“Merit is a work for the sake of which Christ gives rewards. But no such work is to be found, for Christ gives by promise. Just as if a prince should say to me, "Come to me in my castle, and I will give you a hundred florins." I do a work, certainly, in going to the castle, but the gift is not given me as the reward of my work in going, but because the prince promised it to me.”

—  Martin Luther

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 409.

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Martin Luther photo
Martin Luther 214
seminal figure in Protestant Reformation 1483–1546

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