[1603] W. Köhler, “Katholizismus und Reformation,” pp. 54-58. Of this description O. Clemen remarks in the “Zeitschr. f. KG.,” 1909, p. 380: “Those pages have attracted special attention where Köhler shows that, in the Catholic criticism of Luther’s doctrine of salvation, as unfair to ethical requirements, there lies a grain of truth.”
[1604] “Werke,” Weim. ed., 24, p. 355; cp. Erl. ed., 14², pp. 191, 195, 198 f., 205, 211 f.
[1605] On the teaching of antiquity see Bellarmin, “De iustificatione,” 5, n. 10 seq.
[1606] See vol. i., p. 118 ff.
[1607] Cp. e.g., “Werke,” Weim. ed., 6, p. 683 f.; 10, 2, p. 126; Erl. ed., 22, p. 54; 28, p. 164; 53, p. 288. Vol. 15², p. 282, he speaks of the “lousy works,” and, pointing out that Christ had become the fulfiller of the Law, says: “They [the Papists] boast of their works.”—This is for him the real object of attack; he is determined to inveigh against the “unus furor, velle per opera coram Deo agere,” and says of the Catholics: “opera quibus erga homines utendum est, offerunt Deo.” “Werke,” Weim. ed., 10, 2, p. 187; “Opp. lat. var.,” 6, p. 396.
[1608] “My struggle has been first of all against all trust in works, on which the world insists and struts.” “Werke,” Erl. ed., 58, p. 382, Table-Talk.
[1609] To George Spenlein, the Memmingen Augustinian, April 8, 1516, “Briefwechsel,” 1, p. 29: against the “tentatio præsumptionis in multis et iis præcipue qui iusti et boni esse omnibus viribus student; ignorantes iustitiam Dei, quæ in Christo est nobis effusissime et gratis donata, quærunt in se ipsis tamdiu operari bene, donec habeant fiduciam standi coram Deo, veluti virtutibus et meritis ornati; quod est impossibile fieri.” Cp. Weim. ed., 1, p. 347; “Opp. lat. var.,” 1, p. 236, where he speaks against the “affectus propriæ iustitiæ” and declares that the sense of good works performed led men to fall. P. 347=237: the wish to have remained always pure was simply foolish, etc.
[1610] “Opera,” Pars II. Ingolstadtii, 1531, p. 95: “Calumniatur Ludderus. quod per opera sua Christum excludant mediatorem,” etc.
[1611] W. Köhler, “Denifles Luther,” p. 42, referring to Luther’s Works, Erl. ed., 32, p. 261.
[1612] From Kilian Leib, “Verantwortung des Klosterstandes,” fol. 170´. Cp. Döllinger, “Reformation,” 1, p. 5, 33; 2nd ed., p. 587.