I
frankly confess that, for myself, even if it could be, I should not want
free-will to be given me, nor anything to be left in my own hands to
enable me to endeavor after salvation; not merely because in face of so
many dangers, and adversities and assaults of devils, I could not stand
my ground; but because even were there no dangers I should still be
forced to labor with no guarantee of success
But now that God has taken my salvation out of the control of my own
will, and put it under the control of His, and promised to save me, not
according to my working or running, but according to His own grace and
mercy, I have the comfortable certainty that He is faithful and will not
lie to me, and that He is also great and powerful, so that no devils or
opposition can break Him or pluck me from Him. Furthermore, I have the
comfortable certainty that I please God, not by reason of the merit of
my works, but by reason of His merciful favor promised to me; so that,
if I work too little, or badly, He does not impute it to me, but with
fatherly compassion pardons me and makes me better. This is the glorying
of all the saints in their God.
- Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1957), 313-314.
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