"I[Luther] have taken pains, however, first to treat everything in the simplest manner. I have not allowed myself to be snatched away into so-called “mystic” interpretations if at times laws came up that appear absurd or foolish to some. For first of all Moses teaches godliness. He preaches faith amply and richly. He attaches the most beautiful ceremonies, by which the common people must be grasped and held, to keep them from making up their own, which God hates. Then he busies himself with the ordering of civil government and the nurture of mutual love, and he directs and arranges everything with the most suitable and just laws. Nothing here is foolish or useless, but everything is necessary and useful, as he will easily understand who knows what it is to manage government among people that are a little too free and wise in their own estimation, as this Jewish nation was. In such circumstances it is often necessary to ordain and do and permit things that would otherwise be laughed at and hissed down with very good reason. I do not think that God wanted to shape people by means of such ceremonies for any reason other than that He saw that the masses were most moved and captivated by those surface displays. To keep them from being empty masks and mere spectacles, He added His Word, the stuff and substance behind the masks, as it were, that by it they might become serious and meaningful, and the people themselves might know that what they did pleased God, and that if they themselves devised others without the Word, mere games and trumpery would result. "
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