Page:Works of Martin Luther, with introductions and notes, Volume 1.djvu/136

122 health, he is in sin, and is constantly prone to fall, yea, is falling every day, into more sins; and is thus constantly thwarting the most loving will of his most loving Father! To such a heat of indignation was St. Paul moved, in Romans vii, when after complaining that he did not the good that he would, but the evil that he would not, he cried out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God," he answers, "through Jesus Christ."

That man loves God his Father but little, who does not prefer the evil of dying to this evil of sinning. For God has appointed death, that this evil might come to an end, and that death might be the minister of life and righteousness, of which more below.