Held 1516.
(1) The legend of St. Bartholomew is held in low esteem mainly because Eusebius, in the 25th chapter of the third book of his Church History, says that all the legends of the apostles are to be rejected because they have been corrupted by the wickedness of the heretics. So the good collectors, that I call them so, were not ashamed to grate together from everywhere what was new and special. For how glorious is this, that Bartholomew alone among the apostles is called the Son of the King, and that for his sake a controversy arose among the apostles, because of his preeminence and greatness? After this,
*) Löscher I, 282; Erl. A. opx. var. 1, 119 D. Red.
that he walked in royal shoes, and that he also demanded to walk in purple. I believe that he became a king and a king's son in such a way as that astronomer Ptolemy, namely, out of ignorance; for you should know that Ptolemy is a royal name in Egypt. Yes, the inexperienced audacity has supposed as if he were a king in Egypt; for bar means from Hebrew, a son; bartholomaeus, a son of Ptolomaei, that is, according to their wisdom, a king's son, because Ptolomaeus is a king. The rest of the most inconsistent things, which are not at all in agreement with faith and truth, I pass over; lest they say of me again, and I be regarded, that I am a king.
as if I annoy the weak. The one who has mocked the holy apostles and the Church of God by his fiction will bear his judgment, be he who he will.
The first poem and fairy tale is therefore that he was a king's son. You say that I prove this with no authority [namely, that this is a poem and fairy tale]. To this I answer: Even you do not prove that it is true; you can prove it much less.
3rd Secondly, that he went about in purple and fine shoes, and was adorned with precious stones upon his mantle. [I answer, Is he so different from the other apostles? Where then is the doublet? I am surprised that he does not also write that he wore leotards and spurs. It is a wonder that he did not practice the art of chivalry, as the characteristic of arrogant heretics and sectarians seeks its special protection in it.
4. thirdly, that he is described as a youth, but with a very strong beard; but perhaps at the end of his preaching ministry.
The fourth is that the devil confesses to him as a boy, and also describes the nose, hair and eyes, as if this also belonged to the matter.
Fifth, that the garments and shoes do not become obsolete within twenty-five years; perhaps because he could have had no other garments, and preached no more nor less than twenty-five years, though there is not much in this.
(7) Sixthly, that the angels would not let him hunger nor be weary; this is even so much that he that preacheth the gospel leadeth his life contrary to the gospel. This was dreamed by one Cerinthus.
008 And the seventh is the sweetest of all, that he boweth his knee an hundred times by day, and an hundred times by night. I ask you: What good thing did he pray in the eighth part of an hour, though he made a distinction in the prayer? Without doubt he ceased at the half of one part, that he might bow his knees again. Afterwards, when he preached, when he traveled, when he drank and ate, he
did nothing but bend the knees? The same is dreamt of St. Martha. Furthermore, when did he sleep during the night? Such tasteless things are preached and cheaply believed by those who want nothing better.
9th Finally, I leave this by, that they say of him that he is a grandson of the king of Syria and heir to the royal dignity, since it is also known from the holy gospel that at that time there was no king in Syria, but only Roman governors; one should then understand here the lesser kings, as Herod, Areta, king in Arabia, and Abgarus. These [namely, those who thought up such things] were mockers of the people, as even today some act among the simple and foolish.
10. the life of the apostles was a common life, full of poverty, cross, pressure, hunger and the like, and whoever judges otherwise, judges against the gospel; for therefore faith grew and increased, that such despised men and the most holy of all, as the apostle says, performed such great miracles and taught such great mysteries: in and of themselves they had nothing high and proud, but everything was simple, low and small.
011 When therefore these things are preached, they are understood, because they are believed: but when Christ is preached, they are offended, because they are not believed. I say that Adam is a figure of Christ, and this because I have the apostle's authority for me: that as he without our work makes us sinners, so Christ without work makes us righteous. So they say: So let us do evil. Why do they not also say: It is enough if we are sinners without our work; let us do good? Why do they put evil with evil here, and not good with good there? Just as Adam always increased evil in his own, so Christ also always increased good in his own. Therefore these two men, Adam and Christ, are in us. The former is the old man, the latter the new man. It does not follow, then, that we have righteousness by doing nothing.
If there is righteousness, let us do unrighteousness; for they sin most of all, because they have sin: that as we have borne the image of the earthly, so we also bear and shall bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Cor. 15:49.) Yea, they say, this vexeth the weak. I answer, "It is bad enough that no one is offended by the other, since to preach Christ crucified is to preach an offense to the Jews and a foolishness to the Gentiles. The "heathen" are those who think themselves wise in the matter, that the words should be arranged and taught in such a way that never
But that by the art of words and by the adorned truth men may be caught and taken in. Why? Because they mean themselves, and not God in their teachings: for this reason they do not want to push anyone before the head, so that they do not teach in vain. "Jews" are those who want to be justified by their works; therefore they do not want to hear that Christ is their righteousness, and are offended by it, saying, "Let us do evil. "etc. (Rom. 3, 8.) But let them go, they are blind.