Note 418 — Chapter V

Weim. ed., 9, pp. 98, 102 f. The real action of God on the spirit is that which takes place through Him “ignorantibus et non intelligentibus nobis id quod agit.” He complains: “Etsi sciamus quod Deus non agat in nobis, nisi prius nos et nostra destruat ... non nudi stamus in mera fide”; but the “nuda fides” is necessary because God acts contrary to our ways of thinking and does what we may fancy to be “ex diabolo.” Such exhortations to confide ourselves blindly to a higher direction may be right, but one naturally asks how is the fact of this guidance from on high to be guaranteed and distinguished from a mere leading astray. Luther in his public life simply assumed his mission to be divine because he felt it to be such (see vol. iii., xvi., 1 and 2), and because he persuaded himself that he was being led by inspiration from above “like a blind horse” to fight against Antichrist.