"A contrite heart is a matter of very great importance, but it is only found in connection with an ardent faith in God's promises of reward and punishment. This faith, divining the unchangeableness of the truth of God, disturbs and reproves the conscience, and so renders it contrite; but, at the same time, it exalts and comforts that conscience, and so keeps it contrite. Wherever faith is found, the certainty of punishment causes contrition, and the trustworthiness of the promises is the means of consolation; and through this faith a man obtains the forgiveness of sins. Hence, faith takes precedence of all else as a thing needing to be taught and called forth. Once faith is present, contrition and divine comfort follow naturally and inevitably."
-Martin Luther, Babylonian Captivity of the Church, 1520.
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