[587] See vol. ii., p. 82 f.
[588] Passages tallying with the “Esto peccator” are to be found elsewhere in Luther’s writings. Cp. for instance his letter of 1516 (vol. i., p. 88 f.) to Spenlein, where he says: “Cave, ne aliquando ad tantam puritatem aspires, ut peccator tibi videri nolis, imo esse. Christus enim nonnisi in peccatoribus habitat.... Igitur nonnisi in illo pacem invenies.” In “Opp. lat. var.,” 1, p. 236 seq., it is likewise explained why one must be a great sinner; he insists that “credenti omnia sunt auctore Christo possibilia” and condemns strongly “affectus propriæ iustitiæ,” until he arrives at the paradox, “Ideo est peccatum, ut in peccatis apti ad spem simus” (p. 239). In perfect harmony with such early statements is the letter he wrote towards the end of his life to Spalatin when the latter was sunk in melancholy; here he says: “Nimis tener hactenus fuisti peccator.... Iunge te nobis veris magnis et duris peccatoribus”; he must, so Christ speaking through Luther tells him, hold alone to faith in the Divine mercy. August 21, 1544, “Briefe,” ed. De Wette, 5, p. 680.
[589] “Symbolik,” § 16, p. 161.
[590] 1, p. 301. Other Protestant writers, such as Carové “Alleinseligmachende Kirche,” 2, p. 434 (see K. A. Hase, “Polemik,”4 p. 267), declared it to be “a downright calumny to say that so shocking a doctrine occurred in a work of Luther’s.”
[591] “Katholizismus und Reformation,” p. 58.
[592] “Ein Wort zu Denifles Luther,” Tübingen, 1904, pp. 38-45.
[593] Köhler here quotes Denifle (“Luther,” p. 442; ed. 2, p. 465), who gives these words in their full context from Luther’s MS. Commentary on Romans. We may point out that Denifle quotes an abundance of similar passages from Luther’s works, amongst which those taken from his early Commentary on Romans are particularly interesting.
[594] “Werke,” Weim. ed., 7, p. 27; Erl. ed., 27, p. 185; Köhler, ibid., p. 43 f.
[595] Ibid., p. 25=181=44.
[596] On June 29, 1530, from the fortress of Coburg, “Briefwechsel,” 8, p. 44. Melanchthon had told Luther his fears and anxieties on account of the impending discussion of the point of faith before the Diet of Augsburg. Luther is encouraging him.