Body; Of
Excommunication. With but few exceptions these writings all appeared in
print in the year 1519, and again it was the congregation which Luther
sought primarily to serve. If the bounds of his congregation spread
ever wider beyond Wittenberg, so that his writings found a surprisingly
ready sale, even afar, that was not Luther's fault. Even the
Tessaradecas consolatoria, written in 1519 and printed in 1520, a book
of consolation, which was originally intended for 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; 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 Spalatin 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 guten
werckenn: D. M. L. Vuittenberg. On the last page it bore the printer's
mark: Getruck zu Wittenberg bey dem iungen Melchior Lotther. Im Tausent
funfhundert vnnd zweyntzigsten 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