[1131] Sell, ibid., p. 98.
[1132] To Melanchthon, June 30, 1530, “Briefwechsel,” 8, p. 51.
[1133] On August 26, 1530, “Briefwechsel,” 8, p. 219. Cp. his letters of July 13 to Melanchthon, of July 15 to Jonas, Spalatin and Melanchthon.
[1134] On September 11, “Briefwechsel,” 8, p. 252: “Utinam episcopi eam (iurisdictionem) accepissent sub istis conditionibus! Sed ipsi habent nares in suam rem.”
[1135] To Camerarius, November 2, 1540, “Corp. ref.,” 3, p. 1126.
[1136] Cp. his “Apologia” of the Augsburg Confession, Art. iv., “Symb. Bücher,” p. 87, where, on the doctrine of Justification, the old German translation runs: “Because the gainsayers know not nor understand what the words of Scripture mean, what forgiveness of sins, or grace, or faith, or justice is ... they have miserably robbed poor souls, to whom it was a matter of life and death, of their eternal consolation.” Page 90: “They do not know what the fear of death or the assaults of the devil are ... when the heart feels the anger of God or the conscience is troubled ... but the affrighted conscience knows well that it is impossible to merit either de condigno or de congruo, and therefore soon sinks into distrust and despair,” etc. Page 95: The new teaching alone was able “to raise up our hearts even amidst the terrors of sin and death,” etc. Hence Melanchthon insists in his “Brevis discendæ theologiæ ratio” (“Corp. ref.,” 2, p. 458), that Bible study served “ad usum et ad tentationes superandas comparanda cognitio.”
[1137] See Kawerau, “Luthers Stellung,” etc. (above p. 319, n. 1), p. 32. Cp. Kawerau, “Studien und Kritiken,” 1897, p. 678 f.
[1138] Plitt-Kolde,³, 1900.
[1139] Melanchthon to Spalatin, September, 1524, “Corp. ref.,” 1, p. 674, after the publication of the “Diatribe”: “Diu optavi Luthero prudentem aliquem de hoc negotio antagonistam contingere.” “His own testimony (in 1536) is decisive as to the effect of Erasmus on his opinion regarding free-will.” Ellinger, ibid., p. 199. On the “Diatribe,” see our vol. ii., p. 261 ff.
[1140] Ellinger, ibid., p. 202. In this he was of course inconsequent, for, as Ellinger says, where it is a question of the religious life, he traces everything back to the action of God. “It is easy to see, that, here, as in Luther’s case (where the Deus absconditus plays a part), we have merely an expedient.” Ibid.