gant, in which the former promises for ten thalers to protract a law-suit for ten years. .. "Good and pious folk like Reinicke Fuchs, in the poem of the Fox." "Good people, these are the reasons that make me pursue the jurists so relentlessly. . . . They vaunt the canon law, the of the pope, and represent it to be a magnificent thing, after our hav ing with such trouble expelled it from our churches. . . I warn you, jurist, to let the old dog sleep. Once awakened, you will not easily get him back to his kennel! The jurists are full of complaints and bitterness against me. What can

I do? Had I not to render an account of their souls, I would not chastise them." He subsequently states, that he excepts pious jurists.

CHAPTER III.

Faith; the Law.

To Gerbellius. "In this tumult of scandals, fall not off from yourself. To sustain you, I render back the spouse (faith) that you formerly gave me; I return her to you a spotless virgin. But what is most strange and admirable in her is, that she desires and attracts an infinity of rivals, and that she is all the more chaste for being the spouse of many. . . . Our rival, Philip Melancthon, salutes you. Adieu, be happy with the affianced bride of your youth." (January 23d, 1523.)

To Melancthon. "Be a sinner, and be thy sins never so great, let thy faith be still greater, and rejoice thee in Christ, who is the conqueror of sin, of death, and of the world. We must sin, as long as we are here. This life is not the abode of righteousness; no, we look,' as says St. Peter, 'for a new heaven, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' Pray earnestly, for thou art a great sinner." "I am just now deep in the doctrine of the remission of sins. I set at naught the law and all the devils. Whosoever can believe from his heart in the remission of sins, he shall be saved." "Just as

it is impossible to meet in nature with the mathematical, indi

visible point, so the righteousness demanded by the law is nowhere to be found. No man can entirely satisfy the law; even lawyers themselves, spite of all their cunning, are very frequently obliged to have recourse to the remission of sins, for they cannot always hit the mark, and when they have given a wrong judgment, and the devil troubles their consciences, neither Bartolus nor Baldus, nor all their other doctors, are of any use to them. To bear up, they are forced to protect themselves with the Eikela, that is, with the remission of sins. They do their best to judge aright, and after that, all that remains for them, is to say: If I have given a wrong judgment, O my God, pardon me.' It is theology alone which possesses the mathematical point. She does not grope in the dark. She has the word, even God's word. She says, 'Jesus Christ is all righteousness; whosoever lives in him, he is righteous.""

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"The law is, without doubt, necessary, but not for salvation; for no man can fulfil it: but the pardon of sins consummates and fulfils it." "The law is a true labyrinth which "does but perplex the conscience, and the righteousness of the law is a minotaur, that is to say, a pure fiction, which, instead of conducting us to heaven, leads us to hell."

Addition by Luther to a letter of Melancthon upon grace and the law. "To set myself entirely out of sight of the law and works, I do not content myself with seeing in Jesus Christ my master, my lord, my benefactor, I would see in him my doctrine, my gift, so that in him I possess all things. He says, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life;' not 'I show you, or give you the way, the truth, and the life;' as if he only wrought this within me, and was himself nevertheless apart from me. Theology is summed up in one only point: true faith and trust in Jesus Christ. This article embraces all the rest. Our faith is a groan which cannot be uttered;' and elsewhere,' that we are in bondage under the law' (which means, that we imprison ourselves in our own works, instead of mounting on the wings of faith." "The devil desires active

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righteousness only, a righteousness which we work out for ourselves, and in ourselves, whereas we have really only a passive and extrinsic one, which he takes from us. If we were limited to active righteousness, we should be lost, for it is defective in all men.' An English doctor, Antony Barns, asked

Doctor Luther, if Christians, justified by faith in Christ, had any merit in the good works which followed, for that this question was often debated in England. Answer. "1st. We are still sinners after justification. 2d. God promises rewards to those who do well. Works do not merit heaven, but they adorn the faith which justifies us. It is his own gift to us, which God crowns."

Ego sum tuum peccatum,
To bear up

"Fidelis animæ vox ad Christum. tu mea justitia; triumpho igitur securus,* &c. against despair, it is not sufficient to have vain words upon the lips, or barren and languishing faith; but we must stand erect, confirm our soul, and rely on Christ against sin, death, hell, the law, and an evil conscience. When the law accuses thee and reproaches thee with thy faults, thy conscience says to thee, Yea, God has given the law and commanded it to be kept, under pain of eternal damnation: thou must therefore be damned.' To which thou shalt reply, 'I well know that God has given the law; but he has also given us the Gospel, by his Son, which says, "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved." This Gospel is above the whole law; for the law® is of the earth, and has been transmitted to us by man; the Gospel is from Heaven, and has been brought to us by the Son of God.' 'It matters not,' says conscience, 'thou hast sinned and transgressed the commandment of God; therefore, thou shalt be damned.' Answer. I know very well that I have sinned, but the Gospel frees me from my sins, because I believe in Jesus; and this Gospel is as high above the law as the heavens are high above the earth. This is the reason that the body must remain upon earth, to bear the burden of the law; but the soul ascends to the mountain with Isaac, and clings to the Gospel, which promises life eternal to all who believe in Christ Jesus.' 'It matters not,' again says conscience, 'thou shalt go to hell; thou hast not kept the law.' Answer. 'Yes, if Heaven had not come to my succor; but it has come to my succor, has been opened to me; our Saviour has said, "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved.”’ God said to Moses, Thou shalt see my back, but thou shalt not see my face.' The back was the law, the face is the Gospel. "The law does not endure grace, and, in its turn, grace

The cry of a faithful soul to Christ. I am thy sin, thou my righteousness: I rejoice, then in safety," &c.

does not endure the law. The law is only given for the haughty, the arrogant, nobles or peasants, for hypocrites, and those who delight in a multitude of laws. But grace is promised to poor suffering hearts, to the humble, to the afflicted, and for the pardon of sins. Master Nicholas Hausmann, Cordatus, Philip Melancthon, and I look for grace." "There is no writer, save St. Paul, who has written fully and unanswerably on the law, because reason is inadequate to judge of the law; it can only be judged by the Spirit." (August 15, 1530.)

"Good and true divinity (theology) consists in practice, use, and exercise. Its foundation is Christ, whose passion, death, and resurrection are to be comprehended through faith. Some, in the present day, have devised a speculative theology, in accordance with reason. This belongs to the devil in hell. Thus, Zwingle and the sacramentarians speculate that the body of Christ is in the bread, but only in a spiritual sense. This is also the theology of Origen. David did not think thus; but he acknowledged his sins, and said, 'Have mercy upon me, O Lord.""

"I saw lately two signs in the heavens. I looked from my window in the middle of the night, and I saw the stars and all the majestic vault of God, sustaining itself without my being able to perceive the pillars upon which the Creator had propped it. Nevertheless, it crumbled not away. There are those, however, who search for these pillars, and who would fain touch them with their hands; but, not being able to find them, they tremble, lament, and fear the heavens will fall. They might touch them, the heavens would never be moved. Again, I saw great and heavy clouds, floating over my head like an ocean. I perceived no prop which could sustain them, and still they fell not, but saluted us sadly, and passed on. as they passed, I distinguished the arch which upheld them—a splendid rainbow. Slight it was, without doubt, and delicate; one could not but tremble for it under such a mass of clouds. Nevertheless, this aery line sufficed to support the load, and to protect us. There are those, however, who are alarmed at the weight of the clouds, and have no confidence in their frail prop. They would prove its strength, and not being able, they dread the clouds will dissolve and drown us with their floods. . . . Our rainbow is weak, their clouds are heavy; but the end will tell the strength of our bow." (August, 1530.)

And

CHAPTER IV.

Of Innovators.-The Mystics, &c.

"CURIOSITY is our bane; it was the cause of Adam's fall. I fear two things-epicurism and enthusiasm, two sects which have still to reign. Take away the decalogue and heresy vanishes. The Holy Scriptures are the manual of all heretics."

Luther called seditious and presumptuous-minded men, “precocious saints, who, attacked by the worm before arriving at maturity, were blown by the slightest gust from the tree. Dreamers (Schwermer) are like butterflies. At first, a grub which attaches itself to a wall, or builds itself a little house, is hatched by the warmth of the sun, and flies off a butterfly. The butterfly dies on a tree, and leaves a long train of eggs." Dr. Martin Luther said of false brothers and heretics, who fall away from us, that we ought to let them alone, and not be vexed about them. If they will not listen to us, we can send them, with all their fine bravado, to hell.

"When I began to write against indulgences, I lived for three years alone, without any holding forth their hand to me. Now they are all for claiming a share in the triumph. I suf fer enough from my enemies, without the pain my good little brothers give me. But who can bear up against all? Here am I attacked by young men, all fresh and unworked, whilst I am old and worn with great sufferings and great labors. Osiander may well hector, he has an easy time of it; he has only two sermons to deliver a week, and has four hundred florins a-year." "In 1521, I had a visit from one Marcus, one of the religionists of Zwickau, an agreeable-mannered man enough, but of empty opinions and life, in the view of conferring with me on the doctrine they profess. As he kept talking to me of things quite foreign from Scripture, I told him that I recognized the word of God alone, and that if he sought to establish anything else, he must at least prove his mission by miracles. His reply was, 'Miracles! Ah! you will see miracles, indeed, in seven years. God himself cannot take my faith from me.' He also said, 'I can see at once