see shining with a like show of works. Yet with the gifts of God which they have spent and abused in vain they might, if they had been filled with faith, have accomplished great things to the salvation of themselves and of others. [Sidenote: Men Need to be Taught of God] But since human nature and natural reason, as it is called, are by nature superstitious and ready to imagine, when laws and works are prescribed, that righteousness must be obtained through them; and further, since they are trained and confirmed in this opinion by the practice of all earthly lawgivers, it is impossible that they should of themselves escape from the slavery of works and come to a knowledge of the liberty of faith. Therefore there is need of the prayer that the Lord may give us [John 6:45] and make us _theodidacti_, that is, taught of God, and Himself, as He has promised, write His law in our hearts; otherwise there is no hope for us. For if He Himself do not teach our hearts this wisdom hidden in a mystery [1 Cor. 2:7], nature can only condemn it and judge it to be heretical, because nature is offended by it and regards it as foolishness. So we see that it happened in olden times, in the case of the Apostles and prophets, and so godless and blind popes and their flatterers do to me and to those who are like me. May God at last be merciful to them and to us, and cause His face to shine upon us [Ps. 67:1 f.], that we may know His way upon earth. His salvation among all nations, God, Who is blessed forever [2 Cor. 11:31]. Amen. FOOTNOTES [1] See below, page 304. [2] Sylvester Prierias. See Vol. I, p. 338. [3] Cf. Preface to Prierias' Epitome, _Weimar Ed._, VI, 329. [4] Virgil, _Georgics_, I, 514. [5] Pope Eugene III, 1145-1153, for whom Bernard of Clairvaux wrote a devotional book, _De consideratione_, in which he rehearsed the duties and the dangers of the pope. See Realencyklopädie II, 632; Kohler, Luther u. die Kirchengeschichte, 311 f. Cf. Resolutiones disput. de indulg. virtute, 1518, Clemen, 1, 113. [6] John Maier, born in Eck an der Günz, and generally known as John Eck; an ambitious theologian, who first attacked his professor in Freiburg, then Erasmus' Annotations to the New Testament, and next wrote against Luther's XCV Theses (see Vol. I, 10, 176, etc.). He was the opponent of Luther and Carlstadt at the Leipzig Disputation (1519), to which Luther here refers. [7] Jacopo de Vio, born in Gaeta, Italy, in 1469, died in 1534. The name Cajetan he derived from his birthplace, the Latin name of which is Cajeta. In the Dominican Order he was known as Thomas, so that his writings are published under the title, _Thomae de Vio Cajetani opera_. He was made cardinal-presbyter with the title of S. Sisto in 1517, and in the following year was sent as papal legate to the Diet of Augsburg. Here he met and examined Luther, but accomplished nothing because he insisted that Luther must recant. See Kolde in Realencyklopädie 3, 632 ff.