A Treatise on Good Works

A Treatise on Good Works

together with the Letter of Dedication

by Dr. Martin Luther, 1520




INTRODUCTION

1. The Occasion of the Work.--Luther did not impose himself as reformer
upon the Church. In the course of a conscientious performance of the
duties of his office, to which he had been regularly and divinely
called, and without any urging on his part, he attained to this
position by inward necessity. In 1515 he received his appointment as
the standing substitute for the sickly city pastor, Simon Heinse, from
the city council of Wittenberg. Before this time he was obliged to
preach only occasionally in the convent, apart from his activity as
teacher in the University and convent. Through this appointment he was
in duty bound, by divine and human right, to lead and direct the
congregation at Wittenberg on the true way to life, and it would have
been a denial of the knowledge of salvation which God had led him to
acquire, by way of ardent inner struggles, if he had led the
congregation on any other way than the one God had revealed to him in
His Word. He could not deny before the congregation which had been
intrusted to his care, what up to this time he had taught with ever
increasing clearness in his lectures at the University--for in the
lectures on the Psalms, which he began to deliver in 1513, he declares
his conviction that faith alone justifies, as can be seen from the
complete manuscript, published since 1885, and with still greater
clearness from his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (1515-1516),
which is accessible since 1908; nor what he had urged as spiritual
adviser of his convent brethren when in deep distress--compare the
charming letter to Georg Spenlein, dated April 8, 1516.

Luther's first literary works to appear in print were also occasioned
by the work of his calling and of his office in the Wittenberg
congregation. He had no other object in view than to edify his
congregation and to lead it to Christ when, in 1517, he published his
first independent work, the Explanation of the Seven Penitential
Psalms. On Oct 31 of the same year he published his 95 Theses against
Indulgences. These were indeed intended as controversial theses for
theologians, but at the same time it is well known that Luther was
moved by his duty toward his congregation to declare his position in
this matter and to put in issue the whole question as to the right and
wrong of indulgences by means of his theses. His sermon Of Indulgences
and Grace, occasioned by Tetzel's attack and delivered in the latter
part of March, 1518, as well as his sermon Of Penitence, delivered
about the same time, were also intended for his congregation. Before
his congregation (Sept., 1516-Feb., 1517) he delivered the Sermons on
the Ten Commandments, which were published in 1518 and the Sermons on
the Lord's Prayer, which were also published in 1518 by Agricola.
Though Luther in the same year published a series of controversial
writings, which were occasioned by attacks from outside sources, viz.,
the Resolutiones disputationis de Virtute indulgentiarum, the Asterisci
adversus obeliscos Joh. Eccii, and the Ad dialogum Silv. Prieriatis
responsio, still he never was diverted by this necessary rebuttal from
his paramount duty, the edification of the congregation. The autumn of
the year 1518, when he was confronted with Cajetan, as well as the
whole year of 1519, when he held his disputations with Eck, etc., were
replete with disquietude and pressing labors; still Luther served his
congregation with a whole series of writings during this time, and only
regretted that he was not entirely at its disposal. Of such writings we
mention: Explanation of the Lord's Prayer for the simple Laity (an
elaboration of the sermons of 1517); Brief Explanation of the Ten
Commandments; Instruction concerning certain Articles, which might be
ascribed and imputed to him by his adversaries; Brief Instruction how
to Confess; Of Meditation on the Sacred Passion of Christ; Of Twofold
Righteousness; Of the Matrimonial Estate; Brief Form to understand and
to pray the Lord's Prayer; Explanation of the Lord's Prayer "vor sich
und hinter sich"; Of Prayer and Processions in Rogation Week; Of Usury;
Of the Sacrament of Penitence; Of Preparation for Death; Of the
Sacrament of Baptism; Of the Sacrament of the Sacred Body; Of
Excommunication. With but few exceptions these writings all appeared in
print in the year 1519, and again it was the congregation which Luther
sought primarily to serve. If the bounds of his congregation spread
ever wider beyond Wittenberg, so that his writings found a surprisingly
ready sale, even afar, that was not Luther's fault. Even the
Tessaradecas consolatoria, written in 1519 and printed in 1520, a book
of consolation, which was originally intended for the sick Elector of
Saxony, was written by him only upon solicitation from outside sources.

To this circle