nd a useless and vain
endeavor. For Christ says, John 6, 65; 14, 6: 'No man cometh unto the
Father but by Me.' Hence, when we approach the non-revealed God, there
is no faith, no word, nor any knowledge, because He is an invisible God
whom you will not make visible."

With special reference to his book _De Servo Arbitrio_ Luther continues:
"It was my desire to urge and set forth these things, because after my
death many will quote my books and by them try to prove and confirm all
manner of errors and follies of their own. Now, among others I have
written that all things are absolute and necessary; but at the same time
(and very often at other times) I added that we must look upon the
revealed God, as we sing in the Psalm: '_Er heisst Jesus Christ, der
Herr Zebaoth, und ist kein andrer Gott_,' 'Jesus Christ it is, of
Sabaoth Lord, and there's none other God.' But they will pass by all
these passages, and pick out those only concerning the hidden God. You,
therefore, who are now hearing me, remember that I have taught that we
must not inquire concerning the predestination of the hidden God, but
acquiesce in that which is revealed by the call and the ministry of the
Word. For there you can be certain regarding your faith and salvation
and say: I believe in the Son of God who said: 'He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life,' John 3, 36. In Him therefore is no damnation
or wrath, but the good will of God the Father. But these very things I
have set forth also elsewhere in my books, and now I transmit them
orally, too, _viva voce;_ hence I am excused--_ideo sum excusatus_."
(E., Op. Exeg. 6, 200. 292. 300; CONC. TRIGL. 897f.)

251. Luther Never Retracted His Doctrine of Grace.

It has frequently been asserted that Luther in his later years recalled
his book _De Servo Arbitrio_, and retracted, changed and essentially
modified his original doctrine of grace, or, at least silently,
abandoned it and relegated it to oblivion. Philippi says in his
_Glaubenslehre_ (4, 1, 37): "In the beginning of the Reformation [before
1525] the doctrine of predestination fell completely into the
background. But when Erasmus, in his endeavors to restore
Semi-Pelagianism, injected into the issue also the question of
predestination, Luther, in his _De Servo Arbitrio_ with an overbold
defiance, did not shrink from drawing also the inferences from his
position. He, however, not only never afterwards repeated this doctrine,
but in reality t