What does this mean? From AELW 4:277, note 51" Luther’s Latin is regia via, which he sometimes uses to refer to the idea of the golden mean."
and the context...
"There is a time for feasting, fasting, mourning, and rejoicing. It is proper to mourn with those who are mourning, and God says (Is. 66:2) that He will dwell with the humble and contrite heart that trembles at His words. On the other hand, He does not hinder an upright and believing heart when it rejoices in the Lord. As a matter of fact, He praises it. One should live a spiritual life, but in such a manner that the physical life, too, has its recreation, especially among those who are in great troubles or trials and are plagued by sleeplessness. They should drink more plentifully, in order to induce sleep; for Holy Scripture says (Ps. 104:15) that wine was created to gladden man’s sad and afflicted heart. Let him eat and drink, in order that body and soul may come together again.
Hence we ought to steer a middle course, lest we become either Epicureans and dissolute or hypocrites and gloomy monks. Weddings should not be stripped of respectable displays and of respectable pleasures; but excesses by day and by night, extravagance in clothing, or unseemly pranks should in no wise be tolerated, because they are condemned in Holy Scripture."
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