Delivered to King Ferdinand at Vienna on November 14, 1835, printed in 1538.
Newly translated from the Latin.
Although these brethren, who have their being in Bohemia and Moravia, have made their confession and their doctrine known better and more learnedly than that they should need my recommendation or preface, it has nevertheless seemed valid to me, since they have now for many years been called by the hateful name of Picar.
or heretics and schismatics, to serve them also with my testimony as much as I am able, if my testimony is otherwise valid, especially with ours and with all those 2) who are devoted to true godliness.
2) Instead of omnis we have assumed omnes.
*On November 14, 1535, the Bohemian and Moravian brethren presented a confession of faith to King Ferdinand at Vienna, which was more complete than the previous one of 1532 (No. 28, Col. 334 in this volume). In the following year, they sent deputies with a letter to Luther, dated Sunday after All Saints' Day (Nov. 4, 1536), to obtain his judgment on it. He liked it so much that when they had it printed in Wittenberg in 1538, he wrote a preface to it. The title is: Confessio Fidei ac Religionis Baronum A.c Nobilium Regni Bohoemiae, Serenissimo ac Inuictissimo Romanorum, Bohoemiae etc.. Regi, Viennae Austriae, sub anno Domini 1535. oblata. Actorum 24. Confiteor autem hoc tibi, quod iuxta viam, quam vocant haeresim, sic colo patrium Deum, credens omnibus, quae in lege et Prophetis scripta sunt. Quart. At the end: IVitebsrAae In ollminu Oeor^ΓΌ Itlinvv. To this edition, as well as to one published after it in 1542, the earlier Confession is appended as an apologia. A third edition was published in 1558 by the well-known Petrus Paulus Vergerius, who added Luther's preface and his own. Later, this Confession was reprinted several times in Latin, also included in the Oorpns 6t svntaAlnu 6onk688ionurn 6661, edition of 1612, xur8 I, x 217, but without Luther's preface. In the following period over-
make an effort. For what the papists think of me, this kind of people, who have long been hardened and have broken senses [1 Tim. 6, 5.], and, as Paul again says, sin, as those who by themselves and willingly bring condemnation upon themselves, what should that concern me? I am crucified to them, and they are crucified to me.
Admittedly, since I was a pope, I was indeed an exceedingly vehement zealot for the Roman traditions (for those who are now papists and write against us are not serious, as I was, but are quite cold and do what they do either out of hatred or out of a desire for gain, and would do the same against the papacy, if they could hope for riches and greater honor with us), - I, I say, since I was a pope, in truth and from the heart hated these picards, the brothers, out of great zeal for God and religion, completely without any desire for profit or honor.
Yes, once I had come across some books of John Hus by accident, and saw that the writing was so powerful and pure that I began to wonder why the pope and the council had burned such a great man, I immediately closed the book, frightened, because I suspected that there might be poison hidden under the honey, by which my simplicity could be poisoned: such a violent spell of the papal name and the council ruled over me.
But after it pleased Him who separated me from my mother's womb [Gal. 1:15] to reveal to me the child of perdition, I consulted the best men I could in many disputations with flesh and blood, fearing that the light that was in me would be darkness: so much do I dislike the light that was in me.
I trusted myself because of the length, breadth and depth of the papal majesty, of which I had hitherto also firmly believed that it was governed by the Holy Spirit and could not be mistaken, until I gradually became firmer, since the papists, as it were like wild waves of the sea (as Jude [v. 13] says), foamed their own shame against my light skirmishes and preludes. Then I began to hold the pope in suspicion and to despise him little by little, and finally, since his defenders exposed him through books that are more null and void than the nullity itself, even abandoned him, to recognize him as the abomination himself, who stands there in the holy place.
Then my heart began to rejoice, and as I looked around at all those whom the pope had condemned and corrupted as heretics, I praised them as saints and martyrs, especially those whose godly writings and confessions I could find. Of the others, however, I suspected that they either had not been convicted or had erred through a case of weakness, which could have been forgiven if the papists had wanted to follow the advice of Paul, who says [Gal. 6:1]: "If a man is overtaken by error, restore him with a gentle spirit, you who are spiritual. And look to yourselves, lest you also be tempted." But they have followed the rage of Satan and have ruled strictly and harshly over the sheep of Christ, as Ezekiel [Cap. 34, 4.] speaks, and do not yet cease to do so.
Among them I also met these brothers, whom they called Picards, who were now no longer as hateful to me as they had been before in my papistry. Finally, I found among them the unique and great miraculous thing, which was almost unheard of in the church of the pope, namely, that they, as much as they could, had human-
The Bohemian friars saw this confession, drafted it more extensively, and presented it to the Emperor Maximilian II in 1564. This redaction was translated into German and appeared in octavo in Wittenberg in 1573. The title is: "Confessio, that is, Confession of the Christian Faith. To the most Sublime and Great Roman of Hungary and Behem etc. King Ferdinand, by the Lords and Knighthood of the Crown of Behem, who are attached and related to the pure doctrine in the Christian communities, so called the Behemian Brethren Unity, at Vienna in Austria on Nov. 14 in the year 1535 and translated in the year 1564. This confession is also delivered to Emperor Maximiliano the other and King Sigemund in Poland etc." With Luther's preface. It is newly translated by Greifs for the Leipzig edition, and is found there in Vol. XXII, Appendix, p. 121. Walch has reprinted this translation. In Latin, our preface is found in des Buddeus Kupplern Supplementum Epistolarum, p. 320 and thereafter in the Erlangen edition, opp. vor. ur^, vorn. VII, p. 547. According to the latter we have newly translated.
The brethren in Bohemia put aside the doctrines and handled the law of the Lord day and night, and were experienced and equipped in the Scriptures, while in the papacy even the Magistri nostri completely neglected the Scriptures, of which they boasted the title; some of them, however, had never even seen the Holy Scriptures with their eyes. But it could not happen otherwise [among the brethren in Bohemia], since the languages were in decline, not only the Greek and Hebrew, but also the Latin, than that some passages necessarily remained obscure to them. And this fault stuck to them: since they wanted to avoid the thorn hedges and swamps of the Sophists and the monks, they refrained from all cultivation of the sciences; at the same time, they were also hindered by their small means, which they acquired with their hands' work.
But now they show themselves much more educated and free, not to say also more glorious and better, so that I hope that they will not be unpleasant and disagreeable to all true Christians, so that we also have to thank God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ most highly, who, according to the riches of his glory, commanded that this light of his word should shine out of the darkness, through which he destroyed death among us anew and enlightened life. And we must wish them as well as ourselves happiness, that we, who were far from each other even among ourselves, now, after the sheath
The wall of suspicion, by which we appeared to be heretics to one another, is broken down and we are brought together in one sheepfold under the One Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, who is blessed for ever and ever, Amen.
Even if there are some differences in this confession of their faith with regard to customs and ceremonies or even the celibate state, we should remember that all customs and habits of all churches have never been the same, nor could they have been. For the ways and differences of men, countries, and times do not permit this; only the doctrine of faith and life should remain inviolate. For this must be one and the same, as Paul often reminds us, saying [1 Cor. 1:10], "Lead ye all of one speech"; again [Rom. 15:6], "With one mouth praise God, and the Father of our Lord JEsu Christ." For that marriage should be free with them in such a way as with us, the circumstances do not permit it with them. In the meantime, it is enough that it is permitted to everyone, and it is taught and believed that it does not cause sin to anyone, and thus everyone's faith and conscience remain unharmed. Therefore, I also commend this confession of the brethren to all the godly in the Lord, in which they will clearly see with how great injustice they have been condemned and plagued by the papists up to now.