the sick Elector
of Saxony, was written by him only upon solicitation from outside
sources.

To this circle of writings the treatise _Of Good Works_ also
belongs. Though the incentive for its composition came from
George Spalatin, court-preacher to the Elector, who reminded
Luther of a promise he had given, still Luther was willing to
undertake it only when he recalled that in a previous sermon to
his congregation he occasionally had made a similar promise to
deliver a sermon on good works;[3] and when Luther actually
commenced the composition he had nothing else in view but the
preparation of a sermon for his congregation on this important
topic.

But while the work was in progress the material so accumulated
that it far outgrew the bounds of a sermon for his congregation.
On March 25. he wrote to Spatatin that it would become a whole
booklet instead of a sermon; on May 5. he again emphasizes the
growth of the material; on May 13. he speaks of its completion at
an early date, and on June 8. he could send Melanchthon a printed
copy. It was entitled: _Von den gutenwerckenn: D. M. L.
Vuittenherg_. On the last page it bore the printer's mark:
_Getruck zu Wittenberg bey dem iungen Melchior Lotther. Im
Tausent funfhundert vnud zweynitzsgen Jar_. It filled not less
than 58 leaves, quarto. In spite of its volume, however, the
intention of the book for the congregation remained, now however,
not only for the narrow circle of the Wittenberg congregation,
but for the Christian layman in general. In the dedicatory
preface Luther lays the greatest stress upon this, for he writes:
"Though I know of a great many, and must hear it daily, who think
lightly of my poverty and say that I write only small Sexternlein
(tracts of small volume) and German sermons for the untaught
laity, I will not permit that to move me. Would to God that
during my life I had served but one layman for his betterment
with all my powers; it would be sufficient for me, I would thank
God and suffer all my books to perish thereafter...Most willingly
I will leave the honor of greater things to others, and not at
all will I be ashamed of preaching and writing German to the
untaught laity."

Since Luther had dedicated the afore-mentioned _Tessaradecas
conolatoria_ to the reigning Prince,[4] he now, probably on
Spalatin's recommendation, dedicated the Treatise on Good Works
to his brother John, who afterward, in 1525, succeeded Frederick
in the Electorate. The