Martin Luther on Psalms 126:2

Verse. 2. Then shall our mouth be filled with laughter and our tongue with ioy. Then will they say emong the heathen: The Lord hath done great things for them.

This Psalme hath in it a singular maiesty & therfore the Prophet vseth here many figuratiue or borrowed speeches. By laughter he signifieth ye voice of the Gospell. For y• Gospel should be to vs nothing else but ioy & gladnes, especially if we compare it with ye law. For ye law terrifieth & killeth: whose vse [illegible: 1 letter] office is, to br[illegible: 3 letters] & to mollifie the hard & stony harts of the impenitent, as Ezechiel saith. For they must be broken with this yron scepter (as it were) and beaten downe to hell as the Psalme prayeth: Psal. 9. Let the wicked be turned into hell and all nations that forget God. For seeing they haue a heart of yron, and as the Prophet sayth, a brasen forehead, they must be terrified with the thundrings of the lawe, that is, they must be brought to the feare of Gods iudgement and filled with the terrour of death, as it hapned to the people of Israell at the mount Sina when the law was published by the voyce of the Lord. But they that haue a fleshy heart, that is to say, a soft and a tender heart, may not be killed with the law, but reuiued and raysed vp with an other kinde of doctrine, which the holy Ghost here calleth laughter and ioy, that is to say, the Gospell. This is the right diuiding of the word which S. Paule speaketh of,2. Tim. 2. to preach & set forth to the impenitent and hard harted, the threatnings of the law, the wrath of God against sinne & the terrours of Gods iudgement: but to the weake and broken harted, the sweete comforts of the Gospell, that they which are secure & without feare, may nowe learne to feare the Lord: and they that are to much oppressed with feare, may be of good comfort and now begin to trust in the Lord. This difference betwene the law and the Gospel is wel knowne, but by experience and practise it is not so well knowne. For our infirmitie is such that we are rather touched with the sense of sinne and death then with the laughter and ioy, that is, the sweete comfortes and ioyfull promises of the Gospell. For, to speake of my selfe and of mine owne feeling, the redemption and life giuen by Christ doth not so much pearce my hart, as it is terrified with one word or one cogitation of sinne and of the iudgement of God. The cause whereof is for that we can not sufficiently learne this difference betwene the lawe and the Gospell. For although it be both written and taught, yet is it not so effectually felt in the heart: Els should it follow that terrified heartes should cast away all heauines: for to them (as is sayd) perteyneth the voyce of laughter and ioy, and not the voyce of terrour and heauines.

And here also we find Satan to be our deadly aduersary, which most subtilly disputeth with vs touching the lawe, and vseth such arguments as we can not deny. For when he layeth vnto vs our sinnes, we are constreyned to confesse and to acknowledge them, which albeit we couer them some times before men, our conscience as a thousand witnesses pronounceth against vs, and wil not suffer vs to forget them or hide them. Whereof sometimes ariseth also a doubting or mistrust euen of holy workes: I speake nothing of those which are manifestly wicked. With these dartes Satan pearceth and greeuously woundeth the soft and tender hart, onely because this distinction is not so well knowne by practise as it is by speculation. Speculation is a naked knowledge without experience and practise. For if we had this practise in deede, we shoulde rightly discerne betwene the law & the Gospell, also betwene the disciples of the law and of the Gospel, & beate backe Satan with this answere, that like a lying spirite he seeketh nothing else, but to blind and deceiue the hart with falshood and lyes. For whereas hard and stony harts be, those he doth not kill or terrifie, but flattereth and filleth them with hope & faire promises: which doe not perteyne to such harts. Contrariwise, where as such tender and timorous heartes be, as are to much terrified already, and therefore should be confirmed & reised vp with the promises of the Gospell, those heartes Satan most of all, not onely goeth about further to afflict and terrifie, but to beate them downe also to vtter discomfort. Wherefore the Christian man must learne and labour by feeling and practise to make this distinction in his heart, and say vnto Satan: Away from me Satan with thy lyes. When I am void of the feare of God, secure and hard harted, then come and pleade the lawe against me: then will I heare thee: for then that is the tyme to teach the law. But since thou commest nowe vnto me with the law, whereas my heart is terrified already with sinne & death, I wil not heare thee: For thy doctrine perteyneth not vnto me, but laughter and ioy: not terrour and death.

So should Satan be aunswered when he goeth about to terrifie vs. But by experience we feele that when most neede is, our heart is not able thus to aunswere, although we haue heard these thinges before neuer so often. The cause is this: that albeit heauen be ours and wide open for vs, yet such is our nature, and such is our infirmitie that all this can not make vs so ioyfull, as the gaping gulph and horrour of hell doth terrifie vs: So that one cogitation of our sinnes doth more afflict vs, then all the teaching and preaching of the merites of Christ can comfort vs. Wherefore we must earnestly endeuour to learne this practise, or at the least to atteyne to some knowledge thereof, and reyse vp our selues with these wordes: that the Gospell is nothing else but laughter and ioy: which properly perteyneth to the captiues, that is, to those that feele the captiuitie of sinne and death, to the fleshy and tender heartes, terrified with the feeling of the wrath and iudgement of God. These are the Disciples in whose hearts should be planted laughter and ioy, and whiche onely should heare the voyce of ioy and gladnes in the tabernacles of the righteous, Psal. 117. and that by the authoritie of the holy Ghost: which this verse setteth foorth. For it signifieth that this people was in Sion, and after the outward shew of the kingdom and priesthood, did mightely flourish. But if a man consider them according to the spirite, he shall see them to be in miserable captiuitie, and that their tongue is full of heauines and mourning, because their heart is terrified with the sense of sinne and death. This is Moises tongue or Moises mouth, full of wormewoode and of the bitternes of death: wherewith he ought to kill those onely which are to liuely and full of securitie. But they which feele their captiuitie should haue their mouthes filled with laughter and ioy, that is, the redemption and deliueraunce from sinne and death, purchased by the bloode of Christ, should be preached vnto them. This is the sense and meaning of the holy Ghost, that the mouth of such should be filled with laughter, that is, their mouth should sound and shew forth nothing else but great gladnes and those inestimable consolations of the Gospell, with voyces of triumph and victory by Christ, ouercomming Satan, destroying death and taking away our sinnes. This was first spoken vnto the Iewes: for this laughter was first offered to that people, then hauing the promises. Now he turneth to the Gentiles, whome he calleth to the partaking of this laughter.

Then shall they say among the Gentiles, &c. The Gentiles naturally hated and disdayned the Iewes, and coulde abide nothing lesse then their religion. Yet these Gentiles, saith he, when this laughter, this ioy, shall be published and preached, shall maruell thereat, and shall praise the great workes as the Lorde. Nowe, the Gentiles would not thus doe, or esteeme this worke of God as a benefite, excepte they also should be partakers of the same. Therefore when the holy Ghoste saith, that the Gentiles should publish, praise and magnifie this benefite of the Iewes deliuerance out of captiuitie, he plainely signifieth withall that they shoulde be partakers of this deliuerance, and that they likewise shoulde extoll and magnifie this greate mercy of God, this deliuerance from sinne and death. To this doe almost all the Prophets beare witnesse. In the 8. of Zachary it is saide that out of all languages of the nations should take hold of the skirte of him that is a Iewe, and say: we will goe with you, for we haue hearde that God is with you. Which place of Zacharie seemeth to be taken out of this Psalme. In the first of Esaie likewise: All nations shall flow vnto the Lord, and many people shall go and say: Come and let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord, to the house of the God of Iacob, and he will teach vs his wayes, and we will walke in his pathes, &c. These things doe make for our comfort, which are not of the seede of Abraham after the flesh. For albeit the promise was not made vnto vs, yet when it was accomplyshed we were made partakers thereof, but by the Iewes notwithstanding according to the wordes of the promise: In thy seede shall all nations be blessed. And sal[illegible: 1 letter]ation saith Christ commeth of ye Iewes. Thus doe we Gentiles pertaine to this redemption, although it was not due vnto vs (for to vs it was not promised) but came by the free mercy of God through this laughter and this ioy, whiche the Prophet speaketh of, published and preached not onely in Simon, but emongst the Gentiles also, which doe enioy all the good blessings and benefites of God togither with his holy people, as it followeth.