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The following devotion is from The Handbook of John Frederick Starck, translated by J. Stump and published in 1904. May it be a blessing for you today as it has been for countless saints through the years.

If we were truly humble, and looked upon ourselves as most miserable sinners, we should willingly submit to all adversities, and patiently bear the burden and infirmities of others, considering that God has borne with us a great deal more.

The origin and the content of this hymn emphasize its meaning and value. “Rome boasts that she never changes; the Turk has not improved, new and diverse enemies have risen round about us, so that there are numerous occasions when sincere Christians, realizing their environment, can enter with appreciation into the singing of this old Luther hymn, recognizing that though some conditions vary, the real dangers are the same, and the need of every influence and protection and guidance of the Triune God prayed for in this remarkable Luther hymn is needed today and every day that the Christian lives.

A brief devotion from the 1877 version of Carl Bogatzky’s ‘Golden Treasury for the Children of God’ “If you were to see a man endeavoring, all his life, to satisfy his thirst by holding an empty cup to his mouth, you would certainly despise his ignorance; but if you should see others, of finer understandings, ridiculing the dull satisfaction of one cup, and thinking to satisfy their thirst by a variety of gilt and golden empty cups, would you think that these were ever the wiser, or happier, or better employed, than the object of their contempt?

Richard Wyche was vicar of Deptford, England and follower of John Wyclif. Following is a letter he sent to John Hus, and its reply. All content is taken from the wonderful and faith-strengthening book The Letters of John Hus.

The old battles in the church are here again. Perhaps the most important one is not about spiritual gifts for today, but rather what constitutes salvation. Is it all Jesus Christ?

Christian Scriver was a Minister in Magdeburg. In 1671 he published Invisible Things Understood by Things That Are Made, also known as Gotthold’s Emblems. The short book has been beloved for centuries.

Dear Lord, thank you for You. You our our help, our hope, our promise for the untold ages to come. How faithful you are. Let us remember your goodness today and forever.

Many people have opinions about Martin Luther, but few have actually read his words. This small volume includes the Address to the Nobility of the German Nation, Concerning Christian Liberty and On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church.

The Reformation is 500 years old this month. Does it matter? Yesterday I spoke with a friend who had just returned from Berlin. He visited a large church which advertised an exhibit on the “Lutheran Reformation”.