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 lower nobility appears to him, in spite of its moral degradation, as ordained of God (Erlangen edition, XL, pp. 282 ff.). The decisive influence of the Münzer disturbances in developing this view-point can clearly be seen in the letter (p. 282). Compare also Eger, op. cit., p. 150.

20. Also in the analysis of the 111th Psalm, verses 5 and 6 (Erlangen edition, XL, pp. 215-16), written in 1530, the starting-point is the polemics against withdrawal from the world into monasteries. But in this case the lex naturæ (as distinct from positive law made by the Emperor and the Jurists) is directly identical with divine justice. It is God's ordinance, and includes especially the division of the people into classes (p. 215). The equal value of the classes is emphasized, but only in the sight of God.

21. As taught especially in the works Von Konzilien und Kirchen (1539) and Kurzer Bekenntnis vom heiligen Sakrament (1545).

22. How far in the background of Luther's thought was the most important idea of proof of the Christian in his calling and his worldly conduct, which dominated Calvinism, is shown by this passage from Von Konzilien und Kirchen (1539, Erlangen edition, XXV, p. 376): "Besides these seven principal signs there are more superficial ones by which the holy Christian Church can be known. If we are not unchaste nor drunkards, proud, insolent, nor extravagant, but chaste, modest, and temperate." According to Luther these signs are not so infallible as the others (purity of doctrine, prayer, etc.). "Because certain of the heathen have borne themselves so and sometimes even appeared holier than Christians." Calvin's personal position was, as we shall see, not very different, but that was not true of Puritanism. In any case, for Luther the Christian serves God only in vocatione, not per vocationem (Eger, pp. 117 ff.). Of the idea of proof, on the other hand (more, however, in its Pietistic than its Calvinistic form), there are at least isolated suggestions in the German mystics (see for instance in Seeberg, Dogmengeschichte, p. 195, the passage from Suso, as well as those from Tauler quoted above), even though it was understood only in a psychological sense.

23. His final position is well expressed in some parts of the exegesis of Genesis (in the op. lat. exeget. edited by Elsperger).

Vol. IV, p. 109: "Neque hæc fuit levis tentatio, intentum esse suæ vocationi et de aliis non esse curiosum. Paucissimi sunt, qui sua sorte vivant contenti  (p. 111). Nostrum autem est, ut vocanti Deo pareamus  (p. 112). Regula igitur hæc servanda est, ut unusquisque maneat in sua vocatione et suo dono contentus vivat, de aliis autem non sit curiosus." In effect that is thoroughly in accordance with Thomas Aquinas's formulation of traditionalism (Secunda secundæ, Quest. 118, Art. 1): "Unde necesse est, quod bonum hominis circa ea consistat in quadam mensura, dum scilicet homo quærit habere exteriores divitas, prout sunt necessariæ ad vitam ejus secundum suam conditionem. Et ideo in excessu hujus mensuræ