. Has even the angry and impetuous Amsdorf
ever taught and written thus? ...We know well, praise God, and confess
that a Christian should and must do good works. Nobody disputes and
speaks concerning that; nor has anybody doubted this. On the contrary,
we speak and dispute concerning this, whether a Christian earns
salvation by the good works which he should and must do.... For we all
say and confess that after his renewal and new birth a Christian should
love and fear God and do all manner of good works, but not that he may
be saved, for he is saved already by faith (_aber nicht darum, dass er
selig werde, denn er ist schon durch den Glauben selig_). This is the
true prophetic and apostolic doctrine, and whoever teaches otherwise is
already accursed and damned. I, therefore, Nicholas von Amsdorf,
declare: Whoever teaches and preaches these words as they read (Good
works are necessary to salvation), is a Pelagian, a mameluke, and a
denier of Christ, and he has the same spirit which prompted Drs. Mensing
and Witzel to write against Dr. Luther, of blessed memory, that good
works are necessary to salvation." (Schlb. 7, 210.)

Another attack was entitled: "Against the Evangelist of the Holy Gown,
Dr. Miser Major. _Wider den Evangelisten des heiligen Chorrocks, Dr.
Geitz Major,_" 1552. Here Flacius--for he was the author of this
publication--maintained that neither justification, nor salvation, nor
the preservation of the state of grace is to be based on good works. He
objected to Major's propositions because they actually made good works
the antecedent and cause of salvation and robbed Christians of their
comfort. He declared: "When we say: That is necessary for this work or
matter, it means just as much as if we said: It is a cause, or, by this
or that work one effects this or that." As to the practical consequences
of Major's propositions, Flacius remarks: "If therefore good works are
necessary to salvation, and if it is impossible for any one to be saved
without them, then tell us, Dr. Major, how can a man be saved who all
his life till his last breath has led a sinful life, but now when about
to die, desires to apprehend Christ (as is the case with many on their
death-bed or on the gallows)? How will Major comfort such a poor
sinner?" The poor sinner, Flacius continues, would declare: "Major, the
great theologian, writes and teaches as most certain that no one can be
saved without good works, and that good works are abso