From the Diet of Worms to the Augsburg Confession - James Aitken Wylie

character, and, what was infinitely more, truth, in
these attempts to reconcile the two. He had no fruit
of these efforts, save the consuming anxiety which
they caused him now, and the bitter mortification
which their failure gave him afterwards.
"I dwell in perpetual tears," wrote he to Luther.
In reply Luther points out, with admirable fidelity
and skill, at once the malady and its cure. The cure
is expressed in one word–Faith.
"Grace and peace in Christ! in Christ, I say, and
not in the world. Amen. I hate with exceeding
hatred those extreme cares which consume you. If
the cause is unjust, abandon it; if the cause is just,
why should we belie the promises of Him Who
commands us to sleep without fear? Can the devil
do more than kill us? Christ will not be wanting to
the work of justice and of truth. He lives; He
reigns: what fear then can we have? God is
powerful to upraise His cause if it is overthrown, to
make it proceed if it remains motionless; and, if we
are not worthy of it, He will do it by others.
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