How regularly and steadily things had gone downhill with me for a long time, till, in the end, I was curiously bared of every concievable thing. I had not even a comb left, not even a book to read, when things grew all too sad with me.
The point i wish to emphasize here is that sadism is not identical with destructiveness, although it is to a great extend blended with it. The destructive person wants to destroy the object, that is, to do away with it and to get rid of it. The sadist wants to dominate his object and therefore suffers a loss if his object disappears.
Luther's relationship to God was one of complete submission. In psychological terms his concept of faith means: if you completely submit, if you accept your individual insignificance, then the all-powerful God may be willing to love you and save you. If you get rid off your individual self with all shortcomings and doubts by utmost self-effacement, you free yourself from the feeling of your own nothingness and can participate in God's glory.