Of the Roman Pope
and thus of the Antichrist.
Many of our theologians have written about this article, quite thoroughly and in detail. Especially Mr. Georgius Nigrinus and Dr. Daniel Cramerus, who proved irrefutably that the pope is the real Antichrist. Again, Mr. Georgus Mylius in his papal sermons, and the Protestants in their stately explanation, why they did not appear at the Council of Trent, before the highly enlightened man of God, blessed Luther, in the book of the papacy at Rome, founded by the devil in the 8th part of the Jena edition. [StL 17, 1019 ff.]
For this reason, we will not go into it at length this time, but will refer the eager reader to reported books, in which they will see with their own hands that the pope is not who he claims to be and yet is who he refuses to be. However, in order to provide a necessary account of this point in this little handbook, we will summarize these two parts:
1. that the pope is not who he claims to be.
2. that he certainly is who he does not want to be.
This should be spoken of simply, briefly, and yet thoroughly. Pious Christians want to show respect and learn to recognize the animal.
The first part.
What is the Roman pope pretending to be?
(1) If he claims to be the universal head of the church, which he is not, for the true church is content with one head, which is Christ Jesus, whom alone the Scriptures praise as our head.
Ephesians on 1 [:22]: God has put all things under the feet of Jesus Christ and has made him the head of the church over all things, which is his body.
Chapter 4 [:16]: Let us be righteous in love and grow in all things in him who is our head, Christ. By whom the whole body is knit together, and the members hang together by every joint, one helping another.
In chapter 5 [:22-23]: Wives are subject to their husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church and the Savior of his body. To the Colossians in the first chapter: He (the Lord Jesus) is before all, and all things consist in him, and he is the head of the body, namely the church.
In the first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 11 [:2]: I have espoused you uni Viro, to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.. From this it follows irrefutably that Christ Jesus alone is the head and not the pope.
Christ may be the head in heaven, but the pope on earth.
Christ Jesus is the head in heaven and on earth, for he fills all things. Ephesians in chapters 1 and 4: He is present everywhere, even in the midst of his enemies he reigns, Psalm 110 [:2]. He reigns from sea to sea, Psalm 72 [:8]. And the Scripture does not know this difference between the heavenly and earthly head, but says that Christ is the head, namely of the church, which is gathered to him here on earth.
But because the church is a visible body, it must also have a visible head.
That does not follow. Can the church be without a visible God, without visible faith? Can it
be fed and watered with the true body and blood of Jesus Christ? Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe, John 20 [:29] Christ Jesus, who would be the Son of God, can do as much, even if he is not seen, as all men can never do who are seen.
What more does the Pope say?
On the other hand, he says that he is Christ Jesus' vicar because of St. Peter, to whom the rule of faith has been given. From whom the pope also received that whatever he wills in matters of faith must be done and his voice must be heard and accepted. But this the pope wrongly presumes, for neither St. Peter nor the pope is given such power and dominion over the consciences of men, again in matters of faith. The Holy Spirit is supreme over us in these matters; He does not direct us to the Pope, but to the Holy Scriptures. Nowhere do we read that St. Peter presumed or used such authority, but he likewise directs us to the Scriptures, 1 Peter 4 [:11], 2 Peter 1 [:19-21]. Yes, St. Peter had to give way in matters of religion to St. Paul, who pointed out to him that he was not walking rightly according to the Gospel, to the Galatians 2 [:4]. If St. Peter had had such authority, he would not have allowed himself to be instructed by St. Paul.
Assuming (but not admitting) that St. Peter had such authority, it does not follow that therefore the popes have such authority; the popes are not apostles, as St. Peter was. But it is certain that neither Peter nor a pope has the power to dictate to us what we should believe according to their liking, but we are confined to Jesus Christ, who speaks in the Scriptures. Of Him the heavenly Father says: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, whom you shall hear, Matthew 17 [:5], not the pope. If we were to say in that day: Lord, the pope has commanded us: We are to believe thus. Then the heavenly Father would say: Who pointed you to the pope? I have pointed you to Jesus my Son. The Lord Jesus would say: I pointed you to my apostles and not to the pope.
130. The fourteenth article.
What more does the Pope want to be?
He still insists that he is Christ's vicar. But a pious heart should take heed of this, so that such a veil may be removed from him even more. If the pope wants to boast that he is Christ's vicar in office, he must not speak or act contrary to his Lord Jesus Christ, otherwise he will not be a faithful vicar. But now the pope does many things against Christ, whose vicar he boasts to be, as an example:
Christ directs us to the Scriptures, comments on the Scriptures, and says that eternal life can be had from them, John 5 [:39]. The pope desecrates the Scriptures, saying that one cannot be sufficiently instructed from them for salvation.
Christ says: You serve me in vain with the teaching of men, Matthew 15 [:9]. The Pope, on the other hand, imposes so much human teaching on us and wants us to abandon God's commandment rather than his commandment.
Christ says: He that believeth on him only shall be saved, John 3 [:15], Mark 9 [:23]. The pope utterly condemns this doctrine.
The Lord Christ says: We can be sure of our salvation and forgiveness of sins, Matt. 9 [:1-8], John 6. The pope curses him who wants to conclude that he will be saved.
Christ says: Drink from it, all of you, Matthew 26 [:27], the Pope shouts: Don't all drink from it.
Christ honors holy matrimony with his presence, approves the marriage of his apostles. The pope does the opposite, despising marriage, calling it a carnal state in which one cannot please God.
Christ Jesus says: You have received it for free, you shall give it for free. The pope does not give forgiveness of sins unless money is given to him.
Christ rides on a donkey, which he borrows. Has not, as he lays down his head. The pope rides on high stately horses, is accompanied with stately pomp, sits in great wealth, holds his own court.
Christ comes to us poor and miserable, he is humble. The pope has seized the world's greatest treasure, is arrogant. Let emperor and king await his service.
Christ, when he was called to account for his teaching, gave an account. The pope wants to be without rules, exlex [outside the law], not to tolerate a man questioning him about his doctrine. Indeed, the papal law (C. Sc. Papa. dist. 40.) expressly states that if the pope were to forget his own salvation and the salvation of his brethren, were to be incompetent and negligent in his office, and were to conceal what is good, and moreover were to lead countless peoples in heaps into the abyss of hell with him, so that they and he would have to be afflicted for eternity with many stripes, then no mortal man should say to him: What are you doing?
Indeed, this is not a vicar of Jesus Christ who has such a low regard for the souls that Jesus Christ redeemed so dearly with his death.
Is the Pope still giving more of himself?
He says that he is the general judge in matters of faith, and that he should be followed in everything, even if he rejects something contrary to God's Word. For, as Carolus Ruinus writes (Cons. 109. n. 1. lib. 5.), the pope has the power to speak and write against St. Paul's epistles. But this is an atrocious blasphemy. How can a man be a general judge in matters of faith, since the articles of faith come from God? Is God then subject to the Pope, must God's Word be interpreted as the Pope wishes? All men are liars; if the pope is a man, he must also be one of them. We do not consider the pope to be the general judge of disputes, but the Holy Spirit, who does not settle disputes through the pope, but through the one, holy, divine Scripture, as stated above in the first article. God has directed us to his Son, not to the pope, to the law and for testimony. Much less, however, do we consent to the blasphemy that the pope has power to order against Paul's epistle. For St. Paul clearly says in Galatians 1 [:8]: If an angel from heaven brings a different gospel than the one he preached, let him be accursed. And how can the popes be infallible judges when they themselves have accepted damnable heresies and have been tainted with other abominable, unchristian, ungodly vices, shame and sins? Yes, because the pope is the Antichrist himself, as
will soon be proven, should the Antichrist be accepted as the general judge?
Will he be content with that?
Not at all, but he says that he is also a temporal lord, and indeed the overlord over the emperor, over all Protestants and men on earth. Hence Pope Clement V boasted that just as gold is nobler and better than lead, so papal majesty is greater than imperial majesty. Just as the sun is seven and forty times greater than the moon, so the pope is greater than the emperor. Therefore the popes took away their power, that they went with feet from the heads of the Roman emperors. Again: the emperors were forced to take an oath that they would be faithful to the pope.
And how the pope rises in worldly splendor, in the glory of the world, can easily be deduced from the papal ceremonial book, for there it is commanded that all men, no matter whose rank and dignity they may be, if they are staying where the pope is, as soon as they see the pope and he allows them to come, they should kiss his feet. If, however, it should happen that the pope should wish to ride in his procession, and a king or emperor should happen to be present at that time, he should be obliged, when the pope wishes to saddle up, to hold his left hand and help him up, and then take the horse by the bridle and lead him a long way with his right hand. If, however, the pope would not have the opportunity to ride, but to be carried in his armchair, then every emperor or king present at that time should be obliged to step up next to his bearers, take the poles on his armpit, and thus carry and drag the pope away, sitting up in his armchair. If the pope then wished to dine, every king or emperor present was obliged to pour out the water for him when he washed himself, and also to serve and prepare the first dish and the first course with other table servants. And who wants to recount all that the Roman bishops presume to do in worldly matters? They want to install and depose emperors, all goods are to be fiefdoms of the pope, the pope may not be subject to anyone, but all people are to be subject to him,
all emperors and kings, he has the spiritual and the secular sword, etc.
What do you think now, dear Christian, can the pope say that he has such power from God's Word? Nevermore. Ah, the dear Lord Jesus Christ says: He did not come to be served, but to serve others, Matthew 20 [:28]. He did not submit to worldly rule, since they wanted to make him king, John 6 [:15], he flees and escapes. To Pilate, John. 18 [:36], he says: His kingdom is not of this world. Luke 12 [:13-14]. they spoke to him that he wanted to discuss the dispute about the brotherly inheritance; Christ does not want to be involved in world trade. He has not withdrawn himself from the worldly authorities, but has given them their charge, their bosom and treasure. He warned his apostles that they should not submit to any worldly rule, Matthew 20 [:25-26], Luke 22. Worldly kings rule, and the mighty are called gracious lords. But you are not so. And Christ said to Peter, put your sword into its sheath, so that he might make it clear that he did not want St. Peter or the clergy to usurp the worldly sword. Which he hereby also indicates, saying John 20 [:21]: As my Father sends me, so I send you. But his Father did not send him as a worldly lord. So Christ Jesus did not send his disciples as worldly lords and potentates. This is why the Roman pope, without any divine right, takes away his authority in worldly matters. St. Paul says: Let every man be subject to the authorities, etc. Rom. 13 [:1] The pope is not excluded, no one is excluded, no prophet, no apostle, as St. Chrysostom says.
Thus the pope is de jure not who he claims to be, and no Christian is obliged to take him for who he wants to be of his own free will.
The popes prove, especially their primacy, from Christ's passage in the 16th chapter of Matthew [:18]: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and I will give you the keys to heaven, etc.". From this they inferred that Peter was made the head of the Church, on whom the Church was founded. But the popes are heirs of St. Peter's throne, which is why they are justly subject to this primacy.
One can hardly refrain from laughing at the proof. Where does it say in this text that Peter should be such a
pope, should have such power as the popes now have? Well, then, since the popes lay most of their foundation on this passage, let us see how it applies to their cause, namely, like a coil in a sack.
The Lord Christ had asked the apostles what they thought of Christ, for whose Son did they recognize him? Then St. Peter answered on behalf of the others: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Christ said: This confession is right. Flesh and blood had not revealed this to him. He is on the right path, founded on the right foundation. Jesus Christ therefore says: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Lord Christ does not say: Tu es petra, you Peter are a rock, no, but you are Peter, a man of rock, who has founded your soul on the right rock, namely on Christ. Just as the Scriptures, in clear, bright, explicit words, calls Christ Jesus the rock and the cornerstone, Isaiah 28 [:16], in the 118th Psalm [:2]. In the 2nd chapter of First Peter [:6]. And St. Paul says in First Corinth. 3 [:11]: No other foundation can be laid than that which is laid, Jesus Christ. And to the Ephesians in chapter 2 [:20]: You have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, since Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. For this reason Christ does not say that St. Peter is the rock, but that Christ is the rock. 1 Corinthians, chapter 10 [:4]. Otherwise the church also would have been mightily ill provided for, because if St. Peter had died, her head would have died, and would follow that Christ's word would not be true, since he says: The gates of hell shall not prevail against thee. For of course St. Peter was overcome when he denied Christ his passion, which is why Christ calls him Satan in this very 16th chapter [Matt. 16:23 ]; Christ's church will not be founded on Satan. He was overcome because he so shamefully denied Christ Jesus. This clearly shows how Christ does not build his church on St. Peter. And there is reason here, because Christ also belongs to the church as the head, just as it is impossible that Christ should first base himself on a mortal man, or that the church should rely on mortal men. Cursed be the one who lays a foundation other than the one laid by Jesus Christ.
Concerning the other words: I will give you the keys, etc. Nor can it be proved from this that such papal authority was given to St. Peter. For Christ, Matthew 18 and John 20, gives this same power to all the apostles at the same time, not to St. Peter alone, it can be seen from this that St. Peter was given no preference. For Christ certainly did not want one of them to be pope. Otherwise, if he had wanted St. Peter to be pope, he would have said to the disciples that Peter should be the greatest, when they asked him [Matt. 18:1-4], Lord, who is to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? All this does not mean that Christ bound the papacy to Rome, because St. Peter did not become bishop in Rome, nor did he remain there, but went into all the world as Christ commanded. That is, he had to go and preach from time to time, but Rome had not brought St. Peter to faith.
Furthermore, even if St. Peter had been bishop of Rome, which can never be thoroughly proven, it does not follow that he was such a pope as the present popes. And since the popes want to refer to Peter, they must teach and live as St. Peter taught, lived, walked and acted in his preaching office. But if one compares St. Peter and the popes, it is easy to see how they agree with each other, namely, as light and darkness, as righteousness and unrighteousness.
St. Peter says in the 4th chapter of the Apostolic Histories [Acts 4:12]: There is no other name given by which one can be saved than the name of Jesus. And in chapter 10 [:43]: All the prophets testify to this Jesus, that in his name all who believe in him will receive forgiveness of sins. The pope does not attribute salvation to this one Jesus, but to masses, indulgences, pilgrimages, monastic vows, the merits of the saints, St. Mary, St. Francis, St. Dominic, etc.
St. Peter recognizes Christ as the one cornerstone and rock of the churches, 1 Peter 2 [:6] The pope proclaims himself to be the rock and cornerstone.
St. Peter alone calls Christ the arch-shepherd of our souls, 1 Peter 5 [:4]. The pope calls himself thus and pretends that he is the arch-shepherd of souls.
St. Peter points us to the Scriptures, whoever wants to speak, let him speak God's Word. The Pope directs us from the Word, from Scripture to his essays, decrees and own traditions.
St. Peter says [1 Pet. 5:2]: Do not feed the flock for the sake of shameful gain; the pope is most cruel and abominable, he does everything for money, Mass for money, forgiveness of sins for money.
St. Peter is angry with those who live in lust, 2 Pet. 2 [:10]. The pope has mostly such clergymen who live in pure lust, and he, the pope himself, lives in lust up to his ears, commits bankruptcy, fornicates, etc. Just as the other priests do.
St. Peter was simple, not highly decorated, the Pope's majesty is unspeakable.
St. Peter calls himself a fellow elder. 1 Pet. 5 [:1]: The pope is supreme over the whole clergy.
St. Peter says [1 Peter 5:3]: The priests should not rule over the flock, the pope is sovereign over all the laity.
St. Peter has had his wife and has married her, Matth. 8 [:14], 1 Cor. 9 [:5]. The pope condemns the marriage of priests.
St. Peter, when the lame blind man approached him for alms, said [Acts 3:6]: I do not have gold and silver, the pope has enough gold and silver, more than many emperors, more than many kings and princes have, which is why Pope John 22nd alone left two hundred and fifty tons of gold in his treasury. Does that also mean: I don't have gold and silver?
St. Peter scolded Simon, the sorcerer, because he wanted to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit for money, Acts 8 [:18]. The pope scolds no one, but rather writes his letters, in which he offers to sell forgiveness of sins, heaven and eternal salvation for money. Now since the popes are so unlike St. Peter, why should they draw the holy apostle into their papal guild, who speaks, writes and has lived, walked and acted much differently from the popes? From this it is obvious that the popes cannot prove and establish their papacy of St. Peter with any reason.
Let this much be said of the first part, that the pope is not who he claims to be. He is not the supreme bishop of all teachers, he is not Christ's, nor Peter's
vicar, or heir to the throne. He is not a secular lord over all empires and kingdoms etc. He is not a general judge in matters of faith, etc.
The second part.
What does Junker Pope not want to be?
He does not want to be the great Antichrist of whom the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments prophesy, since everything that has been proclaimed about the great Antichrist who sits in the Church of God is fulfilled in him.
1. Daniel says in chapter 11 [:36]: He will do as he pleases and will rise up and rebel against everything that is God, and against the God of all gods he will speak abominably. This has been amply fulfilled in the pope, for that he does what he wills is confessed by the papal scribes themselves innumerable times; that he exalts himself against and above God is evident, because he sets his commandment, his doctrine above and against God's commandment. Because he wants to be the one who may speak against Paul's epistles and exalt his mandate over them. Now the epistles of Paul, like the other canonical books, were not produced by human will, but driven by the Holy Spirit, spoken by the holy men of God, from which it is evident that whoever exalts himself above and against the Scriptures exalts himself above and against the living God himself. For all Scripture is from God. 2 Timothy 3 [:16].
2. Scripture says of the Antichrist that he will sit in the temple of God, that is, he will not be among the Turks, the Jews or the Gentiles, but will have his residence and abode in Christendom. 2 Thess. 2 [:4], which is clearly and obviously fulfilled in the Roman pope, who sits in the midst of Christians and presides over all Christendom.
3. Scripture also tells us the place where the Antichrist will have his court camp. Dan. 12 [Dan. 11:45]. Between two seas he will pitch the tent of his palace. Rev. 17 [:1] In such a city, which has the kingdom over the kings
of the earth, which is situated on seven mountains, this will be completely fulfilled in the pope. It sits between two seas, the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic. The city of Rome, where he has his court camp, is situated on seven different mountains, as the histories and the evidence testify. In it he has his castle of angels, his palaces, pleasure palaces and tents, much more splendid and magnificent than those of an emperor or king. This characteristic betrays the pope horribly, that he is the real Antichrist.
4. In the Revelation of John 13 [: ] it is written: The country and language of the Antichrist has such a name that when the letters of the same name are multiplied by numbers, they will give such a number as six hundred and sixty-six. This sign is fulfilled in the pope, because the language name is the word λατειτοζ, as St. Irenaeus calculated 1400 years ago. Since the number of 666 is exact, and the pope is a Latinus, an elector, sits in Latio, which is his mother tongue, he will not allow any language other than Latin to be used in the performance of his divine service, nor will he suffer the articles of faith to be confirmed from any Bible other than Latin.
5. Daniel 12: Instead of the true God and worship, the Antichrist will have a special god, of whom his fathers knew nothing, who will be called Mausim, whom he will honor with gold, silver, precious stones and jewels. What can be said more clearly about the pope? I mean, he has his own special god, of whom his father knew nothing, namely Mausim, the mass. Who knew anything about the papal mass 1000 years ago? The devil and the pope devised such a sacrifice, raised up such a god, which they honor with gold, silver and precious stones, which they enclose in a stately golden monstrance, and in sum, this sign is so clearly fulfilled by the pope that no man who only knows the papal mass may deny it.
6. St. Paul also describes the Antichrist thus: that his future will be with all kinds of lying powers, signs and wonders. 2 Thess. 2 [:9], which of course is also evident in the pope. There is no heresy that has defied signs and wonders as the pope has done. He is full of
miracles and wonders. And yet his miracles are all lies, just as the Jesuits delicately lie to the world that one may not have sharp questions.
7. Daniel 12 [Daniel 11:37] says of Antichrist that he will not respect the love of women, that is, conjugal love, which St. Paul interprets 1 Timothy 4 [:1-3] to mean that he will introduce the doctrine of the devil and forbid marriage. Chapter 4 thus interprets: He will introduce the doctrine of the devil and forbid marriage, does not the pope do this? Of course, he does not respect the chaste love of women, of course he forbids marriage, as reported in the previous article. On the other hand, he has his pleasure in harlotry, in silent sins, in foul weddings, in Florentine short cuts [?], in sodomitic abominations. As has been amply explained elsewhere.
8. Furthermore, the Antichrist is to be recognized by the prohibition of the food which God has created. 1 Timothy. 4 [:3]. that this mark is clearly fulfilled in the pope, the children of 7 or 8 years know to God's praise, for he certainly forbids the food, meat, cheese, butter, eggs, bacon, etc., which people may not use at certain times under penalty of banishment.
9. Revelation gives another sign by which the Antichrist is to be known, Apocalipsis 17 [:6], namely: He will be drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. That is, he will shed an unspeakable amount of Christian blood. Oh, God have mercy in heaven, how evidently this sign has been fulfilled in the pope, how many thousands of people have been killed, hanged, beheaded, burned, boiled, impaled and inflicted with all kinds of torture by his tyrants. Who on that day will accuse the pope with an intrepid mouth and testify to their innocence before Christ Jesus. Indeed, even today he will not stop shedding blood and murdering the evangelical Christians.
Since these signs are all irresistibly fulfilled in the pope, it must necessarily follow that he is the real Antichrist. For this reason the pope has been considered the Antichrist not only by us Evangelicals, but several hundred years ago, for Aventinus, the historian, reports that Pope John the 22nd was declared the Antichrist by the entire Roman Empire, secular and spiritual. Eberhard, the bishop of Salzburg [Wikipedia?], proclaimed the pope to be the
Antichrist before the whole empire 200 years ago. Aventinus writes that most godly people consider Pope Gregory the 7th to have begun the kingdom of Antichrist, and in sum, that the Pope is Antichrist is as evident as it is evident that twice three is six.
The Antichrist will come shortly before the Last Day, 3 years and 6 months, so the Pope is not the Antichrist.
That the Antichrist will only come so shortly before the Last Day can never be proven from Scripture, because St. Paul testifies in 2 Thess. 2 that the Antichrist was already pregnant with his evil deeds in his time. And John says in 1 Epistle 4 [:3] that the Antichrist was already present. It is indeed reported that he is to come in the last days, but the Scriptures call the last days the time from the birth of Christ until the last day, as it says in the second chapter of the first epistle of John [:18]: Children, now is the last hour. Even if it were certain that the Antichrist would reign 3 years and 6 months before the last day, we could actually know the time of the last judgment, since Christ says that we cannot and should not know it.
St. Paul, 2 Thess. 2 [:3], calls the Antichrist a man, the man of sin, speaks of only one man. But the popes are many, therefore the popes cannot be Antichrist.
St. Paul says: The man of sin, but this does not prove that he is speaking of only one person, for the Scriptures use the term "one man" to mean many people. 1 Corinthians 11 [:28] Paul says: But let a man examine himself. This is exactly what man is, and yet St. Paul speaks of many persons. Matthew, chapter 12 [:35]: A good man brings good things from the good treasure of his heart. Matthew, chapter 4 [:4]: Man does not live by bread alone. Matthew chapter 2 [Mark 2:27]: The Sabbath was made because of man and not man because of the Sabbath, from which it is evident that often, and never the word man is not to be understood of one person, but of many of the same species (eiusdem speciei). It is evident from this that Paul did not mean to imply only one person by the word man, because he says that the wickedness of the Antichrist was already being realized at that time, and yet the Antichrist will not be put to death until the Last Day.
Is it possible that a man should now live from the time of Paul to the Last Day? And if he was already in the days of Paul, so name him the popes who is the same man? The eternal man. But their objection is a shambles. They themselves, when they write in their books what privileges the pope has, put it badly, saying “the pope”, and yet understand it not only to refer to one person, but to all popes, that is the common way of speaking.
It is said of the Antichrist that he will destroy the temple. The pope does not do that.
The Antichrist will spiritually destroy the temple of God, as Daniel foretold. And this the pope does honestly, he has destroyed and confused the whole service of God, he has removed the right teaching from his temple as it is in the day, and this is called destroying the temple.
The Antichrist should abolish the eternal sacrifice, the Pope does not.
The pope obviously does this. The eternal sacrifice in the New Testament is the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he offered on the cross. The Pope abolishes this sacrifice and focuses on his sacrifice of the Mass, saying that the Mass is the eternal sacrifice, not the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. This is why the Pope must not pull his head out of the noose, as if he were not Antichrist. He is and remains so with his eternal damage.
We will leave it at that for now and let this present book be the end of it.
But we testify, as well as our adversaries with the same words, with thorough truth, from the bottom of our hearts, without hypocrisy and deceit, first of all toward God, that in this we have had nothing but God's honor and the promotion of the Christian faith all along from us and in our minds and faces, and have willingly not added certain false words. Secondly, that we do not wish to have any imperial, royal, electoral, princely, count, or honorable person, or any of the papists' authorities, reviled in any way with small words or thoughts, but only with the followers of the clergy, monks, Jesuits, priests, and teachers,
of whom we declare ourselves protesting vehemently (sclenniter protestanto), from our conscience and toward God.
And if I am prepared to confess and affirm this my confession without fear, not only here before men, but also there before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ with joy, I hope not to be put to shame, but to attain the end of my faith, which is eternal salvation, by grace. May God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the one, true and highly praised God for ever and ever, help me to achieve this. Amen.
End of this book.
To God alone the honor,
The Jesuits count no more.
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[This letter may be also found in the reference links in the American Edition, and the St. Louis Edition (German translated into English. However Hoe’s emphasis of wording is one benefit of following the below translation.]
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