Page:Works of Martin Luther, with introductions and notes, Volume 1.djvu/103

 Rh in the Decretals and is current in the Church, to wit, that every Christian should once in a year make confession of all his sins (so the words run), is either a devilish and most murderous doctrine, or else is sorely in need of a loose interpretation.

Not all sins, I say, either mortal or venial, are to be confessed, but it should be known that after a man has used all diligence in confessing, he has yet confessed only the smaller part of his sins. How do we know this? Because the Scripture says, "Cleanse Thou me from hidden sins, O Lord." These hidden sins God alone knows. And again it says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God." Even this holy prophet confesses that his heart is unclean. And all the holy Church prays, "Thy will be done"; and thus confesses that she does not do the will of God, and is herself a sinner.

Furthermore, we are so far from being able to know or confess all the mortal sins that even our good works are damnable and mortal, if God were to judge with strictness, and not to receive them with forgiving mercy. If, therefore, all mortal sins are to be confessed, it can be done in a brief word, by saying at once, "Behond, all that I am, my life, all that I do and say, is such that it is mortal and damnable"; according to what is written in the cxliii. Psalm, "Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no flesh living be justified"; and in the Epistle to the Romans, Chapter vii, "But I am a carnal, sold under sin; I know that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing; the evil that I would not, that I do, etc."

But most of all mortal sins, this is the most mortal, not to believe that we are hateful in the sight of God because of damnable and mortal sin. To such madness these theologians, with this rule of theirs, strive zealously and perniciously to drag the consciences of men, by teaching that