[230] p. 111.
[231] Owing to his assertion of man’s unfreedom and passivity, Luther found it very difficult to retain the true meaning of conscience. So long as he thought in any way as a Catholic he recognised the inner voice, the “synteresis,” that urges us to what is good and reproves what is evil, leaving man freedom of choice; this we see from his first Commentary on the Psalms, above, vol. i., p. 76 f. But already in his Commentary on Romans he characterised the “synteresis,” and the assumption of any freedom of choice on man’s part, as the loophole through which the old theology had dragged in its errors concerning grace. (Above, vol. i., p. 233 f.)
[232] Cp. W. Walther, “Die christl. Sittlichkeit,” p. 31.
[233] Above, vol. iv., p. 227. “You are to believe without doubting what God Himself has spoken to you, for I have God’s authority and commission to speak to and to comfort you.”
[234] Letter of Aug. 21, 1544, “Briefe,” ed. De Wette, 5, p. 680: “Believe me, Christ speaks through me.”
[235] “Colloq.,” ed. Bindseil, 3, p. 220: “persuasi mihi, esse de coelo vocem Dei.”
[236] Letter of March 8, 1544, “Briefe,” ib., p. 636.
[237] In the letter quoted in n. 2, ib., p. 679 f.
[238] Ib.
[239] “Werke,” Erl. ed., 18², p. 337.