external apparatus and ceremonies and pomp, with knees bent to the ground and prostrate on the earth, and yet our mind does not rise to God but is far removed, and we merely toss about empty words? Surely that is a profanation of the divine name — indeed, a sacrilege. From these things it appears that many things are good by nature and tend toward a right end, provided they are applied to their right use. The same must also be determined concerning sacrifices. For the blood of oxen, lambs, or goats poured out was not in itself pleasing to God — blood that, once poured out, needed to be cleaned up and the place purged, lest corruption or stench arise. And what of that smoke from the fat of animals? Could sins be blotted out and expiated by the smell and fumigation of burned fat, or could it be a pleasing odor to the Lord? Surely burned fats produce nausea rather than a pleasing smell. How then would God have been delighted by the odor of those fats, whose burning stench everyone avoids? From this it appears that sacrifices by their nature could not please God, nor could God's wrath be appeased by the blood of beasts, nor sins be expiated — since no one dares to think that such power inheres in a brute animal as to cleanse the soul of a man, for the blood of a dead beast contains nothing but corruption. Yet men, by pouring out the blood of cattle, seek to be purged from every stain of sins, so that they may appear before God, and by that means be admitted into the number of his children — which certainly could not happen by the shedding of the blood of beasts. And therefore Jeremiah rightly says that sacrifices are of no account, nor all the other external figures, but that they are rather an abomination before God. Why is this so? Because obedience is in itself the mother of every virtue, and sacrifices are like appendages by which we are incited and led to seek God. For the blessed angels never had any sacrifices, yet their condition is not worse on that account — just as today they have neither the Supper nor baptism. And yet our condition is not better than theirs, since these things were given to us on account of our weakness, because we do not grasp the spiritual washing in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ unless it is represented to us by some visible sign. And we do not know what it is to be nourished by his body and blood unless the visible symbols of bread and wine are presented to us, since our understanding is dull and we are earthly. Thus it appears that the ancient people needed those figures on account of their weakness; but it is certain that they were required to look to the true use of the sacrifices. For God is spirit, and therefore he wills to be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

Therefore let us know that the essence of divine worship consists above all in this: that we dedicate ourselves wholly to God and renounce ourselves, rest in God alone, and seek our salvation, joy, and happiness in him alone; that we not be carried away by our vain speculations, but flee to him alone in prayers and supplications; and give him immortal thanks for benefits received; and deal candidly and sincerely with our neighbors. All these things, I say, are comprehended under the name of divine worship. What use of sacrifices, then, remains for us today? None at all. For they have been abrogated. But since we are still earthly and of dull and stupid understanding, it is necessary that we be brought to the Lord by certain aids. And let these things suffice. But furthermore, let us note that God often rejects the worship offered to him by men on account of their sins. For from all ages men have endeavored to impose upon God, to satisfy him with external ceremonies, and to ascribe to him whatever worship they pleased. From this it appears that the nature of men is always fighting against the truth — not only inventing vain superstitions for themselves, but also corrupting what God has instituted, and using them entirely contrary to his will. Thus you may see men frequently departing from the true worship of God when they imagine now this, now that ritual for themselves — as happens in the papacy, where they call 'divine worship' those ridiculous and trivial inventions, I know not what, struck in Satan's workshop — ceremonies, I say, and external pomp — all of which the audacity of men has then stubbornly retained. The Jews did the same ...of old, as do the pseudo-Christian papists today, who have borrowed now these, now those rites from the heathen, and have always heaped one upon another. Sometimes, however, men depart from God in such a way that they cannot be condemned by outward appearance. For example, the Jews often diligently observed the rites prescribed by God in the law, offering sacrifices in God's temple and observing all the other things that the law commanded. But meanwhile they were contemners of God's name, guilty of falsehood and rebellion before him — cruel, treacherous, given to frauds, robberies, and plunder — who nevertheless wanted God to be beautifully satisfied by those external ceremonies. From where the Lord rightly complains about them, saying: 'Is my house a den of robbers? For you are full of robberies.' And in Jeremiah the prophet, chapter 7, God thus complains about them: 'Have you come into my temple to offer things that are an abomination to me? Indeed, I will cast you out from my face; I can bear you no longer.' And in Isaiah: 'He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a sheep is like one who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents an offering is like one who offers swine's blood; he who remembers incense is like one who blesses an idol. All these things they have chosen in their own ways, and their soul has delighted in their abominations.' Therefore also in Psalm 50, God thus addresses such hypocrites: 'Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? I will not accept calves from your house, nor goats from your flocks, because all the beasts of the forests are mine, the cattle on the mountains and the oxen. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and its fullness. Your sacrifices therefore are vain and empty by nature; but if you are pressed by some affliction, what do you think will be pleasing to me? Offer therefore a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you will honor me.' Behold what sacrifices God praises and what victims he considers pleasing! And so he shows that all those figures and shadows are empty and trivial unless they are referred to the end prescribed by him. Furthermore, when we hear mention made of prayers and supplications, it does not follow that nothing else is required in his worship; rather, under one part all the rest is contained — which is the customary manner of speaking in Scripture. Thus through the prophet Micah, God addresses the people: 'Can the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat goats? I will show you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: namely, to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.'

Moreover, there might seem to be some contradiction in these things, when he says: 'Call upon me,' and elsewhere: 'Walk in fear, and humble yourself before God.' But there is no contradiction whatever, since by those words God shows that this worship is pleasing to him: when men, renouncing themselves, dedicate themselves wholly to God, and tremble before his majesty on account of the sense of their sins; and furthermore, when they flee to him in times of adversity. Thus there is no longer any place for sacrifices; no blood of cattle is needed, as formerly under the law, to appease God, but rather we must stand upon his promises. And this is a pure, pleasing, and acceptable worship to God. Finally, this axiom must be held: that God rejects and abhors whatever worship from which integrity of heart is absent, replaced only by the pomp of external ceremonies. For this is a great contempt of the divine majesty, which we fashion to be like ourselves, and endeavor to appease with trivial things — outwardly making a show of true religion with external superstition, but fostering the utmost corruption in our hearts. Therefore let us learn that God cannot bear that only external things be offered to him, but that he delights in interior affection and worship — which that passage from Jeremiah cited above teaches, namely that the best way to worship God is to be affected by the sense of our sins, and to be humbled more and more before God, and to beg for pardon; that sacrifices in themselves are empty unless they are referred to their right use and end: namely, that men may be lifted higher from these earthly things and acknowledge that they are wretched sinners, worthy of eternal death, to whom the law shows, as in a living image, the magnitude of their sins and the guilt in which they stand before God; and yet that they may hope and be persuaded that, although wretched sinners, they are nevertheless reconciled to God, and therefore with confidence may call upon him. And so that firm conclusion stands: that sacrifices never pleased God except insofar as they lead men further and open the way to the true worship of God — true faith, I say, trust, prayers, and supplications. Therefore Samuel also says in this passage that the Lord does not desire holocausts and sacrifices, but rather that the voice of the Lord be obeyed. For as we said before, obedience is the parent of all virtues. Therefore after we have long investigated what it means to do well, we must always come to this fountain. For what is the perfection of good? Surely it is the will of God. And therefore, as long as men follow the will and reason of their own choice as the light of life, they will always wander from the right path of divine worship. But God's will is immutable, and therefore we say that obedience is the parent of all virtues. For men may indeed have some praise and reputation for perfection among others, which is nevertheless nothing unless they follow the rule prescribed by God and conform themselves to his service and depend upon his word. From this, then, let us learn that true obedience consists in this: that God obtain the supreme dominion and sovereignty over us, and that men of whatever order submit themselves to him.

Indeed, we see the papists greatly boasting in the name of obedience, but to whom do they render it? ...To those, namely, who have departed far from God's word, and have become estranged from God, and turn the world away from him, and drag it into the same confusion with them. For whoever has perverted God's law in order to offer imaginary worship to God are apostates, and they have attempted to cast God down from his seat so that they themselves might sit in it. For God alone is the lawgiver — otherwise the law would not be spiritual; and therefore he is called both lawgiver and savior, two titles that properly belong to him and are connected by an indissoluble bond. For there is one lawgiver who is able to save. Therefore those who have bound the consciences of men with uncertain things, contrary and opposed to God's law, are certainly apostates. The papists indeed greatly preach obedience and especially glory in it. But to whom is it rendered? 'To our mother,' they say, 'the holy church.' And so God is left far behind. But he who professes obedience must necessarily render it to God the Creator; for God has not yielded his right to another, but retains it for himself alone, and as the supreme authority he wills men to acknowledge that all their holiness and perfection consists in this: that they conform themselves to his word. Furthermore, what obedience is owed to God we cannot know from his will unless he himself teaches us; but once his word has been made known to us, no excuse of ignorance remains. Indeed, if God had not given his law, it is certain that men might seem to have some occasion for complaining that they could not know God's will. But since we have the gospel, by which we are taught what worship God wishes to be rendered to him and what he demands of us, no room remains for doubt, complaint, or ignorance. Let this therefore be firm and established: that obedience is owed to God alone, our lawgiver; next, that the same obedience, to be pleasing to God, must be measured by his word; and that we must persevere in it, never turning aside to the left or to the right, but as disciples hanging upon his lips, since it befits us to be content with that wisdom which he teaches who by his own right alone is our teacher.

There follows next the confirmation of the foregoing statement: 'For obedience is better than sacrifices, and to hearken is more than to offer the fat of rams.' This sentence contains nothing new, but sets forth more clearly and explains what was said before more briefly and obscurely. And so from these words we gather what I said before, namely that the manner of obeying God consists in this: that we diligently meditate on his word. For Samuel joins these two things together — to obey and to hearken. And thus he signifies that we cannot obey God by our good intentions, on which the papists most rely, but that our intentions must be governed by God's word, and his will must take precedence. From this it appears that those are already condemned who reach such a point of impiety — for the Holy Spirit did not lie when he said that those who obey and hearken to God are pleasing and acceptable to him. But what is it to hearken? Namely, not to be so reckless and imprudent as to believe whatever anyone has said, or to fashion whatever we please in our brains; nor to reach such a point of folly as to affirm something good from ourselves, or because another has done it, to wish to follow it; but rather to hear and follow what God has prescribed in his word. For it is not possible that we render to God the obedience due to him without first being taught by his word — otherwise our obedience, not founded on God's word, will be erroneous and full of confusion. And even though we labor long and hard, the labor will be futile, as Isaiah the prophet says, since God does not reckon whatever is done without his word. For he wills his word to be heard and silence to be observed, so that, taught by him, we may become obedient to his commands. Samuel says that this obedience and hearkening is far better and more excellent than sacrifices — by which words a bridle is certainly placed upon us, lest we undertake and attempt anything from ourselves. Therefore, even if no threat were added, obedience is to be valued so highly that we should not be led away from it by any human clamor. Although the papists object that we do not have those ceremonies, those rites of worshipping God that they have — no images in our temples, no idols, no crosses, no altars, no ornaments to be seen — nevertheless, even if these were not prohibited by God's law (which we shall see they are in fact prohibited), we ought to be certain that we cannot err in following God's word; and therefore, even if we are condemned by men for this, we are approved by God, and our worship is pleasing and acceptable to him, provided we do not depart from his word but rest in it alone. Therefore let the vain labors of men be gone. For what madness is it to prefer the doubtful and uncertain to what is certain and undoubted, which God holds pleasing and acceptable? What then do those wretched men gain from their good intentions and inventions, which testify to nothing but innate diabolical arrogance? Indeed, Samuel not only says that obedience is far more excellent than sacrifices, but also adds that rebellion is the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as the crime of idolatry. Now the Hebrew word that we translate as 'idolatry' sometimes signifies iniquity, but that it is taken here for idolatry the other word 'Teraphim' added to it further teaches. Whatever therefore men may persuade themselves, this sentence of the Lord is firm: that those who depart even a little from his word, whatever holy devotions they may allege, are in no other position before God than idolaters and diviners; and even though we may seem angels, we are nevertheless regarded by him as idolaters. Surely if there is any passage in all of Scripture ...that teaches us to remain under God's yoke, and how great the benefit to be hoped for from it, this one is especially remarkable — a sentence worthy of being turned over night and day and kept in perpetual memory. And on this one foundation all who wish to fulfill the duties of their calling and office ought to rely.

On the contrary, however, since men's minds are fickle in devising many forms of worship for God, let us know that rebellion and the crime of divination and idolatry is to depart even a little from Scripture; and that those who abuse his word are regarded by God as treacherous, deceitful, and vain. Therefore let us understand that rebellion is whatever men undertake without God's command or without his word going before them — and especially when, having been sufficiently taught about God's will, they do not acquiesce in it, but from their own understanding devise various and unusual forms of worship for God. In short, rebellion is, as Scripture says, to depart from the way of the Lord. Here, however, hypocrites are accustomed to seek various excuses and to free themselves from the charge of rebellion. For they say: 'Why are we called rebels, who accept God's word — and if we add anything to it, we do so from abundance? For we wish to serve God and be his.' A specious excuse indeed, but empty, and one in which manifest distrust and contumacy are evident. For unless we simply follow what is prescribed by God's word, and instead mix in something of our own, to the extent that we depart from God's word, to that extent we are obstinate and rebellious. And therefore it is certain that such excuses of hypocrites are empty, because they openly contradict God and make light of his law. For even though they do not burst out into this blasphemy in so many words — to detract from God's law, and therefore they do not seem rebellious to themselves because they know God's law is good and his commandments are by no means to be despised — yet since God does not permit men to do from their own understanding what pertains to his worship, but rather forbids them to turn to the right or to the left, and on the contrary commands that his word alone be the rule of all actions, surely if men do not acquiesce in these things but more licentiously permit themselves to add this or that to his commandments, as if wiser than he, do they not thereby detract from God's authority, so that he alone would not be the lawgiver of men? From these things it is clearer than the sun that their excuses are empty and their evasions vain, and therefore they are rightly held guilty before God of contumacy and rebellion, since they depart even a little from his word. And although they complain when admonished about these things that an injustice is being done to them, they do so without cause, since they are condemned by God's own judgment — so why are they angry at men who reprove the same thing? Why do they become deaf and stunned at that sentence of the Lord, by which, as by a thunderbolt, they are cast from on high to the lowest depths? In short, let them resist God as much as they wish by their rashness and folly — it is enough for us that our simplicity is approved before God, to whom alone an account of words and deeds must be rendered, because we have and accept his word as the norm and rule of all our actions; and the contempt of that word, on the contrary, will bring ultimate destruction upon the obstinate and refractory.

Now if anyone measures by this standard all that worship by which the papists think they bind God to themselves, he will find it to be sheer rebellion. For example, let us examine the most holy sacrament of the Supper. Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded the bread to be broken and distributed the cup that was received, to be shared. 'Take,' he said, 'eat of this bread, and drink of this cup among you, all of you.' Indeed, I say, all. What do the papists do here? First, they reserved the cup for one sacrificing priest alone, and so the Supper was torn apart. For the common people were commanded to abstain from the cup, and were thus deprived of part of the Supper — as if Christ, our life, were only partially ours. But he teaches us that he is our food and drink, when he offers his flesh to us for food and his blood for drink. But in truth among the papists the common people are kept away from the cup; one sacrificing priest alone communicates in the blood of the Lord. What kind of thing is this? 'But,' they say, 'this is not without reason — for there is a danger that if the common people approach the cup, some drop of the blood might fall to the ground.' But I ask, did not the Son of God, whose wisdom is inexpressible, clearly declare his will and set it forth in the most significant words? Shall mortal men then, little creatures crawling on the ground like worms, oppose their good intention to the Lord's precepts? Then see the papistic arrogance: for Christ wills to present to each individual believer in the sacrament of the Supper the graces of his Holy Spirit and make them partakers of all his blessings, communicating to them his body and his blood; but they persuade the wretched that they are offering Christ to God the Father as an oblation for the living and the dead. Why so? For Christ does not say 'Offer,' but 'Take.' How great, then, will be the excuse they will bring before God, who is utterly unlike men? Indeed, these men seem as it were to butt against God's majesty with their horns and to challenge him to a contest, as if they were saying: 'Against your will, we offer this sacrifice in satisfaction for our sins, and it must be pleasing and acceptable to you.' With this established, that gesticulating little sacrificing priest performs his play, and instead of what our Lord Jesus Christ said, 'Take and eat,' he divides his fictitious god into three parts, the largest of which he dips into the wine and then drains the cup, while the people meanwhile stand watching, astonished and dumb as a log — then after the play is over, each one goes away, thinking that fine satisfaction has been made to God for his sins. ...Is it not evident from this that war is declared against God himself, and the sacraments which our Lord Jesus Christ instituted, by which we would be led to him, are torn apart with the greatest violence? Therefore, let the papists boast of the greatest obedience as much as they like; nevertheless they will always be called enchanters and sorcerers whenever they enter their temples — or rather their brothels — to perform that mass of theirs, by which all the air is polluted, since in place of what our Lord Jesus Christ instituted, they substitute their blasphemies and defile the rest of God's worship with foul and impious rites. Surely God spoke clearly when he forbade himself to be represented by any image, living or dead, of created things. But they say they cannot know God unless he is represented by some likeness. And so they want uneducated people to have images by which God is represented, along with the saints who intercede for them before God, because such is the ignorance and dullness of men's understanding that they cannot grasp such lofty matters except through certain images. But is this not manifest rebellion, when they wish to be wiser than God and neglect his precepts and diminish his glory? But come, let us concede to them that there is some appearance of divine worship in their gesticulations, and that it was not prohibited by God — as when they retain auricular confession and many similar inventions, which we may say are false and indifferent — yet it is certain that a diabolical law is imposed upon the consciences of men. For no one can confess his sins unless he is seriously affected by a sense of them and groans before God for them and begs for pardon. But when wretched people are compelled to confess each of their sins once a year, under the declared penalty of mortal sin for which there will never be any remission — is this not a manifest usurpation of divine authority? For whose prerogative is it, I ask, to close the entrance of heaven? What mortal created being has been given that power? Then what a scruple is injected into consciences, what a fire is kindled in which they may burn in the deepest abyss, when the necessity of confessing all sins yearly is imposed! Come now, who knows the thousandth part of his sins and can recall them by memory? For no day passes without our sinning in many things. Who then, when a year has elapsed, will recall and enumerate each of his sins, when we are wretched little men crawling on the ground like worms, who by nature cannot distinguish black from white? Surely there is manifest rebellion in these things, since God is most grievously injured and stripped of his right and his power, which these men claim for themselves, and they most miserably torment God's people. Therefore let them boast with full mouth of divine worship; the contrary nevertheless clearly appears, since that worship — or rather, superstition — in no way rests upon God's word, and is therefore nothing but mere idol-mania.

And that the matter stands thus, we have already shown above by the testimony of Isaiah: that God is defrauded of his right when we render him worship other than what is contained in his word, since he alone must be our lawgiver. What madness is it, then, to ascribe to God whatever comes to mind, and to follow this or that teacher in worship rather than God, and for the most ignorant people to become the most audacious of all? But from where did this error originate — that men should consider whatever they have dreamed up to be worship pleasing to God — unless from a false opinion of themselves, by which each one fashions his own idol? But let us know that whenever we reject the worship prescribed by God, we sin against God just as often, and we detract just as much from his honor and glory, because we substitute created things in his place. Therefore let the papists triumph over their worship as much as they wish, and follow their foolish opinions, not content with God's wisdom; but it is certain that they both obscure and pervert the entire worship of God. For this reason our Lord Jesus Christ, in Matthew 15, reproached the Pharisees for violating God's law by their traditions. For whenever mortals embrace their foolish imaginations and want them to be in use, they clearly testify that God's majesty has become cheap to them. And from this fountain another error flows. For once they have indulged themselves in this, they also persuade themselves that whatever they have devised must be pleasing and acceptable to God. Indeed, they glory so much in their inventions that compared to them everything else is empty and futile. But on the contrary, we must hold that even if they were to observe God's worship diligently, that mixture would nevertheless displease him. For no one can rightly worship God unless he rests entirely in his word. But whoever does not keep himself within these bounds reaches such a point of impiety that he seems wiser than God. For is it not to give God a partner — to reject his authority, as if we no longer need him as our governor and lawgiver? In short, from what has been said above, it is evident that Samuel's sentence is most true: that it is as the sin of divination to depart from the Lord's command; and therefore all that fictitious worship can rightly be called sorcery and divination. For it is certain that whatever mortals invent proceeds from the devil as its author, and whoever listens to and follows that teacher departs far from God. For since truth and falsehood are at war with each other, whoever does not adhere entirely to God's truth is without doubt led astray by diabolical illusions — since the devil is not without cause called the father of lies. Therefore, if men would think seriously about these things, they would surely shudder at the very thought of departing from God's word. But observe, I ask, their stupor — it is amazing how they are so bewitched that they cannot be persuaded that they are in error, nor led away from it; and they complain that a great injustice is done to them.

...because they are condemned under the name of diviners, sorcerers, and enchanters. But God himself has passed sentence upon them — so what will they argue against the Lord? Let us, observing this madness, learn that it is the height of impiety to be alienated from God. For God by his just judgment abandons and rejects such men who follow their vain dreams and lies. For whenever unbelievers are entangled in their superstitions, they flee from the Lord and seek vain refuges so as not to appear before him. When they have reached that point, they must necessarily rush headlong with the greatest force into that diabolical fury and rebellion. But let us give immortal thanks to God for all the benefits received from him, and especially that he has drawn us out of the whirlpool of superstitions and led us with open eyes to the splendor of his light, and has willed us to feel the fruit and benefit that comes from obedience conformed to his word, so that we may never be deceived by any impostures of Satan, but may walk with unwearied step in his fear, sincerely turning neither to the right nor to the left.

Now then, let us proceed, etc.

20. Saul said to Samuel: 'I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I went on the mission the Lord sent me on, brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and I destroyed the Amalekites. 21. But the people took sheep and cattle from the plunder — the best of what was devoted to destruction — to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.' 22. Samuel said: 'Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.'

In the previous sermon we saw Saul's hypocrisy in disguising the sin he had committed, and his resistance when the prophet confronted him more directly about it. Now another evil is added to the previous ones: Saul falsely invokes God's name, claiming that all the plunder had been dedicated to the Lord and reserved for sacrifices. But the situation was nothing like that. The people would indeed have offered some sheep and cattle to God in a solemn sacrifice of thanksgiving for the victory — but meanwhile each one would have taken his own portion of the plunder. This is how people so often mock God. If they have offered something as an oblation, they imagine God owes them something — as if they have made Him a partner in all their crimes: their frauds and thefts. The present-day papacy is a perfect illustration — though this vice has existed in every age, even among the pagans. Those who had heaped up great wealth through fraud, robbery, theft, violence, and cruelty would institute some solemn festival, erect an altar or shrine, or consecrate some idol — believing that in this way they had made full and beautiful satisfaction to God for all their offenses. As if God would enter into partnership with robbers and plunderers and divide the spoils with them! We must observe, then, that Saul sinned not only in trying to cast the blame on the people to escape judgment, but especially in claiming that the best of the plunder had been dedicated to God — for that was never actually the mind of the people when they took the spoils from the Amalekites. Let us therefore be all the more careful never to use God's name as a cover for our sins. After committing a sin, to invoke God's holy name in defense of it is the height of impiety.

'For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and stubbornness is like the crime of idolatry.' The Hebrew word 'Teraphim' is used for any form of idolatry, though sometimes only for a part of it. Most often it refers to idols that men fashion for themselves and to which they attribute some form of honor — for unbelievers are always devising new ways of worshipping something of their own invention.

Here before us stands the condemnation of all who depart from God's Word and follow their own inventions — they are called sorcerers, diviners, and idolaters, and they are rejected by the Lord. But first, so that Samuel's statement may be properly understood — his statement that God takes no pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices but rather wants His voice to be obeyed — we must note that Samuel is not simply saying that sacrifices and offerings displease God. He is drawing a comparison between sacrifices and willing obedience. The point is that the heart of all true worship lies in obedience — that is where one must begin. Sacrifices are secondary, like appendages, and do not carry the same weight as obedience to God's commands. Scripture sometimes speaks even more sharply about sacrifices, but with the same meaning — as in Jeremiah 7, where God says through the prophet: 'I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices when I brought them out of Egypt. But this is what I commanded them: Obey My voice.' It is beyond question that God had prescribed the manner of burnt offerings and sacrifices in the law. But Jeremiah, speaking of bare sacrifices as they are in themselves — things that are empty and trivial unless they point to a higher end — says that what God really commanded was obedience to His voice, not merely the offering of sacrifices. To understand this clearly, we must observe that Scripture sometimes speaks of things God approves and that are genuinely good — and sometimes of things whose end is entirely contrary. For example, God commands us to place all our trust in Him — this is good and necessary in itself, and it is obvious why we should trust in God. Since God is the source and fountain of all good things, and we are subject to every kind of misery and affliction, the same applies to prayer, charity, almsgiving, chastity, temperance, and similar things. God commands all of these without exception, and whoever acts otherwise resists God's will and law. But there is another class of things — things of a middle nature — which, though not commanded, are not evil in themselves but are in fact good, even though they contribute nothing to salvation by their own power. Fasting is an example. In itself, as Paul says, fasting is nothing — divine worship does not consist in such things. Whether we eat or drink, we are not better before God; and whether we fast or not makes no difference in itself. Yet fasting is very profitable for humbling us before God, for deepening our sense of our sins, and for training us in sobriety and self-control. The same reasoning applies to prayer and other aids to faith. If someone were to come to church and sit there like a stone, perceiving nothing and with no desire to pray — it would be far better to stay home than to attend God's house while holding Him in mockery and trampling His Word. And if someone prays with elaborate ceremony and external pomp — kneeling and prostrating themselves — while their mind is not lifted to God at all but wanders far away, tossing about empty words — that is a profanation of God's name. It is sacrilege. From all of this it appears that many things are good by nature and lead to a right end, provided they are used rightly. The same must be said of sacrifices. The blood of oxen, lambs, or goats poured out was not pleasing to God in itself — it was simply blood that needed to be cleaned up afterward, lest corruption and stench arise. And what of the smoke from the fat of burning animals? Could sins be cancelled and expiated by the smell of charred fat? Could that be a pleasing aroma to the Lord? Burning fat produces nausea, not a pleasant smell. How then could God have been pleased by the odor of it? This makes clear that sacrifices by their nature could not please God, and God's wrath could not be appeased by the blood of animals, and sins could not be expiated through them. No one would dare suggest that a brute animal has power to cleanse a human soul — the blood of a dead beast contains nothing but corruption. Yet people poured out the blood of cattle thinking they would be cleansed of every stain of sin and made fit to stand before God and be counted among His children — something that the shedding of animal blood could never accomplish. Jeremiah was therefore right to say that sacrifices and all the other external ceremonies are, by themselves, worthless — indeed an abomination before God. Why? Because obedience is the mother of every virtue, and sacrifices are like appendages by which we are drawn and directed toward seeking God. The blessed angels never had any sacrifices, and their condition is none the worse for it — just as today they have neither the Lord's Supper nor baptism. And yet our condition is not better than theirs. These things were given to us because of our weakness. We cannot grasp the spiritual washing in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ unless it is represented to us by a visible sign. We do not understand what it means to be nourished by His body and blood unless the visible symbols of bread and wine are placed before us — because our understanding is dull and we are earthly. In the same way, the ancient people needed those figures on account of their weakness — but they were certainly required to look beyond the sacrifices to their true meaning and purpose. For God is spirit, and He wills to be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

Let us understand, then, that the heart of true worship consists above all in this: that we give ourselves wholly to God, renounce ourselves, rest in God alone, and seek our salvation, joy, and happiness in Him alone. We must not be carried away by our own speculations, but flee to God alone in prayer and supplication, give Him undying thanks for His benefits, and deal honestly and sincerely with our neighbors. All of these are comprehended under the name of true worship. What use remain for us of the old sacrifices today? None at all. They have been done away with. But since we are still earthly and slow in understanding, we still need certain aids to bring us to the Lord. Let that suffice on that point. But we should also note that God often rejects the worship people offer Him because of their sins. From every age people have tried to take advantage of God — to satisfy Him with outward ceremonies and assign to Him whatever form of worship pleased them. This reveals that human nature is always at war with the truth — not only inventing empty superstitions but also corrupting what God Himself has instituted, using it in ways that are entirely contrary to His will. We see this repeatedly: people drift from true worship and invent one ritual after another for themselves — as in the papacy, where they call 'divine worship' those ridiculous and trivial inventions fashioned, it seems, in Satan's workshop — ceremonies and external pomp that human audacity then stubbornly insists upon. The Jews did the same in their day, and the pseudo-Christian papists do it today — borrowing rites now from one source, now from another, constantly adding one on top of another. Sometimes, however, people depart from God in a way that is not immediately obvious from outward appearance. The Jews often diligently observed the rites God had prescribed in the law — offering sacrifices in God's temple, keeping all the ceremonies the law commanded. But meanwhile they were despisers of God's name — guilty of falsehood and rebellion before Him, cruel, treacherous, given to fraud, robbery, and plunder — and yet they expected God to be perfectly satisfied with those external ceremonies. This is why the Lord rightly complains: 'Has My house become a den of robbers? For you are full of robbery.' And in Jeremiah 7, God says this about them: 'Have you come into My temple to offer what is an abomination to Me? I will cast you out from My presence — I can bear you no longer.' And in Isaiah: 'He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a sheep is like one who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents a grain offering is like one who offers pig's blood; he who burns incense is like one who blesses an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and their soul takes pleasure in their abominations.' So also in Psalm 50, God addresses such hypocrites: 'Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? I will not accept bulls from your house or goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine and everything in it. Your sacrifices are vain and empty by nature. But if you are in trouble, what do you think will please Me? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.' See what sacrifices God praises and what offerings He finds pleasing! He makes clear that all those figures and shadows are empty and worthless unless they are directed toward the end He Himself has prescribed. Furthermore, when we hear mention of prayers and supplications, this does not mean nothing else is required in worship. Rather, one part is named to represent the whole — which is the customary manner of speaking in Scripture. So through the prophet Micah, God addresses the people: 'With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow down before the Most High God? Shall I come before Him with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?'

There might appear to be a contradiction in these things — when God says 'Call upon Me,' and elsewhere 'Walk in fear and humble yourself before God.' But there is no contradiction at all. By those words God shows what worship is truly pleasing to Him: when people, renouncing themselves, give themselves wholly to God, tremble before His majesty because of their sense of sin, and flee to Him in times of adversity. There is therefore no longer any place for animal sacrifices or the blood of cattle, as there was under the law, to appease God. Instead we must stand on His promises. This is pure, pleasing, and acceptable worship before God. Finally, this principle must be held firm: God rejects and abhors any worship from which sincerity of heart is absent — where only the pomp of external ceremonies remains. To offer God nothing but outward show is a great contempt of His majesty — making Him out to be like us, imagining He can be appeased with trivial gestures, displaying outward religious form while nurturing corruption in the heart. Let us therefore learn that God cannot bear to be offered only external things. He delights in inward devotion — which the passage from Jeremiah cited above teaches us. The true way to worship God is to be gripped by the sense of our sins, to be humbled more and more before Him, and to beg for pardon. Sacrifices in themselves are empty unless they are directed to their true end — which is this: that people, lifted up from earthly things, would acknowledge that they are wretched sinners worthy of eternal death. The law shows them, as in a vivid image, the magnitude of their sins and the guilt they stand in before God. Yet in all of this they may hope and be persuaded that, wretched sinners though they are, they are nevertheless reconciled to God — and therefore they may call upon Him with confidence. The firm conclusion stands: sacrifices never pleased God except insofar as they drew people further on and opened the way to true worship — that is, to genuine faith, trust, prayer, and supplication. This is why Samuel says in this passage that the Lord does not desire burnt offerings and sacrifices, but rather that the voice of the Lord be obeyed. As we said before, obedience is the source of all virtues. However long we investigate what it means to do good, we must always come back to this fountain. What is the measure of goodness? It is the will of God. Therefore, as long as people follow their own will and reason as the guide for their lives, they will always stray from the true path of worship. But God's will is unchangeable — and this is why obedience is the source of all virtues. People may earn praise and a reputation for excellence among others — but it amounts to nothing unless they follow the rule God has prescribed, conform themselves to His service, and depend on His Word. Let us learn from this that true obedience consists in this: that God has supreme authority and rule over us, and that people of every rank and station submit themselves to Him.

We see the papists making a great show of obedience — but to whom do they actually render it? To those who have strayed far from God's Word, become estranged from God, turn the world away from Him, and drag it into the same confusion with themselves. Those who pervert God's law in order to offer a self-invented form of worship to God are apostates. They have attempted to unseat God from His throne in order to sit in it themselves. God alone is the lawgiver — otherwise the law would not be spiritual. He is therefore called both lawgiver and savior — two titles that belong to Him alone and are joined by an unbreakable bond. There is one lawgiver, who is also able to save. Therefore those who have bound the consciences of people with invented requirements contrary to God's law are certainly apostates. The papists preach obedience loudly and take great pride in it. But to whom is it rendered? 'To our mother, the holy church,' they say. And so God is left far behind. But whoever truly professes obedience must render it to God the Creator — for God has not surrendered His right to anyone else. He retains it for Himself alone, and as the supreme authority He wills people to understand that all their holiness and perfection consists in this: conforming themselves to His Word. Furthermore, what obedience is owed to God we cannot know from His will unless He Himself teaches us. But once His Word has been made known to us, no claim of ignorance remains. If God had not given His law, people might have some excuse for not knowing His will. But since we have the Gospel — which teaches us what worship God desires and what He requires of us — there is no room left for doubt, complaint, or ignorance. Let this therefore be firmly established: obedience is owed to God alone, our one lawgiver. Second, that obedience, to be pleasing to God, must be measured by His Word. And we must persevere in it, turning neither to the left nor to the right — but as disciples hanging on His every word, content with the wisdom taught by the One who by His own right alone is our teacher.

The confirmation follows: 'For obedience is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.' This sentence adds nothing new — it states more clearly and fully what was said more briefly before. From these words we gather what I said previously: that obeying God consists in this — that we diligently attend to His Word. Samuel joins together two things: to obey and to heed. By this he makes clear that we cannot obey God through good intentions alone — which is what the papists rely on most heavily. Our intentions must be governed by God's Word, and His will must take precedence. From this it is clear that those who have gone so far in impiety as to reject this are already condemned — for the Holy Spirit did not lie when He said that those who obey and heed God are pleasing and acceptable to Him. But what does it mean to 'heed'? It means not being so reckless and thoughtless as to believe whatever anyone says, or to fashion in our own minds whatever we please. It is not claiming some good idea on our own, or imitating someone else without asking whether God has commanded it. Rather, it means hearing and following what God has prescribed in His Word. We cannot render God the obedience He deserves unless we are first taught by His Word. Obedience not founded on God's Word will be erroneous and full of confusion. However long and hard we labor, that labor will be futile — as Isaiah the prophet says — since God does not count anything done without His Word. He wills His Word to be heard and silence to be kept, so that, taught by Him, we may become obedient to His commands. Samuel says this obedience and heeding is far better and more excellent than sacrifices — a statement that places a firm rein on us, so that we do not take it upon ourselves to invent and attempt things on our own. Even if no threat were added, obedience should be valued so highly that no human pressure could lead us away from it. Though the papists object that we lack the ceremonies and rites they have for worshipping God — no images in our temples, no idols, no crosses, no altars, no ornaments — nevertheless, even if these things were not prohibited by God's law (which in fact they are), we must be certain that we cannot go wrong by following God's Word. Even if people condemn us for it, we are approved by God, and our worship is pleasing and acceptable to Him, provided we do not depart from His Word but rest in it alone. Let the vain inventions of people be done with. What madness is it to prefer what is doubtful and uncertain over what is sure and unquestionable — what God Himself holds pleasing and acceptable? What do those wretched people gain from their good intentions and invented worship, which testify to nothing but an innate diabolical arrogance? Samuel does not merely say that obedience is more excellent than sacrifices — he goes further and says that rebellion is like the sin of divination, and stubbornness is like the crime of idolatry. The Hebrew word translated 'idolatry' can sometimes mean iniquity, but the fact that the word 'Teraphim' is added alongside it confirms that idolatry is the meaning here. Whatever people may tell themselves, this sentence of the Lord stands firm: those who depart even a little from His Word — however holy their claimed devotions — stand before God in no different position than idolaters and diviners. Even if we appear to be angels, God regards us as idolaters if we depart from His Word. If there is any passage in all of Scripture that teaches us to remain under God's yoke and shows us how great a benefit that brings — this one is especially remarkable. It is a sentence worthy of being turned over night and day and kept in permanent memory. On this one foundation all who wish to fulfill the duties of their calling and office must rest.

On the other hand, since people's minds are so restless in devising new forms of worship for God, let us understand this clearly: to depart even a little from Scripture is rebellion — it is the crime of divination and idolatry. Those who misuse God's Word are regarded by God as treacherous, deceitful, and empty. Let us understand that rebellion is whatever people undertake without God's command or without His Word going before them — and especially when, having been sufficiently taught about God's will, they still refuse to be content with it and invent from their own minds various unusual forms of worship for God. In short, rebellion is — as Scripture says — to depart from the way of the Lord. At this point hypocrites typically search for various excuses to free themselves from the charge of rebellion. They say: 'Why are we called rebels? We accept God's Word — and if we add anything to it, we do so from an abundance of devotion. We want to serve God and belong to Him.' It sounds plausible, but it is empty — and in it, open distrust and stubbornness are clearly visible. Unless we follow simply what God's Word prescribes — and instead mix in something of our own — to whatever degree we depart from God's Word, to that degree we are stubborn and rebellious. It is therefore certain that such excuses from hypocrites are empty, because they openly contradict God and make light of His law. Even though they do not burst into such explicit blasphemy — they do not say outright that they are removing from God's law, and so they do not consider themselves rebels, since they know God's law is good and His commands are not to be despised — yet since God does not permit people to invent from their own understanding what pertains to His worship, and forbids turning to the left or to the right, and on the contrary commands that His Word alone be the rule of all actions — surely, if people refuse to be content with this and instead more freely allow themselves to add this or that to His commands, as if they were wiser than God — do they not thereby undercut God's authority, as though He alone were not the lawgiver? From all of this it is clearer than the sun that their excuses are empty and their evasions worthless. They are rightly counted guilty before God of stubbornness and rebellion for departing even a little from His Word. Though they complain that an injustice is being done to them when they are confronted about these things — they complain without cause, since they stand condemned by God's own judgment. Why then are they angry at people who point out the same thing? Why do they become deaf and dull when that sentence of the Lord strikes them — a sentence that, like a thunderbolt, casts them from on high to the depths? In short, let them resist God as much as they wish through their rashness and folly. It is enough for us that our simplicity is approved before God — to whom alone we must give an account of all our words and deeds. We have and accept His Word as the standard and rule of all our actions. Contempt of that Word, on the other hand, will bring ultimate destruction upon the stubborn and resistant.

Now if anyone measures by this standard all the worship by which the papists think they bind God to themselves, they will find it is sheer rebellion. Take the most holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper as an example. Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded the bread to be broken and the cup to be distributed and shared. 'Take,' He said, 'eat of this bread, and drink of this cup — all of you.' All of you — I say it plainly. What do the papists do? First, they reserved the cup for the priest alone, and so the Supper was torn apart. The common people were commanded to abstain from the cup and were thereby deprived of half the Supper — as if Christ, our life, were only partially ours. But He teaches us that He is our food and drink when He offers His flesh as food and His blood as drink. Among the papists, however, the common people are kept from the cup. One priest alone drinks the blood of the Lord. What kind of thing is this? 'But,' they say, 'there is a reason — if ordinary people approach the cup, some drop of the blood might fall to the ground.' But I ask: did not the Son of God, whose wisdom is beyond all expression, clearly declare His will in the most unmistakable words? Shall mortal men — little creatures crawling on the ground like worms — set their good intentions against the Lord's commands? And observe the papistic arrogance: Christ wills to present in the sacrament of the Supper the grace of His Holy Spirit to each individual believer, making them partakers of all His blessings and communicating His body and blood to them. But they tell the wretched people that the priest is offering Christ to God the Father as a sacrifice for the living and the dead. Why? Christ did not say 'Offer' — He said 'Take.' What excuse will they bring before God — who is utterly unlike men — for what they have done? These men seem to be butting their heads against God's majesty and challenging Him to a fight, as if to say: 'Against Your will, we offer this sacrifice for our sins, and it must be pleasing and acceptable to You.' And so the gesturing little priest performs his show. Instead of what our Lord Jesus Christ said — 'Take and eat' — he divides his invented god into three parts, dips the largest piece into the wine, drains the cup himself, while the people stand watching, astonished and silent as logs. When the performance is over, each goes away thinking they have made fine satisfaction to God for their sins. Is it not obvious from all this that war has been declared against God Himself? The sacraments our Lord Jesus Christ instituted to draw us to Him have been torn apart with the greatest violence. So let the papists boast of the greatest obedience all they want — they will always be called sorcerers and enchanters whenever they enter their temples — or rather their brothels — to perform that mass of theirs, which pollutes all the air around it. In place of what our Lord Jesus Christ instituted, they substitute their blasphemies and defile the rest of God's worship with wicked and impious rites. God spoke clearly when He forbade Himself to be represented by any image — living or dead — of created things. But they say that uneducated people cannot know God unless He is represented by some likeness — that ordinary people need images of God and of the saints who intercede for them, because human understanding is so dull and ignorant that it cannot grasp such high matters without visible pictures. But is this not open rebellion — to wish to be wiser than God, to set aside His commands, and to diminish His glory? But let us concede for the sake of argument that some of their practices have an appearance of divine worship and were not explicitly prohibited by God — such as auricular confession and many similar inventions, which we might call false and unnecessary — even then it is certain that a diabolical law is being imposed on the consciences of people. For no one can truly confess his sins unless he is deeply moved by a sense of them, groaning before God and begging for pardon. But when wretched people are compelled to confess each of their sins once a year — under the declared penalty that failure to do so is a mortal sin for which there will never be remission — is that not open usurpation of divine authority? Whose prerogative is it, I ask, to lock the entrance to heaven? What mortal creature has been given that power? And what a torment is injected into consciences — what a fire is kindled in which they burn in the deepest pit — when the yearly requirement to confess every sin is laid upon them! Who knows even the thousandth part of their sins, let alone can recall them by memory? No day passes without our sinning in many ways. Who then, after a full year has elapsed, can recall and list each individual sin — when we are wretched little creatures crawling on the ground, who by nature can barely tell black from white? There is open rebellion in all of this. God is gravely injured and stripped of His right and His authority, which these men claim for themselves — and they torment God's people most wretchedly. Let them boast with full mouths of divine worship all they like. The opposite is plain: that worship — or rather, superstition — rests on no word of God whatsoever, and is therefore nothing but pure idol-worship.

We have already shown above by the testimony of Isaiah that God is defrauded of His right when we offer Him worship other than what is contained in His Word — since He alone must be our lawgiver. What madness is it to attribute to God whatever comes to mind, to follow this or that human teacher in worship rather than God Himself — and for the most ignorant people to become the most audacious of all? But where did this error come from — that people think whatever they have dreamed up is worship pleasing to God? It comes from a false opinion of themselves, by which each one fashions their own idol. Let us understand that every time we reject the worship God has prescribed, we sin against Him and detract from His honor and glory — because we are substituting created things in His place. Let the papists triumph over their worship as much as they like, following their foolish opinions rather than being content with God's wisdom. It is certain that they both obscure and pervert the entire worship of God. This is why our Lord Jesus Christ rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 15 for violating God's law through their traditions. Whenever people embrace their own foolish imaginations and want them to be the rule of worship, they clearly show that God's majesty has become cheap to them. From this error another one flows naturally. Once they have indulged themselves this way, they also persuade themselves that whatever they have devised must be pleasing and acceptable to God. In fact, they glory so much in their inventions that by comparison everything else seems empty and futile. But on the contrary, we must hold that even if they observed God's worship in all other respects, that mixture of human invention would still displease Him. For no one can rightly worship God unless they rest entirely in His Word. Whoever does not keep within these bounds reaches such a level of impiety that they seem to think they are wiser than God. For is it not giving God a partner — rejecting His authority, as if we no longer need Him as our governor and lawgiver? In short, what has been said above makes Samuel's sentence unmistakably true: to depart from the Lord's command is like the sin of divination. Therefore all that invented worship can rightly be called sorcery and divination. It is certain that whatever mortals invent in this way proceeds from the devil as its author — and whoever listens to and follows that teacher has strayed far from God. Since truth and falsehood are at war with each other, whoever does not hold entirely to God's truth is without doubt led astray by the devil's illusions — for the devil is not without reason called the father of lies. If people would think seriously about these things, they would surely shudder at the very thought of departing from God's Word. But observe the astonishing stupor of those who are so bewitched that they cannot be persuaded they are in error, cannot be drawn away from it, and complain that a great injustice is done to them.

They are condemned under the names of diviners, sorcerers, and enchanters. But God Himself has passed sentence upon them — so what will they argue against the Lord? Let us, observing this madness, learn that it is the height of impiety to be alienated from God. By His just judgment, God abandons and rejects those who follow their empty dreams and lies. For when unbelievers are entangled in their superstitions, they flee from the Lord and seek hollow refuges so as not to have to stand before Him. Once they reach that point, they rush headlong with great force into that diabolical fury and rebellion. But let us give undying thanks to God for all the blessings He has given us — and especially that He has drawn us out of the whirlpool of superstition, led us with open eyes into the brilliance of His light, and allowed us to experience the fruit and benefit that comes from obedience shaped by His Word. May we never be deceived by any of Satan's tricks, but walk steadfastly in His fear, faithfully turning neither to the right nor to the left.

Now then, let us proceed, etc.