12. Tthe Papacy and good works.
As is well known, the papacy presents itself before the church and the world265) as the great protector of sanctification and good works.266) The Roman polemic against the Reformation always comes to the point that "sanctification and good works would be dismissed" by the church's doctrine of grace of the Reformation. So of more recent papists also Möhler267) and Gibbons.268) Already in the Imperial Edict of Worms of 1521 it says: Luther "teaches a free, self-willed life, which is excluded from all laws and completely bestial".269) Luther remarks: "Shameful it is that emperors and princes publicly deal in lies."270) It is not Luther with his biblical doctrine of grace, but the sect of the Pope with his doctrine of works that is dismissing good works. The factual situation is this: By interdicting the Christian doctrine of justification,271) the papacy eo ipso also banishes good works, because good works in any case come into existence only as a consequence and effect of justification by faith without works of the law.272) If there are still individual souls under the papacy, in whom sanctification and good works are actually found, then these are the people who believe the gospel of the forgiveness of sins without works of the law, against the prohibition of the "church".273)
263) Tit. 3:8, 14; 1 Tim. 6:17 ff.<w:t>264) Phil. 3:20; Joh. 5:24.
265) Also before the world, and with success, quia liomines naturaliter ita iudicant Deum per opera placandum esse. Nec videt ratio aliam iustitiam quam iustitiam legis civiliter intellectae. (Apol. 151, 272. [Trigl. 225, III, 273 🔗])
266) Cf. Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore in The Faith of Our Fathers, chap. III, p. 35 ff.
267) Symbolik 5, p. 208 ff.<w:t xml:space="preserve">268) A. a. O., S. 49.
269) Published of Edict. St. L. XV, 2274 ff. 2281.
270) St. L. XV, 2275.
271) Tridentinum. sess. VI. can. 11. 12.
272, Rom. 12:1; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 7:5. 6; 6, 40; 8:3. 4.
273) Apol. 151, 269-271. [Trigl. 225, Apol., III, 269- 271 🔗]
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If we compare the "good works" done according to the official recipe of the papacy with the Christian good works, we get the following result: First, the works of the Christians are in any case thank-offerings for the forgiveness of sins already obtained through faith. The Papacy, on the other hand, means doing works to earn grace through the works de congruo and de condigno, as if God had not been in Christ and reconciled the world to Himself.274) Therefore, the works which the Roman Church teaches and calls "good works" are a denial and blasphemy of the redemptive work of Christ; "for if by the law comes righteousness, Christ died in vain" (δωρεάν άηεϑavev).275) Therefore, the Apostle Paul, who cares that Christ did not die in vain, pronounces the curse on all who teach "good works" according to the prescription of the papal church,276) and judges all who do good works according to this instruction that they do not have God's pleasure, but are under the curse.277) In short, as the Roman Church officially dismisses the Gospel and the Christian faith, so it officially dismisses good works and the Christian life. When Cardinal Gibbons portrays the Roman Church, with its doctrine of works, as "a society … for the sanctification of its members,"278) he proves that all his thoughts on sanctification and good works are situated outside Christianity. Gibbons does not know that sanctification and good works come only from faith in the gospel. Scripturally, Luther thus judges of the Roman "good works": "The works which are done apart from faith" (namely, apart from the belief that we have received grace for Christ's sake alone), "however holy they may look according to outward appearance, are under sin and the curse. Therefore, far from those who do them being deserving of grace, righteousness, and eternal life, they rather heap sin upon sin. In this way, the pope does works, the man of sin and the child of perdition, and all who follow him. In such a way also do all works-saints and the heretics who have fallen from the faith." 279) It therefore stands thus: The
274) 2 Cor. 5:19; 1 John 2:2; 4:10.<w:t xml:space="preserve"> 275) Gal. 2:21.
276) Gal. 1:6-9; 5:12.<w:t>277) Gal. 3:10.
278) The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 35 [p. 33]. 279) St. L. IX, 443.
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Papacy and its genuine members, because of the rejection of the Gospel, are in principle not designed for good works, but always for evil works. You cannot draw water after blocking the spring. Likewise, one cannot reject the gospel and yet still do good works. Of all works that men do, "worthless if detached" applies, namely, if the works are detached from faith in the gospel. Then: where faith in the gospel does not dwell in the heart, the devil has his work,280) and he is constantly driving to evil works. Therefore, we also see the following works in the papacy and its true members: Instead of praising the gospel, they curse it;281) instead of hearing and honoring the teachers and confessors of the gospel, as the Word of God demands,282) they disgrace them as apostates and heretics,283) and where they have the power to do so, they also persecute the gospel and its confessors with external violence.284)
280) Eph. 2:2.<w:t xml:space="preserve">281) Tridentinum. Sess. VI, can. 11. 12. 20.
282) Luke 10:16; Joh 13:20; Phil 2:29.
283) In the Edict of Worms, Luther is called "not a man," but "the evil enemy in the form of a man with an assumed monk's habit" (St. L. XV, 2282), and in the Bull of Excommunication, "a wild pig from the forest and a particularly wild animal" (St. L. XV, 1427). Luther's "memory" was to be "completely eradicated from the society of believers in Christ" (loc. cit., 1452).
284) In the Bull of Excommunication Leo X "commands". "to all and every prince, king, emperor, elector, duke, margrave, count, baron, captain, captains, nobles, communes, universities, powers, cities, lands, castles, and regions, or their inhabitants and citizens, and to all and every obedient person throughout the world, … that they or any of them at all and every pleas personally saw and caught Martin, his assistants, supporters, keepers and favorers, until our request and send them to us. On the other hand, they should receive a worthy reward and retribution from us and the Apostolic See for such a good work". (op. cit., 1453 f.) In the Edict, Charles V commands "all and every one in particular, in the duties that you owe to us and to the holy kingdom," "that you all and in particular . . do not house, court, etch, water, or abstain from the reported Martin Luther, nor show him any help, support, assistance, or encouragement, either secretly or publicly, either by word or deed, but rather, where you may arrive and enter him and be able to do so, accept him in custody and send him to us well preserved … and you will receive quite a bit of pleasure for such a holy work, even at your effort and expense". (op. cit., 2286.) Luther
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Secondly: Seen in terms of the norm, the works commanded by the Papacy also fall outside the framework of good works. According to Scripture, the predicate "good" belongs only to the works that God has commanded. The papacy, however, expressly obliges Christians not only to God's commandments, but also to the commandments of the church, that is, to human commandments.285) Therefore, it is precisely the peculiarly Roman "good works" that fall under the judgment of Christ: "In vain do they serve me, because they teach such doctrines as are nothing but the commandments of men." 286) It is a factual judgment when it has been said that by the flood of papist commandments of men287) the whole Christian life is turned into a caricature. According to the Scriptures, the life of Christians is thus shaped so that they sing and play to God in their hearts because of the grace obtained through faith in the gospel288) and then serve God cheerfully in the works that their position on earth entails, whether in the church or in the state
makes the remark about the "holy work": "Behold, the murderers called people strangle a holy work!" For further characterization of the Roman piety Luther says: "The Turk is ten times wiser and more pious than our princes are. … I lament this from the bottom of my heart to all pious Christians, that they take pity with me on such mad, foolish, nonsensical, raving, insane fools. Would that one were ten times better dead than to hear such blasphemy and reproach of divine majesty; yea, it is the deserved reward that they persecute the Word of God, therefore they shall be punished with such grasping blindness and tarnish." (op. cit., 2296.) The pope demands such "good works" from princes and countries even today. Leo XIII's Circular Letter (Immortale Dei) of November 1, 1885, also inculcates in the United States the duty to place itself at the service of the Papal Church and to suppress all other "worships" as soon as they have the power to do so. Cf. the article "The Pope's Latest Encyclical" in L. u. W. 1886, p. 12 ff. — Cardinal Gibbons joins those who also persecute Luther's person with invective when in The Faith of Our Fathers (p. 49 [p. 47]) he assigns Luther a place among the pseudo-reformers whose "private lives were stained bv cruelty, rapine, and licentiousness." To such "sanctification of its members" it urges Rome after rejection of the Christian doctrine of justification.
285) Tridentine. Sess. VI, can. 20: Si quis hominem iustificatum … dixerit non teneri ad observantiam mandatorum Dei et ecclesiae … anathema sit.. Likewise sess. VII, can. 8.
286) Matt. 15. 9.
287) which are a natural consequence of the rejection of the gospel. The Apology 122, 87 [Trigl. 177, III, 87 🔗]: "No works can put a conscience to rest, therefore new works are always devised without God's commandments."
288) Eph. 5:19: Col. 3:16.
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and in social life.289) On the other hand, a Roman-directed life is like this: after Rome has eliminated the gospel of God's grace in Christ by anathema, it instructs souls to seek and earn grace and salvation through their own holiness and works.290) The majority of those entrusted to his care are placed on the "second board" (secunda tabula) of the penance he invented (contritio cordis, confessio oris, satisfactio operis),291) also sent on journeys to Rome, Lourdes and other "places of grace".292) An elite is placed in the monastery to earn salvation for themselves by following the also invented consilia evangelica and to be able to give a surplus of good works (opera supererogationis) to others. But because the whole procedure is not reliable,293) , purgatory is offered for the perfected "sanctification".294) In sum: As Rome's doctrine of justification is the opposite of the Christian doctrine, so is a life directed by Rome the exact opposite of the Christian life drawn in the Scriptures.
The climax of the Roman inversion of sanctification and good works is found in the Jesuit Order. In this order, the rule is that even sins cease to be sins and become good works in the eminent sense when the superior of the order commands the sins and the members of the order perform them in dutiful obedience. The words read in the Institutum of the Order.295) " It hath seemed good in the Lord, ... that no constitution, declaration, or any rule of life, should involve the obligation of mortal or venial sin,
289) Rom. 15:16; 1 Cor. 7:20 ff; Col. 3:23. 24; Eph. 6:7; 1 Tim. 2:15. Here we must again recall Luther's classic description of a Christian life in the various stands on earth, St. L. IX, 952 ff. "If the Christian is a servant, he is cheerful and of good cheer; when he goes into the wood, rides in the field, he sings."
290) Tridentinum. sess. VI, can. 32.
291) Tridentinum. sess. VI, can. 14. cf. Luther XIX, 54 f.; XI, 720 f.
292) Cf. Luther on the "lying, shameful folly of the devil, which they [the Romans] have practiced with the sanctuary and pilgrimages". (St. L. XVI, 1661.)
293) Tridentinum. sess. VI, can. 14. 9.
294) Tridentinum. sess. VI, can. 30. Cf. Luther on the "blasphemous deceit of the purgatory, so that they also treacherously fooled and falsely frightened all the world." (St. L. XVI, 1653 f.)
295) Institutum societatis Iesu, auctoritate congregationis generalis 18. auctum et recusum. Pragae 1757. vol. I, p. 414 sq.
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unless the Superior should enjoin it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, or in virtue of obedience, which may be done in those things or persons where it shall be judged what is most conducive to the particular benefit of each, or to the general benefit: and that the fear of offence may be replaced by love and desire for all perfection, and that a greater honor and praise of Christ our Creator and Lord may be the result." 296) In the Index generalis this is summarized thus: "Superiors can oblige to sin by virtue of obedience, if this brings great benefit."297) Incidentally, Jesuitism, in requiring its religionists to renounce their own consciences, sets no novelty in the organism of the papacy. By denying to the rest of humanity its own judgment in matters of doctrine and life, and by requiring of it the sacrificium intellectus et voluntatis,298) the pope thereby demands of every human individual the renunciation of his own conscience, and thus the renunciation of that by which man differs from the animal. It has been rightly said of the papacy that it represents a "dehumanization of humanity". Through the Reformation, the right to be a man has been claimed for mankind. Luther calls for a referendum to the conscience of the individual in all matters of right and wrong. Matters of Christian doctrine and morals are decided by the individual Christian according to God's revealed Word.299) The
296) Visum est nobis in Domino … nullas constitutiones, declarationes vel ordinem ullum vivendi posse obligationem ad peccatum mortale vel veniale inducere, nisi superior ea in nomine Domini nostri Iesu Christi vel in virtute obedientiae iuberet: quod in rebus vel personis illis, in quibus iudicabitur, quod ad particulare uniuscuiusque vel ad universale bonum multum conveniet, fleri poterit: , et loco timoris offensae succedat amor et desiderium omnis perfectionis, et ut maior gloria et laus Christi, Creatoris ac Domini nostri, consequatur. [Google]
297) A. a. O., Vol. II, Index generalis, under bem 3dtet "Obedientiae et Obedire": Superiores possunt obligare ad peccatum in virtute obedientiae, quando id multum conveniat. Par. 6, c. 5, p. 414. Cf. the article "Jesuitism" by Dr. Walther, Der Lutheraner 1853, p. 49 ff.
298) Thus not only in the Declaration of Infallibility of 1870 (Baier I, 81), but already in the Tridentinum, sess. IV (Smets, p. 15) and wherever the judgment of doctrines is denied to the individual Christian. (Cf. Luther XIX, 341 ff.).
299) Luther explains this powerfully in 1 Pet. 3:15 (St. L. IX, 1235 ff.). He says, among other things: " See what St. Peter says here to all of us, that we should give
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Things that lie in the realm of the state and civil life are judged by the individual according to the light of reason or the "natural law, of which all reason is full."300) It has been objected in favor of the Roman demand to renounce one's own judgment that God also demands the sacrificium intellectus et voluntatis and that Christians perform it, as is evident from 2 Cor. 10:5: "We take captive all reason under the obedience of Christ," αίχμαλωτίζοντες παν νόημα εις την νπακοην τον Χρίστον. Against this it is to be said that God and his word and the Pope and his word are quite different things and authorities. By placing his own Word next to God's Word and eo ipso above God's Word, the Pope acts as
give answer and show reason of our faith. If you die, I will not be with you, nor will the pope. If then you do not know the reason for your hope and say, "I believe as the councils, the Pope and our fathers believed," the devil will answer, "But what if they were mistaken? Therefore, we must know what we believe, namely, what is the Word of God, not what the Pope or councils put or say. For you must not trust in men, but in the Word of God alone. … Therefore thou shalt say, What inquire I after what he or he believes or decides; if it be not the Word of God, I will not hear it. Yea, saith thou, it is a confounded thing about faith, that no man knoweth what to believe: therefore must we wait till it be determined what we shall believe. Answer: In the meantime you will also go to the devil. For when the time comes for you to die and you do not know what to believe, neither I nor anyone else can help you. Therefore thou must know thyself, and turn to no man, and stand fast by the Word of God, if thou wilt escape the devil and hell."
300) According to this, the individual must also carefully examine whether, for example, a war is justified or not. (Cf. Luther, St. L. X, 413 ff. 524 ff.) Whether a war is justified or unjust can neither be decided by the state (secular authorities) nor by the church (pastor, synod) nor by any man for the conscience of the individual. That is why Luther inculcates to investigate the situation not just above, but "by possible diligence". This is, of course, also the meaning of the 16th article of the Augustana, where among the functions of the authorities the "waging of right wars" is mentioned. The limitation applies not only to the commandment of the authorities, but also to the obedience of the subjects, as is expressly noted at the end of the article. Likewise, Luther teaches in the above-mentioned passages. Only where, after diligent examination, one's own judgment is impossible, that is, where uncertainty remains as the result of the examination, should, in Luther's opinion, the Christian, if forced into military service, "not weaken certain obedience [to the authorities] for the sake of uncertain rights."
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Antichrist. Then, as Luther reminds us, God deals with man in a completely different way than the Pope. God demands that man submit his mind and will to God, but God does it in such a way that through the Holy Spirit, who is active in His Word, He enlightens man's intellect and changes man's will in such a way that ex nolente volens becomes. In other words, God enlightens and corrects the natural conscience, the pope suppresses it. — It has been further objected that the suppression of the natural conscience is not a speciality of the papacy and Jesuitism, but is found everywhere in the world, where in business interest, party interest or in other subjective interests the difference between good and evil is practically abolished. That is correct. But this is only a proof of the fact that in the papacy we have a confluxus of all heresies and ungodliness that are found in church and world. Then there is a difference between the godlessness of the world and the godlessness of Rome. The world openly pronounces its apostasy from God when it says that the difference between good and evil is not to be observed in the interest of business, family, state, party, association, etc. Rome, on the other hand, covers its godlessness with the name of Christ and the Christian Church.