# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_December 1859_S368
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

368 Comparison of Luther with Arndt and August H. Francke in Respect, etc.

come to repentance, if only they would give God room in their hearts, although Luther does not call upon them to repent nor tell them, say, what they themselves must do in order to be disposed for grace through their own preparation. He writes: "This the work-righteous cannot now do, for glory always follows after; as they have said: honor follows virtue, just as the shadow follows a man. If it is a glorying in our own works, whether commanded by men or by God, then it is dung; but if it is a glorying in the works that God does in us, then it is right, as Psalm 118 says: The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord shows strength." In the same way Luther, too, drives home good works. He says: "But the kingdom of Christ stands and is increased by this, that the conscience is comforted with the Word; whatever else happens with works and laws belongs entirely to one's neighbor; for I need no works at all toward God, but only that I rightly acknowledge sin; then I have forgiveness of sins and am one with God, which the Holy Spirit will accomplish entirely in me. After that I break forth, as these men here do who carried the paralytic to the Lord; they were in the kingdom, or rather they show that those who are in Christ's kingdom, because the Evangelist says the Lord looked upon their faith — for if they had not had faith, they would not have brought the paralytic to the Lord. Faith comes before the work, the work after faith; therefore, because they are now in the kingdom, they bring forth the work. On this earth man does not live for the sake of the work, that it may profit him — he has no need of it for himself; but if you perform a work in order thereby to obtain or merit something from God, then it is over, then you have already fallen out of this kingdom; but as long as you believe and continue to live longer (further), you must know that you live for this reason, that you should bring the paralytic here." After Luther has thus made for himself a free path to preach of good works, he now begins to do so with a loud voice and continues thus: "God does not want a Christian to live for his own sake; indeed, cursed be the life that lives for itself; for whatever is lived hereafter is lived for the sake of others." In what follows, after mentioning the works of the image-breakers, Luther also gives the true marks of a truly good work toward one's neighbor, when he writes: "the Word must be driven home, it must be hammered in among men; I must eat and drink, adorn and clothe myself, not that I may live, but that I may drive home the Word, so that where a Christian's life is not directed toward the Word, it is not right; I must help the conscience according to the Word; I should feed and give drink to my neighbor and do everything for him that I can, so that I may arrive at the main point, namely, to set the conscience upright; as these men here do, who help him to his body and health. And although it is indeed a bodily benefit or work, yet they thereby help him so that his soul, too, may be set upright again. Thus I feed a hungry man . . . and the like, but