Note 627 — PART II.

Opera, tom. vi. col. 296 (ed. of 1617). The history of these and other dark times shows us, however, occasional bright and isolated glimpses of the existence of true Christianity in general society and in the cloisters. In the personal history of Luther, for example, few circumstances are more interesting than the fact of Staupitz, the Vicar-General of the Order of Augustine Monks of Germany, earnestly and tenderly assisting the young and distressed monk of Erfurth to arrive at a knowledge of salvation by faith alone (as laid down in the Scriptures—a copy of which he presented to him), and not by works.