Last Judgment (Post) (Rogers) n. 35

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35. [34.] Some people have two states, one when engaged in discourse in the light of doctrinal teaching, another when thinking to themselves. In the first state the person is present in the body and in its conscious awareness, because he is caught up in his lower thought which is connected with speech. At that time he also experiences a pleasure in speaking, prompted for the most part by pride in his learning. But in the second state the person is present in his spirit, and is then in a state of oblivion, because he is thinking withdrawn from the body and above the thought nearest to the natural, sensual plane. This was the case with Luther. Being prompted by the gratification of acclaim, he experienced the pleasure of his life when speaking, and he did this on the subject of faith alone in accordance with his doctrine. However, when he pondered to himself, he thought in support of good works. Thinking in this way when by himself in a state of oblivion remained in him from boyhood, because that was the religion he was born into and in which he became a monk. But because he conceived something novel, he undertook a withdrawal from that religion by separating faith from good works.


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