[360] "Wenn man die Lehre angriefft, so wird die Gans am Kragen gegriffen." (Luth. Op. (W.) xxii, p. 1369.) We too have in our day forgotten the capital doctrine of justification by faith, though, in a sense, the reverse of that of our fathers. "In the time of Luther," says one of our contemporaries,[361] "the remission of sins at least cost money, but in our day every one supplies himself gratis." These two extremes are very much alike. Perhaps there is even more forgetfulness of God in our extreme, than in that of the sixteenth century. The principle of justification by the grace of God, which brought the Church out of so much darkness at the time of the Reformation, is also the only principle which can renew our generation, put an end to its doubts and waverings, destroy the canker of egotism, establish the reign of morality and justice, and, in one word reunite the world to God, from whom it has been separated. [361] Harms de Kiel. But if the theses of Luther were mighty in virtue of the truth which they proclaimed, they were not less so through the faith of their declared defender. He had boldly unsheathed the sword of the Word, and he had done it trusting to the power of truth. He had felt, that in leaning on the promises of God he could, in the language of the world, afford to risk something. Speaking of this bold attack, he says, "Let him who would begin a good enterprise undertake it, trusting to its own merits, and not (of this let him beware) to the help and countenance of man. Moreover, let not men, nor even the whole world, deter him. For these words will never deceive:--'It is good to trust in the Lord; and none that trust in him shall be confounded.' But let him who neither is able nor willing to hazard something through trust in God, beware of undertaking any thing."[362] Doubtless, Luther, after putting up his theses on the door of the church of All Saints, retired to his tranquil cell, in full possession of the peace and joy imparted by an action done in the name of the Lord, and for the sake of eternal truth. [362] Luth. Op. Leips. vi, p. 518.