e is universal,
and that salvation is by grace alone. Luther always taught the
universality of God's love and mercy, as well as of Christ's redemption,
and the operation of the Holy Spirit in the means of grace. Also
according to _De Servo Arbitrio_, God wants all men to be saved, and
does not wish the death of sinners, but deplores and endeavors to remove
it. Luther fairly revels in such texts as Ezek. 18, 23 and 31, 11: "As I
live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye from your evil
ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" He calls the above a
"glorious passage" and "that sweetest Gospel voice--_illam vocem
dulcissimi Evangelii_." (E. v. a. 7, 218.)

Thus Luther rejoiced in universal grace, because it alone was able to
convince him that the Gospel promises embraced and included also him. In
like manner he considered the doctrine that salvation is by grace alone
to be most necessary and most comforting. Without this truth divine
assurance of salvation is impossible, with it, all doubts about the
final victory of faith are removed. Luther was convinced that, if he
were required to contribute anything to his own conversion,
preservation, and salvation, he could never attain these blessings.
Nothing can save but the grace which is grace alone. In _De Servo
Arbitrio_ everything is pressed into service to disprove and explode the
assertion of Erasmus that the human will is able to and does "work
something in matters pertaining to salvation," and to establish the
monergism or sole activity of grace in man's conversion. (St. L. 18,
1686, 1688.)

At the same time Luther maintained that man alone is at fault when he is
lost. In _De Servo Arbitrio_ he argues: Since it is God's will that all
men should be saved, it must be attributed to man's will if any one
perishes. The cause of damnation is unbelief, which thwarts the gracious
will of God so clearly revealed in the Gospel. The question, however,
why some are lost while others are saved, though their guilt is equal,
or why God does not save all men, since it is grace alone that saves,
and since grace is universal, Luther declines to answer. Moreover, he
demands that we both acknowledge and adore the unsearchable judgments of
God, and at the same time firmly adhere to the Gospel as revealed in the
Bible. All efforts to solve this mystery or to harmonize the hidden and
the revealed God,