CHAPTER XXIX

. ETHICAL RESULTS OF THE NEW TEACHING _pages_ 3-164

1. PRELIMINARIES. NEW FOUNDATIONS OF MORALITY.

Difficulties involved in Luther’s standpoint; poverty of human reason, power of the devil, etc. How despair may serve to excite humility _pages_ 3-7

2. THE TWO POLES: THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.

His merits in distinguishing the two; what he means by “the Gospel”; his contempt for “the Law”; the Law a mere gallows _pages_ 7-14

3. ENCOUNTER WITH THE ANTINOMIANISM OR AGRICOLA.

Connection between Agricola’s doctrine and Luther’s. Luther’s first step against Agricola; the Disputations; the tract “Against the Antinomians”; action of the Court; end of Agricola; the reaction of the Antinomian movement on Luther _pages_ 15-25

4. THE CERTAINTY OF SALVATION AND ITS RELATION TO MORALITY.

Psychology of Luther’s conception of this certainty as the very cause and aim of true morality. Luther’s last sermons at Eisleben; notable omissions in these sermons on morality; his wavering between Old and New _pages_ 25-43

5. ABASEMENT OF PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY.

Faith, praise and gratitude our only duties towards God. “All works, apart from faith, must be for our neighbour’s sake.” There are “no good works save such as God commands.” Good works done without faith are mere sins. Annulment of the supernatural and abasement of the natural order. The Book of Concord on the curtailment of free-will. Christianity merely inward. Divorce of Church and World, of Religion and Morals. Lack of obligation and sanction _pages_ 43-66

6. THE PART PLAYED BY CONSCIENCE AND PERSONALITY. LUTHER’S WARFARE WITH HIS OLD FRIEND CASPAR SCHWENCKFELD.

On Conscience and its exercise; how to set it to rest. Help of conscience at critical junctures. Conscience in the religious questions of the day. Schwenckfeld _pages_ 66-84

7. SELF-IMPROVEMENT AND THE REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH.

Whether Luther founded a school of godly, Christian life. A Lutheran theologian on the lack of any teaching concerning emancipation from the world. The means of self-reform and their reverse side. Self-reform and hatred of the foe. Companion phenomena of Luther’s hate. Kindlier traits and episodes: The Kohlhase case in history and legend. The Reformation of the Church and Luther’s Ethics; His work “Against the new idol and olden devil.” The Reformation in the Duchy of Saxony. The aims of the Reformation and the currents of the age _pages_ 84-133

8. THE CHURCH APART OF THE TRUE BELIEVERS.

Luther’s earlier theory on the subject; Schwenckfeld; the proceedings at Leisnig; the Popular Church supported by the State; the abortive attempt to create a Church Apart in Hesse _pages_ 133-144

9. PUBLIC WORSHIP. QUESTIONS OF RITUAL.

The “Deutsche Messe”; the liturgy not meant for “true believers”; place of the sermon _pages_ 145-154

10. SCHWENCKFELD AS A CRITIC OF THE ETHICAL RESULTS OF LUTHER’S LIFE-WORK.

Schwenckfeld disappointed in his hope of a moral renovation. Luther’s wrong teaching on Law and Evangel; on predestination, on freedom and on faith alone, on the inward and outward Word. Schwenckfeld on the Popular Church and the new Divine Service _pages_ 155-164

##