Note 522 — Chapter XVII

“Opp.,” Antwerpiæ, 1706, 3, p. 242 seq.; p. 589 seq. Aug. Hardeland (“Gesch. der speziellen Seelsorge in der vorreformatorischen Kirche und der Kirche der Reformation,” Berlin, 1898, p. 261) remarks: “The idea that we must always do the exact opposite of what the devil suggests, is the leading one in Gerson’s Tractate ‘De remediis contra pusillanimitatem.’” He is of opinion that, in advising Weller to sin, Luther was “using this maxim of Gerson’s, and probably only meant: ‘Do not be afraid to do what, from the standpoint of your scrupulosity, appears to be sinful.’” Luther’s advice, however, was not intended for a scrupulous person predisposed to exaggeration or to narrowness of heart, but for all those who despaired of their salvation and were unable to believe in Luther’s doctrine of the forgiveness of sins and in his assurance of salvation. “Cogitationes immanissimæ,” Luther calls Weller’s ideas, “quando diabolus reos (nos) egerit mortis et inferni.... In æternum condemnaberis?” Weller, the disciple, has first to learn: “novi quendam, qui passus est pro me ac satisfecit,” etc.