There are some, however, who are ashamed of the cross of Jesus Christ, and say:  If we should believe that, we should be despised everywhere, especially by the wisest.  But if you would know the truth, look only on the lives of those who would have to cry wo on their unbelief if they should be measured by deeds.  If you are ashamed of the cross, the Lord was not ashamed to bear that cross for you, and to die on that cross for you.  Be not ashamed of His service and of the defense of the truth.  Look at the servants of the devil, who are not ashamed in the open places, in the palaces, and everywhere to speak evil and to revile us.  Bear then a little shame only for your Lord; for whoever follows Him will, according to our gospel, in His name drive out the devil; that is, he will drive out his sins, and lead a virtuous life; he will drive out serpents; he will throw out the lazy who come into the houses, and say evil things under the pretense of righteousness, and so are like poisonous serpents.  You will see how children can withstand them with the truth of God, and drive them away.  If a believer drinks anything deadly it will not hurt him:  this deadly drink is the false doctrines of the lazy, from whom, as you contend with them, a little comes also to you.  But he who stands unharmed in the faith, cries to you:  See that you do good; seek God’s glory, not your own.  He that does that is of the truth, and remains unharmed.  The Lord says further of the faithful:  They shall lay their hands on the sick and shall heal them.  The hands are the works, and the good lay such hands on the weak that they may support them when they totter.  Do I not teach you according to the Gospel?  Why do you hesitate and go not into the service of the Lord?  Do you ask me still what you ought to do?  I will, in conclusion, tell you.

Look to Christ and you will find that all He says concerns faith.  Ask the apostle; he speaks of nothing else than of faith.  If you have the ground of all, if you have faith, you will always do what is good.  Without faith man always falls into sin.  You must seek faith in order to be good, or else your faith will become false.  Christ commanded His disciples to preach the Gospel to all the world, and your wise men call a man a little world, a microcosm.  So then preach to yourself, O man, woman, and child.  Three parts the world has in you also.  Preach first of all to your knowledge, and say to it:  If you draw near this truth, you will have much faith; wherefore do you hesitate to use it?  To your will, say:  Thou seest that everything passes away; therefore love not the world, love Christ.  Thereupon turn to the second part of your world, and say to it:  Be thankful, my memory, for the mercies God has shown thee, that thou thinkest not of the things of this world but of the mercy of thy creation, and thy redemption through the blood of the Son of God.  Then go to the third part, to thy imagination, and proclaim to it:  Set nothing before my eyes but my death,