ute toward the confusion of consciences, because they are
self-elected, do not flow from faith, and are done with the
pretension of doing works well-pleasing to God.

This brings us to the end of the fundamental part of the
treatise. It was not Luther's intention, however, to speak only
on the essence of good works and their fundamental relation to
faith; he would show, too, how the "best work," faith, must prove
itself in every way a living faith, according to the other
commandments. Luther does not proceed to this part, however,
until in the fundamental part he has said with emphasis, that the
believer, the spiritual man, needs no such instruction (1.
Timothy 1:9), but that he of his own accord and at all times does
good works "as his faith, his confidence, teaches him." Only
"because we do not all have such faith, or are unmindful of it,"
does such instruction become necessary.

Nor does he proceed until he has repeated his oft repeated words
concerning the relation of faith to good works to the relation of
the First to the other Commandments. From the fact, that
according to the First Commandment, we acquire a pure heart and
confidence toward God, he derives the good work of the Second
Commandment, namely, "to praise God, to acknowledge His grace, to
render all honor to Him alone." From the same source he derives
the good work of the Third Commandment, namely, "to observe
divine services with prayer and the hearing of preaching, to
incline the imagination of our hearts toward God's benefits, and,
to that end, to mortify and overcome the flesh." From the same
source he derives the works of the Second Table.

The argument on the Third and Fourth Commandments claims nearly
one-half of the entire treatise. Among the good works which,
according to the Third Commandment, should be an exercise and
proof of faith, Luther especially mentions the proper hearing of
mass and of preaching, common prayer, bodily discipline and the
mortification of the flesh, and he joins the former and the
latter by an important fundamental discussion of the New
Testament conception of Sabbath rest.

Luther discusses the Fourth Commandment as fully as the Third.
The exercise of faith, according to this Commandment, consists in
the faithful performance of the duties of children toward their
parents, of parents toward their children, and of subordinates
toward their superiors in the ecclesiastical as well as in the
common civil sphere. The v