Matth. 8, 1-13.
And when he was come down from the mountain, much people followed him. And, behold, a leper came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, and said: I will do it; be cleansed. And straightway he was cleansed from his leprosy. And Jesus said unto him, See thou tell no man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded for a testimony against them. And when Jesus was come into Capernaum, a certain centurion came unto him, and besought him, saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, and in great affliction. Jesus said unto him, I will come and heal him. And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man, and subject to the authorities, and have under me soldiers: but if I say to one, Go, he goeth; and to another, Come, he cometh: Come hither, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him: Verily I say unto you, I have not found such faith in Israel. But I say unto you, That many shall come from the morning and from the evening, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way, and it shall be done unto thee according to thy faith. And his servant was healed at that very hour.
The Gospel teaches us two examples of faith and love: one in the leper, the other in the centurion. Let us look at the leper first. The leper would not have been so bold as to go to the Lord and ask to be cleansed, if he had not trusted and trusted with all his heart that Christ would be so kind and gracious as to cleanse him. For because he was a leper, he had reason to be afraid; moreover, the law commanded the lepers not to make themselves known to the people. He still insists, regardless of the law and the people, and how pure and holy Christ is.
(2) See how faith sets itself against Christ; it ill imagines nothing, but the mere goodness and grace of Christ in vain, without all merit to seek and obtain. For it cannot be said here that the leper, by his cleanness, deserves to come so near to Christ and to talk with him and call upon his help; indeed, for the very reason that he feels his uncleanness and unworthiness, he goes all the more and looks only to Christ's goodness. That is a true
Faith, a living confidence in God's goodness. The heart that does so believes rightly; the heart that does not do so does not believe rightly; as those do who do not merely take God's goodness into their eyes, but first look around for their good works, so that they may be worthy of the goodness to deserve it. They will never be bold enough to call upon God in earnest or to approach Him.
Now this confidence or faith, or knowledge of the goodness of Christ, would not have arisen in this leper from his own reason, if he had not first heard a good rumor about Christ, namely, how he is so kind, gracious, merciful, helps and gives to everyone, comforts and advises whoever comes to him. Such a cry must have come to his ears without doubt; but from such a cry he took courage, and also turned and interpreted such a rumor to his benefit, drew the same goodness to himself and thought with all confidence: He will also be so kind to me, as the cry goes from him and as his good rumor is. So his faith did not come from reason, but was received from such a cry of Christ, as St. Paul says Rom. 10, 17: "Faith is a good thing.
comes from hearing, but hearing comes from the word or cry of Christ."
(4) Now this is the gospel, which is the beginning, the means, and the end of all good and salvation; for so we have often heard that first of all one must hear the gospel, and then believe and love and do good works; not first do good works, and so reverse the nature, as the teachers of works do. But the gospel is a good rumor, speech, and cry of Christ, how he is nothing but goodness, love, and grace; so that it does not sound of any other man or saint. For though other saints also have good tidings and cries, yet it is not called the gospel, unless it speak only of Christ's goodness and grace; and if it should speak also of other saints, it is no longer the gospel. For it seeks to build faith and confidence on the rock, Jesus Christ alone.
5 You see, then, that this example of the leper fights for faith against works. For as Christ helpeth this man by grace through faith, without any works of his own, and without any merit of his own; so doth he to every man, and so he would have him keep and wait for him. And if this leper had come in such a way that he had said, "Behold, Lord, I have prayed or fasted so much, and thou wilt look upon it, and therefore make me clean," Christ would never have cleansed him. Because such a man does not rely on God's grace, but on his own merit. Thus God's grace is not praised, loved, praised, nor desired, but one's own works take away such honor and rob God of His own. This means kissing the hand and denying God, as Job 31:27, 28 says: "Have I ever kissed my hand? which is a great sin and denial of the Most High"; and Isa. 2:8: "They have worshipped the works of their hands", that is, the honor and confidence that they should give to God's grace, they put on their own work.
6 Again, the example of love is illustrated in Christ against the leper. For there you see how love makes him a servant, that he helps the poor free of charge, seeking neither pleasure, favor nor honor.
but only the benefit of the poor and the glory of God the Father. Therefore, he also forbids him to tell anyone, so that it may be a pure work of free, kind love.
7 This is what I have often said, how faith makes us masters, love makes us servants; yes, through faith we become gods and partakers of divine natures and names, as Ps. 82:6 says: "I have said that you are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But through love we become like the very poorest. By faith we are allowed nothing and have full sufficiency; by love we serve everyone. By faith we receive goods from above, from God; by love we let them out from below, to our neighbor. Just as Christ, according to the Godhead, had no need of anything, but according to humanity he served everyone who had need of him. Of this we have often enough said that we must also be born children and gods, lords and kings of God through faith; just as Christ is born in eternity from the Father a true God: and again, breaking forth through love, help the neighbor with beneficence; just as Christ became man to help us all. And just as Christ did not earn by works beforehand, or acquire by becoming man, that he is God; but earned the same from birth, without any works, and before that, before he became man: so also we have the adoption as children of God, that sins may be forgiven us, death and hell do not harm us, not by works or love earned; but without works and before love, received by grace through faith in the Gospel. And as Christ became man to serve us only after he is eternally God, so we also do well and love our neighbor afterwards, if we are already pious, sinless, alive, blessed and God's children through faith. This is from the first example of the leper.
(8) The other example is like it, as far as faith and love are concerned. For this centurion also has a hearty confidence in Christ, and forms before his eyes nothing but the goodness and grace of Christ; otherwise he would not have come to him.
or would not have sent to him, as Lucas Cap. 7, 3. says. Neither would he have had such bold confidence if he had not first heard of Christ's goodness and grace; so that here too the gospel is the beginning and stimulus of his confidence or faith.
(9) In which we learn once again that one must begin with the gospel and believe in it, and not look to any merit or work; just as this centurion did not look to any merit or work, but only to his confidence in Christ's goodness. So that we see how all the works of Christ are examples of the gospel, faith and love.
(10) Thus we also see the example of love, that Christ does him good in vain, without any request or gift, as was said above. The centurion also shows the example of love, that he takes care of his servant as himself; just as Christ took care of us, and also does the good work on him in vain, only too good for the servant, as Lucas says, Cap. 7, 2, that he did it because the same servant was dear and valuable to him; as if he should say: Love and desire drove him, which he had for him, that he saw his need and did this. Let us also do this, and see to it that we do not deceive ourselves and think that we now have the gospel, and yet pay no attention to our neighbor in his need. Let this be said of the two examples; now let us also see some parts of the text.
(11) The fact that the leper so moderates his prayer and says, "Lord, if you are willing, you can cleanse me," is not to be understood as if he doubted Christ's goodness and grace. For faith would be nothing if it believed that Christ was almighty, able and knowing all things; for this is living faith, which does not doubt that God is also good and gracious in His will to do what we ask. But it is to be understood in this way: faith does not doubt that God has a good will toward the person, wants and grants him all good things; but that which faith asks and pretends to do, we are not aware of whether it is good and useful for us; that is known to us.
but God alone. Therefore, faith asks that everything be placed in the hands of God's gracious will, so that it may serve His glory and our benefit, and does not doubt that God will give it, or, if it is not to be given, that His divine will, out of great grace, will not give it, because it sees that it is better specified. With this, however, faith in God's gracious will remains certain and certain that He will give it or not, as St. Paul also says in Romans 8:26 that we do not know what or how we should ask, and in the Lord's Prayer calls us to prefer His will and ask for it.
(12) This is what we have often said, that we should believe without doubt and without measure in the goodness of God, but we should ask with the measure that His glory, His kingdom and His will be, so that we do not set a time, place, measure or name for His will, but give it all freely to Him. That is why the prayer of the leper is so pleasing to the Lord and will soon be heard. For where we set it at his will, and desire what is pleasing to him, he cannot leave it; he does again what is pleasing to us. Faith makes him favorable to us; so such serene prayer makes him give what we ask. The sending of the leper to the priests, why it happened and what it means, is sufficiently told in the postilion of the ten lepers.
But that he says, "I have not found such faith in Israel," etc. has been treated with great concern, lest either Christ should lie, or the mother of God and the apostles should be no less than this centurion. Although I would also like to say that Christ is speaking here of the people of Israel, where he had ever preached and to whom he had come, so that his mother and disciples would be excluded when they went with him and came to such a people of Israel as he preaches, I will nevertheless stick badly to the word of the Lord and let them go as they are; and this for this reason: first, that there is no article of faith against it, that this faith of the centurion had its equal neither in the apostles nor in the mother of God. But where Christ's words are not publicly opposed by any article of faith, they are to be accepted as they sound, and not as they are spoken.
484 D. ii> s8-"". On the third Sunday after Epiphany. W. xi, ssü-ses. 485
We are not to guide or bend our interpretation, neither for the sake of any saint, nor angel, nor God Himself; for His Word is the truth even above all saints and angels.
14 Secondly, because such judging and bending comes from a carnal mind and devotion, that we do not measure the saints of God according to God's grace, but according to their person, worthiness and greatness; which is against God, who measures so much differently, only according to His gifts. For he never let St. John the Baptist perform miracles, John 10:41, which some lesser saints have done. And summa, he often does through lesser saints what he does not do through great saints. He hid Himself from His mother when He was twelve years old and let her wander and be ignorant, Luc. 2, 43. He showed Himself to Mary Magdalene, Joh. 20, 14, before He showed Himself to His mother and the apostles on Easter day. He spoke so kindly to the Samaritan woman, Joh. 4, 7. and to the adulteress, Joh. 8, 10. that he never spoke so kindly to his own mother. Item, when Peter falls and denies, the murderer stands at the cross and believes strongly.
(15) With these and similar miracles he shows that he wants his Spirit to be unmeasured by us in his saints and that we should not judge according to the person: he wants to give his gifts freely, as it pleases him, says St. Paul 1 Cor. 12:11, not as it seems to us. Yes, he says of himself John 14:12: "He that believeth on him shall do greater signs than he hath done." All this so that no one may measure himself above another, and no one may exalt one saint above another and cause sectarianism; but let them all be equal in God's grace, as unequal as they are in His gifts. He will do through St. Stephen what he will not do through St. Peter, and through St. Peter what he will not do through his mother; that he alone may do all things in all, without distinction of person, according to his will.
16 So also here it is to be understood that at the time of his preaching he did not find such faith, neither in the mother nor in the apostles, whether or not he found greater faith before or after.
in the mother and apostles and many others. For it may well be that he gave his mother great faith at the time she conceived him and gave birth to him, and afterward not so great, or seldom so great, and sometimes let it fall away, as he did when she had lost him three days, Luc. 2. As he does with all his saints; and if he did not, the saints would fall into presumption and make themselves idols, or we would make idols of them, and look more to their worthiness and person than to God's grace.
17 From this notice how we are fools and so ignorant of divine works and miracles, who so despise the common Christian man, and hold that only the sharp hats and scholars may know and conclude about God's truth; yet here Christ lifts this Gentile with his faith above all his disciples. This means that we are attached to persons and statuses and not to God's words and graces. That is why we also go astray in all things with persons and estates, and then say that the Christian church and conciliation have said these things, that they cannot err, and that they have the Holy Spirit; whereas Christ is with the despised, and sends persons and conciliation to the devil. Therefore notice that Christ thus exalts the Gentile. It is true about Annas, Caiphas and all priests, scholars and saints, who should all be students of this pagan, let alone conclude and set anything above him. God does not give faith to a great saint and a great faith to a small one, so that one always holds the other higher than himself, Rom. 12, 10.
Lord, I am not worthy.
This is the great faith of this Gentile, that he knows how salvation does not depend on the bodily presence of Christ, for this does not help, but on the word and faith. The apostles did not yet know this, and perhaps neither did their mother, but held fast to His physical presence and did not like to let it go, John 16:6,
did not stick to his word alone. But this heathen is so content with the word that he does not even desire its presence, nor does he think himself worthy of it, and proves his mighty faith with such a likeness and says: "I am a man", and can create with a word with my own what I want; should you then not create with your word what you want; because I certainly know and you also prove that health and sickness, death and life are subject to you as my servants are to me? Therefore his servant also is made whole from the beginning by the power of this faith.
(19) And because there is the time and the gospel here, we must say a little of the strange faith and its power, since much is concerned with it, most of all for the sake of the young children who are kept in baptism, who are saved not by their own faith, but by "other people's" faith; as here this servant was healed not by his own faith, but by his master's faith. We have never acted on this matter before, therefore we must act here, for the sake of future danger and error, as much as it is up to us to anticipate.
20. first of all, we must leave the ground firm and certain that no one will be saved by another's faith or righteousness, but by his own; again, no one will be condemned because of another's unbelief or sins, but because of his own unbelief, as the gospel clearly says Marc. 16, 16."He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned"; and Rom. 1:17: "The just shall live by faith"; and John 3:16, 18: "He that believeth on him shall not perish, but have everlasting life"; item: "He that believeth on him shall not be judged; he that believeth not on him is judged already." These are bright, public words, that everyone must believe for himself, and no one may help himself through strange faith without his own faith. One must not depart from these sayings, nor deny them, let it be true what it is true, and let all the world perish rather than change this divine truth. And whether something apparent would be raised against it.
that you could not answer for, you should rather confess that you do not understand it and command God before you allow anything against these clear sayings. Let it be Gentiles, Jews, Turks, young children, and all that is there where they can, these words shall and must be right and true.
Now the question is, where do the young children remain, if they do not yet have reason and cannot believe for themselves, because it is written, Rom. 10, 17: "Faith comes by hearing, but hearing comes by preaching God's word. Now the young children do not hear nor understand God's word; so they may not have faith of their own.
22) To these questions, the sophists in the high schools and the Pope's group have invented such an answer that the young children are baptized without their own faith, namely, on the faith of the church, which the godparents confess at baptism; then in baptism, by the power and authority of baptism, the sin of the child is forgiven and his own faith is infused with grace, so that a newborn child is born of water and the Holy Spirit.
But if one asks them the reason for such an answer and where it is found in the Scriptures, one finds it in the dark smoke hole, or they point to their birettas (berets) and say: We are the highly learned doctors and say such things, therefore it is right, you must not ask further; as almost all their teachings have no other reason than their own dreams and conceits. And when they are most anxious, they bring in a saying with the hair of St. Augustine or some other holy father. But this is not enough for us in matters concerning the salvation of souls, for they themselves and all the holy fathers were people and men. Who will vouch for me and be good that they say right? Who will rely on it and die on it, because they say it without Scripture and God's word? Saints, saints; if my soul is to be eternally lost or preserved, I cannot rely on all the angels and saints, let alone on one saint or two, if they do not show me God's word.
(24) From this lie they continued, and came so far that they taught and still hold that the sacraments have such power that even if you have no faith and receive the sacrament (if you do not intend to sin), you still receive grace and forgiveness of sins without all faith. This they have introduced from the previous opinion, considering that the young children thus receive grace without faith, only by the power and force of baptism, as they dream. That is why they attribute it to the ancients and to all men, and say all this from their own minds, so that they have masterfully eradicated the Christian faith, rendered it null and void, and erected only our work with the power of the sacraments. I have written enough about this in the articles of the Bulls of Leonis.
(25) The holy old fathers, however, have spoken a little too much of this, though not clearly enough, who do not speak of such fictitious power of the sacraments, but say thus: that the young children are baptized in the faith of the Christian church. But because they do not thoroughly explain how the same Christian faith helps the children, whether they thereby acquire a faith of their own, or whether they are only baptized in the Christian faith, they themselves without faith: The sophists go on, interpreting the holy fathers' word to the effect that the children are baptized without their own faith, attaining grace in the church faith alone; for they are hostile to faith; where they may only exalt works, faith must suffer; not even thinking whether the holy fathers err, or whether they themselves understand the fathers rightly.
26. beware of this poison and error, even if it were the opinion expressed by all the fathers and conciliarities; for it does not exist, has no Scriptural basis in itself, but is vain human folly and dreams; moreover, it is flatly and publicly contrary to the foregoing main sayings, since Christ says, "He that believeth and is baptized," 2c, that in short it is decided that baptism helps no one, nor is it to be given to anyone who believes but for himself, and that no one is to be baptized without his own faith; as also St. Augustine himself says: Non sacra.
mentum justificat, sed fides sacramenti: The sacrament does not justify, but the faith of the sacrament.
(27) Above these are some others, such as the Waldenses, who hold that each one must believe for himself and receive baptism or the sacrament with his own faith; if not, baptism or the sacrament is of no use to him. So far they speak and hold right. But that they approach and baptize young children, whom they also consider to be those who have no faith of their own, is a mockery of holy baptism, and sins against the other commandment, that they uselessly and vainly lead God's name and word with conscience and courage. Nor is it of any use to them to say that children will be baptized for their future faith when they come to their senses. For faith must be there before or ever in baptism; otherwise the child will not be freed from the devil and sins.
028 Therefore, if their opinion were right, all that is done with the child in baptism should be a lie and a mockery. For the Baptist asks, "Does the child believe?" and they answer: Yes, in his stead; and: And if he will be baptized, he also answers, Yes, in his stead; yet no one is baptized in his stead, but he himself is baptized. Therefore he must believe himself, or the godparents must lie when they say in his place: I believe. Item: the baptist boasts that he is born again, that his sins are forgiven, that he is free from the devil, and puts a white shirt on him as a sign of this, and indeed acts with him as with a new holy child of God: all this would have to be false, if there were no faith of his own; and it would be better never to baptize a child, than thus to fool and juggle with God's words and sacrament, as if he were an idol or a fool.
Neither does it help that they divide the kingdom of God into three parts: First, the Christian church; second, eternal life; third, the gospel. And then to say that the children are baptized into the kingdom of heaven in the third and first way, that is, they are baptized, not that they are thereby blessed and have forgiveness of sins.
But they are taken into Christianity and brought to the gospel. All this is nothing spoken and invented out of one's own conceit. For this is not called entering the kingdom of heaven, that I should come among Christians and hear the gospel; which also the Gentiles can do, and is done without baptism. Nor does this mean entering the kingdom of heaven, you speak of the kingdom of heaven in the first, second or third way, as you wish; but it means being in the kingdom of heaven when I am a living member of Christianity, and not only hear the gospel, but also believe it. Otherwise a man would be in the kingdom of heaven just as if I threw a log and block among the Christians, or as if the devil were among them. Therefore, this is no good at all.
It also follows that the Christian church has two kinds of baptism and that the children do not have the same baptism as the old. But St. Paul says Eph. 4, 5: "There is only one baptism, one Lord, one faith. For if baptism does not do and give to infants what it does and gives to old men, it is not the same baptism; indeed, it is not baptism, but a play and mockery of baptism, since no baptism is more than that which saves. Where it is known or believed that it does not save, it should not be given; but if it is given, it is not Christian baptism, for it is not believed that it does what baptism is supposed to do: therefore it is a different and strange baptism. For this reason, it would be necessary for the brothers of Waldenses to baptize themselves differently, as they baptize ours differently; because they not only receive baptism without faith, but also against faith, and with God's mockery and dishonor give a different, strange, unchristian baptism.
If we cannot answer this question any better and prove that the young children themselves believe and have their own faith, then it is my faithful advice and judgment that one should immediately desist, the sooner the better, and never baptize a child, lest we mock and blaspheme the highly praised majesty of God with such alfalfa and jiggery-pokery, since there is nothing behind it. Therefore, we say here and conclude: that the children believe in baptism themselves and have their own faith, which God works in them through
the intercession and bringing of the godparents in the faith of the Christian church; and this we call the power of the foreign faith: not that anyone may be saved by it, but that through it, as through its intercession and help, he may obtain from God Himself a faith of his own, by which he may be saved. Just as it is with my natural life and death. If I am to live, I must be born myself, and no one can be born for me, so that I may live through it; but the mother and midwife may well help me to my birth through her life, so that I may also live through it. So I myself must suffer death if I am to die, and no one's death can do to me that I may die of it; but it can well help me to my own death, as when it frightened me, fell on me, suffocated or crushed, or suffocated. No one can go to hell for me, but he can tempt me with false doctrine and life, so that I go there myself through my own error, brought into me by that error. So no one can go to heaven for me; but he can help me to do so, preach, teach, govern, pray, and obtain faith from God, so that I may go to heaven. And this centurion was not healed of his servant's gout; but he nevertheless obtained that his servant should recover his health.
32 So also here we say that the children are not baptized in the faith of the godparents or the church; but the faith of the godparents and of Christianity asks and acquires for them their own faith, in which they are baptized and believe for themselves. We have strong and firm sayings about this, Matth. 19, 13-15, Marc. 10, 13-16, Luc. 18, 15. 16. When some brought little children to the Lord Jesus to touch them, and the disciples were hurting them, he punished the disciples, and hugged the children, and laid his hands on them and blessed them, and said: Such is the kingdom of God. etc. No one will take these sayings away from us, nor put them down with good reason. For here it is written, that Christ will not forbid to bring the little children to him, yea, to bring them to him, and bless them, and give them the kingdom of heaven; which we may well remember.
(33) It is undoubtedly written of natural children, and it is not true that Christ's word should be interpreted as if he meant spiritual children, who are little in humility; for they were little children in the flesh, whom Lucas calls infantes, and his blessing is upon them, and speaks of them that the kingdom of heaven is theirs. What do we want to say here? If we want to say that they were without faith of their own, then the previous sayings are false: "He who does not believe is condemned" etc.; so also Christ will lie, or make a mirror image, when he says that the kingdom of heaven is theirs, and will not speak seriously of the true kingdom of heaven. Now interpret these words of Christ as you will, so we have that the children are to be brought to Christ and are not to be resisted; and when they are brought to him, here he compels us to believe that he blesses them and gives the kingdom of heaven, as he does to these little children. And in no other way will it behoove us to do and believe, as long as the word stands, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." No less will it behoove us to believe, when they are brought to him, that he will receive them, lay his hand upon them, bless them, and give them heaven, as long as the text stands, that he blessed the little children that were brought to him, and gave them heaven. Who can over before this text? Who will be so bold as not to let the children come to baptism, or not believe that he will bless them when they get there?
34 Now he is present in baptism as he was then, we Christians know this for certain; therefore we must not refuse baptism to children. So we must not doubt that he blesses them all who come there, as he did that one. So nothing remains here but the devotion and faith of those who brought the infants to him: the same make and help by their bringing that the infants are blessed and attain the kingdom of heaven; which cannot be, they have their own faith for themselves, as has been said. So also here we say that the infants are brought to baptism by other people's faith and work, but when they get there and the priest or baptist acts with them in Christ's stead,
he blesses them and gives them faith and the kingdom of heaven; for the priest's word and deed are Christ's own word and deed.
35 St. John also agrees with this in his first epistle Cap. 2, 13, where he says: "I write to you fathers, I write to you young men, I write to you children"; he is not content with writing to the young men, he also writes to the children, and writes that they have known the Father. From this it follows that the apostles also baptized children, and thought that they believed and knew the Father, just as if they had come to their senses and could read. Although the word "children" here is used to refer to the old, as Christ calls his disciples, it is certain that he is speaking here of those who are younger than the young; that he is speaking of the young generation under fifteen or eighteen years of age, and excludes no one from the years except the first year, for these are all called children.
36 But let us see their reason why they do not keep the children faithful. They say, because they have not yet come to their senses, they may not hear God's word; but where God's word is not heard, there can be no faith, Rom. 10:17: "Faith comes by hearing, but hearing comes by God's word" etc. Tell me, is this also Christian speaking, thus judging God's works according to our own liking: The children have not come to reason, therefore they cannot believe? How, if you had already come from faith by such reason, and the children come to faith by their unreason? Dear, what good does reason do to faith and God's Word? Is it not reason that resists faith and the word of God to the highest degree? so that no one can come to faith from it, nor suffer the word of God, unless it is blinded and defiled; so that man must die to it and become like a fool, and indeed as unreasonable and unintelligent as any young child, if he is to believe otherwise and receive the grace of God; as Christ says Matth. 18, 3: "Unless you repent and become like young children, you will not enter heaven.
come rich." How often does Christ hold it against us that we must become children and fools, and condemn reason?
(37) Item, tell me, what kind of reason did the infants have, whom Christ hugged and blessed and gave to heaven? Were they not still without reason? Why then did he call them to himself and bless them? Where did they get such faith that makes them children of the kingdom of heaven? Yes, precisely because they are without reason and foolish, they are better qualified for faith than the old and reasonable, for whom reason is always in the way and does not want to push their big head through the narrow door. One does not have to look at reason or its works when talking about faith and God's works. Here God alone works, and reason is dead, blind and against this work like an unreasonable block, so that the scripture may stand, which says: "God is wonderful in His saints"; item Is. 55, 9: "As the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways".
38 But because they are so deep in reason, we must attack them with their own cleverness. Tell me, why do you baptize man when he has come to reason? Do you answer: He hears God's word and believes. I ask: How do you know this? Then you say: He confesses with his mouth. What shall I say, How if he lie and deceive? for thou canst not see his heart. Well then, if you baptize here on no other ground than that a man proves himself outwardly, and are uncertain of his faith, and must think, if he has not more inwardly in his heart than you experience outwardly; then neither his hearing, nor confession, nor faith helps, for it may be a mere delusion and not a true faith: Who then are you to say that outward hearing and confession are necessary for baptism; that where these are not, one should not baptize; that where they are, one should baptize? And even here you must confess that such hearing and confession is uncertain, and not enough for him to receive baptism. To what then do you baptize? How will you insist that you should thus throw away baptism in doubt? If it is not so, you must come here and say that it is not for you to do or know more,
For the one whom you are to baptize should be brought to you and baptism demanded of you, and you must believe or command God whether he believes correctly inwardly or not; then you are excused and baptize correctly. Why then will you not do this to the children, whom Christ calls to Himself and wants to bless; but you want to have the outward hearing and confession beforehand, which you are uncertain of and do not sufficiently confess to the baptized for baptism itself? and you leave out the certain word of Christ, when He calls to bring the little children to Himself, for the sake of your uncertain outward hearing.
39. Tell me, where is the reason of the believer in Christ when he sleeps, if his faith and God's grace never leaves him? Can faith remain here without the help of reason, so that it does not become aware of it; why should it not begin in the children before reason knows anything about it? Item, I would also like to say of all the hours in which a Christian lives and works or has to create something, that he is not aware of faith and reason, and yet faith does not cease. God's works are secret and strange where and when He wills. Again, they are evident enough where and when he wills that it is too high and too low for us to judge.
40 Because he says here that the little children do not refuse to come to him, so that he may bless them, and because it is not demanded of us that we should be certain of the faith that is within, and that outward hearing and confession is not enough for the baptized; we should leave it at that, that for our part, namely the Baptist, it is enough to hear the confession of the baptized, who come from himself. And this therefore, that we give not the sacrament contrary to our conscience, as to those where no fruit is to be hoped for. But if they assure our conscience by their seeking and confessing that we may give it as a sacrament that gives grace, we are excused. If his faith is not right, that is God's command; yet we do not give it as a useless thing, but with such a conscience that it is useful.
(41) I say all this because they do not baptize in this way, as those who baptize also do with
muthwilligen: Knowledge thus given, that it shall neither do nor be of any use. For by this the Anabaptists sin, that they knowingly use God's Sacrament and Word uselessly, or ever have such a conscience that it should not or may not do anything; which is quite unworthy of the Sacrament, and tempting and blaspheming God. For this is not sacrament given, but mockery made of the sacrament. But if the baptized denies and does not believe, "Well then, you have done right, and given a right sacrament with a good conscience, as that should bring benefit.
042 And they that come not from themselves, but are brought hither, as Christ is called to bring the little children, command their faith to him that is called to bring them hither, and baptize them at his command, saying, Lord, thou bringest them hither, and callest them to be baptized, thou wilt surely answer for them; I rely upon it; I must not drive them away, nor hinder them: if they have not heard the word, by which faith cometh, as the aged hear it, but they hear it as the young children. The aged take it with ears and reason, often without faith; but they hear it with ears, without reason, and with faith: and faith is so much nearer, so much less is reason, and stronger is he that bringeth it, because the will is of the aged that come of themselves.
(43) Such poets are most concerned that there is reason in the ancients, which presents itself as if it believed the word it hears; that is what they call believing: again, they see that there is not yet reason in the children, for it presents itself as if they did not believe. But they do not see that faith in God's word is a very different and deeper thing than that which reason does with God's word. For that alone is God's work above all reason, to which the child is as near as the old man, yes, much nearer, and the old man as far away as the child, yes, much farther away.
44 But this is a human work, made of reason; that methinks, if baptism be sure, let infant baptism be sure.
the most certain, precisely because of Christ's word, since he calls them to himself, since the ancients come from himself; and that in the ancients there may be deceit, because of open reason, but in the children there can be no deceit, because of hidden reason, in whom Christ works his blessing, as he has called them to himself. It is a good word, and not to be taken in vain, that he calls the children to him, and punishes them that refuse him.
(45) By this we do not mean to weaken or abolish the ministry of preaching. For God does not preach for the sake of rational hearing, since no fruit comes from it; but for the sake of spiritual hearing, which, as has been said, even the children have as well and better than the ancients: so they also hear the word. For what is baptism but the gospel to which they are brought? Although they only hear it once, they hear it all the more, because Christ receives them, who has brought them to be called. For the ancients have an advantage here, that they may often hear and remember it. But it is the same with the aged in spiritual hearing, that it does not come in through many sermons; but if it come once in a sermon, it is enough for ever: what he hears afterward, he hears either to amend it first, or to corrupt it again.
46. summa, the children's baptism and comfort is in the word: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them; for such is the kingdom of God." He has spoken this and does not lie. So it must be right and Christian to bring the little children to him; this cannot happen except in baptism. It must also be certain that he will bless them and give the kingdom of heaven to all who come to him in this way, as the words read: "Such is the kingdom of God. That is enough for this time.
In the end, we would have to deal with the spiritual meaning of leprosy and gout. But much is said about leprosy in the postilion of the ten lepers. Therefore, it is not necessary to go into detail here.